COULD CHOCOLATE BE THE NEXT VICTIM OF THE PANDEMIC?

By Doloresz Katanich last updated: 19/06/2020 -

Did you know that on average, cocoa farmers earn just 6 per cent of the value of a chocolate bar?

Two-thirds of the world's chocolate supply comes from West Africa, but the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the continent is now rising fast. The pandemic is exacerbating cocoa farmers' poverty, meaning they can't invest in proper protection from the virus.

This uncertainty and disruption in the supply chain could jeopardise the future of cocoa production, which is already suffering from the effects of climate change and deforestation.

UK-based charity Fairtrade Foundation says it is more important than ever to support these vulnerable communities, by purchasing Fairtrade certified products. Fairtrade farmers earn a fair wage and benefit from a higher quality of life.

VIDEO https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/06/19/could-chocolate-be-the-next-victim-of-the-pandemic?jwsource=cl

What is the truth behind the 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory? | Culture Clash

By Alexander Morgan • last updated: 15/05/2020

Conspiracy theorists link 5G to the coronavirus - Copyright Matt Dunham/Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Barrie Trower is a conspiracy theorist and says 5G is to blame for the rapid spread of COVID-19. He believes it degrades the immune system and that the dangers are being covered up by powerful forces in the global telecommunications industry.

Three months ago, Barrie was part of a tiny minority with these extreme and unfounded views. But all of that changed when COVID-19 spread and the world locked down.

Celebrities, with vast followings, started suggesting there could be truth to these unfounded claims by sharing the conspiracy theory into the mainstream.

Since then telecoms engineers have been spat at, threatened and chased down the streets. Phone masts have been set alight across Europe, threatening to cut off vital communications at a time of international emergency.

But what exactly are the claims that are fueling these conspiracies? And why are they dangerous nonsense?

First, there’s the claim that 5G has caused the virus. We can get rid of this right away.
Watch: The truth behind the 5G conspiracy theory

Scientists confirm that COVID-19 is transmitted via respiratory droplets, and they are quick to point out that you cannot transmit droplets through 5G waves.

Perhaps the most prevalent of all the theories is the suggestion that 5G degrades the immune system, and that this has helped spread COVID-19.

Firstly, many of the hardest-hit countries currently have no 5G infrastructure. Iran has over 114,000 confirmed cases - and no 5G masts.

Secondly, the theory that 5G is dangerous to the immune system is exactly the same claim we saw when 2G, 3G, 4G and WiFi were all launched.

5G waves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum and it is true that higher frequency radiation at the end of this spectrum does pose dangers.
 

5G is non-ionising radiation ShutterStock

That’s because these high-frequency waves are “ionising”, meaning they can cause internal damage to our bodies if exposure is too great.

Take X-Rays as an example. These penetrate the body and are used for medical imaging, so a patient’s exposure must be limited.

5G is in a band of low-frequency waves, like WiFi, that are “non-ionising”. The overwhelming weight of scientific evidence has shown that non-ionising radiation does not cause internal damage to our cells.

So if we listen to the science, the simple fact is that 5G cannot be behind the pandemic, either by spreading the virus or by degrading our immune response.

Barr tries to oust Manhattan U.S. attorney investigating Trump allies, who now refuses to step down

Berman says he has ‘no intention of resigning’; White House wants SEC chief Jay Clayton to take over role

Published: June 20, 2020 By Associated Press

Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, speaks during a news conference in 2019. ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department moved abruptly Friday to oust Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan overseeing key prosecutions of President Donald Trump’s allies and an investigation of his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. But Berman said he was refusing to leave his post and his ongoing investigations would continue.

“I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position,” Berman said. His statement came hours Attorney General Bill Barr said Berman was stepping down from his position.

The standoff set off an extraordinary clash between the Justice Department and one of the nation’s top districts, which has tried major mob and terror cases over the years. It is also likely to deepen tensions between the Justice Department and congressional Democrats who have pointedly accused Barr of politicizing the agency and acting more like Trump’s personal lawyer than the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.

The move to oust Berman came days after allegations surfaced from former Trump national security adviser John Bolton that the president sought to interfere in an Southern District investigation into the state-owned Turkish bank in an effort to cut deals with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Barr offered no explanation for the move in the statement he issued late Friday. The White House quickly announced that Trump was nominating the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to the job, a lawyer with virtually no experience as a federal prosecutor.

Hours later, Berman issued his own statement saying he had learned that he was being pushed out through media report. He vowed to stay on the job until a Trump nominee is confirmed by the Senate. The investigations he oversees will continue, he said.

Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Giuliani’s business dealings, including whether he failed to register as a foreign agent, according to people familiar with the probe. The people were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The office has also prosecuted a number of Trump associates, including Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who served a prison sentence for lying to Congress and campaign finance crimes.

Berman has also overseen the prosecution of two Florida businessmen, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were associates of Giuliani and tied to the Ukraine impeachment investigation. The men were charged in October with federal campaign finance violations, including hiding the origin of a $325,000 donation to a group supporting Trump’s reelection.

