January 1, Crowds Mob Beaches as Trump Bans Travel from Brazil

This Day in History | 1977

Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster Star Wars movies, Episode Four: A New Hope, hits American theaters.

Happy Memorial day Middle Americans.

We hope you are spending your Memorial Day with loved ones, thinking about the service members who are no longer with us. There’s nothing wrong with picking up a mattress on deep discount, or having a bbq. But don’t forget the reason this is a federal holiday. I’m always floored by the fact that we’ve been at war for the better part of the last two decades and we still have an “all volunteer” military. I’m not necessarily advocating for a draft, but I always wonder if more Americans would pay attention to the fact that we have several never ending military conflicts in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, North Africa and other places we don’t even know about. Watch this chilling rendition of Taps by the Airforce Band and call your Congressman and Senators and tell them to vote on these wars, define the mission, or get out. Only Congress can declare war, that’s indisputable. So why do we let them fight all these wars without making the proper commitment to our troops. 

Well – you can quarantine Americans, but when it’s time to come out, people really came outside. Especially in places like Daytona Beach and Ocean City Maryland. The White House had to get all parental and tell everyone they better behave or else. Kinda like a normal household,right. One day dad (the president) says look, rub some dirt on it and get out there and walk it off.  But mom (Dr. Birks) says if we don’t follow the rules, she’s gonna shut it down again. Don’t be surprised if people soak up as much of this freedom while they can. 

Meanwhile, check out the story we have below about Japan. They wrote their own playbook when it comes to fighting the pandemic, and they fared pretty well. Japan has a unique culture. The question is, can we replicate what we learned from Japan about preventing a second wave? Hard to imagine. But then again, so was sushi, and Japanese NASCARS 30 years ago. 

Speaking of NASCAR, we had an actual race yesterday. Here are the results in case you missed it. Still kinda hard to get used to all the masks, even when you are used to these guys wearing helmets. But it beats eracing. Also on the sports scene, how about that golf match yesterday in Florida with Tom Brady, Payton Manning, Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson? Tom Brady split his pants. It was a moment made for TV humility.  Like a lot of guys, you may have found the moment cathartic. Tom Brady, perfect in almost every way, splits his pants on tv.  Tiger and Payton won. They raised a lot of money. And it was a lot of fun. 

Finally today – we are very much looking forward to a historic space launch from Florida this week. It’ll be the first time in 9 years that NASA has launched humans into space from the U.S. Soil. We have a preview below. 

Read all about it. 

-Fraser Dixon

Memorial Day Weekend Draws Crowds and Triggers Warnings

(AP) — The Memorial Day weekend marking the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. meant big crowds at beaches and warnings from authorities Sunday about people disregarding the coronavirus social-distancing rules and risking a resurgence of the scourge that has killed nearly 100,000 Americans.

Meanwhile, the White House broadened its travel ban against countries hard hit by the virus by saying it would deny admission to foreigners who have recently been in Brazil.

Sheriff’s deputies and beach patrols tried to make sure people kept their distance from others as they soaked up the rays on the sand and at parks and other recreation sites around the country.

See the crowds here

Related: Massive Crowd, Shooting Swamps Daytona Beach Cops

(Orlando Sentinel) – Six people were wounded Saturday in a Daytona Beach shooting as massive crowds gathered during Memorial Day weekend.

Daytona Police Chief Craig Capri said Sunday at a news conference that two people were shot around 7:30 p.m. on South Ocean Avenue near Breakers Oceanfront Park. Police later discovered four people were hit by shrapnel during the shooting. None of the injuries are life-threatening, he said.

Capri said the victims are not cooperating with the investigation and police have not arrested any suspects.

Multiple agencies, including the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and Daytona Beach Police Department, said they prepared for an influx of people during the holiday weekend. The state began its phased reopening earlier this month from shutdowns meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and scores of Floridians headed oceanside.

Read more here

Did Japan Just Beat the Virus Without Lockdowns or Mass Testing?

(Bloomberg) -Japan’s state of emergency is set to end with new cases of the coronavirus dwindling to mere dozens. It got there despite largely ignoring the default playbook.

No restrictions were placed on residents’ movements, and businesses from restaurants to hairdressers stayed open. No high-tech apps that tracked people’s movements were deployed. The country doesn’t have a center for disease control. And even as nations were exhorted to “test, test, test,” Japan has tested just 0.2% of its population — one of the lowest rates among developed countries.

Yet the curve has been flattened, with deaths well below 1,000, by far the fewest among the Group of Seven developed nations. In Tokyo, its dense center, cases have dropped to single digits on most days. While the possibility of a more severe second wave of infection is ever-present, Japan has entered and is set to leave its emergency in just weeks, with the status lifted already for most of the country and Tokyo and the remaining four other regions set to exit Monday.

Learn more here

Tom Brady Split His Pants During ‘The Match’

(The Big Lead) – Tom Brady has struggled mightily during Capital One’s The Match: Champions for Charity on Sunday. But on the seventh hole, Brady hit an incredible shot for birdie, but even that ended poorly. As he bent over to pick the ball out of the cup, he wound up splitting his pants.That’s a tough scene. He addressed it on the broadcast and quickly changed pants.

Here’s the shot he nailed to get everyone excited: 

NASA and SpaceX Are Go for Historic Launch

(The Washington Post) – NASA announced Friday that an exhaustive “flight readiness review” of Wednesday’s scheduled launch of a SpaceX rocket with two NASA astronauts aboard had determined that the mission could proceed.

The launch is now set for Wednesday at 4:33 p.m. from launchpad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

If all goes well, it would be the first launch of NASA astronauts to space from U.S. soil since the space shuttle program was retired nearly a decade ago, and it would be the first time a private company had boosted people to orbit.

“There are no significant issues, I am happy to report,” Steve Jurczyk, NASA’s associate administrator who chaired the review, told a news conference. “In the end, it was a very, very clean review.”Get the latest here