Former Murdoch Exec: Fox News Is Poison For America  —  The Rupert Murdoch I worked for was brilliant, courageous, optimistic, and a gentleman.  Which makes his bile-filled network all the more confounding. … Rupert Murdoch, whom I served for seven years, has many business and journalistic achievements.

You Really Need to Quit Twitter  —  I'm almost 60, and in these many decades I've seen people—some of them good friends—taken down by all kinds of things.  Alcohol and drugs, mostly.  A few years ago, I lost someone to heroin, and hundreds of us sat at his funeral in wordless communion.

Trump Organization charges could open the indictment floodgates  —  We have now had a few days to try to absorb the Manhattan district attorney's criminal indictment against the Trump Organization and Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.  Here are some topline takeaways …

Trump has cut off Rudy Giuliani, and is annoyed that he asked to be paid for his work on challenging the election, book says  — Rudy Giuliani spearheaded Donald Trump's attempt to overturn his election loss until February.  — Giuliani is said to have long been asking Trump to pay his legal fees but has been ignored.

We knew QAnon is anti-Semitic.  Now we know it's racist, too  —  In the summer of 2020, social media companies, led by Facebook, banned the hashtag #savethechildren, which had been hijacked by QAnon conspiracy theorists from the legitimate charity with the same name.

I&I/TIPP Poll: Just 36% of Young People Are Proud To Be American  —  Editor's note: Issues & Insights gratefully acknowledges its collaboration with tippinsights on the simultaneous and exclusive release of this story.  —  Is pride in America a thing of the past?  Not if you ask Americans.

West Virginia GOP Governor Issues Blunt Warning To Unvaccinated  —  “They're not thinking right,” Jim Justice said of the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in his state.  —  West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) said people hesitant about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine are “not thinking right” and warned they are playing a “death lottery.”

In ramp-up to 2022 midterms, Republican candidates center pitches on Trump's false election claims  —  A candidate to be Arizona's top elections official said recently he hopes a review of 2020 ballots underway in his state will lead to the reversal of former president Donald Trump's defeat there.

The Tech Cold War's ‘Most Complicated Machine’ That's Out of China's Reach  —  A $150 million chip-making tool from a Dutch company has become a lever in the U.S.-Chinese struggle.  It also shows how entrenched the global supply chain is.  —  SAN FRANCISCO — President Biden and many lawmakers …

Birthday Parties as Virus Vector  —  Just how much Covid was spreading behind closed doors last year?  Quite a lot, as a new study with a simple yet creative approach found out.  —  At the height of the pandemic, it was easy to worry that strangers would give you the virus.

Ammon Bundy seizes on housing shortage in new bid to take public lands in Idaho  —  When Ammon Bundy announced his run for governor of Idaho during a recent barbecue, he cooked up quarter-pound “Bundy burgers” made from a cow that his father unlawfully grazed on federal lands …

Texans with disabilities fear voting will get harder for them as special session on GOP restrictions nears  —  The extent to which Republicans' proposed voting restrictions might affect voters of color has received much attention, but Texans with disabilities also face the prospect of new barriers to the ballot box.

They Were the Nice, Older Couple Next Door.  Then the First Body Turned Up.  —  An Iranian couple has confessed to murdering and dismembering their son, years after killing a daughter and her husband.  They are not sorry.  —  The older couple first came to the public eye on a winter night in Tehran …

How a Far-Right Militia Infiltrated an Island in Washington  —  From an anti-mask rally to a potential takeover of the local school board, residents in this once idyllic community are spooked.  —  LANGLEY, Washington—On Saturday, about 100 people gathered in a park in this normally sleepy town …

Pro-Trump social media app hacked on launch day as half million sign up  —  A social media site launched on Sunday by Jason Miller, a senior adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump, was briefly hacked, and more than 500,000 people have registered to use the site, Miller said.

Scale, details of massive Kaseya ransomware attack emerge  —  BOSTON (AP) — Cybersecurity teams worked feverishly Sunday to stem the impact of the single biggest global ransomware attack on record, with some details emerging about how the Russia-linked gang responsible breached the company whose software was the conduit.

White House reaching out to Republicans about a second bipartisan infrastructure package  —  Senior White House officials are holding “informal discussions” with outside experts and congressional officials on how to split off a second, targeted bipartisan package from a larger reconciliation package expected …

Eleven days after partial collapse, remainder of Surfside condo is demolished  —  The remaining portion of Champlain Towers South has been demolished.  —  At 10:30 Sunday night, authorities detonated charges inserted into holes drilled in the part of the 12-story Surfside condo that stood tenuously …

Biden says U.S. is close to “independence from a deadly virus”  —  President Joe Biden used his Fourth of July speech Sunday to declare that the U.S. is “closer than ever to declaring our independence from a deadly virus.”  What he's saying: “This year, the Fourth of July is a day of special celebration …

Gov. Abbott rebounds against possible challenger Matthew McConaughey, has razor-thin edge over actor  —  The Republican incumbent holds a more robust 12-point lead in a potential matchup against Democrat Beto O'Rourke.  —  AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott, after trailing potential challenger Matthew McConaughey …

'A political Rubik's Cube': Democrats work to keep Biden's economic agenda alive … WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders are performing a high-wire act to keep President Joe Biden's economic agenda alive, seeking to balance tensions inside their party with pressure from Republicans who want to derail …