memeorandum: First flight of Afghans who risked lives to help American troops arrive in US (CNN)

12:30 PM ET, July 30, 2021

Top Items:

‘The war has changed’: Internal CDC document urges new messaging, warns delta infections likely more severe — The internal presentation shows that the agency thinks it is struggling to communicate on vaccine efficacy amid increased breakthrough infections — The delta variant …

Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:

C.D.C. Internal Report Calls Delta Variant as Contagious as Chickenpox — Infections in vaccinated Americans also may be as transmissible as those in unvaccinated people, the document said, and lead more often to severe illness. — The Delta variant is much more contagious …

Discussion: HotAir, Twitchy, CBS News, Lucianne, WAVY-TV, New York Post, Al Jazeera and NBC New York

Philip Bump / Washington Post:

The key numbers from the CDC's new assessment of the delta variant — The state of the coronavirus pandemic is summarized in a four-word phrase found at the end of a recent presentation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention obtained by The Washington Post: “The war has changed.”

Discussion: HotAir

Washington Post:
CDC breakthrough infections

Discussion: The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, NPR and Healthy Skeptic

ABC News:
CDC mask decision followed stunning findings from Cape Cod beach outbreak

Discussion: Reason, No More Mister Nice Blog, The American Spectator, HotAir, Breitbart and Politico

Apoorva Mandavilli / New York Times:
Behind the Masks, a Mystery: How Often Do the Vaccinated Spread the Virus?

Discussion: HotAir, Crooks and Liars, Townhall, Lucianne, The Last Refuge, Marginal REVOLUTION and The US Sun

Katie Benner / New York Times:

Trump Pressed Justice Dept. to Declare Election Results Corrupt, Notes Show — “Leave the rest to me” and to congressional allies, the former president is said to have told top law enforcement officials. — WASHINGTON — President Donald J. Trump pressed top Justice Department officials late …

Discussion: CNN, Associated Press, Talking Points Memo and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:

MyPillow to Pull Ads From Fox News in Disagreement With Network — Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, says Fox News refused to run ad promoting an event linked to claims of widespread election fraud — The chief executive of MyPillow Inc., one of Fox News's big advertisers …

The Daily Beast:
‘Shame on Fox News!’: MyPillow Pulling Ads From Network Over Rejected Election-Fraud Commercial

Discussion: Salon, HuffPost, 🔔 The Liberty Daily, Lucianne and Raw Story

The Daily Beast:

Trump: Jan. 6 Cops Who Spoke to Congress Are ‘Pussies’ — DEFILE THE POLICE … Donald Trump has expressed anger that the officers blamed him for the riot he clearly inspired and speculated they were being used as pawns by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. — In the months since the U.S. Capitol assault …

Discussion: The Independent, Crooks and Liars, Insider, Political Flare, Raw Story, The Intellectualist, Slate, The Editorial Board and LGBTQ Nation

Peggy Noonan / Wall Street Journal:

The Jan. 6 Committee Carries History's Weight — Its members need to nail down what happened on the Capitol—including in their colleagues' offices. — 'It happened, move on. " “It wasn't so bad. ” “It was just a protest that got out of hand. ” A lot of the rioters were screwballs in antlers—crazy uncles, unhappy sons.

Washington Post: How Ashli Babbitt went from Capitol rioter to Trump-embraced ‘martyr’

Max Greenwood / The Hill:

Trump continues GOP pressure campaign on infrastructure — Former President Trump is ramping up his pressure campaign over a bipartisan infrastructure package, accusing Senate Republicans of “caving” to Democrats on the deal. — In a statement — his latest in a series condemning …

Discussion: Associated Press, Washington Times, CBS Dallas / Fort Worth and Raw Story

NBC News:
What's in it for McConnell? Why the ‘grim reaper’ is backing a Biden priority

Discussion: MSNBC and Conservative Brief

Sophia Bollag / Sacramento Bee:
Gavin Newsom says California recall could help GOP in 2022, have ‘consequences nationwide’

Discussion: Politico, Los Angeles Times and FiveThirtyEight

Jim Tankersley / New York Times:
How Biden Got the Infrastructure Deal Trump Couldn't

Discussion: Insider, Bloomberg, Liberty Nation, CNN, Washington Times, Raw Story, jobsanger and Slate

Jay Nordlinger / National Review:

America gone nuts, &c. — On air rage, extremism, Simone Biles, January 6, Iran, Fidel Castro, 800 numbers, and more — I have a friend who is a flight attendant. I love to hear stories about her travels, and travelers. Also, I send her stories I see in the media.

Alex Shephard / New Republic:
Conservatives' Bullshit War on Simone Biles

Discussion: Salon, CNN, Mercury News and Politico

Melanie Zanona / CNN:
Liz Cheney and Elise Stefanik represent ‘battle for the soul of the party’

Discussion: Real Clear Politics and Forbes

CNN:

‘I am furious with myself’: Unvaccinated Covid patient describes the exhausting illness — (CNN)Sitting in her hospital room in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Aimee Matzen struggled to breathe as she described how exhausting it is to have Covid-19. — “The fact that I am here now …

Discussion: KMOV-TV

Associated Press:

Ravages of COVID surge evident inside Missouri hospital — OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (AP) — Daryl Barker was passionately against a COVID-19 vaccination, and so were his relatives. Then 10 of them got sick and Barker, at just 31, ended up in a Missouri intensive care unit fighting for his life.

