A Florida man was charged Thursday with battery after demanding a child remove his mask and spitting in his face when he refused to, police say. The incident happened at a restaurant in Treasure Island, Fla., and reportedly concluded with the man saying "You now have coronavirus" to the child and being subdued by staff.

According to his arrest affidavit, Copenhaver was described as "intoxicated" and was not wearing shoes. They said he approached the worker in a "threatening manner and attempted to strike him twice."

The same worker took "physical control" of Copenhaver, walked him outside the restaurant, and held him to the ground until officers arrived, police said.

Ohio governor Mike DeWine tested positive for coronavirus today, the latest high-profile politician to catch the bug. He has no symptoms, reports NBC News. DeWine ordered a statewide mask mandate two days ago, including in schools, as Covid surged in the state.

"As part of the standard protocol to greet President Trump on the tarmac in Cleveland, I took a COVID test," DeWine wrote on the popular microblogging website Twitter. "I tested positive. I have no symptoms at this time. I’m following protocol and will quarantine at home for the next 14 days."

Early in the pandemic, DeWine was quick to reverse his early attempt to get Ohioans to mask up.

“It's really been made clear to me that a mandatory mask requirement for people who are shopping, going into a retail business, is offensive to some of our fellow Ohioans,” DeWine said in April. “I’ve also heard, for some people, this is a difficult thing to do.” Read the rest

A man who refused to wear a mask in a store, stole two cigars, fired a handgun at the clerk and later an AK-47 at cops coming to arrest him, injuring one of them, was "not handling the pandemic well," says his lawyer.

Adam Zaborowski, 35, was taken into custody after the shootout with officers in Slatington, Pa., police said. Lehigh Valley Live reports the kind of day that only some of us can get out of alive.

The 35-year-old Slatington man was charged Saturday with attempting to kill seven police officers near his home at 801 Main St. That shootout followed an incident Friday where Zaborowski allegedly shot at a clerk at Cigars International in Bethlehem Township. He allegedly refused to wear a face mask in the cigar store despite the threat of COVID-19. ...

“He just wasn’t dealing well with the loss of his job, the loss of his child, just not handling the pandemic well,” Waldron said. “I think he was getting stretched too tight.”

Correction: The shootout was in Slatington, not Bethlehem Township, Pa. Read the rest

Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) is among those who made a culture war of coronavirus on Capitol Hill, forcing other lawmakers and staff in congress to deal with him unmasked. Today he was diagnosed with Covid..

Rep. Louie Gohmert -- a Texas Republican who has been walking around the Capitol without a mask -- has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to multiple sources.

Gohmert was scheduled to fly to Texas on Wednesday morning with President Donald Trump and tested positive in a pre-screen at the White House. The eighth-term Republican told CNN last month that he was not wearing a mask because he was being tested regularly for the coronavirus.

He says he'll now wear a mask, but he's been infecting his colleagues and everyone around him for days. Read the rest

Do masks work? Uncle Rob investigates by simulating coughs with aerosol starter fluid, mannequin heads and a propane torch.

Disclaimer: Uncle Rob is a "professional" Don't be a moron.

Looks like they work pretty good. Read the rest

Twitter today blocked Donald Trump Jr. from tweeting for 12 hours after he posted quack conspiracy theories about the Covid crisis. Trump Jr. posted a video encouraging people to take hydroxyquinone, a potentially dangerous drug the FDA says does nothing to improve Covid outcomes, and accusing virus chief Dr. Anthony Fauci of suppressing proof it works.

Trump Jr. was not suspended from Twitter, as some on the right are falsely claiming.

Donald Trump Jr will still be able to browse Twitter and send direct messages in the interim.

Twitter told the BBC: "We are taking action in line with our policy."

The main US social media sites have all taken measures to crack down on misinformation about the coronavirus.

Racist couple in Marshall, MN wearing swastikas on their mask at Walmart pic.twitter.com/sBgHr6ILC0

— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) July 25, 2020

It's one step forward and two steps back at the Walmart in Marshall, Minnesota, which enforced the state's new mask mandate but evidently didn't care what's on the masks. As one commenter put it: "If I wear a hoodie into one of stores your security follows me but you are good with this?" Read the rest

@jslade88

Deleted but here is the OG video all over the news...#americanairlineskaren #fyp #foryou #karen #dailymail

♬ original sound - jslade88

American Airlines mandates that all passengers wear masks during the coronavirus pandemic, but this lady wasn't having any of it. Unfortunately for her, the passengers weren't having any of that, and she was asked to deboard the flight. She took her time about it, leading to a ripple of applause when she finally began hauling her bags down the aisle. NY Post:

“You can clap all you want!” the woman snaps back angrily.

In the background, two masked American Airlines employees can be seen waiting to escort her off the aircraft.

Along with refusing to wear a mask — which is required for all adults on American Airlines flights amid the worldwide coronavirus pandemic — Slade said the woman demanded to be boarded first and caused other problems.

“She was argumentative from the gate,” Slade told the outlet. “She demanded to be boarded first and was causing an obvious scene. Once boarded, she was making phone calls and arguing with the attendant when asked to put her phone away.”

Read the rest

Florida man Vincent Scavetta, 28, was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm after threatenening a fellow shopper with a handgun. The two were arguing in Walmart over Scavetta's apparent refusal to wear a facemask. Scavetta was also charged with brandishing the firearm; both charges are felonies.

Christopher Estrada of West Palm Beach, told deputies on the day of the incident that he was shopping with his daughter when he told another man in the electronics department at Walmart that he should cover his face.

Estrada told deputies that man, Scavetta, swore at him. The two argued for a few minutes, drawing the attention of other customers who tried to break up the two men, Estrada said.

