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Two protesters were mowed down by a car early Saturday morning in Seattle, and the driver is now under arrest.

It happened at around 1:30 AM on a stretch of the I-5 that was closed to traffic. A car suddenly barreled down the road, striking 2 people. A 24-year-old person is in critical condition with what troopers said were life-threatening injuries. Another person suffered injuries that were described as serious.

Eyewitnesses told authorities they believed the incident was a "purposeful attack."

The Washington State Patrol took the driver into custody. A spokesperson says it does not appear that impairment was a factor.

Hundreds of young people in SoCal ran for the hills on the 4th of July ... Beverly Hills that is, where they may get 2 cases of Corona -- and only 1 is the beer.

It's a crazy scene that has been repeated all over the country. Partiers packed in like sardines without face masks. There's a lot of drinking and super-close contact ... ideal for the spread of the virus.

Not that they're listening .... but California is experiencing a huge spike in coronavirus cases.  In the last 2 weeks in L.A. County, 28,130 people tested positive and 391 have died.

It's now as clear as can be ... there are lots of people who just don't care if they get the virus or just believe they are impervious to it. Wrong.

Video has surfaced of a violent confrontation at a Dick's Sporting Goods store where a customer was punched and put in a chokehold ... all over a candy bar.

It went down in Toledo, Ohio Thursday. Cops say they received a call from an employee at the store that a customer -- 36-year-old Aaron Buckenmeyer -- had stolen some merchandise.

The video begins with Buckenmeyer and an employee are standing toe-to-toe when the employee delivers a crushing blow that sends Buckenmeyer to the ground.

The employee told cops Buckenmeyer had headbutted him and that's what provoked the punches.

You see Buckenmeyer in a chokehold. The employee claims during the takedown Buckenmeyer was grabbing him by the genitals.

As for Buckenmeyer ... he repeatedly told the employee he had asthma and couldn't breathe.

In the end ... it appears the incident was triggered by a candy bar Buckenmeyer had put in a bag that fell out during the confrontation.

4th of July is proving many Americans don't care coronavirus cases are spiking again, which is in line with the White House's new messaging ...  just live with it.

A handful of water-based venues -- including a water park and two lakeside blowouts -- brought out droves of people this holiday weekend in Wisconsin, Missouri and Michigan ... all of which are seeing their own surges in confirmed COVID-19 diagnoses.

That didn't matter to these folks though -- they were ready to get wet and wild for Independence Day, and you can tell by how little mind they're paying to safety precautions.

At the Noah's Ark Waterpark in Wisconsin Dells, WI, hardly anybody was 6-feet apart from each other as they packed the wave pool. And, masks were out the window, obviously -- studies say they're ineffective if they get wet, so a lost cause right off the bat here.

Elsewhere in Missouri ... the same bar adjacent to Lake of the Ozarks -- Backwater Jack's -- forged ahead with their planned Fourth of July blowout, which they dubbed No Ducks Given. Between Friday and Saturday, the place once again resembled a sardine can.

And, in Michigan, another lake shindig was well underway Saturday ... Diamond Lake in Cass County was packed to the gills along its shores with partygoers raging the day away.

We've seen this behavior all throughout the spring and early summer -- ever since America was put on high alert and states went on full-blown lockdowns. While the shelter-in-place orders seemed to flatten the curve, there has been an explosion of new cases in the wake of reopening.

And yet ... the bad and dangerous behavior continues, despite what the CDC and other health officials have to say. The question ... what's next? Welp, President Trump's administration seems to have an answer, according to a new report anyway. It's simple ... live life at your own risk. Thing is ... he's been putting people -- his own supporters -- in harm's way by holding reckless rallies with no social distancing and few masks.

NBC News reports that big wigs in Trump's cabinet are ramping up for the new messaging to the American people ... that the virus is here, and we gotta press forward regardless.

What started out as a peaceful and community-led performance in Missouri quickly turned violent for no reason ... this after a grown man punched out a little kid.

This heinous act went down Friday night in Cape Girardeau, MO, a little after 11:30 PM, when two young kids were performing on a street corner ... busting some moves to music they had playing on a speaker, while filming themselves live from a nearby camera.

