NY gov resigns as Senate approves bipartisan bill

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What a day. First, the Senate at last passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill. This is big, both policy-wise and politically. Infrastructure projects positively impact all Americans by creating jobs and improving the roads, railways, public transportation, water systems, power grids, and broadband we all use daily. That's a victory for everyone. Further, 19 Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, voted in favor of the bill. In this political climate, that's a significant victory not only for the president, but for American democracy. Just mere minutes after the Senate vote, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation. This is as it should be. The sexual harassment allegations against him are both serious and credible, and, as he acknowledged today, his continuing on as governor is untenable and ultimately unfair to the people of New York. This was the only proper response. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

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** Cuomo resigns
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced his resignation from office, effective in two weeks. The decision follows last week's release of a report from state Attorney General Letitia James that found he sexually harassed 11 women, including some who worked in his office, and violated state and federal laws. At his press conference this morning, Cuomo apologized to the women, but continued to claim his innocence. ([link removed])
* — Cuomo has been inundated with calls from fellow Democrats, including President Biden, for his resignation, and faced an impeachment hearing in the state Assembly, driven by members of his own party. The sexual harassment scandal compounded the criticism his office faced for intentionally undercounting the number of coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes, seeking to hide the true tally. ([link removed])
*
* — "This is one of the most challenging times for government in a generation. Government really needs to function today. Government needs to perform. It is a matter of life and death," Cuomo said. "Wasting energy on distractions is the last thing that state government should be doing. And I cannot be the cause of that. I think given the circumstances, the best way I can help now is if I step aside and let government get back to governing. And therefore that's what I'll do." ([link removed])
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* — Defiant to the end. As high-minded as his reasons may have sounded, his soaring words were undercut by his attempts to downplay his actions. Also weakening his statement was the 45-minute news conference from his attorney, Rita Glavin, that preceded it. Glavin fiercely rebutted the allegations in the report, attacking the credibility of the investigators and the women who made the allegations, as well as the media. —The Hill ([link removed])

MORE: Kathy Hochul to become New York's first woman governor with Cuomo resignation —New York Daily News ([link removed])


** Senate gives Biden a big win
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The Senate passed a roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package with broad bipartisan support today, marking the most substantial federal investment in roads, bridges, and rail in decades. The legislation reauthorizes spending on existing federal public-works programs and pours an additional $550 billion into water projects and the electrical grid, among other projects. Presidents of both parties have said for years that they wanted to pass a major infrastructure package, but Congress could never seem to reach an agreement. President Biden has bucked that trend, though the bill still faces an uphill battle in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said the chamber won't take it up until the Senate also passes a separate $3.5 trillion social spending plan. —The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])

MORE: Dems double-dare a dug-in McConnell on debt —Politico ([link removed])


** WaPo Ed Board: The next Olympics must not celebrate dictatorship and genocide
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"To be sure, a boycott would probably not change China's behavior, while athletes who have worked their whole lives for a shot at Olympic gold would pay a heavy price. But if there is to be no boycott, then countries and companies must deny China the unchallenged showcase it craves. The U.S. and its fellow democracies should devise appropriate condemnations and time for them at the [2022 Beijing] Olympics." —The Washington Post ([link removed])

MORE: U.S. steps up pressure on businesses over forced labor in China —The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])


** Your money or your mask
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Could Ron DeSantis be any more unlikeable right now? The governor of Florida, where cases of COVID-19 are pushing the state's hospitals to the brink, issued an executive order last month essentially banning mask mandates in the state's public schools. Several lawsuits have been filed challenging the constitutionality of that order, and a number of school districts have indicated that they may defy it and require masks for the safety of students and staff. DeSantis' office upped the ante yesterday, saying the state board of education could withhold the salaries of superintendents and school board members who disregard the order. Wow. —CNN ([link removed])

