Paul Ryburn's Journal

(If you never owned a CB radio, you probably didn’t get the headline)

I turned in early last night, and therefore missed a text from a friend of mine. My response might be useful to others, so I will respond here.

It’s 10:45 [PM] and the party bikes are going full volume at Main and Union. Is that allowed?

According to what I’ve heard in recent COVID-19 task force press conferences, party pedal bikes are allowed to operate as of Health Directive No. 12 which allowed bars (limited-services restaurants) and other venues serving alcohol to reopen. However, I specifically remember county health officer Dr. Bruce Randolph saying

• No alcohol should be consumed while customers are riding the bike
• There should be no singing
• There should be no yelling

If you witness violations of these regulations, get out your phone and get it on video, with sound, and send it to the Shelby County Health Department.

Also in COVID news: Race organizers, please keep your runners social distanced before the race begins! Yesterday I received a message from a Downtown business owner. There was a race happening not far from her business, and during the pre-race registration there was almost no social distancing and masking. Both she and her husband, co-owners of the business, are of the age that puts them in a high risk category for coronavirus. Out of concerns that runners would come in their shop, and bring COVID with them, they closed their shop early.

You remember Friday when the media reported that Trump was admitted to the hospital “merely as a precautionary measure?” Well, now we are learning that his blood oxygen level dropped dangerously low Friday and Trump was hospitalized because of concern over that measure. We were only told that once Trump recovered to the point that his oxygen levels were back to normal and he had no fever. Come on media and White House spokespeople, do your jobs. This is not North Korea and our head of state is not Kim Jong Un.

A parade organized by supporters of Trump proceeded as planned yesterday, starting in Downtown Memphis and crossing the I-55 bridge into Arkansas.

Attorney General Barr will not quarantine despite exposure to the coronavirus. IDIOT.

The Memphis Tigers gave up any chance they had to return to a New Year’s Six Bowl, if such a thing event exists this season, with a 30-27 loss at SMU yesterday.

Today is the 50th anniversary of the death of Janis Joplin.

How bout them Hogs! They scored a 21-14 victory over 16th-ranked Mississippi State yesterday.

The International Downtown Association will present the Downtown Memphis Commission its Downtown Achievement Pinnacle Award this month for DMC’s Open on Main initiative. The DMC leases vacant storefronts on Main and subleases them to business wanting to test the Downtown waters before they consider opening a permanent location.

FINALLY I found a website that reports the reproduction rate of the virus in Shelby County: Covid Act Now. Thanks to Omer Yusuf of the DM whose article today contained the link. Man, that link is going on my bookmarks bar! All kinds of good info. You can even sign up for emails when there are significant changes to COVID-19 data in your state or county.

Speaking of great, independent COVID-19 information, here’s James Aycock’s weekly wrap-up Twitter thread from yesterday.

If you’ve missed FreeWorld this year, you can catch them tonight at 6 at Railgarten.

That’s it for this post. Now it’s time to do some writing for Medium. I have two topics ready to go, several more to mine for ideas, and my #1 writing assistant standing on my desk to help. Back tomorrow with more news.

I’ve made a decision.

I’m not going to go out on Halloween. Not even for a little Saturday day-drinking.

Health Directive No. 13, said to be issued this coming week, will likely relax the restrictions on restaurants and bars in Shelby County, and rightly so. It’s time. Transmission rates are down and these places need to make their money. We can’t hold up because there’s a holiday several weeks away.

That said, I think a lot of bad decisions are going to be made on Halloween. Although it’s not quite Amateur Night on the level of New Year’s Eve, St. Patrick’s Day, and Music Fest, it’s close. People will be tempted to get out and get one really big party in before it turns cold. I anticipate there will be a lack of social distancing. A lot of people will use the holiday as an excuse to skip the mask, unless it’s a costume mask. Costumes will hake hand washing more challenging than usual.

As County Health Officer Dr. Bruce Randolph likes to say, just because an activity is permissible, does not mean it is advisable. I see his point as his advice relates to Halloween. So, I will gather up a few good writing topics, order some to-go food from a restaurant, and stay home. Also, when I go out the week of November 1-7, I am going to take extra care to keep 6 feet distance from those who did party on Halloween.

I’d like to encourage each of you to think about whether it’s worth it to be out on the 31st. If the urge to go out and have fun is too great to resist, go for it. But remember, not even Mr. Tangerine Man in the White House is safe from COVID.

