U.S. faces the costs of anti-vaxxers' 'personal choice'

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We're back. And though we were only gone for a few days, we missed some notable stories, mainly driven by the Justice Department. We learned of more evidence that Donald Trump pushed the DOJ to declare the 2020 presidential election "illegal" and "corrupt," even after it uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud. The DOJ also announced it would not defend Rep. Mo Brooks against Rep. Eric Swalwell's lawsuit, which alleges that Brooks should be held liable for inciting the insurrection in the Capitol. The decision means that Trump, who is also named as a defendant in the suit, could face the same fate. And the DOJ said that the Treasury Department must hand over the ex-president's tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee. We're a little tired of talking about the former guy around here, but if it relates to accountability, we're all ears. These latest developments are a hopeful sign that justice may yet come for Donald Trump. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

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** Too little, too late
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The U.S. has finally hit President Biden's 70% COVID-19 vaccination goal, albeit a month late, but the bigger story, sadly, is that it didn't come soon enough. The Delta variant is sweeping across the nation—in record numbers in places like Florida, where lines of cars are once again winding their way around testing sites. On the plus side, all 50 states are reporting rising vaccination rates, as watching hospitals fill with patients is leading some of the unvaccinated to rethink their prior resistance. Nevertheless, businesses and state and local officials, especially in hard-hit areas, are considering reinstituting mask mandates, as well as vaccine mandates, to stem the tide of rising infections. —ABC News ([link removed])
* — No shoes, no shirt, no vaccine, no service. New York City will require proof of vaccination to enter all restaurants, fitness centers, and indoor entertainment venues, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today. "If you're unvaccinated, unfortunately, you will not be able to participate in many things," de Blasio said. "If you want to participate in our society fully, you've got to get vaccinated." The policy will take effect over the next few weeks, and the city will begin enforcing it on Sept. 13. —CNN ([link removed])
*
* — Democrats battle over evictions. Congress failed to pass a last-minute extension of the federal eviction moratorium beyond Saturday's expiration date, and now Democratic congressional leaders are calling on Biden to extend it. But the White House says it is unable to do so, citing a June Supreme Court ruling that said Congress must act on any further eviction bans. The administration is urging state and local governments to step up to prevent evictions. —NPR ([link removed])
*
* — "My symptoms would be far worse." Sen. Lindsey Graham has announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19. In a statement, he said he began experiencing flu-like symptoms on Saturday night, and went to the doctor yesterday morning. "I am very glad I was vaccinated, because without vaccination, I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now," Graham noted. Other senators who have spent time with Graham recently, including at a gathering on Sen. Joe Manchin's houseboat, are now scrambling to get tested. —USA Today ([link removed])

MORE: Take it from them: Americans hospitalized with Covid regret not getting the vaccine —Rolling Stone ([link removed])


** Hunt: Cuomo's fall from grace
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"When the coronavirus struck, [New York Gov. Andrew] Cuomo became a hero to Democrats with his forceful, seemingly candid, daily briefings to counter President Trump's duplicity. There even was talk of drafting Cuomo as the party's presidential nominee. It looks a lot different today. There have been revelations that privately he gave special treatment for Covid testing to his family and political allies, [and] mismanaged the virus in nursing homes and covered it up. ... Most problematic for the governor may be the women, most of whom worked for him, who've accused him of sexual harassment. These are far more specific and serious than the charges that forced [former Sen. Al] Franken to resign." —Al Hunt in ([link removed]) The Hill ([link removed])

Al Hunt is the former executive editor of
Bloomberg News and previously served as reporter, bureau chief, and Washington editor for The Wall Street Journal. He hosts Politics War Room with James Carville.

MORE: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed multiple women, state attorney general report says —CNN ([link removed])


** Standoff in Maricopa County
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Arizona's Maricopa County and Dominion Voting Systems both refused yesterday to comply with subpoenas from the Arizona State Senate over its audit of the 2020 presidential election. At issue is a request by Cyber Ninjas, the contractor conducting the audit, for the county's routers, purportedly to see if voting machines were connected to the internet during the election. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors argues that providing the routers "puts sensitive, confidential data belonging to Maricopa County citizens...at risk" and open to hacking. Dominion says the request violates its constitutional rights, and cited a Justice Department warning that so-called election audits could violate federal laws. Stay tuned. —Axios ([link removed])

MORE: The big money behind the Big Lie —The New Yorker ([link removed])


