Fauci: Coronavirus cases could reach 100K per day . . . New coronavirus cases “could go up to 100,000 a day” if people continue to flout advice on social distancing and face masks, Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease doctor told a Senate committee.  “It could get very bad,” Dr. Fauci said. The U.S. is now recording about 40,000 new cases a day of the new coronavirus. The surge of new infections and rising hospitalization rates in states such as California and Texas have jeopardized reopening plans throughout the U.S., threatening a nascent economic recovery. Wall Street Journal

 

Rand Paul rips Fauci . . . Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday ripped into Dr. Anthony Fauci and what he called government “central planners” during a hearing on COVID-19 response, asserting that Americans should not be “sheep” — and that US schools should reopen. “It is a fatal conceit to believe any one person or small group of people has the knowledge necessary to direct an economy or dictate public health behavior. I think government experts need to show caution in their prognostications,” said Paul. “It’s important to realize that if society meekly submits to an expert and that expert is wrong, a great deal of harm may occur when we allow one man’s policy or one group of small men and women to be foisted on an entire nation,” Paul continued. New York Post

 

 

Fauci slams airlines' plan for full flights . . . The nation’s top infectious disease experts on Tuesday slammed airlines planning full flights as the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the country. Several US airlines have stated they’re limiting capacity on planes to between 60 and 67 percent. But, United Airlines has not promised to leave seats empty, and American announced last week that it will drop such measures and begin filling its flights to the brim beginning Wednesday as companies try to increase revenue. New York Post

 

Fauci says to close the bars . . .  As coronavirus cases are rising in a number of states, Dr. Anthony Fauci is calling out one culprit in particular for the spike: bars. Fauci said in a Senate hearing Tuesday that people should stop going to bars immediately. "Congregation at a bar, inside, is bad news,” Fauci said. “We really got to stop that right now.” New York Post

 

Protests probably didn't lead to coronavirus spikes, but no one knows for sure . . . Some public health officials and disease trackers say there appears to be scant evidence the protests sparked widespread outbreaks. Others say that because many states reopened about the same time as the protests, and because of the limits of contact tracing, they simply can’t say for sure. Washington Post

 

US buys up global supply of remdesivir . . . The US government has bought up virtually the entire global supply of remdesivir, the only drug approved in the nation to treat coronavirus, HHS announced Monday. That means that any other country will be hard-pressed to get access to the potentially life-saving antiviral medication. Now the US will have guaranteed access to all 500,000-plus treatment courses the company plans produce in July, and 90 percent of its production for August and September. Daily Mail

 

Biden supports removing Confederate statues but not Washington, Jefferson . . . In his first news conference in almost three months, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden broke his silence on whether historical statues should be torn down or not, saying he preferred Confederate statues be removed and those of founding fathers left standing. “The idea of comparing whether or not George Washington owned slaves, or Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, and somebody who was in rebellion, committing treason, running, trying to take down a union to keep slavery, I think there’s a distinction there,” Biden said at a Tuesday news conference. Daily Caller

 

 

Trump: Hunt on for "anarchists" who defaced Manhattan George Washington Statue . . . These kinds of acts work well for President Trump, because he can easily demonstrate that he is trying to combat lawlessness and the threat to undermine our country’s values and heroes while Joe Biden tries to string together sentences in his basement. "We have them on tape," Trump tweeted. "They will be prosecuted and face 10 years in Prison based on the Monuments and Statues Act. Turn yourselves in now!" White House Dossier

 

 

Only 51 percent of blacks want Biden to pick African American for VP . . . Maybe they want him to pick . . . the best person for the job. Or someone who can finish his sentences. No, I don’t mean someone with whom he is so Sympatico that they finish each other’s sentences. I mean someone who can help him finish his sentences. White House Dossier

 

Video || Biden: Trump is the one having mental problems . . . Former Vice President Joe Biden today, who is thought by some to be in the early stages of senility, said President Trump has a few misfiring neurons of his own. “This president talks about cognitive capability. He doesn’t seem to be cognitively aware of what’s going on,” Biden said Tuesday during a rare press conference, held in Wilmington, Delaware. “The idea that he didn’t know or wasn’t being briefed, that’s a dereliction of duty,” he said of intelligence that Russia was paying the Taliban to kill Americans. White House Dossier

 

Biden says he is "constantly tested" for cognitive decline . . . Vice President Biden Tuesday claimed that his mental capacity is constantly being tested. “I’ve been tested and I’m constantly tested,” Biden said. “All you’ve got to do is watch me, and I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I’m running against.” Well, that’s the issue. People have been watching him, and something seems to be wrong. Maybe he means he’s being tested as in, put under duress. You know, like his cognitive abilities are tested by trying to remember stuff, like where the stairs are to the basement. White House Dossier

