1. Yeah, that's the ticket!

It's official. Joe Biden is part of another historic presidential ticket. With his vice presidential pick, California Sen. Kamala Harris, who is Black and Indian American, becomes the first woman of color and the first Asian American to be chosen for a major party's ticket. The announcement yesterday afternoon drew praise for breaking new ground—and some criticism as well. The Democratic running mates will make their first joint public appearance since the announcement this afternoon. —Los Angeles Times

• — Trump blasts the selection. President Trump was quick to criticize Harris, saying she was "the meanest, the most horrible, most disrespectful of anybody in the U.S. Senate" during the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He also said she's "about the most liberal person in the U.S. Senate," while mispronouncing her first name. Typical.
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• — But it didn't stop him from supporting her. As a private citizen, Trump twice donated to Harris while she was a candidate for California attorney general in 2011 and 2013, for a combined total of $6,000. Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and a senior White House adviser, also donated $2,000 to her re-election campaign for attorney general in 2014. —USA Today
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• — Criticisms flowed from Trump allies too. But the early attacks, which often relied on racist and sexist tropes, painted a conflicting portrait of Harris, indicating that the campaign has not settled on a coherent and consistent way to attack her. In one statement, for example, Trump senior adviser Katrina Pierson said Harris will "try to bury her record as a prosecutor," while also accusing her of appeasing "anti-police extremists." —NBC News

2. Russian disinfo is back with a vengeance

Earlier this month, a video depicting Portland, Ore., Black Lives Matter protesters burning a stack of Bibles and then topping off the fire with American flags surfaced on Twitter. Sen. Ted Cruz said of the protesters, "This is who they are," and Donald Trump, Jr., tweeted that Antifa had moved to "the book burning phase." News outlets including the New York Post and The Federalist also picked up the story. But as it turns out, the story had originated from a Kremlin-backed video news agency.

• — Twitter strikes again. The video from Ruptly first got picked up on Twitter by Ian Miles Cheong, who has amassed a large following by playing a right-wing American raconteur on social media. He tweeted, "Left-wing activists bring a stack of Bibles to burn in front of the federal courthouse in Portland."
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• — Half true. While it is true that a Bible and an American flag were burned at the protest, this act didn't represent a majority of the peaceful demonstrators, and the clip failed to mention a group of women calling themselves Moms United for Black Lives Matter attempting to put out the fire.
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• — New strategy. Since 2016, the Russians have developed new tactics in order to sway the election. This time, they are taking a small but potentially inflammatory incident, blowing it out of proportion, and letting others on the political fringes in the U.S., Canada, or Europe spread it, thus stoking more division. —The New York Times

MORE: Disinformation for profit: How a Florida 'dealmaker' turns conservative outrage into cash —The Washington Post

3. Goodman & Rangappa: Senate probe enabling Russian disinfo

"Part of the Kremlin's effort is to drive a wedge between Ukraine and the United States, part is to sow political discord inside the United States, and another part is, as now confirmed publicly by the U.S. intelligence community, to support Trump's re-election bid. [Sen. Ron] Johnson has enabled all three." —Just Security

Ed. Note: Ryan Goodman is the Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Professor of Law at New York University School of Law. Asha Rangappa is a senior lecturer at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and a former FBI special agent.

4. A mixed bag on coronavirus stats

There's good news and bad news. First, the good news: while the U.S. reported more than 46,000 new coronavirus cases yesterday, it marks the lowest daily tally since Aug. 3. And the seven-day average of new cases topped the 14-day average in just nine states and Washington, D.C.—versus 42 states and D.C. a month ago. However, deaths from COVID-19, a lagging indicator, are hovering at 1,000 per day nationally, and Florida and Georgia both reported their highest single-day death tolls of the pandemic on Tuesday. Neither state has a statewide face mask mandate. —The Wall Street Journal

• — Schools aren't spared. Barely a week after Georgia reopened its public schools, a school district north of Atlanta has ordered 925 students, teachers, and staff to self-quarantine after dozens tested positive for the coronavirus. The district also announced the temporary closing of one of its hardest-hit high schools. —NPR
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• — Businesses are dying too. Big companies are going bankrupt at a record pace, and small businesses are disappearing by the thousands amid the pandemic. Many go uncounted because real-time data on small business is scarce, and owners of small firms often have no debt, and thus no need for bankruptcy court. The long-term drag on the economy from these closures could be huge. —Bloomberg
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• — Government workers facing furloughs. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the federal agency tasked with offering citizenship, green cards, and visas to immigrants, has notified about 13,400 of its 20,000 employees that they will be furloughed on Aug. 30. The furloughs are unavoidable due to budget shortfalls, which the agency had hoped would be filled by a congressional stimulus package. —USA Today

