Tuesday, July 28 top news briefs
Hello, it is Tuesday, July 28. Here are today’s top news briefs.
Updates on Garrett Foster
Yesterday I did some news briefs on Black Lives Matter protests across the nation and talked about Garrett Foster, an armed protester who was shot and killed by an armed motorist in Austin, Texas. After my report, a deaf man from Austin, Cesar Rocha, reached out to explain that he was at the protest and said what I reported was not accurate.
He posted a vlog on his Facebook wall explaining what he observed. He gave me permission to share a clip.
CESAR ROCHA:
Garrett Foster was a white man and had a wife (partner) for many years. When his wife/partner was 18, she had a disease that required her arms and legs to be amputated.
[Images of Garrett Foster and Whitney Mitchell[
I’ve attended the BLM protests with them. I’ve seen and been inspired by them. He would park his vehicle, open the doors, place his wife on a wheelchair, and walk in solidarity with the protests, going to APD, to city hall, or the capitol. He believed in BLM and supported his wife. He doesn’t support police brutality. He does have a gun, an AK-47, that he typically carries. The reason why? He saw that there are many bad people so he has to carry a gun to protect his wife. And when the incident happened, I was there, I saw it. It happened at the intersection with South Congress and 4th Street. The man (the car driver) was on 4th street. It was a red light. It was a red light and he saw people marching. What did he do? He hit the accelerator and did it on purpose. He did it on purpose. If I saw the same thing, I would drive slowly, or not go at all. He saw a red light and made a right turn while others were marching. He hit the accelerator and went fast, really fast. When he turned into the crowd, I can’t comment because there were many people. I was standing at a corner after the car drove by. I heard the gunshots. I saw bullets ricocheting on the street. It was just five feet from me. I was like shit, I ran for cover. I then ran back to see if the man was okay. There were four or five people already helping. But shit, he was already dead. I was touched. The wife was bawling. It really tore my heart.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Thank you Cesar for your time and for explaining. There are several news reports that quoted witnesses who said some of the same things that Cesar said — specifically about the driver being aggressive in how he drove up towards the protesters.
There is a GoFundMe for Mitchell that has raised over 107,000.
California & Florida leads Covid-19 cases
Here are updates on Covid-19.
California and Florida are the states with the most Covid-19 cases.
California reported 55 deaths from yesterday. Their highest one-day total was on July 23 with 230 deaths. The state has over 460,000 cases.
Florida reported 186 new deaths this morning, which is the highest one-day total ever. There are over 440,000 cases in the state.
To compare, New York state, which was the hardest-hit state a few months ago, reported only 534 new cases and 11 deaths yesterday. Their total case count is over 412,000, and about half of that is in the New York City area. So New York is dipping while the other states are rising.
Nationwide, there are more than 4.3 million cases and over 148,000 deaths. The U.S. is still struggling to control the virus as the country reported over 61,000 new cases yesterday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said he fears there will be new coronavirus outbreaks in Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Kentucky because there is a rising percentage of positive tests (case positivity) in those states.
[Sponsored video from Convo]
Controversial video on Covid-19 deleted
Twitter said they ordered Donald Trump, Jr. to delete a tweet of a video of doctors in white coats talking positively about hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that President Trump had touted as a powerful pill against the coronavirus. Twitter also placed Trump Jr. on a 12-hour restriction.
The video with the doctors went viral on Facebook and YouTube, but it was deleted by both Facebook and YouTube. The doctors were standing in front of the Supreme Court and said face masks and shutdowns are not needed to prevent the spread of the virus. They also said that scientific studies that said hydroxychloroquine had no benefits was based on fake science and that the drug cures Covid-19.
Twitter said the videos violate their Covid-19 misinformation policy. President Trump did retweet video clips from the same video, and some of the original posts were removed, so Trump had several “empty” tweets.
The drug hydroxycholorquine continues to be controversial. The FDA said the drug has health risks.
Fox News did an interview with a Yale professor who advocated for the drug by pointing to a study in Detroit that said the drug helped patients who were hospitalized less likely to die. However, as I shared in the past, there were several studies that said the drugs had a risk of causing heart problems without providing benefits. It feels like the general consensus in the medical community and Dr. Fauci have not really made statements in support of the drug, and have encouraged face masks and social distancing, while this group of doctors say the opposite and they have the support of Trump and Trump Jr. But their videos were removed. It’s a controversy.
40 members of church infected with Covid-19
A pastor of a baptist church in Strawberry, Alabama said more than 40 people in his church were infected with the coronavirus after they attended a multi-day revival event. The pastor said the church services were shut down last week because leaders found out that one of the members tested positive for Covid-19. The pastor said last weekend he found out that many other members became ill and that he feels as if the whole church has the coronavirus. The pastor admitted that he knew what they were getting into, that he knew the possibilities.
We can see that the coronavirus can spread rapidly within groups — with the MLB team Miami Marlins another example. There are at least 18 players and coaches who tested positive for the virus and now their season is suspended.
WNBA season kicks off; national anthem criticism
The WNBA started their season on Saturday in a shortened 22-game schedule. The WNBA said they would dedicate the season to social justice issues and Black Lives Matter. All players wore Breonna Taylor’s name on their jerseys last weekend. The first game was between Seattle Storm and New York Liberty. Players on both teams walked to their locker rooms while the national anthem played. The same thing happened in another game between the Phoenix Mercury and the LA Sparks — both teams said they were protesting to call for justice for Breonna Taylor. A star player for the Mercury, Brittney Griner, said that the WNBA and all sports should stop playing the national anthem before games. Griner said she is not doing this to disrespect the country and emphasized that her father was a Vietnam veteran and a police officer, and said she wanted to be a police officer herself, but she said she has to continue to protest against police brutality and social injustice.
A NBA star, Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets, said he has created a $1.5 million fund to support WNBA players who are choosing to not play this season because of protests or because of concerns with coronavirus.
That is all the news for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!
Daily Mail Picture: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8563675/Wheelchair-bound-fianc-e-slain-BLM-protester-leads-vigil-Austin.html
APD: https://mailchi.mp/austintexas/apd-news-release-homicide-28-yp5srx2hof
Video of car making right turn: https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1287279078186205184
https://www.kcra.com/article/coronavirus-map-graphs-cases-deaths-curve-california-july27/33433633
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/28/trump-coronavirus-misinformation-twitter/
https://www.foxnews.com/media/hydroxychloroquine-could-save-lives-ingraham-yale-professor
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/wnba-players-call-league-stop-playing-national-anthem-before-games