Twelve states hit record daily highs of new coronavirus cases, and the World Health Organization reported the largest single-day increase in cases yet.1 2 “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people; you’re going to find more cases,” Donald Trump said at his first campaign rally in 110 days. “So I said to my people, slow the testing down, please.”3 The Trump campaign was forced to cancel an outdoor spillover speech that had been planned to accommodate the million-plus ticket requests for the same rally; it remains unclear whether K-pop fans inflated crowd projections.4 Former national security adviser John Bolton’s new book revealed that last June, Trump asked Chinese president Xi Jinping to help him win reelection by buying more American produce.5 Dozens of Chinese and Indian soldiers died in a Himalayan border clash that was fought with fists, rocks, and iron rods, and the Indian prime minister did not publicly wish Xi a happy birthday for the first time since 2016.6 7 Colgate-Palmolive announced that it is considering changing the brand name Darlie, which is marketed in Chinese as “Black person toothpaste”; the line was formerly called “Darkie” and used a man in blackface for its logo.8 The Washington Redskins officially recognized Juneteenth; an Amazon warehouse in Chicago served chicken and waffles to celebrate the holiday; and Snapchat introduced and later apologized for a Juneteenth filter that superimposed CGI chains behind a user’s head that broke when the user smiled.9 10 11 The Minnesota jail that currently holds Derek Chauvin was accused of bias after allowing only white officers to guard or communicate with him.12 In response the murder of Ahmaud Arbery, Georgia’s Senate approved a bill penalizing hate crimes that includes police officers on the list of “protected classes.”13 An Austrian man was fined $565 and charged with “offending public decency” for farting at a group of police officers. The Viennese police responded in a tweet: “Our colleagues don’t like to be farted at so much.”14 An Atlanta megachurch pastor was criticized for suggesting the term “white privilege” be replaced with “white blessing.”15 After NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its events, a noose was left in the garage stall of NASCAR’s only Black driver.16 “Probably, McDonald’s has created more millionaires within the Black community than probably any other corporation on the planet,” said the CEO of McDonald’s.17
Attorney General William Barr announced that Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, whose office has investigated many of Trump’s friends and associates, would be replaced by Jay Clayton, who golfed with Trump last weekend.18 The Supreme Court voted 6–3 to protect LGBTQ workers from job discrimination; voted 5–4 to uphold legal protection for DACA recipients; and voted 7–2 to allow an energy company—against the wishes of Al Gore—to construct a 600-mile pipeline beneath the Appalachian Trail.19 20 21 North Korea vowed to dump cigarette butts, millions of propaganda leaflets, and other trash onto South Korea by sending 3,000 balloons over the border.22 A man in Reading, England, murdered three people with a five-inch knife in what has been declared an act of terror. “It’s not something you expect from a town like Reading,” said one resident.23 Yemeni separatists took control of a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is famed for its dragon’s blood tree.24 Japanese researchers succeeded in fertilizing pear trees with soap bubbles.25 Government coronavirus restrictions barred druids from gathering at Stonehenge.26 A Belgian municipality allowed brothels to reopen on July 1, except on Sundays; a South Carolina strip club was allowed to reopen, provided that no one strips; and a COVID-19 outbreak at Cruisin’ Chubbys in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, was confirmed.27 28 29
China indicted two Canadians named Michael on espionage charges. When asked about “hostage diplomacy,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry replied, “You ask a question brimming with malice.”30 New evidence showed that a Nova Scotia man who murdered 22 people in the deadliest mass killing in Canadian history had withdrawn $475,000 in cash through a process identical to the one by which police officers provide money to their confidential informants.31 A man in Aberdeen, Scotland, was fined $350 for calling his ex-girlfriend’s new Irish boyfriend a leprechaun.32 Tens of millions of bees died after being sprayed with pesticide in Croatia, and an animal-rights activist was killed by a pig transport truck in Ontario.33 34 An alcoholic monkey named Kalua bit more than 250 people in Mirzapur, India, killing one of them. He has been sentenced to life in a zoo.35—Clara Olshansky
