AUDIO:

POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTETEXAS.GOV—Voter Information; The Community Climate Summit will be a day-long gathering of climate activists, community leaders, and frontline community members; Houston patients can now receive rental bicycle prescriptions in new program; Harris County to face another election audit as new Texas law triggers greater scrutiny; Family Dollar hit with $1.2 million in OSHA fines for violations at 2 Ohio stores; Pregnant? Georgia says that fetus counts as a dependent on your taxes; Rand Paul knocks Charles Booker for traveling to flood-ravaged Eastern Kentucky; Former Republicans and Democrats form new third U.S. political party; Will Ivana help Donald Trump with tax breaks from beyond the grave?; Phones of top Pentagon officials were wiped of Jan. 6 messages; Russian man spent years as puppeteer behind US political groups, officials say; Russia threatens to break off diplomatic relations with US; World one step from ′nuclear annihilation,′ U.N. chief warns; More.

Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio) is now on Wednesdays at 11AM (CT) on KPFT-HD2, Houston’s Community Station. You can also hear the show:

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Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig where we discuss local, state, national, and international stories. My co-host and show editor is Andrew Ferguson.

• An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.
• You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/EwrSlzZC31w

1. Make sure you are registered to vote! VoteTexas.GOV – Texas Voter InformationTEXAS SoS VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT APPLICATION (ALL TEXAS COUNTIES) HarrisVotes.com­ – Countywide Voting Centers, (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
   1. Harris County “Vote-By-Mail’ Application for 2022
      1. Fort bend County Elections/Voter Registration Machine takes you to the proper link
      2. GalvestonVotes.org (Galveston County, TX)
      3. Liberty County Elections (Liberty County, TX)
      4. Montgomery County (TX) Elections
      5. Brazoria County (TX) Clerk Election Information
      6. Waller County (TX) Elections
      7. Chambers County (TX) Elections
      8. For personalized, nonpartisan voter guides and information, Consider visiting Vote.ORG.   Ballotpedia.com and Texas League of Women Voters are also good places to get election info.
      9. If you are denied your right to vote any place at any time at any polling place for any reason, ask for (or demand) a provisional ballot rather than lose your vote.
      10. HarrisVotes.com – Countywide Voting Centers, HARRIS COUNTY – IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR VOTING: Do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of these IDs?
          1. Fill out a declaration at the polls describing a reasonable impediment to obtaining it, and show a copy or original of one of the following supporting forms of ID:
          2. A government document that shows your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate
          3. Current utility bill
          4. Bank statement
          5. Government check
          6. Paycheck
          7. A certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes your identity (which may include a foreign birth document)
          8. You may vote early by-mail if:You are registered to vote and meet one of the following criteria:
             1. Away from the county of residence on Election Day and during the early voting period;
             2. Sick or disabled;
             3. 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
             4. Confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
             5. Make sure you are registered:
             6. Ann Harris Bennett, Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar
             7. CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS HERE
             8. CLICK How to register to vote in Texas
             9. Outside Texas, try Vote.org.
2. BE REGISTERED TO VOTE, and if eligible, REMEMBER TO FILL OUT AND MAIL YOUR MAIL-IN BALLOT APPLICATIONS FOR 2022
   1. You can track your Mail Ballot Activity from our website with direct link provided here https://www.harrisvotes.com/Tracking
   2. NEXT ELECTION: 2022 November General Election – November 8, 2022
3. The Community Climate Summit will be a day-long gathering of climate activists, community leaders, and frontline community members. Sep 10 at the Rice University Glasscock School of Continuing Studies
   1. The hope for this event is to support a coming together of frontline community members, community leaders, organizers, activists, and environmental advocacy professionals to share resources, learn about neighborhood-specific issues, identify sustainability strategies, collaborate to support each other’s existing initiatives, and create a shared vision and action plans toward both short- and long-term goals to protect the health of Houston communities. More details to come at the linked event site.
4. Houston patients can now receive rental bicycle prescriptions in new program; The program is for patients with prediabetes, diabetes, prehypertension or hypertension. By Ashley Brown | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on August 1, 2022, 1:56 PM (Last Updated: August 1, 2022, 3:04 PM)
   1. Doctors at a local clinic can write more than just prescription medication: The Bike RX program allows healthcare providers to write prescriptions for a one-year membership with Houston BCycle. The program is for patients with prediabetes, diabetes, prehypertension or hypertension.
