Fri-One Party Wants to Save Medicare. The Other? More Polio

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Today's Worst Joke in the World

Things that tell the truth:  young children, drunk people, yoga pants.
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COVID News

The Media Is Discovering What I Have Been Writing For Weeks

The Washington Post’s editorial board has warned that the “worst virus variant just arrived” and the COVID-19 pandemic is far from finished.

“The coronavirus is speeding up once again, mutating, evading immunity and still on the march,” the newspaper warned in an editorial published Thursday. “The arrival of subvariant BA.5 should be a reminder that the finish line in this race is nowhere to be seen.”

BA.5 is the latest subvariant of omicron, the coronavirus variant that caused a huge wave of infection around the world this past fall and winter.

The Post cited Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, who said the latest subvariant is “the worst version of the virus that we’ve seen.”

“It takes immune escape, already extensive, to the next level, and, as a function of that, enhanced transmissibility,” he wrote.

The Guardian Reports That The Fat Lady Hasn't Sung

The BA.5 version of Covid-19 has become the majority variant of the virus in America in a matter of weeks, in a troubling development that comes amidst what may already be America’s second-largest wave of the pandemic.

It also comes at a time when much of the US has relaxed nearly all Covid restrictions in public and life has largely returned to normal.

“Covid-19 is very clearly not over. We’re seeing dramatic increases in the number of cases and hospitalizations in many places throughout the United States,” said Jason Salemi, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health.

As BA.5, one of the Omicron sub-variants, begins buffeting the US, “we’re headed in a bad direction”, Salemi said. “We’ve seen it coming for a while … We’ve seen it go pretty unabated.”

More than one in three Americans live in a county at medium risk from Covid, and one in five are at high risk, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . That’s the highest proportion of the country facing risks since February, Salemi said.

There are now more than 100,000 new cases of Covid confirmed in the US every day – a rate that has been fairly steady for the past six weeks. While cases in the Northeast have slowed, surges are now hitting other parts of the country.

A Few Kids Are Safer

By the end of Thursday, roughly 300,000 children under the age of 5 years old will have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a senior Biden administration official told ABC News.

The 300,000 shots in arms so far for kids under 5 is about 1.5% of the roughly 19.5 million U.S. children 4 years old and younger.
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Today's Worst Person in the World Nominees

TikTok Should Present Themselves With the "Responsibility Challenge"

The parents of two young girls who died after they were said to have taken part in the “blackout challenge” on TikTok have sued the popular social media app — the second time the platform has faced a lawsuit over the same challenge.

Lalani Erika Renee Walton, 8, of Temple, Texas, and Arriani Jaileen Arroyo, 9, of Milwaukee, died last year after they were both said to have tried to do the blackout challenge, which encouraged social media users to choke themselves until they pass out, according to the lawsuit, filed June 30 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

The children's parents are represented by the Social Media Victims Law Center, a law firm that "works to hold social media companies legally accountable for the harm they inflict on vulnerable users," according to their website. The law firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The complaint said that the platform's algorithm failed to properly warn users and their parents and that it intentionally pushed an "unacceptably dangerous video" on the girls' "For You" pages, which show users videos they may like based on their previous interactions with the app.

“TikTok has specifically curated and determined that these Blackout Challenge videos — videos featuring users who purposefully strangulate themselves until losing consciousness — are appropriate and fitting for small children,” the lawsuit said.

Attack of the Killer Gun Companies

In this ad Smith & Wesson tries  to get parents to arm their small children. “Lookout squirrels,” it proclaims, congratulating this child for “graduating” from a BB gun to a lethal weapon. It is helpfully translated into Spanish, as well.



The QOP's Answer?  Cheaper Guns.  Less Environmental Protection.

In response to Democrats’ efforts to address gun violence amid the latest string of deadly mass shootings, dozens of House Republicans have sponsored legislation to do away with a century-old excise tax on firearms and ammunition that funnels billions of dollars to wildlife conservation efforts and hunter education across the country.

The bill, dubbed the RETURN (Repealing Excise Tax on Unalienable Rights Now) Our Constitutional Rights Act, is as political as it is detached from history. And although it stands little if any chance of passing, it sparked immediate outrage within the hunting, angling, sport shooting and conservation communities.

