Biden: Republicans support ‘a Jim Crow era in the 21st Century’ . . . Biden's art of healing and uniting the nation includes calling your opponents a bunch of racists. The voting “rights” measure failed to make the 60-vote cloture threshold, with 51 Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking in support versus 50 Republicans against. From Biden’s statement: Today, Democrats in Congress unanimously came together to protect the sacred right to vote. In supporting the For the People Act and defending the rights of voters, they stood united for democracy. They stood against the ongoing assault of voter suppression that represents a Jim Crow era in the 21st Century. White House Dossier

'Killibuster': Democratic angst grows as filibuster threatens agenda . . . Democrats are confronting the reality that absent any seismic shifts, their top agenda items face long, if not impossible, odds in the Senate amid growing frustration with the legislative filibuster. After achieving a unified government for the first time since 2010, Democrats pledged to go “big’’ and “bold” after four years of the Trump administration. But they are watching as their wish list of bills runs straight into a familiar buzzsaw: the Senate’s own rulebook. Now, Democrats are vowing that the fight over the filibuster isn’t over even as their two biggest holdouts to procedural changes — Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) — are showing no signs of backing down from their opposition to nixing the 60-vote requirement for most legislation to pass the Senate. The Hill

Primary Source for Steele Dossier Is Accused of Fabricating Information . . . The primary source for the infamous Steele dossier fabricated information out of whole cloth, a group of Russian nationals is alleging. The allegations emerged in court filings released this week in a dossier-related lawsuit. The Russians say U.S.-based analyst Igor Danchenko falsely identified them as sources for information he passed to former British spy Christopher Steele. Danchenko served as a contractor for Steele during the ex-spy's investigation of the Trump campaign. The FBI used the Steele dossier to obtain surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The Russians' statements further call into question the credibility of the dossier, which has been largely disproven in the four years since it was released. The Justice Department inspector general identified numerous issues with the dossier in a December 2019 report. Washington Free Beacon

 

 

 

Biden crime strategy to include community policing, focus on guns . . . President Biden’s crime prevention strategy will include an emphasis on community policing, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.  “He‘s supported giving funding to states and localities around the country including through his American Rescue Plan because he believes there is an essential role to play for community policing.” Biden has touted community policing as critical to overhauling law enforcement in America. He has called for increased community policing, a strategy that focuses on relationships between officers and members of the communities they serve. The thinking is that better relationships will build trust between law enforcement and residents, reducing police brutality and increasing public safety. It was a hallmark of the Obama administration’s police reform package. Washington Times

Background checks blocked a record high 300,000 gun sales . . . The number of people stopped from buying guns through the U.S. background check system hit an all-time high of more than 300,000 last year amid a surge of firearm sales, according to new records obtained by the group Everytown for Gun Safety. The FBI numbers provided to The Associated Press show the background checks blocked nearly twice as many gun sales in 2020 as in the year before. About 42% of those denials were because the would-be buyers had felony convictions on their records. The increase in blocked gun sales largely tracks with the record-setting surge in sales that took hold along with the coronavirus pandemic and has continued into this year, through historic demonstrations against police brutality, deep political divisions and an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Fox Business

Biden to outline efforts to combat crime, with focus on gun violence . . . President Biden on Wednesday will lay out his administration's agenda to cut down on crime, with a particular focus on addressing gun violence as action in Congress remains elusive. The president will deliver remarks and meet with local leaders at the White House, devoting the day's messaging to the issue of rising crime in U.S. cities that has coincided with the coronavirus pandemic. Biden will highlight Department of Justice efforts to reduce the number of firearms circulating, as well as federal funding available to cities to invest in policing and community programs. The Hill

Americans living abroad plead for COVID-19 vaccine . . . Americans living abroad are pleading with the U.S. government to provide them with COVID-19 vaccine doses, particularly as demand is waning domestically with a majority of adults getting their shots. Expats living in places like Germany, India and Thailand are finding they have to choose between waiting until a vaccine is available in their country of residency or risk a trip to the U.S. or elsewhere to get vaccinated, potentially contracting the coronavirus en route. Through letters to officials and lawmakers, advocacy groups have called attention to the dilemma faced by some of the estimated 9 million private U.S. citizens overseas, pointing out that they remain subject to federal tax laws just like Americans living in the U.S. who have already received the vaccine. The Hill

Biden economic strategy: Put America last . . . President Joe Biden's performance at the meeting with foreign leaders in Britain last week was a disgrace. Biden cut deals with Britain that sold out America's interests, and for doing so, he won the worshipful accolades of the Europeans, the Brits, and the Canadians. Biden was popular at the party in Europe, where he pays everyone's bills. Except Biden isn't spending his own money, of course. He's spending ours. The Euroland leaders weren't big fans of Donald Trump. Trump went to the G-7 meetings and told his international peers that there was a new sheriff in town and that his foremost mission was to put America first. He canceled bad trade deals in which other countries were cheating. Trump insisted that the Germans, the French, and the Italians paid more of the NATO bills for their own defense. Now, the Euroland leaders of the G-7 are beside themselves with joy over Biden's "cooperative tone" and concessions at the meetings in Britain this weekend. A Reuters headline captured the euphoria of the foreign heads of state: "G7 Sources Praise Biden after 'Complete Chaos of Trump." Washington Examiner

 

 

Martin Luther King III, Al Sharpton to hold nationwide march against voter suppression . . . Martin Luther King III and Al Sharpton will hold a nationwide march against voter suppression on Aug. 28 — the 58th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. The event, dubbed the “March On for Voting Rights,” comes as legislatures across the country move to tighten up voting rules. Just under 390 bills have been introduced across 48 states aimed at restricting voting access in some form in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, the march’s organizer March On said in a statement. In a statement, King said his father, Martin Luther King, Jr., would be “greatly disappointed in where we are at this particular moment, but he would not give up on the nation.” The Hill

 

 

Wild boar takes a ride on two Hong Kong subway trains . . . A wild boar caused a stir on the Hong Kong subway when it took a ride on a train -- and switched trains at a station to evade its pursuers before being captured. Witnesses said the boar boarded the train at the Quarry Bay station and transit employees chased after the wild pig, but it darted off the train a few stations away and boarded a second train.

A video of the chase was posted to Facebook by the Hong Kong Wild Boar Concern Group, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the animals. The second train was diverted to a depot where Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department officers were able to safely capture the boar and return it to the wild. UPI