Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
June 11, 2020
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
Governors reject new lockdown measures as coronavirus cases spike . . . The coronavirus is spiking in more than a dozen states and intensive care beds are filling again, but several governors have no plans to reimpose shutdown measures or pause reopenings, a sign that the political will to take drastic measures has dissipated even as the virus is still raging. In Texas, where total cases have shot up by one-third in the last two weeks,
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is moving ahead with plans to let virtually all businesses keep expanding capacity by the end of this week. Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who insists recent surges in infections and hospitalizations aren’t tied to his lifting restrictions, on Wednesday announced the state's reopening will move forward as planned next week. In North Carolina, which is reporting its highest-ever levels of new infections and hospitalizations, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper
said reimposing restrictions would be a last resort. Just one state, Utah, has paused the next phase in its reopening plan amid a two-week spike in new cases. Politico
Eli Lilly COVID-19 treatment could be ready by September . . . Eli Lilly could have a drug specifically designed to treat COVID-19 authorized for use as early as September if all goes well with either of two antibody therapies it is testing, its chief scientist told Reuters on Wednesday. Lilly has already launched human trials with two of the experimental therapies. The drugs belong to a class of biotech medicines called
monoclonal antibodies widely used to treat cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and many other conditions. A monoclonal antibody drug developed against COVID-19 is likely to be more effective than repurposed medicines currently being tested against the virus. Reuters
Coronavirus likely less deadlly than feared . . . Covid-19 could actually be up to four times less deadly than feared, according to a controversial estimate. A review of antibody surveillance studies — which paint a much clearer picture of how many people have really been infected — suggests the coronavirus has a mortality rate of 0.25 per cent, meaning it kills one in every 400 people who get it.
Most coronavirus modelling, including the grim Imperial College London projection that warned 500,000 Brits could die without action and convinced ministers to impose a lockdown, are based on a death rate of around 1 per cent. For comparison, seasonal flu is estimated to kill around 0.1 per cent of patients. Daily Mail
Coronavirus deaths could hit 200,000 by September . . . The number of coronavirus deaths in the U.S. could double over the next few months, reaching 200,000 by September, according to a report.
The news came as total confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S. passed the 2 million mark and deaths neared 113,000 in the U.S. Wednesday -- with infections spiking in parts of the country while numbers dropped in Europe. Fatalities would nearly double unless action was taken to limit its spread, Ashish Jha,
head of Harvard's Global Health Institute said. "And that’s just through September. The pandemic won’t be over in September.” Fox News
EPA tells Amazon, EBay to stop shipping unproven COVID-19 goods . . . The Trump administration is ordering two of the largest e-commerce marketplaces in the U.S. -- Amazon.com Inc.and EBay Inc. -- to stop selling unproven or unsafe disinfectants, including products
falsely marketed as killing Covid-19. The Environmental Protection Agency late Wednesday issued orders to the two companies directing them to stop selling or distributing 70 products, including sprays, lanyards and other gear sometimes touted as “preventing epidemics.” Failure to comply with the stop-sale notices could expose the companies to civil penalties of as much as $20,288 per sale. Bloomberg
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Trump demands Seattle take back zone occupied by protestors . . . President Trump has demanded that Seattle officials immediately regain control of a six-block zone and police station that have been taken over by armed George Floyd protesters who are demanding the the city's police department and courts be dissolved. 'Radical Left Governor [of Washington, Jay Inslee] and the Mayor of Seattle are being taunted and
played at a level that our great Country has never seen before,' Trump tweeted late on Wednesday. 'Take back your city NOW. If you don't do it, I will. This is not a game. These ugly Anarchists must be stooped [sic] IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!' he continued. 'Domestic Terrorists have taken over Seattle, run by Radical Left Democrats, of course. LAW & ORDER!' It followed astonishing developments in Seattle, where protesters have established what they call the 'Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone,' or
CHAZ, setting up barricades and armed checkpoints and declaring that police are not allowed inside the zone. Daily Mail
Jefferson Davis statue torn down in Richmond . . . The statue of Jefferson Davis on Monument Avenue in Richmond was torn down from its pedestal late Wednesday night. The statue of the president of the Confederacy was toppled shortly before 11 p.m. and left on the ground at the intersection of Davis and Monument avenues. Richmond police were quickly on the scene. A flatbed tow truck showed up around 11:30 p.m. to take the statue away.