** Election workers head for the exits
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Public servants who once carried out their civic role with little fanfare are leaving their posts in droves after an unprecedented rise in violent threats against them. Nearly 1 in 6 local election workers have received threats of violence, and almost 1 in 3 said they feel unsafe because of their job, according to a Brennan Center for Justice survey. The threats have come despite the fact that election workers administered a transparent, fully verified election in 2020, with the highest turnout in American history, amid a global pandemic. Driving the threats is, of course, the same impetus that fueled the Jan. 6 insurrection: Donald Trump's lies about the election. The Department of Justice has established a task force to address the issue, and a congressional panel last week held a hearing featuring testimony from election officials who faced threats while administering the election. —The Hill
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MORE: Two more officers who responded to Jan. 6 attack die by apparent suicide, bringing total to four —CBS News ([link removed])
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** Stirewalt: The contradictions of paranoid nationalism
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"Suspicion of authority is an old and important part of American conservatism. But so too is respect for righteous authority and tradition. Ongoing efforts on the right wing to discourage Americans from getting vaccinated against coronavirus and to overturn the certified results of an election held nine months ago tell me that things have gotten pretty badly out of whack between those competing impulses of suspicion and tradition." —Chris Stirewalt in The Dispatch ([link removed])

Chris Stirewalt is a contributing editor of The Dispatch and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

MORE: Sen. Ron Johnson accuses FBI of knowing more about Jan. 6 insurrection —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ([link removed])


** Focus on domestic extremism
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Department of Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas said yesterday that the most significant terror threat the U.S. currently faces is from within its own borders. He specifically took aim at right-wing extremist groups like QAnon and the Proud Boys. "These are often loosely affiliated individuals or sole actors, really motivated by false narratives and ideologies of hate and the like," Mayorkas said. "And that's what makes it challenging as well for law enforcement." ([link removed])
* — He suggested that this group "disarray" and lack of centralized organization or hierarchy explains why there weren't more public warnings given ahead of the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, despite an abundance of chatter on social media. "This is one of the issues that is under review," Mayorkas said, adding that the DHS is studying where it "could have done more." —Newsweek ([link removed])
*
* — Social media is the gathering place for domestic extremists. But jihadists are taking advantage of a new social media site as well. GETTR, a social network started a month ago by members of Donald Trump's inner circle, features reams of jihadi-related material, including graphic videos of beheadings and viral memes that promote violence against the West. The rapid proliferation of such material is placing GETTR in the awkward position of providing a safe haven for jihadi extremists while attempting to establish itself as a free-speech MAGA alternative to Facebook and Twitter, from which Trump was ejected. —Politico ([link removed])
*
* — Meanwhile, the mainstream social media sites have problems too. A new report from the Center to Counter Digital Hate finds that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok took no action to remove 84% of anti-Semitic posts on their networks. Despite promises to crack down on anti-Semitic hate, they were "unable or unwilling" to act on these posts, even though they were flagged through existing tools used for reporting malignant content. "The study of anti-Semitism has taught us a lot of things ... if you allow it space to grow, it will metastasize. It is a phenomenally resilient cancer in our society," said Imran Ahmed, CEO of CCDH. —NPR ([link removed])

MORE: Senators introduce bill to help agencies counter deepfakes and deceptive media —Nextgov ([link removed])


** Sarat & Aftergut: Last week offered real hope for democracy
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"[O]ur country has survived the traumas of Civil War, Jim Crow, the Father Coughlins and Charles Lindberghs who would have aligned us with Nazi Germany, and the Sen. Joseph McCarthys who would have imposed his orthodoxy on our political thought. Last week's developments offer a glimmer of hope that we will survive Trump too. To do so, Congress must act to protect the vote and preserve the integrity of our elections. The key for citizens is never to shy away from facing the brutal truth of our current difficulties, while not allowing it to rob us of faith." —Austin Sarat & Dennis Aftergut in ([link removed]) The Hill ([link removed])

Austin Sarat is an author and the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College. Dennis Aftergut is a former federal prosecutor, currently of counsel at the Renne Public Law Group in San Francisco.

MORE: Trump attorney says he will fight release of tax returns —The Hill ([link removed])

This is a direct excerpt from Rep. Paul Gosar's Sunday night e-mail. Parenthetical comments are mine.

"Over six months have passed yet nearly 200 of these individuals remain separated from their families. (Gee, Officer Sicknick is separated from his family forever.) Mounting legal bills threaten to bankrupt them. There are unconfirmed reports that some prisoners are being or have been tortured (If they're unconfirmed, aren't they 'FAKE NEWS'?) and held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.

These are not unruly or dangerously violent criminals. (Ask the officer who screamed for mercy while having his head crushed.) These are political prisoners who are now being persecuted and bearing the pain of unjust suffering. Imagine the outrage from the LEFT if everybody who rioted last summer received the same treatment that the Jan. 6 rioters are receiving.

Unfortunately, Mr. Biden and his Justice Department seem more interested in ruining the lives of these folks instead of equal justice. The excessive overcharging against the Jan. 6 rioters (Isn't the attempted overthrow of a presidential election TREASON? Ethel Rosenberg went to the electric chair for less.) when compared to the slap on the wrist for the widescale arson, looting, assault, and murder by the BLM terrorists last summer is a shocking indictment of corruption, unequal treatment, and political persecution." —Jim V., New York
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** The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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