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Rep. Jamie Raskin says "honest and serious conversations are taking place" about Biden's political future after debate
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, in a break from what most top Democrats have said publicly in their defense of the president, acknowledged that there are "very honest, and serious and rigorous conversations taking place" in the aftermath of Joe Biden's dismal debate showing last Thursday. "We're having a serious conversation about what to do," Raskin said in an interview with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi, adding, "One thing I can tell you is that regardless of what President Biden decides, our party is going to be unified, and our party also needs him at the very center of our deliberations in our campaign, and so whether he’s the candidate or someone else is the candidate."

Take Action: Demand moderators call out Trump’s lies during presidential debates!

Gathered at Camp David, Biden’s family tells him to stay in the race and keep fighting
President Biden’s family used a Sunday gathering at Camp David to urge him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite his dreadful debate performance, and some members criticized how his staff prepared him for the faceoff, according to people familiar with the discussions. Biden spent the day sequestered with first lady Jill Biden, his children, and grandchildren. Worth noting — the gathering was a previously scheduled trip to the presidential retreat in Maryland for a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for the upcoming Democratic National Convention but morphed into a strategy session to figure out precisely how to quell Democratic anxiety that understandably exploded following Thursday’s historically bad performance.

Take Action: Tell Congress to protect our seniors from predatory scammers!

GOP banker drops dark money bomb in must-win Senate race
Tammy Baldwin for Senate: Eric Hovde, McConnell’s hand-picked candidate for Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seat, spent over $5 MILLION on TV and digital ads so far in his transparent attempt to try and buy himself trailblazing Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin’s seat. Hovde used that money to unleash a torrent of GOP lies against Baldwin and President Biden, making it clear that he will rubber-stamp the GOP’s draconian anti-abortion agenda and roll back all the accomplishments that Senator Baldwin and President Biden have delivered for the American people. Polling shows that 15% of voters are still undecided — and in the most fiercely contested partisan battleground in the country, every single vote counts more than ever before. Will you chip in to fight the GOP’s lies, re-elect Tammy Baldwin and protect our Senate majority?

Supreme Court set to rule on Trump immunity in election interference case
The conservative-stacked Supreme Court is set to issue perhaps the most consequential decision of the season today — the final day of the high-court's current term — as it prepares to finally rule on Donald Trump's ridiculous claim of total immunity from prosecution for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and permanently upend American democracy. The MAGA cult leader faces a four-count indictment for his efforts to overturn the election that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, in which a violent mob of his supporters sought to prevent Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election. Even if the Supreme Court rejects all of the convicted felon's bullshit immunity arguments and says a trial can take place, it could likely not begin until September, mere weeks before the most consequential general election of our lifetime.

Take Action: Expel Chip Roy for calling to “ethnic cleanse” American liberals!

Democratic Gov. Whitmer disavows "Draft Gretch" movement
Gretchen Whitmer, the popular second-term governor of Michigan, personally called the Biden campaign over the weekend and disavowed the "Draft Gretch" chatter, once again reiterating her commitment and willingness to help the president in his high-stakes reelection efforts. Whitmer also used the call to voice her concern about how much more difficult the campaign would be now for President Biden after the disastrous debate performance he turned in last week before an estimated 50 million Americans. Whitmer is one of several successful and well-qualified Democratic governors who could theoretically jump into the race should the president step aside, but none of them are publicly pressuring Biden to do so. On the contrary, they are voicing their full support. Politico's Jonathan Martin writes, "Only a handful of them would likely turn down the opportunity to replace [Biden] on the ticket. But none of them, of course, want to be the one brandishing the political murder weapon."

Louisiana's surgical castration law set to go into effect on August 1
Louisiana is now the first state to allow surgical castration to be used as a punishment for sex crimes under a new law signed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. This law, which will go into effect Aug. 1, allows judges to order people found guilty of certain sex crimes against minors to undergo surgical castration. The use of surgical castration as punishment, which is a permanent procedure that involves the surgical removal of the testicles or ovaries ostensibly to stop the production of sex hormones, is rare elsewhere around the world and has been strongly criticized by Amnesty International and other human rights organizations. Several states, including Louisiana, have laws allowing for the use of chemical castration — a procedure that uses pharmaceutical drugs to quell the offenders' sex drive — for certain sex crimes, but the Bayou State has taken things a serious step further for criminals found guilty of raping or molesting children under the age of 13.

Boeing to be offered plea deal by Justice Department over deadly 737 Max crashes
Embattled aircraft manufacturer Boeing is close to reaching a new deal with the US Department of Justice to plead guilty to criminal charges over two deadly 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019. The aerospace giant is accused of violating a 2021 settlement related to the two fatal crashes, which took place within five months of each other and killed a total of 346 people. The DOJ first brought charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States against Boeing in January 2021, alleging it misled the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) during its evaluation of the 737 MAX aircraft. At the time, the company entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ, agreeing to pay more than $2.5 billion in fines, penalties, and compensation to victims' families. Having failed to live up to its obligations under that agreement, the DOJ is now proposing a new deal that would see the company plead guilty to conspiracy charges but somehow still avoid criminal trial.

Brian Tyler Cohen makes MAJOR announcement
Shameless by Brian Tyler Cohen: Everybody's favorite YouTube commentator, podcaster, and MSNBC contributor Brian Tyler Cohen has written a book, SHAMELESS: Republicans’ Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy! Shameless breaks down the lies and hypocrisies of a Republican Party steeped in MAGA mania and what steps Democrats must take to fight back, with a special foreword by Rep. Jamie Raskin. Pre-order your copy here!

Tom Harkin, former Democratic senator and long-time friend, says Biden should release all delegates and step aside
Former Iowa US Sen. Tom Harkin, himself a former presidential candidate, had some of the harshest criticism of the president, saying last week's debate was "a disaster from which Biden cannot recover." "Whoever prompted him for this debate tried to fill his head with facts and figures Biden couldn't remember, so he stumbled on these," Harkin noted. "Of course, Trump’s answers were meandering, gobbledygook and full of lies, BUT they were said with force and directness," Harkin said. The Iowa Democrat went on to say that all incumbent Democratic senators should write to Biden asking him to release his delegates and step aside so the national convention can choose a new candidate. Time will tell.

"More horrific than Abu Ghraib:" Lawyer recounts visit to Israeli detention center
Lawyer Khaled Mahajneh, the first lawyer to visit Israeli's Sde Teiman detention center, was stunned by what he saw during his visit to find information about Muhammad Arab, a reporter for Al Araby TV who had been arrested in March. Mahajneh told +972 that Arab was nearly unrecognizable after 100 days in the detention facility; his face, hair, and skin color had changed, and he was covered with dirt and pigeon droppings. The journalist had not been given new clothes for nearly two months, and was only allowed to change his pants for the first time that day because of the lawyer’s visit. Arab testified to his lawyer that Israeli guards sexually assaulted six prisoners with a stick in front of the other detainees after they had violated prison orders. To make matters even worse, most of the detainees are not formally accused of belonging to any organization or participating in any military activity; Arab himself still doesn’t know why he was detained or when he may be released.