“Giuliani allies are looking at the Trump money – even if it isn’t $82 million – and are aghast that Trump isn’t helping Giuliani with legal fees. Giuliani’s friends say he is saying he is close to broke, and his interview with NBC 4 New York’s Melissa Russo makes clear he knows he’s in legal jeopardy” reports NYT’s Maggie Haberman in reference to to Trump’s $102 million war chest.

“Moscow’s ham-fisted approach was explicit and brazen. By trashing the reputation of Western vaccines and showcasing individual adverse reactions from all over the world, the Russian state media sought to discredit competitors and promote its own vaccines. Instead, vaccine hesitancy in Russia is now through the roof, and stories of people using prosthetic limbs for COVID shots and faking vaccine certificates are rampant. Russia now has the highest tracked rate of vaccine opposition in the world, according to a recent study by Morning Consult, with the U.S. coming in second. A July survey by Russia’s Levada-Center showed that the most popular reason for refusing vaccination is the fear of side effects” the Daily Beast reports.

“When Russia announced that its health ministry is testing the effectiveness of combining Sputnik V with AstraZeneca, the public response demonstrated just how successful the propaganda campaigns have been. Appearing on various Russian TV shows, multiple guests appeared shocked and bashed the idea, with some saying: ‘Need a new batch of volunteers with no survival instinct?’ and ‘Darwin’s hypothesis will come true in the reverse order: A man will turn into a monkey.’ Addressing Russia’s struggle to get the pandemic under control, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS on Tuesday that ‘the not-very-rapid vaccination pace is among the reasons why we have so far been unable to radically contain the spread of the disease.’ Turns out that fearmongering about other vaccines leads to a distrust in all of them. As a well-known Russian proverb goes: Don’t dig a hole for someone else, or you may fall into it yourself.”

“This is how we know you’re a liar… Dems investigated Trump the entire time he was in office, and you had the majority for his first two years… You stood by and let them rake Trump over the coals to protect your own career… Now you claim to want to do something….LIAR!!!!”

– The top comment on the Breitbart article “Exclusive: Leader Kevin McCarthy Vows to ‘Have Real Investigations’ into Democrat ‘Fraud and Abuse’ if GOP Retakes Majority” posted Saturday.

“A Belarusian sprinter said she was taken to the airport against her wishes on Sunday to board a flight back home after she complained about national coaches at the Tokyo Olympics, but planned to avoid getting on the plane. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who was due to compete in the women’s 200 metres on Monday, told Reuters she had sought the protection of Japanese police at Tokyo’s Haneda airport so she would not have to board the flight. ‘I will not return to Belarus,’ she told Reuters. The Belarusian Olympic Committee said in a statement that coaches had decided to withdraw Tsimanouskaya from the Games on doctors’ advice about her ’emotional, psychological state’. Belarus Olympic officials did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.”

“A Reuters photographer witnessed the athlete standing next to Japanese police. ‘I think I am safe,’ Tsimanouskaya said. ‘I am with the police.’ A police officer at Haneda airport said they were with a female Olympic athlete from Belarus at Terminal 3. A source at the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation, which supports athletes jailed or sidelined for their political views, said Tsimanouskaya planned to request asylum in Germany or Austria on Monday. In a video published on Telegram by the Belarusian Sport Solidarity Foundation, Tsimanouskaya asked the International Olympic Committee to get involved in her case. An IOC spokesperson said the governing body had seen media reports and was looking into it. The spokesperson said it had asked Belarus’ Olympic committee for clarification” – Reuters.

“Texas has passed New York to become the state with the second-most COVID-19 deaths, a feat experts say was driven by an inability to control transmission of the virus here. Texas reached the milestone Wednesday, hitting 53,275 deaths, despite trailing New York by more than 29,000 fatalities last summer. Since then, though Texas is 54 percent more populous, more than twice as many Texans as New Yorkers have succumbed to COVID-19” the Houston Chronicle reports.

“Spencer Fox, associate director of the University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium, said he was surprised Texas had not passed New York in mortality sooner, since the northeastern state did a far better job limiting the spread of virus after it endured a horrific surge last spring. ‘They enacted really strong, precautionary measures that overall are well based in the available science,’ Fox said. ‘It seems that many of the Texas policies were put in place to try and prevent health care collapse rather than trying to prevent transmission.’ By June 30 of last year, as the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic swept through the United States, New York tallied 31,775 virus deaths. Texas had just 2,481. While New York City hospitals were pushed to the brink in the spring and the region became a global epicenter of the virus, Texas had kept the virus at bay and begun to ease restrictions. Over next 13 months, however, the states reversed roles. New York kept restrictions and mask rules in place longer and consistently maintained a lower positivity rate than Texas. In contrast, Texas endured two surges of the virus and is in the early stages of a third, as the Delta variant now sweeps the country as a fourth wave of the virus.”

