Threatening Military Intervention in Venezuela During a Pandemic?
Medea Benjamin, Leonardo Flores | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
Unbeknownst to most Americans, as we are grappling with this terrifying pandemic, the Trump administration is currently carrying out the largest military operation in Latin America in 30 years, and has made it clear that alleged Venezuelan \"narco-terrorism\" is the target. It\'s worth noting that the last deployment of a similar size took place at…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/threatening-military-intervention-in-venezuela-during-a-pandemic/

Towards A New World Order, The Global Debt Crisis and the Privatization of the State
Prof Michel Chossudovsky | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-17
There is a serious health crisis which must be duly resolved. And this is a number one priority. | But there is another important dimension which has to be addressed. | Millions of people have lost their jobs, and their lifelong savings. …
globalresearch.ca/towards-a-new-world-order-the-global-debt-crisis-and-the-privatization-of-the-state/5709755

#ClimateStrike: Virtual Protest Against Chase Bank to #Stop The Money Pipeline
350.org Bay Area & many others | indybay.org | 2020-04-17
Online protest actions…
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/16/18832428.php

Pentagon Escalates Tensions with Iran in Persian Gulf
Bill Van Auken | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-17
The US Navy charged Wednesday that 11 Iranian vessels had \"repeatedly conducted dangerous and harassing approaches against multiple US naval ships operating in international waters.\" | The protest, issued by the command of the US Navy\'s Fifth Fleet, represented a further …
globalresearch.ca/pentagon-escalates-tensions-iran-persian-gulf/5709955

Frontline Medical Workers Protest New NYC Policy Demanding Doctor\'s Notes When They Are Sick
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-17
A new policy at New York City\'s public hospitals requires medical workers who call in sick to produce a doctor\'s note. \"We know that people just need a mental health day,\" says Sean Petty, a registered nurse at a public hospital in the Bronx who is organizing a protest against the policy. \"Thousands of us have been exposed. Health workers are the least tested group of people in this city.\" Petty is a member of the board of directors of the New York State Nurses Association.
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/17/nyc_nurse_sean_petty_doctors_notes

As US Shale Oil Plunges, Trump Admin Takes Aim at Venezuela
Whitney Webb | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-17
WASHINGTON DC ( The Last American Vagabond)

Are COVID-19 Outbreaks Peaking or Heading Higher Ahead?
Stephen Lendman | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-17
The short answer is it\'s unknown

Spreading the Virus of Occupation: Spitting as a Weapon in the Hand of Colonial Israel
Ramzy Baroud | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
Spitting at someone is a universal insult. In Israel, however, spitting at Palestinians is an entirely different story. Now that we know that the deadly coronavirus can be transmitted through saliva droplets, Israeli soldiers and illegal Jewish settlers are working extra hard to spit at as many Palestinians, their cars, doorknobs, and so on, as…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/spreading-the-virus-of-occupation-spitting-as-a-weapon-in-the-hand-of-colonial-israel/

\"Gangster in the White House\": Noam Chomsky on COVID-19, WHO, China, Gaza and Global Capitalism
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-04-17
We continue our conversation with world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky. He responds to President Trump\'s cuts to U.S. support for the World Health Organization and the surge in deaths in the United States to another record high, and discusses conditions in Gaza, the rise of authoritarianism around the world, and the progressive response. \"This is typical behavior of autocrats and dictators. When you make colossal errors which are killing thousands of people, find somebody else to blame,\" say Chomsky. \"In the United States, it\'s unfortunately the case, for well over a century, centu…
www.democracynow.org/2020/4/17/noam_chomsky_coronavirus_trump_gaza_palestine

Sanders and Palestine: a Post Mortem
Steven Salaita | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
Let me start with a story about the Democratic primary. Now, I\'m no operative, so this story has nothing to do with voting choices or electability. It\'s about how Palestine disappears in US electoral discourses, even when people who identify as Palestinian purport to make it visible. Sometime ago, I was added to an online…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/sanders-and-palestine-a-post-mortem/

New Indonesian Capital in Borneo: From Rural Misery to Grody Dreams of Urban Glory
Andre Vltchek | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-17
An old road between Balikpapan and Samarinda passes through the poor villages, through rural slums, as well as stalls selling second-rate local fruits. The cheap, unhygienic eateries, are now half-empty. While the traffic is still heavy here, the \'real action\' …
globalresearch.ca/indonesian-borneo-rural-misery-urban-glory/5709933

