Cheap is Cheap: The so called “skinny bill” offered as a second pandemic stimulus failed in the Senate yesterday, making it likely that no bill will pass before the November election.

  The failure to reach a deal is likely to leave millions of people as well as businesses and state governments in a lot of trouble this fall.

  The bill was dubbed “skinny”  because it was for only $350 billion as opposed to the $1 trillion the Republicans had negotiated. The Democrats want $2 trillion.  The bill also omitted another round of stimulus checks to families as well as additional aid to state and local governments that are sliding deep into the red as the pandemic cuts into their tax income. 

Viral News: President Trump claims he didn’t lie about the severity of the coronavirus even though tape recordings made by journalist Bob Woodward prove that he told the truth in private and lied in public.

 “I didn’t lie, what I said is, ‘We have to be calm, we can’t be panicked,’” Trump said during a press conference.

  No, that isn’t what he said. He said it was no more serious than the flu and it would go away quickly.

  Trump told reporters, “No, I don’t want to jump up and down and start screaming death, because that’s not what it’s about. We have to lead a country, we’re leading a great country, and we’re doing a great job, and the people that have done such a good job should be given the kind of credit that they deserve.” 

  Despite the US leading the world in deaths, Trump said, “We saved hundreds of thousands of lives.”

  This morning  191,802 Americans are dead of the virus, over 60,000 more than the next country, Brazil. 

Breaking Late: The revered Bob Woodward is taking nearly as much criticism as President Trump for sitting on the story about the President’s pandemic soft-balling until his new book was published.

  Charles Pierce writes for Esquire magazine that, “The president knew and lied because he wanted to get re-elected. Woodward knew and kept it to himself because he had a book to sell. Who’s worse?”

  After telling Woodward that he knew the coronavirus was five times more deadly than the flu, Trump continued to downplay the severity of the crisis and even discourage people from wearing masks for protection.

  Pierce, who describes Woodward as “one of the stone heads on journalism’s Easter Island,” writes that, “I have to wonder how Woodward watched the president lie for six months as the body count ratcheted skyward without his conscience tearing out his heart. I have to wonder if, in some small way, journalism as public service died as collateral damage in that struggle.”

Counting Heads: A federal court in Manhattan rejected President Trump’s order to exclude illegal immigrants from the 2020 census. A three-judge panel ruled that the order is so obviously illegal that the question doesn’t even need to go to trial.

  The judges noted that Trump’s order violates the Constitution’s requirement to apportion seats in the House of Representatives according to “the whole number of persons in each state.”

  The lawsuits had argued that Trump’s order excluding illegal residents would cause an undercount, resulting in a loss of congressional representation and federal money for some states.

The Big Burn: At least 14 people have died in wildfires burning in Oregon, California, and Washington state. In northern California the Butte County Sheriff’s Office announced at a briefing the discovery of seven bodies, bringing the known total of wildfire-related deaths in the state to 10.

 The Bulletin Board: Today is the 19^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. — Four Houston police officers among five involved in a fatal shooting on April 21^st have been fired. The four fired a total of 21 shots that were considered “unreasonable.” — The National Football League opened last night with player protests over social injustice and police brutality. The Houston Texans playing in Kansas City stayed in their locker room during the “The Star-Spangled Banner.” — The number of high school students regularly using e-cigarettes dropped significantly over the past year, according to the annual National Youth Tobacco Survey.

The Obit Page: British actress Diana Rigg, who once wore black leather catsuits like nobody else, has died at age 82. Rigg captured the hearts of men everywhere as Emma Peel in the 1960s television series “The Avengers.” 

  “It was a bit frightening,” Rigg once said about all the male attention she had in her 20s.  “I didn’t know quite what to do with that degree of lust. I’d been in London to drama school and I was [by] no means naive. But to be given that degree of notoriety was a bit of a shock.”

  Most recently Rigg starred in the HBO series “Game of Thrones” as Olenna Tyrell who murdered King Joffrey just before getting knocked off herself. 

Last Words:

 Donald Trump; “If Bob Woodward thought what I said was bad then he should have immediately, right after I said it, gone out to the authorities so they can prepare.”

  Washington Post reporter Philip Rucker; “Bob Woodward is not the President.”