DEFENSE WORKERS, DEEMED “ESSENTIAL,” PROTEST CONDITIONS AS OVERSEAS WEAPONS SALES CONTINUE

General Electric workers hold a protest on Necco Street in Boston out of concerns for their safety on March 30, 2020. Photo: Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Akela Lacy
May 18 2020,

WITH MOST OF the United States on lockdown in late April, the State Department approved billions of dollars in possible weapons sales. Workers at the manufacturing plants that would supply those sales, deemed “essential workers” toward the end of March thanks to the defense industry’s sprawling lobbying apparatus, have been forced to show up to work — even as a number of workers at those factories have tested positive for coronavirus.

The transactions approved by the State Department include $2.2 billion in possible weapons sales to India, Morocco, and the Philippines, and $150 million in blanket funds to the United Arab Emirates for order requisitions to repair and support aircraft fleets and do other related work.

The facilities in question belong to some of the world’s largest defense contractors, like Lockheed Martin and Boeing. At Lockheed Martin’s plant in Forth Worth, Texas, workers have protested the reopening of their facility, saying they were concerned about exposing family members to the virus, and that the company wasn’t properly cleaning facilities. Other workers have said that steps being taken to mitigate risk don’t go far enough. Asked about the spread or potential spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, at their plants, the contractors generally demurred and declined to answer questions, instead referring The Intercept to company websites, many of which have stopped publicly reporting Covid-19 cases.

It’s important to keep in mind, said Mandy Smithberger at the Project on Government Oversight, that workers are being put at risk because trade groups lobbied for an overly broad designation for essential workers.

“I think it is worth asking them why that guidance shouldn’t be targeted,” said Smithberger. “I think the answer for why it’s so broad is because the companies want it to be broad. They want it to be up to them. But how do you appropriately target that so that you’re not unnecessarily jeopardizing workers?”

Many weapons factories ceased in-person operations at certain facilities at the onset of the pandemic, but have since resumed in some large cities. Several big contractors, like Boeing, in early April closed plants in major cities like Seattle and Philadelphia, while others, like Lockheed’s in Fort Worth, stayed open.

The prime contractor for the proposed missile sales to Morocco and India is a Boeing plant in St. Louis that had confirmed 15 coronavirus cases in late April. Another Boeing plant in Mesa, Arizona, is a prime contractor on one of two recent sales of Apache helicopters to the Philippines. Boeing last month resumed some operations in Philadelphia; Puget Sound, Washington; and Charleston, South Carolina. Communications Director Todd Blecher referred questions on specific Covid-19 cases at Boeing plants to their website, which does not list that information, and then to another Boeing official tracking the status of company facilities. The company did not provide information on positive cases or remaining facility closures by the time of publication.

Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons manufacturer, is the biggest tech company in Florida, with 8,000 workers across two major facilities in Orlando. The Orlando plant is a principal contractor on one of the Philippines Apache sales, along with Boeing’s Mesa plant. Just last year, the company had to back pay more than $320,000 to its employees for labor violations, including misclassifying workers and robbing them of pay for hours of overtime worked. Now, Lockheed executives are part of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s task force to reopen the state economy.

While the company is not publicly reporting updated numbers on confirmed or potential cases among workers, some details have emerged. Several Lockheed workers have been diagnosed with coronavirus, and at least one worker in Fort Worth, Texas, died on April 11 after being exposed to Covid-19 outside of work. A fundraising page for the family of the employee who died, run by military veteran Jennifer Escobar, whose husband works at Lockheed, blames the company for the worker’s death. “Due to the companies [sic] negligence Mr. Daniels is no longer with us. Both this gentleman and his wife have worked for Lockheed Martin for many years,” the page reads. Escobar has also begun a petition to shut down the company’s F-35 factory in Fort Worth. Lockheed last month said people who had been exposed to Daniels were directed to quarantine, and that his workspace was sanitized.

Lockheed spokesperson Dana Casey referred questions on how the facility was addressing concerns about the coronavirus to their website and a list of FAQs, which list their priorities as protecting workers, and performing and delivering for customers. The company started a $6.5 million disaster relief fund for impacted employees and retirees, implemented new cleaning procedures, and restricted travel and facility access.

Paul Black, president of the machinists union that represents workers at Lockheed’s Fort Worth plant, blamed the federal government for putting workers at risk in a March interview with the Washington Post.

Read Our Complete CoverageThe Coronavirus Crisis


Workers at the General Electric plant in Lynn, Massachusetts, which is a prime contractor on the second Apache sale to the Philippines, have been fighting for additional protections and support since the pandemic started. They’ve held numerous demonstrations, including a strike on April 8, and have a standing petition demanding that GE “fix appalling safety conditions at the facility and allow workers to manufacture the life-saving ventilators the whole country so desperately needs.” GE did not respond to requests for comment.

After a demonstration on March 30, the Nation reported, GE made some major changes to improve safety at the Lynn plant. The IUE-CWA Local 201, which represents workers at the plant, wrote in a March 28 statement that they had informed GE of their position that the company had “failed so far to ensure that work buildings are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and that such failure has created an identifiable, presently existing threat to the safety of the employees who are assigned to work there.”

The Bell Textron plant in Forth Worth is also a prime contractor on the sale of attack helicopters to the Philippines. Two workers at the Bell plant tested positive for Covid-19 in mid-April, as did two workers at other locations, one nearby in Grand Prairie, and the other in Canada. A spokesperson for the company said they have had four confirmed cases at facilities in North Texas and that those people have fully recovered and returned to work. Lindsey Hughes, Bell’s manager of global communications, said the company was “taking significant steps” to keep workers safe, including arrangements for remote work, staggered schedules where possible, temperature screenings, no-touch trash cans, and regular disinfections.

