Pandemic: The country’s three most populous states — California, Texas, and Florida — yesterday all posted their highest ever one-day increase in coronavirus cases. 

  The US registered more almost 37,000 new cases yesterday, a single-day record, and the 14-day rate of increase is now 47 percent. Deaths are down 29 percent, a total of 121,979 as of this morning.

  With coronavirus cases rising in other states, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut announced that visitors from a handful of states must spend two weeks in mandatory quarantine after they arrive. Although the quarantine is voluntary, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said people violating the order could be “subject to a judicial order and mandatory quarantine,” as well as fines of up to $10,000. 

  The nine states on the list are; Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington State. President Trump plans to travel to New Jersey despite having been in Arizona earlier this week.

  Facing a spike in cases after pushing to re-open his state’s economy, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has urged Texans to go home and stay there. Hospitals in Houston are filled to 97 percent capacity.

General Amnesty: A federal appeals court yesterday ordered a lower court judge to void the criminal charges against  former Director of National Security Michael Flynn even though he pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI.

  President Trump said, “I want to congratulate him. He’s been through a lot.”

  While Flynn was awaiting sentencing last month, Attorney Gen. Bill Barr moved to dismiss the charges against him for lying about his conversations with the Russian ambassador before President Trump was inaugurated. The lower court judge, Emmet Sullivan, had not ruled on the DOJ motion and it is highly unusual for the appeals court to have acted first.

  The ruling came the same day that a Justice Department lawyer testified before the House Judiciary Committee that DOJ proceedings have become politicized in the Trump administration. Aaron Zelinsky, a prosecutor on the Russia investigation, said senior officials intervened to seek a more lenient prison sentence for Trump’s longtime friend Roger Stone, “because of politics.”

  “In the United States of America, we do not prosecute people based on politics, and we don’t cut them a break based on politics,” said Zelinsky, who testified by video. He said, “Roger Stone was treated differently because of politics.”

Biden Trending: Former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Trump by significant margins in polling of voters in six battleground states carried by president Trump in 2016, according to a NY Times poll.

  The numbers; Michigan and Wisconsin, Biden +11; Pennsylvania, +6; Arizona, +7; North Carolina, +9.

  The Democratic Party announced that Biden will accept the party’s nomination for president at a scaled down convention in Milwaukee.

Statuary of Limitations: The US Marshal’s Service has been put on notice that they may be called to protect federal monuments from attempts to tear them down, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post.

  Protesters have generally attacked monuments to Confederate heroes and known racists. President Trump said, “Now they’re looking at Jesus Christ. They’re looking at George Washington, they’re looking at Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson. Not gonna happen.”

  There’s no federal monument to Jesus.

  Protecting statues is  out of the usual line of work for the marshals, which  provide security for courthouses, transport prisoners, and track down fugitives.

Meltdown: Ben & Jerry’s ice cream announced it is pulling ads from Facebook until the social media company cleans up its content. 

  “We will pause all paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram in the U.S. in support of the #StopHateForProfit campaign,” the company tweeted. “Facebook, Inc. must take the clear and unequivocal actions to stop its platform from being used to spread and amplify racism and hate.”

The Bulletin Board: Three white men accused in the killing Ahmaud Arbery, a black jogger who was shot dead after being chased through a South Georgia neighborhood, have been indicted for murder. — The police chief of Tucson, Arizona, abruptly offered to resign while releasing a video in which a 27-year-old Latino man died two months ago while in police custody. Three officers involved have resigned. — NASA announced that it would name its Washington, DC, headquarters after Mary Jackson, the organization’s first black female engineer who was instrumental in putting men in space. — The Bayer corporation has agreed to pay 10.9 billion to settle lawsuits claiming that its weed killer Roundup causes cancer. The company claims Roundup does not cause cancer, but has agreed to submit to a neutral scientific determination.

God and Man in Florida: Before a vote to require the wearing of masks in public places to stop the spread of coronavirus, Palm Beach County commissioners were lectured by residents who accused them of obeying the devil, imposing a communist dictatorship, and dishonoring the American flag. One woman said, “They want to throw God’s wonderful breathing system out the door.”

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