Good Morning.
California Governor Gavin Newsom bowed to the inevitable and ordered a dramatic reversal of the state’s reopening amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections. Bars must close throughout the nation’s most populous state, while restaurants, cinemas, and museums must stop operating indoors.
It is a pattern that is repeated throughout the world, with Hong Kong and the Philippines also returning to the close. As WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Monday, “there are no shortcuts to this pandemic.”
Meanwhile, California’s two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, have announced that their classes will remain online only through the fall, despite the Trump administration’s continued push to reopen schools across the United States in September. .
Geoffrey Kabaservice’s home state, Florida, is the worst affected region in the United States. His flawed response to the pandemic should not surprise us, he says:
Floridians have historically demonstrated fierce individualism and an unwillingness to abide by state government restrictions. Furthermore, the serious financial damage inflicted by the shutdown has surely made people more willing to engage in magical thinking about how the media and the establishment have inflated the dangers of the virus.
Trump’s aides are trying to discredit Dr. Fauci
Donald Trump still claims to have a “very good relationship” with Dr. Anthony Fauci, but his administration appears to intend to sideline and discredit its top infectious disease expert, even offering the media a list of the “mistakes “by Fauci regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Trump insisted Monday that the United States was doing “a great job” on the coronavirus, while Fauci said in an online chat that the country’s local public health infrastructure is “in tatters.” Once the Covid-19 response from the White House appeared, Fauci has not informed the president in two months.
Roger Stone bragged about his commute on Fox News
Trump’s longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone made his first major television appearance since the president commuted his prison sentence last weekend, describing Trump as “a man of great justice and equity” in an interview with Another staunch ally, Sean Hannity of Fox News.
Stone had been sentenced to more than three years in jail for his part in obstructing Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia. He claims that he was the victim of a “biased judge,” “a stacked jury,” and “a corrupt female jury chief.” Republican Senator Mitt Romney, on the other hand, described the commutation of Stone’s sentence as an act of “unprecedented historical corruption” by the president.
Ghislaine Maxwell is considered an “extreme” flight risk
Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers will request bail from British high society when she appears via video for her arraignment in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. But prosecutors have demanded that he remain in jail until his trial because it is considered an “extreme flight risk.” When FBI agents arrested her at a remote New Hampshire property on July 2, Maxwell reportedly “tried to flee.”
Maxwell faces multiple charges for her alleged involvement in the trafficking of underage girls by Jeffrey Epstein, and could be sentenced to 35 years in federal prison if found guilty.
In other news…
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The Andean condor can fly 100 miles without flapping its wings, according to a study of the world’s heaviest flying bird, which found that the endangered species spends only 1% of its time in the air flapping its wings.
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A United States judge has permanently blocked Georgia’s strict six-week abortion ban, saying the state’s controversial HB481 bill violates the constitution. Governor Brian Kemp, a supporter of the ban, said he would appeal the ruling.
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Actor Naya Rivera was found dead after drowning. in a california lake The Glee star disappeared last Wednesday; her four-year-old son was found alone in his rented boat, wearing a life jacket.
Great readings
How the Nespresso coffee revolution collapsed
Nestlé sells around 14 billion Nespresso capsules each year to coffee drinkers in 84 countries. But the revolutionary days of the appliance may be numbered, writes Ed Cumming, due to an increase in coffee snobbery and a backlash against its piles of plastic waste.
Brandy: ‘Music is my therapy’
As a teenager in the 1990s, Brandy won Grammys, starred in his own sitcom, had a line of Barbie dolls, and worked closely with his idol, Whitney Houston. Now she is releasing her first LP in eight years. “Music is my therapy,” he says to Michael Cragg. “I don’t know what my life would be without him.”
How the American police use noise as a weapon
More and more military-grade weapons, such as flash-bangs and long-range acoustic devices, are increasingly being used by law enforcement agencies in the United States to deal with protests. Using sound as a means of social control can cause physical and mental harm, as Luke Ottenhof reports.
Opinion: the two-state solution is a liberal fiction
Israel’s impending annexation of the West Bank has led liberal Zionists to regret the demise of the two-state solution. But the two-state idea ceased to be realistic long ago, says Joshua Leifer.
References to Israel’s alleged commitment to two states in theory have become a way to protect Israel from criticism and consequences, for actions that in practice made a two-state solution impossible.
Last Thing: Sports Illustrated’s first trans swimsuit model
Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio is making history by becoming the first trans woman to appear in Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit issue. The 23-year-old has also written a personal essay for the magazine, thanking his editors “for understanding more than anything, I am human.”
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