“We will continue to adhere to the guidance of the CDC, WHO and local governing health authorities to implement any required changes to our business,” Hughes said.
The War Industry

The weapons industry has so far spent millions of dollars on lobbying Congress and the Department of Defense in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, on issues like getting exemptions from stay-at-home orders and relief under the CARES Act. The push to get 2.5 million defense workers classified as essential came as the United States’s undeclared wars continue, with airstrikes reaching an all-time high in Somalia as the coronavirus spread, and the U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition continuing to drop bombs on Yemen.

“As states across the country issued orders requiring businesses to close in a drastic attempt to prevent the spread of the virus, the federal government issued instructions to defense contractors that directly contradicted those local efforts,” the Washington Post wrote in late March, just two weeks after the coronavirus outbreak was deemed a pandemic.

Workers stand outside the Boeing manufacturing facility in North Charleston, S.C., on May 4, 2020.  Photo: Sam Wolfe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

After the first major coronavirus stimulus, a $2 trillion relief package, was passed, major defense contractors were largely disappointed with what they were allocated. Congress gave Boeing, which lobbied on the measure, $17 million in the form of support for its commercial flight business. Boeing had originally requested $60 million, and is refusing to accept the funds. The company’s push to get more federal aid comes while facing significant financial trouble even before the pandemic. Other defense industry contractors have had similar financial woes. Before it became Remington Arms, Remington, one of the country’s oldest gunmakers, filed for bankruptcy in 2018.

In arguments to keep facilities operating, industry groups have cited preserving their own competition, as well as national security. In a letter to Defense Secretary Mark Esper on March 20, after several states had already started limiting large gatherings and initiating shelter-in-place orders, the Aerospace Industries Association urged the federal government to let them stay open, and to provide additional funds. They asked the Pentagon to legally establish national security programs and their workforces as essential. The same day, the Defense Department’s top acquisitions official, Undersecretary Ellen Lord — the former CEO of Textron — issued a memo saying industry companies would be expected to maintain normal work schedules.

“Our industry is inextricably linked to our nation’s continued success and global competitiveness,” AIA wrote. “Our people, products, and common supply chain help to power our economy and provide our warfighters capabilities and tools they need to defend our nation’s security.”

Boeing said it would support any U.S. decision that would keep essential businesses and supply chains open. Trade groups representing the defense industry were given daily phone calls with undersecretary Lord, beginning in March. The calls included the Chamber of Commerce, the Aerospace Industries Association, the National Defense Industrial Association, the Professional Services Council, and the National Association of Manufacturers. According to DOD, the calls were intended to ensure continuity and reliability of the defense-industrial base, and to provide agency officials with information on the pandemic’s impact on the industry, Defense News reported.
Domestic Arms Production

Plants focused on domestic arms production also remained active amid the pandemic, even as workers became sick from coronavirus. After gun manufacturers were declared an essential business at the end of March, some employees returned to work at the Remington Arms plant in Ilion, New York, which had been closed in accordance with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s March order that workers at nonessential businesses stay home. Less than two weeks later, one employee was diagnosed with coronavirus.

Phil Smith, who directs governmental affairs for the labor union United Mine Workers, which represents workers at the Ilion plant, acknowledged that the Ilion plant had not “been difficult with respect to implementing” additional protections, including social distancing. But he said his union was still concerned about many of their 10,000 members across the country who have also been deemed essential, including many coal miners. Asked if he would prefer that they hadn’t reopened the facility, Smith said, “What we prefer is that they be as safe as they can possibly be at work,” he said.

An employee at a SIG Sauer gun manufacturing plant in New Hampshire tested positive for the virus last month. SIG Sauer operates two manufacturing plants and a training facility in New Hampshire, the site of its U.S. headquarters. A memo from SIG Sauer’s CEO reporting the employee case did not specify which facility they worked at.



Workers in the Machinists Local S6 union at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works facility in Maine called on their president to shut down the facility in March, slamming the company for putting them at risk. BIW was willing to use them as “sacrificial lambs to meet the needs of our customer,” they wrote to President Dirk Lesko. Workers asked that the facility temporarily shut down until it was safe to return in large groups. BIW kept the factory open, and two workers eventually tested positive for coronavirus.

One worker posted to Facebook in April, writing that he was possibly positive for Covid-19. “I’m an essential worker, who works at a company that is a part of America’s Defense Critical Infrastructure,” he wrote. “Said company has had two (2) employees with CONFIRMED cases of Covid-19. ??? there’s roughly 6800 employees between the 4 locations and training facility.” (He declined an interview, citing the rules of his employment.)

General Dynamics said in a statement to The Intercept that no other BIW employees had reported positive tested results since April 2, the date the second case was reported. The company referred questions on health and safety precautions to their website, and said attendance at BIW, “which had been down 25-30 percent from normal levels because of COVID-19, is at pre-COVID levels today, Monday, May 11.”

Maine Democratic State Rep. Seth Berry, who led a large state delegation in writing two letters to BIW raising concerns for worker safety, suggested that the company’s primary motivation for continuing in-person work at the Maine plant was to maintain profits at the expense of workers. “BIW has spoken often about its need to be competitive with the Navy’s other principal shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls,” Berry said, adding that BIW “used this argument recently to convince legislators to provide them with a $45 million tax break specifically for their operation and for no other Maine business.”

Smithberger at the Project on Government Oversight said companies were leveraging “threat inflation around China to try and stabilize and increase” defense budgets. “You’re seeing some pretty ludicrous op-eds saying that the department can’t afford to lose a single dollar.”

The CIA’s Murderous Practices, Disinformation Campaigns, and Interference in Other Countries Still Shape the World Order and U.S. Politics

Glenn Greenwald May 21 2020

IN THE WEEKS BEFORE THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, the most powerful former leaders of the Central Intelligence Agency did everything they could to elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump. President Obama’s former acting CIA chief Michael Morrell published a full-throated endorsement of Clinton in the New York Times and claimed “Putin ha[s] recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation,” while George W. Bush’s post-9/11 CIA and NSA Chief, Gen. Michael Hayden, writing in the Washington Post, refrained from endorsing Clinton outright but echoed Morrell by accusing Trump of being a “useful fool, some naif, manipulated by Moscow” and sounding “a little bit the conspiratorial Marxist.” Meanwhile, the intelligence community under James Clapper and John Brennan fed morsels to both the Obama DOJ and the U.S. media to suggest a Trump/Russia conspiracy and fuel what became the Russiagate investigation.