   2. The program, which started in February, is a collaboration with Houston Bcycle, the American Heart Association, and Legacy Community Health in Fifth Ward. It’s the first of its kind in Houston. The goal is to give patients the chance to exercise and develop healthy habits.
   3. Patients have the option to choose from two different bikes — standard or electric for 90 minutes at any BCycle location across the city.
   4. Sable McEleveen is the Manager of Programs at Legacy Community Health. She says the initiative will benefit patients in many ways. …
   5. Mary DeBauche is the Communications Manager at Houston BCycle. She said they wanted to help underserved communities in Houston after installing a bicycle station in front of the Fifth Ward clinic. …
   6. The American Heart Association learned about Houston BCycles’s Go Pass Program that offers low-income community members with reduced fares. …
   7. The program is only offered to patients at the Legacy Community Health Clinic in Fifth Ward on Lyons, but the program is hoping to expand to other sites.
   8. REFERENCE: https://www.houstonbcycle.com/
   9. ANDREW: Novel idea. I think individualist solutions like exercising more or other lifestyle changes are not the best response to diabetes. Prescribing a diabetic a bicycle seems a bit patronizing and focusing on weight rather than the real problem. But it sounds good for heart conditions, and for anyone who wants to exercise more but can’t afford to.
5. Harris County to face another election audit as new Texas law triggers greater scrutiny; by Charles Kuffner | OFFTHEKUFF.COM Jul 29th, 2022 (from By Jen Rice, Edward McKinley, Staff writers | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | July 28, 2022, Updated: July 28, 2022 5:38 p.m.)
   1. KUFFNER: Here we go again:
      1. Harris County will be one of four Texas counties to undergo an audit of its upcoming November election results by the Texas secretary of state’s office.
      2. It will be the second election audit in two years for Harris County, though the first to be conducted under election law the state legislature passed in 2021. …
      3. By state law, four counties are to be audited at random every two years, two with a population greater than 300,000 and two counties with smaller populations. There are 18 Texas counties with populations greater than 300,000, meaning the state’s large urban counties will face the most audits. Texas has 254 counties. …
      4. On Twitter, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee questioned the randomness of the selection process. In response, the secretary of state’s office tweeted a link to a video on Facebook that showed the process — the names of large counties and smaller counties are printed on individual labels, and then the four counties are drawn from a bucket. When an employee drops the labels of the large counties into the bucket, it does not happen on camera.
      5. Menefee’s office put out a statement in which the county attorney called the latest audit a ‘waste of time.”
      6. [The statement said in part] … this is a waste of time. Last year the state coincidentally launched an audit of the county’s 2020 election just hours after former President Trump called on the governor to do so. That audit has been consuming the resources of our Elections Administrator’s office at a time where they’ve had to hold a record number of elections. By the way, that audit has still not been completed.
      7. “Now, the state has ‘randomly’ selected Harris County to be audited for the 2022 election,” the statement continues. “Voters should be asking themselves what purpose these audits serve beyond wasting taxpayer money. As has been shown time and again, our elections are secure. …”
   2. KUFFNER: See here for all my previous blogging on this topic. The video in question can be found here; it was posted by someone at the SOS office in response to a snarky tweet by Christian Menefee. There was a preliminary result from that first “audit” posted in January of 2021 – I can say I’m not aware of any followup stories about that. This is a [BS] law passed to satisfy the Big Lie, and it’s on the list of laws that have got to go when Dems get a turn.
   3. (There’s also an unofficial “audit” of 2020 primary ballots going on in Tarrant County. I can’t even read that story, I start seeing red two sentences in.)
   4. ANDREW: Benefit of the doubt, it could truly be random. Even if it is, the last audit probably wasn’t, and is going to make this audit unreasonably difficult for Harris. Random election audits not inherently bad idea, if state acts fairly, which it won’t and hasn’t.
6. Family Dollar hit with $1.2 million in OSHA fines for violations at 2 Ohio stores; Jack Stebbins (@jackstebbs) | CNBC.COM | Published Mon, Aug 1 20225:10 PM EDT, Updated Mon, Aug 1 20226:37 PM EDT
   1. Key Points:
   2. Federal regulators have fined Family Dollar more than $1.2 million in penalties related to safety violations at two Ohio stores.