The QOP Wants to Bring Back the Good Old Days:  Polio, Smallpox, Rubella, Measles

The modern Republican base may soon be written into the history books as the people who brought back polio. And smallpox. And every other disease that used to fill graveyards with child-sized headstones.

A new ballot referendum in Ohio has now been launched to ban the state from enforcing any vaccine mandates, in any capacity. This would be added to the Ohio constitution. The Ohio Capital Journal reports that the ballot measure was just approved by the Ohio Ballot Board, which now allows activists to begin soliciting for the 443,000 signatures that will be required to put the measure before voters next year.

QOP Guys Wants to Bring Back Anti-Semitism

In Oklahoma, Republican state senate candidate Jarrin Jackson was the top vote-getter in his June Republican primary; he now faces his closest Republican rival in an August runoff election in state Senate District 2.

Right-wing streamer and Oklahoma state Senate candidate Jarrin Jackson said in a video last year that he “largely” agrees with the conspiracy theories that Jews are “taking over the world” and that they are attempting to get rid of white people through immigration and miscegenation. Jackson has also expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory, saying, “I appreciate Q & I love anons” and “Q is so very intriguing.”

Additionally, Jackson indicated to followers on Facebook that he does not want Hispanic and Black immigrants in the United States, claiming that “it is not racist to want America to stay American.”

You can watch the video here

If Biden Has An "Open Border" Policy, Why Do People Need To Use Smugglers?



China Has Been Trying to Destabilize Japan, and Abe Was Notoriously Tough on China.  Just Sayin'

Abe, 67, was just minutes into his speech on a street in Nara when he was shot from behind. He was airlifted to Nara Medical University Hospital for emergency treatment, but his heart had already stopped and he had no vital signs. He was later pronounced dead, hospital officials said at a press conference Friday.

Abe sustained two gunshot wounds to the right side of his neck. Doctors tried to stop the bleeding but the bullet had travelled to Abe's heart and they could not resuscitate him. Abe's wife was by his side at the hospital when he died, according to hospital officials.

The Outlook is Cloudy for Sunny

A jury has convicted former Theranos president Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani of defrauding investors and patients in connection with his multi-billion-dollar blood-testing startup.

Balwani, on Thursday, was found guilty on all 12 counts of fraud, for a scheme prosecutors alleged and have now proved he orchestrated alongside his former romantic partner and Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes.

Balwani faced 10 counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Holmes, who faced the same charges as Balwani, was convicted on four counts of fraud in January and awaits sentencing in September.

While Holmes was only convicted on counts related to investors, a jury found Balwani also defrauded patients.

The Sins of the Son Are Visited on the Father.  Did the Father Help Him Commit the Sins?

The father of Highland Park shooting suspect Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III "may have responsibility in certain circumstances" of his son's deadly actions, police said Wednesday while stopping short of tying the dad to any criminal culpability.

The 21-year-old suspect was too young to get a gun permit in 2019 from the state of Illinois, but his father, Bob Crimo Jr., sponsored one for him despite previous threats by his son to harm himself and loved ones, authorities have previously said.

Crimo was still under 21 in 2020 when he purchased the AR-15-style weapon used in Monday’s attack — a purchase he could only make because his father sponsored his Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) application.

Under an affidavit Crimo’s father signed, he agreed to be “liable for any damages resulting from the minor applicant’s use of firearms or firearm ammunition.”

Asked if the suspect's parents could be in any criminal jeopardy, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said it's too early to tell.

“There’s probably going to be civil litigation. There is ongoing criminal prosecution and criminal investigation," Kelly told reporters Wednesday.

It's a Big Job to Go After the Bad Lawyers

A legal advocacy group formed in hopes of disbarring and disciplining lawyers who aided Donald Trump’s push to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election filed complaints Thursday with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court against seven lawyers in the state for their involvement in the former president’s legal efforts.

The list of those targeted by The 65 Project include bit players like attorney and conservative talk show host Marc A. Scaringi, of Harrisburg, who sponsored Rudy Giuliani to argue on behalf of the Trump campaign in Pennsylvania’s federal courts, as well as some of the most in-demand GOP elections lawyers in the state, like Ronald Hicks and Carolyn McGee, who most recently represented Republican Senate candidate David McCormick in recount litigation during his primary campaign against Mehmet Oz.

