#you can’t decry humans rights violations of a group that doesn’t even represent a majority of innocent people (by the way)��

[kingofmyborrowedheart]

I’m sorry but you can’t cry “human rights violation!!!!” when you are actively carrying out a campaign of genocide.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Free rein for authoritarians (Washington Post) The pardon was swift and stunning, overturning the landmark conviction of an army sergeant for massacring civilians during Sri Lanka’s civil war. Human rights groups decried the move, but there were no protests. Nor were there any in-person appeals. Even a legal challenge was impossible: With all of Sri Lanka under a strict nationwide lockdown, the courts, too, were closed. The decision in March by Sri Lanka’s newly elected president is part of a broader, disturbing trend in which governments around the world have punished opponents, rewarded friends and stifled dissent amid the global pandemic. The overwhelming nature of the fight against the disease combined with physical restrictions on citizens has meant that such actions incite less opposition at home and abroad than in the past. In Bolivia, the government has arrested dozens of opponents under a new decree passed earlier in April. In India, authorities have pursued activists and journalists using a sweeping anti-terrorism statute. In Cambodia, at least 30 people—many of them opposition supporters—have been arrested ostensibly for spreading misinformation during the pandemic. Several governments have passed laws whose stated goal is to fight the coronavirus but that opponents say provide tools to crack down on critical voices and the media. While emergency measures may be necessary to combat the spread of the virus, some governments “appear to be using COVID-19 as a cover for human rights violations, further restricting fundamental freedoms and civic space, and undermining the rule of law,” Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement this week.

Virus rhetoric escalates (Reuters) Donald Trump’s attacks on China’s handling of the early days of the pandemic have now escalated to threats of trade measures. The U.S. president said on Thursday his trade deal with China was now of secondary importance and warned of new tariffs. That reflects his growing frustration with Beijing over the pandemic, which has cost tens of thousands of lives in the United States alone, sparked an economic contraction and threatened his chances of re-election in November. China has repeatedly pushed back at what it considers are politically motivated attacks on it.

Managers turn to surveillance software, always-on webcams to ensure employees are (really) working from home (Washington Post) In the weeks since social distancing lockdowns abruptly scattered the American workforce, businesses across the country have scrambled to find ways to keep their employees in line, packing their social calendars and tracking their productivity to ensure they’re telling the truth about working from home. Thousands of companies now use monitoring software to record employees’ Web browsing and active work hours, dispatching the kinds of tools built for corporate offices into workers’ phones, computers and homes. But they have also sought to watch over the workers themselves, mandating always-on webcam rules, scheduling thrice-daily check-ins and inundating workers with not-so-optional company happy hours, game nights and lunchtime chats. Company leaders say the systems are built to boost productivity and make the quiet isolation of remote work more chipper, connected and fun. But some workers said all of this new corporate surveillance has further blurred the lines between their work and personal lives, amping up their stress and exhaustion at a time when few feel they have the standing to push back.

Stymied in Seeking Benefits, Millions of Unemployed Go Uncounted (NYT) With a flood of unemployment claims continuing to overwhelm many state agencies, economists say the job losses may be far worse than government tallies indicate. The Labor Department said Thursday that 3.8 million workers filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the six-week total to 30 million. But researchers say that as the economy staggers under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic, millions of others have lost jobs but have yet to see benefits. A study by the Economic Policy Institute found that roughly 50 percent more people than counted as filing claims in a recent four-week period may have qualified for benefits—with the difference representing those who were stymied in applying or didn’t even try because the process was too formidable. “The problem is even bigger than the data suggest,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist with the institute, a left-leaning research group. “We’re undercounting the economic pain.”

As produce rots in the field, one Florida farmer and an army of volunteers combat ‘a feeling of helplessness’—one cucumber at a time (Washington Post) Hank Scott believes the bright green rows of ripening cucumbers are the best yield on his land since his father started the farm in 1963. During any other spring, he’d oversee an army of workers harvesting cucumbers and shipping truckloads to pickling companies along the East Coast. But the coronavirus pandemic has closed or crippled the businesses where his produce would end up. So instead, Scott, 64, invited volunteer pickers with the Society of St. Andrew, a Christian hunger relief organization, to glean as much produce as they could and donate it to nearby food banks. Scott and the volunteer cucumber pickers were trying to bring some sense to what has emerged as one of the most perverse outcomes of the pandemic: farmers forced to destroy fields full of crops while a growing number of families can’t afford enough food. The Florida Department of Agriculture estimates that produce farmers like Scott have lost $522.5 million through mid-April. And they are not the only ones with a perishable product that will reach the end of its shelf life before it even leaves the farm. Dairy farmers and cooperatives across the country have dumped millions of gallons of milk down drains or onto fields as cheese plants and dairy producers contend with an unmovable surplus.

Coronavirus hits European economies but governments help shield workers (Washington Post) The coronavirus pandemic has dealt Europe an economic wallop on par with that in the United States, but Europe has more successfully managed to shield workers, according to data released Thursday. The unemployment rate in Europe crept up only modestly in the first weeks of the coronavirus lockdowns—at a time when millions of Americans filed for jobless benefits. The contrast shows the effect of Europe’s starkly different approach to fighting the economy-busting effects of the pandemic, with many governments intervening to subsidize private-sector salaries.

France boosts bikes (Foreign Policy) While Berlin has moved to increase its number of cycle lanes in anticipation of a ridership shortfall on public transit, France is looking to go one better and give cyclists cash to repair their bikes. Environment Minister Elisabeth Borne announced a $22 million dollar scheme to boost cycling infrastructure, the majority of which will be distributed in 50 euro checks to individuals to get their bikes in working order. “We want this period to be another step toward a cycling culture,” Borne wrote on Twitter.

Russia’s prime minister has coronavirus (Foreign Policy) Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, making him the first high-ranking Russian official with a confirmed infection. Mishustin publicly announced the news in a video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “What is happening to you can happen to anyone,” Putin told Mishustin. “When you get to the hospital, call me. I’ll be waiting for your call.” Mishustin has been one of the key figures in Russia’s coronavirus response, as cases in the country have pushed past the 100,000 mark.

Arab League condemns planned annexation (Foreign Policy) The member states of the Arab League issued a joint statement on Thursday calling Israel’s planned annexation of the West Bank a “new war crime” against the Palestinian people. Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Israel was being opportunistic, using the world’s distraction during the coronavirus pandemic to “impose a new reality on the ground.”

Stranded in the United States, with no way home or health insurance: ‘We’re just trapped’ (Washington Post) She was supposed to stay in New York for a month, exploring the city and swapping business cards. Then the pandemic struck, and her country shuttered its airports. Now, Nuong Faalong, a broadcast journalist from Ghana, is trapped on a friend’s pullout couch. “This is a terrible nightmare,” said Faalong, 33, who doesn’t have American health insurance—or any idea when she can leave. Thousands of Africans are thought to be stranded in the United States after borders tightened around the world, thrusting them into coronavirus limbo at the outbreak’s epicenter. There is no database of marooned travelers, but more than 62,000 visitors from the continent entered the United States in March—just as cases began to skyrocket in a nation where a stay in intensive care can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Getting back to an African country is particularly hard when 34 of the continent’s 57 international airports have closed or dramatically cut flights. Panicked people are calling embassies, diplomats say, but national budgets are strained from fighting outbreaks—and repatriation flights are astronomically costly.