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Wednesday, July 28, 2021

Wake-Up Call: 4 Police Officers Testify On Capitol Riots

Two Capitol Police Officers and two Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Officers testified yesterday in the first hearing of the House select committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol, giving emotional and at-times harrowing descriptions of what they went through that day. Among those delivering opening statements before their testimony was Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, who said "a peaceful transfer of power didn't happen this year," as well as the two Republicans on the panel, Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. Cheney said that in addition to finding out exactly what happened at the Capitol, the committee needed to know everything that happened at the White House that day. Kinzinger was emotional when he spoke about what the testifying officers went through, telling them, "You guys won. You guys held."

The Capitol Police officers testifying were Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, who compared what they went through to a "medieval battle," and Officer Harry Dunn. Dunn, who's Black, spoke about the racial slurs, including the n-word -- he spoke the actual word -- that the rioters used against him and other Black officers. D.C. Police Officer Michael Fanone, who had a mild heart attack, spoke about being repeatedly tased and hearing rioters say to take his gun and kill him with it. He also expressed anger at Republicans who've downplayed what happened on January 6th, slamming his hand down on the table as he called it "disgraceful." D.C. Police Officer Daniel Hodges, who was seen in widely-viewed video being crushed in a doorway by rioters, said one person used his gas mask to slam his head against a door, and another tried to gouge his eye out, and he spoke about being afraid at one point of being lynched.

 Thompson said they might return for another hearing during the August recess that begins next week.

➤WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERING MANDATING COVID VACCINE FOR FEDERAL WORKERS: The White House is strongly considering requiring that federal workers be vaccinated against the coronavirus, or have regular Covid testing and be required to wear a mask. The potential change comes amid growing concern about the highly-contagious delta virus that's spreading across the U.S. That same concern led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reverse course yesterday and advise that vaccinated people in areas with substantial or high coronavirus transmission rates should wear masks indoors. Reportedly of particular concern is new data showing that vaccinated people with rare breakthrough infections have a high rate of virus, meaning they could potentially be able to infect others.

➤CDC UPDATES GUIDANCE, RECOMMENDS VACCINATED PEOPLE WEAR MASKS INDOORS IN CERTAIN AREAS: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has changed its masking guidelines as of yesterday evening and recommends that even vaccinated people wear masks indoors in parts of the U.S. where the coronavirus is surging. This comes after COVID cases, deaths, and hospitalizations fell steadily for months, but the trend started reversing at the beginning of summer as a mutated and more transmissible version of the virus, the delta variant, started to spread widely, especially in areas with lower vaccination rates. This comes as new unpublished data shows that vaccinated people infected with the Delta coronavirus variant can have as many virus particles as those who are unvaccinated—this is the primary driver for the CDC’s latest mask guidance. It’s notable that overall, vaccinated people still play a small role in transmission and breakthrough infections are rare. It’s believed that most transmission is happening in areas with vaccination levels below 40 percent of the population.

➤FDA ASKS PFIZER, MODERNA TO WIDEN TRIALS FOR COVID-19 VACCINES IN CHILDREN: As coronavirus variants spread, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked Pfizer and Moderna to expand the size of the studies of their respective COVID-19 vaccines to include more children ages five to 11. The New York Times reports the companies agreed. The request is a precautionary measure to detect rare vaccine side effects (such as heart inflammation) that have been seen in some vaccinated people under age 30. Pfizer may be able to receive emergency authorization and see results for the 5-to-11 group by the end of September. A Moderna spokesperson says the company intends to expand its trials and seek emergency authorization late this year or early next year.

➤MAN SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON AFTER PLEADING GUILTY TO ASIAN MASSAGE PARLOR KILLINGS IN GEORGIA: A 22-year-old man was sentenced to life in prison yesterday after he pled guilty to killing four people in Atlanta-area Asian massage parlors in March. Robert Aaron Long was accused of killing eight people, most of them women of Asian descent, but only pled guilty Tuesday in four of the murders. He is still potentially facing the death penalty in the other four deaths, which are being prosecuted in another county. After he was arrested, Long told police he believed he was a sex addict, saying he felt a lot of guilt when he looked at porn or engaged in sex acts at massage businesses.