MORE: Saturdays without football? Pac-12 and Big Ten canceling seasons leaves huge void —Los Angeles Times

5. Lueck: Fighting COVID-19 takes everyone

"The pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges. Many were foreseeable, but no one counted on the federal government abdicating most of its responsibilities or the scarcity of supplies or the challenges that caller ID brings to contact tracing. This combination of factors suggests that the job to effectively and successfully fight the pandemic is impossible without the full support of government at all levels and society as a whole." —The Colorado Sun

Ed. Note: Michele Lueck is president and CEO of the Colorado Health Institute, an independent health policy research group.

MORE: Littwin: What's the status of pandemic relief? —The Colorado Springs Independent

6. Q in the House?

It could happen. Republican congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated neurosurgeon John Cowan in a primary runoff in Georgia's 14th District yesterday. Greene, a construction executive and staunch Trump supporter, has come under scrutiny for her support for the conspiracy theory QAnon, provocative ads, and for repeatedly making racist, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic comments in social media live streams and postings.

• — Although Greene's controversial social media posts initially spurred a wave of condemnations from top House Republicans, few have taken any meaningful action to block her path or to boost Cowan.
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• — Greene is likely to win the general election in the deep-red district, which President Trump carried with more than 75% of the vote in 2016.
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• — Trump congratulated Greene on Twitter this morning. "Congratulations to future Republican Star Marjorie Taylor Greene on a big Congressional primary win in Georgia against a very tough and smart opponent. Marjorie is strong on everything and never gives up—a real WINNER!" he wrote. —Business Insider

MORE: Cawthorn takes hard right turn, calls Asheville reparation plan 'racist' —Citizen Times

7. Tucker: Why Belarus matters

"[E]xperts say Belarus won't be able to continue on as it has after the events of this week. Eventually, it will either fall toward the West, depriving Putin of an essential supporting government against NATO expansion, or it will fall toward Russia, and NATO's presence in Poland and Lithuania will become even more essential." —Defense One

MORE: Democrat calls on White House to withdraw ambassador to Belarus nominee —The Hill

8. Military plane shot on US soil

An Air Force helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing at a Virginia airport on Monday after someone shot at it, injuring a member of the crew.

• — A UH-1N Huey helicopter assigned to the 1st Helicopter Squadron at Joint Base Andrews was on a routine training flight over Manassas, Va., when it was struck by a bullet.
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• — The helicopter supports the movement of the president and other senior government officials to and from Andrews, where Air Force One is also based.
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• — The injured crew member, who was not identified, was treated at a hospital and released. The FBI is investigating the incident. —McClatchy

9. The Economist: America needs its 'Deep State Department'

"Reformers say America must make diplomacy a first resort. Robert Gates, who was defense secretary in 2006-11, writes in Foreign Affairs about the 'overmilitarization' of American foreign policy and the neglect of its non-military tools. 'The State Department should be the central non-military instrument of U.S. national security policy,' Gates argues. But if it is to be up to the job, it will need more money, more manpower, and far better management." —The Economist

MORE: State Dept did not consider civilian casualties when sending arms to the Middle East, report finds —Politico

10. An American Story: Breathing new life

Respiratory therapist Savannah Stuard is on the front lines at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, operating ventilator equipment and manually pumping air into patients' lungs in head-to-toe protective equipment without a left forearm. Stuard was born without it, and she keeps it covered while working with a glove secured by tape.

• — "I don't have two hands, only the one," she said, discussing the challenges of working while maintaining a sterile environment. "So I have to sit there and methodically think it out, what to touch next, what to put on my hand to make it as sterile as possible."
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• — Stuard also volunteers at foundations where she mentors young people with limb differences and with patients she encounters who have lost limbs.
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• — "They'll say, 'I lost my leg in a car accident, and you just give me so much hope,'" Stuard said. "That's what I love to hear, and that's what I strive for—to help people to be better, because they see someone that has less and doing more, and it makes them feel like they can do more." —Associated Press

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