thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--What's So Hard About Developing A COVID-19 Vaccine? We Asked A Scientist

No , I think it ’ s highly unrealistic to expect a vaccine by the end of 2020 .
We haven ’ t made any vaccine in that short of time .
That would be a year from January , when we first saw circulation in the U.S. Eighteen months is optimistic .
What would be more realistic , in my view , would be next summer .
But , you know , vaccines can take five to 10 years and longer .
The polio vaccine took 50 years to develop .
Certainly , we ’ ve advanced in our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now , but I would say , no , the end of this year is completely not feasible , in my view .
However , I would love to be surprised .
What vaccines do is they ’ re introduced into you ― they can be injected , or they can be taken orally , or through any number of other routes ― and they turn on your immune system to make a response to the virus that ’ s in question , in this case SARS-CoV-2 , without making you sick .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , most importantly , your immune response comes with a wonderful feature called “ memory , ” so it remembers what it ’ s encountered so that whenever it sees that agent again , it will respond .
So that ’ s what a vaccine tries to do ― it tries to produce immune memory without any of the pathogenic or disease consequences of a real infection .
There are many , but the main one is understanding what ’ s needed to protect you from infection .
We ’ ve been talking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in fact , there are different components .
There are cells and proteins involved , and so we need to know which is important for the particular virus .
That ’ s one of the reasons that it took 50 years to make a polio vaccine , because people had to figure out what was important .
Now , for this new virus , we don ’ t have the time to do that , so we ’ re making a lot of assumptions about what ’ s important , and we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ However , there are many diseases out there that are far less prevalent but nevertheless they kill people .
Companies aren ’ t interested in making vaccines for those diseases because there ’ s no profit to be made .
I think that ’ s a fatal flaw with our vaccine system that has to be fixed and it ’ s why we don ’ t have a vaccine ready for this particular virus .
We could ’ ve , but no company was interested .
Same for antiviral medications .
That ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ situation we ’ re in right now .
One could think of creative ways to get around that .
Governments can get involved , for sure .
We ’ re hobbled in this country by the political paralysis of our government and its unwillingness to invest in science completely , so that ’ s stymied that .
Now , since this SARS-CoV-2 has emerged , there are new nonprofits that have popped up saying , “ We ’ re going to fund vaccine development.
” In the end , it ’ s just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and there ’ s plenty of money out there to do this .
Think about the money we ’ re spending on recovery in the U.S. ― trillions .
If a fraction of that money had been spent on developing a vaccine , we ’ d be out of this problem .
Unfortunately , they ’ re mostly not even in phase 1 in people .
A handful are in phase 1 and a couple in phase 2 .
Those have been pushed and those are going to be the ones that finish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an advantage .
Now , whether they work or not is important , obviously , so if they don ’ t work , that ’ s the end of that and the others are going to have to catch up .
The others are not even out of the laboratory .
Some of those may never get out of the lab .
It may turn out there are too many problems developing those .
Others might , but as companies see that other companies have a head start , they might decide not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ll lose money .
Many of these companies have never made vaccines before .
Very few companies have , and I think that ’ s a factor .
If you haven ’ t made a vaccine , you ’ re going to have more problems because you don ’ t know what you ’ re doing .
We could take a lesson from the polio vaccine in the 1950s .
It was only about 50 % effective , yet that ’ s what they had so they went ahead with it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ kids whose parents lined them up for shots weren ’ t protected .
It also meant that companies had rushed production .
In fact , a lot of kids got polio from that early vaccine because it wasn ’ t made properly .
You could imagine that these early SARS-CoV-2 vaccines , because they ’ re rushed through , are not as optimal as they could be and they ’ re not going to be as effective .
In most cases , the vaccine candidates are not infectious so I ’ m not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disease .
People say , “ Well , if they ’ re rushing it , I ’ m not going to take it , ” and I think that ’ s a valid concern .
What I often say is if you rush a vaccine and there ’ s a problem and you hurt people , then you will never get people to take it for many years .
Once there ’ s a negative view of a vaccine because of some side effect , then people are very reluctant to take it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that this is safe .
We can not make shortcuts .
We have to test it in enough people ― thousands of people ― to make sure there are no side effects .
You have to make enough of it .
If we only have one vaccine that turns out to work , it ’ s going to be really hard to make enough doses for everyone .
Another issue is these vaccines are going to have to be cold , probably frozen , and not everywhere has that capability .
Finally , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these vaccines need to be injected .
That means you need at least 7 billion needles .
I don ’ t even know if we have 7 billion needles in the world , so I hope someone ’ s thinking about that ahead of time .
And you need people to inject them .
You can ’ t just do it yourself .
You need a trained health care worker , which isn ’ t available everywhere .

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As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread around the globe, the best hope for truly getting it under control is a vaccine that would protect people from contracting COVID-19. Scientists in the U.S., China, the U.K. and elsewhere are racing to develop a vaccine and there have been some promising signs that one of the many vaccine candidates under development may prove effective against the virus.
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With COVID-19 taking lives and crushing economies around the world, stopping the spread would provide tremendous relief. But the progress of science is characterized more by failure than success. Researchers are working on almost 200 potential vaccines for this coronavirus, and there’s no guarantee any of them will ever work, let alone one that’s ready for wide use within months.
Creating a safe, effective vaccine that quickly would be unprecedented. In addition, no one has ever attempted to produce a new vaccine, distribute it to every corner of the world and carry out an immunization campaign on this scale and with this much speed.
To get a better understanding of the challenges facing vaccine researchers, HuffPost spoke to Vincent Racaniello, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.
Is it realistic to expect a vaccine for the novel coronavirus by this winter?
No, I think it’s highly unrealistic to expect a vaccine by the end of 2020. We haven’t made any vaccine in that short of time. That would be a year from January, when we first saw circulation in the U.S. Eighteen months is optimistic. What would be more realistic, in my view, would be next summer. But, you know, vaccines can take five to 10 years and longer. The polio vaccine took 50 years to develop. Certainly, we’ve advanced in our technology so we can do it faster now, but I would say, no, the end of this year is completely not feasible, in my view. However, I would love to be surprised.
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How would a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine work to prevent people from becoming ill?
What vaccines do is they’re introduced into you ― they can be injected, or they can be taken orally, or through any number of other routes ― and they turn on your immune system to make a response to the virus that’s in question, in this case SARS-CoV-2, without making you sick. Then you have an immune response and, most importantly, your immune response comes with a wonderful feature called “memory,” so it remembers what it’s encountered so that whenever it sees that agent again, it will respond. So that’s what a vaccine tries to do ― it tries to produce immune memory without any of the pathogenic or disease consequences of a real infection.
Is this similar to what the human immune system does itself when it fights off infections?
Absolutely. If you get influenza or a common cold virus or any other virus ― if you survive, of course ― then you have immune memory, and then whenever you encounter the virus again, you should mount a nice response and you should prevent infection entirely. You won’t even know that you’ve encountered the virus.
What are the primary challenges to developing new vaccines for any disease?
There are many, but the main one is understanding what’s needed to protect you from infection. We’ve been talking very generally about the immune response but, in fact, there are different components. There are cells and proteins involved, and so we need to know which is important for the particular virus. That’s one of the reasons that it took 50 years to make a polio vaccine, because people had to figure out what was important. Now, for this new virus, we don’t have the time to do that, so we’re making a lot of assumptions about what’s important, and we hope that they’re right.
How do governments, pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions and scientists decide how to prioritize the development of vaccines for some diseases over others?
I hate to say, this is very sad and this is an indictment of the whole system for making vaccines, but the main priority is profit.
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The companies that make vaccines, they’re all for-profit companies and they need to see that they can make a profit off of their vaccine. So all the vaccines that we have are there because many, many people are infected with viruses like influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, shingles and polio. They infect a lot of people and the companies can make money from them.
However, there are many diseases out there that are far less prevalent but nevertheless they kill people. Companies aren’t interested in making vaccines for those diseases because there’s no profit to be made. I think that’s a fatal flaw with our vaccine system that has to be fixed and it’s why we don’t have a vaccine ready for this particular virus. We could’ve, but no company was interested. Same for antiviral medications. That’s why we’re in this situation we’re in right now.
One could think of creative ways to get around that. Governments can get involved, for sure. We’re hobbled in this country by the political paralysis of our government and its unwillingness to invest in science completely, so that’s stymied that. Now, since this SARS-CoV-2 has emerged, there are new nonprofits that have popped up saying, “We’re going to fund vaccine development.” In the end, it’s just a matter of someone raising money, and there’s plenty of money out there to do this. Think about the money we’re spending on recovery in the U.S. ― trillions. If a fraction of that money had been spent on developing a vaccine, we’d be out of this problem.
There are no vaccines available for any strains of the coronavirus, including the one that causes COVID-19. Why is that?
After SARS-1 in 2003, it went away. We were able to stop it. The virus disappeared. So most companies said, “We’re not interested in making a vaccine. There’s no market.” But a few academics went ahead and they made an experimental SARS vaccine, but it never got beyond that because there’s no financial support.
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It’s not hard. In fact, it would’ve been not very hard to make a vaccine that could protect against many coronaviruses that come out of bats. But again, no financial backing for that and, even more, no research support. In the U.S., the NIH was not willing to support that kind of fundamental research because its budget is too limited.
There are many novel coronavirus vaccine candidates in development. What will determine which, if any, are used?
Unfortunately, they’re mostly not even in phase 1 in people. A handful are in phase 1 and a couple in phase 2. Those have been pushed and those are going to be the ones that finish first, so they’ll have an advantage. Now, whether they work or not is important, obviously, so if they don’t work, that’s the end of that and the others are going to have to catch up.
The others are not even out of the laboratory. Some of those may never get out of the lab. It may turn out there are too many problems developing those. Others might, but as companies see that other companies have a head start, they might decide not to put resources in it because they’ll lose money. Many of these companies have never made vaccines before. Very few companies have, and I think that’s a factor. If you haven’t made a vaccine, you’re going to have more problems because you don’t know what you’re doing.
All of those things are factors, and then of course production is a factor. I hope we have more than two vaccines because I don’t see how you could make 7 billion vaccine doses with just two companies. I think we need at least 10 vaccines to be able to cover the whole planet.
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What are the potential downsides of deploying vaccines developed quickly during an emergency like the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic?
We could take a lesson from the polio vaccine in the 1950s. It was only about 50% effective, yet that’s what they had so they went ahead with it. And that meant that a lot of kids whose parents lined them up for shots weren’t protected. It also meant that companies had rushed production. In fact, a lot of kids got polio from that early vaccine because it wasn’t made properly. You could imagine that these early SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, because they’re rushed through, are not as optimal as they could be and they’re not going to be as effective. In most cases, the vaccine candidates are not infectious so I’m not too worried about them causing the actual disease.
If you try to scale up vaccine production for hundreds of millions of doses, things could go wrong. Normally, we take a lot of time to do this. Everyone is being assured that we’re doing things in a safe way, but I think there’s still room for things to go wrong when you rush things.
People say, “Well, if they’re rushing it, I’m not going to take it,” and I think that’s a valid concern. What I often say is if you rush a vaccine and there’s a problem and you hurt people, then you will never get people to take it for many years. Once there’s a negative view of a vaccine because of some side effect, then people are very reluctant to take it. We have to make very sure that this is safe. We cannot make shortcuts. We have to test it in enough people ― thousands of people ― to make sure there are no side effects.
If a novel coronavirus vaccine were developed, what would need to happen for it to be deployed widely and safely?
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You need a lot of doses, first of all, because I do not want it to be distributed only to wealthy countries. That’s not the point of vaccines. The developed nations are making the vaccine, but they have to understand they have to share it with everyone, and I do hope that happens here. That’s my primary concern.
You have to make enough of it. If we only have one vaccine that turns out to work, it’s going to be really hard to make enough doses for everyone. Another issue is these vaccines are going to have to be cold, probably frozen, and not everywhere has that capability. Finally, what about the delivery? Most of these vaccines need to be injected. That means you need at least 7 billion needles. I don’t even know if we have 7 billion needles in the world, so I hope someone’s thinking about that ahead of time. And you need people to inject them. You can’t just do it yourself. You need a trained health care worker, which isn’t available everywhere.
Has a vaccination campaign of this scale ever been attempted?
No, never. We’ve never had to immunize everyone. We’ve always had select groups, like for childhood disease where we do mass campaigns. There is no precedent for this, for having to immunize every person on the planet.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-27--As Trump Takes Action To Kill Obamacare, He Promises Amazing Replacement ... One Day