Danger Clown and the Return to American Normalcy
Paul Street | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
Recently in an online urban studies discussion, a young white man expressed his desire for his fellow Chicagoans and Americans more generally to get over all this COVID-19 trauma and \"return to normal life in my great city and country.\" I was a little surprised and disappointed he didn\'t use Warren Harding\'s made-up word \"normalcy.\"
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/danger-clown-and-the-return-to-american-normalcy/

Video: US-trained Militants Surrender to Syrian Army. Israel Tries to Assassinate Hezbollah Commanders
South Front | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-17
On April 15th, 27 members of Maghawir al-Thawra, a militant group in the Al-Tanf zone, which is both funded and trained by the US-led coalition, surrendered to the Syrian Army with all of their weapons and equipment. These …
globalresearch.ca/video-us-trained-militants-surrender-syrian-army-israel-tries-assassinate-hezbollah-commanders/5709915

Bernie\'s Political Funeral
Kathleen Wallace | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
The end of the Bernie Sanders campaign always had a destination that was not the White House. I\'ll admit that I anticipated it playing out in a slightly different manner. The wildcard in all of this was COVID-19, but like all good disaster capitalists, the DNC, with the help of the Obama faction, used it…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/bernies-political-funeral-2/

The Great Gray Hope: Bernie Sanders Tests the Limits of US Political Systems
Roger D. Harris | mintpressnews.com | 2020-04-17
For all his remarkable accomplishments, Sanders\' legacy in 2020 will likely be that of 2016, which was to be the sheepdog that herded progressives into the Democratic Party and got nothing in return.
mintpressnews.com/great-gray-hope-bernie-sanders-tests-limits-us-political-systems/266724/

Bernie Sanders Tests the Limits of the US Political System
Roger Harris | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
The Great Gray Hope has bowed out of the presidential primary race, leaving tottering Joe Biden as the last Democrat standing. What Bernie Sanders accomplished electorally was remarkable, revealing both how far a progressive can venture and the limits proscribing further advancement to the left within the Democratic Party. Sanders pushes the limits of the…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/bernie-sanders-tests-the-limits-of-the-us-political-system/

Roaming Charges: Bernt Offerings
Jeffrey St. Clair | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
+ You\'d better stock up on those Marvin Gaye stamps while you can because the stamps for Trump\'s privatized mail service will feature Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, PT Barnum, JP Morgan, Andrew Mellon, Charles Ponzi, old man Rockefeller, Roy Cohn, Michael Milkin, Ken Lay, Bernie Madoff and, of course, Trump himself… + So does Trump…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/roaming-charges-bernt-offerings/

Sadiq Khan\'s call for compulsory face masks on London transport provokes both fury and praise
rt.com | 2020-04-17
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has urged the UK government to make wearing face masks on public transport in the capital compulsory during the Covid-19 crisis, putting him at odds with UK health advisers and dividing public opinion. | During an interview with Sky News on Friday, the mayor of London claimed that \"the evidence around the world is that this [face masks] is effective.\" He referenced countries such as the USA, Canada, Germany and South Korea, all of whom are currently advising their citizens to wear face masks during the coronavirus pandemic. | What I\'m lobbying for is for when it comes to those circumsta…
rt.com/uk/486102-khan-london-face-masks/

Will the Pandemic Finish Trump or Give his Régime an Escape?
Pete Dolack | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
Amidst all the talk about if the global Covid-19 pandemic will lead to an opening for socialism, or at least a reduction in the grip of neoliberalism, in the wake of capitalism\'s failures, a more immediate question is if there is to be a reversal of the march of the Right in electoral politics. Elections…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/will-the-pandemic-finish-trump-or-give-his-regime-an-escape/

Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Emergency medicine in the time of COVID-19
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-17
Emergency medicine is a specialty that prides itself on a mantra: anyone, anything, anytime. The COVID-19 pandemic has put emergency health care providers and first responders on the front lines, fighting the spread of the virus and caring for critically ill patients. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Annie Sadosty, a Mayo Clinic emergency medicine …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-qa-podcast-emergency-medicine-in-the-time-of-covid-19/

Is it safe to wear contact lenses during the COVID-19 pandemic?
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-17
To prevent becoming infected with COVID-19, health experts are urging people to avoid touching their face. That\'s because SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can enter the body through the mouth, nose and eyes. That\'s left millions of people around the world who wear contact lenses wondering if they should stop wearing them and switch …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/is-it-safe-to-wear-contact-lenses-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

