“U.S. stocks rallied Friday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average across the 35000 closing milestone for the first time, in a striking rebound from major indexes’ pullback earlier this week.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“‘Ridiculous’: Vaccine Myths Cripple U.S. Uptake as Delta Surges
The excuses range from the merely false to the absurd. The shots don’t work. They impair fertility. They’ll alter your DNA. Josh Wingrove, Kristen V. Brown and Daniel Zuidijk run through the reasons cited by Americans for their hesitancy to get shots, confounding health officials battling yet another surge of Covid-19 cases fueled by the delta variant.” Read more at Bloomberg“The White House on Friday said it would not place blame on unvaccinated Americans as coronavirus cases rise around the country, but press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration empathizes with the frustration of leaders in states that have lagged behind in vaccination rate.
Psaki was asked about comments from Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R), who earlier Friday said, ‘It's time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It's the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down’ as her state ranks last in terms of vaccination rate.
‘I don’t think our role is to place blame, but what we can do is provide accurate information to people who are not yet vaccinated about the risks they are incurring not only on themselves, but also the people around them,’ Psaki said.
Psaki said it's not the role of the federal government to encourage vaccine mandates as some states have seen vaccination rates stagnate. Instead, the administration sees its role as distributing vaccines and disseminating accurate information about the shot.” Read more at The Hill
“A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) exceeded its authority by temporarily halting evictions amid the pandemic.
In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that the agency had overreached with its eviction moratorium, which is set to expire at the end of July.
The CDC order, originally enacted in September 2020 and subsequently extended by Congress and President Biden, aims to protect cash-strapped tenants who would face overcrowded conditions if evicted.
But in its Friday ruling, the court rejected the CDC’s two-pronged argument that the eviction freeze was within its authority, or that Congress authorized the measure after the fact as part of its COVID-19 relief legislation.
It was not immediately clear what practical impact would result from the ruling, which affirmed a March decision by a federal judge in Tennessee in favor of a group of landlords. That lower court ruling, by U.S. District Judge Mark Norris, a Trump appointee, blocked enforcement of the eviction freeze throughout the Western District of Tennessee.
The latest development comes after the Supreme Court last month voted 5-4 to reject an emergency request from a separate group of landlords who also sought to have the eviction ban lifted, arguing it amounts to unlawful government overreach at a cost of some $13 billion each month to property owners.” Read more at The Hill
“The state of Tennessee announced Friday that it will resume nearly all forms of coronavirus vaccine outreach for children and teenagers after advocacy was halted this month because of pressure from Republican legislators upset by the state health department’s efforts to vaccinate minors.
Tennessee Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said at a news conference that the state will jump-start efforts to promote vaccination for adolescents as early as next week, including by offering the shots at events on school property.
‘We put a pause on many things, and then we have resumed all of those, ‘Piercey told reporters, adding that outreach was paused so that the messaging would be directed at parents, not children.
The health department said it would continue to prohibit social media posts promoting vaccination that are specifically aimed at children.
Piercey also announced that health officials will provide vaccinations to minors without their parents’ permission in what she described as ‘fringed and nuanced’ circumstances. Her statement Friday contradicted an announcement this week by state Republicans who claimed that Piercey privately agreed ‘to stop vaccinating children for covid-19 without parental consent, and to stop marketing to minors, ‘according to the Tennessean newspaper.
‘The reason for this pause is because we wanted to leave no room for interpretation about where we are shooting,’ Piercey said. ‘And we are shooting to get the message to parents. And there was a perception that we were marketing to children.’
The news is the latest in the controversy over how Tennessee has gone about trying to vaccinate its young people during the pandemic and how political pressure has played a role in that messaging. Michelle Fiscus said she was fired from her job as director of immunization programs at the Tennessee Department of Health last week as retaliation for the department’s efforts to vaccinate teenagers against the coronavirus, a plan that she said angered several state legislators.” Read more at Washington Post
“Democrats are confounded by what they see as the GOP’s shifting rhetoric on vaccines, which in their view has changed as the delta variant has swept through unvaccinated populations in disproportionately Republican areas.
More Republicans and conservatives this week — from House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) to leading personalities on Fox News — have come out with calls for people to get vaccinated as cases and hospitalizations have risen.
‘Delta COVID is really hitting these ruby red districts,’ said Democratic strategist Max Burns. ‘I think the physical reality of watching loved ones die from this pandemic cuts right through any COVID-minimizing messaging coming out of the right-wing media network.’
