Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
July 2, 2020
Good morning
Welcome to today's top news.
Leading the News . . .
CHOP finally gets bulldozed . . . The clean up operation began at Seattle's Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) zone on Wednesday after police in the city reclaimed their precinct following the mayor's early morning executive order to vacate the area. Bulldozers moved in and crushed the camp where protesters occupied several blocks around a park and the Seattle Police Department's East Precinct. Officers had abandoned the building on
June 8 following clashes with protesters calling for an end to police brutality. But Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, say the move to shut down the zone 'is several deaths too late' after two black men were shot dead. At least 31 people were arrested at the CHOP zone Wednesday which has seen the two deadly shootings and crime rise by more than 500 per cent in just over three weeks. Daily Mail
Reopenings stall as 50,000 new cases recorded in a single day . . . Governors of U.S. states hit hardest by the resurgent coronavirus halted or reversed steps to reopen their economies on Wednesday, led by California, the nation’s most populous state and a new epicenter of the pandemic. New cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, shot up by nearly 50,000 on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, marking the
biggest one-day spike since the start of the pandemic. “The spread of this virus continues at a rate that is particularly concerning,” California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in ordering the closure of bars, bans on indoor dining and other restrictions in 19 counties, affecting over 70% of the state’s population. Reuters
Face mask decrees better for economy than lockdowns . . . A nationwide directive compelling all Americans to wear facial coverings in public might be more effective than systematic shutdowns is the upshot of a new report published by financial services behemoth Goldman Sachs. The edict would also prevent a hit of up to 5% in economic growth, according to the report. “Our baseline estimate is that a national mandate could raise the percentage
of people who wear masks by 15 percentage points and cut the daily growth rate of confirmed cases by 1 percentage point,” said Goldman’s chief economist Jan Hatzius. NY Daily News
Six months in, there's still a mask shortage . . . Six months into the nation’s battle with the coronavirus, doctors and nurses still face a dearth of supplies as coronavirus cases rise nationwide. Nearly 45% of those surveyed by the American Nurses Association said they experienced protective gear shortages as late as May 31. Almost 80% said their employers encouraged or required them to reuse disposable equipment. Things have improved since the severe shortages in March. Major mask manufacturers increased production. But those efforts haven’t matched, much less gotten ahead of, the demand. USA Today
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Judge allows tell-all book by Trump niece to be published . . . Mary Trump's family tell-all is one step closer to publication. But hurdles remain. A New York appeals court cleared the way Wednesday for a publisher to distribute a tell-all book by President Donald Trump’s niece over the objections of the president’s brother. Although the book was scheduled to be published on July 28, Simon & Schuster said
thousands of copies of the 75,000-copy first run of the book had already been sent to bookstores and others. According to the publisher, the book is a "revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him." USA Today
Biden campaign assembling hundreds of lawyers to prevent election "chicanery" . . . Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Wednesday that his party has assembled a group of 600 lawyers and thousands of other people to prepare for possible “chicanery” ahead of November’s election. “We have over 10,000 people signed up to volunteer. We’re in the process of getting into the states in question to train them to be in a polling
place,” Biden said. Reuters
Of course. You can't steal an election without attorneys.
Republican senators debate replacing Columbus Day with Juneteenth . . . Republican senators are debating whether Juneteenth, a day that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States, should replace Columbus Day on the federal government’s list of official holidays. A bipartisan bill sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) to make Juneteenth a federal holiday is being held up by an internal Senate GOP squabble. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), an
outspoken budget hawk, doesn’t want to add another paid holiday to the calendar. Johnson says if Juneteenth is made a federal holiday, another paid federal holiday should come off the schedule. He’s proposing scrapping Columbus Day but is open to eliminating another holiday instead. The
Hill
Trump says "masks are good" and he looks like "The Lone Ranger" in his . . . President Trump Wednesday responded to all the crap he is taking for not wearing a mask, saying they are a good idea and that he uses them himself. Trump told Fox News Business: I’m all for masks. I think masks are good. If I were in a group of people and I was close, I would. I have. People have seen me wearing one if I’m in a group of people where
we’re not 10 feet away. But usually, I’m not in that position and everyone’s tested because I’m the president and they get tested before they see me, if I were in a tight situation with people, I would, absolutely. White House Dossier
Trump is right not to be parading around with a mask, though. He thinks it looks weak on a leader, and it does. He certainly could avoid denigrating the use of them, as he has, and could do more to promote them. But I don’t think Churchill or Caeser would have walked around with an N95 over their face.