Additionally, the group filed complaints against three out-of-state lawyers who participated in Pennsylvania election litigation — including Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, who is now serving as a senior legal adviser to state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee in this year’s governor’s race.

All of them, the organization said in their filings, lent their “law license and the legal profession’s integrity and power to an orchestrated effort to undermine our nation’s elections.”

“It has now become part of the political toolbox for a candidate to allege fraud and seek to ... undermine people’s faith in the outcome of elections any time they lose. We need to take that away,” said Michael Teter, managing director of The 65 Project, named after the 65 lawsuits filed in 2020 seeking to overturn the election. “The best way to do that with lawyers is to ensure there are personal or professional consequences to the actions they take.”

Fetterman is Such a Good Guy, He is Helping Dr Oz. Three Polls in June Show Fetterman Leading by 4-9%.



Herschel Lie-Walker Strikes Again. Polls Show Everything From Warnock Up by 10% to Walker Up by 2%.



An unnamed adviser close to Walker told The Daily Beast that the campaign’s a wreck and the team has “zero” trust for the candidate.

Walker spits out lies “like he’s breathing,” the source said. “He’s lied so much that we don’t know what’s true,” they claimed, and even called Walker a “pathological liar.”

In More Senate Race News.  (538 Only Gives This Pollster a "C")
 


Fat Lady Hasn't Sung on Hate Crimes, Either

Despite not making headlines as often, crimes against the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community are still an issue across the country. Several incidents of violence are reported weekly nationwide in which AAPI community members are targeted due to their ethnic background. In a recent incident, a man identified as Dylan Kesterson, who was first arrested Saturday after allegedly attacking a family of Japanese descent, has been charged with a hate crime

According to The Washington Post, Kesterson shouted racial slurs and physically attacked a 5-year-old and her father with racial bias on Saturday on a bicycle path in Portland, Oregon. In a statement issued Tuesday, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt announced that 34-year-old Kesterson has been charged with harassment, assault, and multiple counts of bias crime in the attack.

By signing this petition with email you will receive periodic updates on offers and activism opportunities from Daily Kos. You may unsubscribe at any time.

Authorities said a California father, mother, and daughter were riding bikes on the Eastbank Esplanade when Kesterson approached them, punched the father in the head and then punched the child in the helmet she was wearing several times. While the girl did not sustain any injuries, the father, who has not been publicly identified, was treated at a hospital. Police said he was punched more than 50 times.

How Impartial is SCOTUS?



Of Course Lindsey's Claim is Baseless



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Today's Best Person in the World Nominees

Saving Medicare, With No Help From the QOP

Senate Democrats have finalized an agreement to close a tax loophole in order to extend the solvency of Medicare, according to a source familiar with the agreement, in another step forward on their economic and prescription drug package.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to submit the legislative text of the agreement to the Senate parliamentarian in the coming days.

The proposal would ensure owners of certain “pass-through” businesses would pay the 3.8% net investment income tax to fund health care and would apply to individuals who earn over $400,000 annually and joint filers who earn more than $500,000. According to a US Treasury report, Medicare is expected to be insolvent by 2028 without any changes.

This provision is part of a larger package Senate Democrats are working to finalize that would require support from all 50 Democratic senators and would be able to bypass the Senate filibuster using a specialized budget process called reconciliation.

Dude, Where's My Car Part?

A treasure chest of valuable metals that sits underneath every car has sparked a rash of thefts. Now legislators in Washington and statehouses are fighting back.

Thefts of catalytic converters — an antipollution car part laden with platinum, palladium and rhodium — have exploded since the pandemic began, fueled by a surge in the value of those metals. Thieves made off with 12 times as many catalytic converters, which sit exposed underneath most cars, in 2021 as they did in 2019, according to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, an organization that tracks these thefts.

In Washington, D.C., legislators in the House introduced a bill in January to tackle the thefts. The Preventing Auto Recycling Theft Act would require new vehicles stamp VIN numbers on catalytic converters, codify federal penalties for stealing the part and require record-keeping for those who are buying and selling converters.