Bolton’s tell-all, excerpts of which were posted by the news media this week, included details on how Trump sought to cut a deal to halt SDNY’s investigation into whether Halkbank violated U.S. sanctions against Iran in order to free an American pastor imprisoned in Turkey. Six weeks after the pastor’s release, Bolton writes that on a call with Erdoğan, “Trump then told Erdoğan he would take care of things, explaining that the Southern District prosecutors were not his people, but were Obama people, a problem that would be fixed when they were replaced by his people.” The episode occurred months after Berman assumed the role of U.S. attorney.

A Republican who contributed to the president’s election campaign, Berman worked for the same law firm as Giuliani and was put in his job by the Trump administration. But as U.S. attorney, he won over some skeptics after he went after Trump allies.

Berman was appointed by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in January 2018, months after Bharara was fired after refusing to resign along with dozens of other federal prosecutors appointed by President Barack Obama.

Three months later, FBI agents raided Cohen’s offices, an act the president decried as a politically motivated witch hunt.

The following April, in the absence of a formal nomination by Trump, the judges in Manhattan federal court voted to appoint Berman to the position permanently. He has taken a direct hand in other investigations that have angered Trump.

His office subpoenaed Trump’s inaugural committee for a wide range of documents as part of an investigation into various potential crimes, including possible illegal contributions from foreigners to inaugural events.

And weeks before the 2018 midterm election, Berman announced insider trading charges against an ardent Trump supporter, Republican Rep. Chris Collins. Collins, who represented western New York, has since resigned.

Under Berman’s tenure, his office also brought charges against Michael Avenatti, the combative lawyer who gained fame by representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits involving Trump. Avenatti was convicted in February of trying to extort Nike after prosecutors said he threatened to use his media access to hurt Nike’s r

SUPERSPREADERS COVID-TRUMPERS
Trump rally attendees dismiss heat and coronavirus concerns as they line up outside Tulsa arena

Temperatures in Tulsa have reached the 90s, and the Trump faithful are camped in an area with hardly a spot of shade

Published: June 19, 2020 By Associated Press

Trump supporters, including a man dressed in a suit representing a border wall even as the mercury hits 90° in Tulsa, line up outside outside the BOK Center arena on Thursday, two days ahead of the first Trump rally since early March. ASSOCIATED PRESS

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Rick Frazier drove more than 750 miles from Ohio to be one of the first campers in line for President Donald Trump’s first rally in months, undeterred by a days-long wait in searing heat, the growing risk of the coronavirus in Oklahoma or a lukewarm reception from local officials.

The 64-year-old is among scores of supporters who have brought their vans, tents, campers and Trump flags to the parking lots and sidewalks outside the 19,000-seat BOK Center, and who say what matters most is being there to see the president take the stage on Saturday — and to be sure he knows they have his back.


“The big thing is to go in and support the president,” said Frazier, who arrived Tuesday for what will be his 21st Trump rally. Frazier said he feels safe, noting he and other campers are using hand sanitizer to prevent spread of COVID-19.

Tulsa’s mayor, G.T. Bynum, declared a civil emergency and set a curfew for the area around the BOK Center ahead of the rally Saturday night.

The state supreme on Friday afternoon rejected a last-ditch appeal to require that rally attendees adhere to CDC guidelines on face masks and social distancing. The Tulsa lawyer who brought the suit, according to the newspaper Tulsa World, said the goal was to limit the risk to local public health.

The court said the Tulsa residents who had asked that the thousands expected at the rally be required to take the precautions couldn’t establish that they had a clear legal right to the relief sought. In a concurring opinion, two justices wrote that the state’s reopening plan is “permissive, suggestive and discretionary.”

A local convenience-store chain has reportedly opted to close over concerns for employee health and safety rather than seek to capitalize on the influx of prospective shoppers.

The president issued this crackdown threat on Twitter to would-be demonstrators, even as campaign representative Marc Lotter was telling MSNBC that peaceful exercise of the First Amendment right to protest is welcome:

Trump rallies are known for an atmosphere akin to a political tailgate party and have always drawn diehard fans who often travel from event to event and sleep outside for days to secure a spot and pass time. Some are self-described “front-row Joes.” The groups gathering in Tulsa are taking that loyalty to a new level, though some called the coronavirus threat “an exaggeration.”

Temperatures in Tulsa have reached the 90s, and the Trump faithful are camped in an area with hardly a spot of shade. While Trump said Thursday he picked Oklahoma partly because “you’ve done so well with the COVID,” the city has seen record numbers of new coronavirus cases this week, and Tulsa Health Department Director Bruce Dart has pushed for a postponement of the event.

Trump said there had been “tremendous requests for tickets” and that there will be “a crowd like I guess nobody has seen before,” creating the kind of packed, indoor space that scientists say heighten the virus’s spread as compared with outdoor gatherings.

His rallies typically include a lot of shouting and chanting, and attendees often travel from long distances, prompting fears they could be infected and then spread it to people back home, or bring it from their hometowns and become vectors within the Tulsa arena. In an attempt to protect itself from lawsuits, Trump’s campaign added language to the event registration stating guests assumed risk for exposure to COVID-19.

