Author: TheGuardian

Lack of international cooperation to fight COVID-19 risks repeating mistakes of the Great Depression

In a parody of self-destructive nationalism, Donald Trump decided on April 14 that an unprecedented global health emergency was the perfect time to withdraw American funding from the organization whose job it is to fight global health emergencies. His decision to suspend contributions to the World Health Organization is an extraordinary act of moral abdication and international vandalism at a time when the world desperately needs to find means of working together to combat an unprecedented global threat. Global problems require global solutions. COVID-19 does not respect borders, even closed ones, and its continued transmission anywhere poses a threat...

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U.S. Navy fires captain of aircraft carrier who sought help for his sailors stricken with COVID-19

The United States Navy has dismissed the commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, who had raised the alarm about an outbreak of coronavirus on his ship. Thomas Modly, the acting Secretary of the Navy, said that Captain Brett Crozier had been relieved of his command of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier because he had copied in too many people on an internal memo, in which he urgently appealed for members of his crew who had fallen ill to be allowed to disembark for medical care in Guam. With 5,000 people onboard including an unconfirmed number who have tested...

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The death of journalism: Why public funds are required to help the institution survive

Maintaining public media infrastructure should be non-negotiable for a democratic society, and requires bold action. The McClatchy newspaper chain’s recent filing for bankruptcy is one more data point showing that American journalism is dying. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the newspaper industry has lost more than 50% of its employees since 2001. While several big national papers like the New York Times are healthy, more typical are the closures, bankruptcies, and extreme downsizing that increasingly leave cities, towns and rural communities without local news. This carnage has attracted opportunistic pathologies, from hedge funds buying up distressed...

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Fear of demographic change has increased White Nationalist hate groups 55% in Trump era

White nationalist hate groups in the United States have increased 55% throughout the Trump era, according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and a “surging” racist movement continues to be driven by “a deep fear of demographic change.” Nationally, there were 155 such groups counted last year, and they were present in most states. These groups were counted separately from Ku Klux Klan groups, racist skinheads, Christian Identity groups, and neo-Confederate groups, all of which also express some version of white supremacist beliefs. Since the turn of the millennium, the report says, “American racists...

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State Propaganda: Chinese media outlets hit with stricter rules while Fox churns out disinformation

The United States has tightened rules on Chinese state media organizations as it classified them as foreign missions, decrying what U.S. officials described as Beijing’s growing “propaganda” while turning a blind eye to a parallel behavior from the Fox News. Last month the state department told five outlets including the Xinhua news agency and the China Global Television Network that they will need to seek approval to buy any property. They will also be required to submit lists of all employees, including the growing number of US citizens on their staffs, the state department said. The state department said...

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A Social Recession: The profound physical and psychological effects from long-term isolation

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, millions of people in the United Stqtes are coming to terms with being increasingly cut off from society. Beyond the inconvenience of working from home, or not being able to go to bars, restaurants or cinemas, however, experts have found that social isolation can have a profound effect on people’s physical, as well as mental health. Long-term, isolation even increases the risk of premature death. It’s being called a “social recession” to match any economic downturn also caused by the growing pandemic and it can have profound physical and psychological effects. “People who are...

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