SBS News: “YouTube says it has barred Sky News Australia from uploading new content for one week, citing concerns about COVID-19 misinformation. The move comes after a review of posts uploaded by the Rupert Murdoch-owned TV channel, which has a substantial online presence. ‘We have clear and established COVID-19 medical misinformation policies … to prevent the spread of COVID-19 misinformation that could cause real-world harm,’ a YouTube statement said. With 1.86 million YouTube subscribers, the channel – which is owned by a subsidiary of Murdoch’s News Corp – has a conservative following well beyond Australia.”

“Its posts, including some questioning whether there is a pandemic and the efficacy of vaccines, are widely shared on social media forums around the world that spread virus and vaccine misinformation. The last YouTube upload, from three days ago, features a host claiming that lockdowns have failed and criticising state authorities for extending Sydney’s current stay-at-home orders. Sky confirmed the temporary ban and a spokesperson said ‘we support broad discussion and debate on a wide range of topics and perspectives which is vital to any democracy’.”

“An outdoor drinking party at the athletes village that broke rules designed to limit the spread of COVID-19 at the Games is being investigated, Tokyo Olympic officials said Sunday. Organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said ‘multiple athletes’ and other team officials were drinking alcohol at the park within the village late Friday. Police arrived after the incident, Muto said at a news briefing, without identifying the athletes or any team involved or what action, if any, officers took. The 11,000 athletes at the Tokyo Olympics were warned before the Games that drinking alcohol in groups was a breach of the so-called playbook rules intended to limit COVID-19 infections.”

“Athletes were told they could drink alone in their rooms at the complex of 21 residential towers next to Tokyo Bay. In the most serious cases of rule-breaking, athletes can be removed from the village and have their Olympic credential taken away. ‘We are investigating the situation and based on the result we are to take appropriate action,’ Muto said through an interpreter” – AP.

Washington Post reporter Michael Scherer reported from the “Team GOP” dinner in Nashville Saturday night where Kevin McCarthy was the keynote speaker: “GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy still working his act at Tenn. GOP dinner: Says Hunter Biden probably doesn’t worry about inflation: “If you could sell crayon drawings for 500,000 I wouldn’t worry about it either… Tennessee reps gave Kevin McCarthy an oversized gavel after speech. McCarthy invites the 1,400 at Nashville dinner to DC when he becomes speaker. He says he wants everyone to see Pelosi hand him the gavel. ‘It will be hard not to hit her with it but I will bang it down,’ he says.”

This really isn’t panning out. https://t.co/D5FwbMLbeW

— Neera Tanden🌻 (@neeratanden) August 1, 2021

This article is a follow-up to Spartan’s piece on July 30th pondering why GOP Senator Kevin Cramer calling the capitol police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt a “hero” was never picked up and recirculated by the right-wing propaganda mill. My own theory is that the story was killed off because of growing discontent within the ranks of our nation’s police departments, particularly members of the nation’s largest police union, the Fraternal Order of Police.

A Washington, DC attorney who volunteered to represent some of the domestic terrorists arrested for their roles in the January 6th insurrectionist attack on the Capitol recommends to her clients that they read history books and the Constitution in the lead-up to their trials.

And as the Washington Post reports, she’s been told by those clients that the Constitution was signed in 1776, and she’s been labeled a traitor, Nazi, communist or worse for her efforts to ensure the insurrectionists get proper legal representation.

Heather Shaner, a 74-year-old Criminal Justice Act panel attorney, put her name into a pool to represent those people charged in relation to the January 6th attacks who needed a lawyer, bu she had one condition:  she would not represent anyone accused of injuring a police officer.

“The District reinstated an indoor mask mandate early Saturday morning. Everyone over 2 is required to cover their face in indoor, public settings,” reports NBC4 Washington.

“COVID-19 cases are on the rise. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people mask indoors in D.C. due to substantial transmission of the virus. Cases are up about 26% this week. About 61% of residents have at least one vaccine dose, according to CDC data. We will continue to do what is necessary to keep D.C. safe,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a press conference Thursday.”

https://youtu.be/XHJw6CJQg7E

Republican Florida Congressman and credibly accused child sex trafficker Matt Gaetz, who once mocked the severity of the pandemic by wearing a gas mask onto the floor of the House,

“I mean, you know, you’ve had, you’ve had all the experts say, ‘Well, look out for the delta variant or the lambda variant’,” Gaetz evangelized to a few hundred people in a largely unmasked crowd.  “Next, it’s going to be, like, the Chi Omega variant or the Pi Kappa Psi variant,” he shouted, apparently not knowing a fraternal organization or the Greek alphabet.

