“Record heat waves and crippling energy shortages across much of the Middle East are plunging homes and businesses from Lebanon to Iran into darkness and stirring unrest as poor families swelter while many of the rich stay cool with backup generators. Power outages have pushed hospitals to a crisis point. Family businesses are struggling to survive.”

“In some cities, the streetlights barely work. Temperatures in several Middle Eastern countries this summer have topped 122 degrees Fahrenheit – 50 degrees Celsius – including in Iran, which hit 123.8, and Iraq, which nearly matched last year’s record of 125.2. Decades of neglect and underinvestment have left power grids unable to cope. Drought has crippled hydroelectric generation. Economic crises roiling several countries mean governments are now even struggling to purchase the fuel needed to generate power” – Washington Post.

“Heavy metal band Iced Earth’s guitarist Jon Schaffer, who pleaded guilty to charges related to the Capitol riot, had feces thrown at him and faced death threats during a hellish stint at an Indiana jail, according to his lawyer. The comments made during a March court hearing were revealed Thursday, prompting Schaffer’s transfer to a DC jail before he was released on bail in April. ‘My client, who is presumed innocent, has just gone through two months of hell where other people were throwing feces at him and urine at him and threatening his life in a horrible, horrible situation,’ Schaffer’s attorney Marc Victor said at the hearing, according to the Indianapolis Star. Schaffer was segregated due to his public status but it led to prisoners tormenting him” – Daily Beast.

A ten-year-old boy from La Plata County, Colorado died of complications from a plague infection, with Colorado state health officials announcing animals and insects in six different counties have been identified with plague, CNN reports.

A bacterial disease that can be transmitted to humans through the bites of infected rodent fleas or handling infected animals, the plague caused tens of millions of deaths in Europe during the Middle Ages.  Now, it’s more easily treated ailment thanks to antibiotics.  The US sees a handful of human plague cases each year.

In Colorado, we expect to have fleas test positive for plague during the summer months,” Jennifer House, Deputy State Epidemiologist and Public Health Veterinarian for CDPHE, said in a statement. “Awareness and precautions can help prevent the disease in people.  While it’s rare for people to contract plague, we want to make sure everyone knows the symptoms. The disease is treatable if caught early.”

There is no question that Minority House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a loyal Republican ally of former President Donald Trump appears to be doing everything in his power to try to obstruct the House Investigation of the January 6th insurrection attempt at the US Capitol building. On January 19th, McCarthy revealed a list of five House members who he had selected to participate in the House Committee that will be investigating the January 6th terrorist attack. It was immediately obvious to followers of Washington politics that two of McCarthy’s picks: Representative Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio were clearly chosen for their willingness to throw outrageous tantrums and obstruct any progress by the committee.

“The new chief of the U.S. Capitol Police said the officers testifying next week about the January 6 assault on the Capitol building “need to be heard,” reports ABC News. “I think we need to pay close attention to what they’re saying,” said Thomas Manger, the former police chief in Montgomery County, Maryland, who was sworn into his new position on Friday.”

https://youtu.be/MrhCDGvszkU

Starting with Donald Trump asking, “Do you miss me yet?” the intro for the previous president at Saturday’s “Rally to Protect Our Elections” in Phoenix is worthy of a WWE match.

“And now entering the ring is the slayer of 420,000 American, the killer of the economy, the crusher of the Constitution, the Orange Orangutan of Outrage… DONALD J. TRUMP.”

“Thousands of Hungarians marched in solidarity with the country’s LGBTQ+ community Saturday in protest at government rhetoric and new legislation targeting sexual minorities which has drawn condemnation from Hungary’s European Union partners,” reports Politico. “Members of the European Parliament joined the Pride parade through the streets of Budapest. Despite the tension, the mostly youthful participants maintained a festive mood, dancing to Abba songs and waving rainbow flags. However there was also a sense among participants – who included many high-school students – that this was an act of defiance.”

My schadenfreude cup runneth over. Yet another right wing propagandist who has spent the last several years spouting the Trump gospel is critically ill with Covid19. Nashville Tennesee propagandist Phil Valentine, the host of a right-wing radio talk show is in a hospital critical care unit.

“Phil Valentine, who hosts a show bearing his name on WWTN-FM in Nashville, contracted the coronavirus a little more than a week ago and is battling pneumonia, his family said in a statement posted on Twitter.”

https://youtu.be/VBIWYPm_JWI

Fox News personality (and self-proclaimed “Man of the People” who took a private jet to an elitist guided fishing tour) Tucker Carlson got a faceful of facts when a local fly fishing guide while shopping at a Livingston, Montana outdoor store.