Bystanders said, "Take it to the dump" and "Throw it in the lake." It comes a day after the Christopher Columbus statue in Byrd Park was pulled down by protesters, and on the same night that demonstrators pulled down four statues from a Confederate monument in Portsmouth. Richmond Times-Dispatch
Trump proposes higher hurdles for asylum . . . The Trump administration is proposing a far-reaching overhaul of the asylum system that would make it harder for applicants to win humanitarian protection in the U.S. and would allow the government to quickly deport many more asylum seekers at the border. The proposal would mean most asylum applicants are no longer entitled to a full court proceeding to hear their claims, as they are now. The
Trump administration has long argued that loopholes in the system make it too easy for migrants to apply for asylum, a process that can stretch on for years and for a majority of applicants ends in them losing their cases. Until that judgment is made, asylum applicants are permitted to work in the U.S., though the administration is separately completing a rule under which future applicants wouldn’t be issued work permits. A backlog of more than one million cases are pending in U.S. immigration
courts. Wall Street Journal
Trump will not rename military bases named for Confederate generals . . . President Trump Wednesday overruled Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and said he would not consider renaming military bases named for Confederate generals. Esper and Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy had said they were “open to a bi-partisan discussion" on the topic. Trump tweeted: "It has been suggested that we should
rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage . . . Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military!" White House Dossier
McEnany suggests renaming Biden Welcome Center because he helped segregationists . . . White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defended President Trump’s decision not to strike the names of Confederate generals from military bases, questioning whether others, including Joe Biden, should have their names removed from places that commemorate them. "Where do you draw the line here?” McEnany said. “I’m told that no longer can you find, on
HBO, Gone with the Wind, because somehow that is now offensive. Where do you draw the line? Should George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison be erased from history. What about FDR and his internment camps?" White House Dossier
For those of you who don't live in the Northeast, the Biden Welcome Center is actually a toilet center located on I-95.
Pelosi demands the removal of Confederate statues from the Capitol . . . Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has called for the removal of 11 Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol Building. "The statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation. Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque
affront to these ideals," Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a letter to Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., who lead the Joint Committee on the Library that oversees the National Statuary Hall Collection. USA Today
Also: Statues demand Pelosi's removal from the Capitol
Trump to resume big rallies . . .Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will hold his first rally since the coronavirus pandemic next Friday in Oklahoma, and previewed that he plans to hold three more in swing states he won in 2016. The president said he wants to get back on the campaign trail in the style of holding his stadium-filling rallies. He said he plans to go to Florida, Arizona and North Carolina, swing states that swayed red
in 2016, and deep red state of Oklahoma, which he won with 65.3 per cent of the vote last time around. Daily Mail
Trump approval declines to 39% in Gallup poll . . . A new national poll by Gallup indicates that President Trump’s approval rating has slid amid unrest the past couple weeks in cities across the nation sparked by the death of George Floyd in police custody. The president’s approval rating – which stood at 49 percent a month ago in Gallup polling – dropped to 39 percent in their latest survey, which was
released on Wednesday. Trump’s disapproval in the new poll stood at 57 percent, up 11 percentage points from early May. Fox News
Biden raises $3.5M in fundraiser with Kamala Harris . . . I think she’s close to getting chosen to be Joe Biden’s running mate. Woman, African American, not too far left that the suburbs would hate her, smart, experienced, and a known name. I mean, not that I like her. But she’s pretty qualified and checks a lot of the right boxes for the Democrats. White House Dossier
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Zoom caves to China and cancels account that held Tiananmen event . . . Zoom temporarily shut the account belonging to a group of U.S.-based Chinese activists after they held an event to commemorate the 31st anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square crackdown, the activists said on Thursday. Humanitarian China said the event they held on May 31 was hosted by a paid account and was joined by over 250 people worldwide via
video-conferencing platform Zoom, while more than 4,000 streamed it on social media, many of whom were from China. Zoom confirmed the U.S.-based account had been suspended but had now been reactivated. “When a meeting is held across different countries, the participants within those countries are required to comply with their respective local laws,” it said. Reuters
Original draft of statement: When something threatens our business in the vast China market, we will quickly and without hesitation piss in our pants.
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Africa's deserted safaris leave mounting toll . . .
