Tuesday, October 6 top news briefs
Trump back in White House; Trump shuts down stimulus negotiations
President Trump is back in the White House. Last night he walked out of the Walter Reed Medical Center and went to the White House via a helicopter. Trump walked up the stairs on the southern facade, took off his mask, and did a salute as the helicopter lifted off into twilight.
There was buzz on Twitter on whether Trump was gasping for air after he took off his mask.
Trump’s attending physician, Dr. Sean Conley, did say on Monday that Trump was not “out of the woods,” and would continue to receive treatments in the White House.
Trump said this morning on Twitter that he is feeling great and that he is looking forward to the second debate with Joe Biden on October 15 in Miami.
Trump also tweeted that Covid-19 was not more dangerous than the flu, which is not true.
Covid-19 has killed 210,000 Americans this year and as we go into the fall and winter seasons, we could another 200,000 deaths. The flu killed about 35,000 people in 2018 to 2019. There’s a huge difference. Twitter flagged the tweet as “spreading misleading and harmful information,” while Facebook removed the post entirely.
There are concerns that Trump will spread the virus in the White House among staffers and Secret Service agents. There is already an outbreak that have sidelined multiple staffers in the past week.
The White House said Trump wanted to project an image of strength to Americans and to our allies and adversaries.
Joe Biden posted a video to contrast himself from Trump by showing himself putting on a mask in a side-by-side video with Trump removing his mask. The message was, “Masks matter. They save lives.” Biden said in a town hall last night that he was not surprised that Trump became infected because he was interacting with large groups of people and not socially distancing or wearing a mask.
This Tuesday afternoon Dr. Conley said Trump is not experiencing any coronavirus symptoms and is doing extremely well.
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In separate but related news, this afternoon Trump tweeted that he would not support a new round of a coronavirus stimulus package that includes direct check payments for Americans, funding for states, unemployment benefits, and other things in it, because of opposition with Democrats. He said Democrats wanted more money for their states, so he ordered — he said he ordered the Senate to stop negotiating and instead put their focus on the Supreme Court nominee. Trump said after he wins the election, he would pass new coronavirus economic packages.
Texas police officer arrested for shooting and killing Black man named Jonathan Price
A police officer in Wolfe City, Texas (north of Dallas) was arrested and charged with murdering a 31-year-old Black man named Jonathan Price on Saturday. The officer’s name is Shaun Lucas.
What happened? According to the Texas Rangers, Lucas got a call to respond to a fight outside of a gas station and at some point tried to detain Price, who resisted in a nonthreatening posture and walked away. Lucas fired his taser and then fired his gun towards Price, who was hospitalized and died.
The lawyer for Price’s family said he was not fighting anyone but was intervening after he saw a man assault a woman. The Texas Rangers said Lucas’ actions were not reasonable.
Price was a former college football player and a motivational speaker, trainer, and mentor.
Price’s family said there is a video of the shooting and that it proves that it was a criminal act.
There was a march and a vigil to honor Price and to demand justice.
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Hurricane Delta now a Category 4 storm
Hurricane Delta has quickly turned into a Category 4 storm. Just yesterday I said it was a tropical storm with 70 mph winds, but now it is a major hurricane with 130 mph winds.
Right now the hurricane is southeast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba. Weather forecasters said the hurricane could slam into Cancun, Mexico overnight into tomorrow.
Delta could hit Louisiana or other Gulf Coast states on Friday evening.
Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Alito criticizes 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage
On Monday, Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito wrote a ruling that caused LGBTQ activists and advocates to become concerned about the future of marriage equality.
What happened? Kim Davis — who is well-known for being jailed for refusing to obey a court order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County, Kentucky in 2015 — wanted the Supreme Court to block lawsuits against her for her actions.
The Supreme Court denied Davis’ appeal, which allows lawsuits against her to proceed, but in their ruling they took the time to criticize the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that guaranteed same-sex marriage equality for all 50 states.
Thomas said Obergefell v. Hodges caused people who have religious objections to become labeled as bigots (intolerant). The justices said Davis was forced to choose between her religious beliefs and her job. Thomas said he felt that the court made it a priority to grant a new constitutional right (to same-sex marriage) over the First Amendment protection to religious liberty. Both justices said the Supreme Court has created a problem that only it can fix.
LGBTQ+ advocates and allies said what this means is that the Supreme Court is willing to overturn the right to same-sex marriage, even though it is set in precedent.
This is a major concern for the LGBTQ+ community because the Supreme Court may have a 6-3 conservative majority if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed by the Senate.
The Supreme Court began their new term on Monday without the liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away three weeks ago.
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-covid-19-updates-tuesday/index.html
https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/delta-forecast-to-strike-us-as-major-hurricane/824981
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-gaymarriage-idUSKBN26Q2N9
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/thomas-alito-kim-davis-obergefell-decision-same-sex-marriage
https://www.witn.com/2020/10/06/lgbtq-community-concerned-after-supreme-court-justices-comments/
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/05/politics/clarence-thomas-samuel-alito/index.html