When Scavetta reached toward the waistband of his shorts, Estrada reportedly told him that he didn’t care about his gun -- a moment captured in the viral video. Then Scavetta pulled out his gun, pointed it at Estrada and said, “I’ll kill you,” authorities said.

Recommendations released by the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control include using glory holes to minimize the likelihood of coronavirus transmission, among other sage tips. [via]

• Choose sexual positions that limit face-to-face contact. • Use barriers, like walls (e.g., glory holes), that allow for sexual contact but prevent close face-to-face contact. • Using condoms, lubricant, and dental dams may help to further reduce the risk by minimizing contact with saliva, semen and feces during sex.

pic.twitter.com/36NiN1xi88

— Shitty Future (@Shitty_Future) July 20, 2020

This helpful reminder comes courtesy of @Shitty_Future on Twitter. But it poses a question: whose face?

Previously: Have a ⠐⠁⠕⁗⠇⠻◢ ⡟⣔⢠ Read the rest

Viral footage shows a McDonald's clerk being attacked and beaten by a customer in a Hong Kong suburb. According to reports, the man was refused service unless he put on a mask.

Video of the assault was uploaded to Facebook and shows a man who entered a McDonald’s in Tuen Mun without wearing a mask, according to the English-language news outlet Coconuts Hong Kong. The man gets into a verbal altercation with one of the McDonald’s workers before he steps behind the cashier’s area and begins punching the worker repeatedly. The worker falls to the ground and the assailant then starts kicking him.

More details from Apple Daily, via Coconuts:

According to Apple Daily, neither the man nor the woman he was with were wearing masks as they walked into the restaurant. The McDonald’s worker asked them to put one on and when they ignored him, refused to take their order. It was at this moment that the man got physical.

In a video filmed after the incident, another restaurant worker is seen standing between the man and the employee who was attacked. As he tries to mediate the situation, the man continues trying to punch the employee.

Apple Daily reported that the man then fled in a truck. The employee was taken to Tuen Mun Hospital to be treated for his injuries.

Police arrested a 27-year-old man with the last name Cheung on Tuesday night in connection with the attack.

Am I the only one who found the Disney Parks re-open announce video a little creepy? pic.twitter.com/o8VV4GRjW2

— vegan sofrito (@pobrecito) July 9, 2020

Reopening the Walt Disney World theme parks during a global pandemic is scary, which is why this gloomier sounding version of Disney's announcement video by Twitter user @pobrecito just makes a lot of sense.

Here's the same video with its original sound:

screengrab via Disney/YouTube Read the rest

Brooks Brothers is the latest casualty of the Covid pandemic, filing for bankruptcy protection in New York today. The upscale clothiers, one of the last to make garments in the U.S., has been in business for 200 years.

The closely held company, which is owned by Italian businessman Claudio Del Vecchio, filed for bankruptcy protection in Wilmington, Del., on Wednesday. One of the few brands to make clothes domestically, it warned in June that it could close its three U.S. factories. It operates roughly 250 North America stores.

Looking forward to seeing large numbers of lawyers hovering outside Macys, queasily glaring at the mannequins as clothiers try to coax them inside with swatches of pinstripe and fine-wale corduroy. Read the rest

Brazilian premier Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive for coronavirus after falling ill with symptoms typical of Covid-19.

Bolsonaro regularly downplayed the risks of the virus, comparing it to the common cold, and Brazil soon became an infection hotspot with the world's highest tally of reported cases outside the U.S. A new surge of infections was reported two weeks ago, but officials continued to claim it was under control.

Though his illness was reported yesterday and described by a regional CNN affiliate as Covid, official confirmation came only this morning after he took an antibody test, reportedly his fourth.

"Because we have a more tropical climate we've almost reached the end or it's already over," Bolsonaro said in March, of the pandemic. "The virus doesn't spread as fast in warm climates like ours."

Recent people in close contact with Bolsonaro include the U.S. ambassador, reports the BBC, who will now also undergo testing. Read the rest

A man at was filmed Monday yelling and threatening shoppers at a Costco in Fort Myers, Florida, reportedly after an elderly woman asked him why he wasn't wearing a mask. Clad in a "Running the world since 1776" tee shirt, the man puffs up his chest, balls his fists and yells "I FEEL THREATENED!" while belligerently advancing on the person filming.

Florida man at Fort Myers Costco in "Running the World Since 1776" shirt flips out on elderly woman who asked him to wear a mask and man who defended her #BecauseFlorida (via @profjaffar) pic.twitter.com/PDOvi33qHK

— Billy Corben (@BillyCorben) July 7, 2020

The clip posted to social media shows the man accusing the shoppers of "harassing" him at the Gulf Coast Town Center warehouse.

"I'm not harassing you," the person filming replies, "you're coming close to me."

"I feel threatened!" the man shouts, clenching his fists and advancing toward the camera. "Back up! Threaten me again! Back the fuck up, put your fucking phone down."

The person filming stops at this point. The man was "escorted out of the store" by Costco staff, according to the person who posted the video to Twitter.

Review / Logitech MX Keys

'To give Costco the credit, they escorted him out and made me wait inside and monitored him until he left and then they sent someone with me to the car to make sure I'm okay.'

Posters on social media speculated that the man yelling "I feel threatened!", despite being the aggressor, is an attempt to pre-emtively invoke Florida's "stand your ground" law. Read the rest

In a video posted to Tiktok, a shopper asserts her constitutional right not to wear a mask in Costco, then her constitutional right to plant her rear on the floor.

@keeping.up.with.kris

Karen at Costco #karen #costco #YouGotIt #nomasknoservice #nomask #dumptrump #covid19

♬ original sound - keeping.up.with.kris

Read the rest