'I'm sorry, but it's too late' Alabama doctor on treating unvaccinated, dying COVID patients  —  Dr. Brytney Cobia said Monday that all but one of her COVID patients in Alabama did not receive the vaccine.  The vaccinated patient, she said, just needed a little oxygen and is expected to fully recover.

Right-wing media could end the pandemic — without giving an inch in the culture war.  Here's the script.  —  No one took Geraldo Rivera very seriously last year when he proposed naming the coronavirus vaccine in honor of the just-defeated president.  —  “With the world so divided …

U.S. Life Expectancy Fell by 1.5 Years in 2020, the Biggest Decline in Generations  —  Covid-19, drug overdoses and homicides drove longevity down; Hispanic men suffered largest decline  —  Life expectancy in the U.S. fell by 1.5 years in 2020, the biggest decline since at least World War II …

The Delta Variant Is a Reality Test  —  Americans haven't wanted to understand what it means for a virus to be endemic.  —  The difficulty of the news business is that you're constantly trying to tell people their information is outmoded, which they resist since assimilating new information entails a cost.

White Alabama City Councilman Refers to Fellow Council Member as a ‘House N****r’  —  ‘WILL SHE PLEASE STAND UP?’  —  An Alabama city councilman referred to a fellow city council member as a “house n—  r” at a meeting on Monday evening.  Tarrant, Alabama city councilman Tommy Bryant loudly asked, “Do we have a house n—

Ted Cruz is blocking diplomats from being confirmed, and it has nothing to do with their qualifications  —  Washington (CNN)An extraordinary effort by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas to block nominees from being confirmed to vital jobs in the State Department is creating hurdles …

Paul Gosar was a beloved dentist.  Now he's a MAGA congressman.  His former patients need a spit bowl.  —  Coreen Anderson didn't want to see the dentist.  —  She hadn't had her teeth cleaned for the better part of a decade, and was “super fearful” of the experience.

The GOP's favorite spin about Biden's plans just took a big hit  —  With President Biden and Democrats working to pass $4 trillion in new investments in our future, Republicans are making a big bet: All that spending will lead to sustained inflation, which they can use to claim Democrats have lost control of the economy.

Bezos Landed, Thanked Amazon Workers And Shoppers For Paying, Gave Away $200 Million  —  Moments after returning from the edge of space, Jeff Bezos thanked the Blue Origin team that made his flight possible.  He also thanked the Texas town of Van Horn, which hosted Tuesday's launch.  And then he said this:

Midterm Enthusiasm Softens Among Democratic Voters  —  Democratic advantage on excitement for 2022 elections has narrowed since April  — 48% of Democratic voters are “very” or “extremely” enthusiastic about the midterms, down 5 percentage points since April.

Women's Handball Players Are Fined for Rejecting Bikini Uniforms  —  Norway's beach handball players were each fined 150 euros for wearing shorts rather than the required bikini bottoms.  A spokeswoman for the International Handball Federation said she didn't know the reason for the rule.

McConnell says GOP will not vote to raise debt ceiling, setting up clash in Congress  —  Washington (CNN)Republicans will not vote to increase the federal borrowing limit, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a new interview, setting the stage for a huge battle in Congress as it stares at a deadline to avoid a debt default.

China Can Lock Up A Million Muslims In Xinjiang At Once … This project was supported by the Open Technology Fund, the Pulitzer Center, and the Eyebeam Center for the Future of Journalism.  —  For the first time, BuzzFeed News can reveal the full capacity of China's previously secret network …

Taking a Doocy with Rep. Eric Swalwell  —  On today's episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, the brothers sit down with Congressman Eric Swalwell of California's 15th Congressional District.  During the interview, the team takes a deep dive into the new and expanded edition of Congressman Swalwell's book …

Popular Massachusetts tourist destination issues mask advisory after 132 new Covid cases … A popular Massachusetts tourist destination issued a mask advisory Monday after an outbreak of Covid-19 cases following the July 4 holiday weekend.  —  As of Friday, 132 Covid cases that are associated …

Top U.S. Catholic Church official resigns after cellphone data used to track him on Grindr and to gay bars  —  The top administrator of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops resigned after a Catholic media site told the conference it had access to cellphone data that appeared to show …

Personal threats, election lies and punishing new laws rattle election officials, raising fears of a mass exodus  —  (CNN)Maribeth Witzel-Behl had run elections in Madison, Wisconsin, for 15 years when the 2020 election arrived, bringing challenges like no other: a global pandemic, a crushing workload, lawsuits and a recount.

No Black parents, teachers or scholars invited to Missouri hearing on teaching race  —  A Missouri legislative committee on Monday held a hearing on how educators teach K-12 students about race and racism without hearing from any Black Missourians.  —  No Black parents, teachers …

Ratings of Black-White Relations at New Low  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the second consecutive year, U.S. adults' positive ratings of relations between Black and White Americans are at their lowest point in more than two decades of measurement.  Currently, 42% of Americans say relations between …

U.S. Women's Soccer Team Takes Stunning Loss After Kneeling For BLM At Olympic Opener  —  The U.S. women's soccer team took a devastating 3-0 loss to Sweden early Wednesday morning in their Tokyo Olympic opener, breaking their 44-game winning streak.  —  All 22 players on Team USA took …

College Republicans Erupt in Civil War Over Kid Rock Cash  —  ‘SELFISH AMBITIONS’  —  A year out from the midterms, young Republicans are at war over the American Bad Ass' contributions and a disputed leadership race.  —  Decades ago, future GOP operatives like Roger Stone, Paul Manafort …

Capitol attack committee chair vows to investigate Trump: ‘Nothing is off limits’  —  Bennie Thompson tells Guardian he will pursue wide-ranging inquiry to uncover root causes of January 6 attack  —  Congressman Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the new House select committee to scrutinize …

Love-Bombs and Buzzwords: How Authoritarian Cults Work  —  Welcome back to Lucid!  This week I'm thinking about cults.  Here is the first of two essays on authoritarian cults.  Next week's piece will be about disengagement.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's interview with Amanda Montell, author of Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism.

She Hates Biden.  Some of Her Neighbors Hate the Way She Shows It.  —  A local judge ordered a New Jersey woman to take down political banners over obscenity complaints, setting up a First Amendment fight.  —  Andrea Dick is a die-hard supporter of former President Donald J. Trump and thinks …

Mike Lee OK with spending funds suspected sex trafficker Gaetz helped him raise, Robert Gehrke says  —  Campaign first said it would wait for legal process, but report shows Mar a Lago proceeds have already been disbursed.  —  U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., grabs the hand of a supporter following …

Biden Advisers Ride on Pegasus Spyware  —  The NSO Group, now part of a Washington Post exposé, has for years enlisted powerful consultants to save its reputation.  —  Dan Shapiro, who is under consideration to be the president's Middle East envoy, advised NSO.

Death for some, sunbaked cookies for others.  We must get serious about the climate crisis.  —  Scorching heat is making people sick.  I am seeing them in my hospital now.  To fight the climate crisis, we must invest in science - and believe in it.  —  Parking at the Northern California hospital …

How America lost its commitment to the right to vote  —  The Supreme Court isn't even pretending that it's bound by legal texts in its voting rights cases.  —  The Supreme Court, Justice Elena Kagan lamented in a dissenting opinion earlier this month, “has treated no statute worse” than the Voting Rights Act.

Wildfire smoke pouring into Mid-Atlantic prompts air-quality alert for D.C. and Baltimore  —  Air quality is expected to improve by Thursday as a cold front pushes most of the smoke away  —  Smoke from wildfires in the western United States and southern Canada is spilling into the eastern United States …