January 1, President Trump Prepares the Nation for ‘A Lot of Death’

This Day in History | 1994

Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain kills himself at his house in Seattle, Washington. 

Good morning Middle Americans, 

Another day, another dreadful White House press briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic. This week is going to be worse than last week, and it still might not be the worth week yet. 

America has the world’s highest number of COVID-19 cases. More than 306,000 people have tested positive in the United States and over 8,300 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

We are also staring to get a better understanding of the impact the disease is having on our military. We discusses the Navy and the case of the USS Theodore Roosevelt. Now we are see that the novel coronavirus is also have a devastating impact on military recruiting. 

Finally today we have a story that is not COVID-19 related, but it’s bitter sweet all the same. 

Kobe Bryant has been posthumously elected to the NBA Hall of Fame. It’s an honor that Bryant’s wife Vanessa says Bryant had worked for his entire career. 

Read all about it. 

-Fraser Dixon

Trump: ‘Going to Be a Lot of Death’ in U.S. Next Week from Coronavirus

(Reuters) – President Donald Trump told Americans to brace for a big spike in coronavirus fatalities in the coming days, as the country faces what he called the toughest two weeks of the pandemic.

“There’s going to be a lot of death,” Trump said at a briefing with reporters.

He pushed back on criticism that the federal government has not done enough to get ventilators that many critically ill coronavirus patients need to survive to the states, saying some governors are asking for more machines than they will need.

“Fears of shortages have led to inflated requests,” Trump said of submissions his administration has received to dole out equipment from the strategic national stockpile.

Read more here

Military Recruiting Struggles as Enlistment Stations Close

(AP) – Marine Gunnery Sgt. Kevin Meyer does his best recruiting face-to-face. He can look people in the eye, read their body language and get insight into whether they would make a good Marine.

But coronavirus quarantines have shut down most recruiting stations. So Meyer and other recruiters have turned increasingly to social media. And that has its drawbacks.

“They usually won’t run away if you’re talking to them in person,” said Meyer, noting that if they are online or on the phone, they can just hang up. “They just stop responding, and the conversation just ends without a conclusion.”

Learn more here

Kobe Bryant Posthumously Elected to Basketball Hall of Fame

(NBC News) – Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett and six others will forever be basketball legends as it was announced they would be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The Hall of Fame’s announcement was delayed from the NCAA’s Final Four weekend in Atlanta after the tournament was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it comes a little over two months after Bryant died in a helicopter crash.

“We wish that he was here with us to celebrate but it’s definitely the peak of his NBA career and every accomplishment that he had as an athlete was a stepping stone to be here. So we’re incredibly proud of him, and there’s some solace in knowing that he was probably going to be part of the 2020 Hall of Fame class,” Bryant’s wife, Vanessa, said in an interview with ESPN, as she began to choke up.

Find out more here