COVID-19, good and bad United States news

This 25 April 2020 video from the USA says about itself:

Farmer Gives Away Millions of Potatoes Amid COVID-19 | NowThis

This farmer is giving millions of potatoes away for free during the coronavirus pandemic.

In US news and current events today, Cranney Farms in Idaho is giving millions of potatoes away for free. Despite an uncertain future for his crop, Cranney is trying to turn a dire situation into a positive one. He opened up a massive pile of free potatoes to the public, figuring a few dozen from a town of 700 might show up. Instead, thousands arrived, with some as far away as Las Vegas. Food banks, charities, and churches also arrived ready to load pickup trucks and small trailers.

This farmer is bravely breaking the rules of capitalism. The rules of capitalism say that if you cannot sell food to, eg, a restaurant chain, then you should destroy it by sending it to a landfill, like often happens now. While millions of people in the USA are hungry, now more than before.

Coronavirus Paradox: Why Food Is Being Destroyed When People Are Going Hungry: here.

As US passes 50,000 deaths, workers strike against back-to-work campaign. By Shannon Jones and Andre Damon, 25 April 2020. As states rush to reopen workplaces, logistics workers, nursing home employees and graduate students have gone on strike to protest unsafe conditions.

Tennessee state government plans to lift social-distancing measures as health care crisis looms. By Warren Duzak, 25 April 2020. While Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee claims the number of cases were leveling off, physicians have described the virus trajectory as “saw-toothed” with no real sign of flattening or subsiding.

GM threatens to end medical benefits for temporary workers at parts depot. By Shannon Jones, 25 April 2020. Workers at General Motors Customer Care and Aftersales in Burton, Michigan are being told to report to work April 27 or face losing their medical benefits.

Henry Ford Health System lays off 2,800 as COVID-19 continues to ravage Detroit. By Kevin Reed, 25 April 2020. Following Beaumont Health, which laid off 2,475 employees and permanently eliminated 450 positions on Tuesday, HFHS told workers they were being put on temporary furlough.

Minnesota meatpacking plant closes after two dozen workers test positive for COVID-19. By Christopher Davion, 25 April 2020. JBS USA, the largest meat processing company in Minnesota, shut down its pork plant in Worthington on Monday, resulting in the layoff of 2,000 workers, many of whom are immigrants.

At least 130 US health care workers dead from COVID-19. By Clara Weiss, 25 April 2020. Every single one of these deaths and the vast majority of infections were preventable.

US elderly care devastated by the profit system. By Isaac Finn, 25 April 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the failure of the American health care system, and the inability of the wealthiest country on Earth to take care of its elderly and infirm.

United States President Donald Trump during the coronavirus disaster wants to sacrifice workers’ lives to capitalism. He also wants to sacrifice soldiers’ lives to his vanity.

From Votevets.org in the USA today:

1,000 West Point cadets in danger because of Donald Trump

At a time when Americans across the country are facing historic unemployment levels in order to social distance and do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19, Donald Trump is using his position as Commander-in-Chief to endanger the lives of 1,000 graduating West Point cadets who are now required to return to New York City, one of the hardest-hit cities in the country by this health crisis.

Last night, without any notice to West Point and despite the fact graduating seniors have already been scattered across the country, Donald Trump announced he would speak at the West Point commencement ceremony.

He even explicitly said he hoped the ceremony would look “nice and tight” because he does not like the look of socially distanced graduations.

This is a remarkably irresponsible action that puts the safety of every one of those cadets at risk while unnecessarily increasing the odds of spreading COVID-19 — all to feed Trump’s ego and provide him with a photo opportunity in place of his campaign rallies.

Donald Trump has a habit of treating the military as props in his political game, often at the expense of the safety of our veterans, service members, and those in uniform — and this is just the latest in a long line of inappropriate and disrespectful acts meant to bolster his image.

This is about more than polling numbers, this is about the lives of 1,000 future Army leaders. Trump should not force graduating West Point cadets to put themselves and their families in danger of contracting COVID-19 just so he can hear applause and momentarily satisfy his ego. Add your name if you agree.