Nine Minutes, 29 Seconds: The first witness in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was a 911 operator who watched on a security camera while Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nearly 10 minutes until he was dead.

  Jena Scurry said, “I first asked if the screens were frozen.” She testified that she then thought, “Something was not right. It was an extended period of time. … It was a gut instinct, now we can be concerned.”

  She said she reported what she saw to a supervisor.

  In his opening statement, prosecutor Jerry Blackwell told the jury that Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, nearly four minutes  of it after the man was basically dead. Floyd had been detained on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill.

  In his opening statement Blackwell said, “During this period of time, you will learn that Mr. Chauvin is told that they can’t even find the pulse of Mr. Floyd. You’ll learn he’s told that twice.” Blackwell continued, “You will see that he does not let up and that he does not get up.”

  Chauvin is being tried on charges of second- and third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter for Floyd’s death.  His lawyer, Eric Nelson, said in his opening that “Derek Chauvin did exactly what he had been trained to do over the course of his 19-year career,” and that Floyd’s death may have been caused by illicit drugs he had taken.

  The medical examiner had ruled the death a homicide, meaning Floyd was killed by the force applied by another person.

  Blackwell said “The Minneapolis police are precluded, not allowed to use any more force that is necessary to bring a person under their control.” But he said the nine minute 39 second videotape of the incident reveals Floyd saying, “Please, I can’t breathe, please, man, please.” He told the jury, “You will hear him say, “Tell my kids I love them.” You will hear him say about his fear of dying, he says, “I’ll probably die this way. I’m through. I’m through. They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me, man.”

Viral News: With cases of Covid-19 rising again, the director of the Centers for Disease control issued a new warning for Americans not to let down their guard against the coronavirus.

  “We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky said, describing a feeling of “impending doom. On the verge of tears she said, “But right now, I’m scared.”

  This morning, cases of Covid-19 are up 19 percent over the past two weeks, with health experts warning of a fourth surge of the pandemic.

  Many states have lifted their mask mandates while restaurants are re-opening. Millions of Americans are beginning to live life as if the danger is over.

  President Joe Biden called for states to reinstate their mask mandates. “New variants are spreading and sadly some of the reckless behavior we’ve seen on television over the past few weeks means more cases are to come in the weeks ahead,” he said. “We’re giving up hard-fought, hard-won gains. And as much as we’re doing, America, it’s time to do even more.” 

Free Flowing: The ship blocking the Suez Canal has finally been freed and traffic is moving again. It might take weeks to get shipping back on schedule.

A Mighty Wind: The White House unveiled big plans to expand wind farms along the East Coast and get the country’s offshore wind industry spinning again. 

The project would generate 30 gigawatts of offshore wind power by 2030, power for more than 10 million American homes while cutting 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. 

The Spin Rack: One of the world’s richest men, Czech billionaire Petr Kellner, and four other people were killed in a helicopter crash while heli-skiing in Alaska. Also killed were a friend, two ski guides, and the chopper pilot. Kellner made his fortune selling office supplies.— Ghislaine Maxwell, associate of the late Jeffrey Epstein, was charged in federal court with sex-trafficking of a minor. She’s accused of grooming and procuring a 14-year-old girl for Epstein’s pleasure. That comes in addition to previous charges. — Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, wife of Eric, is joining Fox News as a talking head contributor. Lara Trump is still considering running for the Senate from South Carolina, a position for which she is equally qualified. — A western New York woman has become the 9^th to accuse Gov. Andrew Cuomo of inappropriate behavior. Sherry Vill, 55, said that while Cuomo was visiting her home to inspect flood damage, he “pulled me to him, he leaned down over me and kissed my cheek … in what I felt was a highly sexual manner.”  She’s represented by the California celebu-lawyer Gloria Allred. 

Pillow Talk: My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, a fervent believer in Donald Trump and conspiracy theories about election fraud, told former Trump associate and talk show host that all the will go before the Supreme Court, “the election of 2020 is going bye-bye”  and “Donald Trump will be back in office in August.”

  He must be sleeping on his own pillows. 

Editor’s Note: We’ve got the bits and bytes screwed back together this morning thanks to our high school friend Jeff Cohan outside Atlanta who called unsolicited and offered help. He knows computers. https://nsiteful.com/

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