When Khimbini Hlongwane spent most of his small safari tour company’s savings on the deposit for a new minibus in February, it seemed like a safe bet. His revenues had doubled in the previous year. And bookings by American, British, and Brazilian tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of elephants, giraffes and lions at South
Africa’s famous Kruger National Park were up. Now, with borders closed and airlines grounded due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa’s multi-billion-dollar safari industry is unravelling and he can no longer afford the payments on the new 21-seater, which sits collecting dust in the parking lot. Reuters
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Stock futures decline amid fear of second virus wave . . . U.S. stock futures extended declines on Thursday, a day after the Federal Reserve’s economic forecast confirmed that the pain from the coronavirus outbreak will be felt for years, with investors also nervous about a second wave of infections. The S&P 500 and the Dow ended lower on Wednesday as Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged it could take years for the millions
of people laid off due to COVID-19, to get back to work. The U.S. central bank reiterated its pledge to provide years of extraordinary support to the economy battered by the pandemic. A Labor Department report due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday is expected to show another 1.55 million people applied for state unemployment benefits for the week ended June 6. Reuters
A third of people want to continue working at home . . . The coronavirus pandemic is far-reaching – many people have been forced to work from home as a result of it. But more than a third of those working from home (35%) would like to continue doing so full-time after state and federal restrictions are lifted, according to a new poll. This is despite the fact that on average, it costs $108 more per month to do so, the new survey reveals. Of
those forced to work from home, more than three-quarters (82%) said they’d like to continue it at least two days per week. Creditcards.com
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Minneapolis cop charged in George Floyd death makes bail . . . One of the four fired Minneapolis police officers charged in the death of George Floyd posted bail and was released from custody Wednesday afternoon. Thomas Lane, 37, who had been held in lieu of $750,000 cash bail, was freed shortly before 4:10pm from the Hennepin County Jail. Lane is one of three charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and
aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in connection to the death of Floyd, 46. Daily Mail
NASCAR band Confederate flags from raceway . . . NASCAR on Wednesday banned the Confederate flag from all races. While some in the South see the flag as a source of pride and a remembrance of soldiers who died fighting for the Confederacy in the 1861-65 Civil War, many Americans see it as a symbol of oppression and slavery. “The presence of the confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive
environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry,” NASCAR said in a statement. Reuters
Minneapolis woman formed armed group to fend off rioters when cops disappeared . . . A Minneapolis small business owner gathered an armed group to protect her neighborhood and its residents when police stepped back amid rioting and looting that grew out of protests over the death of George Floyd in the city, according to a report.
"Material things we can replace, that's true," restaurant owner Cesia Baires said. "But there are families up here. These aren't empty buildings." Baires and other residents rallied armed, properly licensed citizens for protection after police shrank their presence in her neighborhood. At times, they watched from rooftops with
semiautomatic rifles. Fox News
US soccer to allow National Anthem protests . . . U.S. Soccer’s board of directors has voted to repeal a 2017 policy that required national team players to stand during the national anthem, a rule adopted after Megan Rapinoe kneeled in support of Colin Kaepernick. The board made the decision during a conference call, U.S. Soccer announced Wednesday. Policy 604-1 stated: “All persons representing a Federation national team shall stand
respectfully during the playing of national anthems at any event in which the Federation is represented.” The board passed the rule on Feb. 9, 2017. Breitbart
That's fine. Nobody watches soccer. But wait until you see everyone kneeling on the football field.
"Gone with the wind" not gone . . . WarnerMedia could restore “Gone With the Wind” to HBO Max in less than a week, making the movie available to subscribers with a new introduction from a prominent African American studies scholar. HBO Max temporarily removed the epic from its service after the surge of Black Lives Matter protests across the country and a re-energized discussion about racial inequality. The removal prompted a firestorm,
particularly from but not limited to conservative political and media figures. Washington Post
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Strip club offers drive-through service during pandemic . . . A strip club in Portland, Oregon, has found a novel way to stay afloat during the coronavirus pandemic. The Lucky Devil Lounge transformed itself into Lucky Devil Eats, which has dancers deliver food, and Food 2 Go-Go, a drive-up service where takeout
orders come with an in-car experience that includes performances, music and lights under canopies. Almost overnight, Lucky Devil put about a dozen of its employees back to work. They wear masks and gloves and get their temperatures taken each day they're at work. Sky News
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Keith
Keith Koffler
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