In his extraordinary election-advocating Op-Ed, Gen. Hayden, Bush/Cheney’s CIA Chief, candidly explained the reasons for the CIA’s antipathy for Trump: namely, the GOP candidate’s stated opposition to allowing CIA regime change efforts in Syria to expand as well as his opposition to arming Ukrainians with lethal weapons to fight Russia (supposedly “pro-Putin” positions which, we are now all supposed to forget, Obama largely shared).

As has been true since President Harry Truman’s creation of the CIA after World War II, interfering in other countries and dictating or changing their governments — through campaigns of mass murder, military coups, arming guerrilla groups, the abolition of democracy, systemic disinformation, and the imposition of savage despots — is regarded as a divine right, inherent to American exceptionalism. Anyone who questions that or, worse, opposes it and seeks to impede it (as the CIA perceived Trump was) is of suspect loyalties at best.

The CIA’s antipathy toward Trump continued after his election victory. The agency became the primary vector for anonymous, illegal leaks designed to depict Trump as a Kremlin agent and/or blackmail victim. It worked to ensure the leak of the Steele dossier that clouded at least the first two years of Trump’s presidency. It drove the scam Russiagate conspiracy theories. And before Trump was even inaugurated, open warfare erupted between the president-elect and the agency to the point where Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer explicitly warned Trump on the Rachel Maddow Show that he was risking full-on subversion of his presidency by the agency:

This turned out to be one of the most prescient and important (and creepy) statements of the Trump presidency: from Chuck Schumer to Rachel Maddow - in early January, 2017, before Trump was even inaugurated: pic.twitter.com/TUaYkksILG— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 8, 2019

Democrats, early in Trump’s presidency, saw clearly that the CIA had become one of Trump’s most devoted enemies, and thus began viewing them as a valuable ally. Leading out-of-power Democratic foreign policy elites from the Obama administration and Clinton campaign joined forces not only with Bush/Cheney neocons but also former CIA officials to create new foreign policy advocacy groups designed to malign and undermine Trump and promote hawkish confrontation with nuclear-armed Russia. Meanwhile, other ex-CIA and Homeland Security officials, such as John Brennan and James Clapper, became beloved liberal celebrities by being hired by MSNBC and CNN to deliver liberal-pleasing anti-Trump messaging that, on a virtually daily basis, masqueraded as news.

The all-consuming Russiagate narrative that dominated the first three years of Trump’s presidency further served to elevate the CIA as a noble and admirable institution while whitewashing its grotesque history. Liberal conventional wisdom held that Russian Facebook ads, Twitter bots and the hacking and release of authentic, incriminating DNC emails was some sort of unprecedented, off-the-charts, out-of-the-ordinary crime-of-the-century attack, with several leading Democrats (including Hillary Clinton) actually comparing it to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.

The level of historical ignorance and/or jingostic American exceptionalism necessary to believe this is impossible to describe. Compared to what the CIA has done to dozens of other countries since the end of World War II, and what it continues to do, watching Americans cast Russian interference in the 2016 election through online bots and email hacking (even if one believes every claim made about it) as some sort of unique and unprecedented crime against democracy is staggering. Set against what the CIA has done and continues to do to “interfere” in the domestic affairs of other countries — including Russia — the 2016 election was, at most, par for the course for international affairs and, more accurately, a trivial and ordinary act in the context of CIA interference.

This propaganda was sustainable because the recent history and the current function of the CIA has largely been suppressed. Thankfully, a just-released book by journalist Vincent Bevins — who spent years as a foreign correspondent covering two countries still marred by brutal CIA interference: Brazil for the Los Angeles Times and Indonesia for the Washington Post — provides one of the best, most informative and most illuminating histories yet of this agency and the way it has shaped the actual, rather than the propagandistic, U.S. role in the world

Entitled “The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World,” the book primarily documents the indescribably horrific campaigns of mass murder and genocide the CIA sponsored in Indonesia as an instrument for destroying a non-aligned movement of nations who would be loyal to neither Washington nor Moscow. Critically, Bevins documents how the chilling success of that morally grotesque campaign led to its being barely discussed in U.S. discourse, but then also serving as the foundation and model for clandestine CIA interference campaigns in multiple other countries from Guatemala, Chile and Brazil to the Philippines, Vietnam and Central America: the Jakarta Method.

Our newest episode of SYSTEM UPDATE, which debuts today at 2:00 p.m. on The Intercept’s YouTube channel, is devoted to a discussion of why this history is so vital: not just for understanding the current international political order but also for distinguishing between fact and fiction in our contemporary political discourse. In addition to my own observations on this topic, I speak to Bevins about his book, about what the CIA really is and how it has shaped the world we still inhabit, and why a genuine understanding of both international and domestic politics is impossible without a clear grasp on this story.

CANADA
Biden’s vow to kill pipeline puts Canada on defense

The Alberta government has big bucks riding on Keystone XL project — and its leader wants construction to get moving fast.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. | Mario Tama/Getty Images

By LAUREN GARDNER
05/20/2020

A threat by Joe Biden to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline has a Canadian province gambling that construction of the multi-billion-dollar project will begin before the Democrat has a chance to take control of the White House.

The Biden campaign vowed in a statement on Monday to kill the long-delayed pipeline should the former vice president secure the nomination and go on to win the presidency. Former President Barack Obama vetoed the pipeline in 2015, a decision that was reversed by President Donald Trump in January 2017. Biden’s announcement elicited concern among boosters of the project in both Canada and the U.S.

