Speaking (again) of COVID-19 ...

... has anyone noted the reduction in air pollution since COVID-19 began impacting peoples' lives?

FAIR has noted this, and the establishment media's talking points - https://fair.org/home/as-covid-19-forces-emission-reductions-media-offer-oil-industry-elegies/

Also last week, for the first time in history, the price of oil fell to below zero as suppliers were willing to pay to have it taken off their hands. The oil market collapse, of course, is caused by the same public health measures that have helped the planet heal: Demand for oil has plummeted. In environmental terms, falling demand for oil is the best news since…well, let’s just say long before sliced bread.

Conversely, it has never been clearer that demand for oil = bad news for the planet and its inhabitants. To put this in perspective: Covid-19 has killed 200,000+ to date; air pollution kills an estimated 7 million people annually.

But if you’re looking for corporate media to celebrate the good news of the drop in demand for oil, you will be disappointed. Heck, you won’t even find an acknowledgement of the tradeoffs of oil demand and planetary health in last week’s breathless coverage of the unprecedented market collapse. And forget any analysis about the possibilities of directing government aid to conversion to renewable energy sources.

Speaking of COVID-19 ...

This story of the U.S. government’s abuse of science ends with lessons learned.  They are: (1) science must exist for the benefit of all people and not be left to the mercies of the rich and powerful, (2) a government restricting and disrespecting  scientists, like Dr. Bright, is dangerous to the people, and (3) a capability to plan is of the essence to a state that would assure the safety and flourishing of all its people. These basic standards, it seems here, will be identifying features for those societies that do emerge relatively intact from the pandemic. The odds favor the socialist ones.

More here - https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/30/covid-19-think-science-and-the-people/

Do I really think this is true?

Is there a silver lining in all this COVID-19 stuff?

https://consortiumnews.com/2020/04/29/covid-19-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-oil/

“The COVID-19 pandemic is, among other things, a massive experiment in telecommuting,” observed Katherine Guyot and Isabel Sawhill of the Brookings Institution in a recent report. “Up to half of American workers are currently working from home, more than double the fraction who worked from home (at least occasionally) in 2017-2018.”

Many such workers, they also noted, had been largely unfamiliar with telecommuting technology when this grand experiment began, but have quickly mastered the necessary skills. Given little choice in the matter, high school and college students are also becoming more adept at telework as their schools shift to remote learning. Meanwhile, companies and colleges are investing massively in the necessary hardware and software for such communications and teaching. As a result, Guyot and Sawhill suggest, “The outbreak is accelerating the trend toward telecommuting, possibly for the long term.”

Any large increase in teleworking is bound to have a dramatic dual impact on energy use: people will drive less, reducing their oil consumption, while relying more on teleconferencing and cloud computing, and so increasing their use of electricity. “The coronavirus reminds us that electricity is more indispensable than ever,” says Fatih Birol, executive director of the IEA. “Millions of people are now confined to their homes, resorting to teleworking to do their jobs.”

The future of 'progressives' in the Democratic Party.

What will be remembered by survivors (if any) centuries from now - The Great Wall Street Heist of 2020.

More than 20 million people have filed for unemployment benefits over the past five weeks. In March, less than 30 percent of those who filed received any benefits. Millions more are ineligible for any assistance.
Millions of people have yet to receive anything, including the $1,200 federal cash stimulus, and are desperately attempting to stave off destitution. Food banks are overwhelmed by demand and are running out of staple goods. According to the Economic Policy Institute, more than nine million people who lost their jobs have also lost their health insurance through April 11, with millions more in the weeks that have followed.

There are, however, two realities, two Americas. While the economic destitution of workers is being used in an effort to drive them back to work over widespread opposition, the corporate and financial oligarchy has seen its fortunes increase.

Gigantic corporations, many of which have massive cash hoards, are laying off employees while continuing to pay executives. Entertainment giant Disney recently came under public scrutiny over the fact that it has furloughed more than 100,000 workers while maintaining its executive compensation program. But this is the general rule.

US billionaires, since mid-March, have increased their wealth by $282 billion. The collective fortune of these 614 individuals, which totals $3.2 trillion, has been buoyed by the continued rise of share values on Wall Street, which increased sharply again on Monday.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/28/pers-a28.html

COVID-19 pandemic, Global Warming, Wealth Theft, etc. ... can all be traced back to capitalism.

Capitalism is the problem - https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/04/27/capitalism-cant-be-repaired-coronavirus-shows-its-huge-weaknesses/

Hmm JILL Biden running for President of the United States in 2020?

The true definition of crapitalism.

The most of amount of wealth and power as fast as possible for the cheapest cost, regardless of how many die.

Case in point - > https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/25/work-a25.html

As US passes 50,000 deaths, workers strike against back-to-work campaign

By Shannon Jones and Andre Damon
25 April 2020

The US death toll from COVID-19 soared past the grim milestone of 50,000 Friday. Despite having just five percent of the world’s population, the United Sates now accounts for one quarter of the world’s COVID-19 deaths.

Just one month ago, the total death toll in the United States was under 1,000. Over the past two weeks, an average of approximately 2,000 people have died every day. The US death toll has doubled over ten days.

The number of people killed by the coronavirus, according to official figures, is now greater than the number of combat deaths during the American Revolutionary War, the Vietnam War and the Korean War. Within a matter of days, it will eclipse the number of US deaths in World War I.

There is no indication that the pandemic is contained in the United States. On Friday, the country had the highest number of new cases ever, at 38,000, despite constant claims that the United States is “bending the curve.”

An Interview worth watching in its entirety.

How Bernie & Squad Actually Support Corporate State. w/Chris Hedges

 

 

Police retaliation?

I certainly think so. I'm sure so does Eric Garner's family.

Retaliation indeed.

If I had to describe the intent of control of society for the rich and the powerful in society (i.e. the establishment) ...

... it would be the following -

• One side wants to keep things as they are - or marching in step.
• The other side wants to roll things back - or march backwards.

' raining money for the banks' - profiting off of death in Canada.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/04/21/quin-a21.html

" ... it is clear that workers are the ones who are bearing the brunt of the current crisis. Speaking of the billions offered to the banks by Justin Trudeau’s federal government and the various provincial governments, Lisa said, “It is still the banks and big business that will come out of this crisis unscathed.” But workers with a small government check of $2,000 a month (under Ottawa’s four-month, makeshift Canada Emergency Response Benefit) are not going to come out unscathed. “It’s like when we fall into collective bargaining. We’re told there’s no money, that we’re in a recession, so we never get good conditions and good wages. But now it is raining money for the banks.”

Oh yes - remember all that shit going on in Flint?

Fortunately Status Coup has been staying on the top of the newest controversies -

https://www.youtube.com/user/jchar22/videos