Soon enough, a man joins them and starts popping and locking too. His name is Micheal 'Crank' Curry, the one who posted the video. He tells TMZ these two kids are students of his -- he runs a local dance studio -- and they do this all the time without any issue.

The three of them were going back and forth for a while, until the taller of the two boys -- who's said to only be 12 years old -- got up to dance, only to get viciously attacked.

In the middle of his performance, a black CRV-type car pulls up alongside them, and a man hops out the passenger side. The kid notices him, but doesn't think anything of it as the guy dances along with them and inches even closer ... masking his true intentions.

When he's right next to the boy, he swings wildly and hits the side of his head, knocking him clean to the ground. Micheal screams out in shock and tries chasing him. The guy scurries back to the car and they take off ... Micheal comes back to attend to the kid.

Bystanders rush over quickly to help him up -- you can tell he's badly injured, but still tough as hell considering he was able to get up on his own two feet.

Micheal tells us the victim's name is Ethan, but he goes by Eman. The boy was taken to a local hospital, where Micheal says he was treated for a concussion and a bad nose bleed. Eman doesn't know who punched him or why -- it was a random act of violence.

If you're an Angeleno, don't be surprised to see a massive display of Trump and Confederate pride blazing down your street any moment now, 'cause one is on the way.

A parade of lifted trucks was spotted Saturday, all departing a Smart and Final parking lot in Santa Monica ... one after another in what seemed like an endless line of diesels. They all had flags flying from their beds too -- Trump 2020 ones, Confederate battle flags and U.S.A. flags too, of course. It's clear ... these folks were making a statement -- a statement of day's past.

Eyewitnesses tell us there were at least 75 trucks packed into the lot, and we're told this seemed planned and staged. Each truck had at least two people, so the number of bodies rolling these puppies out was in the triple digits ... upwards of 300.

The good news is that right out the gate, there wasn't too much of a scene or ruckus ... unless you consider the noisy departure itself to be rowdy. It kinda is, frankly.

A paragliding instructor in Turkey just took his business to new heights with a stunt that's sure to attract daredevils and couch potatoes alike -- 'cause he's got a two-for-one special that appeals to both.

Hasan Kaval rigged a sofa and a TV to one of his paragliders this week ... and then proceeded to take flight off a cliff, while capturing the whole thing on camera. What happens next is a lazy adrenaline junkie's dream -- doing something dangerous and thrilling, while being able to relax and take a load off at the same time. Genius!

Now, the man himself showed us how it's done with a full-blown airborne demo. While the couch was in the sky (above the water below), he kicked off his shoes and swapped them for slippers, started eating chips and drinking soda ... and watching 'Tom & Jerry' to boot.

And, get this ... the guy wasn't even properly strapped in!!! No matter though, at least to him. Hasan landed the couch safely (somehow) and said afterward with a straight face that he felt secure and relaxed the entire time. Granted, he does this for a living!

Here's why dogs are King of the pet world -- they just mind their business and carry float on ... literally so during the Fourth of July.

Someone filmed their pooch enjoying a nice summer day in the backyard -- perched up on a bed of pool noodles and gliding across the water without a stir or bark to ruin the serene scene. It also comes across a rubber ball, but not even that jacked its chill mood.

Now, we don't know if the owner put the pup onto the noodles, or if it found its way on there itself after a quick dip. We'd like to think the latter, but even if this was staged for the photo-op ... we still stan. The end result is just too good to poo-poo.

Unclear when this was first captured, but it circulated online right in time for the holiday ... and it's probably what a lot of us need to see right now -- namely, something peaceful.

Take a lesson from Chachi here -- yes, we've taken the liberty of naming this awesome canine -- and enjoy the Fourth for what it is. A day to kick back, be free ... and scratch the fleas off too while you're at it.

Carole Baskin is making lots of dough with personalized messages ... but making sense of what she said -- well, that's a whole other thing.

She recorded this message for a guy who goes by Robin Hood 702 ... a guy who apparently has worked with authorities on various cases. 702, btw, is the area code for Vegas.

Listen to what she says ... Carole is making reference to the MGM lion. Well, there have been rumblings a tiger or 2 may make its way to Vegas for one of the shows, but here she's talking about a lion never being "tattered" so those dots don't connect.