“I got the Florida variant,” Florida Man bragged.  “I got the freedom variant.  It affects the brain.  It gets you to think for yourself, where you don’t just surrender to the truth they’re tryin’ to create in corrupt Big Media.”

“Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19, the state’s highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic, according to federal health data released Saturday, as its theme park resorts again started asking visitors to wear masks indoors,” reports the Associated Press. “The state has become the new national epicenter for the virus, accounting for around a fifth of all new cases in the U.S.”

Human traffickers, drug dealers and weapons smugglers are all concerned about new financial transaction reporting requirements that are likely to be included in the new Senate infrastructure bill. Critics of the new regulations are already deriding them as “job killing government regulations” and “an attack on private sector innovation and an attempt at imposing one-world government socialism”.

Lawmakers in Nassau County, on New York’s Long Island, are considering a bill that would allow police officers and other first responders to sue protesters for financial damage if they are harassed, menaced or injured while performing their duties, the Associated Press reports.

The proposal specifies that a lawyer for the county could sue individual protesters for up to $25,000–an assessment that would double if the damages occurred during a riot.  First responders often enjoy qualified immunity that blocks personal criminal charges or civil lawsuits for actions done in the commission of their jobs.

The bill would classify police officers and first responders as a “protected class” under the county’s human rights laws.  The county’s current Human Rights Law provides protection from discrimination based on race, religion, gender and sexual orientation.  No professions are listed as a “protected class.”

New York Times: “In the hours and days after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, rattled Republican lawmakers knew exactly who was to blame: Donald J. Trump. Loyal allies began turning on him. Top Republicans vowed to make a full break from his divisive tactics and dishonesties. Some even discussed removing him from office. By spring, however, after nearly 200 congressional Republicans had voted to clear Mr. Trump during a second impeachment proceeding, the conservative fringes of the party had already begun to rewrite history, describing the Capitol riot as a peaceful protest and comparing the invading mob to a ‘normal tourist visit,’ as one congressman put it. This past week, amid the emotional testimony of police officers at the first hearing of a House select committee, Republicans completed their journey through the looking-glass, spinning a new counternarrative of that deadly day. No longer content to absolve Mr. Trump, they concocted a version of events in which those accused of rioting were patriotic political prisoners and Speaker Nancy Pelosi was to blame for the violence.”

“Their new claims, some voiced from the highest levels of House Republican leadership, amount to a disinformation campaign being promulgated from the steps of the Capitol, aimed at giving cover to their party and intensifying the threats to political accountability. This rendering of events – together with new evidence that Mr. Trump had counted on allies in Congress to help him use a baseless allegation of corruption to overturn the election – pointed to what some democracy experts see as a dangerous new sign in American politics: Even with Mr. Trump gone from the White House, many Republicans have little intention of abandoning the prevarication that was a hallmark of his presidency. Rather, as the country struggles with the consequences of Mr. Trump’s assault on the legitimacy of the nation’s elections, leaders of his party – who, unlike the former president, have not lost their political or rhetorical platforms – are signaling their willingness to continue, look past or even expand his assault on the facts for political gain.”

“The Senate convened for a rare weekend session on Saturday, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer encouraging the authors of a bipartisan infrastructure plan to finish writing their bill so that senators can begin offering amendments,” reports CBS News.

“Susan Wright’s campaign had reasons to feel good Tuesday morning, coming off a tele-rally with former President Donald Trump the night before and armed with internal polling showing she had a comfortable lead over her fellow Republican opponent. But anxiety set in as the day went on and her campaign saw higher-than-expected turnout. Then, a couple hours before polls closed, her consultant, Matt Langston, got a call. It was from a campaign worker at a polling place, and they said the kinds of voters who were showing up had ‘definitely changed.'”

“How do you know that? Langston asked. ‘Because they’re all wearing masks,’ the worker replied.”

“Data is not immediately available on exactly who voted in the special election runoff to replace Wright’s late husband, U.S. Rep. Ron Wright, R-Arlington – including how many Democrats, more concerned about COVID-19, may have turned out. But at the end of the day, Wright’s coveted endorsement from Trump – which appeared so powerful in propelling her to the top in the initial election – may have contributed to her undoing in the runoff where state Rep. Jake Ellzey benefited from a more bipartisan appeal, coupled with a more positive, energetic campaign. The bipartisan appeal was driven not just by Ellzey’s campaign but also by at least one outside group that explicitly targeted Democrats for him. ‘This was not a surprise,’ said Sarah Chamberlain, president of the super PAC Defending Main Street. Ellzey’s campaign and its supporters saw Wright as using Trump’s endorsement as a crutch, running an otherwise lackluster campaign that was propped up by a big-spending outside group, the Club for Growth. Her campaign denies that” – Texas Tribune.