Daily Archives: October 27, 2020

2020-10-27: News Headlines

The Canary (2020-10-27). 20 things the government must do to tackle structural racism and protect BAME communities from coronavirus. thecanary.co Baroness Doreen Lawrence has set out 20 recommendations for the government to protect those most at risk from coronavirus and tackle inequality in the longer term.Here are her recommendations from her review into the impact of coronavirus (Covid-19) on Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities: | Set out an urgent plan for tackling the disproportionate impact of Covid on BAME people this winter | 2. Implement a national strategy to tackle health inequalities.3. Suspend the "no recourse to public funds" rule during the pandemic and review its impact on public health and health inequalities.4. Ensure Covi…

Raul Diego (2020-10-27). From a Wealthy Socialite to an Israeli Govt Censor, Facebook's New "Free Speech Court" Is Anything but Independent. mintpressnews.com Freedom of speech on the Internet is all but extinct, and on the eve of the 2020 US elections, a de facto "free speech court" is going to make sure it never comes back. On Facebook at least.

Staff (2020-10-27). Now Is No Time for Cowardice. Abolish the Filibuster and Expand the Court. truthout.org Mitch McConnell and his cohort of conservative allies believe the elevation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court is the capstone move in their long game. Between Barrett creating a meaty 6-3 conservative majority on the high court and the more than 200 right-wing judges the GOP senate has elevated to the bench, they think they have cemented the rule of a wealthy, white minority for another generation at least. | Who knows? They may even be right. | There is no doubt that Justice Barrett is a…

Brett Wilkins, staff writer (2020-10-26). Jared Kushner Eviscerated as 'Face of White Privilege and Nepotism' After Mocking Racial Justice Protesters. commondreams.org President Donald Trump's son-in-law—some of whose wealth comes from being what one user called "the highest-ranking slumlord in the country"—also implied that Black people do not want to succeed. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/cushkush.jpg

Stephen Lendman (2020-10-26). Protests in Iraq: Corruption, Unemployment, Impoverishment. globalresearch.ca Long-suffering Iraqis have legitimate grievances in…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-10-26). Despite CDC Moratorium—and With Help From White House—Corporate Landlords Have Gone on Eviction Spree. commondreams.org Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus last month wealthy corporate landlords have blatantly ignored the order, issuing eviction notices to thousands of tenants across five states, according to a watchdog report. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/eviction_crisis_0.jpg

Claud Fullwood (2020-10-26). Communities rally to feed hungry children as ministers leave them high and dry. thecanary.co After a shocking 320 Tory MPs voted to prevent children living in poverty from receiving free school meals during the holidays, local businesses, authorities and community groups are stepping in to plug the gap in duty-of-care. Meanwhile, ministers face a damaging grassroots Tory revolt over the issue. | Dozens of people from a range of organisations have stepped in to help their local communities. Health secretary Matt Hancock, who voted against the motion to feed hungry children, has leapt at the chance to praise their "absolutely wonderful" efforts. Meanwhile, he insists that the government has already provide…

Taryn MacKinney (2020-10-26). The Postmaster General's Manufactured Mail Slowdown and Racial Inequality. commondreams.org For nearly 250 years, USPS has been a cherished giant of public life. (Photo: Paul Ratje/AFP via Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/usps_4.jpg

_____ (2020-10-26). Week Of Action Starting November 4, 2020. popularresistance.org The federal government is failing us. By now we're all well aware of the tax cuts and record-breaking profits accumulated by the wealthy while the rest of this country struggles to survive the pandemic; their failure to address the fundamentally corrupt institution of policing responsible for destroying black and brown lives and communities; their indifference to the climate crisis. We know we've been given a choice between one presidential candidate who emboldens the US' spiraling undercurrent of far-right hate and one who will do nothing to stop it.

Paul Craig Roberts (2020-10-26). November's Choice: Trump or the Establishment. thealtworld.com The November presidential election is not about a choice between a Republican and a Democrat, Trump or Biden/Kamala. It is about a choice between Trump and the Establishment. | You are voting for or against the Establishment. | If you vote against Trump, you are voting for your continued dispossession of your personal freedom, your independence, your income and wealth if any, your integrity, the First and Second Amendments, and any hope for your future and the future of your country. It is as simple as that. | Approximately half of the American population are too indoctrinated and brainwashed to understand what i…

Sonali Kolhatkar (2020-10-26). How Coronavirus Exposed the Flaws of the Childcare Economy. counterpunch.org The U.S. government's Bureau of Labor Statistics finds that childcare workers in the nation have a median salary of just over $24,000 a year—below the poverty line for a family of four. The segment of our nation's workforce that attends to the basic needs of our children is shockingly underpaid, and now during the coronavirus

_____ (2020-10-25). Protests Against Greed And Inequality Are Spreading Like Wildfire Through Latin America. popularresistance.org With attention fixed on this week's events in Bolivia, you would be excused for not realizing that much of the rest of the region has for weeks also been ablaze in the flames of protest. | In Costa Rica, the neoliberal coalition government of Carlos Alverado attempted to force through a $1.75 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. As has been its modus operandi this year, the organization offered the money attached to a host of free-market changes, including tax changes, cuts to public services, and privatization of state-owned assets, s…

Sasha Abramsky (2020-10-25). Candidates Focus on the Middle Class, But They Must Also Tackle Deep Poverty. zcomm.org For the kind of unfettered poverty that is being unleashed will, if left unchecked, likely result in massive political turmoil over the coming years and decades…

Prabhat Patnaik (2020-10-25). The rising wealth of billionaires even amid a pandemic. peoplesdispatch.org It is inevitable under capitalism that every human tragedy which unleashes a crisis in this system becomes an occasion for an increase in wealth concentration, writes Prabhat Patnaik…

Richard Horton (2020-10-24). [Comment] Offline: Science and politics in the era of COVID-19. thelancet.com "How can we follow the science when scientists haven't the foggiest." "'Big mouth' scientists losing trust of Ministers." Headlines such as these are increasingly common in UK newspapers. Scientists are no longer seen as providing impartial, independent advice to government. They are seen as being responsible for crashing economies, driving up unemployment, and ruining livelihoods. Chris Whitty, England's Chief Medical Officer, and Patrick Vallance, Chief Scientific Adviser, have received the sharpest criticism.

Fight Back (2020-10-24). Long-term unemployment continues to grow. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – On Thursday, October 22, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that there were 787,000 new claims for regular state unemployment in the week that ended October 17. This was 55,000 fewer than the previous week, but still 20,000 higher than two weeks ago and almost four times as high as the same week a year ago. While new claims have fallen dramatically from the record high of almost 6 million in April, they are still higher than the pre-recession high of less than 700,000. | The report also said that continuing claims for regular state unemployment did fall by a million to 8.4 million for the week e…

Brian Wakamo (2020-10-24). 17 Ballot Initiatives to Reduce Inequality. zcomm.org On November 3, voters in many states and cities will weigh in on a variety of inequality-related proposals, from taxing the wealthy to increasing worker and tenant protections…

WSWS (2020-10-23). Catastrophic job losses continue in the US as nearly 800,000 new unemployment claims reported. wsws.org Over 65 million claims have been filed since mid-March as state and federal assistance expires for millions.