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The Big Money Behind the Big Lie — Donald Trump's attacks on democracy are being promoted by rich and powerful conservative groups that are determined to win at all costs. … It was tempting to dismiss the show unfolding inside the Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, as an unintended comedy.
Discussion:
Associated Press and FiveThirtyEight

Jihadists flood pro-Trump social network with propaganda — Just weeks after its launch, the pro-Trump social network GETTR is inundated with terrorist propaganda spread by supporters of Islamic State, according to a POLITICO review of online activity on the fledgling platform.
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and Raw Story, more at Techmeme »

Obama plans Martha's Vineyard birthday bash as Delta variant rages on — The party will be held outdoors, all guests are asked to be vaccinated and there will be a COVID-coordinator.
Discussion:
New York Post, Washington Times, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review, Mediaite and Twitchy
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Trump's $100 million threat to democracy — (CNN)Donald Trump now has a $100 million weapon to wield against US democracy. — The defeated and disgraced ex-President's huge war chest, nearly all amassed within six months of leaving office, was built on his ravenous calls for cash …
Discussion:
Washington Post, Slate and ABC7
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Don't Let Anyone Normalize January 6
Discussion:
Ledger, Washington Times and Ace of Spades HQ

Senate finishing crafting $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure proposal, setting delicate debate in motion — Senate Democrats and Republicans on Sunday finalized a roughly $1 trillion proposal to improve the country's roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections …
Discussion:
HotAir, Hackwhackers, ABC News, WV MetroNews and Political Wire
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It's In — And Big: Senators Produce $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill
Discussion:
Insider, Washington Examiner, CBS News, Associated Press, KTLA, CNBC, UPI, Bloomberg, One America News Network and WHDH-TV
Seung Min Kim / Washington Post:
The quiet Biden-GOP talks behind the infrastructure deal
The quiet Biden-GOP talks behind the infrastructure deal
Discussion:
Zandar Versus The Stupid and Fox News

Did the New York Times stifle lab leak debate? — The world's verdict on the lab leak seems to be shifting. The Biden Administration now thinks there is a credible possibility that Covid-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. WHO chief Tedros Adhanome Ghebreyesus has admitted …
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China Olympics 2022 - COVID cover up by country's leaders means they should forfeit games — The IOC should deny the Chinese Communist Party the ability to burnish its global image despite its COVID crimes — Ratcliffe: China aims to 'test Biden's leadership,' level of ‘pushback’

‘Freedom-loving’ conservatives stoked latest round of infection and death — I write columns about politics and government, occasionally indulging as a frustrated sports writer; I don't write about business or leisure activities except: — I would avoid any cruise ships embarking from Florida.

How the Bobos Broke America — This article was published online on August 2, 2021. — The dispossessed set out early in the mornings. They were the outsiders, the scorned, the voiceless. But weekend after weekend—unbowed and undeterred—they rallied together.

What I Heard in the White House Basement — One phone call changed my life. — On Thursday, July 25, 2019, I was seated at the table in one of the two Situation Rooms in the basement of the West Wing. The bigger room is famous from movies and TV shows, but this room is smaller …

Florida breaks record for COVID-19 hospitalizations — ORLANDO, Fla. - A day after it recorded the most new daily cases since the start of the pandemic, Florida on Sunday broke a previous record for current hospitalizations set more than a year ago before vaccines were available.
Discussion:
HotAir, HuffPost, Outside the Beltway, Florida Politics, Tallahassee Democrat, The Hill and New York Post

Bidenizing the Democrats — The president scores a victory against his party's Sanders wing. — Donald Trump's effort to maintain his grip on the Republican Party is so transfixingly weird that it obscures a more ordinary and perhaps more politically relevant one about whether Joe Biden …
Discussion:
Slow Boring and New York Times
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He Repped Kyle Rittenhouse, MAGA Monkey Owners... and Capitol Rioters — GO-TO LAWYER — “He's not a defense attorney, and therefore he's not an especially good defense attorney,” one journalist who has covered lawyer John Pierce's filings said. — The U.S. Capitol riot launched …
Discussion:
Raw Story

Trump and the Capitol riot ‘hitman’ analogy … In 2012, Jane Bashara was found strangled in the back of her SUV in a Detroit alley. Her murderer was sentenced to 17 to 28 years in prison. Her husband, who hired the killer, got a life sentence. — This story's lessons about the relative culpability …
Discussion:
New Yorker

How Local Media Spreads Misinformation From Vaccine Skeptics — Facebook and other social media have been under scrutiny for vaccine misinformation, but local outlets have also sometimes been active. — The Freedom's Phoenix, a local news site in Phoenix, and The Atlanta Business Journal …

Want to make Jim Jordan sing about the Capitol attack? Ask Jefferson Davis — The Ohio Republican admits he spoke to Trump the day the Confederate flag flew in Congress. Aptly, the investigation of John Brown's raid sets precedent for what must happen next
Discussion:
Raw Story and Mother Jones
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Biden's Climate Plans Are Stunted After Dejected Experts Fled Trump — Hundreds of scientists and policy experts left the government during the Trump administration. The jobs remain unfilled nearly six months into President Biden's term. — WASHINGTON — Juliette Hart quit her job …
Discussion:
CNN

Incompetence + Arrogance = Woke — Politically correct ideology is masking and contributing to the widespread failure of our institutions. — We know the nature of mass hysterias in history, and how they can overwhelm and paralyze what seem to be stable societies.

Oklahoma GOP leader compares vaccine mandates to the Holocaust: ‘Take away the star and add a vaccine passport’ — On Friday, John Bennett, the chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party, made a striking comparison on the group's Facebook page: Private companies requiring employees …
Discussion:
Raw Story

Threats of violence spark fear of election worker exodus — There is growing concern that election workers will leave their posts in droves following a 2020 presidential contest that saw an unprecedented rise in violent threats against administrators. — Election workers had their homes broken into.
Discussion:
BizPac Review and POLITICUSUSA

Dr. Rochelle Walensky has made a mockery of the CDC — It cannot be easy to lead the agency that handles infectious diseases in the midst of an international pandemic. Still, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should at least be able to prove she is up to the task.