Beirut: A massive explosion that levelled the port area in Beirut appears to have been caused by 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer stored in a warehouse. At least 100 people were killed and 4,000 injured.

  Video of the event shows a fire burning and a column of rusty red smoke rising over the port. Flares like fireworks were shooting out of the fire. Then came the larger explosion that sent a shock wave rolling out for more than a mile, levelling buildings, hurling cars, and blowing out windows.

 Reports say a two-mile radius was flattened. One man said “It was raining glass all over the city of Beirut.” As many as 300,000 people were displaced from their homes. Bloodied survivors picked their way through rubble and hospital emergency rooms were overwhelmed. Even the CNN  bureau was wrecked.

  It’s a serious hit for Lebanon, which has been in economic decline while fighting the coronavirus. The country imports most of its food, particularly grain, and the grain storage facility at the port was destroyed.

Stormy Weather: Hurricane then Tropical Storm Isaias raced through the Northeast late yesterday, blowing over trees, knocking out power, and dropping buckets of rain. It moved amazingly fast.

  The storm did some damage to The Rooney Report’s  technical systems, so we’re going to be briefer today.

Mailing it In: Kansas Republicans yesterday rejected Trump ally and voter-fraud conspiracy theorist Kris Kobach and nominated the party-preferred Rep. Roger Marshall for a senate seat that will be vacant next year. The party feared that voters would go for a Democrat rather than Kobach, endangering Republican control of the senate.

  In a shakeup for establishment Democrats, Cori Bush, a progressive and racial justice activist, knocked out Rep. William Lacy Clay Jr. of Missouri. The vote is still too close to call on whether Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a member of the Democratic progressive “squad” in the House, can hang on to her seat.

  President Trump, who’s been railing against the dangers of mail ballots in the fall election is now a convert, at least for his adopted home state of Florida. He tweeted, “Whether you call it Vote by Mail or Absentee Voting, in Florida the election system is Safe and Secure, Tried and True. Florida’s Voting system has been cleaned up (we defeated Democrats attempts at change), so in Florida I encourage all to request a Ballot & Vote by Mail!” 

Viral News: Coronavirus deaths are surging again. Another 1,368 Americans died overnight.

  Cases are rising in Hawaii, Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Massachusetts.

The Bulletin Board: Congress is still “slogging” through negotiations for a new pandemic relief bill, in the words of NY Sen. Chuck Schumer. — New York City’s health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, resigned to protest her “deep disappointment” with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.   

A Small World After All: Losing hope that it can open in theaters during the pandemic, Disney announced that its new live-action version of “Mulan” will debut in September on the company’s new streaming service Disney+. It comes at a premium price of $29.99 beginning Sept. 4 because it’s Disney and they don’t give anything away cheap.

  Disney is one of few movie companies with such an outlet. Feature films set for release this year have been delayed once and some of them twice. A few have been rolled over into 2021 as the theaters remain dark.

  The movie industry has taken an enormous hit, and it may get worse. Ticket sales were $42 billion last year, an all-time high, but the future is uncertain if the public is afraid to return to theaters when they open. The record revenue has come from higher prices, not more ticket sales, which have been pretty much flat since 1995. More people prefer to stay home and watch, particularly now. 

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