Key Words:Trump adviser Kudlow talks up limiting coronavirus liability for businesses: ‘I don’t think there should be a lawsuit’

But meeting with Trump at the White House on Thursday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt pledged the state is ready, noting its rate of positive COVID-19 tests is lower than many other states. As of this week, Tulsa County has displaced Oklahoma County as the state’s leading COVID-19 hot spot with 1,825 cases.

“It’s going to be safe,” said Stitt, a Trump-aligned Republican who was recommending dining in restaurants even as the World Health Organization made its pandemic declaration in March. “We have to learn how to be safe and how to move on.”

That has not reassured BOK Center management, who requested a written health and safety plan from the Trump campaign on Thursday. In a statement to Oklahoma City television station KFOR, rally organizers appeared unimpressed but said they would review the request.

The Trump campaign said Thursday that it takes “safety seriously,” noting that organizers are providing masks, hand sanitizers and doing temperature checks for all attendees.

“This will be a Trump rally, which means a big, boisterous, excited crowd,” the campaign said. “We don’t recall the media shaming [anti-racism] demonstrators about social distancing — in fact the media were cheering them on.”

Stitt, the governor, suggested in a Fox News interview that the campaign’s response was good enough for him:

Trump had originally been scheduled to speak on Friday. He changed the date amid an uproar that it would occur on Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery in the U.S., and in a city where a 1921 white-on-black attack killed as many as 300 people. Black community leaders — some of whom characterized the originally targeted date as a slap in the face — said they still worry Saturday’s rally could spark violence.

Juneteenth:Special coverage of date marking slavery’s end, including stories reparations, the salary gap, education and student debt, policing and more

Trump has been on a hiatus from the rallies that have been a centerpiece of his campaign — and indeed, unusually, his entire presidency — halting them since March 2 because of the spreading virus, which has killed more than 118,000 people in the U.S. But he has been eager to return to the events, which allow him to rally his base and build the campaign database of supporters. (Campaign manager Brad Parscale has crowed that the Tulsa arena is significantly oversubscribed — going on to describe those requesting the free tickets as having participated in a campaign “data haul.”)

Saturday’s rally also could provide a bit of diversion from criticism over Trump’s handling of the pandemic and the protests following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Rainey Strader, 48, who traveled to Tulsa from Iowa with her husband and 75-year-old mother, said she brought a mask but isn’t sure if she will wear it once she gets inside the venue. Strader said she isn’t worried about COVID-19, which she considers to be “like the flu.”

“It’s just a new thing, and everybody’s worried,” said Strader, who was working a word-search puzzle while she waited Thursday with her mother as her husband slept in their van. “It’s exaggerated.”

Strader’s mother, Catherine Pahsetopah, said she’s also not sure whether she will wear her mask, despite being considered high-risk for COVID-19 because of her age and health problems. She said she’s seen presidents come and go — all the way “back to Eisenhower” — and Trump ranks among the best.

“He’s great. He’s wonderful,” Pahsetopah said, adding: “If John Kennedy knew what happened to the Democratic Party he wouldn’t want them” because of their support for “aborting the babies.”

Delmer Phillips, 41, of Tulsa, described himself and others who showed up early for the rally as “front-row Joes” who are excited to get a glimpse of the president. He said he won’t wear a mask this weekend because he believes he may have already had the virus and has built up immunity.

“I’m personally not so worried about it,” he said. “I believe in God, and I don’t live in fear.”

MarketWatch contributed to this report.

In One Chart
‘La la land?’ The stock market is ‘insanely disconnected’ and due for a ‘reckoning,’ Warren Buffett buff warns

Published: June 18, 2020 By  Shawn Langlois

Are investors in "La La Land"... ? EVERETT/LIONS GATE

Those betting against this “absurdly overvalued” stock market are about to get paid, if Kevin Smith, Crescat Capital’s chief investment officer, has it right in his gloomy assessment.

“Speculation is rampant and being championed by a bold new breed of millennial day traders,” he said. “The mania is based on a widespread hope in Fed money printing. The catalysts for reckoning are numerous as a major cyclical economic downturn has only just begun.”

Smith, who recently talked about learning the ropes from a stack of Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A, -0.51% BRK.B, -0.55% shareholders letters his dad gave him long ago, said, in a very un–Warren Buffett fashion, that shorting stocks “is worthy of a significant allocation today.”

Smith used this chart of plunging S&P 500 SPX, -0.56% profit margins to show “how insanely disconnected equity prices are from their underlying fundamentals.” He warned that buy-the-dip investors are “not paying attention and have simply been too eager to call the bottom.”



Smith reiterated his “macro trade of the century” call that there’s never been a better set-up for rotating out of overvalued stocks and into undervalued precious metals.


“Markets driven by euphoria never end well,” he explained in a note to clients this week. “The U.S. stock market today is in la-la land. It is discounting a new expansion phase of the economy at the same time as a major recession has only just begun.”

Smith took some lumps in his funds when the market was soaring early in the year, but his returns ballooned in March as the coronavirus pandemic arrived. Here are his historical numbers:



The severe “reckoning” Smith has been warning about hasn’t arrived as of Thursday’s trading session, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.80%, S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP, +0.03% were all under pressure, at last check.