The Unconscious System Plague: Will Covid-19 Finally Awaken Us?
John McMurtry | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
Like others, I have thought from the first day of the Covid-19 pandemic that it was forcing us to awake from exponential life-system destruction by corporate \'business as usual\' to our common life-ground. In the words of the formerly neo-liberal Governor Cuomo of New York,…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/the-unconscious-system-plague-will-covid-19-finally-awaken-us/

Japan\'s Abe tells G7 he backs WHO on coronavirus response, in contrast with Trump
rt.com | 2020-04-17
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed support on Friday for the role of the World Health Organization (WHO) in the campaign against the coronavirus, in contrast with President Donald Trump who has vowed to cut US funding to the agency. | Abe said at a news conference he had told fellow Group of Seven leaders on Thursday that \"the international community, centering on the WHO, must cooperate to fight this infectious disease, which is having a global impact\" and Japan would \"firmly\" support it. | \"There\'s only the WHO that can serve as an international institution\" to address the pandemic, Abe said. He di…
rt.com/newsline/486116-japan-abe-who-trump/

Billionaires Have Paid 79 Percent Fewer Taxes Since 1980
Staff | truthout.org | 2020-04-17
Conventional economic wisdom says a time of crisis is not the moment to enact tax increases. But, as Eric Toder at the Tax Policy Center recently pointed out: \"[Tax experts] can begin to think of the time after the pandemic passes and how government should respond to massive increases in the public debt, and the new tax increases that Congress will need to enact to fund them.\" | Initial tax increases should…
truthout.org/articles/billionaires-have-paid-79-percent-fewer-taxes-since-1980/

The Self-Centered Rich Country Response to Pandemics and Crises is Wrecking Poor Countries
Tamara Pearson | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
I\'m squatting on a round piece of concrete, and a 72-year-old man is sitting in the gutter, his walking stick beside him. He tells me that after being deported from the United States, he has been hiking the streets of Mexico City trying to find somewhere to stay. But all the refuges are closed due to the pandemic, including the one we\'re sitting outside of, where I volunteer. He has run out of insulin for his diabetes and says he can\'t walk any more.
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/the-self-centered-rich-country-response-to-pandemics-and-crises-is-wrecking-poor-countries/

What does Trump\'s Celebration of the Resurgent Dollar Tell us about the International Monetary System?
Emrah Yildiz | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
On April 7, the U.S. President Donald Trump took the stage for the White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefing. In his speech, he targeted the World Health Organization (WHO) for mismanaging the Coronavirus pandemic. Trump criticized the organization for focusing too much on China, and accused its leadership of not being proactive enough in…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/what-does-trumps-celebration-of-the-resurgent-dollar-tell-us-about-the-international-monetary-system/

Russia stresses formation of anti-sanctions campaign
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-04-17
TEHRAN, Apr. 17 (MNA)

Health service parade in Rasht on National Army Day
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-04-17
RASHT, Apr. 17 (MNA)

COVID-19: What to do if you develop symptoms while away from home
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-17
In many areas of the U.S. and around the world, people are being told to stay home and avoid travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, travel restrictions may not apply to employees of critical industries, such as trucking, public health professionals, financial services, and food supply. So what should someone do if they develop …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/covid-19-what-to-do-if-you-develop-symptoms-while-away-from-home/

What a pane! Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher SMASHES window during at-home practice session (VIDEO)
rt.com | 2020-04-17
With the sporting world currently on lockdown, professional athletes around the world are being forced to work out at home and get creative as they look to stay in shape during the COVID-19 pandemic. | One such athlete is Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly, who set up a special target in his back yard in order to practice his array of pitches. | Also on rt.com | | Double trouble: BAD INTERNET connection rules darts ace Gary Anderson out of online PDC tournament | Unfortunately for Kelly, his attempt at a change-up p…
rt.com/sport/486137-los-angeles-dodgers-pitcher-smashes-window-practice/

When to seek emergency care during COVID-19 pandemic
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-17
In an effort to reduce the burden on hospitals due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to lower the risk of disease transmission, people are asked not to go to emergency rooms if they think they may have COVID-19 symptoms but otherwise feel okay. Instead, they\'re asked to call their primary care provider to discuss their …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/when-to-seek-emergency-care-during-covid-19-pandemic/

Is COVID-19 the end of the handshake as we know it?
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-17
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many people to accept a \"new normal\" and change behaviors. One example has been the need to alter how we greet each other. As part of social distancing, health experts have recommended that people to avoid shaking hands, since hands tend to carry a lot of germs. Dr. Anthony Fauci, …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/is-covid-19-the-end-of-the-handshake-as-we-know-it/