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But Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, whose government has a billion dollars riding on the success of the pipeline, thinks he can call Biden’s bluff. He just needs construction to ramp up by the end of 2020.

"I cannot imagine that a U.S. president eight months from now, nine months from now, would require that thousands of miles of pipe be pulled out of the ground by the union workers who are now employed creating that project," Kenney said Tuesday during a news conference.

Even if Trump were to win reelection, the pipeline is far from a done deal now, more than three years since his election. A slew of legal challenges that are still playing out in court could continue to stymie the project, which could buy time for another Democratic president — or for the Supreme Court — to weigh in on Keystone. And Biden, if elected, could still decide to stop the project even if work does get moving this year.

Construction of the U.S. stretch is on hold while the Trump administration defends its permits in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California. A district judge in Montana last month ruled in favor of the Sierra Club and other environmental and land use groups that challenged the permits, arguing that the Army Corps of Engineers had not done sufficient environmental review of the pipeline’s planned route.

Regardless of how the appeals court decides, analysts say the case is all but certain to go to the Supreme Court.

Kenney twice noted Tuesday that Biden did not oppose Keystone XL during the Democratic primaries. Still, Biden was said to have told a supporter in 2013 that he opposed the project, an opinion that put him "in the minority" on the issue in the Obama administration. Barack Obama rejected the project in 2015 — shortly after Justin Trudeau became prime minister — after years of back-and-forth over permits.

Although Biden was silent on Keystone, most other Democratic contenders vowed to cancel the project, signaling the party's leftward shift on pipeline politics.

Kenney likened the investment to Trudeau's decision to buy a multibillion-dollar pipeline from the oil sands to the British Columbia coast to ensure the Trans Mountain expansion project would continue after the private owner, Kinder Morgan, bowed out in 2018.

“We made the strategic investment exactly because there was obviously political risk," he said.

The Kenney government's C$6 billion loan guarantee to backstop TC Energy's construction-related costs wouldn't kick in until next year, the premier said, meaning money wouldn't be at stake should Biden return to the White House and cancel the project.

Kenney didn't respond to questions about whether Alberta could recoup its equity stake should the project be nixed, or whether he had an obligation to explain in greater detail the financial risks his government took on through its billion-dollar move.

James Coleman, an energy law professor at Southern Methodist University, said Alberta stands to lose its investment if the pipeline isn't built. TC Energy could bring a claim against the U.S. under NAFTA, he said, though the company would be up against a three-year deadline from when the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement enters into force under new limits on investor-state claims between the two countries.

Kenney said the province "would use every legal means at our disposal to protect our fiscal and economic interests," which could include lodging trade complaints against the U.S.

“I would have to assume that any U.S. administration values the Canada-U.S. trade relationship so much that they would be sensitive to costs of that nature," said Kenney. "At this point, our focus is on continuing to demonstrate the widespread support that exists in the U.S. for this project that represents jobs, growth and energy independence.”

Ben Lefebvre contributed to this report.

“THE JUNGLE” AND THE PANDEMIC: THE MEAT INDUSTRY, CORONAVIRUS, AND AN ECONOMY IN CRISIS

Photo illustration: Elise Swain/The Intercept, Getty Images

PODCAST https://dcs.megaphone.fm/FLM5350130476.mp3?key=3361595bf0396ebcdae28ff41aa3bfab

Intercepted
May 20 2020,

THE PRESIDENCY OF Donald Trump has placed a mirror in front of the harsh realities of the United States. And what it reveals about who we are as a society during a major crisis is pretty ugly. This week on Intercepted: As the Covid-19 U.S. death toll climbs toward 100,000 and unemployment is nearing 20 percent, House Democrats have offered up a bill that is intended to sharply contrast the corporatist Republican agenda. HuffPost senior reporter Zach Carter analyzes how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quashed progressive calls for action within her own party and delivered a bill filled with corporate gifts and means-tested crumbs for many, along with some good proposals. Carter also discusses his new book “The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes” and the influence the famed economist maintains to this day. As Trump claims the meat industry is back on track, meat plant workers are getting sick in droves. Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the industry consistently maintains the highest workplace injury rate among manufacturing and private industry. Journalist Ted Genoways, author of “The Chain: Farm, Factory, and the Fate of Our Food,” discusses the lives and deaths of meat workers and looks back at Upton Sinclair’s novel “The Jungle” and its parallels to the modern meat industry.

THE HEROES ACT TRUMP AND MCCONNELL WANT TO SINK

HEROES Act Includes Utility Shutoff Ban, $4 Billion For Broadband Access
By: Jaisal Noor | May 15, 2020

Millions of struggling Americans affected by the coronavirus pandemic could see relief under the HEROES Act proposed by House Democrats. The $3.3 trillion proposal features a $1200 stimulus check per person, along with increased funding for states and businesses, and increased testing for COVID-19.

The HEROES Act includes a moratorium on utility shut offs such as water, electricity, and internet services. It would also create a $4 billion Emergency Broadband Connectivity Fund to expand high speed internet access to those who can’t afford it and provide another $1.5 billion dollars to expand internet access for schools and libraries.

On a national livestream hosted by the Center for Biological Diversity on May 12, Alissa Weinman, Associate Campaign Director of the watchdog group Corporate Accountability, detailed the economic effects of COVID-19.

“22 million in the last month and low-paying jobs in the retail, service and hospitality sectors are being hit the hardest—industries that disproportionately employ people of color,” Weinman said. “As millions of people have been laid off, furloughed, or simply aren’t being scheduled to work, they face the threat of losing access to electricity, water, or broadband services due to an inability to pay their utility bills.”

The legislation, proposed on May 12, is expected to be voted on by the House on May 15. Supporters acknowledge it faces major hurdles in passing the Republican-controlled Senate.

