In very much related news, the Daily Beast reports Gaetz/Greene’s tour has earned their campaigns and joint committee $59,345.54 in contributions on $287,036.19 in expenditures, putting them more than $225,000 underwater since they started their rallies in early May.

“Any effort to dictate national Mail-In Voting will be a disaster for our Country and for conservatism. There will never be a Republican elected to high office again. I urge every Republican to fight this and deny Democrats a quorum if that is what it takes to make sure that the Democrats can’t use reconciliation. Republicans must push back for the sake of our Country and, far less importantly, the sake of the Republican Party!” says the Fat Orange Bastard in a statement.

“A federal judge forced a US Capitol rioter to unlock his laptop Wednesday after prosecutors argued that it likely contained footage of the January 6 insurrection from his helmet-worn camera. The judge granted the Justice Department’s request to place Capitol riot defendant Guy Reffitt in front of his laptop so they could use facial recognition to unlock the device. The maneuver happened after the hearing ended and Reffitt’s lawyer confirmed to CNN that the laptop was unlocked. Investigators seized the laptop and other devices earlier this year pursuant to a search warrant.”

“Reffitt has been in jail since his arrest in January. His case received national attention after his son spoke publicly about how Reffitt had threatened to kill family members if they turned him into the FBI. The case became an example of how former President Donald Trump’s lies tore some families apart – Reffitt’s son and daughter testified against him in court or before the grand jury” – CNN.

Reuters: “The Chinese government ordered local authorities immediately improve urban transit flood controls and emergency responses on Thursday after a dozen people were killed in a submerged subway amid torrential rains that continue to lash central China. Some 25 people have died in central Henan province, including the 12 trapped in the subway, where rains were persisting for a sixth day and spreading north to neighbouring Hebei province. The Ministry of Transport said local authorities must immediately re-examine and rectify all hidden risks on rail transit.”

“‘They must take emergency measures such as suspending trains, evacuating passengers, and closing stations in atypical situations such as excessively intense storms,’ the ministry said. Hundreds of people were pulled to safety earlier this week from the flooded subway in Henan’s provincial capital of Zhengzhou, a city of 12 million people about 650 km (400 miles) southwest of Beijing. Media images showed commuters immersed in chest-deep waters in lightless cabins. One underground station was reduced to a large churning pool.”

https://youtu.be/EtP0YoFbrTI

CNN: “Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn investigating Tom Barrack, a prominent ally to former President Donald Trump, for allegedly violating foreign lobbying laws had enough evidence to bring charges last year, but held off doing so until the arrival of the new presidential administration, according to people briefed on the matter. Prosecutors wanted to move forward on the case and believed they could obtain an indictment, one source familiar with the matter said. The source said the investigation was mostly done well before the time period when prosecutors are discouraged from advancing politically sensitive matters ahead of an election. But two sources tell CNN the US attorney in Brooklyn at the time, Richard Donoghue, expressed misgivings about the case.”

“It’s unclear if he delayed the case outright or if prosecutors chose not to move forward at the time knowing the US attorney would not support it. Donoghue did not respond to CNN’s request for comment. Donoghue’s then-boss, former Attorney General William Barr, was also known inside the department to have reservations, in general, about foreign lobbying cases, which the Justice Department has struggled to prosecute in the past. A spokesman for the Brooklyn US attorney’s office declined to comment. The case, which was charged Tuesday, became among the sensitive matters that awaited the arrival of the Biden administration’s Justice Department officials this year. Barrack’s indictment struck a blow in Trump circles because of his close association with ‘Donny,’ as Barrack referred to the former President in a deposition last year. With a four decade-old friendship with Trump and his position as an adviser during the 2016 campaign, transition and early days of the administration, Barrack is well-informed about people around the former president, and about events that have already prompted criminal charges.”

“The decision by Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s to target hundreds of thousands of Jewish customers abroad with this discriminatory boycott is a disgrace and a direct embrace of the anti-Israel BDS movement. New York State must now follow the 2016 Executive Order that prohibits state agencies from conducting business with institutions or companies that promote BDS, and requires the OGS Commissioner to maintain and update a list of entities participating in BDS.”