Rep. Jim Baird, R-Ind., who introduced the bill, told NBC News in an email that these steps will discourage black market sales and give law enforcement more tools to handle the thiefs.

The bill, with a bipartisan array of co-sponsors, was sent to two committees shortly after its introduction. Baird said he’s hopeful the bill will make it to the House floor and that he’s taking the steps to “move the needle in the right direction.”

Driving without a converter is illegal in some states, and replacing one is expensive. David Glawe, NICB president and CEO, pegged the price of a replacement catalytic converter at about $3,000, up from $1,000 in recent years.

Biden Acts to Protect Women 

President Joe Biden will sign a new executive order addressing Americans’ access to abortion on Friday, two weeks after the Supreme Court’s conservative bloc voted to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.

The White House said Biden will use his executive authority to defend reproductive rights within various federal agencies, but stressed Congress had the ultimate power to codify abortion access as federal law.

The order will build on steps the Biden administration has already taken.

Biden plans to direct the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to take additional action to protect and expand access to medication abortion, protect access to contraception and ensure patients are able to obtain emergency medical care.

The White House will formalize efforts by the Department of Justice to push back against any state efforts to limit the ability to travel out of state to get an abortion or access abortion medication.

The order will also direct several federal agencies to better protect patient privacy amid concerns that digital information could put some women at risk in states that have already outlawed abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision. The White House said HHS will consider strengthening the federal law restricting release of medical information and issue updated guidance to inform doctors that they are largely not required or allowed to share patient information with law enforcement.

Anyone Else Think Newsome Wants to Be President?  He is Doing Some Good Things.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Thursday that the state will start producing its own insulin, lowering the price of an essential treatment that typically costs people with diabetes thousands of dollars of years to obtain.

The endeavor will make California the first state to produce its own drugs ― an undertaking long reserved for private pharmaceutical companies that operate under lax government oversight.

“Nothing epitomizes market failures more than the cost of insulin,” Newsom said in a video announcing the project. “Many Americans experience out-of-pocket costs anywhere from $300 to $500 per month for this lifesaving drug. California is now taking matters into our own hands.”

The endeavor is included in the $308 billion state budget Newsom signed last week. In it, $100 million is set aside for insulin production contracts that will allow people with diabetes to obtain insulin “at a cheaper price, close to at-cost,” the governor said. Half of the funding will be spent on the development of low-cost insulin products and the other half will go toward an insulin manufacturing facility in California.
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Invasions Have Consequences

Day 135

Fighting

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Kyiv and its Western allies that Moscow has not yet started its military campaign in Ukraine “in earnest”.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly video message, responded with defiance, saying the two-month operation to retake Snake Island was a warning to all Russian forces that Ukraine would not be broken.

Three people were killed and another five wounded after Russian forces fired rockets at a district in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to Governor Oleh Synehubov. He said other attacks occurred throughout the Kharkiv region, including populated areas in the towns of Chuhuiv, Izyum and Bohodukhiv.

At least one person was killed and several were wounded in a Russian air raid on the city of Kramatorsk, Mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko said, while the nearby city of Sloviansk also came under fire.

Russia’s more immediate “tactical objective” in the east was likely to be the town of Siversk than capturing Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the United Kingdom’s defence ministry said.

Diplomacy

The joint summit of G20 foreign ministers opened in Bali on Thursday, with Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi urging her counterparts to find ways to end the war in Ukraine sooner rather than later.

Russia’s Lavrov dismissed what he cast as the West’s “frenzied” criticism of the war in Ukraine at the G20 meeting, scolding Russia’s rivals for scuppering a chance to tackle global economic issues.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said the economic sanctions imposed by Western sanctions against Russia had not worked.

Economy

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the “world is in big trouble” due to multiplying issues, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic, adding that multilateralism is the only way to tackle these problems.

Russia is ready to negotiate with Ukraine and Turkey about grain but it is unclear when such talks might take place, Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “the blockade of the Black Sea must stop”.

The Drone War

"Right now, we have two big battles," says Dmytro Podvorchanskyi, a soldier with Ukraine's Dnipro 1 Battalion. "The first is an artillery battle," he says, "the second is a battle of technologies".

