Viral News: Florida set a new record for itself yesterday, reporting 2,783 new cases of the coronavirus in a single day as the pandemic grows in that state. 

  Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who’s been pushing to get the state re-opened and back to work, attributed the uptick to more widespread testing, but epidemiologists say the numbers suggest increased transmissions. 

  DeSantis dismissed the notion that the increase in cases has anything to do with the re-opening of public spaces, including bars and restaurants. “We’re not shutting down,” he said. “You have to have society function.”

  A healthcare worker reports that she and 15 friends came down with the virus after breaking quarantine and going to a bar.

  Florida has had over 80,000 Covid cases and just under 3,000 deaths.

  Overall, nine states — Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina and Texas — have reported new highs.

  The US has had more than 2.1 million cases with 116,963 deaths, still running at more than 800 a day.

   Vice President Pence said yesterday that fears of a second wave of infections were “overblown.” In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Pence claimed that “the media has tried to scare the American people.”

Aisle 7: After two months in the dumps, retail sales in May rebounded by 17.7 percent as stores and restaurants reopened from lockdown and federal money was injected into the economy. 

  It’s the biggest monthly surge on record, and President Trump was quick to twitterbrate. “Far bigger than projected,” he wrote. “Looks like a BIG DAY FOR THE STOCK MARKET, AND JOBS!”

  The May numbers feed the debate about whether the economy will still require more federal stimulus for recovery or can it make it on its own. What Trump didn’t say is that the record rise followed two months of record declines and overall sales are still down 8 percent from February. Some categories, like clothing, were still down as much as 63 percent from a year earlier. 

Book Banning: Lawyers for the Trump administration have asked a federal judge to ban the publishing of a book by former national Security Adviser John Bolton that is expected to be unflattering to the President.

  The book, “The Room Where It Happened,” is set for release next Tuesday. The administration claims it is “rife with classified information.”  Bolton’s lawyer says the revelations in the book are merely embarrassing for Trump, but do not include anything classified.

  The head of the Justice Department civil division resigned after the suit was filed, but no one will say whether it was because of the Bolton suit.

  As required by law, Bolton submitted the manuscript to the administration in January when Trump’s impeachment was underway. Now it has already been printed and shipped to warehouses.

  Bolton promises to drop bombs. One story already known to be in the book is about Trump attempting to tie military aid to Ukraine to an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.

Police Blotter: The Mayor of Richmond, Virginia forced the resignation of his police chief after a couple of incidents, one Saturday night in which a police SUV drove into a crowd of protesters that blocked its path, and another in which teargas was used to disperse peaceful protesters 20 minutes before curfew. 

  President Trump signed a mostly toothless executive order yesterday designed to encourage restrictions on police methods, including chokeholds. The order has no immediate effect. Trump said he was “encouraging police departments nationwide to adopt the highest professional standards to serve their communities.”

Border Brawl: At least 20 Indian soldiers have been killed in a brawl with Chinese opponents along the disputed border between the two countries in the Himalayas. It’s the worst confrontation in 40 years between the two countries in an area where they once had artillery duels.

 Reports say the fatal fight, and other recent brawls, have been carried out only with fists, rocks and wooden clubs, some possibly studded with nails or wrapped in barbed wire. Not a shot was fired.

  Dozens of Indian soldiers are reported missing, possibly taken prisoner by the Chinese. What India does about it is a big question. India is not considered either economically or militarily strong enough to risk war with China.

Big Brother: China, which has been a sophisticated surveillance state for more than 30 years, is collecting the DNA of its 700 million males in order to be able to identify who everyone is. The NY Times reports that since 2017 the government has been building a vast DNA database.

  They are getting help from the Massachusetts company  Thermo Fisher, which is selling them the test kits.

  The Bulletin Board: Pacific Gas & Electric has pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of 84 people in the fire that burned down Paradise, California. CEO Bill Johnson said, “I’m here today on behalf of the 23,000 men and women of PG&E to take responsibility for the fire that killed these people.” — Police in Albuquerque arrested a former city council candidate accused of shooting a man during a protest. Steven Baca was a member of the armed “New Mexico Civil Guard” that had appeared with counter protesters carrying “All lives matter” signs. Then he shot someone.

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