The irritation from many Democrats is that there was not a more forceful and unified vaccination push on the right earlier into the pandemic from former President Trump down to his lieutenants and elected allies.
Some Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have consistently urged people to get vaccinated, but other GOP voices have stomped on that message with cries of government overreach and questions about whether young and healthy people in particular should get a shot.
Democrats now largely see the GOP as changing its tone as polls suggest its voters are being hit the hardest. Indeed, many believe Republicans are attempting to inoculate themselves from that kind of criticism ahead of the 2022 midterms.
The ‘sudden pleading for people to get vaccinated,’ said Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, ‘stems from the fact that they’re looking at their constituents die.’
‘Their voice print, what they’ve been saying up until this point, is all over that,’ Steele said.
Yet even though there’s a strong desire to call Republicans out, some Democrats acknowledge they have to handle the situation delicately — both because they want more skeptical people to get vaccinated and because of potential political dangers in next year’s elections.” Read more at The Hill
“WASHINGTON — Biden administration health officials increasingly think that vulnerable populations will need booster shots even as research continues into how long the coronavirus vaccines remain effective.
Senior officials now say they expect that people who are 65 and older or who have compromised immune systems will most likely need a third shot from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, two vaccines based on the same technology that have been used to inoculate the vast majority of Americans thus far. That is a sharp shift from just a few weeks ago, when the administration said it thought there was not enough evidence to back boosters yet.” Read more at New York Times
Photo: Michael Kappeler via Getty Images
“Fit for the occasion: Multicolored seats replaced cheering fans, masks were a central part of the uniforms, and a somber tone marked Friday's opening ceremony for the 2020 Olympic Games, Axios' Erin Doherty reports.
The ceremony paid tribute to the first responders of the pandemic. A moment of silence was held to honor the lives lost from the coronavirus — which has killed more than 4.1 million globally.
The big picture: The opening was met amid simmering anger and disbelief in much of Japan, AP notes.
Organizers hope the excitement of the sports to follow will offset the widespread opposition.
‘Today is a moment of hope. Yes, it is very different from what all of us had imagined,’ IOC President Thomas Bach said.
Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron.
Team USA entered the stadium with veteran basketball star Sue Bird and baseball player Eddy Alvarez leading the squad as flag bearers.
It's the first time a duo shared the responsibility.
Some Team USA athletes, including those on the women's soccer and gymnastics teams, were not able to attend the ceremony, so they held their own private event instead. (Watch the video.)
Go deeper: We've launched an Olympics dashboard, which we'll constantly update with headlines, buzz and medals counts.” Read more at Axios
“Tom Barrack, the real-estate investor and longtime ally of former President Donald Trump, was freed from detention Friday on $250 million bond after striking a deal with federal prosecutors for his release before trial on charges that he worked as a foreign agent of the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Barrack, who was arrested in Los Angeles Tuesday, was ordered to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday, when he will be arraigned on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements during a 2019 interview with federal law-enforcement agents. He hasn’t entered a plea and won’t until he is arraigned in Brooklyn. A spokesperson for Mr. Barrack has said he isn’t guilty of the charges.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Donahue agreed to the 74-year-old Mr. Barrack’s release on several conditions, including a $250 million bond with $5 million in cash deposited and held in the trust account of Paul Hastings LLP, his attorney’s law firm. Mr. Barrack, who didn’t appear in court in Los Angeles Friday, also had to surrender his passport and agree to location monitoring.
Mr. Barrack, a private-equity and real-estate pioneer who founded Colony Capital, had a decadeslong business relationship with Mr. Trump that became a political alliance when Mr. Trump ran for president in 2016. Mr. Barrack raised more than $30 million for the campaign and became an informal Middle East adviser to the Trump administration.
Prosecutors have accused Mr. Barrack of trying to influence Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign and later his administration on behalf of the U.A.E. In an indictment, prosecutors said Mr. Barrack closely consulted with top Emirati government officials before appearing on television, writing opinion articles and speaking to Trump administration officials, using as an intermediary an Emirati businessman Rashid Al-Malik, who was also charged.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“TOKYO — Nothing about the Tokyo Olympics is going to go according to plan.
Not for the athletes who came here expecting to compete, only to be sidelined by COVID-19. Not for events that will surely be scrambled, as beach volleyball was Saturday when the very first match had to be canceled because of a positive COVID-19 test.
Not even for Team USA, normally a medal-winning machine from the moment the Games begin.
For the first time since the Munich Olympics in 1972 – so long ago some of the current Olympians’ parents weren’t even born yet – the Americans were shut out of the medals on the opening day of competition. That’s right. No golds, silvers or bronzes.
