"Health officials are urging Americans to scale back Independence Day plans as virus case levels reached disheartening new highs, with eight states setting single-day reporting records on Tuesday," the New York Times reported Wednesday, noting that the number of new US cases had jumped 82% in the last two weeks. This comes after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, testified Tuesday alongside Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield and other senior officials before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Fauci said the US coronavirus outbreak is "going to be very disturbing" and that the country could see more than 100,000 new cases a day, CNBC reported Tuesday. Folks, this data is only getting worse.
On Friday the New York Times ran a story entitled "Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill US Troops, Intelligence Says." US President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday night that officials didn't brief him on the alleged operation, saying, "Intel just reported to me that they did not find this info credible, and therefore did not report it to me or [Vice President Mike Pence]." On Wednesday, Trump's national security adviser Robert O'Brien told "Fox & Friends" that the president wasn't briefed because the intelligence was "uncorroborated." However, the Times reported Monday, citing two anonymous US officials, that information about the alleged Russian operation was included in Trump's President's Daily Brief in February. Here are the two major issues as I see them: American intelligence officials suspect that Russia offered bounties to Taliban militants for killing US soldiers in Afghanistan, and Trump was allegedly informed about this allegation but didn't take any action on it. What's going on here?
In Washington, DC, US District Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who was appointed by Trump, "struck down a Trump administration policy late Tuesday that bars most Central Americans and other migrants from requesting asylum at the southern border, saying the government failed to justify making the sudden change last July without public notice or comment," the Washington Post reported Wednesday. He "held that the administration 'unlawfully promulgated' the rule, failing to show it was in the public interest to stealthily implement the change and bypass the Administrative Procedure Act," the Post noted. Is it as simple as conservative administrations appoint conservative people as judges and get conservative judicial decisions?
"Social media giant Twitter took the step of suspending the official account of MintPress News on Saturday," Alan MacLeod wrote in a Monday piece in MintPress. "Without warning, the nine-year-old account with 64,000 followers was abruptly labeled as 'fake' or 'spam' and restricted. This move is becoming a frequent occurrence for alternative media, especially those that openly challenge US power globally." What does this say about the First Amendment and unfettered access to information in this digital age?
GUESTS:
Dr. Yolandra Hancock - Board-certified pediatrician and obesity medicine specialist. She is on the faculty at the Milken School of Public Health at George Washington University and has a telemedicine practice called Ask Dr. Yola.
Dr. Marvin Weinbaum - Scholar-in-residence and director of the Middle East Institute's Center for Pakistan and Afghanistan Studies.
David Schultz - Professor of political science at Hamline University, where he teaches American politics; and professor of law specializing in election law at the University of Minnesota Law School. He is the author of “Presidential Swing States: Why Only Ten Matter”.
Chris Garaffa - Web developer and technologist.
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