COVID cases mostly fall globally: https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-south-africa-middle-east-5ae593b4118e68009c1ea0eecb0c56a0 . The exception is the Americas.
COVID delta mutation increases breakthrough infections: https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-united-states-pandemics-72462053f8d60fd548cf34377864100b . There is a suggestion here of parallel evolution: https://www.britannica.com/science/evolution-scientific-theory/Convergent-and-parallel-evolution .
Largest US cities lose population in first year of pandemic: https://apnews.com/article/new-york-san-francisco-los-angeles-government-and-politics-4a3544499d11af3a4600c1067b97f24c . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/big-u-s-cities-lost-more-residents-as-pandemic-stretched-on-11653537661 .
Weekly unemployment benefits applications drop to 210,000: https://apnews.com/article/covid-politics-health-economy-32ed8deb2f61ef71a9e7ee9b58af5afc .
Residents flee Shanghai lockdowns: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/shanghai-sees-exodus-as-people-flee-china-s-lockdown-woes/ar-AAXLtKp?cvid=487fa2372ce947a89a64456b31512d73 .
Official account of Texas school shooting unravels: https://news.yahoo.com/police-narrative-on-texas-school-shooting-in-question-as-new-details-emerge-132129728.html . As it turns out, (a) the shooter was not wearing body armor; (b) police waited about 40 minutes before entering the building; (c) the shooter “barricaded” himself in the classroom by locking the door; (d) the police had to have a staff member with a key unlock the door; and (e) police actions apparently caused one of the children to be identified and killed by the shooter.
I support the police, and we should honor the heroes among us. However, creating a false narrative to self-declare heroism in the midst of this tragedy is reprehensible. As we know, Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz and the other GOP clowns at yesterday’s press conference are true pigs. Their upcoming appearance at the NRA convention in Houston is incredibly offensive. Beto O’Rourke probably didn’t know these new facts about Uvalde when he confronted these clowns, but I am now even more supportive of what he did.
UPDATE: Even more questions have arisen concerning the law enforcement accounts: (f) there was no confrontation outside the school with the gunman as there was no security officer on the school’s campus; (g) accounts have emerged that the shooter was shooting from inside the school through the windows at people outside the school, which raises the question of why the police did not return fire; and (h) police training everywhere is to take down an active shooter as quickly as possible, yet the police did not only not go in, they restrained off-duty law enforcement parents from going in: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/uvalde-shooting-police-waited-hour-backup-rcna30622 .
Also, (i) the gunman apparently entered the school because not only was there no public safety officer on campus, but the door was unlocked: https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-video-purportedly-shows-uvalde-shooter-entering-robb-elementary-school/ . More: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gunman-entered-uvalde-elementary-school-unobstructed-started-shooting-rcna30724 .
Law enforcement has completely lost control of this incident because they do not have anything approaching a coherent version of events: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-the-official-accounts-about-the-uvalde-shooting-have-changed/ar-AAXLPZG?cvid=6f8ac6ecefb64f5ba2266540a63b710a . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/uvalde-residents-voice-frustration-over-shooting-response-11653588161 . Every parent in the world should be furious at the complete incompetence involved in losing the lives of these 10-year-old innocents. More: https://jezebel.com/new-videos-show-police-did-absolutely-nothing-to-stop-t-1848981128 .
Paul Gosar earns a Lifetime Achievement Award in the GOP’s ongoing Idiot Olympics: https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/trans-womans-photo-used-spread-baseless-online-theory-texas-shooter-rcna30511 . These awards are rare – you really have to be despicable scum to achieve one. Gosar joins previous awardees Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz sinks even lower: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ted-cruz-sky-news-mass-shootings_n_628fba3ce4b0cda85dbbd31e . This scumbag still plots to become President. At some point, he will need to answer the question of why gun violence has become a fact of life in this country. The answer is quite simple. There are 400 million guns in this country, more than 1 for every American. An 18-year-old can buy two assault rifles on his birthday. So is Ted really telling us he cannot connect the dots?
Don McLean and other performers back out of NRA Houston performances: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/don-mc-lean-cancels-nra-gig-after-school-shooting-142326890.html .
Update on GOP primary predictions: Of the 5 named Senate primaries I called, Vance (Ohio), Budd (NC) and Walker (Georgia) all won, while Perdue (Georgia) lost, so I am 4-0 on these calls. Oz (Pennsylvania) remains in a toss-up race (also predicted). I called a narrow Oz win, with a loss in the general election. Oz currently leads by 902* votes, or 0.07%, out of over 1.3 million votes cast: https://www.media.pa.gov/pages/state-details.aspx?newsid=525 . Officials must complete the recount by June 8.
*As of this writing, the gap is now 910 votes, according to the state website: https://electionreturns.pa.gov/ . This is an update of the initial count and does not include any recount results.
Orange Julius loses in court, again: https://apnews.com/article/new-york-manhattan-donald-trump-government-and-politics-80c1c81e3c00d845f460175a45e7ebd4 . Frankly, there was no possible merit to this request or appeal. As the state noted, it is not uncommon for civil and criminal proceedings to occur simultaneously. This is just another delaying tactic from OJ’s lawyers. Therefore, in my view, contempt citations for frivolous arguments should be in the picture here. WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-ordered-to-testify-in-n-y-attorney-generals-civil-fraud-probe-11653582310 .
Tesla shareholder sues Musk for Twitter stock manipulation: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/elon-musk-sued-by-twitter-shareholder-alleging-that-he-manipulated-the-company-s-stock-price-with-his-tweets-following-the-buyout-agreement/ar-AAXLRYH?cvid=a66210be40fa4b2e881067ae3af8a9e0 . As readers know, I have expected this suit for some time .
Ray Liotta passes at 67: https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/ray-liotta-goodfellas-star-gifted-character-actor-dies-67-rcna30690 . WSJ: More: https://www.wsj.com/articles/goodfellas-actor-ray-liotta-dies-at-67-11653595710 .
Just a head’s up – The newsletter may be somewhat reduced over the next two or three days as I attend my college reunion in Claremont, California. Assuming I have an internet connection, I will do my best to get something out, though – tomorrow, May 27, will be the 700th consecutive daily newsletter. And since WSJ does not publish on Sundays, it will represent 100 more newsletters than copies of the Journal over that period. I guess WSJ needs a bigger staff.
And here’s a note about Claremont McKenna College. When I attended, we were the Claremont Men’s College Stags (nice pun for a men’s college). We still are the Stags, but we now have women’s teams (the Athenas). And yesterday (Wednesday), the Athenas beat the University of Chicago 5-1 in Orlando to become the NCAA Division III women’s tennis champions. They become the first Athenas team to repeat as national champions, having also won in 2018.
There are constant reminders that times have changed from 50+ years ago, as the 1970 and 1971 (all-male) class reunions were delayed by the pandemic, and now join the 1972 class on campus. There may be a concurrent campus event for the returning tennis champions.