Just a whole lot of oopses and upsets.
‘I’m a little shocked, to be honest,’ Brady Ellison, a three-time Olympic medalist in archery who is ranked No. 1 in the world, said after he and Mackenzie Brown were stunned 5-4 by Indonesia in the first round of the mixed event.
‘I completely expected us to win a medal today.’
A sentiment shared by plenty of Americans.
The United States brings the biggest team to the Summer Olympics, and usually leaves with the most medals. U.S. fencers, weightlifters and shooters all began the first day of competition expecting to end the day with shiny prizes, maybe even a couple of them gold.
Yet as the day went on, the U.S. performance grew more and more grim.
No fencers got beyond the round of 16 in men’s sabre or women’s epee. Mary Tucker was sixth in the 10m air rifle. Judges ruled no lift on weightlifter Jourdan Delacruz on her third snatch, and then she failed to convert any of her clean jerks.
‘Definitely already looking forward to the future now,’ Delacruz said. ‘Live and learn.’
Brandon McNulty looked as if he might end the first-day oh-fer streak, leading the men’s road race with about 20 kilometers to go. But he ran out of gas and got caught with less than 5K to go, winding up sixth.
It is early – the Games haven’t even been open a full 24 hours, and there are still 15 days of competition left – and the Americans are still likely to leave Tokyo laden with heavy medals.
The women’s water polo team began its quest for a third consecutive gold by hammering Japan 25-4, and the softball team won its third game. The Americans will have more chances Sunday in archery, fencing, shooting and weightlifting, as well as skateboarding and judo.
All that, and Simone Biles hasn’t even started doing her thing yet.” Read more at USA Today
“The Cleveland Indians baseball team will change its name to the Guardians, following years of activism and protests. Go deeper.” [Axios]
“Former President Trump criticized the Cleveland Indians' decision to change the baseball franchise's name to the Guardians, saying ‘many Indians’ will likely be upset by the decision.
‘Can anybody believe that the Cleveland Indians, a storied and cherished baseball franchise since taking the name in 1915, are changing their name to the Guardians? Such a disgrace,’ Trump said in a statement Friday.
‘And I guarantee that the people who are most angry about it are the many Indians of our Country,’ Trump added.” Read more at The Hill
“The leader of the world’s most popular instant messaging app this week challenged the statements made by NSO Group’s chief executive in response to media reports that its military-grade software had been used to spy on journalists and human rights activists across the globe.
WhatsApp chief executive Will Cathcart said the denials by Shalev Hulio “don’t all match the facts” that he said WhatsApp uncovered while investigating alleged hacking of its app in recent years by NSO’s Pegasus software. The incident resulted in Facebook-owned WhatsApp suing NSO in a case that’s still pending. NSO denies the allegation.” Read more at Washington Post
“The U.S. government has purchased an additional 200 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, to be delivered from October through April. Go deeper.” [Axios]
“President Biden on Friday launched a frontal attack on Donald Trump at a campaign rally for Terry McAuliffe, leading a concerted effort to tie the Democrat’s opponent in the Virginia governor’s race to the former president.
‘I ran against Donald Trump and so is Terry,’ said Biden, speaking in Arlington as the sun set during his first appearance on the campaign trail since taking office. ‘I whipped Donald Trump in Virginia and so will Terry.’
Later, he mentioned the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. “Saying, ‘I was told there were a lot of peaceful, wonderful people?’” Biden said incredulously. In an interview for the new book “I Alone Can Fix It,” written by Washington Post reporters, Trump said he addressed a ‘loving crowd’ at a rally that day before the attack.
Biden’s comments amounted to some of his sharpest attacks on Trump since being sworn in. They came after a parade of introductory speakers also sought to tether Virginia Republican gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin to Trump. McAuliffe told the crowd Youngkin is ‘not running for you, he’s running for Donald Trump.’” Read more at 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 Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Taake made his initial court appearance Friday in the Southern District of Texas, according to a Department of Justice 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.” Read more at Washington Post
“The comparison has become a staple among right-wing figures in the news media and Republican politicians: The attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 was really no different than the unrest last year that accompanied months of racial justice protests. Any discussion of the first should — out of fairness, they have said — make reference to the second.
Now, for the first time, a federal court is poised to consider the merits of that argument, albeit in a narrow legal context.