The “Former Guy” is scheduled to appear in Arizona today, Saturday, July 24th, and the MAGA bed-bugs are crawling out of the woodwork to turn the appearance into a massive festival of right-wing stupidity. The event, billed as a “Rally to Protect Our Elections” is hosted by the child pornography sharing group Turning Point USA.

Yeah, this is real, as far as we can tell. Meanwhile, Black Rifle Coffee – despite sponsoring Michelle’s Malkin’s racist shithole website – has been taking a beating from MAGA Land since they distanced themselves from Kyle Rittenhouse’s implied endorsement of their product last year.

“Hours after health officials in St. Louis announced they would reinstate a mask mandate amid rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the state’s attorney general said he planned to challenge it,” reports ABCNews.

“On Friday, officials for the city and county of St. Louis said residents ages 5 and up will be required to wear masks in indoor public places and on public transportation starting Monday, regardless of vaccination status. Wearing masks outdoors in groups will be strongly encouraged under the new order, which includes exceptions while eating and drinking in restaurants and bars, and for people with disabilities.”

Daily Beast: “Alan Dershowitz has long been the go-to lawyer for prominent MAGA-world figures who are having trouble with the law – from legal advice to legal punditry. But when it comes to former President Donald Trump’s class-action lawsuit against the social media giants who booted him off their platforms, even Dershowitz is currently keeping his distance this time. And that’s not from a lack of trying from Trump’s legal team. Two people familiar with the matter tell The Daily Beast that lawyers for the Trump class-action lawsuit against big tech companies reached out to Dershowitz in an attempt to enlist his support in the case. Specifically, the sources say, Trump’s legal team has asked the celebrity attorney if he would write a filing or affidavit for the lawsuit in support of the First Amendment and free speech arguments leveled against the companies.”

“But lately, Dershowitz has been acting less than enthusiastically about the prospect, the sources said. His reluctance marks another bump in the road for a legal crusade that legal scholars call a fundraising ‘stunt’ doomed to eventual dismissal in federal court. Dershowitz has pitched in to advise a host of Trumpworld figures over the past few years in the course of their legal troubles. He’s supported Trump with constitutional arguments against impeachment and the Special Counsel’s Russia investigation, signed on to advise MAGA pillow magnate Mike Lindell and his lawyers in his fight against Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuits, and offered advice to Rudy Giuliani and his attorneys in the criminal investigation into possible unregistered foreign lobbying. And yet, on this one, Dershowitz isn’t even jumping at the chance to submit an affidavit, at least for now. Reached for comment on Thursday, Dershowitz told The Daily Beast that he ‘can’t discuss any conversations that may or may not have happened’ on the matter.”

“To be useful, drones need to be quick. Because of their limited battery life they must complete whatever task they have — searching for survivors on a disaster site, inspecting a building, delivering cargo — in the shortest possible time. And they may have to do it by going through a series of waypoints like windows, rooms, or specific locations to inspect, adopting the best trajectory and the right acceleration or deceleration at each segment.”

The woke mob is everywhere: Here's where it came from and how one critic believes it can be stoppedhttps://t.co/iaUWA9VNa9

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 24, 2021

“Florida and several other states have scaled back their reporting of COVID-19 statistics this month just as cases across the country started to skyrocket, depriving the public of real-time information on outbreaks, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in their communities. The shift to weekly instead of daily reporting in Florida, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota marked a notable shift during a pandemic in which coronavirus dashboards have become a staple for Americans closely tracking case counts and trends to navigate a crisis that has killed more than 600,000 people in the US.”

“In Nebraska, the state actually stopped reporting on the virus altogether for two weeks after Gov. Pete Ricketts declared an end to the official virus emergency, forcing news reporters to file public records requests or turn to national websites that track state data to learn about COVID statistics. The state backtracked two weeks later and came up with a weekly site that provides some basic numbers. Other governments have gone the other direction and released more information, with Washington, D.C., this week adding a dashboard on breakthrough cases to show the number of residents who contracted the virus after getting vaccines. Many states have recently gone to reporting virus numbers only on weekdays. When Florida changed the frequency of its virus reporting earlier this month, officials said it made sense given the decreasing number of cases and the increasing number of people being vaccinated. Cases started soaring soon after, and Florida earlier this week made up up one-fifth of the country’s new coronavirus infections. As a result, Florida’s weekly releases – typically done on Friday afternoons – have consequences for the country’s understanding of the current summer surge, with no statewide COVID stats coming out of the virus hotspot for six days a week” – CBS Miami.

