mintpressnews--2020-05-13--Contact Tracing, Immunity Cards and Mass Testing: Are We on The Fast Track to a National ID?

CHARLOTTESVILLE ( Rutherford ) –– No one is safe .
No one is immune .
No one gets spared the anguish , fear and heartache of living under the shadow of an authoritarian police state .
That ’ s the message being broadcast 24/7 with every new piece of government propaganda , every new law that criminalizes otherwise lawful activity , every new policeman on the beat , every new surveillance camera casting a watchful eye , every sensationalist news story that titillates and distracts , every new prison or detention center built to house troublemakers and other undesirables , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agents a green light to strip and steal and rape and ravage the citizenry , every school that opts to indoctrinate rather than educate , and every new justification for why Americans should comply with the government ’ s attempts to trample the Constitution underfoot .
Yes , COVID-19 has taken a significant toll on the nation emotionally , physically , and economically , but there are still greater dangers on the horizon .
As long as “ we the people ” continue to allow the government to trample our rights in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will get worse , not better .
Now there ’ s talk of mass testing for COVID-19 antibodies , screening checkpoints , contact tracing , immunity passports to allow those who have recovered from the virus to move around more freely , and snitch tip lines for reporting “ rule breakers ” to the authorities .
If you can ’ t read the writing on the wall , you need to pay better attention .
These may seem like small , necessary steps in the war against the COVID-19 virus , but they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state in its efforts to further undermine the Constitution , extend its control over the populace , and feed its insatiable appetite for ever-greater powers .
Nothing is ever as simple as the government claims it is .
Whatever dangerous practices you allow the government to carry out now—whether it ’ s in the name of national security or protecting America ’ s borders or making America healthy again—rest assured , these same practices can and will be used against you when the government decides to set its sights on you .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a war on the American people , waged with SWAT teams and militarized police .
The war on terror turned out to be a war on the American people , waged with warrantless surveillance and indefinite detention .
The war on immigration turned out to be a war on the American people , waged with roving government agents demanding “ papers , please.
” This war on COVID-19 will be yet another war on the American people , waged with all of the surveillance weaponry at the government ’ s disposal : thermal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , biometric databases , etc .
So you see , when you talk about empowering government agents to screen the populace in order to control and prevent spread of this virus , what you ’ re really talking about is creating a society in which ID cards , round ups , checkpoints and detention centers become routine weapons used by the government to control and suppress the populace , no matter the threat .
This is also how you pave the way for a national identification system of epic proportions .
Imagine it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only categorizes you according to your health status but also allows the government to sort you in a hundred other ways : by gender , orientation , wealth , medical condition , religious beliefs , political viewpoint , legal status , etc .
Are you starting to get the bigger picture yet ?
This is just another wolf in sheep ’ s clothing , a “ show me your papers ” scheme disguised as a means of fighting a virus .
The ramifications of such a “ show me your papers ” society @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stop individuals , demand they identify themselves , and subject them to patdowns , warrantless screenings , searches , and interrogations are beyond chilling .
By allowing government agents to establish a litmus test for individuals to be able to exit a state of lockdown and engage in commerce , movement and any other right that corresponds to life in a supposedly free society , it lays the groundwork for a society in which you are required to identify yourself at any time to any government worker who demands it for any reason @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a slippery slope that ends with government agents empowered to force anyone and everyone to prove they are in compliance with every statute and regulation on the books .
It used to be that unless police had a reasonable suspicion that a person was guilty of wrongdoing , they had no legal authority to stop the person and require identification .
In other words , “ we the people ” had the right to come and go as we please without the fear of being questioned by police or forced to identify ourselves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 , that unrestricted right to move about freely is being pitted against the government ’ s power to lock down communities at a moment ’ s notice .
And in this tug-of-war between individual freedoms and government power , “ we the people ” have been on the losing end of the deal .
Curiously enough , these COVID-19 restrictions dovetail conveniently with a national timeline for states to comply with the Real ID Act , which imposes federal standards on identity documents such as state drivers ’ licenses , a prelude @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about a perfect storm for bringing about a national ID card , the ultimate human tracking device .
Granted , in the absence of a national ID card , which would make the police state ’ s task of monitoring , tracking and singling out individual suspects far simpler , “ we the people ” are already tracked in a myriad of ways : through our state driver ’ s licenses , Social Security numbers , bank accounts , purchases and electronic transactions ; by way of our correspondence and communication devices—email , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chips implanted in our vehicles , identification documents , even our clothing .
Add to this the fact that businesses , schools and other facilities are relying more and more on fingerprints and facial recognition to identify us .
All the while , data companies such as Acxiom are capturing vast caches of personal information to help airports , retailers , police and other government authorities instantly determine whether someone is the person he or she claims to be .
This informational glut—used to great advantage by both the government and corporate sectors—has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ internal passport , ” a.k.a.
, a national ID card that would store information as basic as a person ’ s name , birth date and place of birth , as well as private information , including a Social Security number , fingerprint , retinal scan and personal , criminal and financial records .
A federalized , computerized , cross-referenced , databased system of identification policed by government agents would be the final nail in the coffin for privacy ( not to mention a logistical security nightmare that would leave Americans even more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) .
Americans have always resisted adopting a national ID card for good reason : it gives the government and its agents the ultimate power to target , track and terrorize the populace according to the government ’ s own nefarious purposes .
National ID card systems have been used before , by other oppressive governments , in the name of national security , invariably with horrifying results .
For instance , in Germany , the Nazis required all Jews to carry special stamped ID cards for travel within the country .
A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ badges , these stamped cards were instrumental in identifying Jews for deportation to death camps in Poland .
Author Raul Hilberg summarizes the impact that such a system had on the Jews : In South Africa during apartheid , pass books were used to regulate the movement of black citizens and segregate the population .
The Pass Laws Act of 1952 stipulated where , when and for how long a black African could remain in certain areas .
Any government employee could strike out entries , which canceled the permission to remain in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did not have a valid entry resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of the bearer .
Identity cards played a crucial role in the genocide of the Tutsis in the central African country of Rwanda .
The assault , carried out by extremist Hutu militia groups , lasted around 100 days and resulted in close to a million deaths .
While the ID cards were not a precondition to the genocide , they were a facilitating factor .
Once the genocide began , the production of an identity card with the designation “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any roadblock .
Identity cards have also helped oppressive regimes carry out eliminationist policies such as mass expulsion , forced relocation and group denationalization .
Through the use of identity cards , Ethiopian authorities were able to identify people with Eritrean affiliation during the mass expulsion of 1998 .
The Vietnamese government was able to locate ethnic Chinese more easily during their 1978-79 expulsion .
The USSR used identity cards to force the relocation of ethnic Koreans ( 1937 ) , Volga Germans ( 1941 ) , Kamyks and Karachai ( 1943 ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chechens , Ingush and Balkars ( 1944 ) and ethnic Greeks ( 1949 ) .
And ethnic Vietnamese were identified for group denationalization through identity cards in Cambodia in 1993 , as were the Kurds in Syria in 1962 .
And in the United States , post-9/11 , more than 750 Muslim men were rounded up on the basis of their religion and ethnicity and detained for up to eight months .
Their experiences echo those of 120,000 Japanese-Americans who were similarly detained 75 years ago following the attack on Pearl Harbor .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the U.S. government , the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to declare such a practice illegal .
Moreover , laws such as the National Defense Authorization Act ( NDAA ) empower the government to arrest and detain indefinitely anyone they “ suspect ” of being an enemy of the state .
You see , you may be innocent of wrongdoing now , but when the standard for innocence is set by the government , no one is safe .
And anyone can be a criminal when it ’ s the government determining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s no longer a matter of if , but when .
Remember , the police state does not discriminate .
At some point , it will not matter whether your skin is black or yellow or brown or white .
It will not matter whether you ’ re an immigrant or a citizen .
It will not matter whether you ’ re rich or poor .
It won ’ t even matter whether you ’ re driving , flying or walking .
After all , government-issued bullets will kill you just as easily @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or a hardened criminal .
Government jails will hold you just as easily whether you ’ ve obeyed every law or broken a dozen .
And whether or not you ’ ve done anything wrong , government agents will treat you like a suspect simply because they have been trained to view and treat everyone like potential criminals .
Eventually , when the police state has turned that final screw and slammed that final door , all that will matter is whether some government agent—poorly trained , utterly ignorant and dismissive of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the power of their badges , and authorized to detain , search , interrogate , threaten and generally harass anyone they see fit—chooses to single you out for special treatment .
We ’ ve been having this same debate about the perils of government overreach for the past 50-plus years , and still we don ’ t seem to learn , or if we learn , we learn too late .
All of the excessive , abusive tactics employed by the government today—warrantless surveillance , stop and frisk searches , SWAT team raids @ @ @ @ @ @ @ schemes , private prisons , indefinite detention , militarized police , etc.—started out as a seemingly well-meaning plan to address some problem in society that needed a little extra help .
Be careful what you wish for : you will get more than you bargained for , especially when the government ’ s involved .
In the case of a national identification system , it might start off as a means of tracking COVID-19 cases in order to “ safely ” re-open the nation , but it will end up as a means @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those tempted to justify these draconian measures for whatever reason—for the sake of their health , the economy , or national security—remember , you can ’ t have it both ways .
You can ’ t live in a constitutional republic if you allow the government to act like a police state .
You can ’ t claim to value freedom if you allow the government to operate like a dictatorship .
You can ’ t expect to have your rights respected if you allow the government to treat whomever it pleases with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rule of law .
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America : The War on the American People , if you ’ re inclined to advance this double standard because you believe you have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide , beware : there ’ s always a boomerang effect .
Feature photo | Wisconsin National Guard members administer COVID-19 tests in a parking lot , May 11 , 2020 , in Milwaukee .
Morry Gash | AP John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The War on the American People ( SelectBooks , 2015 ) is available online at www.amazon.com .
Whitehead can be contacted at johnw @ rutherford.org .