Connecting Patients: A different kind of grief in these times
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-17
Grief is the natural reaction to loss. Grief is both a universal and a personal experience. Individual experiences of grief vary and are influenced by the nature of the loss. During this time of the COVID-19 pandemic there has been and continues to be much loss. And different definitions of grief are being revealed. The …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/connecting-patients-a-different-kind-of-grief-in-these-times/

Mayo Clinic responds to COVID-19 financial impact
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-17
Mayo Clinic staff are doing extraordinary work, leading in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are proud of, and committed to, our staff and our communities as they come together to fight this global health crisis. Mayo Clinic is facing unprecedented challenges as a result of these circumstances, including a financial impact that requires significant …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-responds-to-covid-19-financial-impact/

If Coronavirus Overwhelms Gaza, Israel Alone is to Blame
Jonathan Cook | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
The Palestinians of Gaza know all about lockdowns. For the past 13 years, some two million of them have endured a closure by Israel more extreme than anything experienced by almost any other society

Bay Area Refuse Fascism Members Bang Pots, Call for Removal of Trump/Pence
On 2nd \"OUTNOW! Tuesday\" | indybay.org | 2020-04-17
In light of the coronavirus pandemic, Refuse Fascism updated their 2020 Statement of Conscience/Call To Act. Included here are photos and a 4 second video of members displaying signage, wearing masks, maintaining physical distancing and banging pots on an \"Out Now Tuesday\" April 14. At the same time, 7pm, at other locations in the Bay Area, members shouted \"Trump Pence Out Now!\" for neighbors to hear.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/15/18832371.php

Putin & Macron discuss minimizing negative economic consequences of pandemic in telephone conversation
rt.com | 2020-04-17
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have discussed by telephone measures aimed at minimizing the negative socio-economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, the Kremlin\'s press service said on Friday. | During the conversation, which was initiated by the French side, the two leaders spoke about measures which are being taken in Russia and France. Macron thanked Putin for \"helping France with the return of French citizens to their homeland and ensuring conditions for shipments of medical supplies and equipment through Russia to France,\" the press service said. | Int…
rt.com/newsline/486135-putin-macron-discuss-economic/

US Federal Reserve \'put the world on its back\' with $2.3 TRILLION injection, chief research analyst tells Boom Bust
rt.com | 2020-04-17
As organizations like the IMF and the UN warn that this is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the US central bank has once again decided to pump trillions of dollars into the economy. | RT\'s Boom Bust talks to the CEO of Transformity Research, Tobin Smith, who has been sounding the alarm lately, saying that the economic downturn in the United States is not due to the coronavirus pandemic. | \"Let\'s bear in mind that up until eight days ago we were in a free fall and then the Fed put the United States on its back and it really put the world on its back. It basically said that the world is too…
rt.com/business/486134-us-fed-injection-world/

Army\'s \"Service Parade\" in Tehran
en.mehrnews.com | 2020-04-17
TEHRAN, Apr. 17 (MNA)

WHO first? It\'s time to revamp global institutions and prepare for a new post-Covid world order
rt.com | 2020-04-17
With the WHO under attack for alleged complacency in dealing with Covid-19, the roles of other international organizations could be put under the spotlight, too. Is this a chance to rethink how global institutions should function? | When he cut funding for the World Health Organization earlier this week, US President Donald Trump accused the health body of being \"China-centric,\" of propagating \"false information about transmission and mortality\" and generally of mishandling the pandemic, which has taken 135,000 lives and seen two million people infected globally. | Trump\'s decision to cut US funding to the WHO…
rt.com/news/486042-who-funding-trump-reform/

Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Pregnancy during the COVID-19 pandemic
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-17
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Because SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus, researchers are still learning how the virus affects the body. And this raises questions for pregnant women. Can COVID-19 affect pregnancy? Is breastfeeding safe? How can a pregnant woman protect herself from the disease? On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-qa-podcast-pregnancy-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast: Critical care units prepare for COVID-19
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org | 2020-04-17
An intensive care unit (ICU) is a special unit in a hospital where patients who are very ill can be under constant supervision by their health care team. The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed ICU and critical care units in hot spots where the virus had spread widely. On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Daniel Brown, …
newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/mayo-clinic-qa-podcast-critical-care-units-prepare-for-covid-19/