“We really need to push the Senate hard,” Sen. Jeff Merkley said on the livestream. “The Senate leadership doesn’t think about the world through main street America or ordinary families. They think about the world through Wall Street and mega corporations and how you help out the most powerful.”

830 groups signed a joint letter to Congress in support of the mortarium, and have launched a social media campaign with the hashtag #NoShutoff to pressure legislators to retain provisions that protect access to water, power, and broadband.

“It’s more important than ever that Congressional leadership fights hard to keep these provisions in the final bill,” said Rianna Eckel, Senior Organizer at Food & Water Action. “It shouldn’t have taken a public health disaster, but we’re eager to see a newfound commitment from our leaders on water and other crucial utilities.”

Sen. Lindsay Graham said Republicans opposed HEROES Act provisions “unrelated” to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, a lack of high speed internet access has emerged as the key obstacle preventing students from low income families in rural and urban communities from participating in online learning during the pandemic. Educators warn the continued lack of access will amplify long standing disparities between the haves and the haves not.

On May 12, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned Congress of “unintended deleterious consequences of having children out of school,” and said it was too early to determine if it will be safe to reopen schools in the fall.

The HEROES Act could be especially important in cities like Baltimore, where public policy has created a massive wealth and opportunity gap across racial and class lines. Residents of majority-Black jurisdictions account for the 58% of COVID-19 fatalities nationally, a new study shows.

Over 40% of Baltimore City households lack broadband internet access, and one in three didn’t have access to a computer at home, a May 2020 Abell Foundation report found. Some 200,000 Baltimore households with school-aged children lack access to high speed internet or a computer. Baltimore ranked 29th out of 32 cities in terms of students’ access to technology. Nationally, approximately 4 in 10 low income African American and Latino households lack broadband access, Pew Research found.

“The internet is essential for students,” Baltimore City College High School Senior Aliyah Abid said on the livestream. “Students who have AP exams, people like myself who have projects due this week are taking time away from school to demand these measures are included in the [HEROES Act],” she said.

Abid, a member of the student-led group Students Organizing a Multicultural and Open Society (SOMOS), said that many students have difficulty completing assignments due to insufficient access, or because they are forced to share a device with family members. Teachers across the country report donating or fundraising for laptops and technology to students.

Natasha Escobar teaches Spanish at Benjamin Franklin High School, which was able to distribute hundreds of laptops to its students. But she says some students lack broadband at home which remains a barrier.

“[Online learning] is going to amplify deficits,” Escobar said. “I think the question is if folks are going to work to address those, both in the moment of crisis and on long term scale.”

Abid and Escobar are part of a coalition of groups that successfully lobbied the Baltimore City council to allocate $3 million towards expanding broadband access and purchasing laptops for Baltimore City school students.

Some experts say far more needs to be done to equitably distribute resources to those who need them.

“Even the United Nations recognizes internet access is a basic human right,” said Abid, “that it’s necessary for people to achieve their full potential and improve quality of life. This is not being met in the U.S.”

McConnell calls on Barr to investigate Planned Parenthood loans

The Republican complaints about the Planned Parenthood loans add a new dynamic of conservative outrage around the small business rescue.


Attorney General William Barr. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

By ZACHARY WARMBRODT
05/21/2020 POLITICO

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans are demanding that Attorney General William Barr investigate Planned Parenthood centers that got emergency small business loans under a government program intended to avert layoffs.

In a letter Thursday to Barr, 27 GOP senators led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and McConnell said Planned Parenthood affiliates received about $80 million in loans under the so-called Paycheck Protection Program but should have been ineligible — a claim that Planned Parenthood disputes.

"It was not designed to give government funds to politicized, partisan abortion providers like Planned Parenthood," the senators wrote. "The funds in the program are not unlimited and were depleted once already because of high demand."



The Republican complaints about the Planned Parenthood loans add a new dynamic of conservative outrage around the small business rescue, following a public uproar over large, well-financed companies like Shake Shack and the Los Angeles Lakers receiving the aid.

The GOP lawmakers are homing in on a warning that the Small Business Administration made to Planned Parenthood representatives in recent days. In a letter seen by POLITICO, the SBA told one Planned Parenthood affiliate that it was ineligible under the Paycheck Protection Program's size standards and that its loan should be returned.

The loans are generally targeted at businesses and nonprofits with no more than 500 employees, though Congress allowed flexibility for larger employers to apply.

The SBA also has restrictions governing how affiliates of the same organization qualify for the aid. In the case of Planned Parenthood, the agency appears to have taken the position that the group's affiliates around the country are subject to enough discretion from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America that they're ineligible for the loans. A spokesperson for the SBA declined to comment on individual borrowers.

YOU'RE FORGIVEN IF YOU THOUGHT ABORTION WAS ILLEGAL IN THE USA

Planned Parenthood argues that the "independent" Planned Parenthood 501(c)(3) organizations that were awarded the loans complied with the rules of the program.

Jacqueline Ayers, Planned Parenthood Federation of America vice president of government relations and public policy, said the pressure was a "clear political attack on Planned Parenthood health centers and access to reproductive health care."

"It has nothing to do with Planned Parenthood health care organizations’ eligibility for Covid-19 relief efforts, and everything to do with the Trump administration using a public health crisis to advance a political agenda and distract from their own failures in protecting the American public from the spread of Covid-19," she said. "It is also just the latest salvo in the Trump administration's long history of targeting Planned Parenthood, and trying to severely limit access to sexual and reproductive health care."

The Justice Department acknowledged receiving the senators' request to investigate the matter but didn't elaborate.

"We have received and are reviewing the letter," department spokesperson Peter Carr said.

TRUMPETTES SUPPORT CHOICE FOR MASKS BUT NOT FOR ABORTION

Checkpoint Closure By South Dakota Governor An Attack On Tribal Sovereignty

By: Jen Deerinwater | May 16, 2020

South Dakota’s Republican Governor Kristi Noem publicly issued a letter to the Cheyenne River (CRST) and Oglala Sioux Tribes (OST) on May 8 ordering them to remove health checkpoints on roads crossing their reservations but did not directly deliver it to OST—“a sign of “disrespect,” according to OST President Julian Bear Runner.

