Weekend Open Thread
[guest post by Dana]
Feel free to share any news items in the comments. Please make sure to include links.
First news item
“It used to be in the old days before this, you’d write a letter and you’d say, ‘this letter is really bad,’ you put it on your desk and you go back tomorrow and you say, ‘oh, I’m glad I didn’t send it,’” Trump told Barstool Sports’ founder Dave Portnoy.
“But we don’t do that with Twitter. We put it out instantaneously, we feel great, and then you start getting phone calls, ‘Did you really say this?’ I say, ‘What’s wrong with that?’ And you find a lot of things,” continued the president, who is often the subject of criticism over his use of his Twitter account. “You know what I find? It’s not the tweets, it’s the retweets that get you in trouble.”
Trump went on to say he doesn’t always look closely at the tweets that he shares from his Twitter account, which has 84 million followers.
Second news item
Caught in the crosshairs of the face mask wars:
1. A grocery store employee has been suspended after they pepper-sprayed a customer who became confrontational after being asked to wear a mask and allegedly rammed the worker with a shopping cart.
The supermarket chain Ralphs confirmed on Friday that the employee involved in the July 15 altercation at a Los Angeles location has been suspended despite witnesses who said the worker was defending herself, CBS Los Angeles reported.
2. Police asked for the public’s help Friday to identify a man they say punched a barista over what may have been a dispute over the chain’s face mask policy.
The assault happened at a Starbucks on West Avenue I in Lancaster. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, a man punched a barista when employees asked him to put on a mask as he entered the coffee shop.
Third news item
Oregon loses fight with Trump:
Oregon lost a fight with the Trump administration over federal agents’ detention of anti-racism protesters in Portland, as the president takes on Democratic-run states and cities in the run-up to the election.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum had asked a federal judge to stop Department of Homeland Security agents and U.S. Marshals from detaining or arresting people without identifying themselves and without probable cause, a warrant or any explanation.
U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman on Friday denied the temporary restraining order she sought, saying the state had failed to prove it had any business suing the U.S. in the first place. Oregon had to show it had standing to sue on behalf of the protesters, defending people who can’t protect themselves, he wrote, and hadn’t.
The Department of Homeland Security has sent federal agents into Seattle ahead of planned protests this weekend, in a move opposed by both the mayor and the Seattle chief of police. According to U.S. Attorney Brian Moran, the agents are there to protect federal properties like courthouses—one of which was broken into last week. But Mayor Jenny Durkin and nine members of the Washington State congressional delegation, as well as several county officials, have said the move will only increase tensions in the city.
Fourth news item
Supreme Court says “yes” to entertainment gatherings, “no” to church gatherings:
A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court denied a rural Nevada church’s request late Friday to strike down as unconstitutional a 50-person cap on worship services as part of the state’s ongoing response to the coronavirus.
In a 5-4 decision, the high court refused to grant the request from the Christian church east of Reno to be subjected to the same COVID-19 restrictions in Nevada that allow casinos, restaurants and other businesses to operate at 50% of capacity with proper social distancing.
This is a simple case. Under the Governor’s edict, a 10-screen “multiplex” may host 500 moviegoers at any time. A casino, too, may cater to hundreds at once, with perhaps six people huddled at each craps table here and a similar number gathered around every roulette wheel there. Large numbers and close quarters are fine in such places. But churches, synagogues, and mosques are banned from admitting more than 50 worshippers—no matter how large the building, how distant the individuals, how many wear face masks, no matter the precautions at all. In Nevada, it seems, it is better to be in entertainment than religion. Maybe that is nothing new. But the First Amendment prohibits such obvious discrimination against the exercise of religion. The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, poses unusual challenges. But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.
Fifth news item
Person, woman, man, camera, TV:
How to person woman man camera tv (with captions) pic.twitter.com/YP8USHTxaX
— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) July 24, 2020
Sixth news item
As if the pandemic isn’t enough for Texas, Hawaii and the Carribean to worry about:
Three separate storm systems are threatening the United States and the Caribbean this weekend.
They are Hurricane Hanna in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Douglas in the Pacific Ocean and Tropical Storm Gonzalo in the Atlantic.
Have a good weekend.
–Dana
