A version of this story appeared in CNN's What Matters newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here.

Stupid -- Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert, the loud-talking and brash Texan who openly questions face masks and has frequently refused to wear them, tested positive for Covid-19 just before he was set to ride Air Force One with President Donald Trump.

Gohmert once told CNN he'd wear a mask if he got the virus. Now he's got it and he's blaming face masks for giving it to him.

"I can't help but wonder if by keeping a mask on and keeping it in place, that if I might have put some germs or some of the virus onto the mask and breathed it in," Gohmert said. "I don't know."

And he wouldn't have known if he hadn't been meaning to travel with Trump on Wednesday. On Tuesday, he was yukking it up, mask free, with Attorney General William Barr, according to reports. It was noted multiple times that there's really no testing protocol on Capitol Hill.

Ridiculous -- I was just getting my head around Louie Gohmert when I saw the banner on CNN: "TRUMP PRAISES DOCTOR WHO WARNS OF ALIEN DNA, SEX WITH DEMONS."

That's a real thing that happened. One of the doctors whose false claims about hydroxycholoroquine and skepticism about face masks have gotten retweets by Trump (and gotten his son temporarily restricted on Twitter), has some other weird thoughts, too.

According to a Daily Beast report on the doctor, Stella Immanuel, a pediatrician/minister:

"... has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches."

"She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious."

"And, despite appearing in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress on Monday, she has said that the government is run in part not by humans but by 'reptilians' and other aliens."

When CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked Trump about his pushing of misinformation from Immanuel, he defended the doctor's claims about Covid while saying he didn't know anything about her.

Sad -- While Trump and Gohmert are spreading anti-science ideas about how to fight the disease, the US reached a horrible milestone. More than 150,000 Americans have died from Covid-19. It continues to spread quickly in a majority of US states.

Get the latest Covid news here.

Here are some points about the growth of the virus from our story about an Association of American Medical Colleges warning that deaths could leap well into the hundreds of thousands:

More than 1,240 deaths were reported Tuesday -- the most in a day since May 27, according to Johns Hopkins figures.

The seven-day average of daily deaths rose above 1,000 Tuesday -- the first time since June 2.

In 29 states, average daily deaths were at least 10% higher over the previous week, according to Johns Hopkins data.

But rates of new infections are fa

BlackFacts Details

Pastors and obedience

Democratic Party Facts

American Civil War Facts

Random Facts

Women Facts