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Bob Enyart, conservative firebrand and pastor, dies of COVID-19 — Conservative firebrand Bob Enyart, the pastor of the Denver Bible Church and indelible talk show host, has died from COVID-19, his radio co-host announced Monday on Facebook. — “Bob Enyart was one of the smartest …
Discussion:
Friendly Atheist, HuffPost, Crooks and Liars and Washington Post
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Our Most Reliable Pandemic Number Is Losing Meaning — At least 12,000 Americans have already died from COVID-19 this month, as the country inches through its latest surge in cases. But another worrying statistic is often cited to depict the dangers of this moment: The number …
Discussion:
RedState, Research Square, Townhall, HotAir and Twitchy

GOP condemnation of Biden coronavirus mandate fuels concern other vaccine requirements could be targeted
Discussion:
Forbes, Political Wire and The Hill
Mike Baker / New York Times:
‘Their Crisis’ Is ‘Our Problem’: Washington Grapples With Idaho Covid Cases
Stephen Gruber-Miller / Des Moines Register:
Iowa schools can again mandate masks after a federal judge temporarily blocks law
Iowa schools can again mandate masks after a federal judge temporarily blocks law
Discussion:
UPI, New York Times, The Hill, Iowa Capital Dispatch and MyNorthwest.com

Biden's winning the Afghan messaging — With help from Bryan Bender, Connor O'Brien, Paul McLeary and Lee Hudson — Welcome to National Security Daily, your guide to the global events roiling Washington and keeping the administration up at night. — FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY …
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GOP congressman erupts at Blinken during Afghanistan hearing: 'We don't need to hear lies'
Discussion:
Al Jazeera, Politico, The Guardian, The Daily Caller, Washington Examiner, Mediaite and CBS News
New York Times:
A Million Afghan Children Could Die in ‘Most Perilous Hour,’ U.N. Warns
A Million Afghan Children Could Die in ‘Most Perilous Hour,’ U.N. Warns
Discussion:
Associated Press, Politico, Washington Examiner, National Review, Common Dreams and Breitbart
Zachary Basu / Axios:
Blinken testifies on Afghanistan: “We inherited a deadline, but not a plan”
Blinken testifies on Afghanistan: “We inherited a deadline, but not a plan”
Discussion:
Fox News, New York Times, Breitbart, Associated Press, Defense One, Conservative Brief, Townhall, Financial Times, CNN and New York Post
Jonathan Landay / Reuters:
Family of U.S. hostage held by Taliban calls for envoy's firing
Family of U.S. hostage held by Taliban calls for envoy's firing
Discussion:
Fox News, Washington Examiner, The Hill and Breitbart

She's One Of Congress's Leading Progressives — Just Not In Her Own Office, Staffers Say — WASHINGTON — Last May, Rep. Pramila Jayapal introduced the Paycheck Recovery Act, aimed at curbing layoffs during the pandemic by having the federal government pay people's salaries.
Discussion:
Fox News

As Newsom leads California recall polls, Larry Elder pushes baseless fraud claims — WASHINGTON — Republicans in Tuesday's California gubernatorial recall election are already laying the groundwork to argue the election was stolen — even before a single ballot is reported or a victor declared …
Discussion:
Insider, Raw Story, CNN, UPI, The Dispatch, Politico, The Hill, New York Magazine, New York Times, Washington Examiner, Mother Jones and Patterico's Pontifications
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Gov. Gavin Newsom faces potential ousting in California recall election — This is the fourth time in the U.S. there's been a gubernatorial recall election — Voters who haven't already cast their ballots by mail head to the polls Tuesday to weigh in on whether they would like to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Discussion:
Fox News, Politico, Associated Press, New York Times, Financial Times, USA Today, CBS Sacramento, NBC Bay Area and KTLA

Scoop: Sinema's secret spreadsheets — Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) is negotiating the size and scope of President Biden's $3.5 trillion budget plan armed with her own spreadsheets about the costs and tax hikes needed for each program, people familiar with the matter tell Axios.
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Democrats confront their Manchin and Sinema dilemma — Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema hold the reins on President Joe Biden's jobs and families plan, and their fellow Democrats are struggling with how to handle it. — Led by Manchin's media tour on Sunday shows and in the Wall Street Journal op-ed pages …
Discussion:
The Hill, Washington Post, The Daily Beast, CNN, HuffPost and KFOR-TV

Seven reasons to think Senate Democrats will actually change the filibuster
Discussion:
Roll Call and Washington Examiner
Zachary Halaschak / Washington Examiner:
House Democratic proposals amount to $2 trillion tax hike
House Democratic proposals amount to $2 trillion tax hike
Discussion:
Politico, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Daily Caller, BizPac Review and Bloomberg

