Trump rally highlights vulnerabilities heading into election
NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s return to the campaign trail was designed to show strength and enthusiasm heading into the critical final months before an election that will decide whether he remains in the White House.
Instead, his weekend rally in Oklahoma highlighted growing vulnerabilities and crystallized a divisive reelection message that largely ignores broad swaths of voters — independents, suburban women and people of color — who could play a crucial role in choosing Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
The lower-than-expected turnout at the comeback rally, in particular, left Trump fuming.
“There’s really only one strategy left for him, and that is to propel that rage and anger and try to split the society and see if he can have a tribal leadership win here,” former Trump adviser-turned-critic Anthony Scaramucci said on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”
The president did not offer even a token reference to national unity in remarks that spanned more than an hour and 40 minutes at his self-described campaign relaunch as the nation grappled with surging coronavirus infections, the worst unemployment since the Great Depression and sweeping civil unrest.
Because of the virus, dads mark Father’s Day from a distance
CHICAGO — Wake Sharp got to see his family on Father’s Day — see them, not hug them, not kiss them, not even shake hands.
Because of the terrible toll taken by the coronavirus on older people in nursing homes and other institutions, the 93-year-old Navy veteran and his loved ones had to stay on opposite sides of a plexiglass barrier and talk by phone at the assisted-living home outside San Francisco where he is a resident.
“It’s better than nothing!” he said. “I really enjoy it.”
Dads at nursing homes across the country marked Father’s Day at a forced distance from their families Sunday. Some families relied on video calls; others used social media to send their wishes.
The virus has made in-person visits with elderly and high-risk family members difficult and sometimes impossible in recent months, though parts of the country have begun loosening up. Maryland and Illinois were among states that allowed outdoor visits at nursing homes with masks and six feet of distance.
Second wave of virus cases? Experts say we’re still in the first
What’s all this talk about a “second wave” of U.S. coronavirus cases?
In The Wall Street Journal last week, Vice President Mike Pence wrote in a piece headlined “There Isn’t a Coronavirus ‘Second Wave’” that the nation is winning the fight against the virus.
Many public health experts, however, suggest it’s no time to celebrate. About 120,000 Americans have died from the new virus and daily counts of new cases in the U.S. are the highest they’ve been in more than a month, driven by alarming recent increases in the South and West.
But there is at least one point of agreement: “Second wave” is probably the wrong term to describe what’s happening.
“When you have 20,000-plus infections per day, how can you talk about a second wave?” said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. “We’re in the first wave. Let’s get out of the first wave before you have a second wave.”
Pirated editions of John Bolton memoir have appeared online
NEW YORK — John Bolton’s memoir officially comes out Tuesday after surviving a security review and a legal challenge from the Justice Department. But over the weekend, it was available in ways even his publisher is hoping to prevent.
A PDF of “The Room Where It Happened” has turned up on the internet, offering a free, pirated edition of the former national security adviser’s scathing takedown of President Donald Trump, who has alleged that the book contains classified material that never should have been released.
“We are working assiduously to take down these clearly illegal instances of copyright infringement,” Simon &Schuster spokesperson Adam Rothberg said Sunday.
Piracy has long been a top concern among publishers, especially in the digital age, although the actual impact on sales is undetermined. “The Room Where It Happened” has been No. 1 for days on the Amazon.com bestseller list. The Associated Press was among several news outlets that obtained early copies of the book and reported on its contents.
On Saturday, a federal judge ruled that Simon &Schuster could publish the book despite the Trump administration’s contention that it compromised national security. “The Room Where It Happened” was originally scheduled for March, but was delayed twice as the White House reviewed the manuscript.
Injuries at protests draw scrutiny to use of police weaponry
NEW YORK — In law enforcement, they’re referred to as “nonlethal” tools for dealing with demonstrations that turn unruly: rubber bullets, pepper spray, batons, flash-bangs.
But the now-familiar scenes of U.S. police officers in riot gear clashing with protesters at Lafayette Park across from the White House and in other cities have police critics charging that the weaponry too often escalates tensions and hurts innocent people.
“When you see riot gear, it absolutely changes the mood,” said Ron Moten, a longtime community organizer in the nation’s capital who was out demonstrating this weekend. He said it takes away any perception the officers could be empathetic.
“If I went up to speak with a police officer and I’m covered in armor and holding a shield and a stick, don’t you think they would regard me as a threat?”
“When we see riot gear, as black people it takes us back 400 years,” he said.
Solar eclipse wows stargazers in Africa, Asia, Middle East
DUBAI — Stargazers in Africa, Asia and parts of the Middle East looked to the skies this weekend to witness a partial solar eclipse.
It was known as a “ring of fire” because the moon covered most, but not all, of the sun. It started at 11:45 p.m. EDT Saturday and went until 5:34 a.m. EDT Sunday.
Millions from Dubai to Taiwan to Japan to India watched the solar spectacle.
In Dubai, people could see over 85 percent of the sun covered by the moon, with photographers taking stunning photos of the eclipse over the iconic Burj Khalifa building.
It was a sight that will not be possible in the country for another 14 years, according to Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Astronomy Group Hasan al-Hariri.
Al-Hariri said while the ongoing coronavirus pandemic had halted their plans for a gathering to see the rare phenomena, the group has turned to the internet to help people observe the partial eclipse, providing a live feed of the moon as it passes between the earth and the sun.
“An eclipse is kind of a rare event. It usually happens two times in a year, but it differs from location to location so it’s not fixed in one location. Now we were fortunate to have it, the one which was in December last year and this one, and then we will have one similar to this after 14 years. So it’s kind of something a bit rare to observe.”
