The U.S. government is certainly in the running for worst handling of coronavirus on earth. Where did this grotesque incompetence and indifference to human lives come from so suddenly?

What if it was always there?

What if it’s to be found in long-standing U.S. policies on environment, energy, labor, healthcare, education, and retirement?

What if U.S. policy on climate collapse is just as catastrophic as on coronavirus, but the clown car simply hasn’t yet reached the edge of the cliff it’s been barreling toward?

What if the scientists who are screaming that the Doomsday Clock is nearer midnight than ever before, that the earth is more likely than ever to experience nuclear apocalypse, don’t view U.S. nuclear policy as somehow wiser than U.S. coronavirus policy? What if we’re still here at all principally because of outrageously great luck that cannot possibly hold out much longer?

What if all the killing and destruction and all the restrictions on privacy and self-governance and activism and journalism established in the name of “fighting terrorism” have been part of a decades-long “war on terrorism” that has predictably (and it was predicted) increased terrorism?
— Read on davidswanson.org/how-many-revelations-does-it-take-to-make-a-light-bulb-go-off/

When I look around the world today, it strikes me that we’re living in the age of the sociopath. I don’t just mean that in the technical psychological sense of the word — a certain head of state and his goons come to mind — but first, in a deeper, truer, broader sense. Sociopathic: hostile to the idea, the notion, the purpose, of society. Not just “their” society or “mine” or “yours” — but the great and historic ideal of society itself. Sociopathy to the point that nations like Britain and America were simply unable to lock down in time, to protect society’s most vulnerable. Sociopathy to the point that Americans sunbathe on beaches while the death rate is the equivalent of a 9/11 every day. Sociopathy to the point that despite the fact that the infection hasn’t peaked yet, Trump is still trying to “reopen” the economy.

— Read on eand.co/how-freedom-turned-sociopathic-in-america-963048c59f8f

Video: War Is A Lie with David Swanson

A new collection of maps found here displays what militarism looks like in the world. Here’s a brief guide to using and understanding them.

Across the top are 10 drop-down menus on these topics: Wars, Weapons, U.S. Weapons, Money, Nukes, Chemical and Biological, U.S. Military, Air Strikes, Law, and Promotes Peace and Security.

Some of the topics only include one map, others multiple maps. The one with the most has eight maps. When you click on the name of a map in a drop-down menu, you’ll see that map displayed. If the map contains data for multiple years, you can see previous years by changing the date at the bottom. You can even make it scroll forward through the years like a short video. You can select a particular country from a list or on the map. You can zoom in or out. You can click on the color key to display only the countries in a particular range of data (such as those with the highest spending on wars or suffering the highest number of air strikes). You can print any map or get a direct link to any map set to any date and other settings.

Each map has a year as part of its name. While the maps have all just been updated for 2020, the latest available data for some of them is from 2019 or an earlier year. The dates on the maps correspond to the years the data is from. None of the maps reflect any changes already brought about by or predicted or hoped for as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s a bit of information about each topic that has been mapped.

— Read on worldbeyondwar.org/militarism-mapped/

People’s Strike: Fighting for Our Lives, Forging Our Future
Take Action Friday May 1st, 2020 – May Day

The CODVID-19 pandemic has starkly revealed the inequalities and injustices that daily plague the world. 

The triple crises of viral plague, systemic economic breakdown, and the failure and/or unwillingness of Governments to provide necessary protections, especially for the poor and people subjected to white supremacy, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, and mysogyny has thrown us into a fight for our lives. 

The “Free Markets” that right-wing political figures like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Jair Bolsonaro and others are seeking to protect and rely upon to address the COVID-10 pandemic will continue to produce chaos and needless suffering for millions of people. The economic nationalism and imperial rivalry we see on full display in the midst of this pandemic magnify the threat of war.

In the U.S. we are fed a steady stream of lies and authoritarian posturing. From Palestine to South Africa to Brazil to the U.S. and beyond, oppressive regimes are actively sacrificing vulnerable peoples and communities and treating frontline workers as uttlerly disposable. 

We say ENOUGH! It is time to stand up! It’s Time To Strike Back – For Our Lives and Our Futures!
— Read on generalstrike.mayfirst.org/our-principles/

The Bill for MAGA is Due
The bill for MAGA has come due, Trump supporters.

It’s time to pay up.

The deferred invoice for you selling your souls is here.

It’s time to pay for every incendiary campaign boast you cheered,
every factless diatribe you vigorously applauded,
every nonsensical middle-of-the-night tweet you boosted,
every dehumanizing stereotype and slur you shared,
every callous and cruel rally insult you passionately amen-ed. 

Its time to pay for every denial of Scientific evidence,
every terminated qualified conscientious objector,
every attack on factual, responsible journalism,
every vicious assault on objective reality,
every nepotistic Cabinet appointment,
every star-spangled dog-and-pony show distraction,
every lazy xenophobic caricature,
every tired racist tirade.

— Read on johnpavlovitz.com/2020/03/12/the-bill-for-maga-is-due/