Dmytro is fighting that second, largely unseen war. He leads a unit of just 10 soldiers who form Dnipro 1's drone intelligence unit. Dmytro says he prefers to call it "IT guys who fight". All of them are volunteers. Most of them have a background in information technology, and knew each other before the war started.

On a mobile phone one of the team shows us drone footage of the Russian targets they've already destroyed - their "greatest hits".

Dmytro lists them: "One tank, three or four artillery guns, two mortar positions and five or six ammunition dumps."

"Good results for just 10 people," he says, before breaking into a smile. They've already been fighting in Rubizhne and Severodonetsk - cities captured by the Russians. Now they're getting ready to defend Slovyansk.

"I think Slovyansk will be the next big target for Russia," says one of his team. I ask whether he thinks they'll be able to halt the Russian advance. "Sure," he says.

Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have been used widely in other wars, but not on this scale. They're key weapons for both Russia and Ukraine. Both sides have larger military drones - like Russia's Orlan-10 or Ukraine's famous Bayraktar, a Turkish-made drone. They're often more expensive and complex and can be easier to target and shoot down.

The most ubiquitous drones in this battle are commercial drones, the kind you or I can buy off the shelf. They're also cheap and easy to replace.

Both sides are using them to spot the enemy's positions and then help direct and correct their own artillery fire on a target. But these small drones are also being fitted with explosives.

Russia not only outguns and outnumbers Ukraine's forces but it has plenty of experience in electronic warfare too. Russia has been blocking and jamming Ukraine's military communication systems.

A recent report by UK think tank Rusi highlighted it as a challenge Ukraine would need to address: "Russian electronic warfare is denying Ukraine a sufficiently fast kill-chain to destroy Russia's artillery". The Rusi report says the average lifespan of a Ukrainian UAV has been just seven days.

But Ukrainian forces are trying to overcome that. The supply of thousands of Space X's Starlink satellite communication systems delivered by Elon Musk has helped. It provides them with a secure internet link to their command posts, giving live drone feeds and target information.

Dnipro 1's overall commander Col Yurii Bereza gives a thumbs-up and smiles: "Elon Musk, the best." He's as popular with Ukrainian troops as outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was.

Full Article

Russia Takes a Breather

"In units that performed combat tasks during a special military operation, measures are taking place to replenish combat capabilities. Servicemen are given the opportunity to relax, receive letters and parcels from home," the Defense Ministry noted.

It was also noted that scheduled maintenance of combat vehicles is taking place at field points.

Russia’s artillery isn’t taking time off, and they’re the biggest source of Ukraine’s misery. Thus, HIMARS (and M270s MLRS, reportedly) are in action targeting Russian supply depots to spectacular success—over a dozen so far.

But with major supply depots exhausted, Russian artillery will eventually exhaust their local supply of ammunition. The hope is that we see a slowdown in Russian fires in the next seven to 10 days. In fact, the “operational pause” may be just as much a reaction to losing those supply depots as any “exhaustion” among Russian forces.

Ukraine Doesn't

Kherson’s airport in Chornobaivka has been the site of relentless Ukrainian artillery barrages. While Russia is no longer basing aircraft there, they had set up defensive positions to try and stop the Ukrainian advance on Kherson from that direction. Now we see fires targeting the airport move southwest in what little space is left between the airport and Kherson city itself (around 10 kilometers). This suggests Russian troops are falling back, and whether Ukraine has taken the airport yet or not, the artillery is following those withdrawing troops.

Ukraine has been tight-lipped about advances around Kherson. The terrain is just too hard to hold—flat, open, with few hiding places. Ukraine barrages Russian positions until they pull back. Ukraine moves forward. Russia barrages those new Ukrainian positions until Ukraine pulls back. Russia moves forward. Lather, rinse, repeat. It serves no one to make triumphant declarations of liberation only to lose the territory the next day. But as of now, the story of the fires, as captured by a NASA satellite, says Ukraine is on the advance.
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I Thought It Was So He Wouldn't Have to Pick Up the Check

A team of scientists in Argentina say they have discovered a new giant predatory dinosaur that had a huge head - but tiny arms for its size.

