Daily Archives: March 30, 2020

2020-03-30: News Headlines

DLI (2020-03-30). Peace is the New Priority for Planet Earth after CoVid19 Crisis. indybay.org For decades Peace activists have been clamoring that the misplaced US priority on Militarism(wasting Trillions of dollars and narrowly focusing on imagined foreign enemies and/or real terrorists spawned by US policies)will decisively harm the health of citizens and the Planet itself. Sadly, 60 years after President Eisenhower warned of the danger of the Military Industrial Complex overshadowing the health and welfare of our society, the Peace agenda is still being sidelined to near extinction, both by the political ruling elite of Pentagon-Wall Street hucksters, and the compliant mainstream media outlets.

yenisafak (2020-03-30). COVID-19: Pakistan's top court halts prisoner release. yenisafak.com Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday halted the release of hundreds of prisoners who were supposed to be set free in an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus in the country's overcrowded jails, local media reported.Several high courts, including the Islamabad High Court, last week, had ordered the release of over 500 under-trial prisoners and those already sentenced for their involvement in petty crimes, to reduce burden on the jails."Coronavirus is a serious issue but the decisions taken in haste and fear won't work," Chief Justice of Supreme Court Gulzar Ahmed remarked, according to local broadcaster Geo News…

sputniknews (2020-03-30). Britain's Spymaster: What Do We Know About MI5's New Director General Ken McCallum. sputniknews.com Sir Andrew Parker, 58, is stepping down as head of MI5 – Britain's internal intelligence service. Sir Andrew will be replaced by Ken McCallum, who led the Sergei Skripal inquiry.

M.K. Bhadrakumar (2020-03-29). Has America reached its endgame in Afghanistan? mronline.org In an extraordinary statement titled "On the Political Impasse in Afghanistan," Washington has admitted to the failure of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's mission to Kabul on March 23, which was taken up to heal the political rift among Afghan politicians and to urge them to form an inclusive government so as to implement the …

Binoy Kampmark (2020-03-28). Barbaric Decisions: Coronavirus, Refusing Bail and Julian Assange. dissidentvoice.org To expose another human being to serious illness, and to the threat of losing their life, is grotesque and quite unnecessary. This is not justice, it is a barbaric decision. — Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, March 26, 2020 Social distancing is not a word that seems to have reached certain parts of the British …

Alan Macleod (2020-03-27). Doctors "Strongly Condemn" UK Decision to Keep Assange Imprisoned During COVID-19 Pandemic. mintpressnews.com Assange's treatment in the UK's Belmarsh Prison has been so poor that convicted murderers and other high-security inmates had to stage a mass protest to secure his transfer to the hospital wing.

Elie Mystal (2020-03-26). The Supreme Court Just Made It Easier to Get Away With Discrimination. thenation.com The Supreme Court Just Made It Easier to Get Away With Discrimination…

Zero Hedge (2020-03-26). US Propaganda: Iran Rounding Up Whistleblowers Trying To Expose Real COVID-19 Death Toll. iranian.com The State Department now seems to be leveling new accusations against Iran and China on a near-daily basis related to their role in facilitating the spread of the deadly coronavirus. On Monday Mike Pompeo issued '5 facts' detailing Iran's recklessness regarding the virus, including the charge Tehran spread it "to at least five countries," and on Wednesday …

Brian Cloughley (2020-03-26). Now Is the Time to Cancel Sanctions on Iran. iranian.com U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has often declared that he considers himself to be a devout evangelical Christian, and in November 2019 told the New York Times Magazine that the Bible "informs everything I do." Given that his religious convictions are based on the Bible, he is doubtless familiar with the command from Philippians 2: 4 that everyone should "look not …

Staff (2020-03-25). Calls Grow for Sen. Burr to Resign After He Sold $1.7 Million in Stocks & Downplayed COVID-19 Risks. democracynow.org Calls are growing for Republican Senator Richard Burr to resign after he reportedly sold up to $1.7 million worth of stocks after receiving privileged briefings about the coronavirus's threat to the global economy. ProPublica reports Burr, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, unloaded his holdings on February 13 in 33 separate transactions. At the time, he had access to classified information about the coronavirus and was receiving daily intelligence briefings. The stock market began plummeting a week after Burr's sales and has since lost about 30% of its value. We speak with Derek Willis of ProPublica…

Zero Hedge (2020-03-25). Deflection: Pompeo Issues '5 Facts' Claiming Iran Exported COVID-19 To "At Least 5 Countries" iranian.com As even Britain is urging its close US ally to moderate its stance on Iran sanctions as the Mideast country's death toll surges from the coronavirus pandemic, the Washington-Tehran tit-for-tat exchanges and blame game over Covid-19 continues unabated. Yesterday Pompeo issued a new list of five allegations of how Iran's leaders have handled the outbreak. Notably, this featured the …

Kathryn Casteel and Will Tucker (2020-03-24). Arbitrary & excessive: Marijuana trafficking sentences in Alabama. splcenter.org Alabama resident Lee Carroll Brooker garnered national attention in 2016 when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the marijuana trafficking case that put Brooker, in his 70s at the time, in prison for life.