The letter, which was dated May 8, was never actually received by Bear Runner, he explained during a recorded response to Noem. He learned of Noem’s letter through news reports and social media.

He went on to say that it’s abnormal for the state to not notify the tribe and called it “a sign of disrespect for a sovereign nation or another government agency.”

A Bureau of Indian Affairs April 8 memorandum explained that state and U.S. roads couldn’t be closed on the reservations. Those not residing on the Pine Ridge reservation who aren’t providing essential services are advised to pass straight through, Bear Runner explained. No roads have been closed.

The checkpoints were put in place as a way to control and track the spread of COVID-19 on the reservation. Everybody who works at the checkpoints on the CRST reservation are deputized under the tribal government. They ask anyone entering and exiting the reservation a series of health related questions. All essential business is permitted to cross the reservation.

CRST Chairman Harold Frazier stated in a letter in response to Noem “we will not apologize for being an island of safety in a sea of uncertainty and death.”

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe have also instituted checkpoints on their roads. They’re currently under tribal government enforced lockdown until 6:00 a.m. CST on May 17. The OST ended a three day lockdown on May 13.

Noem has claimed the checkpoints on state and federal highways prevent essential services from making their way to areas in need. The South Dakota Retailers Association also claims that some retailers were turned away at the CRST checkpoints. The CRST has denied this.

Only those not providing essential services were asked to go around the CRST reservation.

“Well over 90% of commercial businesses with truckers or supplies coming in, most of them already have travel permits,” Joye Braun, member of the CRST and an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, told TRNN. “They show their card and they’re waved through.”

Under the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868 the CRST and OST have the right to restrict who passes through their lands. These are the same treaties that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe cited when fighting the construction and flow of oil in the Dakota Access Pipeline. The U.S. government has broken every treaty it has signed with tribal nations, but a 1990 8th Circuit Court of Appeals case ruled that no state has jurisdiction over highways running through Native lands without tribal consent.

On May 10, a bipartisan group of seventeen South Dakota legislators sent a letter to Noem challenging the governor’s claims regarding the checkpoints and sovereignty.

“Your statement that Tribal governments do not possess the ability to establish checkpoints within the boundaries of their homelands is not accurate,” the letter said. “The Legislature has not passed any bill stating as such, nor does the State of South Dakota have the authority to enforce State law within the boundaries of a Reservation.”


The letter went on to say “We do not wish to be party of another lawsuit that will ultimately cost the people of South Dakota more money.”

A representative from Governor Noem’s office told TRNN they haven’t initiated any legal action at this time, but hopes that the CRST and OST are “amenable” to the plans laid out in letters sent to the CRST on May 12 and OST on May 13. They state that tribal checkpoints should be removed from U.S. and state highways, but checkpoints on tribal or Bureau of Indian Affairs roads are acceptable: “tribal interaction with these travelers at checkpoints is unlawful and could actually increase the risk of spreading the virus.” Noem continued, “to be clear, the state has no objection to tribal checkpoints on BIA/tribal roads.

The governor’s office told TRNN that they believe the U.S. government has jurisdiction over the state and U.S. highways that cross the reservation and that OST and CRST need to work with the federal government and the state to create a plan that is amenable to both sides. Both CRST and OST state that they sent letters to Noem’s office explaining their checkpoint system when it began, but they never received a reply.

Regarding the RST checkpoints, Noem has been in contact with the RST, but gave TRNN no other information.

Former U. S. Senator Byron Dorgan defended tribal sovereignty in a May 13 press release from the Center for Native American Youth, where he serves as a founder and chairman for the CNAY Advisory Board.

“In the absence of an effective national testing program in the U.S., I believe the tribes have every right to be concerned about people coming to their reservation who could spread the deadly virus,” Dorgan wrote. “As a former U.S. Senator, I’ve seen firsthand that state and federal governments have not demonstrated a willingness to spend the time or resources to protect tribal communities. Tribal officials have a right to do things that are necessary to protect themselves.”

South Dakota is one of only a few states that did not issue a stay-at-home order. Since non-essential businesses have reopened there has been a spike in confirmed COVID-19 infection rates. As of May 14, The New York Times reports that South Dakota had 3,792 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 43 deaths. May 7-9 saw a large spike in contraction rates. Pennington County, directly north of Oglala Country and home of the OST, and near the CRST reservation, has been especially hard hit with cases doubling every six days.

The rates of infections and deaths within tribal nations have skyrocketed due to the ongoing legacy of settler colonialism and racism. The U.S. government has a trust and treaty responsibility to provide a variety of services, such as the Indian Health Services, to Native nations and people. However, chronic underfunding has led to astronomically high rates of preventable illnesses and deaths. While the well being of Native people varies across tribal nations and communities, the situation is particularly dire for the OST; 97% of those on the Pine Ridge reservation live in poverty. The life expectancy is only 48 for men and 52 for women.

The Navajo Nation resides on the largest reservation and is larger than West Virginia. Much of the reservation lacks basic infrastructure such as roads and running, clean water. They now have the third highest per capita rates of confirmed COVID-19 infections in the U.S.

The first confirmed deaths in Alaska and Oklahoma were Native people and the first death in the Bureau of Prisons, Andrea Circle Bear, was a Native woman who gave birth while on a ventilator. Coupled with the lack of tests, many Native people with COVID-19 aren’t even being counted as American Indian or Alaska Native and are instead are counted as “other”, leaving the community without the actual rates of contractions and deaths across the U.S., as 71% of AI and AN people live in urban areas making data collection outside of Native healthcare of particular concern.