President Donald Trump on Saturday promised a strong new health care plan for America — at some point in the future — just over a day after his Justice Department called on the Supreme Court in a brief to kill Obamacare and leave at least 23 million Americans without health insurance in the middle of a pandemic .
Trump has long promised a replacement for the Affordable Care Act but has yet to come up with one .
He promised when he first took office to “ repeal and replace ” Obamacare within 100 days of stepping into the White @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ago .
He has only worked to weaken the Affordable Care Act .
The timing couldn ’ t be worse .
The U.S. set a new record in the number of new coronavirus cases in a single day , reaching more than 42,000 Saturday — and the American death toll from the disease is surging to126,000 .
Now hundreds of thousands of more Americans will turn to Obamacare as they lose their jobs and health insurance to the COVID-19 crisis .
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ( D-Calif. ) slammed the Supreme Court brief @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protections in the “ dead of night ” and in the “ middle of a pandemic.
” Now that the very expensive , unpopular and unfair Individual Mandate provision has been terminated by us , many States & the U.S. are asking the Supreme Court that Obamacare itself be terminated so that it can be replaced with a FAR BETTER AND MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE ALTERNATIVE ... .. — Donald J. Trump ( @ realDonaldTrump ) June 27 , 2020 Trump also vowed in a tweet to “ ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS !
!
!
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ — which would be tough if they ’ re no longer insured .
Twitter critics imagined what Trump ’ s health care plan might look like — at some point in the future .
It wasn ’ t pretty .
You had 4 years to set up the “ beautiful ” healthcare system you promised during your 2016 campaign speeches .
But no such heathcare has materialised - or even been proposed .
— Mia Farrow ( @ MiaFarrow ) June 27 , 2020 28 million Americans depend on the Affordable Care Act @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their health insurance .
Not only that , but millions of Americans depend on the preventive services that Obamacare mandates without cost sharing , deductibles , or copayments .
Trump is evil .
— Eugene Gu , MD ( @ eugenegu ) June 27 , 2020 I was happy to have Obamacare before I went on Medicare .
My insurance through the ACA was honestly the best insurance I had .
— Glenda Pollock ( @ glenda_pollock ) June 28 , 2020

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President Donald Trump on Saturday promised a strong new health care plan for America at some point in the future, just over a day after his Justice Department called on the Supreme Court to kill the Affordable Care Act.
Trump has long promised a replacement for the ACA, but has yet to come up with one. He promised when he first took office to “repeal and replace” it within 100 days of stepping into the White House.
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The timing of threatening to repeal the bill — which would leave 23 million people without health insurance — couldn’t be worse. The U.S. on Saturday set a record for the number of new coronavirus cases recorded in a single day, reaching more than 42,000 Saturday. The American death toll from the disease has hit 126,000.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) slammed the Justice Department’s brief, saying it would “rip away” health care protections in the “dead of night” and in the “middle of a pandemic.”
Now that the very expensive, unpopular and unfair Individual Mandate provision has been terminated by us, many States & the U.S. are asking the Supreme Court that Obamacare itself be terminated so that it can be replaced with a FAR BETTER AND MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE ALTERNATIVE..... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2020
Trump also vowed in a tweet to “ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS!!!!” protect people with preexisting conditions — which would be tough if they’re no longer insured.
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Twitter critics imagined what Trump’s health care plan might look like — at some point in the future. It wasn’t pretty.
Here’s his health care plan. pic.twitter.com/8VwD4PrE3Z — Jennifer Taub (@jentaub) June 27, 2020
You had 4 years to set up the “beautiful” healthcare system you promised during your 2016 campaign speeches. But no such heathcare has materialised - or even been proposed. — Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) June 27, 2020
OK, I'll bite. What is the "far better and much less expensive alternative"? I'll wait...🙄 — David Gorski, MD, PhD (@gorskon) June 27, 2020
Is it death ? I’ll take death for $100 — I am Immune (@DamanLangguth) June 28, 2020
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28 million Americans depend on the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, for their health insurance. Not only that, but millions of Americans depend on the preventive services that Obamacare mandates without cost sharing, deductibles, or copayments. Trump is evil. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) June 27, 2020
That’s cool. What’s your health care plan again? — The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) June 27, 2020
I was happy to have Obamacare before I went on Medicare. My insurance through the ACA was honestly the best insurance I had. — Glenda Pollock (@glenda_pollock) June 28, 2020


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--'Tre45on' Trends After Bombshell Story Claiming Trump Knew Putin Had Bounty On U.S. Troops