She also mentions David Chesnoff, a prominent lawyer who has Vegas wired, but she never explains what she means when she says he's hold up in the Penninsula.

And, then she mentions Patty Glaser, a super-powerful L.A. lawyer. Again, connecting the dots is damn near impossible.

Karma -- the pro gamer who was struck by lightning while streaming on Twitch -- says she's no longer in physical pain ... but admits she's suffering a little "PTSD" after the crazy incident.

27-year-old Jaime Bickford was INSIDE her Boston-area home Sunday night commenting on a game of "Rocket League" when lightning struck ... and somehow, she got hit.

You can watch the live stream and HEAR the moment of impact -- it's really scary stuff.

Bickford tells TMZ Sports she's still not 100% sure how she got hit -- saying, "It all happened really fast."

"I was just commenting over this game and then a huge flash came out of my controller, like really bright," Bickford says.

"I just remember my hands burning and my body just automatically dropped the controller."

Bickford says her hands were sore for the next 2 days. But there was also mental trauma.

"I definitely had PTSD about it the day after -- just loud noises scared me. There was still thunderstorms the next day so I didn't want to touch the game just 'cause it freaked me out."

Don't get it twisted ... Bickford says she's definitely NOT walking away from gaming -- telling TMZ Sports she's worked too damn hard to quit.

As for the controller she had been using -- that's toast.

It's a bird, it's a plane ... it's a super crazy sighting of a giant bird carrying what looks like a shark, high above the ocean!!!

This video has the Internet buzzing Thursday -- a large eagle-like bird making off with some large prey ... shot by a drone last week in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Clearly the bird had a successful fishing trip, but everyone's debating what it caught ... to many that's a small shark in the bird's talons. At one point, the sea creature started flopping wildly in an attempt to get free, but the bird's clutches were too strong.

Upon further inspection ... it seems the bird is an osprey -- AKA sea hawk -- which is a fish-eating bird of prey. And, though many believe the raptor is carrying a shark, we've learned that it might be a large Spanish mackerel instead. The fish is common in the waters along the Carolina coast.

Either way, the clip has people thinking it's a sign of the next calamity of 2020 ... because it's exactly how "Sharknado" began.

Even the SYFY channel just tweeted ... "We always knew this day would come. #Sharknado"

It's been real, world.

Mississippi is doing away with the Confederate battle flag that's embedded into their own state flag -- and watching it come down at the Capitol was quite an historic sight.

State troopers pulled the flag down Wednesday in front of the Capitol building in Jackson, proceeding to then fold it up and carry it off into the sunset ... almost like it was a fallen soldier or something. It's not a soldier, it's a giant piece of cloth -- but this was a big deal for a lot of folks down there in the South.

Mississippi's ensign was the last modern American flag that still featured the antiquated confederacy logo ... something that drew renewed ire of late, in the wake a sweeping social justice conversation happening nationally, which is boldly calling out blatant racism.

Welp, local lawmakers listened to their constituents and got the ball rolling this weekend ... first, the House passed a resolution to ditch their pride and glory, which was followed by backing in the Senate, and on Tuesday -- the governor, Tate Reeves, signed it into law.

It's a major move that was 126 years in the making. Mind you, the Civil War was over 150 years ago ... and the South lost. That means the Confederacy and their emblems are NOT part of our official heritage -- or at the very least, not something to proudly flaunt in 2020.

Tons of people have called for the flag to be retired over the decades -- including country star Faith Hill, who recently decried the old flag and demanded an immediate change.

Put that dusty old thing in a museum somewhere and call it a day. Time to get something fresh on the pole to hoist high. The question ... what'll they choose for a design next?

The NJ woman who's been dubbed "Permit Karen" now has protesters marching because she called cops on her black neighbors claiming she'd been assaulted ... something several other neighbors dispute.

The block war started Monday in Montclair, NJ, where the couple -- who shot this video -- say they told Permit Karen to leave their property when she had a meltdown over their right to install a stone patio in their backyard. That's how the woman, whose real name is Susan, earned the handle.