CHARLOTTESVILLE (Rutherford) –– No one is safe. No one is immune. No one gets spared the anguish, fear and heartache of living under the shadow of an authoritarian police state.
That’s the message being broadcast 24/7 with every new piece of government propaganda, every new law that criminalizes otherwise lawful activity, every new policeman on the beat, every new surveillance camera casting a watchful eye, every sensationalist news story that titillates and distracts, every new prison or detention center built to house troublemakers and other undesirables, every new court ruling that gives government agents a green light to strip and steal and rape and ravage the citizenry, every school that opts to indoctrinate rather than educate, and every new justification for why Americans should comply with the government’s attempts to trample the Constitution underfoot.
Yes, COVID-19 has taken a significant toll on the nation emotionally, physically, and economically, but there are still greater dangers on the horizon.
As long as “we the people” continue to allow the government to trample our rights in the so-called name of national security, things will get worse, not better.
It’s already worse.
Now there’s talk of mass testing for COVID-19 antibodies, screening checkpoints, contact tracing, immunity passports to allow those who have recovered from the virus to move around more freely, and snitch tip lines for reporting “rule breakers” to the authorities.
If you can’t read the writing on the wall, you need to pay better attention.
These may seem like small, necessary steps in the war against the COVID-19 virus, but they’re only necessary to the police state in its efforts to further undermine the Constitution, extend its control over the populace, and feed its insatiable appetite for ever-greater powers.
Nothing is ever as simple as the government claims it is.
Whatever dangerous practices you allow the government to carry out now—whether it’s in the name of national security or protecting America’s borders or making America healthy again—rest assured, these same practices can and will be used against you when the government decides to set its sights on you.
The war on drugs turned out to be a war on the American people, waged with SWAT teams and militarized police.
The war on terror turned out to be a war on the American people, waged with warrantless surveillance and indefinite detention.
The war on immigration turned out to be a war on the American people, waged with roving government agents demanding “papers, please.”
This war on COVID-19 will be yet another war on the American people, waged with all of the surveillance weaponry at the government’s disposal: thermal imaging cameras, drones, contact tracing, biometric databases, etc.
So you see, when you talk about empowering government agents to screen the populace in order to control and prevent spread of this virus, what you’re really talking about is creating a society in which ID cards, round ups, checkpoints and detention centers become routine weapons used by the government to control and suppress the populace, no matter the threat.
This is also how you pave the way for a national identification system of epic proportions.
Imagine it: a national classification system that not only categorizes you according to your health status but also allows the government to sort you in a hundred other ways: by gender, orientation, wealth, medical condition, religious beliefs, political viewpoint, legal status, etc.
Are you starting to get the bigger picture yet?
This is just another wolf in sheep’s clothing, a “show me your papers” scheme disguised as a means of fighting a virus.
Don’t fall for it.
The ramifications of such a “show me your papers” society in which government officials are empowered to stop individuals, demand they identify themselves, and subject them to patdowns, warrantless screenings, searches, and interrogations are beyond chilling.
By allowing government agents to establish a litmus test for individuals to be able to exit a state of lockdown and engage in commerce, movement and any other right that corresponds to life in a supposedly free society, it lays the groundwork for a society in which you are required to identify yourself at any time to any government worker who demands it for any reason.
Such tactics quickly lead one down a slippery slope that ends with government agents empowered to force anyone and everyone to prove they are in compliance with every statute and regulation on the books.
It used to be that unless police had a reasonable suspicion that a person was guilty of wrongdoing, they had no legal authority to stop the person and require identification. In other words, “we the people” had the right to come and go as we please without the fear of being questioned by police or forced to identify ourselves.
Unfortunately, in this age of COVID-19, that unrestricted right to move about freely is being pitted against the government’s power to lock down communities at a moment’s notice. And in this tug-of-war between individual freedoms and government power, “we the people” have been on the losing end of the deal.
Curiously enough, these COVID-19 restrictions dovetail conveniently with a national timeline for states to comply with the Real ID Act, which imposes federal standards on identity documents such as state drivers’ licenses, a prelude to this national identification system.
Talk about a perfect storm for bringing about a national ID card, the ultimate human tracking device.
Granted, in the absence of a national ID card, which would make the police state’s task of monitoring, tracking and singling out individual suspects far simpler, “we the people” are already tracked in a myriad of ways: through our state driver’s licenses, Social Security numbers, bank accounts, purchases and electronic transactions; by way of our correspondence and communication devices—email, phone calls and mobile phones; through chips implanted in our vehicles, identification documents, even our clothing.
Add to this the fact that businesses, schools and other facilities are relying more and more on fingerprints and facial recognition to identify us. All the while, data companies such as Acxiom are capturing vast caches of personal information to help airports, retailers, police and other government authorities instantly determine whether someone is the person he or she claims to be.
This informational glut—used to great advantage by both the government and corporate sectors—has converged into a mandate for “an internal passport,” a.k.a., a national ID card that would store information as basic as a person’s name, birth date and place of birth, as well as private information, including a Social Security number, fingerprint, retinal scan and personal, criminal and financial records.
A federalized, computerized, cross-referenced, databased system of identification policed by government agents would be the final nail in the coffin for privacy (not to mention a logistical security nightmare that would leave Americans even more vulnerable to every hacker in the cybersphere).
Americans have always resisted adopting a national ID card for good reason: it gives the government and its agents the ultimate power to target, track and terrorize the populace according to the government’s own nefarious purposes.
National ID card systems have been used before, by other oppressive governments, in the name of national security, invariably with horrifying results.
For instance, in Germany, the Nazis required all Jews to carry special stamped ID cards for travel within the country. A prelude to the yellow Star of David badges, these stamped cards were instrumental in identifying Jews for deportation to death camps in Poland.
Author Raul Hilberg summarizes the impact that such a system had on the Jews:
The whole identification system, with its personal documents, specially assigned names, and conspicuous tagging in public, was a powerful weapon in the hands of the police. First, the system was an auxiliary device that facilitated the enforcement of residence and movement restrictions. Second, it was an independent control measure in that it enabled the police to pick up any Jew, anywhere, anytime. Third, and perhaps most important, identification had a paralyzing effect on its victims.”
In South Africa during apartheid, pass books were used to regulate the movement of black citizens and segregate the population. The Pass Laws Act of 1952 stipulated where, when and for how long a black African could remain in certain areas. Any government employee could strike out entries, which canceled the permission to remain in an area. A pass book that did not have a valid entry resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of the bearer.
Identity cards played a crucial role in the genocide of the Tutsis in the central African country of Rwanda. The assault, carried out by extremist Hutu militia groups, lasted around 100 days and resulted in close to a million deaths. While the ID cards were not a precondition to the genocide, they were a facilitating factor. Once the genocide began, the production of an identity card with the designation “Tutsi” spelled a death sentence at any roadblock.
Identity cards have also helped oppressive regimes carry out eliminationist policies such as mass expulsion, forced relocation and group denationalization. Through the use of identity cards, Ethiopian authorities were able to identify people with Eritrean affiliation during the mass expulsion of 1998. The Vietnamese government was able to locate ethnic Chinese more easily during their 1978-79 expulsion. The USSR used identity cards to force the relocation of ethnic Koreans (1937), Volga Germans (1941), Kamyks and Karachai (1943), Crimean Tartars, Meshkhetian Turks, Chechens, Ingush and Balkars (1944) and ethnic Greeks (1949). And ethnic Vietnamese were identified for group denationalization through identity cards in Cambodia in 1993, as were the Kurds in Syria in 1962.
And in the United States, post-9/11, more than 750 Muslim men were rounded up on the basis of their religion and ethnicity and detained for up to eight months. Their experiences echo those of 120,000 Japanese-Americans who were similarly detained 75 years ago following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Despite a belated apology and monetary issuance by the U.S. government, the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to declare such a practice illegal. Moreover, laws such as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) empower the government to arrest and detain indefinitely anyone they “suspect” of being an enemy of the state.
You see, you may be innocent of wrongdoing now, but when the standard for innocence is set by the government, no one is safe.
Everyone is a suspect.
And anyone can be a criminal when it’s the government determining what is a crime.
It’s no longer a matter of if, but when.
Remember, the police state does not discriminate.
At some point, it will not matter whether your skin is black or yellow or brown or white. It will not matter whether you’re an immigrant or a citizen. It will not matter whether you’re rich or poor. It won’t even matter whether you’re driving, flying or walking.
After all, government-issued bullets will kill you just as easily whether you’re a law-abiding citizen or a hardened criminal. Government jails will hold you just as easily whether you’ve obeyed every law or broken a dozen. And whether or not you’ve done anything wrong, government agents will treat you like a suspect simply because they have been trained to view and treat everyone like potential criminals.
Eventually, when the police state has turned that final screw and slammed that final door, all that will matter is whether some government agent—poorly trained, utterly ignorant and dismissive of the Constitution, way too hyped up on the power of their badges, and authorized to detain, search, interrogate, threaten and generally harass anyone they see fit—chooses to single you out for special treatment.
We’ve been having this same debate about the perils of government overreach for the past 50-plus years, and still we don’t seem to learn, or if we learn, we learn too late.
All of the excessive, abusive tactics employed by the government today—warrantless surveillance, stop and frisk searches, SWAT team raids, roadside strip searches, asset forfeiture schemes, private prisons, indefinite detention, militarized police, etc.—started out as a seemingly well-meaning plan to address some problem in society that needed a little extra help.
Be careful what you wish for: you will get more than you bargained for, especially when the government’s involved.
In the case of a national identification system, it might start off as a means of tracking COVID-19 cases in order to “safely” re-open the nation, but it will end up as a means of controlling the American people.
For those tempted to justify these draconian measures for whatever reason—for the sake of their health, the economy, or national security—remember, you can’t have it both ways.
You can’t live in a constitutional republic if you allow the government to act like a police state.
You can’t claim to value freedom if you allow the government to operate like a dictatorship.
You can’t expect to have your rights respected if you allow the government to treat whomever it pleases with disrespect and an utter disregard for the rule of law.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, if you’re inclined to advance this double standard because you believe you have done nothing wrong and have nothing to hide, beware: there’s always a boomerang effect.
Feature photo | Wisconsin National Guard members administer COVID-19 tests in a parking lot, May 11, 2020, in Milwaukee. Morry Gash | AP
John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People (SelectBooks, 2015) is available online at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted at [email protected].