Washington Post: “The phrase ‘all is fair in love and war’ took on a new meaning Friday, when a Texas man was arrested after boasting to a match in a dating app about participating in the Jan. 6 riot ‘from the very beginning.’ Andrew Taake, from Houston, was charged with assaulting police and storming the Capitol building. His arrest follows a months-long investigation spurred by a tip and a FedEx delivery driver who confirmed his identity to the FBI. Taake made his initial court appearance Friday in the Southern District of Texas, according to a Justice Department news release. His public defender did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Similarly to another arrested rioter, it all started with a conversation on Bumble, a dating app. The unnamed Bumble user asked if he had been ‘near all the action,’ Taake claimed he was pepper-sprayed by police after gathering to protest the presidential election results, according to a July 21 criminal complaint.”

“‘About 30 minutes after being sprayed,’ he said of a selfie showing him wearing a gray beanie and dark gaiter across his face. ‘Safe to say, I was the very first person to be sprayed that day… all while just standing there.’ The two never got to meet face to face. Three days after the events, the match sent the conversation to officials, along with screenshots of Taake’s location on Jan. 6 – shown as Alexandria, Va., just outside Washington D.C. – according to the complaint. After the tip, officials reviewed flight records, security footage and photos and videos posted across social media. What they found was far more than a participant ‘peacefully standing there,’ as Taake claimed on Bumble, according to the complaint. A federal agent said images showed the Texas man ‘using what appears to be a metal whip and pepper spray to attack law enforcement officers.'”

“New York’s seniors tragically and unnecessarily died as a result of Governor Cuomo’s incompetent and inhumane Executive Order requiring nursing homes to accept COVID-19 patients. The governor then engaged in blatant corruption to cover up the true consequences of his failed policy and had the audacity to sign onto an absurd $5.1 million self-congratulatory book deal praising his COVID ‘leadership’, all while New Yorkers were grieving and clamoring for answers. The families and loved ones of the victims of Governor Cuomo’s failed leadership deserve transparency, accountability and the truth about the lengths of the Cuomo administration’s cover up and corruption. The Department of Justice has now chosen to willfully participate in the effort to deny the public answers and accountability. Adding this to the book deal and Emmy Award, the DOJ’s decision is yet another gift to a corrupt governor, turning a blind eye to the facts, the victims and the public interest”

– Statement from Lee Zeldin, current Republican Congressman for New York’s 2nd District and the all-but certain 2022 GOP nominee for Governor who had definitely called for a criminal probe into his likely opponent for completely legitimate, non-political reasons, we’re sure.

Politico: “The resurgence of the coronavirus is threatening to undercut the U.S. economic recovery and upend Americans’ plans to return to work just as the sweeping social safety net that Congress built during the pandemic is unraveling. That one-two punch – a new wave of cases followed by the looming expiration of enhanced jobless benefits, a ban on evictions and other rescue programs – is sparking concern among lawmakers and economists who say that while widespread business shutdowns are unlikely, renewed fears of the virus alone can slow the economy just as it’s getting back on track. That could dampen hiring and keep some workers on the sidelines of the job market – stalling or even reversing the labor recovery, the centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda. New unemployment claims jumped last week to 419,000, well above expectations and the highest since mid-May, the Labor Department reported on Thursday.”

“Biden – whose Gallup approval rating dropped to 50 percent this week, its lowest yet – is already drawing attacks from Republicans over the issue. Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the top GOP tax writer in Congress, said the president has focused too much on pushing his ‘$4 trillion spending binge’ and not enough on the virus. Jason Furman, a former top economic adviser to President Barack Obama who is close to the current White House economic team, said the West Wing is very aware of the risks to the economy from the spike in Covid cases. ‘Any problem that has a 5 to 10 percent chance to derail the economic recovery you are looking at very closely and are worried about,’ Furman said. He said that concern isn’t especially high, however, because even under ‘the most plausible worst-case scenario,’ the risk is that the Delta variant ‘takes what was a very fast recovery and turns it into just a fast recovery.'”

Security guards at the site where the Cyber Ninjas are allegedly conducting an audit of ballots cast in the November 2020 election in Maricopa County blocked the official liaison from the Republican-led Arizona senate from entering the site, calling into question who’s actually running the recount that was ordered by the GOP-dominated senate.

According to the Arizona Republic, Ken Bennett, the Senate liaison to the audit, was blocked from entering the building at the state fairgrounds on Friday.  On Thursday, Bennett had shared some of the audit data with people critical of the audit and the audit process, possibly incurring the Cyber Ninjas’ wrath.

The Arizona senate paid Cyber Ninjas, a company with no experience in election audits or monitoring, $150,000 to conduct the audit, which Republicans believed would show fraud in the Maricopa County vote tally.  However, others in the pro-Trump machine have been raising funds to continue the recount, leading some to question if the Cyber Ninjas are taking orders from one of the major funders to the multi-million dollar effort.