The couple says PK barged onto their property 3 times in 30 minutes, peppering them with questions about permits for the home improvement project ... and when she didn't get her way, they claim she called the cops with false allegations of an assault against her.

After the couple posted the video, a group of local youths organized a protest ... marching up and down the block and chanting outside Susan's home.

Other neighbors on the block, many of whom are white, are also giving Susan hell ... claiming she was trying "to put her black neighbors back in their place" by calling the police.

The couple claims Susan's been harassing them for 2 years, but called this week's incident an example of "white entitlement and black hate embodied."

We reached out to police in Montclair ... no word back, so far.

Stonewall Jackson's going the way of other Confederate leaders -- his statue in Richmond, VA has been toppled, but not by angry protesters ... the city took matters into its own hands.

Richmond's Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the immediate removal Wednesday of the statue honoring the Civil War general for the Confederation. Crews on the city's famed Monument Avenue took down Stonewall following weeks of unrest that saw protesters destroy or vandalize other Confederate statues.

A peaceful crowd gathered to take pics of Stonewall's monument getting the ol' heave-ho.

The Mayor reportedly bypassed a special meeting with the City Council to vote on a resolution calling for the statue's removal -- and just pulled the plug himself. He said it needed to come down as a matter of public safety.

There was concern the statues were a hazard as nationwide protests continued. The statue had been targeted by protesters who'd already the torn down the Jefferson Davis statue.

Jackson -- who wanted VA to remain in the Union but remained loyal when it seceded in April 1861 -- earned his nickname at the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. Legend has it he rushed troops forward to close a gap against a Union attack. A general is reported to have said, "Look, men, there is Jackson standing like a stone wall."

Well, his statue's no longer standing in his home state.

A British journalist reporting live from home got yanked back into the field of family life during her broadcast -- and it's freakin' adorable ... even if the anchor didn't think so.

Sky News' foreign affairs editor, Deborah Haynes, was live on the air Wednesday with presenter Mark Austin -- and they were talking shop about a new law across the pond that'll allow millions of people in Hong Kong to -- y'know what, let's just get to Deborah's cute kid.

Her young son -- who can't be more than 5 -- storms into the room she's doing her live shot from ... and saunters over to bring something of the utmost importance to her attention -- biscuits. Highest priority!!!

Deborah handled the situation as gracefully as she could, excusing herself from the chat for a moment to address her boy's pressing concerns ... namely, if he could have 3 biscuits.

She haggled and gave him the okay for 2 -- but by then, the camera had cut back to Mark in the studio and he was already moving on, seemingly irritated by the interruption. He kept it relatively chill too though, saying that's what happens when reporting amid a lockdown.

Of course, that phenomenon isn't specific to coronavirus or WFH, per se -- and the Brits oughta know that first-hand. This reminds us of another very famous/very funny kid-trusion a few years back that happened live on the BBC, before COVID-19 was running rampant.

American professor Robert Kelly was doing a live shot from home to dish on South Korean policy, when his own two young children sashayed into the room ... only to have his wife fly in after them and yank them out.

'Rona-truthers have infiltrated the Lone Star State -- here's a Texas woman melting down at a 7-Eleven over their mask policy ... only here, she left behind a gross remnant to mark her territory.

The woman is trying to buy a rack of Miller Lite -- but the front counter clerk won't let her check out because she's not wearing a face covering. She starts throwing a tantrum, and it's all downhill from there.

The guy points out the obvious ... she doesn't have a mask. She agrees, flabbergasted that he won't sell her the beer because of it. He stands firm though, saying it's the convenience store's policy to have one on while shopping, and that pisses her off even more.

The woman says the amount of time he's wasting is probably spreading more germs than if he would just let her purchase the booze and be on her way -- and his response is ... buy a mask here. The lady absolutely refuses to do so, starting to proclaim ... well, 'MURICA!!!

In the latter half of the video, the woman continues to escalate the situation ... outright spitting on the counter before storming out. The 7-Eleven guy keeps his cool throughout.

No word on whether this got to the point of getting cops involved, or if things ended here. In any case, it's another example of would-be freedom fighters pushing back with all their might against a simple policy that even some of Trump's closest allies are starting to follow.