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News & Views | 4/29/20

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by Jake Johnson, staff writer
"Cutting payroll taxes does nothing to help seniors or the millions of people who just lost their jobs. It does, however, defund Social Security and Medicare—which is why Trump is obsessed with the idea."

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Alex Hernandez prepares sells a "torta de tamal" in his tamales stand at Baja California Avenue on April 17, 2020 in Mexico City, Mexico.

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer
The United Nations labor agency warned Wednesday that "1.6 billion workers in the informal economy—that is nearly half of the global workforce—stand in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed" by the worldwide economic crisis created by the coronavirus pandemic.



by Jake Johnson, staff writer
"We have a president forcing hazardous meat plants to reopen, threatening workers' health. We have a Labor Department siding with corporations over workers' safety. Disgusting."


Amazon employees hold a protest and walkout over conditions at the company's Staten Island distribution facility on March 30, 2020 in New York City.

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer
One organizer explained that the goal is to "push back with large numbers against the right-wing groups that want to risk our lives by reopening the economy."

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Piglets like these ones pictured are being slaughtered en masse around the country as food supply chains run into trouble.

by Eoin Higgins, staff writer
"Plants that don't treat animals well often don't treat workers well."



by Jake Johnson, staff writer
"A country that puts people in this situation is not a country upholding its responsibility to its citizens."


People wearing masks and gloves wait to checkout at Walmart on April 03, 2020 in Uniondale, New York.

by Eoin Higgins, staff writer
"We can't wait for more half-measures—we're taking matters into our own hands to get the information we deserve to know."


A display shows a facial recognition system for law enforcement during the NVIDIA GPU Technology Conference

by Andrea Germanos, staff writer
"Absolutely the fuck not."


U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks to the media at the Capitol Building September 24, 2019 in Washington, D.C.

by Jessica Corbett, staff writer
In a pair of letters Wednesday, more than 100 economists urged Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to increase relief for workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic by making "substantial improvements" to the federal short-time compensation program and passing Rep. Pramila Jayapal's Paycheck Guarantee Act.


Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, pictured at a rally with President Donald Trump in January, told Iowans that if they do not return to work when asked they will lose unemployment benefits.

by Eoin Higgins, staff writer
"I feel like either I'm going to lose my business and everything I worked for, or I'm going to get sick."



by Jake Johnson, staff writer
"When I warned everyone in February that Pence doesn't believe in science and shouldn't be in charge of Covid response, I meant it," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

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Georgia Governor Brian Kemp speaks to the media during a press conference at the Georgia State Capitol on April 27, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. The press conference was held to brief the media about the current situation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in Georgia as the state reopens restaurants for dine-in customers. (Photo: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

by Wendy Jacobson
The elevation of pseudostupidity and disavowal of its consequences is a Trump characteristic his followers celebrate as a strength, not a failing. This endangers us all.


Naomi Klein refers to this as "disaster capitalism," and it can happen far more easily now in Seattle and in other parts of the country, when schools are closed and no one is watching. (Photo: United Federation of Teachers/ Facebook)

by Dora Taylor
Amid the pandemic, superintendents are gaining the power to sell out public education for private gain.


Meat plant workers. (Photo: Shutterstock)

by Jill Richardson
Meatpackers are contracting COVID-19 and dying. Trump is requiring them to work—and shielding their employers from liability.


To help stop Trump's power play to set himself up as America's postal potentate and privatizer in chief, get information and campaign resources from the American Postal Workers Union and visit USMailNotForSale.org. (Photo: USMailNotforSale.org)

by Jim Hightower
The entire public system—including our beloeved U.S. Postal Service—is now under direct attack by an outbreak of Trumpista vitriolitus, an inexplicable form of personal animosity emanating from the White House.


A Grubhub delivery person makes bicycle deliveries on the empty streets of Washington DC. (Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA)

by Robert Reich
Of course this economic crisis triggered by the pandemic is not hitting people all the same.


There was no hesitation in sending them to their death so others could live: the American cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, in Normandy. (© FlaglerLive)

by Pierre Tristam
A prolonged economic crisis on the scale of a great depression will tally up its own body count, and may damage the country’s fabric in ways we cannot imagine.

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