➤PROMINENT DEMOCRATIC DONOR BUCK CONVICTED IN TWO DEATHS: Prominent Democratic donor Ed Buck was convicted yesterday (in the methamphetamine overdose deaths of two men in his West Hollywood apartment, one in 2017 and the other 2019. The 66-year-old was accused of injecting the men, Gemelle Moore and Timothy Dean, with the drug during sexual encounters. The Justice Department said yesterday, "Buck exerted power and control over his victims, typically targeting individuals who were destitute, homeless or struggling with drug addiction. He exploited the wealth and power balance between them by offering his victims money to use drugs and to let Buck inject them with narcotics." Buck was found guilty of all nine felony counts, including two counts of distribution of controlled substances resulting in death, each of which carries a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison.

➤BIDEN EXPECTED TO BE AT NYC'S 9/11 MEMORIAL TO MARK 20TH ANNIVERSARY: President Biden is expected to be at the 9/11 memorial in New York City to mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in September, Politico reported yesterday, citing several sources. It's also being looked at for Biden to possibly also stop at the other two 9/11 sites, the Pentagon and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. But the report cited an administration official as saying it may be logistically difficult for him to go to all three places in one day.

➤OBAMA BUYS STAKE IN NBA AFRICA: Former President Barack Obama has bought a stake in NBA Africa, a new entity set up this year to run all of the NBA's business in Africa. The league said yesterday (July 27th) that Obama bought the minority equity stake through his foundation, and that he would use any profits to fund the Obama Foundation's youth and leadership programs in Africa. NBA Africa and the International Basketball Federation set up the first pro basketball league in the continent, which held its inaugural season in May. The Basketball Africa League featured the top teams from 12 African nations.

➤FORMER INTELLIGENCE ANALYST SENTENCED TO 45 MONTHS FOR LEAKING SECRET DRONE PROGRAM INFO: A 33-year-old former Air Force intelligence analyst was sentenced to 45 months in prison yesterday for leaking top-secret information about the U.S. drone program to a journalist in 2014. Daniel Hale, who once helped find targets for drone strikes, said he leaked the information because of his guilt for participating in a program that he believed was indiscriminately killing civilians in Afghanistan. He stated, "It is especially wrong to kill the defenseless." But U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady said Hale had other means to express his concerns and avenues for action. However, the sentence he imposed was significantly less than what had been sought by prosecutors. Hale pled guilty earlier this year.


➤STUDY..ONLY HALF OF U-S HOUSEHOLDS DONATED TO CHARITY: A new study out yesterday from Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, which is published every other year, found that only half of U.S. households donated to a charity, the lowest in nearly two decades. In 2000, 66 percent of U.S. households donated to a charity, but it was down to 49.6 percent in 2018, according to the study. That continues a trend of charitable donations being at record highs even as they're coming from a smaller and smaller percentage of the population. Experts cite factors including the percentage of people giving to religious charitable causes has fallen along with the decline in worship service attendance, as well as the percentage of people donating dropping after the Great Recession, and it hasn't recovered. The study also suggests declining levels of trust among Americans for institutions and each other may also play a role.