\'It would be like martial law. You choose\': Philippines leader Duterte threatens to deploy troops to enforce Covid-19 quarantine
rt.com | 2020-04-17
President of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte has said that police and the military will step in to control social distancing and curfew if citizens continue to violate the Covid-19 quarantine rules. | Duterte has sent out his warning in a televised speech. \"I am asking for your discipline, because if you don\'t want to [follow the rules], the military and police will take over. I am ordering them now to be ready,\" he said, as cited by local media. | The police and the military will enforce social distancing and curfew. It would be like martial law. You choose. | The president said that he could hand down the or…
rt.com/news/486099-duterte-martial-law-quarantine/

Cutting the Funding: The WHO, Trump and the Coronavirus Wars
Dr. Binoy Kampmark | globalresearch.ca | 2020-04-17
The US president is in a warring mood. Having declared himself a president at war, a meaningless gesture given that the US is always, somewhere in the world, at war, finding necessary enemies in distraction was always going to be …
globalresearch.ca/cutting-funding-who-trump-coronavirus-wars/5709912

Everyone needs to hear the words of an \'underfunded\' intensive care nurse about the \'apocalyptic situation\'
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-04-17
An intensive care nurse has recorded a spoken word poem warning of an \"apocalyptic situation\" for \"underfunded, under-prepared and under-protected\" NHS staff. | Tori Wills, a sister at Southampton General Hospital\'s intensive care unit, posted the video on Facebook \"out of frustration\" at people not obeying lockdown rules. | Willis told PA: \"I wrote the poem out of general frustration at the public still flouting the rules, when my colleagues are putting their lives at risk and working in extremely harsh environments. | I have never shared any of my spoken word, But today, the sun is out, there are still families…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/2020/04/17/everyone-needs-to-hear-the-words-of-an-underfunded-intensive-care-nurse-about-the-apocalyptic-situation/

The Sixties in the City of the Fallen Angels
Ron Jacobs | counterpunch.org | 2020-04-17
Authors Mike Davis and Jon Weiner borrowed the title of their new history of Los Angeles from the Doors song \"Light My Fire.\" Titled Set the Night on Fire: A History of LA in the Sixties, it is a history of social movements for social and economic justice and against imperial war. Indeed, given the…
counterpunch.org/2020/04/17/the-sixties-in-the-city-of-the-fallen-angels/

UK could have the highest death rate in Europe because government was \'too slow\', doctor warns
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2020-04-17
Britain will face \"further waves\" of coronavirus and will probably have the highest death rate in Europe because the government was \"too slow\" to act, a leading physician has warned.Professor Anthony Costello, of University College London\'s Institute for Global Health, told a committee of MPs that the \"harsh reality\" is that \"we were too slow with a number of things\".\"If we\'re going to suppress the chain of transmission of this virus in the next stage we all hope that the national lockdown and social distancing will bring about a large suppression of the epidemic so far

Brave New Normal
CJ Hopkins | indybay.org | 2020-04-17
So the War on Populism is finally over. Go ahead, take a wild guess who won.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/04/15/18832376.php

Nigeria: Police Brutality Is More Lethal Than COVID-19
telesurenglish.net | 2020-04-17
Nigeria\'s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) denounced that the victims of police brutality outnumber those killed by COVID-19 on its territory as the Nigerian police are suspected of having carried out 18 extra-judicial killings between March 30 and April 13. | RELATED: | Africa: COVID Positive Cases Exceed 16,500 | \"While the new coronavirus has killed eleven patients, security forces have extrajudicially executed 18 people to enforce orders,\" the NHRC head Tony Ojukwu said and added that h…
telesurenglish.net/news/nigeria-police-brutality-is-more-lethal-than-covid19-20200417-0001.html

\'There were polar bears on the street\': Did former England captain John Terry\'s DAUGHTER scupper 2018 move to Spartak Moscow?
rt.com | 2020-04-17
John Terry rejected a move to Spartak Moscow at the last minute after his daughter voiced her fears that polar bears roamed the streets and the Chelsea legend would \"never return\", Italian agent Marco Trabucchi has revealed. | Terry had completed a medical with Spartak in Rome at the start of the 2018/19 season before a family summit made the free agent decide that a switch to Russia was \"not the right move\". | He had been expected to sign a lucrative two-year contract to join his first club outside of the UK at the age of 37, but later issued a public apology to Spartak chairman Leonid Fedun in an about-turn…
rt.com/sport/486119-john-terry-daughter-retirement/