Critics erupted Saturday after an explosive New York Times story asserting that Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly offered a bounty to Afghanistan militants for American soldiers they killed — and that Donald Trump knew about it .
Both the White House and Putin denied the story Saturday .
But it was concerning enough that several critics spoke out .
The hashtag “ Tre45on ” — using 45 from the 45th president — was trending nationally on Twitter in reaction to the story Saturday .
Not only has Trump allegedly “ failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law , but Donald Trump has also continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin , ” said Biden .
He called Trump ’ s presidency a “ gift to Russia.
” The Times reported Friday that Trump was informed by U.S. intelligence back in March that a Russian military intelligence unit offered rewards to Islamist militants last year for successful attacks on American and coalition troops .
Some bounty money was paid , American intelligence believed , according to the Times .
Despite being informed of the situation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told the Times .
Not only that , but he offered to invite Putin in a phone call to attend the G-7 Summit in the U.S. in September , despite the strong objections of Canada and Britain , the Kremlin reported this month .
Everyone in this picture is a patriot , with one exception .
@ realDonaldTrump apparently knew Putin paid bounties to militants to kill US troops & POTUS did nothing .
Actually , it was worse than nothing .
Trump last month invited Putin to the G7 summit .
Traitorous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lieu ( @ tedlieu ) June 27 , 2020 Veteran journalist Dan Rather indicated the story was not out of the realm of possibility , given Trump ’ s mysterious slavish devotion to Russia ’ s president for possible reasons “ ranging from craven to treasonous.
” Reporters are trained to look for patterns that are suspicious .
And time and again one stands out with Donald Trump .
Why is he so slavishly devoted to Putin ?
There is a spectrum of possible answers , ranging from craven to treasonous .
One @ @ @ @ @ @ @ find out .
— Dan Rather ( @ DanRather ) June 27 , 2020 The never-Trumper GOP Lincoln Project — founded by lawyer George Conway , husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway — already popped out an ad lashing Trump on Saturday over the situation .
“ How can Trump lead America when he can ’ t even defend it ?
” it asked .
Former Trump friend and short-time White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said it ’ s time for Trump “ to go , ” and called him a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied in a press briefing that Trump was informed of the bounty on American troops .
“ The CIA Director , national security adviser , and the chief of staff can all confirm that neither the president nor the vice president were briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence , ” McEnany said .
The Russian Embassy said in a tweet that the Times ’ reporting was an attempt to create “ new fake stories .
”

UPDATE: In April 2021, 10 months after The New York Times, Associated Press and Washington Post reported on U.S. intelligence that Russia had offered secret bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, the Biden administration said that CIA analysts only have “low to moderate confidence” that the bounty program ever existed.
Critics erupted Saturday after an explosive New York Times story asserting that Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly offered a bounty to Afghanistan militants for American soldiers they killed — and that Donald Trump knew about it.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--Man Killed In Shooting At Breonna Taylor Protest Park In Kentucky

LOUISVILLE , Ky. ( AP ) — Authorities were investigating a fatal shooting Saturday night at a park in downtown Louisville , Kentucky , where demonstrators had gathered to protest the death of Breonna Taylor .
Reports of shots fired at Jefferson Square Park came in around 9 p.m. , Louisville Metro police said in a statement , followed by calls that the Jefferson County Sheriff ’ s Department was performing life-saving measures on a male who died at the scene .
Shortly after , police were told of a shooting victim across the street at the Hall of Justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ injuries .
Video posted on social media appeared to show a man opening fire into the park as people scrambled for cover .
The footage later showed at least one person bleeding profusely on the ground .
Officers cleared the park and police “ are trying to gather as much information as possible in order to identify all who were involved in the incident , ” the statement said .
No information about arrests , possible suspects and the victims ’ identities and ages was immediately released .
Officials did not immediately release @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saddened by the violence that erupted in Jefferson Square Park tonight , where those who have been voicing their concerns have been gathered , ” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement .
“ It is a tragedy that this area of peaceful protest is now a crime scene.
” The park has for weeks been the epicenter for protests in the city after the police killings of Taylor and George Floyd .
The Saturday night shooting was at least the second during nearly a month of protests in Louisville over Taylor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wounded May 28 when gunfire erupted near City Hall , prompting a statement from Taylor ’ s mother asking people to demand justice “ without hurting each other.
” “ Praying for our city , ” tweeted Kentucky state Rep. Charles Booker of Louisville late Saturday .
The Democrat is running for his party ’ s nomination to challenge Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell in the fall .
Taylor , a 26-year-old Black woman , was killed in her Louisville home in March by police who were serving a no-knock warrant .
Protesters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in her death to be charged .
One of the officers was recently fired .
Kenneth Walker , Taylor ’ s boyfriend , was originally charged with attempted murder after he fired a shot at one of the officers who came into the home .
Walker has said he thought he was defending from an intruder .
The no-knock search warrant that allows police to enter without first announcing their presence was recently banned by Louisville ’ s Metro Council .

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police in Kentucky on Sunday identified a man who was fatally shot amid a protest over the killing of Breonna Taylor.
Tyler Charles Gerth, 27, of Louisville, died of a gunshot wound Saturday night, the Jefferson County coroner’s office said in a news release.
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Reports of shots fired at Jefferson Square Park in downtown Louisville came in around 9 p.m., Louisville Metro police said in a statement. A second shooting victim was found across the street. That person was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Video posted on social media appeared to show a man opening fire into the park as people scrambled for cover. The footage later showed at least one person bleeding profusely on the ground.
Officers cleared the park and police “are trying to gather as much information as possible in order to identify all who were involved in the incident,” the police statement said. No information about arrests, possible suspects and the identify and age of the second victim was immediately released.
Several dozen people gathered Sunday at the park. A few Louisville police officers arrived to hand out flyers that said overnight camping and cooking at the site is banned, but protesters will be allowed to continue gathering during the day. Police removed tents from the site and told protesters they could pick them up at a separate location.
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John Kriner knelt for nearly 30 minutes at the site, Jefferson Square near the city’s courthouse, to pray for peace.
Kriner said it was his first visit to the protest site.
“I just want there to be peace and calm,” Kriner said.
A group marches to Jefferson Square to join a protest over the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in Louisville, Ky. ASSOCIATED PRESS
The park has for weeks been the epicenter for protests in the city after the police killings of Taylor and George Floyd. The Saturday night shooting was at least the second during nearly a month of protests in Louisville over Taylor’s death. Seven people were wounded May 28 when gunfire erupted near City Hall, prompting a statement from Taylor’s mother asking people to demand justice “without hurting each other.”
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was killed in her Louisville home in March by police who were serving a no-knock warrant. Protesters have been calling for the officers involved in her death to be charged. One of the officers was recently fired.
Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, was originally charged with attempted murder after he fired a shot at one of the officers who came into the home. Walker has said he thought he was defending from an intruder.
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The no-knock search warrant that allows police to enter without first announcing their presence was recently banned by Louisville’s Metro Council.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--Shooting At Walmart Distribution Center In California Leaves 2 Dead

RED BLUFF , Calif ( AP ) — A man drove into a Northern California distribution center and started shooting at people , killing an employee and wounding four others before he was killed by police , authorities said .
The shooting by a 31-year-old man with a semi-automatic rifle started about 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Walmart distribution center south of Red Bluff , a city of about 14,000 people about 131 miles ( 210 kilometers ) north of Sacramento , California .
Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said at a news conference that the shooter circled the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the building and opening fire with the rifle .
Red Bluff Police officers shot and killed the suspect , KHSL-TV reported .
Officials did not identify the shooter , but Johnston said he has a history with the Red Bluff workplace .
The shooting victims were taken to St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Red Bluff , spokeswoman Allison Hendrickson told The Associated Press .
She confirmed that four were hospitalized , but declined to provide more details .
Scott Thammakhanty , an employee at the facility ’ s receiving center , told the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fire from the rifle .
“ It went on and on — I don ’ t even know how many times he fired , ” Thammakhanty said .
“ I just know it was a lot.
” Thammakhanty and others started running for their lives , and he saw people lying on the ground as he went , he said .
Fellow employee Franklin Lister told the New York Times he had just started work when a coworker ran down the hallway shouting : “ Active gunfire !
Active shooter !
” Vince @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and son work at the facility and he was on his way to pick up his wife when he saw the flames .
Neither was hurt , but his wife told him not to come to the front entrance , the newspaper reported .
Dispatchers told the Record-Searchlight that at least one woman had been shot .
A man had also reported his leg being run over when the shooter rammed a vehicle into the building , but the man wasn ’ t sure if he had been shot , dispatchers said .

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RED BLUFF, Calif (AP) — A man drove into a Northern California distribution center and started shooting at people, killing an employee and wounding four others before he was killed by police, authorities said.
The shooting by a 31-year-old man with a semi-automatic rifle started about 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Walmart distribution center south of Red Bluff, a city of about 14,000 people about 131 miles (210 kilometers) north of Sacramento, California.
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Tehama County Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston said at a news conference that the shooter circled the parking lot four times before crashing into the building and opening fire with the rifle. Red Bluff Police officers shot and killed the suspect, KHSL-TV reported.
The employee who died was Martin Haro-Lozano, 45, of Orland, California, Johnston said.
Officials did not identify the shooter, but Johnston said he has a history with the Red Bluff workplace.
The shooting victims were taken to St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Red Bluff, spokeswoman Allison Hendrickson told The Associated Press. She confirmed that four were hospitalized, but declined to provide more details.
Some of the 200 workers inside the facility locked themselves in a room , employees told KHSL-TV.
The suspect was shot in the chest about 3:45 p.m., dispatchers told the newspaper.
Scott Thammakhanty, an employee at the facility’s receiving center, told the Redding Record-Searchlight that he heard the shooter fire from the rifle.
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“It went on and on — I don’t even know how many times he fired,” Thammakhanty said. “I just know it was a lot.”
Thammakhanty and others started running for their lives, and he saw people lying on the ground as he went, he said.
Fellow employee Franklin Lister told the New York Times he had just started work when a coworker ran down the hallway shouting: “Active gunfire! Active shooter!”
Vince Krick told the Record-Searchlight that his wife and son work at the facility and he was on his way to pick up his wife when he saw the flames. Neither was hurt, but his wife told him not to come to the front entrance, the newspaper reported.
“It was real crazy, because, you know, you can’t do nothing,” Krick said.
Dispatchers told the Record-Searchlight that at least one woman had been shot. A man had also reported his leg being run over when the shooter rammed a vehicle into the building, but the man wasn’t sure if he had been shot, dispatchers said.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--More Than 500,000 People Have Died Of The Coronavirus Worldwide

