“The China Virus”: With daily deaths in the United States exceeding 1,000 for the first time in weeks, President Trump admitted yesterday in his renewed coronavirus briefing that the situation is getting worse. “It will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better,” he said. “Something I don’t like saying about things, but that’s the way it is.”

 For the first time, with 142,073 deaths as of this morning, he urged Americans to wear masks. “They have an impact,” he said. Deaths have averaged 810 over the past seven days.

  Trump repeatedly referred to the virus as “the China virus,” blaming that country for the pandemic.

  He is still not admitting full reality. With 50 million Americans laid off from their jobs, he said, “We’re setting record job numbers as you know.” Businesses are closing, unemployment benefits are running out, and evictions are rising. But Trump said, “I think we’re going to have a very strong year next year. I think we’re going to have a very strong third quarter, a very good fourth quarter, but I think next year is going to be a record year.”

Econ 101: More indicators of what the pandemic is doing to the economy; Coca Cola says its income is down 28 percent in the second quarter; United Airlines says its income dropped 90; and the corporate owner of Men’s Wearhouse and the JoS A Bank chains announced plans close up to 500 of their retail stores.

  Also in big financial trouble is Diane von Furstenberg, the inventor of the wrap dress. She has effectively filed bankruptcy in Europe and is closing her US stores.

Secret Police: As protesters in Portland continue to battle unidentified federal “agents” dressed in combat gear, and President Trump promises to send more to other cities,  Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters, “Under the law we believe that agents can conduct investigations of crimes committed against federal property or federal officers.”

  Whoever they are in the streets, they don’t wear badges, don’t identify themselves, and drive protesters away in unmarked vehicles. They aren’t “investigating” anything.

  David Graham writes for The Atlantic that Trump is getting close to creating a national police force, something close to the interior ministries feared in dictatorships.

  Graham writes, “For decades, conservative activists and leaders have warned that ‘jackbooted thugs’ from the federal government were going to come to take away Americans’ civil rights with no due process and no recourse. Now they’re here—but they’re deployed by a staunchly right-wing president with strong conservative support.”

  He says, “The subjects of the government’s repression are not white, rural gun owners, as at Ruby Ridge, but a multiracial coalition of urban residents, who tend to lean liberal, and who are protesting police violence against people of color. 

  Graham surmises that, “The federal government is not defending civil rights, as in the Little Rock case; in fact, it’s cracking down on protesters who are demanding better civil-rights protections. Nor is it acting at the request of local authorities; as we’ve seen, the state and local governments have called for the federal government to withdraw.”

Best Wishes: Asked in his press conference about Ghislaine Maxwell, the jailed procurer for serial teen molester Jeffrey Epstein, Trump had only good things to say. “I just wish her well, frankly, I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach, but I wish her well, whatever it is. I don’t know the situation with Prince Andrew. Just don’t know.”

  One woman says she was sent to have sex with Andrew when she was a teenager. 

China Syndrome: As relations between the US and China deteriorate, the State Department ordered China to close its Houston consulate by Friday. China said it will retaliate.

  The State Department said the closure was made in response to repeated Chinese violations of American sovereignty, including “massive illegal spying and influence operations.” The administration has repeatedly accused China of various attempts to steal commercial and military secrets. Most recently, the US indicted two Chinese hackers on charges that they tried to steal information about a coronavirus vaccine. 

The Bulletin Board: President Trump’s  former lawyer Michael Cohen has sued Attorney General William Barr claiming he was sent back to prison because he is writing a tell-all book  about the President. Cohen had been released in May from a three-year sentence for campaign finance violations because of the coronavirus danger in prison. The suit claims Cohen’s re-arrest violates his right to free speech. — ABC News and Disney have fired the network’s  talent recruitment officer Barbara Fedida, 52, who was accused of making racist remarks and being abusive. One accusation was that during salary negotiations with GMA’s Robin Roberts, who is black, Fedida complained that they weren’t asking Roberts to “pick cotton.” 

Naked Athena: The underground star of the Portland, Oregon protests has become an anonymous young woman known only as “Naked Athena.”

 The shapely woman, who has guarded her name, arrived naked at the protests last Friday night and proceeded to do yoga poses about 50 feet from the line of anonymous federal agents protecting freedom and democracy from freedom and democracy.

  Naked, she posed no threat. But officers fired pepper balls at her anyway. She was accompanied by two young men who used shields to protect her. 

  At one moment she sat down facing the line of camouflaged officers, spread-legged, knees bent, with her elbows on her knees. A picture of her, taken from behind, will be one of the iconic images of this time.    

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