America’s leading public health expert Anthony Fauci has confirmed what the record figures are telling us – the US is sliding backwards on its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are going in the wrong direction,” Fauci just told the Senate.

Last week the US saw a new daily record of 40,000 new coronavirus cases in one day.

Fauci just said, in testimony before committee, that he fears that the rate will rise dramatically.

“I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around.”

Fauci added about death and infection rates going forward: It’s going to be very disturbing … it could get really bad.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/jun/30/russian-bounty-payments-donald-trump-briefing-afghanistan-live-updates?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

ST. LOUIS — A man and a woman pointed guns at protesters who marched through the Central West End Sunday night to call for Mayor Lyda Krewson to resign.

Videos from the protest showed the man pointing a semi-automatic rifle and a woman pointing a pistol at the crowd marching down the street. The videos circulated widely on social media Sunday night.

The protest, which was organized by Expect Us, started near the intersection of Maryland Plaza and North Euclid Avenue, and stopped at Krewson's home before heading toward the Delmar Loop.

The protest came two days after a Facebook Live news briefing in which Krewson read the names and street addresses of protesters who are calling on the city to defund the police department, a move which the ACLU called "shocking and misguided" and resulted in online backlash. An online petition started over the weekend calling for her to resign has more than 40,000 signatures.

https://twitter.com/xshularx/status/1277398234055483393
https://www.ksdk.com/article/news/local/couple-points-guns-at-protesters-st-louis/63-915a4a2f-071f-4f01-b5b8-398790d615ca

New York held its primary elections this week. Even before the absentee ballots are counted and the results certified, we know one thing about the political landscape. It is fundamentally changing in the state as a new generation uproots the establishment. It is a realignment based on demography, diversity, and disposition.

... First, demography. The older generation of Members of Congress has, well, gotten older. The networks of support that elected and reelected them are being replenished by new, younger networks. I saw it for myself, when I ran my final campaign for Congress in 2014, and realized that my own electorate was aging out and the growth was among young voters who were newborns in my first election and, as voters, had little idea who I was.

Second, diversity. Safe blue seats remain blue, but the voters are of richer and more diverse colors. New York’s African Americans population increased 5.9 percent between 2000 and 2019; the Hispanic or Latinopopulation increased 30.3 percent in the same period.

Third, disposition. Congressional seniority yields to political intensity. The old rules - wait your turn, pay your dues - are rightfully cast aside by a resistance to Donald Trump that does not believe we can afford to wait. Once upon a time, newly elected Members of Congress were keen on “going along to get along.” On Tuesday night, Bowman told his supporters that he couldn’t wait to get to Congress to “cause problems.”

There are mitigating circumstances worth noting...Jerry Nadler convincingly beat back his opponents. I have written before that Nadler is an underestimated street fighter. He never left the streets of his district, providing constituent services and attending local events even as he led the impeachment of President Trump. There is a lesson in that for incumbents worried about future primaries.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/504528-new-york-primary-elections-signify-next-generation-of-political-leaders

Albert Memmi, a leading mid-20th century French intellectual and writer best known for nonfiction books and novels that unraveled his anomalous identity as an ardent anti-imperialist, an unapologetic Zionist and a self-described “Jewish Arab,” died on May 22 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. He was 99.

His death was announced by Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, the French ambassador to Tunisia, where Mr. Memmi was born and raised when it was a French protectorate. Although he was overshadowed by Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre (both of whom wrote introductions to his books), Mr. Memmi was celebrated in Europe and Africa as an author and sociologist.

Among his best-known books, some of which were later translated into English, were “The Pillar of Salt” (1953) and “Strangers” (1955), both autobiographical novels; “The Scorpion” (1969), another fictionalized account of a mixed marriage, like his own; and the nonfiction “The Colonizer and the Colonized” (1957), which he followed a half-century later with a somewhat disillusioned verdict on the fruits of national liberation in “Decolonization and the Decolonized” (2006).

...In The Jewish Review of Books, Daniel Gordon wrote in 2018 that Mr. Memmi “has combined, perhaps more than any other writer since World War II, the compassion needed to articulate the suffering of oppressed groups with the forthrightness needed to censure them for their own acts of oppression.”

Mr. Memmi said of his writings: “All of my work has been in sum an inventory of my attachments; all of my work has been, it should be understood, a constant revolt against my attachments.”

“I was a sort of half-breed of colonization,” he once said, “understanding everyone because I belonged completely to no one.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/10/books/albert-memmi-a-jewish-arab-intellectual-dies-at-99.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wes Unseld, the workmanlike Hall of Fame center who led Washington to its only NBA championship and was chosen one of the 50 greatest players in league history, died Tuesday after a series of health issues, most recently pneumonia. He was 74.

Unseld’s family announced his death via a statement released by the Washington Wizards, the franchise he played for throughout his entire 13-season career.