From The Daily Memphian: Bar owners say it’s time for a midnight curfew. I would agree, but I also think it’s time to get rid of the stupid food requirements that accompany alcohol. I went to dinner with friends at Pontotoc Lounge last night. As I walked home the doorman and server at the Blind Bear waved at me. I wanted to go in for a quick beer and say hello to everyone, but there’s no such thing as a quick beer… it has to be a beer and food costing more than the beer. I am so sick of it all. That food purchase won’t make a damn bit of difference whether I or anyone else catches COVID.

Memphis plays SMU on ESPN2 at 2:30 today. Tennessee plays at 11, so I guess the old poots will be getting to Max’s early today to get their corner table. Big games today:

• 13 Texas A&M vs. 2 Alabama, 2:30, CBS
• 7 Auburn vs. 4 Georgia, 6:30, ESPN

I would say both games have national title implications, but is there even going to be a national championship game this year? Who knows.

Wanna be a hipster? Since I write for the Medium platform, I read a lot on there too, and the latest hipster trend on there is Stoicism. Not sure what that is? Wikipedia to the rescue:

Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BC. It is a philosophy of personal ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world. According to its teachings, as social beings, the path to eudaimonia (happiness, or blessedness) is found in accepting the moment as it presents itself, by not allowing oneself to be controlled by the desire for pleasure or fear of pain, by using one’s mind to understand the world and to do one’s part in nature’s plan, and by working together and treating others fairly and justly.

But yeah, if you put “trying my best to practice Stoicism in today’s world” in your Medium profile description, you win big brownie points on there for being hip. You also win brownie points for “pronouns: he/him” (or “she/her” or “they/them”) in your profile.

One thing, though: If you practice Stoicism, I think it’s pretty much mandatory to grow a beard. Kind of like, it’s mandatory to grow a beard if you work at a craft brewery. I wonder if a lot of brewers are Stoics.

My earnings for September, my first full month on Medium, were $8.30. That sounds like crap but its actually very good. Some of the writers who routinely earn four figures a month on that website made in the range of $5 their first full month.

Memphis 901 FC wraps up its home schedule with a match against Birmingham Legion FC tonight at 7. Memphis is far out of the playoffs so this will be your last chance to see the squad until the 2021 season.

There’s a vegan pop-up on Lew’s Blue Note on Beale Street today 2-7 PM. Beyond Burgers, oyster mushroom burgers, vegan corn dogs, nachos, Italian Beyond sausage, Mexican street corn, and more.

Dumas Walker Band plays Tin Roof tonight at 6:30.

Coronavirus protections on Air Force One are being questioned following The Hate Pumpkin’s diagnosis with the illness this week. The pumpkin’s advisor Hope Hicks also tested positive and she was seen interacting with many people who were not wearing masks on the plane.

Although 14 days is a standard incubation period is 14 days, some people are debilitated by COVID-19 for weeks longer. Trump might be out of commission until after Election Day.

Back tomorrow with more news. Bardog and possibly Momma’s are on my tentative agenda for today.

Quickly recapping the last two posts:

• Donald Trump has tested positive for COVID-19. So has Melania.
• Shelby County Health Directive 13 will likely be issued next week. It’s possible that food-related requirements for serving alcohol in restaurants and bars will be dropped.

CNN has a look at Trump’s risk now that he has COVID-19. His supporters may think he is Superman, but he is an obese 74-year-old man. The Trumpster’s risk of hospitalization is 5 times greater, and death 90 times greater, than someone 18-29 who has the virus. His reported weight of 244 pounds makes him three times more likely to require hospitalization than a person of average weight for his height.

Dinstuhl’s Fine Candies has reopened on the Main Street Mall. Come show them some love… after all, we all deserve a treat after 7 months of this mess. They’re located next door to the Majestic Grille/Cocozza.

Cafe Keough is hiring a barista, which is a sign they will be open again soon. Great local folks making quality products. I know a lot of you are addicted to the Starbucks down the street, but give Keough a try one day once the doors are back open. 12 S. Main in the ground floor of the Number 10 Main apartments.

Live music returns to Momma’s at the corner of Crump and Kentucky tomorrow night 6:30-9:30 with JohnnyMaestro LIVE! He’ll be joined by the duo of Mike Sweep and former American Idol contestant Chris Johnson.