mintpressnews--2020-05-14--Never the Aggressor: Israel Is Convinced of Its Own Benevolence

Israel glorifies its military and portrays those who are sent by the state to commit acts of violence as heroes .
“ We are persecuted and murdered by the majority of ‘ civilized ’ peoples , or by savage and cruel peoples like the Arabs .
Their intention toward us is not only to humiliate but also to destroy us physically.
” These comments were written in the personal diary of Yosef Hecht , the founding commander of the Zionist terrorist organization , the Hagannah .
Israel ’ s Haaretz newspaper recently featured a story about Hecht , a man @ @ @ @ @ @ @ establishment of the Hagganah , the main Zionist terrorist militia in pre-1948 Palestine .
The Haganah legacy is still very much alive in Israel and those who served in it , like my own father , are remembered with great admiration .
This month marks the Haganah centenary , an event that will further glorify the Zionist militia which was responsible for unspeakable crimes against the people of Palestine .
April 2020 marked the 50 year anniversary of the death of the organization ’ s first commander , Yosef Hecht , who led @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The story in Haaretz begins with a quote from a letter received by Hecht ’ s daughter , now 98 years old , which reads , “ On the centennial of the founding of the Haganah , its members and those who follow in their path bow their heads in remembrance of him , and cherish the memory of his security activity in creating the Jewish defense force and of his contribution to the rebirth of the independent State of Israel.
” The word “ rebirth ” is strange in this context , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ point an earlier “ State of Israel.
” Two years after taking up his post as the Haganah ’ s national commander , Hecht was behind the first political assassination committed by the Zionists .
It was the killing in 1924 of a Jewish man who opposed Zionism to a point where he was seen a serious threat to the Zionist project , Dr. Yaakov Yisrael De Haan .
A great deal has been written about Dr. De Haan .
He was a Dutch Jew who came to Palestine in the early twentieth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in their struggle to stop the Zionist takeover of Palestine .
He was a journalist and a lawyer and was in the midst of a campaign to get the British government to rescind the Balfour Declaration .
He was also instrumental in bringing the anti-Zionist Jewish community in Jerusalem to collaborate with the anti-Zionist Palestinian struggle .
It is very likely that the combination of these two efforts cost him his life .
On July 1 , 1924 , on the eve of his departure to London to pursue the anti-Zionist agenda , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zionist terrorists .
The late Rabbi Amram Blau , who lived in Jerusalem and was a staunch anti-Zionist said , “ Anything the Ultra Orthodox Jews had accomplished at the time was thanks to him.
” Rabbi Amram also said that killing De-Haan was like killing the Ultra Orthodox community .
De Haan ’ s ability to push the anti-Zionist agenda forward was unprecedented and when they killed him they killed the struggle .
The Zionist community in Palestine , then and now saw no wrong in the Hagganah assassinating him .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lieutenant Aya Sade , “ a deputy battalion commander called me to discuss an operation.
” He wanted to conduct an operation with his men mounted on vehicles and she suggested doing it on foot .
“ Roger , that , ” he said and followed her advice .
“ When you prove yourself people respect you.
” Aya is 22 years old and she is one of six female officers that were featured in a story in the Hebrew newspaper , “ Maariv.
” The female officers were celebrated for being the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a role that is also portrayed in the Israeli Netflix series , Fauda .
“ It ’ s a kind of feminine dedication , ” Lieutenant Raziel says .
She too is 22 years old .
“ You could be home on leave , and still thinking about how to capture a fugitive.
” Sometimes it comes to you in the shower , she added .
The “ fugitives ” she is discussing are Palestinians who are wanted by Israeli authorities .
“ My favorite moment is when I hear the commander @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which means we have the person we were looking for , ” Says Lieutenant Berkman , who also added , this happens several times a week , sometimes even several times a day .
Listening to these young women describe their work you might forget that Israel is engaged in a war against a nation that has never had an army .
The young officers describe an intensity and dedication that sounds remarkable , even admirable .
Raids and rescue missions , fleeing fugitives , and foiled terror plots .
They also talk @ @ @ @ @ @ @ job but maintain a high standard of morals .
“ If there is a need for the military to enter a house and conduct a search we remind the field officers to act with respect , not to throw and break things but to do it gently and politely.
” Anyone who is not familiar with the sheer violence of the Israeli army really might be fooled by these comments .
If one is not aware of the total disregard for the lives and rights of Palestinians , one might be convinced that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” army .
Furthermore , reading this report one might believe that there is such a thing as Palestinian terrorism and Israeli self-defense .
“ He came from a Zionist household .
He loved the people of Israel , the land of Israel , ” said the father of 21-year-old Amit Ben-Ygal , as he was laid to rest .
He was killed during a pre-dawn raid in the town of Yabad in the northern West Bank .
It was widely reported that Israeli forces raided the town in an attempt to make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a rock was hurled at the soldiers from the roof of a third-story house and killed Amit Ben-Ygal .
In a video that was released shortly after he died , the soldier is shown with his comrades in the unit dancing and screaming “ who is crazy ?
I am crazy !
” The Israeli authorities are calling his death a murder and the Palestinian who killed him a terrorist .
Ali Abunimah , co-founder of the Electronic Intifada tweeted , describing what had happened more accurately as , “ An occupation soldier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ village.
” The violence perpetrated by Israel is always glorious , soldiers who are killed in the process are symbols of patriotism and sacrifice .
The state of Israel , like the Zionist movement before the state was established , is selling a false narrative .
They had changed the story claiming that Zionist and Israeli terrorists were , in fact , “ self-defense forces , ” and that the Palestinian victims of terrorism were violent aggressors .
This is how the story was told when the Zionist terror squads were established in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is how it is told today .
Feature photo | An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at unarmed Palestinians in the West Bank City of Bethlehem .
Majdi Mohammed | AP Miko Peled is an author and human rights activist born in Jerusalem .
He is the author of “ The General ’ s Son .
Journey of an Israeli in Palestine , ” and “ Injustice , the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five .
”