Apple Issues Emergency Security Updates to Close a Spyware Flaw — Researchers at Citizen Lab found that NSO Group, an Israeli spyware company, had infected Apple products without so much as a click. — Apple on Monday issued emergency software updates for a critical vulnerability …

Help! I Couldn't Stop Writing Fake Dear Prudence Letters That Got Published — Sometime at the tail end of 2018, shortly after abandoning yet another draft of what was supposed to be my fifth Young Adult novel, I took up a different form of fiction: I started writing fake letters to Dear Prudence, Slate's long-running advice column.
Discussion:
New Republic, HotAir and Mediaite, more at Mediagazer »

Under G.O.P. Pressure, Tech Giants Are Empowered by Election Agency — New rulings by the Federal Election Commission protect the flexibility of major social media companies to control political content shared on their platforms. — When Twitter decided briefly last fall to block users …
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Examiner, Ace of Spades HQ, New York Post and National Review
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Let's stop pretending Biden's proposed tax increases on the rich are radical — Many of the spending items in the reconciliation bill Democrats are negotiating could be described as transformative. If we had universal pre-K, free community college, paid family leave and enhanced Medicare benefits …
Discussion:
New York Post
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Tucker Carlson Touts Nicki Minaj's Vaccine Comments, Reads Aloud Her Swollen Testicle Tweet — Tucker Carlson took a moment during his Monday night show to tout Nicki Minaj's comments about the covid-19 vaccines. — Minaj said earlier Monday that she isn't vaccinated yet …
Discussion:
Insider, Summit News, Metro.co.uk and The Daily Beast

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Sent a Message With Her First Met Gala Appearance — For her first appearance at the Met Gala, representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had to make a political statement. It was only right. And since she was at fashion's glitziest night, surrounded …
Discussion:
New York Times, New York Post, Townhall, Breitbart, The Gateway Pundit, The Daily Caller, Mediaite, NOQ Report, HuffPost and The Hill

They obey the bespoke instructions that pop up on their screens: Don't wait outside Benny's Burritos, don't ask to use the restroom, be “super nice!” to Dig Inn because it is a “VIP client” — or have your account suspended. — The apps failed and bought each other, and now three giants remain …
Discussion:
THE CITY, Streetsblog New York City and The Verge, more at Techmeme »

Key takeaways from Blinken's Capitol Hill testimony on Afghanistan withdrawal — He faces more questions from from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday — In his first appearance on Capitol Hill since the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken faced …
Discussion:
CNN, Politico, New York Post and Breitbart

China uses anti-fraud app to track access to overseas financial news sites — Police identify and question people on back of software meant to prevent online scams — Chinese police are using a new anti-fraud app installed on more than 200m mobile phones to identify and question people …

What the Never Trumpers Want Now — Many of the conservatives and Republicans appalled by Donald Trump's presidency clutched a hope through the bewildering years: Someday this would all be over and politics would return to normal. — But normal has not returned.
Discussion:
RedState and Vanity Fair

Why Democrats Are Losing Texas Latinos — The party assumes people of color will turn the state blue. But most Tejanos consider themselves white. And more are voting Republican. — In an interview with Javier Villalobos in early June, Fox Business host Stuart Varney presented his guest with a riddle.

George W. Bush just threw a whole lot of shade at Donald Trump — (CNN)The man who was president during the attacks of September 11, 2001, used a speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of that terrible day to call out the “malign force” coursing through the country thanks to the presidency …
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Stephen Collinson / CNN:
Trump is showing just how divisive a new White House run would be
Trump is showing just how divisive a new White House run would be
Discussion:
RedState, The Daily Caller, Trending Politics, Ace of Spades HQ, Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Schools facing critical race theory battles are diversifying rapidly, analysis finds — Downingtown, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, has been changing. And the school district has tried to change with it. — In 1994, students of color made up just 5 percent of the enrollment in the Downingtown Area School District.
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Jelani Cobb / New Yorker:
The Man Behind Critical Race Theory

Veronica Wolski, Woman Who QAnoners Demanded Hospital Treat COVID With Ivermectin, Dies — A woman who became the center of a harassment campaign against a Chicago hospital as QAnon supporters demanded they treat her COVID-19 diagnosis with ivermectin has died, according to reports.

DeSantis and the Agony of the Anti-Anti-Anti-Vaxx Republican The GOP-elite darling tries to walk a careful line, and falls off. — The right-wing backlash against the coronavirus vaccines has forced Republican politicians to make an agonizing choice. On the one hand, public health …
Discussion:
WESH-TV, Lawyers, Guns & Money and HotAir

Republicans cannot duck responsibility for Trump — It makes for uncomfortable TV. Republicans get really grumpy. Republicans who enabled former president Donald Trump right up to the 2020 election — or beyond — do not like to admit complicity in the rise of a dangerous authoritarian movement.