➤TOKYO OLYMPICS: Highlights:
  • Biles Won't Compete in All-Around: It was announced early this morning that Simone Biles won't compete in the women's gymnastics all-around final on Thursday, with a statement from USA Gymnastics saying she's withdrawing, quote, "to focus on her mental health." Jade Carey will take her place. It wasn't revealed whether she'll compete in the four event finals later in the Olympics.
  • Russian Women Win Team Gymnastics Gold After Biles Withdraws - The Russian Olympic Committee women won the team gymnastics gold yesterday after U.S. star Simone Biles stunningly withdrew from the competition. The U.S., with the three remaining team members -- Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles and Grace McCallum -- having to complete on all the other three events, won the silver, and Great Britain won bronze. Biles withdrew after the team's first event, the vault, when she did an much easier vault than planned and almost fell on the landing, saying afterward that she'd felt lost in the air. She explained later that she knew she wasn't in right mental place to continue, and decided to pull out to avoid injury to herself and to keep from damaging the rest of the team's prospects to win a medal. Biles spoke later about the pressure she's been under and said, "[W]e have to protect our mind and our body, rather than just go out there and do what the world wants us to do." ["I just felt like it would be a little bit better to take a back seat, work on my mindfulness, and I knew that the girls would do an absolutely great job and I didn't want to risk the team a medal for, kind of, my screw-ups because they've worked way too hard for that.]"
  • U.S. Men's Basketball Team Beat Iran 120-66: The U.S. men's basketball team came back from its loss to Iran in its first game of the Tokyo Games to beat Iran 120-66. They'll play the Czech Republic next.
  • U.S. Swimmer Ledecky Wins 1,500-Meter Freestyle - U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky finally won her first gold of the Tokyo Games in the 1,500-meter freestyle and teammate Erica Sullivan won silver. Ledecky, who won four gold medals and a silver at the 2016 Rio Games, had finished in fifth place in the 200-meter freestyle hours earlier. She'd also come in second, winning silver, in the 400-meter freestyle, losing to Australia's Ariarne Titmus, who also won the 200-meter.
  • Japan Beats U.S. to Win Softball Gold - Japan beat the U.S. 2-0 to win the gold in softball for the second Olympics in a row. That earlier gold, though, was in the 2008 Beijing Olympics -- also won in the final game against the U.S. -- since softball wasn't in the 2012 or 2016 Olympics. The U.S. walked away with the silver, and Canada won bronze by beating Mexico in their game a day earlier.
MEDAL COUNT: (As of 3:30 a.m. ET) - The U.S. is in first place with 30 medals, followed by China with 24 and Japan with 20. In the gold medal count, Japan and China are tied in first with 11, followed by the U.S. with 10, and the Russian Olympic Committee with seven.  ESPN'S MEDAL TRACKER: https://es.pn/3hZWIw0

OTHER SPORTS:

🏈TEXAS, OKLAHOMA REQUEST TO JOIN SEC: Texas and Oklahoma made it official Tuesday, requesting to join the Southeastern Conference in 2025, which would mean leaving the Big 12. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey saying the league would consider it in the "near future." The move came one day after the two schools notified the Big 12 they wouldn't be extending a grant of media rights agreement past its 2025 expiration date.

🏒GOLDEN KNIGHTS TRADE FLEURY TO BLACKHAWKS: The Vegas Golden Knights traded Marc-Andre Fleury, the reigning Vezina Trophy-winner as best goalie, to the Chicago Blackhawks yesterday. Fleury was traded for minor league forward Mikael Hakkarainen in a salary dump. In reaction, the agent for the 36-year-old, Allan Walsh, tweeted: "Marc-Andre will be taking time to discuss his situation with his family and seriously evaluate his hockey future at this time." Fleury hadn't wanted to be traded.

🏈HOWARD REQUESTS TRADE FROM DOLPHINS, DOESN'T 'FEEL VALUED': Miami Dolphins Pro Bowl cornerback Xavien Howard revealed last night that he'd requested a trade, saying in a statement, "I don't feel valued, or respected, by the Dolphins." He added, "Just like they can take a business-first approach, so can I." Although Howard reported to training camp yesterday, AP reports he's been frustrated this Miami won't adjust his contract for higher compensation.

⚾MLB EXTENDS BAUER'S LEAVE FOR THIRD TIME: L.A. Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer's administrative leave was extended by MLB with the consent of the players' association for a third time Tuesday, this time through August 6th, ESPN reported. The leave is ongoing while MLB and Pasadena, California, police continue to look into a woman's allegations of sexual misconduct against him. The woman claims Bauer assaulted her during two sexual encounters. Bauer's agents have denied the accusations.

🏀NBA TO HOLD PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT AGAIN NEXT YEAR: The NBA will be having a play-in tournament again next year, with the board of governors approving it yesterday (July 27th). It will be the same format as it was this season, in which the teams that finish seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th in each conference will play to determine the Number 7 and 8 playoff seeds.

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