Writing in the Current Biology journal, the scientists say extensive skeletal remains of a previously unknown species were dug up in northern Patagonia.

Meraxes gigas was about 36ft (11m) long, with a 4ft skull - but its arms were only 2ft long.

The scientists believe small limbs gave the carnivorous survival advantages.

"I'm convinced that those proportionally tiny arms had some sort of function. The skeleton shows large muscle insertions and fully developed pectoral girdles, so the arm had strong muscles," said Juan Canale, lead author of the study.

"They may have used the arms for reproductive behaviour such as holding the female during mating or support themselves to stand back up after a break or a fall," he added.

His co-author Peter Makovicky said the dinosaur's arms were "literally half the length of the skull and the animal would not have been able to reach its mouth".

Mr Makovicky said he believed the species' massive heads were the main predatory tool, taking on the functions that arms would have had in smaller species.
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He Kept Cycling With a Broken Neck.  Fans Are Dangerous.

Cyclist Daniel Oss has been forced to retire from this year’s Tour de France with a broken neck after he collided with spectators.

The Team TotalEnergies rider crashed into fans at high speed while they were lined up along a cobbled street during Stage 5 between Lille and Arenberg.

Footage shows Oss getting knocked off balance after clipping one fan before colliding with another who is leaning out to film the race on a phone.

“Complementary examinations have revealed a fracture of a cervical vertebra requiring immobilization for a few weeks,” a team statement read.

“Daniel Oss is therefore forced to leave the Tour de France… The whole team wishes you a good recovery Daniel.”

Multiple crashes occurred, although not all serious, during Wednesday’s Stage 5 as riders raced on cobblestones.

The Italian rider was somehow able to finish the stage despite the crash, which also involved two other riders who were brought down behind him.

During last year’s race, a fan caused a major crash after stepping in front of the racing pack holding a cardboard sign, appearing to display a message for the television cameras. The woman in question was subsequently identified and arrested by authorities.
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There's One Problem With This Ruling. The Court Called What Cohen Does "Comedy". Comedy is Supposed to Be Funny.

An appeals court on Thursday rejected a $95 million defamation lawsuit against comedian Sacha Baron Cohen filed by former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who said he was tricked into a television appearance that lampooned sexual misconduct accusations against him.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, upholding a lower court’s ruling in favor of Baron Cohen, said Moore signed a disclosure agreement that prohibited any legal claims over the appearance.

The three judges also found it was “clearly comedy” when Baron Cohen demonstrated a so-called pedophile detector that beeped when it got near Moore and no viewer would think the comedian was making factual allegations against Moore.
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Maybe the FBI is Too Busy Solving Shootings

There were over 1 million opportunities for someone to buy a gun from a licensed dealer without a completed background check in 2020 and 2021, according to an FBI report released last month.

In all, 1,002,274 background checks — or 4.2 percent — took longer than three business days in 2020 and 2021, a higher share than any other period since at least 2014, according to data compiled by NBC News. After the third business day, federal law allows dealers to sell weapons while the background check is still pending, which potentially puts weapons in the hands of people who can’t legally own a gun because of mental illness or their criminal history.

The FBI ultimately completed about one-fourth of those delayed background checks and discovered that 11,564 people were able to buy guns in 2020 and 2021 before the check showed that they should not have been allowed to do so, according to the FBI report. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives then had to retrieve the weapons.

But that number only accounts for a fraction of the delayed background checks. The FBI never completed 734,604 checks from January 2020 through November 2021, the most recent data available, because they took longer than 88 days — after which the bureau must stop its research and purge the unfinished checks from its system.
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Here a Job.  There a Job.  Everywhere a Job, Job.  Old McBiden Had a Job. E I E I O.

The U.S. saw stronger than expected job growth in June, as the economy added 372,000 jobs and the unemployment rate remained at 3.6%, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday.

The data shows moderately lower but robust job growth, despite aggressive borrowing cost increases from the Federal Reserve.

The leisure and hospitality industry continued to show strong growth, adding 67,000 jobs, though a slight dip from the positions added over the month prior. Jobs were also added in health care and professional and business services.
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