Backbeat Tours is offering a special Mojo Tour to celebrate Memphis Music Month every Friday and Saturday in October, beginning today. Guests will receive a souvenir shaker and can be a part of the band while riding (note that County Health Officer Dr. Bruce Randolph would frown upon singing), and there will be a stop outside Galloway United Methodist Church in Cooper-Young. There there will be a live performance in the very first spot where Johnny Cash performed before a crowd.

Memphis in May has a merchandise sale going on right now. Score some gear from Music Fests and BBQ Fests gone by, with T-shirts starting at $3.

From WMC Action News 5: MPD investigating car break-ins Downtown and in Harbor Town. It’s believed the thieves are looking for guns, because a Gucci wallet and a checkbook left in cars were not taken. Leaving wallets in cars parked in the downtown of a major city? That’s not very smart.

Kemmons Wilson Companies have unveiled their design plans for their new HQ in the former Spaghetti Warehouse building.

Discover Memphis Naturally is a new initiative to connect people with all the things there are to do outdoors in our fair city. Whether you want to bike it, paddle it, climb it, park it, or view it, this site has the info you seek.

Take a jacket if you go out tonight. MemphisWeather.net predicts a low of 46.

Tin Roof’s Green Room will host DJ Epic tonight at 7.

POLITICO Playbook has a What happens now? look at COVID-19 in the Oval Office. The Guardian notes that the October 15 presidential debate could be in jeopardy.

On Tuesday, Don Jr., Ivanka, and Eric accompanied Trump on Air Force One on the way to the debate. No one was wearing a mask. So it’s possible Beavis & Butt-head and Kremlin Barbie could be positive too.

Amazon is banning the sale of “Proud boys, stand back and stand by” merchandise. Trump used the quote during Tuesday’s debate.

Iowa and Georgia have flipped in RealClearPolitics’ no toss-up states map projection for the Electoral College. That would give Joe Biden a 375-163 landslide.

Keep scrolling if you want to read the COVID-19 task force press conference recap from yesterday. Back tomorrow with more news.

Melania too.

Well, that’s one hell of an “October surprise” right before a presidential election.

Back around 8 AM with more news.

In today’s COVID-19 task force press conference, Health Department Director Dr. Haushalter and Health Officer Dr. Randolph announced that, if COVID-19 case data continues to trend well over the weekend, they will issue Health Directive 13 sometime next week.

Dr. Randolph emphasized that customers at restaurants will still be expected to sit to be served alcohol, and that bar areas will remain closed – but he did not mention FOOD! So it sounds like the stupid requirement that customers must order food to be served alcohol might be going away, along with the equally stupid requirement that customers can only remain at a restaurant for a maximum of 2 hours.

Dr. Haushalter, in response to a media question, said that a closing time later than 10 PM for restaurants and bars will be under consideration as well.

However, they wished to stress that safety measures will still be enforced at facilities – masking, social distancing, and handwashing. Indoor dancing is also expected to remain prohibited in the upcoming directive.

A laser focus on facilities identified as contributing to spread will be adopted. Those facilities will be investigated. Where they are found to be violating safety protocol, the owners will be educated, and if necessary. the facilities closed.

Revised indoor and outdoor capacity at sporting events will also be under consideration for the next directive.

Dr. H advised not to let COVID-19 stop you from your normal health practices – schedule your annual physical if you need one. Get your flu shot.

Dr. H also advised to think about travel as we approach fall break for schools – whether it’s really necessary, and if it is what precautions need to be made including taking extra masks and hand washing supplies.

Commissioner Willie Brooks announced that a $50,000 grant has been given to Memphis Area Legal Services to prevent COVID-related evictions in his district, District 6, which includes Raleigh, Frayser, and Nutbush. Call 901-432-4633 and tell them you’re calling about District 6 eviction relief.

Back tomorrow with more news.

Thought-provoking article in The Daily Memphian this morning: Suburban mayors wait on Health Department following governor’s order. Gov. Bill Lee ordered this week that all capacity requirements be removed from businesses and gatherings, but the order does not apply to the six counties that have their own health departments, including Shelby County.

The mayor of Arlington assured his constituents that leaders are “working on solutions.” Bartlett mayor Keith McDonald believes the Shelby County Health Department should follow the state’s lead in the removal of restrictions, although he agrees “maybe we don’t jump quite as far” all at once.