Israel glorifies its military and portrays those who are sent by the state to commit acts of violence as heroes.
Remembering a Terrorist
“We are persecuted and murdered by the majority of ‘civilized’ peoples, or by savage and cruel peoples like the Arabs. Their intention toward us is not only to humiliate but also to destroy us physically.” These comments were written in the personal diary of Yosef Hecht, the founding commander of the Zionist terrorist organization, the Hagannah.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper recently featured a story about Hecht, a man who had a foundational role in the establishment of the Hagganah, the main Zionist terrorist militia in pre-1948 Palestine. The Haganah legacy is still very much alive in Israel and those who served in it, like my own father, are remembered with great admiration. This month marks the Haganah centenary, an event that will further glorify the Zionist militia which was responsible for unspeakable crimes against the people of Palestine. April 2020 marked the 50 year anniversary of the death of the organization’s first commander, Yosef Hecht, who led the Haganah from 1922 to 1931.
The story in Haaretz begins with a quote from a letter received by Hecht’s daughter, now 98 years old, which reads, “On the centennial of the founding of the Haganah, its members and those who follow in their path bow their heads in remembrance of him, and cherish the memory of his security activity in creating the Jewish defense force and of his contribution to the rebirth of the independent State of Israel.” The word “rebirth” is strange in this context, and suggests that there was at some point an earlier “State of Israel.”
Two years after taking up his post as the Haganah’s national commander, Hecht was behind the first political assassination committed by the Zionists. It was the killing in 1924 of a Jewish man who opposed Zionism to a point where he was seen a serious threat to the Zionist project, Dr. Yaakov Yisrael De Haan.
A great deal has been written about Dr. De Haan. He was a Dutch Jew who came to Palestine in the early twentieth century and joined the Ultra Orthodox community in their struggle to stop the Zionist takeover of Palestine. He was a journalist and a lawyer and was in the midst of a campaign to get the British government to rescind the Balfour Declaration. He was also instrumental in bringing the anti-Zionist Jewish community in Jerusalem to collaborate with the anti-Zionist Palestinian struggle. It is very likely that the combination of these two efforts cost him his life.
On July 1, 1924, on the eve of his departure to London to pursue the anti-Zionist agenda, he was shot in the street by Zionist terrorists. The late Rabbi Amram Blau, who lived in Jerusalem and was a staunch anti-Zionist said, “Anything the Ultra Orthodox Jews had accomplished at the time was thanks to him.” Rabbi Amram also said that killing De-Haan was like killing the Ultra Orthodox community. De Haan’s ability to push the anti-Zionist agenda forward was unprecedented and when they killed him they killed the struggle.
The Zionist community in Palestine, then and now saw no wrong in the Hagganah assassinating him.
Special operations officers
“The other day,” recalls 22-year-old Lieutenant Aya Sade, “a deputy battalion commander called me to discuss an operation.” He wanted to conduct an operation with his men mounted on vehicles and she suggested doing it on foot. “Roger, that,” he said and followed her advice. “When you prove yourself people respect you.”
Aya is 22 years old and she is one of six female officers that were featured in a story in the Hebrew newspaper, “Maariv.” The female officers were celebrated for being the “real” women Special Operations Officers, a role that is also portrayed in the Israeli Netflix series, Fauda.
“It’s a kind of feminine dedication,” Lieutenant Raziel says. She too is 22 years old. “You could be home on leave, and still thinking about how to capture a fugitive.” Sometimes it comes to you in the shower, she added. The “fugitives” she is discussing are Palestinians who are wanted by Israeli authorities.
“My favorite moment is when I hear the commander say ‘We have Johnny,’ which means we have the person we were looking for,” Says Lieutenant Berkman, who also added, this happens several times a week, sometimes even several times a day.
Listening to these young women describe their work you might forget that Israel is engaged in a war against a nation that has never had an army. The young officers describe an intensity and dedication that sounds remarkable, even admirable. Raids and rescue missions, fleeing fugitives, and foiled terror plots. They also talk about the need to “do the job but maintain a high standard of morals. “If there is a need for the military to enter a house and conduct a search we remind the field officers to act with respect, not to throw and break things but to do it gently and politely.”
Anyone who is not familiar with the sheer violence of the Israeli army really might be fooled by these comments. If one is not aware of the total disregard for the lives and rights of Palestinians, one might be convinced that the IDF really is a “moral” army. Furthermore, reading this report one might believe that there is such a thing as Palestinian terrorism and Israeli self-defense.
A casualty
“He came from a Zionist household. He loved the people of Israel, the land of Israel,” said the father of 21-year-old Amit Ben-Ygal, as he was laid to rest. He was killed during a pre-dawn raid in the town of Yabad in the northern West Bank. It was widely reported that Israeli forces raided the town in an attempt to make arrests and as they were leaving, a rock was hurled at the soldiers from the roof of a third-story house and killed Amit Ben-Ygal.
Even children are not excluded…#Israeli soldiers detain dozens of Palestinian civilians after raiding their homes in the occupied West Bank town of Ya'bad, earlier today. Photos by: Alaa Badarneh pic.twitter.com/0jcpRYWtG5 — Quds News Network (@Qudsn_en) May 12, 2020
In a video that was released shortly after he died, the soldier is shown with his comrades in the unit dancing and screaming “who is crazy? I am crazy!” The Israeli authorities are calling his death a murder and the Palestinian who killed him a terrorist. Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada tweeted, describing what had happened more accurately as, “An occupation soldier who died while violently attacking a Palestinian village.”
Changing the story
The violence perpetrated by Israel is always glorious, soldiers who are killed in the process are symbols of patriotism and sacrifice. The state of Israel, like the Zionist movement before the state was established, is selling a false narrative. They had changed the story claiming that Zionist and Israeli terrorists were, in fact, “self-defense forces,” and that the Palestinian victims of terrorism were violent aggressors. This is how the story was told when the Zionist terror squads were established in the early twentieth century, and this is how it is told today.
Feature photo | An Israeli soldier fires tear gas at unarmed Palestinians in the West Bank City of Bethlehem. Majdi Mohammed | AP
Miko Peled is an author and human rights activist born in Jerusalem. He is the author of “The General’s Son. Journey of an Israeli in Palestine,” and “Injustice, the Story of the Holy Land Foundation Five.”


mintpressnews--2020-05-14--Massachusetts Contact Tracing Program Handed to Clinton-Linked NGO with Questionable Past