Trump approval rating with evangelicals dips slightly, from 78% to 72% . . . I think a lot of evangelicals have never been completely comfortable with President Trump’s behavior, and his tweeting, even as they see him as the best bet to safeguard the country. But the abrasiveness, the crudeness, and the failure to show a more coordinated response to the coronavirus may be grating on them. But evangelicals, whatever they are thinking now,
will come back to Trump once they think through the alternative closer to Election Day. The Left will make sure religious conservatives can never be comfortable pulling the lever for Joe Biden, who has shown little spine for standing up to any of the insanity in his Party. White House Dossier
Biden uses Trump "Kung flu" quip to court Asian Americans . . .
Well, this was predictable. I’m not sure how outraged Asian Americans actually are. I mean, maybe. I haven’t seen any polling. It seems like the media often rely on what white people in Washington assume minorities will believe. Anyway, you can be sure the Democrats are going to run with it. White House Dossier
Detroit removes thousands of dead voters from rolls . . . The city of Detroit has removed thousands of deceased and duplicate registrants from its voter rolls after being hit with a lawsuit. City officials cleaned up the voter rolls after the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a government watchdog, filed suit against them in December. Nearly 2,500 deceased individuals and 4,800 duplicate registrations were removed from the voter rolls. The
officials have also moved to review another 16,465 registrants who lacked actual dates of registration. Washington Free Beacon
Why remove them? Being dead hasn't prevented them from voting.
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UN nearly launched probe into US racism . . .
The United Nations Human Rights Council was debating launching a special investigation of racism in America after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody. And the United States was determined to derail any such probe. Publicly, U.S. officials kept their cool as the mid-June discussions played out. Behind the scenes, however,
the State Department was scrambling to avert a public relations disaster, dispatching its diplomats to pull strings and call in favors. The pressure worked — the 47-member council didn’t order a U.S.-focused probe, instead requesting a broader report on anti-Black racism worldwide. Politico
The glory and wisdom of international organizations continues to manifest itself.
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Hong Kong police stage massive arrests . . . Thousands of protesters, unbowed by a sweeping new national-security law imposed by China, staged the largest show of defiance in Hong Kong this year, with some risking heavy prison terms to chant slogans of liberation and demand independence. Hundreds of Hong Kong police officers moved in swiftly to quash dissent and implement the law, which gives Beijing much greater
powers to police the city and punish those accused of subversion and supporting separatism. At the end of the day—the anniversary of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover from British colonial rule—the protests had dissipated, and police had arrested about 370 people, including 10 under the new law. Wall Street Journal
President-for-life: Vote extends Putin rule to 2036 . . . Russian voters approved changes to the constitution that will allow President Vladimir Putin to hold power until 2036, but the weeklong plebiscite that concluded Wednesday was tarnished by widespread reports of pressure on voters and other irregularities. With the nation’s polls closed and 30% of all precincts counted, 74% voted for the constitutional
amendments, according to election officials. New York Post
More than 113 killed as Myanmar jade mine collapses . . . A landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar killed at least 113 people, with more feared dead, authorities said on Thursday, after a heap of mining waste collapsed into a lake, triggering a wave of mud and water that buried many workers. The miners were collecting stones in the jade-rich Hpakant area of Kachin state when the “muddy wave” crashed onto them, after heavy rain, the fire
service department said in a Facebook post. Rescue workers recovered 113 bodies, the department said, but more were missing. Reuters
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Report to show Jobs growth in June but data don't include recent layoffs . . . The U.S. economy likely regained millions of lost jobs in June, though a rise in coronavirus infections in several states could hamper the labor market’s recovery. An increase in the number of employed workers, if reflected in Thursday’s jobs report, would show Americans are slowly getting back to work and further improvement from the labor market’s