I mean, think about it. If you go out to a bar in Tipton or Fayette County, you can stay as long as you want without any requirement to order food. You can sit at the bar. You can stay until the place closes at 3 AM. Whereas, in Shelby County, you can only stay two hours, you must order food to purchase alcohol, you can’t sit at the bar, and you can’t dine in after 10 PM. In other words, Shelby is No Fun County thanks to the joint COVID-19 task force.

Yesterday Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) proposed eliminating autonomy for the SCHD and the five other health departments that operate independently from state directives.

The DM article says the joint task force has a conference call Friday. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that one. Nothing moves a bureaucrat into action faster than threatening to take their power away.

Of course, the COVID-19 task force has a press conference at noon today, their final Thursday press conference before moving to a Tuesday-only schedule. I bet there will be questions about the governor’s order.

WMC Action News 5 has a story about the Rumba Room and its effect on the salsa scene and the Hispanic community here in Memphis.

Phish will release audio from its June 14, 1995 Mud Island concert today. It contains the longest version of “Tweezer” ever recorded, clocking in at just over 50 minutes. The gospel rarity “Don’t You Want To Go,” performed only a few times in concert, is also part of the set.

Memphis Music Month has launched. The events include Downtown Dinner + Music, a live, acoustic, safely distanced music series encouraging Memphians to support local restaurants. There will also be virtual tours of Memphis attractions, social media takeovers by local musicians, and many concerts, discounts, and giveaways. The Downtown Dinner + Music Series kicks off tonight at Cordelia’s Market 5-7 PM. Candy Fox will perform at Harbortown Bend Rd., Chris Milam will play Harbortown Circle, and Antonio Hobson will play the corner of Jackson Ave. and North Main.

A plan to renovate the historic Nylon Net building at 7 W. Vance into apartments now calls for its demolition. Developer Chance Carlisle calls it “the worst building I’ve seen in 20 years.” Materials from the original 1904-07 historic building will be reclaimed and will be used to reconstruct the facade, retaining the original architectural style.

Hearing rumors that another Downtown restaurant may expand its hours to include breakfast. Let me do a little more searching around to see if this story has wings, and if it does it’ll land here on this blog.

Classic rock band Smokestack Lightnin’ plays The Vault Friday from 6:30 to 9:30.

Well damn! The Cardinals made the playoffs! I guess I’ll have to start caring about baseball again. They play the San Diego Padres on ESPN at 6 tonight. It’ll be game 2 of the series with St. Louis up 1-0. Adam Wainwright and Zack Davies will be the starting pitchers.

From Grind City Brewing Co.:

Oh Happy Day! We will OFFICIALLY be opening our doors to the public starting THIS Saturday & Sunday! Come by Saturday from 12pm-10pm & enjoy some Grind City Brews along with

Smashed Eats

! Come back on Sunday from 12pm-7pm for some more brews & LadyBugg Meals On Wheels! As we will be following Covid guidelines, a mask will be required upon entry. We can’t wait to see y’all there! Cheers!

Grind City is at 76 Waterworks in the far north end of Uptown. To get there, take North Second Street. It’s about half a mile past the 3-way stop at Second and Chelsea. Hmmm… might have to make a trip up there this weekend… that’ll require a Lyft though. Walking there from the Downtown core is only an option if you have good sneakers and a concealed carry permit.

Tickets for the Thursday night movie series at the Mallory-Neely House are sold out. Because COVID RUINS EVERYTHING, they are limited to 45 guests per movie. The next showing will be Charade on Thursday, October 15. Tickets are $8 adults, $5 children, kids under 2 free. Food trucks will be on site.

That’s it for now. Most likely I will be back between 1 and 2 with a recap of the No Fun County COVID-19 joint task force press conference.

That debate. Oh my God.

If monkeys are truly our ancestors, then I guess it’s true that the loudest monkey in the jungle wins.

After it was over it was described as a “food fight,” an “unmitigated disaster,” a “horror show.” Yes I would agree with all of that.

FiveThirtyEight has a recap of the debate. I do not recommend watching a video replay. It is that bad. It will give you nightmares. It definitely gave me nightmares last night.

Let’s get on to the news. I’m not going to even pretend this post will be one of my best. I need a day to mentally recover from what I saw and heard last night.

