Read Time: 5 Minutes
9/14
Coronavirus/COVID-19
- The U.S. reported 38,543 new cases and 532 additional deaths.
- The World Health Organization received reports of 307,930 new Covid-19 cases worldwide in the past 24 hours — the highest single-day increase in global infections since the pandemic began.
- Henderson, Nevada city officials say the Trump campaign has been sent warnings that their indoors rally breaks the governor’s coronavirus rules limiting indoor gatherings to 50 people, but the Trump campaign is firing back: “If you can join tens of thousands of people protesting in the streets… you can gather peacefully under the 1st Amendment to hear from the President of the United States.”
Guests won’t be required to wear face masks at the indoor event.
- Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) blasted President Trump’s decision to hold an indoor rally in his state Sunday evening, accusing the president of taking “reckless and selfish actions” that he said put lives in danger because the event defied state coronavirus laws and did not enforce mask-wearing.
“This is an insult to every Nevadan who has followed the directives, made sacrifices, and put their neighbors before themselves,” Sisolak wrote in a blistering tweet. “The President’s actions this weekend are shameful, dangerous and irresponsible.”
- Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University said President Trump’s indoor Nevada rally that did not enforce mask-wearing and social distancing is “negligent homicide.”
“People will get infected and some of those people will die,” he said. “If you took this virus seriously, you would never hold an indoor rally.”
- Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, warned Sunday of a potential COVID-19 spike and a bleak future in the US, citing a lack of a national plan to prevent further spread of the virus.
“We really have another 12 to 14 months of a really hard road ahead of us,” Osterholm continued. “That’s what I’m concerned about today. I don’t go back and replay February and March.”
“What is our national plan? We don’t have one,” he continued. “We have 50 state plans that in many cases are so different, so divided, and not necessarily based on good science. So, yeah, we got a long road ahead.”
- Ohio State University plans to cancel spring break next year to reduce the exposure of its students, faculty and staff to coronavirus.
- A ballot drive to repeal a Michigan law that gives the governor emergency powers has gathered more than 400,000 signatures as residents fight to repeal the powers she used to issue coronavirus restrictions statewide, including mandates on masks, social distancing and social gatherings.
Protests/Racial & Social Issues
- Two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies are “fighting for their lives” after being ambushed by a gunman in the city of Compton, California on Saturday, according to the department.
- Officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, condemned the “abhorrent” comments from protesters who were reportedly shouting “death to police,” “I hope they fucking die,” and “kill the police” outside the L.A. hospital treating to sheriff’s deputies who were shot and are in critical condition after an apparent ambush.
- President Trump called for the gunman who shot two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies to “be hit hard” and said, should the deputies die, the gunman deserved the death penalty through a “fast trial” as the “only way to stop this!”
- Two sheriff’s deputies in Georgia have been fired after being caught on video repeatedly striking a man. Roderick Walker, was in a rideshare vehicle with his girlfriend and his child when officers pulled the car over for a tail-light violation.
The two deputies demanded Walker’s ID, becoming upset when he asked why. Williams said that after Walker said he had not done anything wrong, the deputies told him to step out of the car, leading to the incident captured in the video.
- Video showing multiple sheriff’s deputies in Los Angeles pinning a radio journalist covering a protest to the ground and arresting her has drawn condemnation from journalists across social media.
- Duquesne University Professor Gary Shank was put on paid leave after a video circulated of him saying a racial slur during an online lecture. Shank told students that it’s OK to use the “n-word” during a class discussion “because we’re using it in a pedagogical sense.”
- NFL players marked the first full weekend of professional football by participating in social justice demonstrations, with various teams opting to stay in the locker room, link arms or kneel during the national anthem.
- The Atlanta Falcons named the late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis as an honorary captain for their first game of the season.
- Professional tennis star Naomi Osaka said after winning the U.S. Open for a second time that her decision to wear masks during the tournament honoring Black Americans who have been gunned down was part of an effort to “make people start talking” about racial justice.
Trump Administration
- Tech giant Oracle won a bidding war for control of the U.S. operations of the widely popular Chinese-owned app TikTok on Sunday, according to multiple news reports. The news comes as President Trump has threatened to ban TikTok from operating in the U.S. unless it was sold to a U.S. buyer.
- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s wife asked top State Department staffers to work the week of Christmas in order to finish their personal holiday cards, according to newly revealed emails that come in the midst of a probe into whether Pompeo and his wife misused federal resources for personal benefit.
- President Trump signed a long-awaited executive order aimed at lowering drug prices by linking them to the cost of the same drugs in other nations.
- President Trump blasted The Drudge Report’s Matt Drudge Sunday, saying the right-leaning news aggregator was “no longer ‘hot.’”
“Such an honor! Drudge is down 40% plus since he became Fake News. Most importantly, he’s bleeding profusely, and is no longer ‘hot’. But others are! Lost ALL Trumpers,” Trump tweeted, linking to a post about Drudge’s traffic on the pro-Trump blog True Pundit.
Presidential Campaign
- A federal judge temporarily banned the U.S. Postal Service from sending election mailers after the Colorado secretary of state said they contained “false statements.”
Colorado accused the Postal Service of sending false information to Colorado voters through the mailer, including that voters need to request a mail-in ballot to receive it, which is not the case in Colorado and four other states.
- A group of Black church leaders is condemning an ad from the Trump campaign as complicit in inciting “white terrorism” in the U.S. because it links Black churches to violent protesters, and are demanding an apology.
“The ad is overtly racist and offensive on numerous levels,” Pastor Silvester S. Beaman said. “This ad subtly incites white terrorism against people of color and attacks the Black Church and Black people for refusing to bow down to the idol called white supremacy.”
- Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reportedly intends to put at least $100 million toward helping boost Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s chances in Florida, a state that is a “must win” for a Trump election victory.
- President Trump took aim at Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) during a campaign rally Saturday night, accusing the state leader and other Democrats of using mail-in voting to “rig” the upcoming November election.
Sources: ABC News, Associated Press, The Atlantic, Axios, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Forbes, Fox News,The Hill, Independent, MSNBC, NBC News, NJ.com, NPR, NY Times, Politico, Reuters, Salon, Slate, Vanity Fair, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post
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