(2020-04-23). US unemployment headed for 27 MILLION as pandemic erases all new jobs created since 2008 financial crisis. rt.com 
With the US Labor Department set to reveal the number of weekly jobless claims on Thursday, economists expect another 4.5 million Americans to have applied for unemployment benefits for the week ending April 18. | A slight decrease on the previous week's 5.2 million claims, it will bring the total number to around 27 million in a month. The number is greater than all the 23.3 million jobs created in the US since the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Economists broadly expect the figure to steadily decline going forward. | "Claims have moved passed the peak more visibly now, but the cumulative number is still rising…
(2020-04-23). Unrest spreads in France in response to police brutality. wsws.org While sparked by the latest act of wanton police violence, the riots are more fundamentally driven by popular anger over social inequality and the right-wing policies of the Macron administration.
(2020-04-23). Inequality and the Coronavirus: How to Destroy American Society From the Top Down. counterpunch.org My mom contracted polio when she was 14. She survived and learned to walk again, but my life was deeply affected by that virus. Today, as our larger society attempts to self-distance and self-isolate, my family has texted about the polio quarantine my mom was put under: how my grandma fearfully checked my aunt's temperature
(2020-04-23). Hundreds of laid-off Sweetwater teachers begin online teaching. wsws.org While knowing they will not have a job next school year and facing unemployment in six weeks, hundreds of laid-off teachers in the San Diego district have gone back to work.
(2020-04-22). Chileans Who Took to Streets Against Inequality & Climate Crisis Say Virus Lockdowns Won't Stop Them. democracynow.org 
Months ago, the streets of Santiago and other Chilean cities were alive with a vibrant mass protest movement that drew hundreds of thousands and even led the U.N. climate summit to be relocated to Madrid, Spain, last December. Now the public spaces of Santiago are largely empty as citizens shelter in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. But the protest movement against austerity and right-wing President Sebastián Piñera lives on as activists find new ways to organize online. We go to Santiago, Chile, to speak with Angela Valenzuela, a 350.org organizer who has been active both in the country's uprising and in…
(2020-04-22). An Earth Day After Coal: Amid All the Bad News, A Major Turning Point. commondreams.org Despite the fact that two centuries of coal mining had left our region in ruin, with entrenched poverty, toxic discharges of slurry and the region's lowest health indicators, it remained the dominant way of business and politics. (Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/gettyimages-539590888.jpg …
(2020-04-22). Inequality and Poverty Were Destroying America Well Before Covid-19. thenation.com Inequality and Poverty Were Destroying America Well Before Covid-19…
(2020-04-22). The Corporate Welfare During Covid-19 Pandemic Is Morally Repugnant. commondreams.org The five biggest U.S. airlines spent 96 percent of their free cash flow over the last decade buying back shares of their own stock to boost executive bonuses and please wealthy investors. (Photo: Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/boeing_ceo_0.jpg …
(2020-04-21). NYC Immigrant Communities Fight Hunger, Exploitation & Invisibility Through Mutual Aid. democracynow.org 
We look at how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting undocumented people here in New York City, where the coronavirus has hit immigrant communities the hardest, even as the numbers of daily deaths statewide has declined in recent days. As reports of widespread poverty and hunger continue in the immigrant communities, people are also organizing and helping each other through mutual aid despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances. We are joined by Juan Carlos Ruiz, Lutheran pastor at Good Shepherd Church in Brooklyn and co-founder of the national New Sanctuary Movement and the New Sanctuary Coalition here in Ne…
(2020-04-16). Headlines for April 16, 2020. democracynow.org Trump Pushes to Reopen Economy by May as Doctors and CEOs Object, 22 Million U.S. Workers File for Unemployment in Just Four Weeks, Tax Loopholes in Coronavirus Relief Bill to Overwhelmingly Benefit the Wealthiest, New York Coronavirus Death Toll Tops 11,500 as Governor Orders Wearing of Masks in Public, Medical Workers Demand More Safety Measures as COVID-19 Deaths Mount, Michigan Protesters Defy Social Distancing Rules, Demanding End to Quarantine, Mexico Faces Shortage of Medical Workers as COVID-19 Spreads, French Aircraft Carrier Evacuated as Nearly 700 Sailors Test Positive for COVID-19, Swedish COVID-19 Ca…
(2020-04-15). Trump Cuts Funds for World Health Org as Oxfam Warns Pandemic Could Push Half a Billion into Poverty. democracynow.org 
As the confirmed cases of coronavirus surpass 2 million around the world, President Donald Trump says he will cut U.S. support for the World Health Organization. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet medical journal, called it a "crime against humanity." Oxfam America said the cuts slash "any hopes for the responsible international cooperation and solidarity that is critical to save lives and restore the global economy." This comes as a new Oxfam report estimates the pandemic's economic fallout could push more than half a billion more people into poverty. We get response from Paul O'Brien, vice president…
(2020-04-14). Essential or Expendable? Farmworkers Condemn Lack of Protection and Economic Help During Pandemic. democracynow.org 
As the coronavirus sweeps through the United States, the country's 2.5 million farmworkers are continuing to go to work every day, often facing crowded and unsanitary conditions without personal protective equipment, for poverty wages. We speak with Gerardo Reyes Chávez, a farmworker leader with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, who describes the conditions farmworkers in Florida are facing and how they are calling on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to protect farmworkers during the COVID-19 crisis, and with Mónica Ramírez, president and founder of Justice for Migrant Women and co-founder of the National Farmwork…
(2020-04-11). SPLC condemns attack on Alabama synagogue. splcenter.org The Southern Poverty Law Center condemns the antisemitic attacks that took place during Passover at the Etz Chayim Synagogue in Huntsville, Alabama.
(2020-04-23). 'I Really Screwed Up': World's Biggest Wealth Fund CEO Apologises for Private Jet Flight. sputniknews.com A high-profile seminar that numerous Norwegian public figures attended has left Norway's Oil Fund in trouble, as both its outgoing and incoming CEOs are facing ethical scrutiny.
(2020-04-08). Why is Alliance Defending Freedom a Hate Group? splcenter.org The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) first listed Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) as an anti-LGBTQ hate group in 2016.