Last week , the State of Massachusetts began implementing a contact tracing program in partnership with a Boston-based organization with ties to the biggest names in big pharma , the George Soros ’ Open Society and the Clinton Foundation .
Those ties go back decades and include U.S. intelligence assets and regime-change operations in Haiti including Operation Uphold Democracy , in which American troops invaded the Caribbean nation to clean up after the CIA-sponsored coup against Jean-Bertrand Aristide .
In April , Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced the partnership , called the COVID-19 Community Tracing Collaborative , with Partners in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organization with highly questionable patronage and an even more dubious history .
The program will be led by PIH ’ s chief medical officer , Dr. Joia Mukherjee , who described the goals of the contact tracing initiative as well as some of the authorities granted to PIH by the state of Massachusetts to NPR , such as making assessments about whether families have “ the ability , the space , the food needed , the employment , the money to safely quarantine ” and assigning social service assistants in case they fail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disturbing implications are clear .
But , just in case it escaped any NPR listeners , Dr. Mukherjee made it abundantly clear when she tried to assuage the concerns of a Massachusetts contact tracer about parents who might be “ infecting their children.
” Mukherjee assures listeners that PIH will be there to help families who “ can not separate themselves from their children easily “ .
The Massachusetts state website has published a guide and overview of the program , containing cursory insight about the protocols contact tracers and contacted homes are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of the 1985 dystopian sci-fi thriller “ Brazil.
” The process begins with a phone call in which you are asked for “ a list of all of the people you were within six feet of during the two days before you had symptoms.
” It then states that contacted people are free to report anyone else they believe should have a visit from the PIH , asking for their phone numbers “ so they can be called and cared for.
” But who is Partners in Health , besides a Boston-based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by a few “ ordinary people with an extraordinary ambition ” ?
A look into its background uncovers a dark history intricately linked to the 1994 American invasion of Haiti called “ Operation Uphold Democracy , ” an operation Mintpress touched on in coverage of the attempted deportation of CIA-backed war criminal , Emmanuel “ Toto ” Constant .
In a book written by a former United States Army Military Intelligence lieutenant about the NGO ’ s origins , the author relates that then 23-year Paul Farmer – one of the five founders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ considered himself a champion of human rights.
” The telling passage describes how the young doctor-to-be challenges a U.S. Army captain about the release of a local sheriff named Nerva Juste .
Farmer wanted Juste in U.S. custody , arguing that “ preventative detention ” was necessary in a country that had “ no functioning legal system.
” As Farmer was somehow advising U.S. military personnel on proper strategy , his future co-founder was also in Haiti and barley 18 years of age .
Ophelia Dahl , the daughter of renowned British novelist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between Churchill and FDR , had arrived in Haiti as a “ volunteer working with an ophthalmic organization with some handicapped children in Port au Prince.
” Dahl eventually met Farmer and later formed PIH with their other very “ ordinary ” founding partners : Jim Yong Kim , the twelfth president of the World Bank , Tom White , Boston ’ s “ greatest philanthropist ” and Todd McCormack , corporate VP of a “ sports , fashion and events powerhouse ” that would later be purchased by business magnate Ari Emanuel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brothers , Rahm and Ezequiel “ Zeke ” Emanuel are , of course , intimately tied to the Clintons , with Rahm serving in the same White House as Hillary Clinton under Barack Obama and Zeke Emanuel , a medical anthropologist just like Paul Farmer , widely considered to be the “ architect ” of the Affordable Care Act ( ACA ) .
The Clinton nexus appears to be strong at PIH as evidenced by one of their most well-known board members : Chelsea Clinton .
The “ ophthalmic organization ” Dahl cites @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sixth bishop of Upper South Carolina of the ( EDUSC ) , Rev .
William A. Beckham , in partnership with local Haitian cleric , Father Fritz Lafontant .
Farmer and Dahl met at one of the NGO ’ s many healthcare-centered missions that had gotten underway just two years earlier .
The Episcopal church organized “ medical trips ” to the remote village of Cange in Haiti and began financing engineering projects in the community to provide clean water .
Later , a Clemson University program called CEDC ( Clemson Engineers For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and continues to work in concert with them and Partners in Health after its founding in 1987 .
The relationship between Farmer and the Clinton Foundation spans decades .
PIH has “ worked with the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership ( CGEP ) to stimulate entrepreneurship for smallholder farmers in Haiti , ” in addition to similar projects “ throughout Africa , from Liberia to Rwanda.
” The organization has even built clinics on the Island in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative .
With such an intimate connection revolving around the Clinton Foundation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come as no surprise that PIH ’ s biggest donors and partners feature some of the largest pharmaceutical corporations currently set to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic , including Eli Lilly and Co. , Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer among many more .
Also found on the list of foundation partners , both public and private , are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , the Inter-American Development Bank , USAID , WHO , GE , IBM and a host of others .
The George Soros ’ s Open Society Institute donated $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community-based program ” in Africa back in 2007 and in 2014 , Soros donated another $ 4 million to PIH to build an Ebola-treatment center in Liberia , Africa .
The Liberian project was anchored by a “ coalition ” put together by PIH-founder , Jim Yong Kim , which included Director-General of the WHO , Margaret Chan , CDC Director Tom Frieden and Francis Collins , Director of the National Institute for Health , who claimed to have been motivated to start the project by a collective dismay over “ the global @ @ @ @ @ @ @ being rolled out in Massachusetts by PIH is , logically , informed by the many years the organization has been practicing their healthcare engagement methods throughout the world , and in particular Haiti and developing African nations .
Following a pattern used when the first policing innovations were tested out by U.S. military forces in the Philippines at the turn of the twentieth century , social control mechanisms are now being imported stateside after being thoroughly tested elsewhere .
PIH , and founder Paul Farmer in particular , understand exactly how to bring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he claims PIH has done in places like Guinea , Liberia , and Sierra Leone .
Oddly , in a post published on the Open Society website , Farmer appears to be opposed to quarantine , conceding that doing so “ slows the flow of food and labor ” and can “ touch off longer , more complex health crises.
” While he is referring here to African farmers , the same principle surely holds for even the most advanced economies like the United States .
Paul Farmer is a complex fellow .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Mountains Beyond Mountains , ” claims the Farmer not only chided a U.S. military captain about his operational choices , but also pointed out that he found it unacceptable that “ a high official of the junta ” had received training at the infamous School of the Americas .
The author never makes clear what context Farmer was speaking in .

Last week, the State of Massachusetts began implementing a contact tracing program in partnership with a Boston-based organization with ties to the biggest names in big pharma, the George Soros’ Open Society and the Clinton Foundation. Those ties go back decades and include U.S. intelligence assets and regime-change operations in Haiti including Operation Uphold Democracy, in which American troops invaded the Caribbean nation to clean up after the CIA-sponsored coup against Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
In April, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker announced the partnership, called the COVID-19 Community Tracing Collaborative, with Partners in Health (PIH), a non-profit organization with highly questionable patronage and an even more dubious history.
The program will be led by PIH’s chief medical officer, Dr. Joia Mukherjee, who described the goals of the contact tracing initiative as well as some of the authorities granted to PIH by the state of Massachusetts to NPR, such as making assessments about whether families have “the ability, the space, the food needed, the employment, the money to safely quarantine” and assigning social service assistants in case they fail to meet the necessary criteria.
The disturbing implications are clear. But, just in case it escaped any NPR listeners, Dr. Mukherjee made it abundantly clear when she tried to assuage the concerns of a Massachusetts contact tracer about parents who might be “infecting their children.” Mukherjee assures listeners that PIH will be there to help families who “cannot separate themselves from their children easily“.
The Massachusetts state website has published a guide and overview of the program, containing cursory insight about the protocols contact tracers and contacted homes are to follow and it reads like something out of the 1985 dystopian sci-fi thriller “Brazil.”
The process begins with a phone call in which you are asked for “a list of all of the people you were within six feet of during the two days before you had symptoms.” It then states that contacted people are free to report anyone else they believe should have a visit from the PIH, asking for their phone numbers “so they can be called and cared for.”
But who is Partners in Health, besides a Boston-based 501(c)3 non-profit founded by a few “ordinary people with an extraordinary ambition”? A look into its background uncovers a dark history intricately linked to the 1994 American invasion of Haiti called “Operation Uphold Democracy,” an operation Mintpress touched on in coverage of the attempted deportation of CIA-backed war criminal, Emmanuel “Toto” Constant.
Unsavory links to unsavory people
In a book written by a former United States Army Military Intelligence lieutenant about the NGO’s origins, the author relates that then 23-year Paul Farmer – one of the five founders of Partners in Health – “clearly considered himself a champion of human rights.” The telling passage describes how the young doctor-to-be challenges a U.S. Army captain about the release of a local sheriff named Nerva Juste.
Farmer wanted Juste in U.S. custody, arguing that “preventative detention” was necessary in a country that had “no functioning legal system.” As Farmer was somehow advising U.S. military personnel on proper strategy, his future co-founder was also in Haiti and barley 18 years of age.
Ophelia Dahl, the daughter of renowned British novelist and intelligence officer serving as a liaison between Churchill and FDR, had arrived in Haiti as a “volunteer working with an ophthalmic organization with some handicapped children in Port au Prince.” Dahl eventually met Farmer and later formed PIH with their other very “ordinary” founding partners: Jim Yong Kim, the twelfth president of the World Bank, Tom White, Boston’s “greatest philanthropist” and Todd McCormack, corporate VP of a “sports, fashion and events powerhouse” that would later be purchased by business magnate Ari Emanuel in 2014.
Emanuel’s two brothers, Rahm and Ezequiel “Zeke” Emanuel are, of course, intimately tied to the Clintons, with Rahm serving in the same White House as Hillary Clinton under Barack Obama and Zeke Emanuel, a medical anthropologist just like Paul Farmer, widely considered to be the “architect” of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Clinton nexus appears to be strong at PIH as evidenced by one of their most well-known board members: Chelsea Clinton.
The “ophthalmic organization” Dahl cites was an American NGO run by the sixth bishop of Upper South Carolina of the (EDUSC), Rev. William A. Beckham, in partnership with local Haitian cleric, Father Fritz Lafontant. Farmer and Dahl met at one of the NGO’s many healthcare-centered missions that had gotten underway just two years earlier.
The Episcopal church organized “medical trips” to the remote village of Cange in Haiti and began financing engineering projects in the community to provide clean water. Later, a Clemson University program called CEDC (Clemson Engineers For Developing Countries) partnered with the EDUSC and continues to work in concert with them and Partners in Health after its founding in 1987.
Big pharma on board
The relationship between Farmer and the Clinton Foundation spans decades. PIH has “worked with the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership (CGEP) to stimulate entrepreneurship for smallholder farmers in Haiti,” in addition to similar projects “throughout Africa, from Liberia to Rwanda.” The organization has even built clinics on the Island in partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative.
With such an intimate connection revolving around the Clinton Foundation’s healthcare projects, it should come as no surprise that PIH’s biggest donors and partners feature some of the largest pharmaceutical corporations currently set to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic, including Eli Lilly and Co., Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer among many more.
Also found on the list of foundation partners, both public and private, are the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank, USAID, WHO, GE, IBM and a host of others.
The George Soros’s Open Society Institute donated $3 million to PIH for a “community-based program” in Africa back in 2007 and in 2014, Soros donated another $4 million to PIH to build an Ebola-treatment center in Liberia, Africa. The Liberian project was anchored by a “coalition” put together by PIH-founder, Jim Yong Kim, which included Director-General of the WHO, Margaret Chan, CDC Director Tom Frieden and Francis Collins, Director of the National Institute for Health, who claimed to have been motivated to start the project by a collective dismay over “the global response“.
Taking Boston Harbor
The contact tracing program being rolled out in Massachusetts by PIH is, logically, informed by the many years the organization has been practicing their healthcare engagement methods throughout the world, and in particular Haiti and developing African nations. Following a pattern used when the first policing innovations were tested out by U.S. military forces in the Philippines at the turn of the twentieth century, social control mechanisms are now being imported stateside after being thoroughly tested elsewhere.
PIH, and founder Paul Farmer in particular, understand exactly how to bring about “sustainable health systems” as he claims PIH has done in places like Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Oddly, in a post published on the Open Society website, Farmer appears to be opposed to quarantine, conceding that doing so “slows the flow of food and labor” and can “touch off longer, more complex health crises.” While he is referring here to African farmers, the same principle surely holds for even the most advanced economies like the United States.
Paul Farmer is a complex fellow. Kidder, in his PIH biopic, “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” claims the Farmer not only chided a U.S. military captain about his operational choices, but also pointed out that he found it unacceptable that “a high official of the junta” had received training at the infamous School of the Americas. The author never makes clear what context Farmer was speaking in.
Feature photo | Graphic by Antonio Cabrera
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.