Ben Norton (2020-03-20). US government threatens families of Int'l Criminal Court staff if they try Americans for war crimes. thegrayzone.com The International Criminal Court approved an investigation into US war crimes in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded by…

Staff (2020-03-20). Senator Dumped Up to $1.7 Million of Stock After Reassuring Public About Coronavirus Preparedness. truthdig.com Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 33 separate transactions. As the head of the intelligence …

Marjorie Cohn (2020-03-02). Extradition of Assange Would Set a Dangerous Precedent. zcomm.org The Trump administration is seeking extradition of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, to the United States for trial on charges carrying 175 years in prison…

Justin Stebbing, Anne Phelan, Ivan Griffin, Catherine Tucker, Olly Oechsle, Dan Smith, Peter Richardson (2020-02-27). [Comment] COVID-19: combining antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatments. thelancet.com Both coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) are characterised by an overexuberant inflammatory response and, for SARS, viral load is not correlated with the worsening of symptoms.1,2 In our previous Correspondence to The Lancet,3 we described how BenevolentAI's proprietary artificial intelligence (AI)-derived knowledge graph,4 queried by a suite of algorithms, enabled identification of a target and a potential therapeutic against SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; the causative organism in COVID-19).

2020-03-30: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media!

Peace is the New Priority for Planet Earth after CoVid19 Crisis
DLI | indybay.org | 2020-03-30
For decades Peace activists have been clamoring that the misplaced US priority on Militarism(wasting Trillions of dollars and narrowly focusing on imagined foreign enemies and/or real terrorists spawned by US policies)will decisively harm the health of citizens and the Planet itself. Sadly, 60 years after President Eisenhower warned of the danger of the Military Industrial Complex overshadowing the health and welfare of our society, the Peace agenda is still being sidelined to near extinction, both by the political ruling elite of Pentagon-Wall Street hucksters, and the compliant mainstream media outlets.
indybay.org/newsitems/2020/03/29/18831925.php

COVID-19: Pakistan's top court halts prisoner release
yenisafak.com | 2020-03-30
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday halted the release of hundreds of prisoners who were supposed to be set free in an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus in the country's overcrowded jails, local media reported.Several high courts, including the Islamabad High Court, last week, had ordered the release of over 500 under-trial prisoners and those already sentenced for their involvement in petty crimes, to reduce burden on the jails."Coronavirus is a serious issue but the decisions taken in haste and fear won't work," Chief Justice of Supreme Court Gulzar Ahmed remarked, according to local broadcaster Geo News…
yenisafak.com/en/world/covid-19-pakistans-top-court-halts-prisoner-release-3515414

Britain's Spymaster: What Do We Know About MI5's New Director General Ken McCallum
sputniknews.com | 2020-03-30
Sir Andrew Parker, 58, is stepping down as head of MI5 – Britain's internal intelligence service. Sir Andrew will be replaced by Ken McCallum, who led the Sergei Skripal inquiry.
sputniknews.com/uk/202003301078759776-britains-spymaster-what-do-we-know-about-mi5s-new-director-general-ken-mccallum/

Has America reached its endgame in Afghanistan?
M.K. Bhadrakumar | mronline.org | 2020-03-29
In an extraordinary statement titled "On the Political Impasse in Afghanistan," Washington has admitted to the failure of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's mission to Kabul on March 23, which was taken up to heal the political rift among Afghan politicians and to urge them to form an inclusive government so as to implement the …
mronline.org/2020/03/29/has-america-reached-its-endgame-in-afghanistan/

Barbaric Decisions: Coronavirus, Refusing Bail and Julian Assange
Binoy Kampmark | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-03-28
To expose another human being to serious illness, and to the threat of losing their life, is grotesque and quite unnecessary. This is not justice, it is a barbaric decision.