Johns Hopkins University reported on Sunday night that at least 500,000 people have now died of the coronavirus , a somber milestone as cases continue to surge throughout the United States and officials warn the pandemic is far from over .
Infection rates in the U.S. remain among the most troubling in the world .
Cases are surging in more than half of the states , prompting some governors to rein in reopening plans and to issue orders mandating people wear masks outside amid warnings of a stronger wave of infections should social distancing measures be flouted .
The latest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of economically devastating lockdowns in many states that were meant to avert the spread of the virus and give hospitals much-needed time to prepare for more cases .
But daily rates of infection have now surpassed even the initial height of the pandemic seen in April .
The U.S. has now had more cases and deaths than any other nation on the planet .
At least 2.5 million Americans have now been infected by the virus and more than 125,000 have died .
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may be far higher , suggesting only 1 in 10 cases may have been identified .
At the same time , President Donald Trump has continued to downplay the severity of the pandemic .
He has routinely claimed the coronavirus could just disappear on its own and has claimed the U.S. had high rates of cases only because of high rates of testing .
His administration has moved ahead with plans to cut federal support for COVID-19 testing sites .
Other regions have been more successful at reining in infections .
Europe is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to international travel for the first time since mid-March after largely successful efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus .
New Zealand temporarily had no active cases of COVID-19 , although some Kiwis returning home from abroad have tested positive while in isolation .
In other countries , cases have surged .
Russia and Brazil , whose leaders were slow to address the threat of the virus , have seen infection rates grow rapidly .

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Johns Hopkins University reported on Sunday night that at least 500,000 people have now died of the coronavirus, a somber milestone as cases continue to surge throughout the United States and officials warn the pandemic is far from over.
Over the weekend, worldwide coronavirus infections hit the 10 million mark.
Infection rates in the U.S. remain among the most troubling in the world. Cases are surging in more than half of the states, prompting some governors to rein in reopening plans and to issue orders mandating people wear masks outside amid warnings of a stronger wave of infections should social distancing measures be flouted.
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A protester nails a cross during a demonstration in honor of victims of coronavirus (COVID-19) in front Nacional Congress in Brazil. Andressa Anholete via Getty Images
The latest figures come after more than a month of economically devastating lockdowns in many states that were meant to avert the spread of the virus and give hospitals much-needed time to prepare for more cases. But daily rates of infection have now surpassed even the initial height of the pandemic seen in April.
The U.S. has now had more cases and deaths than any other nation on the planet. At least 2.5 million Americans have now been infected by the virus and more than 125,000 have died. The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention speculated this month that that figure may be far higher, suggesting only 1 in 10 cases may have been identified.
At the same time, President Donald Trump has continued to downplay the severity of the pandemic. He has routinely claimed the coronavirus could just disappear on its own and has claimed the U.S. had high rates of cases only because of high rates of testing. His administration has moved ahead with plans to cut federal support for COVID-19 testing sites.
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Other regions have been more successful at reining in infections. Europe is mulling a plan to reopen its borders to international travel for the first time since mid-March after largely successful efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus. New Zealand temporarily had no active cases of COVID-19, although some Kiwis returning home from abroad have tested positive while in isolation.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--GOP Senator Implores Trump To Wear A Mask And Let COVID-19 Experts Do The Talking

Sen. Lamar Alexander ( R-Tenn. ) , chair of the Senate health committee , implored President Donald Trump on Sunday to wear a mask “ from time to time ” and to leave coronavirus health and medical recommendations to the experts .
“ I wish the president would wear a mask when it ’ s appropriate because millions of Americans admire him , and they would follow his lead , ” Alexander , who is retiring at the end of this year , said on CNN ’ s “ Inside Politics.
” His urging came as confirmed worldwide coronavirus cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. has the world ’ s highest virus death toll and on Friday reported an all-time high of 40,000 daily cases .
Sen. Lamar Alexander , R-Tenn. , wears a plaid face mask before chairing the health committee , which held a hearing in May on new coronavirus tests .
“ My suggestion to the president all along , and for the other political leaders , is let the experts do the talking about medicine .
People trust them , ” Alexander said when asked whether people should look to Trump for health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is important , and all of the experts tell us that it is in containing the disease in 2020 , it would help if from time to time the president would wear one to help us get rid of this political debate that says , ‘ If you ’ re for Trump , you don ’ t wear a mask .
If you ’ re against Trump , you do , ’ ” he said .
Trump ’ s secretary of health and human services , Alex Azar , said the president and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ having to wear masks because they are in a “ unique position ” in which they are tested for the virus regularly .
President Donald Trump — seen during a visit to a Ford Motor Co. plant in Michigan in May — has repeatedly refused to wear a mask in public .
“ Anybody around them are tested that day .
They ’ re leaders of the free world .
They have very different circumstances than the rest of us , ” he said on CNN ’ s “ State of the Union.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ an ) example .
Real men wear masks .
Be an example to the country , and wear the mask , ” she said .
“ I didn ’ t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it , ” he said in late May while visiting a Ford Motor Co. plant in Michigan .

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Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chair of the Senate health committee, implored President Donald Trump on Sunday to wear a mask “from time to time” and to leave coronavirus health and medical recommendations to the experts.
“I wish the president would wear a mask when it’s appropriate because millions of Americans admire him, and they would follow his lead,” Alexander, who is retiring at the end of this year, said on CNN’s “Inside Politics.”
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His urging came as confirmed worldwide coronavirus cases surpassed 10 million on Sunday. The U.S. has the world’s highest virus death toll and on Friday reported an all-time high of 40,000 daily cases.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., wears a plaid face mask before chairing the health committee, which held a hearing in May on new coronavirus tests. ASSOCIATED PRESS
“My suggestion to the president all along, and for the other political leaders, is let the experts do the talking about medicine. People trust them,” Alexander said when asked whether people should look to Trump for health advice.
“If wearing a mask is important, and all of the experts tell us that it is in containing the disease in 2020, it would help if from time to time the president would wear one to help us get rid of this political debate that says, ‘If you’re for Trump, you don’t wear a mask. If you’re against Trump, you do,’” he said.
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That partisan divide was on full display Sunday on political talk shows.
Trump’s secretary of health and human services, Alex Azar, said the president and Vice President Mike Pence are exempt from having to wear masks because they are in a “unique position” in which they are tested for the virus regularly.
President Donald Trump — seen during a visit to a Ford Motor Co. plant in Michigan in May — has repeatedly refused to wear a mask in public. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI via Getty Images
“Anybody around them are tested that day. They’re leaders of the free world. They have very different circumstances than the rest of us,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also speaking on CNN, voiced the opposite stance.
“The president should be (an) example. Real men wear masks. Be an example to the country, and wear the mask,” she said.
Trump has repeatedly refused to wear a mask in public.
“I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” he said in late May while visiting a Ford Motor Co. plant in Michigan.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--Former CDC Head: Surge In Coronavirus Cases Due To New Spread, Not Increased Testing

Dr. Tom Frieden , the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , said the recent surge in coronavirus cases across parts of the country is the result of the virus ’ s spreading , not increased testing , as President Donald Trump has argued .
“ As a doctor , a scientist , an epidemiologist , I can tell you with 100 % certainty that in most states where you ’ re seeing an increase , it is a real increase , ” Frieden told “ Fox News Sunday.
” He added : “ It is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spread of the virus .
...
The numbers you ’ re seeing are just a tip of the iceberg of even more spread.
” Trump said last week that he pushed administration officials to slow down testing to avoid the high numbers of confirmed infections .
( White House officials claimed he was joking , but the president told reporters days later that he doesn ’ t “ kid.
” ) “ To be honest with you , when you do more testing , you find more cases , ” the president told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then they report our cases are through the roof.
” There have been more than 125,000 coronavirus-linked deaths in the U.S. and more than 2.5 million confirmed cases of the virus nationwide as of Sunday , according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University .
On Friday , the U.S. reported more than 45,000 new cases ― shattering the record for the country ’ s largest single-day total .
Hospitalizations have increased dramatically in several states , including Arizona , Florida , Texas and South Carolina .
“ If you open when cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did , it ’ s like leaning into a left hook : You ’ re going to get hit hard , ” Frieden said .
He estimated that another 15,000 people in the U.S. will die from COVID-19 in the next month .
Vice President Mike Pence , whom Trump appointed to lead the White House coronavirus task force in February , said earlier this week that the death toll in the U.S. could top 240,000 .
Meanwhile , Alex Azar , the secretary of health and human services , on Sunday warned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a “ very serious situation.
” “ I encourage your listeners , if you ’ ve had COVID , call your blood bank , American Red Cross , and please donate plasma to increase our supplies , ” Azar said in an interview on CNN ’ s “ State of the Union.
” “ So we ’ ve got the tools to do this , we just did this in the past couple of weeks in North Carolina , but the window is closing .
We have to act , and people as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ majority of new infections in Southern states have been in people 35 years and younger who may be asymptomatic and not as seriously at risk , Azar added .
But Frieden on Sunday cautioned against taking too much comfort in the fact that it ’ s mostly young people testing positive in some states .
“ What starts in the young doesn ’ t stay in the young , ” he said .
“ Younger people have parents , uncles .
... We ’ re going to see increasing spread .
That ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are so important : Wear a mask , wash your hands or use sanitizer and watch your distance.
” Last June , Frieden pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a sexual harassment case .
A 55-year-old woman alleged he grabbed her butt without her consent at his apartment in 2017 .
As part of his plea , the charges of forcible touching , sexual abuse and harassment against him were dropped .