The move comes in the case of Garret Miller, a Dallas man charged with storming the Capitol and facing off with officers inside. Last month, Mr. Miller, 34, raised what is known as a selective prosecution defense, claiming that he had been charged with violent crimes because of his conservative beliefs while dozens of leftist activists in Portland, Ore., had similar charges stemming from last year’s violence reduced or dismissed….
On Thursday, the government rebutted Mr. Miller’s claims, suggesting in court papers that a bright line stood between the nationwide protests last summer and the storming of the Capitol in January. While prosecutors acknowledged that those arrested during weeks of unrest at Portland’s federal courthouse had committed ‘serious offenses,’ they insisted that the suspects in Washington were involved in ‘a singular and chilling event in U.S. history’ that threatened not only the safety of the Capitol but also ‘democracy itself.’
While selective prosecution defenses rarely succeed, the government’s filing in Mr. Miller’s case was an unusual example in which the Justice Department opened a window on its decision-making process in the separate prosecutions, which right-leaning partisans have long sought to connect.
The attempt to equate the unrest in Portland with the later violence in Washington was critical, for example, in arguments by Republican senators for sinking a bipartisan, 9/11-style commission to examine the events of Jan. 6. The comparison was raised again this week by Republicans like Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, who criticized the Democratic plan to investigate the Capitol assault with a select congressional committee.” Read more at New York Times
“ATLANTA — At first glance, Herschel Walker has a coveted political profile for a potential Senate candidate in Georgia.
He was a football hero at the University of Georgia before his long NFL career. He’s a business owner whose chicken products are distributed across the country. And he’s a Black conservative with backing from former president Donald Trump, a longtime friend.
But an Associated Press review of hundreds of pages of public records tied to Walker’s business ventures and his divorce, including many not previously reported, sheds light on a turbulent personal history that could hinder his Senate bid. The documents detail accusations that Walker repeatedly threatened his ex-wife’s life, exaggerated claims of financial success, and alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior.
Walker, now 59, has at times been open about his struggle with mental illness, writing at length in a 2008 book about being diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, once known as multiple personality disorder. But it’s unclear how he would discuss these events as a candidate.
Walker did not respond to requests for comment. Multiple e-mails went unanswered, although his executive assistant confirmed they were received. His longtime attorney did not respond to e-mails.” Read more at Boston Globe
“CAP-HAÏTIEN, Haiti — Heckled by protesters and surrounded by phalanxes of heavily armed guards, foreign diplomats and Haitian politicians attended the funeral of Haiti’s assassinated president Friday, a tense event that laid bare a fractured nation’s problems instead of providing an opportunity for healing.
Less than a half-hour into the funeral, foreign dignitaries including the US delegation, led by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, departed over safety concerns because of reported gunshots fired outside the event. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said ‘the presidential delegation is safe and accounted for in light of the reported shootings outside the funeral,’ and was heading back to the United States, cutting the visit to Haiti short.” Read more at Boston Globe
“WASHINGTON—The Justice Department dropped cases against five visiting researchers accused of hiding their affiliations with China’s military, in a major setback to a landmark effort to root out alleged Chinese intelligence-gathering in the U.S.
In brief court filings late Thursday and Friday, prosecutors said they would no longer pursue visa fraud and other charges against the scientists, including biomedical and cancer researchers in California and a doctoral candidate studying artificial intelligence in Indiana.
One of the visiting scientists, Tang Juan, had been scheduled to go to trial on Monday. Court papers filed in her case earlier this week show some Federal Bureau of Investigation analysts casting doubt on the value of the cases. Judges had dismissed parts of the cases against Ms. Tang and another researcher in recent weeks after finding that FBI agents hadn’t properly informed them of their rights against self-incrimination when interviewing them.
The academics had been arrested last July in an FBI sweep that began after another researcher, Wang Xin, acknowledged to law enforcement—as he tried to leave the U.S.—that he had lied about his military service on his visa application to boost his chances of gaining admission to the U.S., and had been tasked with bringing back some information by a supervisor.
The U.S. ordered China to close its Houston consulate at the time, sending relations between the two countries to their lowest point in at least three decades and prompting the Chinese to order a U.S. consulate closed. The State Department cited evidence that allegedly showed consular officials helping visiting researchers evade scrutiny.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“How LGBTQ Rights Forced Hungary Into a Moment of Reckoning
It started with a book of kid’s fairytales and is culminating in a defining test of a nation’s democracy and even its future in the European Union. As Veronika Gulyas, Flavia Krause-Jackson and Zoltan Simon explain, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s weaponisation of gay rights has led to a showdown rarely seen between the bloc and a member state.” Read more at Bloomberg
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