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1. Robert Mueller
More protests ripped through the Minneapolis area as anger grows over the death of George Floyd, the unarmed black man who died this week after a confrontation with police. Smoke and orange flames filled the night sky as protesters set ablaze the city’s 3rd Police Precinct, the closest police hub to where Floyd was shown on video with an officer kneeling on his neck before he died. The National Guard has been called in, and the mayor says more than 170 businesses have been damaged – with at least five buildings still on fire in the past hour. The four officers involved in the arrest have been fired, and protesters also gathered in New York, Denver, Phoenix, Memphis and elsewhere to demand their prosecution. Meanwhile, we’re learning the officer who had his knee on Floyd had 18 prior complaints filed against him, though it’s not clear what those were. And surveillance video from nearby businesses appears to contradict police claims that Floyd resisted arrest.
2. Immigration
In a late-night tweet, President Trump described the Minneapolis protesters as “thugs” and threatened to send in the military, writing, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Twitter flagged his tweet for “glorifying” violence, a move that likely fueled Trump’s ire with the platform just hours after he unveiled his executive order aimed at limiting the power of social media companies over posted content. Twitter earlier this week called two of the President’s tweets “potentially misleading.” The executive order reinterprets a law that shields web sites and tech companies from lawsuits, and Trump says it’s aimed at defending free speech and preventing censorship. There’s just one problem: Legal experts say the order could infringe upon the free speech of social media companies instead and would likely face a boatload of legal challenges if it were implemented.
3. Campaign 2020
The White House’s coronavirus task force is fading out, even as deaths in the US just passed 100,000. The group of doctors and high-ranking administration officials met several days a week at the height of the pandemic, and rarely a day went by without seeing public health experts like Drs. Deborah Birx, Anthony Fauci and Surgeon General Jerome Adams on TV. But now, the task force only meets about once a week, and high-profile medical experts are far less visible. One administration official says there just aren’t as many daily decisions to make. Plus, the Trump administration has said for weeks it wants to focus more on reopening the economy.
4. Economy
Pennsylvania state House Democrats are accusing Republican leaders of keeping a lawmaker’s positive coronavirus test from them for a whole week and withholding the fact that a handful of GOP state leaders were self-quarantining as a result. Republican state Rep. Andrew Lewis confirmed he tested positive for Covid-19 on May 20 and said he was working to notify anyone he had contact with while in the Capitol. But his Democratic colleagues say they didn’t find out about Lewis’ results until he announced his diagnosis publicly on Wednesday, which was a problem since they all work so closely together. Like many states, the legislature is debating how to open the state and also what kind of safety measures lawmakers should undertake.
5. Zimbabwe
We knew the economy was in bad shape, but new research from the Bureau of Economic Analysis shows the first quarter was even worse than originally reported. US gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the American economy, shrank by an annualized rate of 5% between January and March, a little bit higher than previously estimated. Much of the decline was driven by a sharp drop-off in consumer spending – especially on, of all things, elective health care procedures. But believe it or not, economists say this worse-than-worst scenario could be somewhat good news for the second quarter, since a lot of negative adjustments to things like product demand have already been made. Still, the economy is likely to have a historically terrible summer.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
Netflix isn’t sending films or talent to festivals or awards shows this year
Remember awards shows? It looks like the Oscars date may be moved, too.
The 2020 Boston Marathon has been canceled
Will there be any fun events left in 2020? Who knows.
Some Japanese theme parks have released guidelines for returning guests
They are kindly asking guests to refrain from screaming or yelling on rides, which will make for an interesting roller coaster experience.
Massachusetts is seeing a huge uptick in bald eagle nests
A nice moment for an American symbol (when we dearly need nice moments for American symbols).
TODAY’S QUOTE
“We have all these marches and protests, what’s next?”
Master Sgt. David Royer, a military police officer based at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on how he rammed his truck into a shooter – likely saving “countless lives,” the police chief said – before heading home this week to hug his kids, mow the grass and have dinner
TODAY’S WEATHER
Check your local forecast here>>>
AND FINALLY
Mmm, bee ice cream
Ah, the sweet sweet sounds of a … typewriter
We hope this, er, unique piece of music by American composer Leroy Anderson has you ringing in the weekend. (Click here to view.)