Gov. Bill Lee is ending all COVID-19 restrictions on businesses and large gatherings for the 89 of 95 counties in the state of Tennessee that do not have county-run health departments. That means restaurants and bars will be able to operate at 100% capacity. However, Shelby is one of the six remaining counties to which the executive order does not apply. The Shelby County Health Department will be “encouraged” to lift all restrictions but will not be required to do so.

Will they? I doubt it, not in the near future. In a densely populated urban area, you have to take more precautions than you would out in the country. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if Lee’s order causes the local COVID-19 task force to loosen restrictions a little more quickly than they otherwise would.

I started to list predictions on what regulations would be loosened in October, but nah. Let’s not jinx things.

There were a string of car break-ins in the Front and MLK, Front and Pomtotoc, Main and Pontotoc areas Tuesday morning.

The CA’s Jennifer Chandler has an article on Huling Station, South Main’s new outdoor dining spot next to Puck Food Hall. There are 66 seats and free Wi-Fi, along with plans for live music.

A $500,000 parking garage project could add up to 1400 spaces off Peabody Place.

The CA has a look at the new Canopy by Hilton hotel across B.B. King Blvd. from AutoZone Park. The article notes that Memphis is far above the national average at 52% hotel occupancy right now.

Just received my morning bulletin from FiveThirtyEight, with the transcript of the politics editors’ post-debate Slack chat: “I guess we should have taken what we expected to be the worst possible debate and then gone lower.”

That’s all I can do this morning. Apologies if typos. Keep scrolling down if you want to read a recap of yesterday’s COVID-19 task force press conference.

County Mayor Harris led off with updates about two programs to help businesses.

30 bars (limited-service restaurants) have applied for grants under the Share the Tab program and will receive the full amount of $10,000. There are still about 12 bars left and they are encouraged to apply as well.

The Beautiful Comeback program previously was available only to owners of beauty, barber, and nail salon businesses. It will now be expanded to all licensed cosmetologists, barbers, and stylists. Individuals will be eligible for a $500 grant, and business owners a $2000 grant, and money is still available for both.

Go to covi19.shelbycountytn.gov to apply for these grants. They are funded by the county’s portion of the federal CARES Act money.

Health Department Director Dr. Haushalter said that the overall trends point in a good direction. As expected, we did see a slight increase in cases after Labor Day but that has since trended back down. R, the reproduction rate, is back under 1. Answering a followup question, Dr. H said there could be a surge in March 2021 requiring more than 300 hospitalizations, but that is small compared to projections made earlier this year. She also noted that we have the opportunity to further depress that anticipated surge via our precautions.

Dr. H noted the following key focus areas:

1. Communications: Outreach to communities where not enough people are going for testing, or where there is increased transmission
2. Containment: Quickly identifying new cases, getting them isolated, contact tracing, getting contacts quarantined so as to limit spread from each identified case
3. Enforcement: This weekend the health department received 9 complaints of facilities not adherent to the health directive – people not masking, not social distancing, or restaurants staying open beyond the mandated closing time of 10 PM. 2 of those facilities had been reported previously, 1 multiple times. Dr. H stressed that the health department was partnering with the sheriff’s office, municipalities, and the Alcoholic Beverage Commission on enforcement. Violators face not only closure of their businesses, but revocation of their liquor licenses.

Dr. H does anticipate Tennessee receiving part of a national shipment of testing kits, some of which will go to Shelby County. These will be particularly used for getting kids back to school. She stressed that limited testing is no longer an issue and there is now plenty of access.

Health Officer Dr. Bruce Randolph said efforts have been made to address crowding at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center, and these appear successful. He urged citizens who have to appear in court to show up at the date and time outlined, get their business done, and leave. Don’t just hang around. (That’s a thing?)

Dr. Randolph reminded those in charge of early voting locations that they must also adhere to the safety guidelines in the health directive.

Dr. Randolph stressed that despite the recent positive trend, the measures to fight COVID will remain in place for a while. Don’t think because the trends are better that we can all just revert to the way things were pre-pandemic.

Dr. Randolph anticipates that if things continue to improve, there could be changes to policies regarding attendance at football games. Asked about the flu, his hope is that masking, hand washing, and social distance will slow its spread as well as that of COVID. The flip side of that is that cold weather will keep people indoors more often, increasing the risk of spread of both illnesses.