April bottom. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect employers added 2.9 million jobs in June, following May’s payroll gain of 2.5 million, and an unemployment rate of 12.4%, down from 13.3% in May. Wall Street Journal
People are hoarding cash amid pandemic . . . People appear to be bunkering cash amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to a study that seeks to debunk the notion that the pandemic was hastening the demise of paper money due to e-commerce or fears of infection. Anecdotal evidence
across advanced economies suggests a decisive move away from cash, with lockdowns boosting online sales and more stores only accepting card payments. But data show a marked increase of bills in circulation in the U.S., Canada, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Australia, Brazil and Russia. Bloomberg
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Women's soccer league player refuses to take a knee due to "military family" . . . Chicago Red Stars forward Rachel Hill stood alongside kneeling teammates Julie Ertz and Casey Short as they tearfully protested racism on Saturday before the season opener. Although Hill was standing, she was seen with her hand on Short's shoulder. 'I chose to stand because of what the flag inherently means to my military family members and
me, but I 100% percent support my peers,' the 25-year-old Hill wrote in a statement posted on social media. Daily Mail
New York Times joins DNC criticism of Mt. Rushmore . . . Ahead of Trump's Friday visit to Mount Rushmore the New York Times published an article criticizing the racist history of the memorial, its sculptor, and the "complicated legacy" of the presidents represented on it. The article, " How Mount Rushmore Became Mount Rushmore," states that the national monument
has "never been without controversy." The article comes ahead of a planned Independence Day celebration at the monument featuring Trump, an event the Times says has "invited even more scrutiny of the monument’s history, the leaders it celebrates, the sculptor who created it and the land it towers over." Washington Free Beacon
San Francisco will end mug shot releases in bid to end racial "stereotyping" . . . San Francisco police will stop releasing the mug shots of people who have been arrested unless they pose a threat to the public, as part of an effort to stop perpetuating racial stereotypes, the city's police chief announced Wednesday. Bill Scott, chief of San Francisco police, said the policy - which goes into effect immediately - means the department will no
longer release booking photos of suspects to the media or allow officers to post them online. Daily Mail
Study says border wall works . . . Barriers along America's southwestern border significantly reduce illegal immigration, especially by low-skilled migrants, a new study argues. The analysis, by University of Illinois at Chicago economist Benjamin Feigenberg, provides
empirical evidence that the construction of border barriers—in this case, the 700 miles of border fencing authorized by Congress in 2006—cuts migration both in the areas where they are constructed and in adjacent territory. In total, Feigenberg estimates, a fully fenced border would deter some 86,000 people from crossing the border every three months, at a cost of less than $2,000 per person deterred. Washington Free Beacon
Does one need to be a physicist to understand that an immovable object prevents movement?
Ed Henry fired from Fox over sexual misconduct but denies claim . . . Ed Henry is denying allegations of sexual misconduct surrounding his dismissal from Fox News. Fox News fired Henry following the completion of a sexual misconduct investigation, the news company announced on Wednesday. "Ed Henry denies the allegations referenced in Fox’s
announcement this morning and is confident that he will be vindicated after a full hearing in an appropriate forum," said his lawyer, Catherine Foti. The "America's Newsroom" co-anchor was terminated after Fox News said they received a complaint on June 25 from a former employee's attorney regarding "willful sexual misconduct in the workplace years ago." USA Today
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Bride sacks 14-year-old sister as bridesmaid for having "huge" boobs . . . A bridesmaid was demoted from her role at her sister's wedding after being told she "looked too good in her dress." The bridesmaid tried on her dress for the bride. "I asked her if she didn’t like it, but she just didn’t respond. She asked if she could talk to me in the other room and I say sure. Then goes 'your boobs look huge,' which stunned me for
a moment." Apparently, the bride through her curves would take the attention off of her and her fiancé on their big day. Mirror
Well, given that Pippa Middleton's ass was the talk of the royal wedding, I guess this makes sense.
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Keith
Keith Koffler
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