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Dr. Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the recent surge in coronavirus cases across parts of the country is the result of the virus’s spreading, not increased testing, as President Donald Trump has argued.
“As a doctor, a scientist, an epidemiologist, I can tell you with 100% certainty that in most states where you’re seeing an increase, it is a real increase,” Frieden told “Fox News Sunday.”
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He added: “It is not more tests. It is more spread of the virus. ... The numbers you’re seeing are just a tip of the iceberg of even more spread.”
Trump said last week that he pushed administration officials to slow down testing to avoid the high numbers of confirmed infections. (White House officials claimed he was joking, but the president told reporters days later that he doesn’t “kid.”)
“To be honest with you, when you do more testing, you find more cases,” the president told CBN News on Monday. “And then they report our cases are through the roof.”
There have been more than 125,000 coronavirus-linked deaths in the U.S. and more than 2.5 million confirmed cases of the virus nationwide as of Sunday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
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On Friday, the U.S. reported more than 45,000 new cases ― shattering the record for the country’s largest single-day total. Hospitalizations have increased dramatically in several states, including Arizona, Florida, Texas and South Carolina.
Frieden, who led the CDC from June 2009 to January 2017, suggested Sunday that these states reopened too early in the pandemic.
“If you open when cases are still increasing, as many states did, it’s like leaning into a left hook: You’re going to get hit hard,” Frieden said.
He estimated that another 15,000 people in the U.S. will die from COVID-19 in the next month.
Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump appointed to lead the White House coronavirus task force in February, said earlier this week that the death toll in the U.S. could top 240,000.
Meanwhile, Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, on Sunday warned that the wave of new infections is a “very serious situation.”
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“I encourage your listeners, if you’ve had COVID, call your blood bank, American Red Cross, and please donate plasma to increase our supplies,” Azar said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “So we’ve got the tools to do this, we just did this in the past couple of weeks in North Carolina, but the window is closing. We have to act, and people as individuals have to act responsibly.”
The majority of new infections in Southern states have been in people 35 years and younger who may be asymptomatic and not as seriously at risk, Azar added.
But Frieden on Sunday cautioned against taking too much comfort in the fact that it’s mostly young people testing positive in some states.
“What starts in the young doesn’t stay in the young,” he said. “Younger people have parents, uncles. ... We’re going to see increasing spread. That’s why the three W’s are so important: Wear a mask, wash your hands or use sanitizer and watch your distance.”
Last June, Frieden pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in a sexual harassment case. A 55-year-old woman alleged he grabbed her butt without her consent at his apartment in 2017. As part of his plea, the charges of forcible touching, sexual abuse and harassment against him were dropped.
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Watch Frieden’s full interview on “Fox News Sunday” below.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Hit 10 Million Worldwide

ASSOCIATED PRESS A health worker checks the body temperature of a resident , as others await their turn during a free medical checkup in a slum in Mumbai , India , Sunday , June 28 , 2020 .
( AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool ) New clusters of cases at a Swiss nightclub and in the central English city of Leicester showed that the virus was still circulating widely in Europe , though not with the rapidly growing infection rate seen in parts of the U.S. , Latin America and India .
Wearing mandatory masks , social distancing in lines and carrying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , French voters cast ballots in a second round of municipal elections .
Poles also wore masks and used hand sanitizer , and some in virus-hit areas were told to mail in their ballots to avoid further contagion .
A woman casts a vote at a voting center during the second round of the municipal elections , in Saint Pee sur Nivelle , southwestern France , Sunday , 28 , June , 2020 .
France is holding the second round of municipal elections in 5,000 towns and cities Sunday that were postponed due @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( AP Photo/Bob Edme ) The U.S. handling of the outbreak has drawn concern from abroad .
The European Union seems almost certain to bar Americans from traveling to the bloc in the short term as it draws up new travel rules to be announced shortly .
The infection surges prompted Vice President Mike Pence to call off campaign events in Florida and Arizona , although he will still travel to those states and to Texas this week to meet with their Republican governors .
Those three governors have come under criticism for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ despite increasing infections in their states .
After confirmed daily infections in the U.S. hit an all-time high of 40,000 on Friday , Texas and Florida reversed course and closed down bars in their states again .
Arizona Republican Gov .
Doug Ducey reversed himself and allowed cities and counties to require face masks in public even though he hasn ’ t been seen wearing one .
Speaking on NBC and CNN , Azar argued that the U.S. is in a better position than two months ago in fighting the virus because it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ available to treat COVID-19 .
Globally , confirmed COVID-19 cases passed the 10 million mark and confirmed deaths neared half a million , according to a tally by the Johns Hopkins University , with the U.S. , Brazil , Russia and India having the most cases .
The U.S. also has the highest virus death toll in the world at over 125,000 .
In the state of Washington , Gov .
Jay Inslee put a hold on plans to move counties to the fourth phase of his reopening plan as cases continue to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city of Honolulu announced that campgrounds will reopen for the first time in three months with limited permits to ensure social distancing .
Polish voters were casting ballots , in person and by mail , for a presidential election that was supposed to have taken place in May but was chaotically postponed amid the pandemic .
President Andrzej Duda , a 48-year-old conservative backed by the nationalist ruling Law and Justice party , is running against 10 other candidates as he seeks a second five-year term .
French voters were choosing mayors and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and cities in a second round of municipal elections held under strict hygiene rules .
Key battlegrounds include Paris , where the next mayor will preside over the 2024 Summer Olympics .
The spread of the virus in France has slowed significantly but is still expected to hurt Sunday ’ s turnout .
Italy was honoring its dead later Sunday with an evening Requiem concert in hard-hit Bergamo province .
The ceremony in the onetime epicenter of the European outbreak came a day after Italy registered the lowest daily tally of COVID-19 deaths @ @ @ @ @ @ @