 

Hundreds of George W. Bush officials to back Biden . . . Hundreds of officials who worked for former Republican President George W. Bush are set to endorse Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden, people involved in the effort said, the latest Republican-led group coming out to oppose the re-election of Donald Trump. The officials, who include Cabinet secretaries and other senior people in the Bush administration, have formed a political action committee - 43 Alumni for Biden - to support the former vice president in his Nov. 3 race. Reuters

 

Gun rights advocate ousts Trump-backed congressman in primary . . . Five-term Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO), who was backed by President Donald Trump, lost his primary to Lauren Boebert, the owner of Shooters Grill in Colorado. The primary serves as another primary loss for Trump, who had endorsed Tipton over Boebert. Boebert is a 32-year-old gun-rights activist, the owner of the Garfield County Shooters Grill. Boebert has charged that Tipton has not successfully fought off leftist policies in Washington. Breitbart

 

Carlson: If Democrats win, they will lock in control . . . Fox News host Tucker Carlson delivered a stark warning Tuesday concerning the direction of the country if Republicans were unwilling to stand up and fight. “Non-Democrats in America are in peril,” Carlson said. Carlson went on to list a few of the things he expected Democrats to do if they win in 2020, beginning with giving illegal immigrants the right to vote — and encouraging more illegal immigration — which he said would guarantee that “no Republican would ever win nationally again.” He also mentioned ending the filibuster and packing the Supreme Court. Daily Caller

 

Reparations bill gaining in the House . . . Legislation exploring whether Black Americans should receive restitution for slavery may soon get a huge boost, as a growing number of Democrats are hoping to move reparations this summer as another response to the death of George Floyd. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), the lead sponsor of the reparations bill, H.R. 40, said her proposal is attracting greater interest within the caucus since Floyd's death. She's hoping to tap that energy to bring her bill to the floor for a historic vote before year's end. The Hill

 

Biden assembling list of black women for Supreme Court . . . Former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday seemingly committed to releasing a shortlist of Black women for potential Supreme Court nominees ahead of November’s general election. “We are putting together a list of a group of African American women who are qualified and have the experience to be on the court,” Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Del. “I am not going to release that until we go further down the line in vetting them, as well,” Biden added. Politico

 

This suggests to me that he may not pick a black woman for vice president. It says, "Here, have a Supreme Court seat instead. Pretty good, right?"
 

Trump campaign reassigns official overseeing rallies . . . White House senior adviser Jared Kushner has engineered a shake-up in President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign in the aftermath of a botched Tulsa rally, according to three people familiar with the matter. Kushner on Tuesday replaced chief operating officer Michael Glassner with Jeff DeWit, who held the same position in Trump’s 2016 campaign. The June 20 rally was marred by the sight of thousands of empty seats. Politico

 

Biden calls reporter "lying dog face" . . . Joe Biden snapped at a Fox News reporter who asked if he has been tested for 'cognitive decline', branding the man a 'lying dog face' during a press conference on Tuesday. The presumptive Democratic nominee appeared to briefly lose his cool after he was questioned over his mental sharpness during a campaign event at a high school in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. As the press conference drew to a close, the reporter raised his hand to ask a final question, before being immediately interrupted by Biden who called him a 'lying dog face.' Daily Mail

 

Tell-all book by Trump's niece halted but may become public anyway . . . The publisher of a “tell-all” book by a niece of President Trump said it might be unable to prevent her book from becoming public -- adding it was unaware of any non-disclosure agreement that would prevent the book from being published -- after a judge ordered a temporary halt on its release, according to reports. Simon & Schuster said it had already shipped out thousands of a 75,000-copy run of Mary Trump's “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man." Fox News

 

 

Trump vows to veto entire defense bill to keep Confederate base names . . . Trump has threatened to veto the entire defense bill if it contains a provision that would strip the names of Confederate generals from U.S. military bases. Trump, in a tweet just before midnight on Tuesday, said he would veto the legislation if an amendment sponsored by Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts “will lead to the renaming (plus other bad things!) of Fort Bragg, Fort Robert E. Lee, and many other Military Bases from which we won Two World Wars.” The Warren amendment, which would establish a commission that would put in place a plan for the removal of the names within three years, was included in the defense bill by the Republican-led Senate Armed Services Committee -- in defiance of Trump. Bloomberg

 

China begins enforcing Hong Kong "security" law . . .  China described Hong Kong’s new security law as a “sword of Damocles” hanging over its most strident critics, after Beijing asserted broad new powers to rein in sources of opposition, from pro-democracy protesters to news agencies to overseas dissidents.