Opinion: Here’s why the FDA may approve a Covid-19 vaccine before the November elections, according to Jefferies’ biotech-research team

If true, any approval may not actually benefit a vaccine company, but instead other parts of the stock market

GIVES NEW MEANING TO; VIRAL POLITICKS 

GETTY IMAGES
Published: June 19, 2020 By Michael Brush

As fears of a second wave of Covid-19 weigh on stocks, here’s some potentially good news: A vaccine may be approved before the November election, according to a major biotechnology investing research firm.

The prediction is a big deal for investors for three reasons.


1. It’s credible because it comes from Jefferies, a high-profile brokerage in biotech and pharma that’s wired in to literally hundreds of companies in the group, including the major vaccine developers. Jefferies has nine analysts covering the industry.

2. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a vaccine ahead of voting could have an impact on the elections, possibly swaying the outcome in favor of President Trump.


3. For investors, early vaccine approval would be bullish for biotech stocks, cyclical stocks, travel stocks, the economy and the market overall. The S&P 500 Index US:SPX and the Dow Jones Industrial Average US:DJIA have recovered most of their March losses, and the Nasdaq Composite Index US:COMP recently hit new highs. They’ll need some good news to support further advances.

Ironically, early vaccine approvals probably won’t mean much for investors who have already enjoyed good runs in vaccine developers. It might not mean much for most people worried about contracting the virus, either. Weird, right? We’ll get to that later in this column.

Bold prediction

We hear time and again that vaccines take 10 to 15 years to research and bring to market. So given the limited timeline of Covid-19 vaccine safety and efficacy studies to date, the following is a bold projection.

“We believe the FDA will likely approve at least one vaccine prior to the November election,” Jefferies health-care strategist Jared Holz said in an interview. “Perhaps multiple vaccines could get the go-ahead at some point early in the fourth quarter and quell fears of a second wave of Covid-19.”

But this isn’t too off the wall, even if Covid-19 vaccines have only been investigated for under a year. That’s because Holz is basing his prediction, in part, on signals from vaccine-development companies.

He says New York-based Jefferies has heard from several vaccine developers — including Moderna US:MRNA and AstraZeneca US:AZN — that an emergency authorization may happen before the elections. And just as important, they’ll be close to having the capacity to produce millions of doses.


“That sets a very high bar, which no one is asking them to set,” says Holz.

Efficacy studies will continue. Moderna is moving into Phase II Covid-19 vaccine trials now, and it will start a larger Phase III clinical study at the beginning of July, the company has said. Both trials look at efficacy, and they will continue to examine safety. Many other vaccine companies are on a similar timeline.
Machiavellian maneuver

Here are three other reasons we may well see Covid-19 vaccine approval before early November.

1. President Trump has a penchant for timing policy decisions (such as China trade negotiation breakthroughs) to influence the markets and the electorate at key tactical turning points. So it won’t be surprising if he exerts behind-the-scenes pressure to get vaccine approval to boost ratings and his odds against the Democrats, says Holz. Sounds Machiavellian. But welcome to politics.

2. The federal government is directly funding many of the vaccine-development programs. This “raises the odds of near-term approval, given the inherent bias,” says Holz.

3. Initial approval would be for emergency use only, which lowers the research hurdles for efficacy. “The efficacy bar will be fairly low considering the toll Covid-19 has taken on the world over the past four to six months from a health and an economic standpoint,” says Holz.

Emergency-use approval seems like a letdown because it would take a lot of potential beneficiaries, including you and me, out of the equation. Health-care workers would be first in line. But limited-use approval would still be important for investors and the economy.

Here’s why.

It would help the health-care system. Our leaders shut down much of the economy when Covid-19 struck because they had failed to prepare the health-care system for a pandemic. Having vaccines that might keep more front-line health care workers on the job and healthy — boosting their morale and numbers — would take some of the pressure off politicians to reimpose fresh lockdowns to “flatten the curve” in a resurgence.

Will we get a resurgence? Probably, but not right now. I think the current resurgence data are just noise. The case-count data are based on non-random samples, which renders them meaningless, statistically. Florida tested more and found more, in lockstep. Exactly what you would expect. The Florida data do not show a resurgence in Covid-19, only more testing.

But I do expect a meaningful resurgence starting in early October when the flu season begins. This is what happened with the swine flu in 2010 and the Spanish flu a century ago. However, the October resurgence won’t be as scary as round one, because a lot of people will already have been exposed, and we will have better testing and tracking capabilities to support selective rather than blanket lockdowns. And we might even have a vaccine.
Vaccine investors, hold the Champagne

Early approval of vaccines before the elections probably wouldn’t help investors in the companies developing them, including Moderna, AstraZeneca, Pfizer US:PFE, Johnson & Johnson US:JNJ, Sanofi US:SNY, Inovio Pharmaceuticals US:INO, Novavax US:NVAX and Arcturus Therapeutics US:ARCT, among others.

That’s because many of the stocks have already risen a lot, especially those closer to being pure plays because they are smaller.