A five-time All-Star and, along with Wilt Chamberlain, one of only two players to win NBA Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in the same season, Unseld instantly made the team then known as the Baltimore Bullets into a winning franchise after it selected him No. 2 overall in the 1968 draft.

A decade later, he was the MVP of the NBA Finals as the Washington Bullets beat the Seattle SuperSonics in a seven-game series best known for coach Dick Motta’s proclamation: “The opera ain’t over until the fat lady sings.”

Listed at 6-foot-7 and 245 pounds, Unseld overcame taller players and bad knees with a strong work ethic and lots of grunt work in the paint. He was a tenacious rebounder and strong passer.

Unseld was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1988, his first year of eligibility.

“I never played pretty,” Unseld said on the day he was elected. “I wasn’t flashy. My contributions were in the things most people don’t notice. They weren’t in high scoring or dunking or behind-the-back passes.”

https://apnews.com/b519bbf1d7ffecf360372f4ca69c1b2a

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, thousands in Fort Bend County have faced financial crises. Now some may be in danger of being evicted from their homes. However, the county’s top elected official is trying to delay the process and help residents get back on their feet.

Last Tuesday, May 19, the Texas Supreme Court allowed the statewide eviction moratorium to expire after temporarily putting eviction notices on hold during the coronavirus pandemic. According to a report from the Texas Tribune, eviction hearings could begin on May 19, while eviction orders could legally be served beginning this past Tuesday.

On the heels of the expiration, Fort Bend County Judge KP George sent a letter to the county’s justices of the peace “imploring” them to extend the local eviction moratorium in all four precincts.

...A provision in the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, Economic Security (CARES) Act allows a federal moratorium on evictions to continue through July 25 for properties that have federally backed mortgages. In his letter, George called for the county’s help in extending its own moratorium to match the federal provision.

Part of George’s reasoning is the large-scale unemployment that has gripped not just Fort Bend County but Texans as a whole. According to data from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), more than 2.2 million Texans have filed for unemployment since Feb. 22. The TWC also indicated that as of May 9, nearly 47,000 claims for unemployment had been filed in Fort Bend County since March 1 – the fifth-most among any county in Texas.

http://www.fortbendstar.com/george-asks-justices-to-extend-eviction-moratorium/

...With states restricting hospitals from performing elective surgery and other nonessential services, their revenue has shriveled. The Department of Health and Human Services has disbursed $72 billion in grants since April to hospitals and other health care providers through the bailout program, which was part of the CARES Act economic stimulus package. The department plans to eventually distribute more than $100 billion more.

So far, the riches are flowing in large part to hospitals that had already built up deep financial reserves to help them withstand an economic storm. Smaller, poorer hospitals are receiving tiny amounts of federal aid by comparison.

... After the CARES Act was passed in March, hospital industry lobbyists reached out to senior Health and Human Services officials to discuss how the money would be distributed.
Representatives of the American Hospital Association, a lobbying group for the country’s largest hospitals, communicated with Alex M. Azar II, the department secretary, and Eric Hargan, the deputy secretary overseeing the funds, said Tom Nickels, a lobbyist for the group. Chip Kahn, president of the Federation of American Hospitals, which lobbies on behalf of for-profit hospitals, said he, too, had frequent discussions with the agency.

The department then devised formulas to quickly dispense tens of billions of dollars to thousands of hospitals — and those formulas favored large, wealthy institutions.

In a letter this month to the Department of Health and Human Services, two House committee chairmen said the Trump administration appeared to be disregarding Congress’s intent in how it was distributing the aid. “The level of funding appears to be completely disconnected from need,” wrote the two Democrats, Representatives Frank Pallone Jr. of New Jersey and Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts.

More at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/25/business/hospitals-bailout-billions.html?

Patrick Ewing has tested positive for coronavirus, and is sharing his diagnosis to raise public awareness. The Georgetown coach is under care and isolated at a local hospital, the school’s athletic department said in a statement.

“I want to share that I have tested positive for COVID-19,” the Knicks legend and Basketball Hall of Famer said. “This virus is serious and should not be taken lightly. I want to encourage everyone to stay safe and take care of yourselves and your loved ones.”

Ewing, 57, emphasized that he’ll be OK, and he is the only member of the program to contract the novel coronavirus. “Now more than ever, I want to thank the healthcare workers and everyone on the front lines,” Ewing said. “I’ll be fine and get through this.”

The diagnosis comes days after the NCAA lifted its moratorium on workouts, allowing voluntary on-campus activities to resume on June 1. On Friday, the SEC announced student-athletes can begin using school facilities beginning June 8 with strict supervision, though the Big East — the Hoyas’ conference — has yet to reveal any plans.

https://nypost.com/2020/05/22/georgetown-coach-knicks-legend-patrick-ewing-has-coronavirus/