Intercept:
"As the Coronavirus pandemic grips the United States, prosecutors, sheriffs, and public officials have raced to reduce the populations held in local jails, where it is next to impossible to protect elderly and otherwise vulnerable incarcerated people.
In New York, however, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is bucking this trend, pushing for a new law that would roll back newborn bail reforms that went into effect in January and instead expand judges’ power to put defendants in jail. Cuomo has backed this agenda for years, but his evident insistence on including it in the state’s budget negotiations amid a public health crisis is nonetheless remarkable. ...
For the advocates and legislators who helped pass New York’s landmark bail reforms last year, Cuomo’s drive to reverse those gains by slipping language into an under-scrutinized, must-pass disaster budget is the height of antidemocratic shock-doctrine misgovernment."
-->Although the NYT did an opinion piece about Cuomo rolling back bail reform, there was no news story. Our "newspaper of record" tends to side with prosecutors and police officers rather than victims of our criminal justice system.
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Common Dreams:
"The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced charges of international drug trafficking against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a move that was immediately denounced by progressives as a cynical Washington attempt to overthrow the Latin American leader as the coronavirus outbreak spreads around the world.
In the midst of #COVID2019, the U.S. indicts VZ's Maduro & 14 other Venezuelan military & political leaders on 'narco-terrorism' charges and offers rewards for their capture. US sanctions continue causing misery and death in VZ. This is just another attempted coup against Maduro. ...
'I am old enough to have seen this one before,' said veteran media critic Peter Hart, making a likely reference to former Panamanian ruler and CIA asset Manuel Noriega, the last Latin American leader charged with drug trafficking, who the U.S overthrew in 1989."
-->There is no better example of how the NYT serves up Pentagon propaganda than its stories about Venezuela. Pages of undocumented charges, and a complete failure to fact check US government claims. Yes, it is just like the overthrow of so many Latin American democracies, all in the interest of US corporate profits.
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Common Dreams:
"Oligarchs Are Running the White House: Trump Called Wall Street, Hedge Fund Titans Just Before 'Back to Work' Remarks. Trump and Pence are talking to private equity titans and hedge fund moguls instead of figuring out how to help healthcare workers get masks or workers to get wages or borrowers get debt relief.
President Donald Trump hosted a private conference call Tuesday morning with several billionaire Wall Street and hedge fund titans just hours before the president said he hopes to 'have the country opened up' and 'get people back to work' by Easter—even as the coronavirus pandemic worsens."
-->This is a good story about where Trump is getting his harebrained ideas about handling the US pandemic. He may be watching Fox News, but his inner circle is made up of the very rich, and their agenda is to squeeze the last dollar from the working class. The NYT wants to demonize Trump, but protects the nation's oligarchs at every turn.