Next, it would be bad PR for vaccine producers to be seen making a lot of profits off a global pandemic health crisis. (The same goes for Covid-19 therapy developers including Gilead US:GILD, which is researching remdesivir as a treatment.) Given the government’s role in funding research, it would likewise also pressure vaccine makers to cap pricing.
Winners

But many other investors would benefit from vaccine approvals. Biotech and pharma investors would get a boost if the public and politicians view them as having “saved the day” in the Covid-19 crisis. That would mean there would be less pressure for them to rein in drug pricing.

That would support biotech and pharma companies and exchange traded funds including iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index US:IBB and SPDR S&P Biotech US:XBI. They have been plagued for years by worries the government will regulate drug prices.

“In the end, a vaccine likely does more for the sector as whole from a sentiment standpoint,” says Jefferies’ Holz.

Vaccine approval would also help cyclical and travel stocks because it would lower the odds of another full lockdown. It would also benefit a group I call “public-gathering-place” stocks.

A portfolio of eight public gathering place stocks I suggested in my stock letter, Brush Up on Stocks, on March 17 was already up 71% by the close June 15, compared with 26.3% gains for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust US:SPY. I wrote about this topic in MarketWatch last month.

I expect further gains from those stocks when vaccines are approved. My portfolio includes Churchill Downs US:CHDN, Royal Caribbean Cruises US:RCL, Carnival US:CCL, Planet Fitness US:PLNT and Cedar Fair US:FUN in amusement parks.

At the time of publication, Michael Brush owned CHDN and CCL. Brush has suggested PFE, JNJ, SNY, INO, NVAX, IBB, XBI, CHDN, RCL, CCL, PLNT and FUN in his stock newsletter, Brush Up on Stocks. Brush is a Manhattan-based financial writer who has covered business for the New York Times and The Economist Group, and he attended Columbia Business School. Follow Brush on Twitter: @mbrushstocks.

EXPERTS SUGGEST IMPROVING VENTILATION MAY REDUCE VIRUS SPREAD

Amazon workers hold Juneteenth vigils demanding Jeff Bezos reflect on company’s treatment of ‘unskilled workforce’

There’s also a new lawsuit challenging Amazon’s workplace safety compliance. Company lawyers call it ‘meritless.’


A May 1 protest outside an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island that’s become the subject of a new lawsuit. GETTY IMAGES

Amazon AMZN, +0.79% CEO Jeff Bezos says Juneteenth should be a moment for reflection about the ways we can eradicate systemic racism and create a more just country.

But some Amazon workers are holding Juneteenth vigils where they say they want to draw a link between “slavery, racism and Amazon’s treatment of its ‘unskilled workforce.’” At Juneteenth gatherings in New York and California, workers will demand that Bezos reflect on the working conditions and salaries inside his own company.

June 19 is Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in America. On this date in 1865, enslaved African-Americans in Texas learned that they were free when Union Gen. Gordon Granger read an order declaring that the Emancipation Proclamation was in effect in the state. President Abraham Lincoln had issued the proclamation more than two years earlier in the Civil War against the Confederacy.

Racism isn’t just about using slurs or waving the Confederate flag, says Adrienne Williams, co-founder of Bay Area Amazonians, a newly-formed worker advocacy group for staffers at the retail tech giant that is hosting one of the Juneteenth vigils.

‘The systemic racism is in all American institutions, and that includes Amazon. If Amazon really stands in solidarity with us, they should prove it by listening to us about solutions.’— Adrienne Williams, co-founder of Bay Area Amazonians

“It’s things like Jeff Bezos saying slavery ended a long time ago while not paying a living wage,” Williams, a driver for the company, said in a statement.

“The systemic racism is in all American institutions, and that includes Amazon. If Amazon really stands in solidarity with us, they should prove it by listening to us about solutions,” said Williams, who is a critic of the company’s working conditions.

Don’t miss: The only way to truly solve the race problem in America is to narrow the wealth gap, black economists say

Full-time workers at the 840,000-person company have a $15 an hour minimum wage. When Amazon announced the $15 wage rate, some tough critics, including Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, gave the company credit. Intense working conditions have been a common criticism of Amazon — and a pending federal lawsuit alleges the company isn’t meeting requisite safety conditions as the coronavirus pandemic continues.

Amazon has previously has said it offers fair, competitive pay and safe conditions. Last month, Bezos said the company was planning to spend approximately $4 billion in profits on “getting products to customers and keeping employees safe” and on “higher wages for hourly teams.”

See also:This is one Amazon customer that Jeff Bezos is ‘happy to lose’

Williams’ group organized a vigil at a Richmond, Calif. fulfillment center, and another organization, Amazonians United New York City, will convene a Juneteenth vigil in New York City. That group consists of logistics workers “seeking improvements in our workplace,” according to its Twitter TWTR, -1.82% profile.

“For Juneteenth we honor the lives stolen by white supremacy, from the founding of the US, through slavery, up to modern police violence. We honor those workers lost to covid as Amazon and others prioritize profits over human life,” the group wrote on Twitter.