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ROME (AP) — Worldwide confirmed coronavirus infections hit the 10 million mark Sunday as voters in Poland and France went to the polls for virus-delayed elections.
New clusters of cases at a Swiss nightclub and in the central English city of Leicester showed that the virus was still circulating widely in Europe, though not with the rapidly growing infection rate seen in parts of the U.S., Latin America and India.
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Wearing mandatory masks, social distancing in lines and carrying their own pens to sign voting registers, French voters cast ballots in a second round of municipal elections. Poles also wore masks and used hand sanitizer, and some in virus-hit areas were told to mail in their ballots to avoid further contagion.
“I didn’t go and vote the first time around because I am elderly and I got scared,” said Fanny Barouh as she voted in a Paris school.
A woman casts a vote at a voting center during the second round of the municipal elections, in Saint Pee sur Nivelle, southwestern France, Sunday, 28, June, 2020. France is holding the second round of municipal elections in 5,000 towns and cities Sunday that were postponed due to the country's coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/Bob Edme) ASSOCIATED PRESS
While concern in the U.S. has focused on big states like Texas, Arizona and Florida reporting thousands of new cases a day, rural states are also seeing infection surges, including in Kansas, where livestock outnumber people.
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The U.S. handling of the outbreak has drawn concern from abroad. The European Union seems almost certain to bar Americans from traveling to the bloc in the short term as it draws up new travel rules to be announced shortly.
The infection surges prompted Vice President Mike Pence to call off campaign events in Florida and Arizona, although he will still travel to those states and to Texas this week to meet with their Republican governors. Those three governors have come under criticism for aggressively reopening their economies after virus lockdowns despite increasing infections in their states.
After confirmed daily infections in the U.S. hit an all-time high of 40,000 on Friday, Texas and Florida reversed course and closed down bars in their states again. Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey reversed himself and allowed cities and counties to require face masks in public even though he hasn’t been seen wearing one.
“This is not a sprint, this is a marathon,” said Dr. Lisa Goldberg, director of the emergency department of Tucson Medical Center in Arizona. “In fact, it’s an ultra-marathon.”
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar stressed that “the window is closing” for the U.S. to take action to effectively curb the coronavirus.
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Azar pointed to a recent spike in infections, particularly in the South. He says people have “to act responsibly” by social distancing and wearing face masks, especially “in these hot zones.”
Speaking on NBC and CNN, Azar argued that the U.S. is in a better position than two months ago in fighting the virus because it is conducting more testing and has therapeutics available to treat COVID-19.
But he acknowledged that hospitalizations and deaths could increase in the next few weeks.
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci, right, speaks during a news conference with members of the Coronavirus task force, including Vice President Mike Pence, left, at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, Friday, June 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) ASSOCIATED PRESS
Globally, confirmed COVID-19 cases passed the 10 million mark and confirmed deaths neared half a million, according to a tally by the Johns Hopkins University, with the U.S., Brazil, Russia and India having the most cases. The U.S. also has the highest virus death toll in the world at over 125,000.
Experts say all those figures significantly undercount the true toll of the pandemic, due to limited testing and missed mild cases. U.S. government experts last week estimated the U.S. alone could have had 20 million cases.
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Workplace infection worries increased after Tyson Foods announced that 371 employees at its chicken processing plant in the southwestern corner of Missouri have tested positive for COVID-19.
In the state of Washington, Gov. Jay Inslee put a hold on plans to move counties to the fourth phase of his reopening plan as cases continue to increase. But in Hawaii, the city of Honolulu announced that campgrounds will reopen for the first time in three months with limited permits to ensure social distancing.
Britain’s government, meanwhile, is considering whether a local lockdown is needed for the central English city of Leicester amid reports about a spike in COVID-19 among its Asian community. It would be Britain’s first local lockdown.
“We have seen flare-ups across the country in recent weeks,” Home Secretary Priti Patel told the BBC on Sunday.
Polish voters were casting ballots, in person and by mail, for a presidential election that was supposed to have taken place in May but was chaotically postponed amid the pandemic. President Andrzej Duda, a 48-year-old conservative backed by the nationalist ruling Law and Justice party, is running against 10 other candidates as he seeks a second five-year term.
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Iwona Goge, 79, was encouraged to see so many people voting in Warsaw.
“It’s bad. Poland is terribly divided and people are getting discouraged,” she said.
French voters were choosing mayors and municipal councilors in Paris and 5,000 towns and cities in a second round of municipal elections held under strict hygiene rules. Key battlegrounds include Paris, where the next mayor will preside over the 2024 Summer Olympics. The spread of the virus in France has slowed significantly but is still expected to hurt Sunday’s turnout.
Italy was honoring its dead later Sunday with an evening Requiem concert in hard-hit Bergamo province. The ceremony in the onetime epicenter of the European outbreak came a day after Italy registered the lowest daily tally of COVID-19 deaths in nearly four months: eight.
European leaders were taking no chances in tamping down new clusters. German authorities renewed a lockdown in a western region of about 500,000 people after about 1,300 slaughterhouse workers tested positive. Swiss authorities ordered 300 people into quarantine after a “superspreader” outbreak of coronavirus at a Zurich nightclub.
Africa’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 continued to climb to a new high of more than 371,000, including 9,484 deaths, according to figures released Sunday by the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Asia, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his country must focus on bolstering the economy as it exits lockdowns, even as the number of coronavirus cases still keep on climbing. On Sunday, India reported additional 19,906 confirmed cases, taking its total to nearly 529,000 with 16,095 deaths. The pandemic has exposed wide inequalities in India, with public hospitals being overwhelmed by virus cases while the rich get expert treatment in private hospitals.
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China reported 17 new cases, all but three of them from domestic transmission in Beijing. But authorities say a campaign to conduct tests on employees at hair and beauty salons across the city has found no positive cases so far.
___
Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--Trump Shares Video That Includes Supporter Shouting 'White Power' At Protesters

President Donald Trump on Sunday shared a video that appeared to show one of his supporters yelling “ white power ” at a group of people protesting the president in a Florida retirement community .
The video , apparently first shared Saturday on Twitter by user @ davenewworld_2 , captures a series of testy exchanges between Trump supporters and protesters in The Villages , an overwhelmingly white community that describes itself as “ Florida ’ s Friendliest Hometown.
” “ Where ’ s your white hood ?
” one protester holding a “ Make American Sane Again ” sign shouts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ golf cart decorated with pro-Trump placards .
“ Yeah , you got it !
White power !
White power !
” the driver yells back at the group as the woman next to him chants , “ Trump !
Trump !
Trump !
” Trump , in a since-deleted retweet that shared the video to his more than 82 million followers , thanked the “ great people ” of The Villages .
In another portion of the roughly two-minute video , a Trump protester yells “ Fuck Trump !
” at another apparent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Listen to the president if you want nasty language , you idiot , ” the protester shouts back .
The same protester can be heard calling Trump supporters “ Nazis ” several times in the video .
White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere told reporters later on Sunday that Trump “ did not hear ” the man shouting “ white power ” in the video before he shared it on Twitter .
“ President Trump is a big fan of The Villages , ” Deere said .
“ He did not hear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.
” “ An older white man yelling ‘ white power ’ at another white man in a homogeneous community from a golf cart as he drives on to catch ( his tee time ?
Matlock reruns ? )
is the perfect metaphor for all that Trump , and his enablers stand for , ” tweeted Rep. Sean Casten ( D-Ill. ) .
Some Twitter users drew comparisons between Trump ’ s decision to tweet the video of the man shouting “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of making racist comments and defending white supremacists .
In 2017 , Trump prompted bipartisan backlash for claiming there were “ very fine people on both sides ” of a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville , Virginia .
A year earlier , when former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke endorsed him for president , Trump initially claimed that he hadn ’ t heard of Duke and refused to disavow his support .
He eventually condemned Duke a few days later .
The president said right-wing protesters who gathered to oppose stay-at-home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great people , ” though some were carrying Nazi flags and nooses .
During an interview on CNN ’ s “ State Of The Union , ” Republican Sen. Tim Scott said Trump should take down the tweet , calling the entire video “ offensive .
”

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President Donald Trump on Sunday shared a video that appeared to show one of his supporters yelling “white power” at a group of people protesting the president in a Florida retirement community.
The video, apparently first shared Saturday on Twitter by user @davenewworld_2, captures a series of testy exchanges between Trump supporters and protesters in The Villages, an overwhelmingly white community that describes itself as “Florida’s Friendliest Hometown.”
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“Where’s your white hood?” one protester holding a “Make American Sane Again” sign shouts at two people driving by in a golf cart decorated with pro-Trump placards.
“Yeah, you got it! White power! White power!” the driver yells back at the group as the woman next to him chants, “Trump! Trump! Trump!”
Trump, in a since-deleted retweet that shared the video to his more than 82 million followers, thanked the “great people” of The Villages.
“The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall,” he wrote.
Twitter
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In another portion of the roughly two-minute video, a Trump protester yells “Fuck Trump!” at another apparent supporter in a golf cart.
“Nasty language,” the woman in the golf cart responds.
“Listen to the president if you want nasty language, you idiot,” the protester shouts back. The same protester can be heard calling Trump supporters “Nazis” several times in the video.
Neither the White House nor The Villages immediately responded to HuffPost’s requests for comment.
White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere told reporters later on Sunday that Trump “did not hear” the man shouting “white power” in the video before he shared it on Twitter.
“President Trump is a big fan of The Villages,” Deere said. “He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.”
Twitter users condemned the president’s apparent praise for his supporter chanting “white power.”
“An older white man yelling ‘white power’ at another white man in a homogeneous community from a golf cart as he drives on to catch (his tee time? Matlock reruns?) is the perfect metaphor for all that Trump, and his enablers stand for,” tweeted Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.).
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Some Twitter users drew comparisons between Trump’s decision to tweet the video of the man shouting “white power” and his long history of making racist comments and defending white supremacists.
These magazine covers got it right back in 2017. pic.twitter.com/9MlmcbXQKI — Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) June 28, 2020
In 2017, Trump prompted bipartisan backlash for claiming there were “very fine people on both sides” of a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. A year earlier, when former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke endorsed him for president, Trump initially claimed that he hadn’t heard of Duke and refused to disavow his support. He eventually condemned Duke a few days later.
The president said right-wing protesters who gathered to oppose stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic were “great people,” though some were carrying Nazi flags and nooses.
During an interview on CNN’s “State Of The Union,” Republican Sen. Tim Scott said Trump should take down the tweet, calling the entire video “offensive.”
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--Trump Says 'Nobody Briefed Or Told Me' About Russian Bounties To Kill U.S. Soldiers