Discussion: The Bulwark, Hackwhackers and Raw Story

Nolan D. McCaskill / Politico:

Trump's false election fraud claims fuel Michigan GOP meltdown — Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump by more than 150,000 votes in Michigan last November. — Trump and the Michigan Republican Party still aren't over it. — The outcome — and the former president's obsessive efforts to dispute it …

Discussion: Election Law Blog, Washington Post, Raw Story, New York Magazine and Reuters

Politico:

POLITICO Playbook: Sinema's vacation plans, Manchin gets booed and megadonor drama — DRIVING THE DAY — On Thursday night, as President JOE BIDEN boarded Marine One, he made some news. — First, he reiterated that immigration reform should be included in the reconciliation bill.

Discussion: Nevada Current, RedState and Breitbart

Marianna Bacallao / Nashville Public Radio:

Conservative Radio Host Phil Valentine Is On A Ventilator; His Brother Says It's Time To ‘Go Get Vaccinated’ — Conservative radio talk show host Phil Valentine has been placed on a ventilator, according to his radio station, SuperTalk 99.7 WTN. He's been hospitalized now for more than two weeks.

Discussion: Boing Boing

Susan B. Glasser / New Yorker:

Donald Trump Would Have Made a Great House Republican — Will the performative confrontation of the former President and his congressional allies overwhelm Joe Biden's Senate style? — For the past few years, it's become a political truism to speak of two Americas—the Red America of Donald Trump …

Discussion: American Prospect, Politico, Common Dreams, Real Clear Politics, CNN, Raw Story and Newsy

Michael Paulson / New York Times:

Broadway Audiences Will Need Proof of Vaccination and Masks — Children under 12, who cannot be vaccinated, can show a negative test to attend. But the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall plan to bar them for now. — Broadway's theater owners and operators, citing the ongoing dangers …

Discussion: NBC4 Washington and Rolling Stone

Jack Healy / New York Times:

Some vaccine hesitant now express regret — People who once rejected the vaccine or simply waited too long are now grappling with the consequences, often in raw, public ways. — PROVO, Utah — As Mindy Greene spent another day in the Covid intensive care unit, listening to the whirring machines …

CNN:

Trump faces another primary test in Ohio House race — (CNN)Donald Trump has a lot on the line in suburbs and small towns south of Columbus, Ohio. — After the Trump-backed candidate in Texas' 6th Congressional district runoff election lost this week, the pressure is now on the former President …

Discussion: CNBC

CNN:

First flight of Afghans who risked lives to help American troops arrive in US — (CNN)The first group of translators and interpreters who helped US soldiers and diplomats in Afghanistan arrived in the US on Friday, even as thousands more wait in Afghanistan in increasing fear of Taliban reprisals.

Discussion: NBC News, Washington Times, Washington Post, The White House, Politico, Roll Call, IJR, UPI, One America News Network, CBS News, Defense One, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times

New York Times:

Qaddafi's Son Is Alive. And He Wants to Take Libya Back. — In his first meeting with a foreign journalist in a decade, Seif al-Islam described his years in captivity — and hinted at a bid for Libya's presidency. — اقرأ باللغ ة …

Discussion: Gothamist and عرب …

Charlie Cook / The Cook Political Report:

NON-PARTISAN, INDEPENDENT COOK POLITICAL REPORT UNDER NEW LEADERSHIP: SEASONED ANALYST & COLUMNIST AMY WALTER TO BECOME PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF — For almost 40 years, The Cook Political Report, founded by Charlie Cook, has provided authoritative analysis of campaigns, elections and political trends in the United States.

David Fahrenthold / Washington Post:

Did Trump follow his pledge to donate the last 6 months of his presidential pay? It's a mystery. — Donald Trump promised to give away his $400,000 presidential salary. And he kept that promise, publicly announcing each gift — at least, for his first three and a half years in office.

Discussion: Raw Story

Henry J. Gomez / NBC News:

House primary in Ohio takes nasty turn as national Democrats descend — CLEVELAND — The two leading Democratic candidates in Ohio's 11th Congressional District have turned the final days of a special election primary that has captured the national spotlight into a slugfest.

Discussion: HuffPost, The 19th and HotAir

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Republicans moving to block University of Wisconsin virus testing, vaccination rules — MADISON - A Republican-controlled committee plans to block the University of Wisconsin from instituting COVID-19 testing, masking and vaccination protocols on campuses across the state …

Donna Brazile / USA Today:

Joe Biden and I are Democrats who want Republicans to stay alive and vote — COVID vaccines were Donald Trump's greatest victory. Yet Republicans are resisting and sometimes dying instead of celebrating him and getting the shot. — I've dedicated my life to working on political campaigns to elect Democrats.

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, The Verge, Los Angeles Times, Ace of Spades HQ and CNN

Glenn H. Reynolds / New York Post:

No, Karen, we're not masking again: A winning GOP message for 2022 & beyond — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest confused pronouncement about masks is another blow to the embattled agency, whose track record hasn't been exactly brilliant.

Discussion: Althouse

Tom Joyce / Washington Examiner:

Biden is paying the price for his Harris mistake — President Joe Biden made a promise — and the result of that promise isn't looking great right now. — Biden vowed that he would pick a female vice president, pigeonholing himself into having limited options for his running mate.

KTLA:

LAUSD to require COVID-19 testing for all students and staff, regardless of vaccination status — The Los Angeles Unified School District will require all students and employees who are returning for in-person instruction to participate in weekly COVID-19 testing — regardless of vaccination status, the district announced Thursday.

Discussion: Breitbart, NBC Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times and Twitchy