Unreleased White House report says coronavirus rates spiking in some areas . . . Coronavirus infection rates are spiking to new highs in several metropolitan areas and smaller communities across the country, according to undisclosed data the White House's pandemic task force is using to track rates of infection. The data in a May 7 coronavirus task force report are at odds with President Donald Trump's declaration Monday that "all throughout the country, the numbers are coming down rapidly." The 10 top areas recorded surges of 72.4 percent or greater over a seven-day period compared to the previous week. They include Nashville, Tennessee; Des Moines, Iowa; Amarillo, Texas; and — atop the list, with a 650 percent increase — Central City, Kentucky. NBC News

 

Los Angeles extends lockdown for three months

 

Fauci says vaccine likely . . . Anthony Fauci expressed optimism Tuesday that a vaccine will be found for the coronavirus within a year or two. His confidence stemmed from the fact that most people can fight off the virus themselves, offering scientists an opportunity to devise a way to get the body to combat it better. “It’s definitely not a long shot,” Fauci said. “It is much more likely than not that we will get a vaccine.” USA Today

 

Rand Paul to Fauci: You don't get to make the decision . . . Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who is a doctor, went at it with White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci Tuesday, suggesting his approach lacked humility and that he was exercising too much power. Paul said: I think we ought to have a little bit of humility in our belief that we know what’s best for the economy. And as much as I respect you, Dr. Fauci, I don’t think you’re the end-all. I don’t think you’re the one person that gets to make a decision.” White House Dossier

 

Republican voters give Trump and GOP governors cover to reopen . . . Republican voters have undergone a significant shift on the coronavirus in a few short weeks. A month ago, half of GOP voters said they were more worried about public health than the economy. Now, fewer than 2 in 5 say their concerns about the physical dangers of the virus outweigh their fears of a free-falling economy — a 13 percent drop. And the percentage of Republicans who said it was more important for the government to address the spread of the virus than the economy fell 22 points, from 65 percent to 43 percent, versus a 15-point drop overall. Politico

 

 

GOP poised to take Katie Hill's California seat . . .  Republicans moved closer to recapturing a seat in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday as Mike Garcia, a former Navy fighter pilot endorsed by President Donald Trump, led in preliminary results from a special election north of Los Angeles. Garcia was ahead of Democratic California state legislator Christy Smith by 55.9% to 44.1% in the state’s 25th congressional district. If his lead holds up, Garcia, 44, will fill a seat that became vacant after Democrat Katie Hill resigned last year following a scandal in which intimate photographs of her were published online and she faced accusations of sexual relations with staffers. But it could take several days for a winner to be declared, because the election was conducted largely by mail-in voting to avoid novel coronavirus exposure at the polls. Reuters

 

 

Democrats propose coronavirus relief filled with their agenda items . . . The bill expands access to voting by mail by saying states can’t impose additional requirements on otherwise eligible voters to cast an absentee ballot through the mail. It also says that states that require voter ID to cast a ballot must allow voters to meet the requirement by self-certifying to their own identity. One provision would automatically extend permission to remain in the U.S. for both temporary foreign guest workers and some illegal immigrants. Those here under the Obama-era DACA program would get at least another year’s eligibility. And the bill would boost the number of legal permanent immigrants admitted, pushing back on President Trump’s partial immigration pause with an immigrant surge. Washington Times

 

Court divided over Trump effort to keep finances private . . . In a major showdown over presidential powers, U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared divided over President Donald Trump’s bid to prevent congressional Democrats from obtaining his financial records but seemed more open toward a New York prosecutor’s attempt to secure similar records. The court’s conservative majority signaled concern about improper “harassment” of Trump by three Democratic-led House of Representatives committees seeking his records. In the New York case, the conservative justices joined the court’s liberals in indicating skepticism toward broad arguments by Trump’s lawyer for complete immunity from criminal investigation for a sitting president. Reuters

 

 

Biden admits he knew about Flynn probe, and then changes his mind . . . Biden said specifically during an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos that he didn’t know as vice president about “moves to investigate” Michael Flynn. And then when told that was not true, he said he thought he had been asked about Flynn being prosecuted. White House Dossier
 