President Donald Trump on Sunday denied that U.S. intelligence officials had briefed him about an alleged plot by Russian operatives to pay Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops .
“ Nobody briefed me or told me , [ Vice President ] Pence , or Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about the so-called attacks on our troops in Afghanistan by Russians , ” Trump tweeted .
The president accused The New York Times of using a fake “ anonymous source ” to report the alleged briefing .
In fact , the Times report cited multiple officials who spoke on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s not uncommon for news outlets to grant anonymity to sources who aren ’ t authorized to speak publicly about information that may be newsworthy .
“ Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us , ” Trump tweeted .
He added of the Times report : “ Who is their ‘ source ’ ?
” The Times was the first to report on the alleged Russian operation .
It was later confirmed by several outlets , including The Washington Post , The Wall Street Journal and ABC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Times was the only outlet to report that Trump was personally briefed on the matter .
The Times also reported that the National Security Council was made aware of the plot in late March .
The White House has not yet taken any action against the Russian government in response to the reported plot , according to the Times .
The reports sparked renewed accusations from Trump critics who say the president doesn ’ t take enough action against the Kremlin .
Twenty-four Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan between early 2019 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s unclear whether any of the bounties Russian operatives may have paid to Afghan militants resulted in the deaths of any American soldiers .
“ The United States receives thousands of intelligence reports a day , and they are subject to strict scrutiny , ” McEnany said .
She added that her statement “ does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of the New York Times story erroneously suggesting that President Trump was briefed on this matter.
” Director of National Intelligence John @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were made aware of the alleged operation .
Former Acting Director National Intelligence Richard Grenell , who served in that position when Trump was allegedly briefed , said Saturday that he had “ never heard ” of it .
“ No one would be fine with this if it were true , ” Grenell tweeted in response to someone asking whether he was “ fine ” with the alleged Russian bounties .
In their statements , Trump , McEnany and Ratcliffe did not confirm or deny reports that Russian agents offered to pay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Kremlin has denied the existence of any such operation .
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Saturday slammed Trump for failing to “ sanction and impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law.
” He called the White House ’ s inaction a “ betrayal of the most sacred duty we bear as a nation — to protect and equip our troops when we send them into harm ’ s way.
” “ Funny to see Corrupt Joe Biden reading a statement on Russia , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” the president tweeted .
“ Russia ate his lunch and Obama ’ s lunch during their time in office , so badly that Obama wanted them out of the then-G-8.
” Funny to see Corrupt Joe Biden reading a statement on Russia , which was obviously written by his handlers .
Russia ate his and Obama ’ s lunch during their time in office , so badly that Obama wanted them out of the then G-8 .
U.S. was weak on everything , but especially Russia !
— Donald J. Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 Rep. Liz Cheney ( R-Wyo . )
, the third-ranking Republican in the House , called on the White House to answer questions about the alleged Russian bounties , including who knew about the plot and when , and what has been done to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable .

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UPDATE: In April 2021, 10 months after The New York Times, Associated Press and Washington Post reported on U.S. intelligence that Russia had offered secret bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, the Biden administration said that CIA analysts only have “low to moderate confidence” that the bounty program ever existed.
President Donald Trump on Sunday said that he was never briefed about an alleged plot by Russian operatives to pay Taliban-linked militants in Afghanistan to kill American troops because U.S. intelligence officials did not find it credible.
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“Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News [New York Times] wanting to make Republicans look bad!!!” he tweeted.
Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or @VP. Possibly another fabricated Russia Hoax, maybe by the Fake News @nytimesbooks, wanting to make Republicans look bad!!! https://t.co/cowOmP7T1S — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2020
In an earlier tweet, Trump accused The New York Times of using a fake “anonymous source” to report the alleged briefing. In fact, the Times report cited multiple officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. It’s not uncommon for news outlets to grant anonymity to sources who aren’t authorized to speak publicly about information that may be newsworthy.
“Everybody is denying it & there have not been many attacks on us,” Trump tweeted. He added of the Times report: “Who is their ‘source’?”
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The Fake News @ nytimes must reveal its “anonymous” source. Bet they can’t do it, this “person” probably does not even exist! https://t.co/pdg4AjybOG — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020
The Times was the first to report on the alleged Russian operation. It was later confirmed by several outlets, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and ABC News.
All of these outlets reported that Russian intelligence officers offered bounties to Afghan militants to kill soldiers serving with coalition forces in Afghanistan, including U.S. and British troops.
As of Sunday, the Times was the only outlet to report that Trump was personally briefed on the matter. The Times also reported that the National Security Council was made aware of the plot in late March.
The White House has not yet taken any action against the Russian government in response to the reported plot, according to the Times. The reports sparked renewed accusations from Trump critics who say the president doesn’t take enough action against the Kremlin.
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Twenty-four Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan between early 2019 and early 2020, reported the Times. It’s unclear whether any of the bounties Russian operatives may have paid to Afghan militants resulted in the deaths of any American soldiers.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement Saturday that neither Trump nor Pence were briefed on the matter.
“The United States receives thousands of intelligence reports a day, and they are subject to strict scrutiny,” McEnany said. She added that her statement “does not speak to the merit of the alleged intelligence but to the inaccuracy of the New York Times story erroneously suggesting that President Trump was briefed on this matter.”
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe also denied that Trump and Pence were made aware of the alleged operation. Former Acting Director National Intelligence Richard Grenell, who served in that position when Trump was allegedly briefed, said Saturday that he had “never heard” of it.
“No one would be fine with this if it were true,” Grenell tweeted in response to someone asking whether he was “fine” with the alleged Russian bounties.
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In their statements, Trump, McEnany and Ratcliffe did not confirm or deny reports that Russian agents offered to pay Afghan militants to kill U.S. soldiers. The Kremlin has denied the existence of any such operation.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Saturday slammed Trump for failing to “sanction and impose any kind of consequences on Russia for this egregious violation of international law.” He called the White House’s inaction a “betrayal of the most sacred duty we bear as a nation — to protect and equip our troops when we send them into harm’s way.”
Instead of condemning the alleged Russian bounties, Trump on Sunday ranted about Biden’s statement.
“Funny to see Corrupt Joe Biden reading a statement on Russia, which was obviously written by his handlers,” the president tweeted. “Russia ate his lunch and Obama’s lunch during their time in office, so badly that Obama wanted them out of the then-G-8.”
Funny to see Corrupt Joe Biden reading a statement on Russia, which was obviously written by his handlers. Russia ate his and Obama’s lunch during their time in office, so badly that Obama wanted them out of the then G-8. U.S. was weak on everything, but especially Russia! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2020
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the third-ranking Republican in the House, called on the White House to answer questions about the alleged Russian bounties, including who knew about the plot and when, and what has been done to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable.
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thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--Mississippi Lawmakers Vote To Remove Confederate Symbol From State Flag

Mississippi 's House and Senate voted in quick succession Sunday afternoon to retire the flag , each chamber drawing broad bipartisan support for the historic decision .
Republican Gov .
Tate Reeves has said he will sign the bill , and the state flag would lose its official status as soon as he signs the measure .
He did not immediately signal when the signing would take place .
The state had faced mounting pressure to change its flag during the past month amid international protests against racial injustice in the United States .
Loud applause erupted as lawmakers hugged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ passage .
Even those on the opposite side of the issue also hugged as an emotional day of debate drew to a close .
A commission would design a new flag that can not include the Confederate symbol and that must have the words “ In God We Trust.
” Voters will be asked to approve the new design in the Nov. 3 election .
If they reject it , the commission will set a different design using the same guidelines , and that would be sent to voters later .
Republican House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , has pushed for five years to change the flag , saying that the Confederate symbol is offensive .
The House passed the bill 91-23 Sunday afternoon , and the Senate passed it 37-14 later .
“ How sweet it is to celebrate this on the Lord ’ s day , ” Gunn said .
`` Many prayed to Him to bring us to this day .
He has answered.
” Debate over changing the flag has arisen before , and in recent years an increasing number of cities and all the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down on their own .
But the issue has never garnered enough support in the conservative Republican-dominated Legislature or with recent governors .
In a sports-crazy culture , the biggest blow might have happened when college sports leagues said Mississippi could lose postseason events if it continued flying the Confederate-themed flag .
Nearly four dozen of Mississippi ’ s university athletic directors and coaches came to the Capitol to lobby for change .
“ We need something that fulfills the purpose of being a state flag and that everybody in the state has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Mike Leach , football coach at Mississippi State University .
The battle emblem is a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars .
The Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups have waved the rebel flag for decades .
Georgia put the battle emblem prominently on its state flag in 1956 , during a backlash to the civil rights movement .
That state removed the symbol from its banner in 2001 .
The Mississippi Supreme Court found in 2000 that when the state updated its laws in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were not included .
That meant the banner lacked official status .
The Democratic governor in 2000 , Ronnie Musgrove , appointed a commission to decide the flag ’ s future .
It held hearings across the state that grew ugly as people shouted at each other about the flag .
After that , legislators opted not to set a flag design themselves .
They put the issue on a 2001 statewide ballot , and people voted to keep the flag .
An alternate proposal would have replaced the Confederate corner with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ white stars representing Mississippi as the 20th state .

