Trump has cut off Rudy Giuliani, and is annoyed that he asked to be paid for his work on challenging the election, book says  — Rudy Giuliani spearheaded Donald Trump's attempt to overturn his election loss until February.  — Giuliani is said to have long been asking Trump to pay his legal fees but has been ignored.

You Really Need to Quit Twitter  —  I'm almost 60, and in these many decades I've seen people—some of them good friends—taken down by all kinds of things.  Alcohol and drugs, mostly.  A few years ago, I lost someone to heroin, and hundreds of us sat at his funeral in wordless communion.

US left Afghan airfield at night, didn't tell new commander  —  BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) — The U.S. left Afghanistan's Bagram Airfield after nearly 20 years by shutting off the electricity and slipping away in the night without notifying the base's new Afghan commander …

Maniac punches carriage horse, attacks two others in Central Park: driver  —  His name may not be Mongo but a shirtless maniac stole a page from “Blazing Saddles” on Monday — punching, and also kicking, three carriage horses in Central Park before claiming he had a knife, witnesses said.

Former Murdoch Exec: Fox News Is Poison For America  —  The Rupert Murdoch I worked for was brilliant, courageous, optimistic, and a gentleman.  Which makes his bile-filled network all the more confounding. … Rupert Murdoch, whom I served for seven years, has many business and journalistic achievements.

They Were the Nice, Older Couple Next Door.  Then the First Body Turned Up.  —  An Iranian couple has confessed to murdering and dismembering their son, years after killing a daughter and her husband.  They are not sorry.  —  The older couple first came to the public eye on a winter night in Tehran …

Trump Organization charges could open the indictment floodgates  —  We have now had a few days to try to absorb the Manhattan district attorney's criminal indictment against the Trump Organization and Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.  Here are some topline takeaways …

J.D. Vance says he regrets since-deleted tweets criticizing Trump  —  J.D. Vance, the bestselling author and a Republican Senate hopeful, said on Monday that he regretted his since-deleted Twitter posts that criticized Donald Trump, amid accusations of flip-flopping as he vies for a seat in Ohio.

In ramp-up to 2022 midterms, Republican candidates center pitches on Trump's false election claims  —  A candidate to be Arizona's top elections official said recently he hopes a review of 2020 ballots underway in his state will lead to the reversal of former president Donald Trump's defeat there.

The Shocking Enormity of Russia's Botched Pandemic Response  —  A massive third wave is spreading unchecked, anti-vaxxers are rampant, and the Kremlin's vaccine diplomacy has failed.  —  MOSCOW—As I write this, Russia is firmly in the grip of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hackers behind holiday crime spree demand $70 million, say they locked 1 million devices … The hacker gang behind an international crime spree that played out over the Fourth of July weekend say they've locked more than a million individual devices and are demanding $70 million in bitcoin to set them all free in one swoop.

What's keeping democracy experts up most at night?  An overturned election … WASHINGTON — Congress is just beginning a new investigation into the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, but the movement behind it remains as active as ever.  Former President Donald Trump is frequently repeating false claims …

In Gosar, a Far-Right Extremist Found an Ally in Congress  —  Representative Paul Gosar's association with the white nationalist Nick Fuentes is the most vivid example of the Republican Party's growing acceptance of extremism.  —  WASHINGTON — Nick Fuentes, the leader of a white nationalist group …

Trump Just Got Even Cozier With QAnon  —  “We are the news now.”  —  DG  —  Two major QAnon influencers were given official press credentials to the latest Trump rally held in Sarasota, Florida over the weekend, signaling a new level of acceptance of the QAnon conspiracy theory by the former president and his team.

We knew QAnon is anti-Semitic.  Now we know it's racist, too  —  In the summer of 2020, social media companies, led by Facebook, banned the hashtag #savethechildren, which had been hijacked by QAnon conspiracy theorists from the legitimate charity with the same name.

I&I/TIPP Poll: Just 36% of Young People Are Proud To Be American  —  Editor's note: Issues & Insights gratefully acknowledges its collaboration with tippinsights on the simultaneous and exclusive release of this story.  —  Is pride in America a thing of the past?  Not if you ask Americans.

Anti-Critical Race Theory Laws Are Un-American  —  The authors are a cross-partisan group of thinkers who have written extensively about authoritarianism, liberalism and free speech.  —  What is the purpose of a liberal education?  This is the question at the heart of a bitter debate that has been roiling the nation for months.

The Tech Cold War's ‘Most Complicated Machine’ That's Out of China's Reach  —  A $150 million chip-making tool from a Dutch company has become a lever in the U.S.-Chinese struggle.  It also shows how entrenched the global supply chain is.  —  SAN FRANCISCO — President Biden and many lawmakers …

Texans with disabilities fear voting will get harder for them as special session on GOP restrictions nears  —  The extent to which Republicans' proposed voting restrictions might affect voters of color has received much attention, but Texans with disabilities also face the prospect of new barriers to the ballot box.

What Alvin Bragg Plans to Do With Cy Vance's Troubled Sex Crimes Unit  —  Alvin Bragg is all but assured to become Manhattan's first Black district attorney after his closest competitor, Tali Farhadian Weinstein, conceded in the primary Friday after dropping millions of dollars of her fortune into the race.

West Virginia GOP Governor Issues Blunt Warning To Unvaccinated  —  “They're not thinking right,” Jim Justice said of the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in his state.  —  West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) said people hesitant about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine are “not thinking right” and warned they are playing a “death lottery.”

Keystone XL Pipeline Developer Seeks $15 Billion in Damages From US  —  Energy company TC Energy has said it's seeking $15 billion in damages from the United States government over President Joe Biden's decision to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline project.  —  In a statement on July 2 …

Birthday Parties as Virus Vector  —  Just how much Covid was spreading behind closed doors last year?  Quite a lot, as a new study with a simple yet creative approach found out.  —  At the height of the pandemic, it was easy to worry that strangers would give you the virus.

Counterintelligence is as American as Apple Pie  —  America just celebrated another July 4th and, while it was a happier affair than the contested Canada Day feted by our neighbors to the north, the sense that the country is emerging from 18 months of coronavirus shutdown was palpable.