 

McConnell pushes "major package" of coronavirus lawsuit protections . . . Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday announced that he is spearheading a package of liability reforms to protect the health care industry and businesses form COVID-19 lawsuits when the economy reopens. He said protecting businesses from an onslaught of lawsuits whenever someone gets sick was key to pulling the country out of an economic free fall in which more than 33 million Americans lost jobs since the outbreak began. Washington Times

 

 

AOC tells socialists to gradually "layer" Americans with their ideas . . . Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) that they should try to persuade Americans as if they were in "school" -- gradually conveying ideas so that they will eventually be ready for large-scale, structural changes to society. Democratic socialists, she said during a video event on Tuesday, should help Americans "develop the lenses of analysis necessary" to understand power and capital in the United States. "We are able to use the lenses to elevate the general consciousness, then what we do everytime we add a small layer," she said. Fox News

 

 

Chinese and Iranian hackers may be hampering search for vaccine . . . Chinese and Iranian hackers are aggressively targeting American universities, pharmaceutical and other health-care firms in a way that could be hampering their efforts to find a vaccine to counter the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. officials said. Since at least Jan. 3, the two countries have waged cyberattacks against a range of American firms and institutions that are working to find a vaccine for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, officials said. The attacks have raised the prospect among some officials that the aggression could be viewed by the Trump administration as a direct attack on U.S. public health and tantamount to an act of war, they said, because the attacks may have hindered vaccine research in some cases. Wall Street Journal

 

FBI accidentally releases name of Saudi official who helped 9/11 terrorists . . . The FBI has accidentally revealed the name of a former Saudi Embassy official who is suspected of helping two Al-Qaeda hijackers in the 9/11 terror attacks. The mistake was made in a recent filing in response to a lawsuit from families of 9/11 victims who have accused the Saudi government of being complicit in the terrorist attacks. In the document, lawyers forgot to redact Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah's name. He was assigned to the Saudi embassy in Washington, DC, in 1999 and 2000. Authorities suspected that al-Jarrah, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, instructed two people to assist Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar settle in the US ahead of the attacks. Daily Mail

 

 

South Korea sticks with its lockdown despite nightclub outbreak . . . South Korea health authorities said on Wednesday they had no immediate plans to reinstate strict social distancing rules despite a fresh coronavirus outbreak in the capital of Seoul. Officials have scrambled to trace and test thousands of people over the past week after a cluster of new infections linked to nightclubs and bars in Seoul’s Itaewon district raised fears of a second wave outbreak. Officials have linked at least 119 cases of COVID-19 to the night spots, which had just reopened as part of the country’s move to ease lockdown measures to jumpstart its struggling economy. Eleven of the 119 patients are 19 years old or younger. Reuters 

 

 

Facebook to pay $52M to content moderators who viewed obscene content . . . In a landmark acknowledgment of the toll that content moderation takes on its workforce, Facebook has agreed to pay $52 million to current and former moderators to compensate them for mental health issues developed on the job. In a preliminary settlement, the social network agreed to pay damages to American moderators and provide more counseling to them while they work. Each moderator will receive a minimum of $1,000 and will be eligible for additional compensation if they are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or related conditions. The settlement covers 11,250 moderators, and as many as half of them may be eligible for extra pay related to mental health issues associated with their time working for Facebook, including depression and addiction. The Verge

 

Elon Musk wins, plant can reopen . . . Tesla Inc. may be allowed to scale up activities at its only U.S. car plant as soon as next week, according to the California county Elon Musk has been feuding with over his desire to reopen. Health officers for Alameda County said late Tuesday that the factory can reopen if Tesla adopts safety recommendations in addition to a new plan the company submitted on Monday. While the county will let Tesla start to augment its operations this week, city police will be called upon to verify that the carmaker is adhering to the agreed measures aimed at protecting workers. Bloomberg

 

