Good afternoon, this is Brooke Howard with The Daily Beast. It's Monday, June 21st, and these are the top stories the Chi Chi team is watching right now. After a while, there was not much that then-President Donald Trump could do to really surprise people. But this is taking it to a whole other level.
Apparently, he was so frightened that rising coronavirus cases would hurt his polling numbers that he suggested a group of infected Americans being brought home from Asia should be sent to Guantanamo Bay instead. Yes, he wanted to basically isolate and imprison people who were sick. History has seen this sort of thing happen before, and it didn't turn out all that well. In a new book called Nightmare Scenario, which is by Washington Post journalists, chaos of the Trump White House is detailed as COVID-19 hit.
Writers Jasmine Abu-Talib and Damian Palette explained that Trump was furious, that official COVID testing was boosting case numbers. Trump reportedly said, quote, I'm going to lose the election because of testing. What idiot had the federal government do testing? Then he asked AIDS in February 2020, quote, Don't we have an island that we own in order to pass off people who were sick with the virus?
According to the Washington Post, the book suggests that the president's own infection was more serious than what officials wanted to acknowledge. A driver plowed into a pride parade near Fort Lauderdale, Florida this weekend, killing one person and critically injuring another. The driver was a 77-year-old member of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men's Chorus who, quote, had ailments preventing him from walking the duration of the parade. Instead, he was selected to drive the lead vehicle.
The two people hit were also members of the Gay Men's Chorus. Both victims were taken to the hospital where one was pronounced dead, and the other remained in critical but stable condition. The driver was administered a DUI test on the scene, which he passed. Police said no arrests have been made, but they are not disclosing the names of either the driver or the victim due to the ongoing investigation.
On Sunday, police said the crash into the Stonewall Pride parade was an accident, but have not provided any further details. As American troops quietly depart from Afghanistan, the Taliban is running amok. The group has taken the manner of U.S. withdrawal as a sign that a long-awaited military victory could finally be on the horizon.
In fact, for their part, the Taliban have been sounding a triumphant note. A media official from the Taliban told the Daily Beast that the Swiss departure has made them, quote, strongly believe the U.S. military was terribly defeated in Afghanistan. An ex-minister of the military group described similar reactions that, quote, the Taliban are in the highest military morale, and Afghan soldiers are losing the enthusiasm to fight with the Taliban.
It has been just over two months since President Joe Biden announced that he would follow through on former President Donald Trump's promise for a complete withdrawal from the battered country, and rising violence didn't help matters in the conflict. Biden said that all U.S. troops would be out of Afghanistan by the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, but military officials expect they could be gone as early as mid-July. The decision to pull the plug was expected but dreaded by many Afghans.
One former British officer turned security consultant says the U.S. may be constructing a low-key exit because coalition forces could be terrified of bad press. In reality, they may be scared of another Vietnam war situation and the same level of defeat happening again. During an appearance on the Today Show Monday morning, James Michael Tyler, who's 59, said he was diagnosed with the disease at an annual checkup in 2018.
However, at the time when it was discovered, it had already spread to his bones. Tyler explained that, of course, a chemotherapy is now aggressively fighting the cancer, but that it may be too late. Because of his illness, Tyler was not able to physically attend the Friends reunion that aired in May, but he did call in on Zoom. $70, really?
Was it worth it? A group of customers in New Jersey walked out under $70 tab, then abducted and assaulted the young server, who confronted them over the unpaid bill. At Nifty 50's diner in Turner's bill, the 20-year-old server reportedly tried to keep up party five from dining and ditching. Surveillance footage shows the group pulling the woman into a white Dodge Durango and speeding away.
According to the Washington Township police chief, she was assaulted while inside and then pushed out of the vehicle. Reportedly, the server was able to run back to the diner and call the cops. The young woman was said to have suffered a possible concussion and multiple confusions. This is a major win for college athletes.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that they may receive education-related payments in a ruling that will steer more money to the players earning billions for others but not themselves. This does not mean that they will be earning full-time salaries, however. Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered the court's opinion, writing, quote, From the start, American colleges and universities have had a complicated relationship with sports and money.
Those who run this enterprise profit in a different way than the student-athletes whose activities they oversee. In one example, he noted that annual salaries for top Division I college football coaches can reach $11 million while their charges receive nothing. In a concurring opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote, Nowhere else in America can businesses get away with agreeing not to pay their workers a fair market rate. Under ordinary principles of antitrust law, it is not evident why college sports should be any different.
The NCAA is not above the law. Right now, schools are allowed to underwrite a student-athlete's cost of attendance, which includes things such as tuition, fees, and room and board. Now, student-athletes will be permitted to receive payments that cover the cost of computers, musical instruments, study abroad, among other things. That's all for today.
Check back every week in the morning and afternoon and for more things you need to know. Find us wherever you listen to podcasts.