These deaths represent the over five hundred years of genocide that the Indigenous people of these lands still suffer. Being no stranger to pandemics, many Native ancestors didn’t survive the smallpox blankets or the 1918 Spanish flu. In an April press release the Zuni Pueblo said they’re facing extinction due to COVID-19. The state and federal governments lack of appropriate response to the COVID-19 crisis is a form of genocide.

In March, the Seattle Indian Health Board requested COVID-19 tests, supplies, and personal protective equipment, but were instead sent body bags and toe tags.

Poverty is a substantial barrier to many of the activities, such as social distancing and hand washing, to control the rates of contraction for Native people. In March, the federal government gave two $40 million payments to the Center for Disease Control to distribute for Indian Health Services, tribal-run health centers, and urban Indian health centers. The CDC sat on the money instead of immediately disbursing it. The federal government only just began this month releasing some of the $8 billion appropriated to tribal nations under the CARES Act.

In a press conference on May 14, South Dakota Secretary Malsam-Rysdon announced the state would begin mass testing that would include tribal governments. Testing will begin with the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate nation whose reservation is in both North and South Dakota. Despite this, some tribal members don’t trust Noem.

“It’s really important to go back and look at the history of Kristi Noem,” Braun stated. “She doesn’t like Indian people…she wants to get rid of the reservations.”

At the heart of this situation is the inherent right to tribal sovereignty and for tribal nations and their people to quite literally, survive: Tribal nations are attempting to defend their people and save lives. Tribal nations are not merely tribes, but are sovereign nations with the inherent right to self-governance and should have total jurisdiction over matters on their lands. They don’t truly exist in America, but rather are their own nations, their own countries. The U.S. is a foreign entity.

“The Oglala Band is ready to stand against foreign intrusion into our daily lives,” Bear Runner said.

This story is made possible by a grant from the R&M Lang Foundation in support of reporting by and for indigenous communities.

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Trump’s praise of an anti-Semite’s ‘good bloodlines’ triggers furious backlash

May 22, 2020 By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
- Commentary

President Donald Trump once again is dog-whistling to his base. While delivering a campaign-style speech at a Michigan Ford auto plant that’s been retooled to manufacture personal protective gear, Trump decided to take a walk into history and praise the company’s founder, the infamous anti-Semite Henry Ford.

Henry Ford gave America the Model T, mass production, and after death, the non-profit Ford Foundation, but he also was an anti-Semite who reportedly blamed Jewish people for World War I and World War II, published anti-Semitic propaganda, and was a Nazi sympathizer.

“Ford is the only American mentioned by name in Hitler’s notorious ‘Mein Kampf,’” according to Religion News Service.
President Trump has repeatedly called Ford “legendary.”

On Thursday, Trump praised the anti-Semitic Nazi sympathizer for having “good bloodlines.”

The President says the founder of Ford has good bloodlines.. If you’re not familiar with Henry Ford, I would encourage you to read more about him and specifically his actions during WW2 pic.twitter.com/vniaOSR2sX

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) May 21, 2020


Social media users grew furious.

You know who also believed in “good bloodlines”? Adolf Hitler. That’s who. https://t.co/jtsD7w09K3
— PTM (@portugaltheman) May 21, 2020


Henry Ford was a Nazi sympathizer who wrote “The International Jew, the World’s Foremost Problem.”
Hitler called Ford an “inspiration” & gave him the highest Nazi medal for foreigners.
Trump praising Ford’s “good bloodlines” = a dog-whistle to antisemites & white nationalists. https://t.co/478q3Oq67r
— Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) May 21, 2020

Trump talked about “good bloodlines” while at the Ford factory…
Know who else talked about “good bloodlines”?
Nazis.
— Red, Noble Committee Marketing Director (@Redpainter1) May 21, 2020
The president just described nazi sympathizer Henry Ford as a man with “Good bloodlines.” https://t.co/AdnAd2vX7o

— Molly Jong-Fast

 

(@MollyJongFast) May 21, 2020


“Henry Ford, good bloodlines, good bloodlines. If you believe in that stuff, he had good blood.”
Ford hated Jews to the point that Hitler literally once said “I regard Henry Ford as my greatest inspiration.”
Our Pres is a white supremacist https://t.co/ZNTka0rsTG
— Matt Braunger (@Braunger) May 21, 2020


Folks, he does this a lot. He really is a miseducated eugenicist, with bad blood lines. https://t.co/O4RfzPEa0A
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) May 21, 2020

Surprising NO ONE, @realDonaldTrump says that the virulent anti-Semite and Nazi-sympathizer, Henry Ford, has “good bloodlines.”

#RacistInChief #RacistGOP https://t.co/7vbzJ9jk6k
— Dr. Dena Grayson (@DrDenaGrayson) May 21, 2020


Talking about Ford and his good bloodlines is seriously f’ed up. This is anti-semitic and pro-Nazi. https://t.co/whujGR4uVX https://t.co/22KVKa4SOS
— Janet Johnson (@JJohnsonLaw) May 21, 2020

Henry Ford definitely believed in that stuff https://t.co/jg8nA80KHZ
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) May 21, 2020

This isn’t one of those “what the fuck is he saying” Trump rambles. He specifically calls out Henry Ford with eugenics terminology. This is blatant signaling to his fascist base.
The President is a fucking NAZI. https://t.co/nGpMvOIzIo
— Gareth M. Skarka (@gmskarka) May 21, 2020

Trump ‘should apologize’ for praising ‘antisemite’ Henry Ford: 

ADL

The CEO of the Anti-Defamation League suggested President Donald Trump to apologize for comments made during a tour of a Ford factory in Michigan.

Trump praised the “good bloodlines” of Henry Ford, resulting in harsh criticism online.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt responded to Trump’s comments on Twitter.

“Henry Ford was an antisemite and one of America’s staunchest proponents of eugenics,” Greenblatt noted.

“The President should apologize,” he counseled.

In case Trump “doesn’t know why” he should apology, Greenblatt include a link to ADL’s briefing on Ford.