Chuck Todd apologizes for deceptive clip of Attorney General Barr . . . But NBC host Chuck Todd a appeared to defend the network by alleging that it “was not our edit.” The clip showed Barr being asked by CBS News’ Catherine Herridge how the decision to dismiss Michael Flynn’s case will be viewed upon looking back. Todd’s clip showed Barr responding by saying that “history is written by the winners, so it largely depends on who’s writing the history.” Todd chastised Barr for the comment, saying Barr “didn’t make the case that he was upholding the rule of law.” However, the partial clip did not show that Barr did, in fact, say that the decision “upheld the rule of law.” “We should have looked at both and checked for a full transcript. A mistake that I wish we hadn’t made and one that I wish I hadn’t made. Daily Caller 

 

 

New York Times admits reporter "went too far" . . . The New York Times said that one of its reporters "went too far" with his blistering criticism of the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus outbreak in a recent TV appearance. Donald McNeil Jr., the paper's science and health reporter, went on a tear against several members of the White House task force, including Vice President Mike Pence, who he suggested was a "sycophant" of President Trump, during a conversation with CNN International's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. Fox News
 

Record number of anti-Semitic incidents last year . . . Jews in the United States suffered the largest number of anti-Semitic incidents last year since the Anti-Defamation League began collecting records 40 years ago, the racism watchdog said on Tuesday. The 2,107 anti-Semitic incidents recorded in 2019 in the United States included deadly attacks by gunmen at a California Synagogue and a New Jersey kosher grocery store, and a fatal stabbing at a rabbi’s home in New York. It marked a 12% rise from 1,879 incidents in 2018. Previously, the highest number was recorded in 1994, when the ADL reported multiple unsolved arsons, cross burnings and a drive-by shooting. Reuters

 

Entertainment law firm informs clients of data breach . . . Major media and entertainment law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks said that after its internal data systems were hacked — and a vast trove of information on its clients was stolen — it has informed its roster of A-list clients of the breach. News of the hack surfaced last week, after a hacker group claimed it stole a whopping 756 gigabytes of documents on multiple music and entertainment figures. Those include clients past and present, among them: Lady Gaga, Madonna, Nicki Minaj, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, Ella Mai, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Cam Newton, Bette Midler, Jessica Simpson, Priyanka Chopra, Idina Menzel and Run DMC, the hackers claimed. Variety

 

Armed militia helped a Michigan barbershop to reopen . . . Armed members of the Michigan Home Guard stood outside Karl Manke's barber shop, ready to blockade the door if police arrived. They were determined to help Manke, 77, reopen his shop Monday, in defiance of state orders, and dozens joined them, wearing Trump sweatshirts and Trump cowboy hats and waving Trump flags. They gathered not because they desperately needed haircuts but to rail against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s approach to fighting the coronavirus outbreak in Michigan, one of the nation’s worst hot spots. They were channeling Trump’s support of such protests, but some also were taking aim at the state’s Republicans, who they say have not done enough to “liberate” the state from safety measures that have ground life to a halt. Washington Post

 

Hospitals seeing more child abuses during lockdown . . . Pennsylvania hospitals are treating more children with severe child abuse injuries, indicating the state's most vulnerable kids are not safe at home during the coronavirus outbreak. Several advocates and pediatricians who specialize in child abuse say they are seeing an increase in the number of abused children who need to be hospitalized. And in perhaps the most grim outlook, a Penn State pediatrician says "the worst is yet to come." USA Today

 

Dennis Rodman's "hotties and vodka" night with Kim Jong Un . . . Rodman, now 58, went to Pyongyang in 2013 on a trip with the Harlem Globetrotters and “dignitaries,” he said on ex-boxer Mike Tyson’s HotBoxin’ podcast last week. “Let’s have dinner tonight. A little karaoke and have some vodka, some hotties and stuff like that,” Rodman said the North Korean leader told him. “Next thing I know, we are having dinner and we are drunk as sh-t, he starts singing karaoke and I have no clue what the f–k he’s talking about.” Then, an 18-piece band of “hot” women came out — and only played the theme song from 1978 TV-show “Dallas,” Rodman said. New York Post