   3. Both Ohio stores had blocked exits, unstable stacks, cluttered working areas and inaccessible electrical equipment and fire extinguishers. …
   4. The agency found 11 violations between the two stores, adding to more than 300 total violations by Family Dollar and its parent company, Dollar Tree, over the last five years, OSHA said in a release.
   5. “Family Dollar and Dollar Tree stores have a long and disturbing history of putting profits above employee safety,” said Doug Parker, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, in a statement. “Time and time again, we find the same violations — blocked or obstructed emergency exits and aisles, boxes of merchandise stacked high or in front of electrical panels and fire extinguishers. Each hazard can lead to a tragedy.” …
   6. ANDREW: Safety is both a labor and consumer protection issue. Dollar stores generally seem to have problems with this, IME. Consider their role in pushing out local businesses, and maybe they should be regulated harder. Their staff unionizing would help a lot too.
7. Pregnant? Georgia says that fetus counts as a dependent on your taxes; Jaclyn Diaz | NPR.ORG| August 2, 20223:40 PM ET
   1. Pregnant Georgians can now list their fetus as a dependent on their tax returns.
   2. The Georgia Department of Revenue released new guidance this week establishing that the agency “will recognize any unborn child with a detectable human heartbeat … as eligible for the Georgia individual income tax dependent exemption.”
   3. An individual at least six weeks pregnant on or after July 20 through Dec. 31, 2022, can list the fetus as a dependent on their tax returns starting next year, the agency said. Georgian taxpayers can claim an exemption in the amount of $3,000 for each dependent.
   4. This policy change follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional right to an abortion. Following that, an appeals court ruled on July 20 that Georgia’s ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy can become law. …
   5. This tax policy change has far wider implications “from taxes and inheritance rights to education to population counts,” says Elizabeth Nash, the Guttmacher Institute’s principal policy associate for state issues.
   6. For now, the policy change only applies to state tax returns. This state law has no effect on federal taxes, says Alex Raskolnikov, a professor of tax law at Columbia Law School. …
   7. Early critics note that this state policy may create questions for those who miscarry further along in their pregnancy.
   8. Lauren Groh-Wargo, the campaign manager for Georgia governor candidate Stacey Abrams, tweeted: “So what happens when you claim your fetus as a dependent and then miscarry later in the pregnancy, you get investigated both for tax fraud and an illegal abortion?”
   9. Georgia’s abortion law does allow exceptions for stillbirths, miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies (which can be deadly).
   10. TAGS: fetus tax Georgia abortion
   11. ANDREW: Implications biggest part of this story. Politicians already willing to manipulate prison populations and district boundaries to consolidate power. Legal status of fetuses undoubtedly will be used for the same purpose.
8. Rand Paul knocks Charles Booker for traveling to flood-ravaged Eastern Kentucky; By Joe Sonka | Louisville Courier Journal | Aug 2, 2022
   1. Republican Sen. Rand Paul and Charles Booker, his Democratic opponent this fall in Kentucky, traded shots at each other Monday involving each other’s response to the deadly flooding that devastated several Appalachian counties last week.
   2. Booker personally delivered a truck full of water and supplies to an emergency shelter at Letcher County Central High School in flood-ravaged Whitesburg on Saturday, with his campaign office in Louisville now full of more supplies that will be delivered soon after his call for supporters to provide donations.
   3. But when asked by a reporter at his Monday press conference in Louisville if he felt like he was doing enough for the flood victims — and the optics of his opponent being there on the ground with his volunteer effort — Paul countered that politicians should stay out of the way.
   4. “I think most people think that the people who should be doing the responding are the professionals,” Paul said. “You know, politicians out there having their picture taken probably isn’t that useful.”
   5. Paul added that what flood victims actually need are “monetary donations, as opposed to goods,” saying that much of the goods collected for the Western Kentucky tornado victims in December “still sits in warehouses, and they’re still trying to find somebody that could make use of it.” …
   6. Booker shot back at Paul’s comments later Monday, issuing a statement that the senator’s “pitiful response is yet more evidence that he does not care about the people of Kentucky.” …
   7. Since delivering a truck full of supplies to the emergency shelter in Whitesburg on Saturday, Booker says his campaign office “has received an overwhelming amount of donations and supplies for the impacted areas. We will be working with organizers on the ground to make sure they are distributed to those in need.” …
   8. Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron posted photos of himself meeting with people in the area Monday. [He posted that he had visited local shelters … to deliver essential supplies to Kentuckians who have been impacted by the severe flooding in eastern Kentucky …]
   9. Andy Beshear [-D] observed the flooding damage from a National Guard helicopter Friday and visited affected areas on the ground Sunday in Perry, Knott and Letcher counties, before making another trip to emergency shelters in Floyd, Breathitt and Pike counties on Tuesday.
