My island’s biggest fireworks show always happens on July 3rd, but not this year for the first time in memory. I know you are probably all familiar with the fireworks shows that have been canceled in your area. I won’t recite the obvious reasons for these disruptions, and as much as we all miss them, most Americans will do what needs to be done to protect our families, our neighbors, and our communities.
But not our president.
Dr. Celine Gounder, a prominent infectious diseases specialist and epidemiologist, said Friday that President Trump's Fourth of July celebration at Mount Rushmore is "beyond irresponsible" as the nation sees record-breaking outbreaks of the novel coronavirus.
"I'm highly concerned. This is beyond irresponsible," Gounder, CNN's medical analyst, said when asked what she thought of the Friday evening event.
"This is the behavior of a cult leader who is jumping off the cliff, except he's jumping off into a safety net where he has protections around him. People around him are being tested. He's being tested on a regular basis. While he asks his followers to jump off a cliff into nothing," she continued. "I mean, this is extremely dangerous behavior and unfortunately, this has become so politicized where you abide by public health and scientific recommendations on the basis of your political beliefs not based on the science. And people are really going to be harmed as a result of this."
The good news is that it's in western South Dakota far from major population centers (Minneapolis is a 9 hour drive away), and anyone with a lick of sense will stay away.
By Nick Lowrey
Abnormally dry conditions and a persistent risk of summer wildfires in the Black Hills of South Dakota make the fireworks display planned for July 3 at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial an unnecessary, potentially devastating and expensive event, according to one fire expert with intimate knowledge of the region.
By Carol E. Lee, Kristen Welker and Monica Alba
WASHINGTON — After several months of mixed messages on the coronavirus pandemic, the White House is settling on a new one: Learn to live with it.
Eager to move forward and reopen the economy amid a recession and a looming presidential election, the White House is now pushing acceptance.
"The virus is with us, but we need to live with it," is how one official said the administration plans to message on the pandemic.
Today 57,000 more Americans were diagnosed with COVID-19, as that number continues to climb.
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UPDATE:
by Makenzie Huber and Erin Bormett,
Protesters are demonstrating against President Donald Trump's arrival in the Black Hills ahead of the return of the Mount Rushmore fireworks display Friday night and blocking a road to the monument with vans.
Several vans blocked Highway 16A, or Iron Mountain Road, and protesters stood in the road three hours before President Trump was set to make his way from Rapid City to Keystone and then on the highway to Mount Rushmore.
At 4:30 p.m. MT, authorities declared the protest as an unlawful assembly over a megaphone. Police are demanding protesters vacate the premises or they will be arrested. At 5:15 p.m. MT, at least one person had been arrested, but the road was still blocked.
The National Guard was on scene at 5:20 p.m. MT to help clear the crowd, and several of the protesters dispersed shortly after.