MORE: Gov. Greg Abbott's order banning mask mandates in Texas schools faces lawsuit, defiance by big-city districts —The Texas Tribune ([link removed])
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** Milbank: Bigotry is bigotry, from right or left
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"A vague 'they' conspiring to 'exploit the rest of us for their own profit' from 'behind the curtain': These anti-Semitic tropes have been used against the Jews for generations. If that weren't clear enough, [Rep. Rashida] Tlaib let it be known that 'they' operate both in Gaza and Detroit, and only Jews meet that description. Tlaib went on to say the exploiters 'made record profit' during the pandemic—an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory popular on the Web. ... Democrats and others on the left should call this what it is: bigotry. It's grotesque when Trump and his MAGA minions do it, as I've chronicled at length; it's no less ugly when it comes from the left." —Dana Milbank in ([link removed]) The Washington Post ([link removed])

Dana Milbank is an author and columnist at
The Washington Post.

MORE: Jewish leaders condemn Tlaib's 'anti-Semitic dog whistle' in recent comments —The Times of Israel ([link removed])


** Focus on voting and elections
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Dominion Voting Systems filed suit against One America News Network and Newsmax today for defamation, after the media outlets spread false claims that Dominion rigged the 2020 election for Joe Biden. The lawsuits are the latest legal actions taken by the voting machine maker against Trump allies that amplified falsehoods about the company—and Dominion attorney Stephen Shackelford has not ruled out suing Donald Trump himself. "We are still exploring options as to how to hold other participants in the campaign of lies accountable," Shackelford said. Stay tuned. —Reuters ([link removed])
* — Arizona. The Arizona attorney general's office is investigating the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors' refusal to comply with election audit-related subpoenas issued by the State Senate. The subpoenas requested that the board turn over ballots, routers, and other records, but the board declined, saying it would put citizens' personal information at risk. The attorney general has requested a written response from the board by Aug. 20. —Insider ([link removed])
*
* — Wisconsin. State Rep. Janel Brandtjen, who joined a group of Wisconsin Republicans who traveled to Maricopa County to observe the audit there, has taken the unprecedented step of demanding that two counties turn over all ballots and voting equipment used in the 2020 presidential election for a "cyber-forensic" review. The only problem? She doesn't have the authority. Wisconsin law states that legislative subpoenas must be signed by the Assembly or Senate's presiding officer, and neither have signed Brandtjen's subpoenas. —Associated Press ([link removed])
*
* — Texas. In Travis County, State District Judge Brad Urrutia has issued an order blocking the arrest of State House Democrats who broke quorum last month and left the state to avoid passage of a restrictive voting law. Urrutia granted a two-week restraining order late Sunday night restricting Gov. Greg Abbott and House Speaker Dade Phelan from "detaining, confining, or otherwise restricting" the members, allowing them to return home without threat of apprehension. —The Texas Tribune ([link removed])

MORE: Forging ahead, Texas Senate committee again passes voting restrictions bill —The Texas Tribune ([link removed])


** Weiner: The erosion of the separation of powers
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"The concept of the separation of powers—which depends on members of Congress unifying to protect legislative power—has collapsed in the U.S. We have become a de facto parliamentary system in which competing parties battle for executive power. The problem is that we have acquired all the vices of such a system but none of its virtues. ... As it stands—with Congress unwilling to unite against even a physical assault incited by the president—we have maintained the empty shell of the separation of powers around the core of a partisan system. The result is a system capable of abusing citizens but not governing them. It would be difficult to conjure a worse combination." —Greg Weiner in ([link removed]) The New York Times ([link removed])

Greg Weiner is a political scientist at Assumption University, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and the author of "The Political Constitution: The Case Against Judicial Supremacy."

MORE: Commission on Capitol attack contemplates requesting Jan. 6 Trump call logs —Truthout ([link removed])

I liked Alyssa Rosenberg's story last week. We are the politicians' bosses, not the other way around. It's time we made them understand that. —John C., Florida

It's one thing for a candidate to oppose mask mandates. It's another to make a video ([link removed]) SHOOTING UP a box of harmless masks (which could have been donated to poor people who want them).

Candidate Matt Richards, running in Georgia's 10th District, asks readers to forward his e-mail to five of their closest friends. Sorry, I'm just sending it to Topline. —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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