   10. The governor, who has led the emergency response efforts, set up a website for people to donate to flood relief efforts, while also emphasizing the need for donations of water and cleaning supplies to the devastated areas. …
   11. State Rep. Angie Hatton, a Democrat from Whitesburg, told The Courier Journal she was grateful for Booker’s donations to her city’s shelter. …
   12. Hatton added … I know Sen. Paul has access to many resources, and we would be glad to work with him in any capacity. I’ll accept help — and hugs — from anyone willing to help my people.”
   13. ANDREW: In fairness, maybe Booker’s photo op obstructed relief efforts a bit. And yes, sometimes money is better than goods (e.g. food banks). But instead of responding with snark, Paul should have put his money where his mouth is. Give a sizable sum to the same shelter. Outdo Booker. Better for disaster victims. Nobler, though Paul isn’t known for being noble.
9. Former Republicans and Democrats form new third U.S. political party; By Tim Reid | REUTERS.COM | July 27, 20227:32 PM CDT, Last Updated a day ago
   1. Dozens of former Republican and Democratic officials announced on Wednesday a new national political third party to appeal to millions of voters they say are dismayed with what they see as America’s dysfunctional two-party system.
   2. The new party, called Forward and whose creation was first reported by Reuters, will initially be co-chaired by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Christine Todd Whitman, the former Republican governor of New Jersey. They hope the party will become a viable alternative to the Republican and Democratic parties that dominate U.S. politics, founding members told Reuters.
   3. Party leaders will hold a series of events in two dozen cities this autumn to roll out its platform and attract support. They will host an official launch in Houston on Sept. 24 and the party’s first national convention in a major U.S. city next summer.
   4. The new party is being formed by a merger of three political groups that have emerged in recent years as a reaction to America’s increasingly polarized and gridlocked political system. The leaders cited a Gallup poll last year showing a record two-thirds of Americans believe a third party is needed.
   5. The merger involves the Renew America Movement, formed in 2021 by dozens of former officials in the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump; the Forward Party, founded by Yang, who left the Democratic Party in 2021 and became an independent; and the Serve America Movement, a group of Democrats, Republicans and independents whose executive director is former Republican congressman David Jolly.
   6. Two pillars of the new party’s platform are to “reinvigorate a fair, flourishing economy” and to “give Americans more choices in elections, more confidence in a government that works, and more say in our future.”
   7. The party, which is centrist, has no specific policies yet. It will say at its Thursday launch: “How will we solve the big issues facing America? Not Left. Not Right. Forward.”
   8. Historically, third parties have failed to thrive in America’s two-party system. Occasionally they can impact a presidential election. Analysts say the Green Party’s Ralph Nader siphoned off enough votes from Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000 to help Republican George W. Bush win the White House.
   9. It is unclear how the new Forward party might impact either party’s electoral prospects in such a deeply polarized country. Political analysts are skeptical it can succeed.
   10. Public reaction on Twitter was swift. Many Democrats on the social media platform expressed fear that the new party will siphon more votes away from Democrats, rather than Republicans, and end up helping Republicans in close races.
   11. Forward aims to gain party registration and ballot access in 30 states by the end of 2023 and in all 50 states by late 2024, in time for the 2024 presidential and congressional elections. It aims to field candidates for local races, such as school boards and city councils, in state houses, the U.S. Congress and all the way up to the presidency.
   12. In an interview, Yang said the party will start with a budget of about $5 million. It has donors lined up and a grassroots membership between the three merged groups numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
   13. “We are starting in a very strong financial position. Financial support will not be a problem,” Yang said.
   14. Another person involved in the creation of Forward, Miles Taylor – a former Homeland Security official in the Trump administration – said the idea was to give voters “a viable, credible national third party.”
   15. Taylor acknowledged that third parties had failed in the past, but said: “The fundamentals have changed. When other third party movements have emerged in the past it’s largely been inside a system where the American people aren’t asking for an alternative. The difference here is we are seeing an historic number of Americans saying they want one.”
   16. Stu Rothenberg, a veteran non-partisan political analyst, said it was easy to talk about establishing a third party but almost impossible to do so.