The legislation passed by lawmakers in China and signed by President Xi Jinping allows for potential life sentences. Hong Kong police wasted no time putting the power to use, announcing the arrest Wednesday of a man in the Causeway Bay shopping area for possessing a Hong Kong independence flag. The man was also seen wearing a “FREE HONG KONG” T-shirt in photographs tweeted by the police. Bloomberg

 

Stocks finish best quarter in 20 years . . . U.S. stocks wrapped up their best quarter in more than 20 years, a remarkable rally after the coronavirus pandemic brought business around the world to a virtual standstill. Just three months ago, investors were lamenting the end of the bull market—and the longest economic expansion on record—after major U.S. stock indexes lost about 35% of their value in less than six weeks. The subsequent rebound has been nearly as brisk. Partly thanks to an unprecedented $1.6 trillion stimulus package from the Federal Reserve and Congress and a surge in trading among individual investors, the rally has lifted everything from beaten-down energy stocks to apparel retailers to big technology firms. Wall Street Journal

 

Harvey Weinstein reaches $19M settlement with accusers . . . Harvey Weinstein and his former studio’s board have reached a nearly $19 million settlement with dozens of his sexual misconduct accusers, New York state's attorney general and lawyers in a class-action lawsuit said Tuesday.

The agreement was announced by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Chicago attorney Elizabeth A. Fegan. The deal, if approved by judges in federal courts, would permit accusers to claim from $7,500 to $750,000 from the $18.8 million settlement. The former Hollywood producer was convicted earlier this year of rape and sexual assault against two women. USA Today

 

How about a settlement now with all the people in Hollywood who knew what he was doing but ignored it?

 

St. Louis prosecutor may charge lawyer couple who pointed firearms at rioters . . . The leading St. Louis city prosecutor is considering pressing charges against a Missouri lawyer couple after they were seen brandishing guns at protesters outside their $1.15million mansion. Mark McCloskey, 63, and his wife Patricia McCloskey, 61, were seen in multiple videos and photos on Sunday evening touting an AR-15 rifle and a handgun as protesters marched. 

The couple claimed they 'feared for our lives' after the protesters allegedly broke down the gate into their private community and threatened them. Daily Mail

 

Supreme Court rules that Montana scholarship must include religious schools . . . The Supreme Court gave a boost to religious liberty and school choice advocates Tuesday by ruling that barring religious schools from a state scholarship program violated the Constitution. In a 5-4 decision, the court’s conservative majority said Montana violated the First Amendment when it excluded religious schools from a program that allowed parents to use tax credits toward tuition at schools of their choice. The program was used mostly by families of disadvantaged and disabled children. Washington Times 

 

Nurses push to remove Zuckerberg name from hospital . . . A city supervisor and nurses are pushing to remove Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's name from San Francisco General hospital. 

The hospital has been named after Zuckerberg and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan since they donated $75million to the hospital's foundation in 2015. It was then the single largest contribution by private individuals in support of a public hospital in the United States, but came with the condition of it being renamed Zuckerberg San Francisco General hospital. Daily Mail

 

Woman walks into CNN live shot with "fake news" sign . . . A woman walked into a CNN broadcast with a sign that said seems to read “fake news” during a live show Tuesday in Los Angeles. “About family gatherings … maybe you walk in with your mask on, but then you let your guard down,” CNN Correspondent Nick Watt says. While he is talking, a woman in a red and white shirt and black pants walks into the frame with a neon yellow sign appearing to read “fake news.” She’s out of the frame by the time Watt turns around. Daily Caller

 

Man falls through floor and into well below home . . . Chris Town was assembling a bed frame for a friend’s son in a 19th-century house in Guilford, Conn., on Sunday afternoon when the floor gave out beneath him. “I could hear a crackling noise,” Mr. Town, 67, said. “And I looked, and I felt myself starting to fall. My feet were going right through the floor. I fell, and then I kept falling. I thought, ‘You know, there’s ground down here someplace.’” Mr. Town, it turned out, had fallen into a fieldstone cistern well that was concealed beneath the floorboards. It was more than 20 feet deep and filled with about seven feet of water, according to the Guilford Fire Department, which rescued Mr. Town. “He literally disappeared, right in front of my eyes,” Mr. Town’s wife, Angela Town, said. “He was gone.” Mr. Town emerged from the ordeal with only minor injuries. New York Times