Doctors "Strongly Condemn" UK Decision to Keep Assange Imprisoned During COVID-19 Pandemic
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2020-03-27
Assange's treatment in the UK's Belmarsh Prison has been so poor that convicted murderers and other high-security inmates had to stage a mass protest to secure his transfer to the hospital wing.
mintpressnews.com/doctors-condemn-uk-decision-keep-assange-imprisoned-during-coronavirus/266112/

The Supreme Court Just Made It Easier to Get Away With Discrimination
Elie Mystal | thenation.com | 2020-03-26
The Supreme Court Just Made It Easier to Get Away With Discrimination…
thenation.com/article/society/scotus-comcast-discrimination/

US Propaganda: Iran Rounding Up Whistleblowers Trying To Expose Real COVID-19 Death Toll
Zero Hedge | iranian.com | 2020-03-26
The State Department now seems to be leveling new accusations against Iran and China on a near-daily basis related to their role in facilitating the spread of the deadly coronavirus. On Monday Mike Pompeo issued '5 facts' detailing Iran's recklessness regarding the virus, including the charge Tehran spread it "to at least five countries," and on Wednesday …
iranian.com/2020/03/25/us-propaganda-iran-rounding-up-whistleblowers-trying-to-expose-real-covid-19-death-toll/

Now Is the Time to Cancel Sanctions on Iran
Brian Cloughley | iranian.com | 2020-03-26
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has often declared that he considers himself to be a devout evangelical Christian, and in November 2019 told the New York Times Magazine that the Bible "informs everything I do." Given that his religious convictions are based on the Bible, he is doubtless familiar with the command from Philippians 2: 4 that everyone should "look not …
iranian.com/2020/03/25/now-is-the-time-to-cancel-sanctions-on-iran/

Calls Grow for Sen. Burr to Resign After He Sold $1.7 Million in Stocks & Downplayed COVID-19 Risks
Staff | democracynow.org | 2020-03-25
Calls are growing for Republican Senator Richard Burr to resign after he reportedly sold up to $1.7 million worth of stocks after receiving privileged briefings about the coronavirus's threat to the global economy. ProPublica reports Burr, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, unloaded his holdings on February 13 in 33 separate transactions. At the time, he had access to classified information about the coronavirus and was receiving daily intelligence briefings. The stock market began plummeting a week after Burr's sales and has since lost about 30% of its value. We speak with Derek Willis of ProPublica…
www.democracynow.org/2020/3/25/senator_richard_burr_stocks_coronavirus

Deflection: Pompeo Issues '5 Facts' Claiming Iran Exported COVID-19 To "At Least 5 Countries"
Zero Hedge | iranian.com | 2020-03-25
As even Britain is urging its close US ally to moderate its stance on Iran sanctions as the Mideast country's death toll surges from the coronavirus pandemic, the Washington-Tehran tit-for-tat exchanges and blame game over Covid-19 continues unabated. Yesterday Pompeo issued a new list of five allegations of how Iran's leaders have handled the outbreak. Notably, this featured the …
iranian.com/2020/03/24/deflection-pompeo-issues-5-facts-claiming-iran-exported-covid-19-to-at-least-5-countries/

Arbitrary & excessive: Marijuana trafficking sentences in Alabama
Kathryn Casteel and Will Tucker | splcenter.org | 2020-03-24
Alabama resident Lee Carroll Brooker garnered national attention in 2016 when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the marijuana trafficking case that put Brooker, in his 70s at the time, in prison for life.
splcenter.org/news/2020/03/28/arbitrary-excessive-marijuana-trafficking-sentences-alabama

US government threatens families of Int'l Criminal Court staff if they try Americans for war crimes
Ben Norton | thegrayzone.com | 2020-03-20
The International Criminal Court approved an investigation into US war crimes in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded by…
thegrayzone.com/2020/03/20/us-threatens-families-international-criminal-court/

Senator Dumped Up to $1.7 Million of Stock After Reassuring Public About Coronavirus Preparedness
Staff | truthdig.com | 2020-03-20
Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 33 separate transactions. As the head of the intelligence …
truthdig.com/articles/senator-dumped-up-to-1-7-million-of-stock-after-reassuring-public-about-coronavirus-preparedness/

Extradition of Assange Would Set a Dangerous Precedent
Marjorie Cohn | zcomm.org | 2020-03-02
The Trump administration is seeking extradition of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, to the United States for trial on charges carrying 175 years in prison…
zcomm.org/zmagazine/extradition-of-assange-would-set-a-dangerous-precedent/