   17. “The two major political parties start out with huge advantages, including 50 state parties built over decades,” he said.
   18. Rothenberg pointed out that third party presidential candidates like John Anderson in 1980 and Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 flamed out, failing to build a true third party that became a factor in national politics.
   19. MIKE: Welcome back to the American 1850s (while Europe is in 1940).
   20. MIKE: In effect (if not intent), they’re creating a center-right party that may have a shot at replacing the Republicans. Some Dem-leaners may vote for them and some Repub- and right-leaners may vote for them. It has the potential to be disruptive.
   21. MIKE: In this scenario, the Republicans are the Whigs. The Forwards are the then-new Republicans. Maybe. We’ll see. Lots of failed party start-ups in the 1850s.
   22. ANDREW: They’re centrists backed by big names and big money. Democrats should sue for trademark infringement. But really, the people wanting third parties want different politics, not mix of the current options. And they’re still going to run into lopsided election law. Best thing they could do for the people of the US is challenge enough election law that third parties get a fair playing field. Not holding my breath.
10. Will Ivana help Donald Trump with tax breaks from beyond the grave?; First wife’s resting-place in Trump’s New Jersey golf course might benefit ex-husband’s long-held tax planning purposes. By Edward Helmore in New York | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Sun 31 Jul 2022 13.01 EDT, Last modified on Sun 31 Jul 2022 16.30 EDT
    1. When Ivana Trump, Donald Trump’s first wife, was buried last month near the first hole of Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, few immediately guessed that her grave’s location might also serve her ex-husband’s long-held tax planning purposes.
    2. Tax code in New Jersey exempts cemetery land from all taxes, rates, and assessments – and her grave, as such, potentially has advantageous tax implications for a Trump family trust that owns the golf business, in a state where property and land taxes are notoriously high.
    3. According to documents published by ProPublica, the Trump family trust previously sought to designate a nearby property in Hackettstown, New Jersey, as a non-profit cemetery company.
    4. But Ivana Trump, who died earlier this month at 73 after a fall at her home in New York City’s Manhattan, is the first person known to have been buried at the golf course, where Donald Trump and his family spend a lot of time in the summers.
    5. Under New Jersey’s tax code, cemetery companies are not only exempt from real estate taxes, rates, and assessments or personal property taxes, but also business taxes, sales taxes, income taxes, and inheritance taxes, according to Insider.
    6. Brooke Harrington, a professor of sociology at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, tweeted on Saturday that she had looked into claims that Ivana Trump’s resting-place might also benefit her ex-husband’s tax planning from beyond the grave.
    7. “As a tax researcher, I was skeptical of rumors Trump buried his ex-wife in that sad little plot of dirt on his Bedminster, NJ golf course just for tax breaks. So I checked the NJ tax code & folks…it’s a trifecta of tax avoidance. Property, income & sales tax, all eliminated,” Harrington wrote, after opinions accusing Trump of being primarily motivated by the possibility of a tax break began popping up on social media.
    8. Harrington later tweeted the full New Jersey tax code for cemetery land. While there is no stipulation for the amount of human remains necessary in order to qualify for the break, sales of wreaths, larger evergreen arrangements, flowers and other similar items are taxable.
    9. While saying she was surprised about the tax suggestions she also accused Donald Trump of burying his wife in “little more than a pauper’s grave” and as a result disgracing the three children they had together, Ivanka, Don Jr and Eric. …
    10. Previous reports have suggested that her former husband has planned to build different types of cemetery operations at the Bedminster golf course. …
    11. US public radio station NPR reported in 2012 under the online headline “Fairway to Heaven” that Trump planned to build himself a mausoleum on the property, prompting some local objections. That proposal was later expanded to a cemetery that could contain upwards of a 1,000 possible graves.
    12. That plan was later dropped and replaced with a design for a “10-plot private family cemetery” in the same spot, and refined again into a proposal for a commercial 284-plot cemetery, the station reported.
    13. Ivana Trump was buried in a plot close to the first tee of the golf course, following her funeral in Manhattan on 20 July. Her resting place is currently marked with a rudimentary wreath of white flowers and an engraved granite stone.
    14. However it is unlikely that the 1.5 acre plot would deliver tax exemptions to the entire Bedminster property – any break only applies so long as the plot is less than 10 acres.