“We stand in solidarity with the Black community and are committed to helping build a country and a world where everyone can live with dignity and free from fear,” said Amazon spokeswoman Lisa Levandowski. “We understand many of our employees feel passionate about this issue and may want to join demonstrations — we respect and encourage their choice to do so.”
An alleged ‘facade of compliance’ at one fulfillment center

The Juneteenth vigils come just weeks after a lawsuit alleging Amazon is violating workplace safety laws at its Staten Island fulfillment center amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The 5,000-employee fulfillment center has a “façade of compliance,” but it prizes cost-efficient worker productivity over everything else, according to a Brooklyn federal lawsuit filed this month by three Amazon workers and relatives who live with them.

Many workers at the site “are people of color who travel hours every day by public transportation to work ten- to eleven-hour shifts for low wages,” the lawsuit noted.

One plaintiff said she got coronavirus from coworkers who were “who were explicitly or encouraged to continue attending work.” She alleges that she brought it home with her, and that weeks later she found a cousin who lived with her dead after he came down with COVID-19 symptoms.

The company allegedly tracks exactly how much time employees spend on “time off task” and issues written warnings for workers who have 30 minutes per shift and above, not including paid break time. Sixty minutes results in a final written warning, the lawsuit said. Employees who don’t handle enough merchandise during a shift also allegedly face consequences. The policies “are oppressive and dangerous, even absent a pandemic,” the lawsuit said.

When the lawsuit was filed, an Amazon spokesperson sent a statement to MarketWatch that read in part: “We are saddened by the tragic impact COVID-19 has had on communities across the globe, including on some Amazon team members and their family and friends. From early March to May 1, we offered our employees unlimited time away from work, and since May 1 we have offered leave for those most vulnerable or who need to care for children or family members.”

Levandowski, the Amazon spokeswoman, told MarketWatch that the company is planning to spend more than $800 million in the first half of the year on coronavirus-related safety measures and equipment. It’s also spending more than $85 million to re-assign certain workers to safety and audits at work sites, she said. Amazon has already provided 100 million masks to workers, almost 2,300 extra hand-washing stations, and tacked on nearly 5,800 extra workers to its janitorial staff.

A lawsuit is focused on a fulfillment center where many employees are people of color.

Several unions and 16 Democratic representatives and senators — including Senator Sanders — filed a “friend of the court” brief in support of the workers.

The lawsuit alleges Amazon isn’t complying with workplace safety laws. Company attorneys say that “could not be further from the truth.” They say the allegations are “meritless” and call the lawsuit a “publicity stunt.”

The lawsuit is “meritless” and a “publicity stunt,” Amazon’s lawyers said in court papers.

The cleaning staff size has tripled at the Staten Island site and restrooms and breakrooms are cleaned eight times more often than they used to be, Amazon said in court papers.

The fulfillment center now has portable hand-washing stations and 120 hand-sanitizer dispensers. Any workers who are quarantining or diagnosed with coronavirus will get two weeks paid time off so they can “focus on their health and protect others,” the company says. The center passed an unannounced inspection from the city’s sheriff’s office, it noted.

The emphasis on sanitation is missing the point, the workers’ lawyers replied. The case is trying to make the company change its “efficiency-maximizing human resource policies, which discourage workers from taking time off work if they feel sick or have a known exposure to COVID-19,” they wrote.

Judge Brian Cogan will hold a hearing on the case in mid-July.

Months before the lawsuit, one worker, Chris Smalls, organized a walkout at the same fulfillment center and says he was fired as payback. Smalls is a black man. In a memo, David Zapolsky, Amazon’s senior vice president and general counsel, said Smalls was “not smart, or articulate.” Zapolsky later apologized for the comments.

“Smalls wasn’t fired in retaliation for organizing the protest, Levandowski said. “We terminated his employment for putting the health and safety of others at risk and violations of his terms of his employment.” Smalls was warned several times for allegedly violating the company’s social distancing guidelines, she said. Smalls was in close contact with a worker who had coronavirus, and was told to stay home with pay, Levandowski said. “Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came onsite further putting the teams at risk.”

Shares of Amazon have been up 44.76% this year compared to a 9.35% decline for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.80% and a 4.12% dip for the S&P 500 Index SPX, -0.56%

DIY = @
How the Auntie Sewing Squad made 50,000 masks for people the 'government didn't care about'

Diep Tran, NBC News•June 19, 2020

A woman in California sews 25 masks for a battered women's shelter. Another sews 80 for the formerly incarcerated. A third woman in Pennsylvania sews 100 masks for the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation. The mask-makers are part of the Auntie Sewing Squad, a national network of nearly 400 volunteers that sews cloth masks and distributes them to at-risk communities for free.

So far, the Auntie Sewing Squad — made up of mostly women of color shipping their creations to disadvantaged groups — have created around 50,000 masks.

For Gina Rivera, a stay-at-home mom with four children, making masks is a way to be useful. Because she has a disability and two of her kids have autism, she’s unable to work, so the Southern California resident makes about 100 masks per week.

“If you don’t have access to something and I can give you this for free, take it,” she told NBC Asian America. “I can’t donate money. But I can donate masks.”

The Squad started in March, at the beginning of California's coronavirus lockdown. Kristina Wong, a Los Angeles-based performance artist, posted a photo on Facebook of a mask she made with the caption: "If you are immunocompromised with no access to masks, I can mail you one if you don't mind really messy stitching. Made on my Hello Kitty sewing machine."