“Both Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever need to be immediately added to the OGS list, and the state needs to end any current business and suspend any future business with either company. Our state needs to follow its self-imposed standards, lead by example, and stand up to this anti-Israel and anti-Jewish discrimination” says the statement from Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-NY).

You’d think this dipshit would be able to come up with the numbers on how much the New York State government spends on Ben and Jerry’s ice cream annually. I’d be surprised it was more than a few hundred bucks if anything at all. Maybe more if the state owns and operates shops in parks and public colleges but those are probably outsourced to concession operators. I don’t know, and that’s kind of the point: Zeldin acts like his demand has actual teeth without doing his homework and figuring out what the actual impact would be for banning the purchase of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream (and other Unilever brand products) by the New York State government.

CNN: “Last week, even as it came under fire from the White House over its role in spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, Facebook hadn’t taken the simple step of blocking the #VaccinesKill hashtag on its platform. Now the hashtag is hidden on the platform, locked behind a message that says Facebook is ‘keeping our community safe.’ The change happened hours after CNN Business asked Facebook why the page full of anti-vaccination falsehoods was easy to find.”

“If this sounds familiar, it’s because almost the exact same thing happened with Facebook-owned Instagram two years ago, during one of the company’s previous efforts to tell people that, seriously, it really was doing a great job of moderating anti-vaccine content. It’s yet another example of the Whack-a-mole that happens all across social media. Reporters or other users notice content that clearly violates a platform’s policies; they ask why it is being permitted; the platform whacks it away; and then the cycle repeats.”

An investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of nursing home facilities in the Grand Junction, Colorado area show a link between the number of unvaccinated staff on-site and the number of coronavirus infections and deaths among the facilities’ patients, the Associated Press reports.

According to data compiled by the CDC, approximately 59% of staff at senior living and nursing home facilities are fully vaccinated, as are 80% of residents.  However, the latest variant of the coronavirus, the Delta strain, is proving to be more contagious, even among those vaccinated, who tend to have a milder episode than unvaccinated people who are infected.

In the elderly, immune systems may not react robustly to the vaccine.   “[O]lder adults may not respond fully to the vaccine and there’s enormous risk of someone coming in with the virus,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean for public health practice at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  “Vaccinating workers in nursing homes is a national emergency because the delta variant is a threat even to those already vaccinated.”

One of the two men arrested for plotting to bomb the office of the California Democratic Party was denied pre-trial release at the last minute after his wife hesitated to have commit to ensure he adheres to the terms of bail, the Sacramento Bee reports.

After a 70-minute Zoom hearing and despite objections from the prosecutor and the CDP lawyer, U.S. Magistrate Judge Alex Tse in San Francisco had agreed to let Jarrod Copeland be confined to home detention, conditional on a number of terms including using an electronic monitor and barred from using all but one electronic device.  The detention would take place at the Sacramento apartment he shared with his wife, Sheila, who would serve her husband’s legal custodian and swear that the terms of the release were honored.

Tse reviewed the terms of the release and reminded Sheila that she would be jailed if she failed to report any violations.  Sheila appeared hesitant and responded, “Yeah, that’s a big responsibility,” a sentiment which Tse echoed.

J. Thomas Manger, the police chief in the Washington, DC suburb of Montgomery County, Maryland, has been named the new chief of the Capitol Police after the previous chief stepped down in the wake of the January 6th domestic terrorist attack, the Associated Press reports.

With the Montgomery County PD, Manger oversaw a force with 1,300 officers in an affluent suburb north of Washington; the Capitol Police have 2,000 officers and support staff.  Prior to his current job, he led the Fairfax County (Virginia) Police, serving a western suburb of DC with 1,400 officers.

The duty of the Capitol Police goes beyond protecting the Capitol complex and associated office buildings.  Capitol Police also provide protection details for members of Congress in DC and when they travel.

Department of Justice Press Release: “A federal grand jury has charged a local, self-identified ‘Incel’ with attempting to conduct a mass shooting of women and with illegally possessing a machine gun. Tres Genco, 21, of Hillsboro, Ohio, allegedly plotted to commit a hate crime, namely, a plan to shoot women at a university in Ohio. He was arrested by federal agents today. Genco identified as an Incel or ‘involuntary celibate.’ The Incel movement is an online community of predominantly men who harbor anger towards women. Incels advocate violence in support of their belief that women unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention to which they believe they are entitled.”