    15. But every break counts, and the former president has previously designated the plot as a farm because some trees on the site are turned into mulch used for flower beds, according to the Washington Post.
    16. Trump’s notions to partially designate the golf course as a cemetery date to at least 2014. Plans then filed with local and state authorities listed a proposal for a pair of graveyards – one for the family, another with 284 plots for sale. The Washington Post noted that buyers, presumably avid golfers, “could pay for a kind of eternal membership” to the club. …
    17. Trump already has a plot at All Faiths Cemetery in Jamaica, Queens, close to his mother and father, but plans for his Bedminster mausoleum were suitably grandiose: 19 feet high, in stone, with obelisks, and planted smack in the middle of the course.
    18. Trump has kept silent about his plans for how the “Eternal Donald” will be commemorated in the earthly realm. In 2007, then aged 60, he told the New York Post that the golden course mausoleum was a rational choice.
    19. “It’s never something you like to think about, but it makes sense,” he told the paper’s Page Six column. “This is such beautiful land, and Bedminster is one of the richest places in the country.”
    20. For a more humorous “take” on this story: Opinion: The latest Trump grift? Burying Ivana at their golf club. By Dana Milbank, Columnist | WASHINGTONPOST.COM | August 1, 2022 at 5:19 p.m. EDT
    21. ANDREW: Trump is trying a new grift? Wonders never cease. This should provoke outrage, but Trump does this stuff so regularly, this is tame. Hope he gets convicted on any of the myriad charges he’s facing so he can’t do this kind of thing for a while and we can all get some peace.
11. Phones of top Pentagon officials were wiped of Jan. 6 messages; The DOD is the latest part of the federal government to have deleted official phone communications relevant to investigations into the events of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. By Karoun Demirjian and Jacqueline Alemany | WASHINGTONPOST.COM | August 2, 2022 at 7:13 p.m. EDT
    1. The Pentagon erased a potential trove of material related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol from the phones of senior defense officials in the Trump administration, according to legal filings.
    2. Court records published on the website of the watchdog group American Oversight indicate that the Pentagon “wiped” the government-issued phones of senior Defense Department and Army officials who were in charge of mobilizing the National Guard to respond to the Capitol attack, including then-acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller and then-Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. The erasing apparently was done in keeping with Defense Department and Army policy for departing employees, according to filings that state: “the text messages were not preserved.”
    3. The admission comes as a blow not just to American Oversight’s efforts to unearth critical communications regarding the attack, but also to the House’s Jan. 6 special committee, which had asked Pentagon leaders to preserve and share all documents related to the riot. It also makes the Defense Department the latest known part of the federal government, including the Secret Service and other parts of the Department of Homeland Security, to have deleted records that could have helped investigators piece together what happened on Jan. 6 — and the degree to which President Donald Trump was responsible for delays in responding.
    4. “From the reporting about the Secret Service and the senior DHS officials, it becomes pretty clear that this is not just a DOD problem, not just an Army problem, but multiagency,” said Dara Silvestre, a spokeswoman for American Oversight. …
    5. A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Army said: “It is our policy not to comment on ongoing litigation.”
    6. A defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the deletions were just standard “process.”
    7. “Nobody was trying to hide or conceal anything,” the official said. “That would be a false narrative.”
    8. American Oversight’s case began as a series of Freedom of Information Act requests, filed with various government agencies less than a week after rioters inspired by Trump attacked the Capitol to try to prevent President Biden from being declared the winner of the 2020 election. Among the documents that were sought were text and Signal messages, Silvestre said. The deletions appear to have been conducted after the FOIA requests were filed. …
    9. The Pentagon’s admission that it had wiped the phones was included as part of a joint status report filed in March, but only publicized by American Oversight on Tuesday. Silvestre said that in the intervening months, the group has been trying to work with the agencies “to try to get them to release as much as possible,” as there are some phone records that are believed to have been preserved.
    10. The suit is not only seeking records from former senior figures such as Miller and McCarthy. It also has asked for the phone communications of Gen. James McConville, the Army chief of staff, and Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, director of the Army staff, who still work at the Pentagon and whose texts and secure messages should not have been deleted. According to court records, the Army began a search for those records last September, and another court filing updating the status of that search is expected next month.