Haushalter said starting next week, the task force will reduce its meetings to once per week, and therefore the press conference will be Tuesdays only starting next week.

Looks yummy, doesn’t it? I stopped by the Silly Goose about 2:30 yesterday. Since I’ve been working on my writing, I’ve cut my bar visits way back, and it was only my second time at the Goose since it reopened for dine-in. They’ve expanded their indoor seating a little – you can’t sit at the bar, but you can sit at a table in the bar area. So they’ve set up four 3-top tables adjacent to the bar.

Dylan the head pizza genius was not working that day, but he had stopped by to check on things. When he saw me, he said, “Paul! Let me make you something!” He checked to make sure I like mushrooms (I do) and he went back in the kitchen. A short time later he brought out the nachos pictured above.

They were covered in scallions (which made Perjorie T. Roll happy because they’re the same color as her hair), radishes, the aforementioned mushrooms, peppers, plenty of melty, gooey cheese, and sour cream. The real stars of this plate (or actually, pizza box), however, were the pieces of chicken and pork that topped this masterpiece of cheesy goodness. They came from local wholesaler Black Sheep Meats and the flavor was out of this world, like nothing I had ever tasted on nachos before. Such a perfect counterpoint to the other ingredients. Put it this way, I could have brought those nachos into BBQ Fest and told people my team the Moody Ques made them, and no one would have questioned me.

If you surf Facebook or Instagram and come across a restaurant’s post saying, “We use Black Sheep Meats,” GO THERE. You will not be sorry.

Looking for something to do this afternoon or evening? Check out this announcement from the Goose’s sibling restaurant, Pontotoc Lounge:

BREAKING NEWS! Pontotoc has just found the cure for… your Monday Blues! We are now open on Monday’s and Tuesday’s for the first time since before the “C word” occurred. We have all the beverages, yummy food, and great energy to get your week started on the right foot! See you soon!

Today just seems like an ideal day to raise a craft cocktail as you say the “F word” to the “C word.” Just make sure to order a food item with your cocktail and be done eating and drinking in no more than two hours, so (according to the health department) you won’t catch COVID.

The Memphis-Houston football game has been rescheduled for December 5 at the Liberty Bowl.

Paul Staples, who is accused of pointing a gun at protesters outside his home in the 400 block of South Main, appeared in court yesterday. He was told to hire an attorney and will have another court date next month.

Memphis Tourism is spearheading an Eat Live Local rally for restaurants. Restaurants need our support more than ever in the face of COVID and regulations. There will be gift card giveaways, neighborhood restaurant spotlights, blog posts, videos, billboards, and more.

Trump and Biden face off in the first debate tonight. Here’s a presidential debate drinking game. For those who don’t drink, there’s also a bingo card. The debate will be on NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and PBS.

There were 4686 COVID tests reported yesterday and only 164 new cases reported yesterday, for a positivity rate of only 3.5%. ICU bed usage is down to 79% and the number of COVID patients in them remains below 60. Can we have our bar stools back now?

From POLITICO: The 10 biggest whoppers you can expect to hear at tonight’s debate. What? Are they suggesting politicians LIE to us?

Today’s COVID-19 task force press conference could be interesting, since testing has expanded and positivity rate has been low in recent days. I will try to tune in and will be back with a recap this afternoon if there’s anything newsworthy.

 

A national story shadows any local news I have to report this morning. The New York Times obtained 20 years of Donald Trump’s tax records and they show “chronic losses and years of tax avoidance.” The Trumpster paid only $750 in federal income tax in 2016, and again in 2017 – far less than you probably paid those years.

Trump was found to indeed have an ongoing audit battle with the IRS as he claimed, concerning a $72.9 million refund he claimed. If disallowed, he could owe more than $100 million. He has been found to take enormous losses to ease his tax burden, and more and more his earnings depend on business activities that could be conflicts of interest with his job as president.

If there’s a silver lining for Trump, it’s that the investigation did not uncover any new links to Russia.

In probably related news, Trump campaign official and former campaign manager Brad Parscale has been hospitalized following a reported suicide attempt. He barricaded himself in his Florida home yesterday.

That’s all for today. Yeah this is a short post but the Trump NYT article will take you a good hour to get through. Back tomorrow with more news.