Within days, she had gotten around 200 requests, some of them from social workers and nurses. Less than a week later, she posted on Facebook asking for help: "Can you sew?" From there, the Auntie Sewing Squad was born.

"We've done a lot of great work. And I think what's more remarkable is this community that we've sort of organically built," Wong said.

Kristina Wong (Courtesy Kristina Wong)

They send the masks free of charge to vulnerable groups: women's shelters, undocumented communities, farmworkers and Native American citizens. And recently they've been giving out masks at protests and sending others to the NAACP, as well as sewing fabric banners with phrases like "Black API Solidarity."

Wong estimated that the Squad sews 4,000 to 6,000 masks a week.

"I thought this whole thing was supposed to be a two-week stopgap," Wong said. "But we still get these requests. And they're from communities that don't have running water, or they're two hours from Walmart — it's all these communities that the federal government didn't care about before all this. And they're certainly not going to step in now."

The Auntie Sewing Squad is run entirely on donations via Donor Box.

In the early days of the operation, just two months ago, brick and mortar fabric stores were shut down, so it was a struggle to get supplies, Wong said. Friends would donate old clothes, scrap fabric and elastic; fitted sheets and headbands were repurposed into protective gear.

Now, the process is more streamlined: Some people source materials; others cut out fabric, nose guards and elastic; others do the sewing. And then there are "aunties" who oversee on-the-ground communication and make sure the masks reach their intended destinations.

One of them is Constance Parng, who, like Wong, is an artist. But these days she's coordinating shipments of masks with groups, including with the Navajo Department of Health.

"I really never imagined that I'd be doing any of this," she said. "I'm just an actress, a writer, who woke up one day and thought maybe I can help some people. And then, next thing you know, I'm on the phone with epidemiologists, emergency response teams and deputy incident commanders — finding the most urgent needs in First Nations in real time and getting our masks to them ASAP."

Parng has also overseen four supply vans to Native American territories, containing sewing machines, sewing supplies and cleaning products. For her organizing abilities, the group has given Parng the nickname "Auntienie Fauci."

The Squad also started a Zoom summer camp to teach kids how to sew. Around 40 participated on the first day, from ages 6 to 12. Rivera teaches the weekly classes and her children are also helping to make masks. “This has made me a better mom,” she said. “Knowing that I’m giving back to the community and serving others outside of my home…this makes me feel better and more empowered. And teaching my kids to give is an opportunity that I would never have had otherwise.”

To Parng, the Auntie Sewing Squad is a profound example of allyship: "People who are undervalued in society can help others who are oppressed and undervalued in this society."

Another member of the group is “Uncle” Van Huynh, who was released from prison 15 months ago after serving 26 years for a juvenile conviction. Now living in Southern California, his mother, Cuong Thi Tran, taught him how to sew and the two of them make masks together.
Van Huynh sews masks with his mother Cuong Thi Tran (Courtesy Van Huynh)

They’ve sent the protective gear to formerly incarcerated groups, including those released from ICE detention. Rejoining society has been “overwhelming,” he said, but being part of the Squad has helped ground him.

“I’m so new to society and life really, and I’m learning so much from them,” Huynh said.

"Through my street life days and through prison, I always believed that I was doing good, that I was bringing peace, respect and honor for Asians," he went on. "The tragedy is that nobody taught me how to fight for these things in a constructive way. Nobody told me that sewing is a way of fighting."

Huynh is now an advocate for social justice and prison reform and on the day of the interview, had just come back from a Black Lives Matter protest. To him, making masks has been especially fulfilling. “We’re making kid sizes, and every time I’m making them, I’m like, ‘This is going to a kid. That can help them,’” he said.

The Squad also takes care of each other. Huynh, whose green card was revoked because of his conviction, is at risk for deportation. Wong wrote a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom asking for a pardon for Huynh. When Rivera’s sewing machine broke down, Wong sent her a new one. Some aunties make food and deliver them to other Squad members.

“I think it’s amazing and I’m very proud to be a part of it,” said Rivera.

It has been a whirlwind couple of months for Wong, and she's not sure how long the Auntie Sewing Squad will continue working. But as long as there are requests for masks from vulnerable communities, the Squad will keep sewing, she said. Just as how the word "auntie" denotes family, closeness and love, to Wong, making masks "is a literal way of saying: 'I want you to have this protection. I want you to see our care.'"

SUPER SPREADER EVENT 

HUMAN SACRIFICE BY TRUMP TO WIN RE-ELECTION 

Epidemiologist calls upcoming Trump rally 'perfect storm' for coronavirus spread

Big crowds and lines already forming in Tulsa. My campaign hasn’t started yet. It starts on Saturday night in Oklahoma!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2020

Trump supporters began lining up outside the BOK Center days in advance of the rally.

"Sacrificing a week of our lives is nothing for what Trump has done for us," Robin Stites, who arrived on Monday to secure the No. 2 place in line, told the The Oklahoman earlier this week. 