mintpressnews--2020-05-15--As Corporations Adapt to a COVID-19 Economy, the Working-Class Prepares for a Paradigm Shift

In a disturbing trend foreshadowed by suddenly ubiquitous multi-screen video chatting applications like Zoom and now Google Meet , a soup-to-nuts restructuring of corporate policies and procedures designed around a “ new normal ” where people are conditioned to avoid social contact and remain in their homes or cars , is being pushed by global consulting giants like McKinsey & Company , which yesterday published a “ 90-day plan ” to initiate “ rapid migration to digital technologies driven by the pandemic.
” McKinsey , an American management consulting firm founded in 1926 with over 120 offices worldwide , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and private sectors with alumni staffing the C-level offices of massive concerns like Boeing , Google , Facebook , and IBM .
McKinsey has been described as the Jesuits of capitalism as a result of their penchant for secrecy but also widespread influence at the highest levels of power .
In the 90-day plan , McKinsey expounds on four basic initiatives that they say must underpin the new reality for corporations in a post-COVID-19 universe , assuring us that we are at the threshold of a “ historic deployment of remote work and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Divided into 30-day tranches , the firm recommends overhauling “ customer expectations ” and moving to a remote-first corporate structure , accelerating digital channel adoption across sectors .
In layman ’ s terms , corporations are being advised to leave the familiar concept of office space behind and move towards a work-from-home model , creating a remote-work support staff to make the transition and management of the new digital paradigm as seamless as possible .
Other recommendations include “ selective modernization of technology capabilities ” , meaning ad hoc implementation of cloud-based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ cyber risks ” associated with a fully-digital operation .
Artificial Intelligence is another component in the avalanche of structural changes that are in store for Americans in a reopened economy .
Should this or similar plans move forward – and there is no indication they won ’ t – the implications for regular people are significant and life-altering .
McKinsey claims that the measures taken to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus have catapulted us “ five years forward in consumer and business digital adoption in a matter of around eight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by a list of all the different kinds of changes we can expect to see in the sectors of banking , schooling , healthcare , and the service industry as they all move towards a digitized economy .
The consulting firm warns that “ consumption patterns ” are unlikely to return to pre-COVID-19 levels for some time , if ever , and suggests that companies prepare to deal with endemic “ structural overcapacity ” as they navigate the “ new normal ” .
Overcapacity , a term that simply denotes when industrial capacity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of instability that is usually resolved in the normal course of regular business cycles .
However , by referring to structural overcapacity , McKinsey is alerting businesses to the fact that a digitized economy will take some time to establish and that they better be ready to batten down the hatches .
Many businesses , of course , do not have the necessary resources to survive endemic overcapacity and even McKinsey concedes that it will take at least 12 to 18 months to completely switch over .
Most companies will also be hard-pressed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their “ analytical models… to steer operational decisions ” , which McKinsey considers essential for a business ’ success in this brave new world .
They don ’ t really care about us For the vast majority of us , the move to a completely digital economy represents an even more unfair deal than we already have as low-level participants in a billionaires ’ economy .
When Elon Musk tweeted that he was going to sell off “ most ” of his earthly possessions , many cheered the Tesla CEO for taking what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ step .
But , what isn ’ t readily apparent to most people is that in this post-COVID-19 economy that McKinsey is promoting , Elon and all his friends will be moving into your house .
With the so-called “ remote-first ” organizational model for corporations , our homes will become their new office space .
Companies all over the United States can then enrich themselves further by selling off or renting out their real estate assets , while your living room becomes your boss ’ new conference room .
Some employees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looking for cheaper rent to subsidize their employer ’ s office space .
The “ reopening ” of the economy is beginning to look more and more like a closure of society as we are forced indoors over fears of contagion and access to food becomes conditioned on adherence to top-down policies .
With a large part of American society tacitly accepting of digital forms of social interaction , further steps taken in that direction like fan-less sporting events and worse are not far off .
Feature photo | Francy Sandoval looks outside @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ill. , April 23 , 2020 .
Nam Y. Huh | AP

In a disturbing trend foreshadowed by suddenly ubiquitous multi-screen video chatting applications like Zoom and now Google Meet, a soup-to-nuts restructuring of corporate policies and procedures designed around a “new normal” where people are conditioned to avoid social contact and remain in their homes or cars, is being pushed by global consulting giants like McKinsey & Company, which yesterday published a “90-day plan” to initiate “rapid migration to digital technologies driven by the pandemic.”
McKinsey, an American management consulting firm founded in 1926 with over 120 offices worldwide, has cultivated great influence in both the public and private sectors with alumni staffing the C-level offices of massive concerns like Boeing, Google, Facebook, and IBM. McKinsey has been described as the Jesuits of capitalism as a result of their penchant for secrecy but also widespread influence at the highest levels of power.
The 90-day plan
In the 90-day plan, McKinsey expounds on four basic initiatives that they say must underpin the new reality for corporations in a post-COVID-19 universe, assuring us that we are at the threshold of a “historic deployment of remote work and digital access to services across every domain.”
Divided into 30-day tranches, the firm recommends overhauling “customer expectations” and moving to a remote-first corporate structure, accelerating digital channel adoption across sectors. In layman’s terms, corporations are being advised to leave the familiar concept of office space behind and move towards a work-from-home model, creating a remote-work support staff to make the transition and management of the new digital paradigm as seamless as possible.
Other recommendations include “selective modernization of technology capabilities”, meaning ad hoc implementation of cloud-based computing technology guided by assessments of the “cyber risks” associated with a fully-digital operation. Artificial Intelligence is another component in the avalanche of structural changes that are in store for Americans in a reopened economy.
Assessing the Implications
Should this or similar plans move forward – and there is no indication they won’t – the implications for regular people are significant and life-altering. McKinsey claims that the measures taken to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus have catapulted us “five years forward in consumer and business digital adoption in a matter of around eight weeks.” Their gleeful assertion is followed by a list of all the different kinds of changes we can expect to see in the sectors of banking, schooling, healthcare, and the service industry as they all move towards a digitized economy.
The consulting firm warns that “consumption patterns” are unlikely to return to pre-COVID-19 levels for some time, if ever, and suggests that companies prepare to deal with endemic “structural overcapacity” as they navigate the “new normal”. Overcapacity, a term that simply denotes when industrial capacity exceeds production levels, is a symptom of instability that is usually resolved in the normal course of regular business cycles. However, by referring to structural overcapacity, McKinsey is alerting businesses to the fact that a digitized economy will take some time to establish and that they better be ready to batten down the hatches.
Many businesses, of course, do not have the necessary resources to survive endemic overcapacity and even McKinsey concedes that it will take at least 12 to 18 months to completely switch over. Most companies will also be hard-pressed to carry out the complete rebuild of their “analytical models… to steer operational decisions”, which McKinsey considers essential for a business’ success in this brave new world.
They don’t really care about us
For the vast majority of us, the move to a completely digital economy represents an even more unfair deal than we already have as low-level participants in a billionaires’ economy. When Elon Musk tweeted that he was going to sell off “most” of his earthly possessions, many cheered the Tesla CEO for taking what appeared to be such an ‘enlightened’ step. But, what isn’t readily apparent to most people is that in this post-COVID-19 economy that McKinsey is promoting, Elon and all his friends will be moving into your house.
With the so-called “remote-first” organizational model for corporations, our homes will become their new office space. Companies all over the United States can then enrich themselves further by selling off or renting out their real estate assets, while your living room becomes your boss’ new conference room. Some employees are even already making the calculation and looking for cheaper rent to subsidize their employer’s office space.
The “reopening” of the economy is beginning to look more and more like a closure of society as we are forced indoors over fears of contagion and access to food becomes conditioned on adherence to top-down policies. With a large part of American society tacitly accepting of digital forms of social interaction, further steps taken in that direction like fan-less sporting events and worse are not far off.
Feature photo | Francy Sandoval looks outside from her home in Melrose Park, Ill., April 23, 2020. Nam Y. Huh | AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.


