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News & Views | 4/24/20

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President Donald Trump speaks after signing the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C, on April 24, 2020.

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer
President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to withhold all future Covid-19 relief funding from the U.S. Postal Service unless the federal agency dramatically raises its shipping prices—a demand that critics say is ludicrous given the economic calamity the American people and the post office are...

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by Jake Johnson, staff writer
"If these are truly legislative priorities for members of Congress, as they should be, they need to start fighting for them."


People wait in line as SF-Marin Food Bank hands out 1,600 food bags at a pop-up pantry at Bayview Opera House in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, April 20, 2020. Work furloughs and layoffs created by coronavirus shelter-in-place orders are driving thousands to seek food assistance. (Scott Strazzante/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

by Julia Conley, staff writer
New analysis by the Congressional Budget Office offered what one observer called an "incredibly sobering" projection for unemployment levels for the coming two years as the U.S. recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.


U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House on April 23, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

by Julia Conley, staff writer
A day after President Donald Trump publicly speculated about the efficacy of injecting disinfectants into the lungs of a coronavirus patient and exposing people to large amounts of ultraviolet rays to treat the virus, the progressive advocacy group MoveOn called on Trump's cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.

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A red admiral butterfly stands on a flower in an urban garden in the city center on August 9, 2018 in Berlin.

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer
The largest ever assessment of long-term insect abundance found that there has been a nearly 25% decrease of land-dwelling bugs like ants, butterflies, and grasshoppers over the past 30 years—a revelation that inspired fresh demands for urgent international action to tackle the decades-long, human-caused "bugpocalypse."


Larissa Vuitika, biologist, works during the virus inactivation process on March 24, 2020 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. (Photo: Pedro Vilela/Getty Images)

by Julia Conley, staff writer
"Health is a human right. Medical knowledge is a public good. No one should be left behind."


Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks on the House floor on April 23, 2020.

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer
"We are so grateful for the unapologetic moral clarity and political courage," said Sunrise Movement, questioning when House Democrats will "use their leverage to fight for us."



by Jake Johnson, staff writer
"I was finally able to sit on hold almost four hours. Then I got disconnected," said one Arizona man attempting to apply for benefits.



by Julia Conley, staff writer
The think tank also recommends immediately revising state requirements for teachers to allow people without teaching certifications to educate students.



by Jake Johnson, staff writer
"This administration is committed to fulfilling the decades-long pursuit by some to sacrifice our public Postal Service at the altar of private profit."



by Jake Johnson, staff writer
"ALERT! Please do not ingest, inject, inhale, or otherwise use any disinfectant outside of its labeled instructions. And do not start using tanning beds or sunning without sunscreen."

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Wearing a scarf over her mouth and nose, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is surrounded by security and staff as she arrives for her weekly news conference during the novel coronavirus pandemic at the U.S. Capitol April 24, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

by Morris Pearl
The challenges that millions of Americans are facing right now are real, life-threatening, and demand immediate, far-reaching action by our elected officials. It shouldn't be too much to ask that they act like it.


A right-wing protester in Minnesota holds a sign which reads "Be like Sweden" while another called the coronavirus pandemic a "fake crisis" during an anti-lockdown demonstration in Minnesota last week. (Photo: AP)

by Christian Christensen
Sweden's intake of refugees—from Syrians five years ago to Somalis ten years ago—may not seem like an obvious place to start, but it is.


Want to pay the WHO to fight pandemics and poverty around the world for a decade? One man called Jeff could do it today and still be worth $114.5 billion as he was at the end of last year. (Photo by Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images)

by Laura Flanders
Two and three-quarters of a million—that's the number of cases worldwide as of this morning.


AOC symbolizes integrity, the courage of her political convictions, and the kind of passionate egalitarianism that the Democratic party must nourish if it is to have a future. (Photo: Senate Democrats/flickr/cc)

by Jeffrey C. Isaac
If the Democratic leadership is serious about uniting the wings of the party for a decisive November victory, then it must recognize that AOC is a necessary part of this effort.


PFAS do not break down in the environment and bioaccumulate in the food chain. They are associated with birth defects and developmental damage to infants, the liver, kidneys and immune system, as well as cancer risk. (Photo: Getty)

by Kyla Bennett
Even as the scientific case for regulation grows clearer and more urgent every year, the EPA under President Trump delays and obfuscates.


The U.S. Coast Guard conducts a controlled burn of oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform, which exploded on April 20, 2010 and spilled 168 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico off the Louisiana coast. (Photo: Justin E. Stumberg / U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

by Tara Lohan
In the past few years, the Trump administration has signaled that it wants to vastly expand offshore drilling, including lifting drilling bans in parts of the Arctic and Atlantic oceans.

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