“According to the indictment, Genco maintained profiles on a popular Incel website from at least July 2019 through mid-March 2020. Genco was a frequent poster on the site. In one post, Genco allegedly detailed spraying ‘some foids and couples’ with orange juice in a water gun. Foids is an Incel term short for ‘femoids,’ referring to women. As part of this investigation, law enforcement agents discovered a note of Genco’s that indicated he hoped to ‘aim big’ for a kill count of 3,000 people with a reference to the same date as Elliot Rodger’s attack, and intended to attend military training. The investigation revealed that the day he wrote his manifesto, he searched online for sororities and a university in Ohio. It is alleged that in 2019, Genco purchased tactical gloves, a bulletproof vest, a hoodie bearing the word ‘Revenge,’ cargo pants, a bowie knife, a skull facemask, two Glock 17 magazines, a 9mm Glock 17 clip, and a holster clip concealed carry for a Glock. Genco attended Army Basic Training in Georgia from August through December 2019. He was discharged for entry-level performance and conduct.”

Just for those keeping score at home: McCarthy voted against a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol riot. He just wants it to go away. He put Jim Banks and Gym Jordan on Pelosi’s committee to ruin it, and now suddenly he claims the Republicans will run a separate probe.

The White House pushed the visit from July to the August recess.

President Zelensky won't be able to engage members of Congress, who on a bipartisan basis oppose Biden's surrender to Putin on Nord Stream 2.

Probably just a coincidence. https://t.co/jRsEj2Auiu

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 21, 2021

More than 60 political appointees to positions in the State Department are being held up from taking their positions because Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R-Quintana Roo) is having a temper tantrum over a pipeline, CNN reports.

Cruz has blocked all but six State Department nominations from getting out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee until, he says, the Biden Administration reimplements sanctions against Russian relating to the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that goes to Germany.  The Biden Administration has lifted sanctions against a number of Russian parties that helped build the pipeline, put in place toward the end of the Trump Administration after 95% of the pipeline had been built during the Trump Administration.  The Biden Administration instead opted to sanction the individuals and companies that would benefit from the operation of the pipeline.

“I look forward to lifting the holds just as soon as they impose the sanctions on Nord Stream 2 that are required by federal law,” Cruz told CNN.

“McCarthy is pulling all five of his GOP picks off the Jan. 6 committee after Pelosi vetoed two picks, GOP source says” reports The Hill’s Scott Wong.

During Super Bowl Champ Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ visit to the White House Tuesday, quarterback Tom Brady joked to Biden “I think 40% of the people still don’t think we won… You understand that, Mr. President?” to which Biden and the crowd laughed heartily at Trump’s expense.

As you can see, Bretbart was not happy over it, and that wasn’t the only article. No less than six pieces were published on the site, including the above and Flashback: Trump Defended Tom Brady During Deflategate Scandal and “Tom Brady Teams Up with Joe Biden to Mock Trump Supporters“.

“I hope the NFL dies” is the top comment on that last one, with 480 upvotes as of this writing.

“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is rejecting two Republicans tapped by House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy to sit on a committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, citing the ‘integrity’ of the probe.

“Pelosi said in a statement Wednesday that she would not accept the appointments of Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, whom McCarthy picked to be the top Republican on the panel, or Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. Both are close allies of former President Donald Trump, whose supporters laid siege to the Capitol that day.

“Both Banks and Jordan voted to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential victory after the insurrection.” –Associated Press

“In Obama era, the theory was presidents have a unique ability to focus on ONE big sweeping reform, barn storm the country gathering support, and tell Congress to hammer it out. That’s how ACA worked. Biden is different… Democrats seem to be almost borrowing from Trump’s playbook of doing too many controversial things at once for opponents to focus on anything. Items that individually would be career-defining in past White House’s like universal pre-K are afterthoughts right now that barely even get discussed” – NBC News editor Benjy Sarlin.