mintpressnews--2020-05-15--Trump Unveils Plan That Would See Big Pharma Reap Massive Profits from COVID-19 Vaccine

A former Big Pharma executive and a four-star General have just been appointed by President Trump to lead a “ Manhattan project-style effort to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
” The effort , called Operation Warp Speed , has set a goal to create 300 million doses of a non-existent vaccine by January .
Moncef Slaoui , who used to run research and development for the world ’ s largest vaccine company , GlaxoSmithKline ( GSK ) , oversaw the development of an Ebola vaccine in tandem with the American National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two years earlier , that was distributed in the West African nation of Liberia in 2015 .
Slaoui joined the board of directors of the Human Vaccines Project in 2018 ; a public-private partnership that intends to “ accelerate the development of vaccines and immunotherapies against major global diseases ” and counts with the participation of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world , including Sanofi Pasteur , Johnson & Johnson , Pfizer and , of course , GSK .
Joining him will be U.S. Army General Gustave F. Perna , commanding general @ @ @ @ @ @ @ AMC ) – the primary provider of materiel to the United States Army – since 2016 .
As such , Perna has been in charge of logistical management for the Department of Defense ’ s ( DoD ) co-production agreements of American weapons systems with foreign countries , in addition to the approximately 149 locations worldwide and over 70,000 military and civilian employees who carry out the command ’ s motto : “ If a Soldier shoots it , drives it , flies it , wears it , communicates with it , or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The announcement comes two days after a press release by the Department of Defense revealed that a $ 138 million contract was awarded to ApiJect Systems America for the production of millions of prefilled syringes as part of projects “ Jumpstart ” and “ RAPID ” ( Rapid Aseptic Packaging of Injectable Drugs ) .
The DoD claims that the contract will “ dramatically expand U.S. production capability ” of injectable vaccines by October of this year .
Project Jumpstart , according to the press release , was coordinated with their Joint Acquisition @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response ( ASPR ) , led by Dr. Robert Kadlec , who has recently been the subject of intense scrutiny over some highly questionable ties to Big Pharma and curious past .
A tug of war for the SNS The Trump administration ’ s ostensibly independent program to develop and deploy a vaccine against COVID-19 had been in the hands of his son-in-law , Jared Kushner and Trump advisor , Peter Navarro , though Bloomberg reported in April that HHS Secretary Alex Azar had been tasked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a vaccine and had been meeting for at least a month prior with White House officials .
The rollout is occurring as Congressional attention focuses on irregularities surrounding the supply of ventilators in the Strategic National Stockpile ( SNS ) , a thousand of which were shipped to South Africa just the other day .
In addition , yesterday ’ s so-called “ whistleblower ” testimony by ousted Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority ( BARDA ) chief , Rick Bright , is also spotlighting the issues at the SNS , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Robert Kadlec .
BARDA is an office within ASPR that is tasked with sourcing pharmaceutical and medical supplies for the Strategic National Stockpile .
More controversy surrounding the Strategic National Stockpile erupted after Kushner made remarks about the role the SNS plays in emergency deployment situations .
Kushner was harshly criticized for implying that the SNS belonged to the federal government and served only as a back-up for states , who should be accumulating their own stockpiles .
Despite being contradicted by well-established guidelines , which make clear that the SNS is in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a public health emergency , the White House deliberately changed the language on its website to back up Kushner ’ s erroneous assertions about the stockpile .
What seems clear , however , is that Kushner himself was not the mastermind behind the sudden policy tweak .
Speaking on the condition of anonymity , a spokesperson for the Office of the ASPR told CNN they had been using such language “ for weeks now.
” Considering the history of how the SNS came to be in the hands of the ASPR , this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ managed might just be a new wrinkle in an old plan to mass inoculate the population of the United States .
Yesterday , President Donald Trump revealed that a decision had been made to mobilize the U.S. military to deliver mass vaccinations across the country .
The “ massive job , ” however , still has no discernable vaccine yet to inject into the American population “ at the end of the year.
” Trump ’ s group of medical advisors , including NIAID director , Anthony Fauci , are skeptical that any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 12 to 18 months .
“ Duplication only leads to infighting and slowing people down , ” said former U.S. ASPR , Nicole Lurie regarding the creation of Operation Warp Speed .
She decried the spirit of marketplace competition , stating that the world “ should be engaged in this competition against the virus , not against one another.
” With over 110 COVID-19 vaccines in development – only eight of which have entered human trials – the race to be the vaccine chosen for deployment by the ASPR in the forthcoming potentially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people has many people seeing green .
Feature photo | President Donald Trump , left , listens as Moncef Slaoui , a former GlaxoSmithKline executive , speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House , May 15 , 2020 , in Washington .
Alex Brandon | AP

A former Big Pharma executive and a four-star General have just been appointed by President Trump to lead a “Manhattan project-style effort to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.” The effort, called Operation Warp Speed, has set a goal to create 300 million doses of a non-existent vaccine by January.
Moncef Slaoui, who used to run research and development for the world’s largest vaccine company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), oversaw the development of an Ebola vaccine in tandem with the American National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a biotech firm the company had acquired two years earlier, that was distributed in the West African nation of Liberia in 2015. Slaoui joined the board of directors of the Human Vaccines Project in 2018; a public-private partnership that intends to “accelerate the development of vaccines and immunotherapies against major global diseases” and counts with the participation of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, including Sanofi Pasteur, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and, of course, GSK.
Joining him will be U.S. Army General Gustave F. Perna, commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) – the primary provider of materiel to the United States Army – since 2016. As such, Perna has been in charge of logistical management for the Department of Defense’s (DoD) co-production agreements of American weapons systems with foreign countries, in addition to the approximately 149 locations worldwide and over 70,000 military and civilian employees who carry out the command’s motto: “If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it, communicates with it, or eats it – AMC provides it.”
The announcement comes two days after a press release by the Department of Defense revealed that a $138 million contract was awarded to ApiJect Systems America for the production of millions of prefilled syringes as part of projects “Jumpstart” and “RAPID” (Rapid Aseptic Packaging of Injectable Drugs). The DoD claims that the contract will “dramatically expand U.S. production capability” of injectable vaccines by October of this year. Project Jumpstart, according to the press release, was coordinated with their Joint Acquisition Task Force and HHS’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), led by Dr. Robert Kadlec, who has recently been the subject of intense scrutiny over some highly questionable ties to Big Pharma and curious past.
A tug of war for the SNS
The Trump administration’s ostensibly independent program to develop and deploy a vaccine against COVID-19 had been in the hands of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner and Trump advisor, Peter Navarro, though Bloomberg reported in April that HHS Secretary Alex Azar had been tasked by Trump to speed up the development of a vaccine and had been meeting for at least a month prior with White House officials.
The rollout is occurring as Congressional attention focuses on irregularities surrounding the supply of ventilators in the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), a thousand of which were shipped to South Africa just the other day. In addition, yesterday’s so-called “whistleblower” testimony by ousted Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) chief, Rick Bright, is also spotlighting the issues at the SNS, which is controlled by HHS’ ASPR, Robert Kadlec. BARDA is an office within ASPR that is tasked with sourcing pharmaceutical and medical supplies for the Strategic National Stockpile.
More controversy surrounding the Strategic National Stockpile erupted after Kushner made remarks about the role the SNS plays in emergency deployment situations. Kushner was harshly criticized for implying that the SNS belonged to the federal government and served only as a back-up for states, who should be accumulating their own stockpiles. Despite being contradicted by well-established guidelines, which make clear that the SNS is in place to shore up any deficiencies in a public health emergency, the White House deliberately changed the language on its website to back up Kushner’s erroneous assertions about the stockpile.
What seems clear, however, is that Kushner himself was not the mastermind behind the sudden policy tweak. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a spokesperson for the Office of the ASPR told CNN they had been using such language “for weeks now.” Considering the history of how the SNS came to be in the hands of the ASPR, this latest tweak to how the SNS is managed might just be a new wrinkle in an old plan to mass inoculate the population of the United States.
Mass involuntary vaccines and jostling for profits
Yesterday, President Donald Trump revealed that a decision had been made to mobilize the U.S. military to deliver mass vaccinations across the country. The “massive job,” however, still has no discernable vaccine yet to inject into the American population “at the end of the year.” Trump’s group of medical advisors, including NIAID director, Anthony Fauci, are skeptical that any such vaccine can be developed sooner than 12 to 18 months.
“Duplication only leads to infighting and slowing people down,” said former U.S. ASPR, Nicole Lurie regarding the creation of Operation Warp Speed. She decried the spirit of marketplace competition, stating that the world “should be engaged in this competition against the virus, not against one another.”
With over 110 COVID-19 vaccines in development – only eight of which have entered human trials – the race to be the vaccine chosen for deployment by the ASPR in the forthcoming potentially compulsory vaccination of more than 300 million people has many people seeing green.
Feature photo | President Donald Trump, left, listens as Moncef Slaoui, a former GlaxoSmithKline executive, speaks about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, May 15, 2020, in Washington. Alex Brandon | AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.


