OF COURSE IT HAS: Coronavirus data has already disappeared after Trump administration shifted control from CDC. Since the pandemic began, the CDC regularly published data on availability of hospital beds and intensive care units across the country. But Ryan Panchadsaram, who helps run a data-tracking site called Covid Exit Strategy, said that when he tried to collect the data from the CDC on Tuesday, it had disappeared.
IN TURMOIL: Trump’s campaign team tries to steady operation after messy shakeup. President Donald Trump’s outgoing campaign manager and his successor gathered staffers at the Trump campaign’s Arlington, Va., headquarters Thursday morning for a “pass the torch” ceremony, after Trump abruptly replaced Brad Parscale with Bill Stepien atop his reelection effort Wednesday night.
TALKING THE WALK: Michelle Obama Is Launching a Podcast. The show will debut exclusively on Spotify on July 29, and will be made available to free users and premium subscribers worldwide.
IT GETS WORSE: Bodycam video shows officer pulled gun on George Floyd early on. Body-worn camera footage from former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane showed that George Floyd was given no explanation for why he was being questioned before Lane pointed a gun and swore at him, touched him multiple times and forced him out of his vehicle into the street.
ON SECOND THOUGHT: Republicans scale back convention in Jacksonville due to coronavirus concerns. When Trump formally accepts the GOP nomination on the event’s final day, delegates will be allowed to bring one guest, and alternate delegates will also be allowed to attend. That crowd would be capped at about 6,000 or 7,000 people.
BECAUSE 2020: Water Leaking Into Lincoln Tunnel Unnerves Commuters. The mile-and-a-half-long tunnel is more than 80 years old and accommodates roughly 1.5 million vehicles into New York in an average month.
BECAUSE 2020, PART II: Kanye West Is Officially On The Ballot In Oklahoma
HOPPED UP: Florida Cops Nail Rampaging Kangaroo After Romp in Ft. Lauderdale Streets
HATE CRIME: Taunton couple attacked after hanging gay Pride flag in their front yard
EAT ME FIRST: Rush Limbaugh: Americans should “adapt” to coronavirus, like famous pioneers who “had to turn to cannibalism”
DOO-DA HEAD: Poland’s LGBTQ Population Fears The Worst after President Duda Re-elected. On Sunday, Duda won his narrow re-election victory after running a hateful campaign that hinged on fear mongering about queer people and their supposed “ideology” threatening Catholic Poland.
RAINBOW TSUNAMI: Record number of LGBTQ candidates running for office in US. The LGBTQ Victory Institute’s Out For America report, released Thursday, tallies 843 openly LGBTQ elected officials across all levels of government at present, up from 417 in June 2016. The institute says a record 850 LGBTQ people are running for office this year, including several candidates with strong chances of entering Congress.
ALABAMA: Tommy Tuberville, winner of the GOP Senate runoff, has troubling record on LGBTQ rights. “I am against this transgender, guys turning into women, and winning all these state championships all over the country,” Tuberville said last week.
SAN ANTONIO: Forgoing LGBTQ Issues, Owner of Gay Bar Wins GOP Runoff for U.S. House Seat
AUSTIN: Student sues district for allowing teachers, classmates bully him for supporting Trump. “If a gay, black, brown, Asian, immigrant, or liberal employee of Defendant Austin-ISD was treated the way Plaintiff Jon has been treated, the perpetrators would have been harshly dealt with by Defendant Austin-ISD,” the court documents say.
COVIDIOTS OF THE DAY: These Bros Offered Free Face Masks To California Beachgoers. It Didn’t Go Well
ON THE MEND: Megan Thee Stallion got shot in some kind of incident with Tory Lanez
MOURNING NAYA: Heather Morris Reveals Her Final Interaction With Fellow Glee Star in Heartbreaking Post
NEW VIDEO OF THE DAY: Joshua Bassett, “Anyone Else”
TRAILER OF THE DAY: The New Mutants
THURSDAY THIRST: Alex Camerlingo