YOU WILL BE SACRIFICING MORE THAN THAT 

IF YOU GET COVID-19

MOLOCH

Attorneys in Tulsa filed a lawsuit earlier this week on behalf of two businesses and two residents to stop ASM Global, which manages the 19,000-seat arena, from hosting the rally "to protect against a substantial, imminent and deadly risk to the community."

They argued the rally should be prohibited because it would act as a "spreader" event for the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Paul DeMuro, a lawyer who brought the case, said the goal was to enforce Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidlines.

The petition cited a rise in documented cases of COVID-19 in Tulsa County, which have spiked in recent days. Oklahoma set a new state record for case increases in a single day on Thursday, confirming 450 new cases. The state added 352 new cases on Friday, giving it 802 new cases in two days.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/epidemiologists-call-upcoming-trump-rally-perfect-storm-for-coronavirus-spread-135044218.html

Countless Americans have begun descending on the city of Tulsa, Okla., where President Trump plans to hold a rally on Saturday — and where an estimated 100,000 people are expected to gather. The event was initially scheduled for Friday, then moved back a day in recognition of Juneteenth (and, more specifically, a race massacre that occurred there in 1921).

Concerns about the safety of the event have been mounting, especially in the wake of news that cases of COVID-19 are spiking in Tulsa. But some local leaders have expressed gratitude that the event is being held there, including the city’s Republican mayor, G.T. Bynum, who dubbed it an “honor.”

With more than 8.5 million cases of the coronavirus worldwide, and clear messages from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the dangers of large indoor gatherings, epidemiologists aren’t quite as enthused. “Any large crowd has the ability to increase your transmission, but this is the perfect storm of people being packed in an arena in close proximity to one another,” Marya Ghazipura, an epidemiologist and biostatistician serving on New York City’s COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Council, tells Yahoo Life.

The Trump campaign has announced that it will be taking precautions. “The campaign takes the health and safety of rally-goers seriously and is taking precautions to make the rally safe,” Erin Perrine, deputy communications director for the Trump campaign, said in a statement to Axios. “Every single rally-goer will have their temperature checked, be provided a face mask and hand sanitizer.”

Epidemiologists are expressing concern about an upcoming Trump rally that's expected to attract hundreds of thousands. Here, a Trump supporter holds a sign in New York City on May 5. (Photo: Getty Images)

Still, given that the virus can spread even in the midst of these safety measures — how dangerous is an indoor rally, and how does that compare with the protests that have been happening nationwide?

Saskia Popescu, an infection prevention epidemiologist at George Mason University, has reservations. “There are several concerning factors for this — first, COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Oklahoma, and especially in Tulsa, which means the state and city are experiencing higher rates of COVID-19 than they’ve seen this entire pandemic. Second, an indoor event with lots of people in close quarters for a prolonged period of time, and likely shouting and yelling, is as high on the risk index as you can get,” Popescu tells Yahoo Life in an email. “Third, President Trump has repeatedly said he won’t wear masks in front of cameras, which might discourage people at the rally to also follow his lead, thus increasing risk.”

Ghazipura echoes her points, stressing the increased danger of being in an enclosed space. “The chances of transmitting the virus is nearly 19 times higher indoors compared to outdoors. The idea is that open spaces and outdoor airflow have the ability to dilute the effects of the virus,” says Ghazipura. “Even the sun can help reduce transmission. Indoor rallies certainly pose a significant risk because people are not able to be as mobile as they otherwise would be, people are in close to proximity to one another and they cannot escape one another very easily, and the airflow on ventilation is a huge issue when it comes to large gatherings, such as these rallies.”

On top of the lack of ability to move around, Ghazipura says being indoors for a long period of time allows the virus time to spread easily. “Just talking aloud can expel droplets that remain in the air for up to 14 minutes,” she says. “But that risk is much lower outdoors.” It’s for these reasons that she says the protests taking place nationwide in support of Black Lives Matter are lower-risk.

Popescu agrees. “Outdoor events provide an advantage in that they offer natural ventilation, but also often extra space to ensure social distancing. Indoor definitely carries more risk than outdoor,” says Popescu. “Moreover, I worry that while protesters appeared to be quite compliant with mask usage and there was a lot of attention to the risks and efforts to reduce them, President Trump’s messaging on the pandemic and masks might discourage attendees from being safe by wearing masks, staying home if they’re not feeling well or at increased risk, or in general it encourages people to attend large indoor events with a lot of people in a state and city experiencing a large surge in COVID-19 cases.” 

In terms of prevention, both Ghazipura and Popescu suggest following guidelines set out by the CDC. “If you are attending, masks are vital, and eye protection can be an added bonus,” says Popescu. “Try to stick to less-crowded areas and use hand hygiene. Moreover, it’s encouraged to quarantine at home for 14 days after the event.”

But even if precautions are followed, Ghazipura says there is a chance that an uptick could occur afterward. “From an epidemiological standpoint, we do fear that the numbers and hospitalizations will only get worse due to these large gatherings,” she says. “I implore you to take these universal precautions to help not only mitigate spread but also protect you and your loved ones. Know that regardless of where you are, whether it's indoors or outdoors, being in a large crowd comes with a risk.”