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi lawmakers voted Sunday to surrender the Confederate battle emblem from their state flag, triggering raucous applause and cheers more than a century after white supremacist legislators adopted the design a generation after the South lost the Civil War.
Mississippi's House and Senate voted in quick succession Sunday afternoon to retire the flag, each chamber drawing broad bipartisan support for the historic decision. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves has said he will sign the bill, and the state flag would lose its official status as soon as he signs the measure. He did not immediately signal when the signing would take place.
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The state had faced mounting pressure to change its flag during the past month amid international protests against racial injustice in the United States. Loud applause erupted as lawmakers hugged each other in the Senate with final passage. Even those on the opposite side of the issue also hugged as an emotional day of debate drew to a close.
A commission would design a new flag that cannot include the Confederate symbol and that must have the words “In God We Trust.” Voters will be asked to approve the new design in the Nov. 3 election. If they reject it, the commission will set a different design using the same guidelines, and that would be sent to voters later.
Mississippi has a 38% Black population — and the last state flag that incorporates the emblem that’s widely seen as racist.
Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn, who is white, has pushed for five years to change the flag, saying that the Confederate symbol is offensive. The House passed the bill 91-23 Sunday afternoon, and the Senate passed it 37-14 later.
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“How sweet it is to celebrate this on the Lord’s day,” Gunn said. "Many prayed to Him to bring us to this day. He has answered.”
Debate over changing the flag has arisen before, and in recent years an increasing number of cities and all the state’s public universities have taken it down on their own. But the issue has never garnered enough support in the conservative Republican-dominated Legislature or with recent governors.
That dynamic changed in a matter of weeks as an extraordinary and diverse coalition of political, business, religious groups and sports leaders pushed to change the flag.
At a Black Lives Matter protest outside the Mississippi Governor’s Mansion in early June, thousands cheered as an organizer said the state needs to divorce itself from all Confederate symbols.
Religious groups — including the large and influential Mississippi Baptist Convention — said erasing the rebel emblem from the state flag is a moral imperative.
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Business groups said the banner hinders economic development in one of the poorest states in the nation.
In a sports-crazy culture, the biggest blow might have happened when college sports leagues said Mississippi could lose postseason events if it continued flying the Confederate-themed flag. Nearly four dozen of Mississippi’s university athletic directors and coaches came to the Capitol to lobby for change.
“We need something that fulfills the purpose of being a state flag and that everybody in the state has a reason to be proud of,” said Mike Leach, football coach at Mississippi State University.
Many people who wanted to keep the emblem on the Mississippi flag said they see it as a symbol of heritage.
Legislators put the Confederate emblem on the upper left corner of Mississippi flag in 1894, as whites were squelching political power that African Americans gained after the Civil War.
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The battle emblem is a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. The Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups have waved the rebel flag for decades. Georgia put the battle emblem prominently on its state flag in 1956, during a backlash to the civil rights movement. That state removed the symbol from its banner in 2001.
The Mississippi Supreme Court found in 2000 that when the state updated its laws in 1906, portions dealing with the flag were not included. That meant the banner lacked official status. The Democratic governor in 2000, Ronnie Musgrove, appointed a commission to decide the flag’s future. It held hearings across the state that grew ugly as people shouted at each other about the flag.
After that, legislators opted not to set a flag design themselves. They put the issue on a 2001 statewide ballot, and people voted to keep the flag. An alternate proposal would have replaced the Confederate corner with a blue field topped by a cluster of white stars representing Mississippi as the 20th state.
Democratic state Sen. Derrick Simmons of Greenville, who is African American, said the state deserves a flag that will make all people proud. “Today is a history-making day in the state of Mississippi,” Simmons told colleagues before the Senate voted for passage. “Let’s vote today for the Mississippi of tomorrow.”
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Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--Trump's 2019 July Fourth Bash Cost Twice As Much As Previous Celebrations: GAO

Last year ’ s July Fourth celebration on the National Mall with headliner Donald Trump cost American taxpayers twice as much as similar events did in previous years , according to a report by the Government Accountability Office .
The event racked up $ 13 million in costs , compared to totals between $ 6 million and $ 7 million in the three previous years .
This year , Trump ’ s celebration will be held on the South Lawn of the White House with a speech and a fireworks display over the National Mall .
Some 1,700 service members @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2020 Salute to America.
” The Defense Department will provide “ aerial , musical and ceremonial support to this year ’ s celebration in Washington , D.C. ... Support will also include a flyover of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial , as well as an aerial salute to several cities that played roles in the American Revolution , ” it said in a statement Saturday that did not mention costs .
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser asked residents not to attend the White House festivities and instead observe the holiday in place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 cases .
“ Our strong recommendation is that D.C. residents celebrate at or near their home , in small gatherings , ” she said Thursday .
The extra funds last year went to pay for heightened security , extra program production costs and the transportation of military tanks to the Mall , according to the GAO report .
Trump ’ s appearance at the celebration was highly controversial , because the event is supposed to be a nonpartisan celebration , not a promotional event for the president , who does not typically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only delivered a speech but included far more military might than is customary .
Despite record numbers of COVID-19 cases and health experts ’ advice to avoid crowds , Trump decided to go ahead with this year ’ s event , reportedly against aides ’ advice .
Trump also plans to attend a fireworks display July 3 at Mount Rushmore , where officials are concerned about the risk of wildfires sparked by the display .
A 150-acre wildfire was burning Thursday roughly 6 miles south of Mount Rushmore in Custer State Park in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a ponderosa pine forest , or any flammable vegetation , is ill-advised and should not be done .
Period , ” a former National Park Service fire manager told the Argus Leader .
The event could draw as many as 7,500 people .

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Last year’s July Fourth celebration on the National Mall with headliner Donald Trump cost American taxpayers twice as much as similar events did in previous years, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.
The event racked up $13 million in costs, compared to totals between $6 million and $7 million in the three previous years.
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This year, Trump’s celebration will be held on the South Lawn of the White House with a speech and a fireworks display over the National Mall. Some 1,700 service members will also take part in his “2020 Salute to America.”
The Defense Department will provide “aerial, musical and ceremonial support to this year’s celebration in Washington, D.C. ... Support will also include a flyover of the Mount Rushmore National Memorial, as well as an aerial salute to several cities that played roles in the American Revolution,” it said in a statement Saturday that did not mention costs.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser asked residents not to attend the White House festivities and instead observe the holiday in place to help prevent any surge in new COVID-19 cases.
“Our strong recommendation is that D.C. residents celebrate at or near their home, in small gatherings,” she said Thursday.
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The extra funds last year went to pay for heightened security, extra program production costs and the transportation of military tanks to the Mall, according to the GAO report.
Trump’s appearance at the celebration was highly controversial, because the event is supposed to be a nonpartisan celebration, not a promotional event for the president, who does not typically attend. Last year, Trump not only delivered a speech but included far more military might than is customary.
Despite record numbers of COVID-19 cases and health experts’ advice to avoid crowds, Trump decided to go ahead with this year’s event, reportedly against aides’ advice.
Trump also plans to attend a fireworks display July 3 at Mount Rushmore, where officials are concerned about the risk of wildfires sparked by the display. A 150-acre wildfire was burning Thursday roughly 6 miles south of Mount Rushmore in Custer State Park in South Dakota.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-06-28--'Tre45on' Trends After Report That Trump Knew Putin Put Bounty On U.S. Troops

Critics erupted Saturday after an explosive New York Times story asserting that Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly offered a bounty to Afghanistan militants for American soldiers they killed — and that Donald Trump knew about it .
Both the White House and Putin denied the story Saturday , but it was concerning enough that several critics spoke out .
The hashtag “ Tre45on ” — the 45 here referencing Trump ’ s status as the 45th president — was trending nationally on Twitter .
Not only has Trump allegedly “ failed to sanction or impose any kind of consequences on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law , but Donald Trump has also continued his embarrassing campaign of deference and debasing himself before Vladimir Putin , ” said Biden .
The Times reported Friday that Trump was informed by U.S. intelligence in March that a Russian military intelligence unit offered rewards to Islamist militants last year for successful attacks on American and coalition troops .
American intelligence believed that some bounty money was paid , according to the Times .
Despite being informed of the situation , Trump took no action , sources told the Times .
Not only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Putin to attend the G-7 Summit in September , despite the strong objections of Canada and Britain , the Kremlin said this month .
Everyone in this picture is a patriot , with one exception .
@ realDonaldTrump apparently knew Putin paid bounties to militants to kill US troops & POTUS did nothing .
Actually , it was worse than nothing .
Trump last month invited Putin to the G7 summit .
Traitorous behavior by Trump .
pic.twitter.com/bIaQPvh8Jz — Ted Lieu ( @ tedlieu ) June 27 , 2020 Veteran journalist Dan Rather @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the realm of possibility , given Trump ’ s mysterious devotion to Russia ’ s president for possible reasons “ ranging from craven to treasonous.
” Reporters are trained to look for patterns that are suspicious .
And time and again one stands out with Donald Trump .
Why is he so slavishly devoted to Putin ?
There is a spectrum of possible answers , ranging from craven to treasonous .
One day I hope and suspect we will find out .
— Dan Rather ( @ DanRather ) June 27 , 2020 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by lawyer George Conway , husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway — quickly turned around an ad lashing Trump over the situation .
“ How can Trump lead America when he can ’ t even defend it ?
” it asked .
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied in a press briefing that Trump was informed of the bounty on American troops .
“ The CIA Director , national security adviser , and the chief of staff can all confirm that neither the president nor the vice president were briefed on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ McEnany said .
The Russian Embassy said in a tweet that the Times ’ reporting was an attempt to create “ new fake stories .
”