mintpressnews--2020-05-15--Study: Coronavirus Has a Been a Massive Boon for America’s Billionaires

America ’ s billionaires have seen their wealth increase by 12.5 percent during the COVID-19 lockdown period .
The Institute for Policy Studies ( IPS ) , a Washington , D.C.-based think tank , released a study Thursday showing that , in the eight weeks between March 18 and May 14 , the country ’ s super wealthy have added a further $ 368.8 billion to their already enormous fortunes .
Among the more famous big winners during the pandemic include Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg , who adds $ 21 billion to his net worth ( a 38 percent increase @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bloomberg is up $ 10 billion as well , meaning he has recouped ten times as much as he lost in his big money political campaign that went nowhere .
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has increased his fortune by around $ 6 billion as well .
All this comes at the same time that the economy has undeniably imploded for working people .
A record 36 million Americans have filed for unemployment insurance , with millions more losing their employer-based healthcare plans , and around a third of the country not paying its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and other businesses remain shuttered .
The Trump administration has promised to provide $ 1,200 to every citizen , but it will be months before everyone receives their check .
As a result , there has been an explosion in the use of food banks , as desperate citizens line up for hours in the hopes of receiving a box of food .
The study , based on figures from Forbes ’ annual global billionaire survey , found that Amazon CEO and world ’ s richest individual Jeff Bezos was the biggest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adding a massive $ 30 billion to his wealth .
If he continues at the current rate , Bezos will become the world ’ s first trillionaire by 2026 , with other oligarchs not far behind .
This is possible primarily because of the hyper-exploitation of his workforce ; Amazon warehouse employees are infamously forced into wearing adult diapers or peeing in bottles , unable to take bathroom breaks .
The company ’ s own data shows that one-third of its Arizona employees depend upon food stamps to make ends meet .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s nineteenth largest employer but fifth most common for those receiving SNAP benefits .
Bezos ’ workers have been organizing amid a pandemic that puts their lives at risk , but instead of providing them with living wages and proper protective equipment , he has given his employees at Whole Foods supermarkets with new uniforms proclaiming that they are heroes .
“ When billionaires like Jeff Bezos see their wealth surge by tens of billions , as they command their underpaid , vulnerable and unprotected workers into the viral line of fire , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Chuck Collins , Director of the Program on Inequality for the IPS told MintPress News , noting that Bezos is on track to amass “ a level of concentrated wealth and power that even the greatest kings and oligarchs could never have imagined.
” Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk has seen his wealth balloon by $ 11.3 billion , despite the fact that his California car plant has been closed for weeks .
How could this be ?
One explanatory reason is the billionaire bonanza that is the Coronavirus Aid Relief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , passed last month .
A nonpartisan congressional body found that 82 percent of the tax benefits will go to those earning over $ 1 million per year , with exponentially more for the ultra wealthy elite .
In contrast , less than three percent goes to the great majority of us who earn less than $ 100,000 per year .
Safe in the knowledge that billionaires will not have to bear the brunt of the costs of the pandemic , their wealth has shot up .
“ Rising billionaire wealth during a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that is unseemly and immoral , ” Collins added .
Of course , the money is not coming from nowhere .
It is certainly not coming from billionaires ’ hard work .
It is coming from us : from our pockets and those of the global poor , who will be forced to pay for the virus and the huge tax cuts later .
The fact that billionaires ’ wealth is rising so rapidly in a period of economic collapse is a sign that the rich ’ s wealth is barely even connected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do with how much wealth one can take from public coffers .
Feature photo | A protester carries a sign that reads “ Unionize Amazon Tax Bezos , ” while riding a bike during a car-based protest , May 1 , 2020 , at the Amazon Spheres in downtown Seattle .
Ted S. Warren | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

America’s billionaires have seen their wealth increase by 12.5 percent during the COVID-19 lockdown period. The Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, released a study Thursday showing that, in the eight weeks between March 18 and May 14, the country’s super wealthy have added a further $368.8 billion to their already enormous fortunes.
Among the more famous big winners during the pandemic include Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who adds $21 billion to his net worth (a 38 percent increase). Failed Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg is up $10 billion as well, meaning he has recouped ten times as much as he lost in his big money political campaign that went nowhere. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has increased his fortune by around $6 billion as well.
All this comes at the same time that the economy has undeniably imploded for working people. A record 36 million Americans have filed for unemployment insurance, with millions more losing their employer-based healthcare plans, and around a third of the country not paying its rent. Schools, factories, offices, and other businesses remain shuttered. The Trump administration has promised to provide $1,200 to every citizen, but it will be months before everyone receives their check. As a result, there has been an explosion in the use of food banks, as desperate citizens line up for hours in the hopes of receiving a box of food.
The study, based on figures from Forbes’ annual global billionaire survey, found that Amazon CEO and world’s richest individual Jeff Bezos was the biggest winner during the period of crisis, adding a massive $30 billion to his wealth. If he continues at the current rate, Bezos will become the world’s first trillionaire by 2026, with other oligarchs not far behind. This is possible primarily because of the hyper-exploitation of his workforce; Amazon warehouse employees are infamously forced into wearing adult diapers or peeing in bottles, unable to take bathroom breaks. The company’s own data shows that one-third of its Arizona employees depend upon food stamps to make ends meet. In Pennsylvania, it is the state’s nineteenth largest employer but fifth most common for those receiving SNAP benefits. Bezos’ workers have been organizing amid a pandemic that puts their lives at risk, but instead of providing them with living wages and proper protective equipment, he has given his employees at Whole Foods supermarkets with new uniforms proclaiming that they are heroes.
“When billionaires like Jeff Bezos see their wealth surge by tens of billions, as they command their underpaid, vulnerable and unprotected workers into the viral line of fire, we should rise up to demand accountability,” Chuck Collins, Director of the Program on Inequality for the IPS told MintPress News, noting that Bezos is on track to amass “a level of concentrated wealth and power that even the greatest kings and oligarchs could never have imagined.”
Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk has seen his wealth balloon by $11.3 billion, despite the fact that his California car plant has been closed for weeks. How could this be? One explanatory reason is the billionaire bonanza that is the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, passed last month. A nonpartisan congressional body found that 82 percent of the tax benefits will go to those earning over $1 million per year, with exponentially more for the ultra wealthy elite. In contrast, less than three percent goes to the great majority of us who earn less than $100,000 per year. Safe in the knowledge that billionaires will not have to bear the brunt of the costs of the pandemic, their wealth has shot up. “Rising billionaire wealth during a pandemic reveals a level of unequal sacrifice that is unseemly and immoral,” Collins added.
Of course, the money is not coming from nowhere. It is certainly not coming from billionaires’ hard work. It is coming from us: from our pockets and those of the global poor, who will be forced to pay for the virus and the huge tax cuts later. The fact that billionaires’ wealth is rising so rapidly in a period of economic collapse is a sign that the rich’s wealth is barely even connected to productive forces anymore and has more to do with how much wealth one can take from public coffers.
Feature photo | A protester carries a sign that reads “Unionize Amazon Tax Bezos,” while riding a bike during a car-based protest, May 1, 2020, at the Amazon Spheres in downtown Seattle. Ted S. Warren | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.