Henry Ford was an antisemite and one of America's staunchest proponents of eugenics.
The President should apologize.
If he doesn't know why, our backgrounder on Ford's legacy will help:https://t.co/U3uxpdEDto https://t.co/0CdzCGLKvu

— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) May 22, 2020

THE IRONY IS THAT THE FORD BLOODLINE ENDED IN AN EDSEL 

Fox News’ Sean Hannity: Trump can take hydroxychloroquine because he ‘built the hospitals’
(LIKE THE MAYO CLINIC, JOHN HOPKINS, BOSTON GENERAL, MOUNT SAINI, DANNY THOMAS ST. JUDE, ETC. ETC.)
May 21, 2020 By Roger Sollenberger, Salon

Fox News host Sean Hannity, who has no medical or pharmacological background, has used his radio and television platforms this week to repeatedly promote an unproven drug treatment for the new coronavirus despite FDA warnings against doing so outside of a hospital setting or clinical trial due to a risk of heart rhythm problems.

“There is one thing you cannot conclude here: that it’s going to kill you,” Hannity said of hydroxychloroquine on his radio show


Hannity’s blitz came in defense of President Donald Trump, who faced widespread public backlash following his stunning claim at a Monday press conference that he had been taking hydroxychloroquine in combination with zinc every day for the last two weeks in an attempt to ward off potential infection.

“All I can tell you is so far, I seem to be OK,” the president said at the time.

Hannity sought to justify the president’s actions in primetime on Fox News by making the misleading claims that Trump had built, manned and adequately stocked hospitals with medical equipment.
“Trump built the hospitals, manned the hospitals and sent them all the medical equipment they needed,” Hannity said. “Now, the president himself — he’s made the decision along with his doctors to take hydroxychloroquine as a preventative treatment.”

In defense of the oldest president in U.S. history’s decision to take the drug — which multiple studies have linked to heart failure, leading the FDA to issue its rare warning last month — Hannity heavily leaned on studies by one doctor, rheumatology expert Dr. Daniel Wallace of the Cedars-Sinai hospital. Though not an expert in infectious respiratory diseases, Wallace has written extensively on the drug in his lupus patients.

“He knows more about this than anybody else but the money line that he makes,” Hannity said of Wallace. “The risk taking 400 mg of hydroxychloroquine in a day and a 600 mg hydroxychloroquine loading dose for 60 days — the risk is nil unless you have an allergic rash or upset stomach. That’s it — that’s the worst that can happen.”

One of Wallace’s more extensive studies found that “56% of the 2,783 patients responding had experienced GI problems which they attributed to HCQ.”

“Despite 56% of patients experiencing GI problems, only 15% of patients had reported any unwanted symptoms to their physician,” Wallace found.

However, Wallace did not conclude that such symptoms were mild from this data. Beyond heart problems, hydroxychloroquine has been linked to paranoia and psychosis.

Wallace instead advised patients to speak with their physicians about their symptoms.

“This suggests that an opportunity may exist for stronger clinician–patient communication regarding symptom management,” he wrote.

Hannity cited another doctor on his radio show, the TV host Mehmet Oz, who has been repeatedly called out by medical professionals as a “quack” for pushing discredited “miracle” health products.

“There was a long period of time where Dr. Oz was asking anybody that took hydroxychloroquine, that had lupus or rheumatoid arthritis or had taken it as an anti-malarial — that had gotten or contracted COVID-19,” Hannity said. “They couldn’t find hardly any people.”

“There were instance — but they seemed very rare — just like they looked at the instances of countries where the drug is used to stop or prevent malaria,” he added.

“At the end of the day, there is one thing you cannot conclude here: that it’s going to kill you,” Hannity concluded.

Colleague Neil Cavuto told Fox News viewers the exact opposite following Trump’s Monday confession.

“If you are in a risky population here and you are taking this as a preventative treatment to ward off the virus, or in a worst-case scenario, you are dealing with the virus and you are in this vulnerable population, it will kill you. I cannot stress enough — this will kill you,” Cavuto said, drawing swift blowback from fellow Fox personalities and the president himself.

In a separate radio segment, Hannity blamed Democrats and the press for spreading what he alleged were “conspiracy theories” about Trump’s claim.

“They get the conspiracy theories over at MSDNC, the conspiracy theory state-run socialist television network of the Democratic Socialist Party. This time, claiming the president’s doctor is lying. The President’s not actually taking hydroxychloroquine. Uh, OK. Joe, you’ve lost it as usual. Or forgetting the foremost expert in the country Dr. Daniel Wallace out of Cedar Sinai (sic),” he said.

Hannity, who courted heavy criticism for repeatedly promoting the treatment on his show until recent contravening studies appeared to lead him to stop hyping it, was careful to caveat his advice.

“I’m not a doctor. I’m not advising you to take the drug. But that guy with those credentials — he seems like the foremost expert in the country. I’d take his word for it,” Hannity said. “So you can stay informed, know the risks, consult with your doctor and you ultimately decide.”

Hannity also took a shot at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who said she was concerned about Trump’s use of the drug because he was “morbidly obese.”

“But then you get Nancy Pelosi, ‘Oh, the president — it’s risky, it’s dangerous, it’s morbidly obese,'” Hannity said. “Well, some people can be morbidly stupid.”

A few days after President Trump first hawked the unproven drug treatment in a March 19 White House press briefing, an Arizona man died and his wife were hospitalized after ingesting chloroquine phosphate — a chemical the woman had used in her koi pond to treat fish for parasites — in an attempted effort to protect themselves against infection from COVID-19.

“Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure,” the woman later said.

She added that her advice would be: “Don’t take anything. Don’t believe anything. Don’t believe anything that the president says . . . Call your doctor.”

Hannity, however, took the opposite track this week.

“The president says he’s fine,” he said. “How about we let him make the choice himself. Let every American make the choice.”

“Same thing with opening,” he added. “We just ask that you wear a mask for a short period of time.”