    11. REFERENCE: 6 texts missing for Trump Homeland Security’s Wolf and Cuccinelli — Text messages for President Donald Trump’s acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf and acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli are missing for a key period leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to four people briefed on the matter and internal emails. …
    12. ANDREW: I assumed there was a wider conspiracy from the start. One person couldn’t do all that himself. These stories just prove it. Almost enough to make you think the whole structure’s got proverbial termites. Or whatever eats through a house of cards.
12. World one step from ′nuclear annihilation,′ U.N. chief warns; The warning came as a pandemic-delayed conference opened to review the 50-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. By ASSOCIATED PRESS via NBCNEWS.COM | Aug. 2, 2022, 5:35 AM CDT / Source: Associated Press
    1. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres sounded the alarm over the war in Ukraine, nuclear threats in Asia and the Middle East, and other tensions, warning that “humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”
    2. The warning came Monday as a pandemic-delayed conference opened to review the 50-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which is aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and eventually achieving a nuclear-free world. …
    3. MIKE: There’s a lot of specificity in this article, but I’m not going into that. You can click on the article at COM and read it for yourself.
    4. MIKE: My focus is on the attitude of, “Yeah, Sure. One minute to midnight on the nuclear clock. Blah, blah.”
    5. MIKE: But think about this… Let’s say that Pakistan decides it has a reason to shoot one small nuke at India, and of course India retaliates. So a small nuclear exchange. Very tragic for all the people involved, atmospheric radiation, etc. But, “That’s their problem, not ours” you might think.
    6. MIKE: But the world has become unimaginably interconnected in ways we neither think about nor realize.
    7. MIKE: One ship stuck in the Suez Canal for a few days wrecked international commerce. The Russo-Ukraine War has millions of people around the world on the brink of starvation. Many of us have never thought much about the critical exports of Ukraine or Russia.
    8. MIKE: India is an important exporter of goods and services. They manufacture drugs, clothing, electronics, and data services. You have likely called someone in India for customer service help when you call a company for assistance. And that’s just for the US. They have more complex trade relationships with many other countries.
    9. MIKE: Now imagine the human and economic tolls, and the political chaos that would ensue, and what that would mean for the rest of the world. Not even the radiation or death or destruction. What it would mean for everyone else, including you.
    10. MIKE: A nuclear exchange doesn’t have to mean the end of the world. Just — pardon the expression — a tiny nuclear exchange could rapidly make it seem like the end of the world as we know it. And it might be.
    11. MIKE: I don’t think it’s feasible to imagine a world with no nuclear weapons. Use the movie “7 Days In May” as a reference. There would never be enough trust.
    12. MIKE: But the world needs a way to make the use of nuclear weapons unimaginable.
    13. MIKE: Maybe conduct an actual, public, underground nuclear test somewhere every 10-20 years; maybe once a generation. Invite as many political and idea leaders from around the world as possible to personally witness it. Put the power of that destruction back in living memory, not just old military films.
    14. MIKE: I think that may be what it actually takes to avoid nuclear war.
    15. ANDREW: These warnings aren’t meant to be used against your enemy of the day. They’re meant to cause introspection. What is YOUR SIDE doing to threaten the survival of humanity? Is it really necessary? What value will today’s goals have if we all die in nuclear fire? These warnings beg for cultural change, and again, that doesn’t happen without one side deciding to change themselves. Everyday folks can’t do much to make that happen alone. But we can do our small parts. Don’t assume your government tells the truth. Don’t assume your research is free of your government’s influence. If you think the enemy deserves suspicion, aim for understanding and reform rather than destruction and victory. Join with others to press for mercy. We may not be able to block the big red button, but we can promote ideas and compassion that may mean they can’t find a second person to turn the key.
13. Russian man spent years as puppeteer behind US political groups, officials say; Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov charged over accusations he sought to spread division and propaganda and meddle in elections. By Guardian staff and agencies | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Fri 29 Jul 2022 16.08 EDT, Last modified on Fri 29 Jul 2022 16.33 EDT
    1. A Russian man orchestrated a yearslong effort to puppeteer political groups in Florida, Georgia and California to sow discord in the US, spread pro-Russia propaganda and meddle in American elections, justice department officials alleged on Friday.
    2. Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov of Moscow was charged with conspiring to have US citizens act as illegal agents of the Russian government, according to a justice department statement. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
    3. The indictment against Ionov was linked to a raid by federal agents of the Uhuru Movement’s headquarters in St Petersburg, Florida, on Friday, the Tampa Bay Times reported, citing US officials.
    4. The Uhuru Movement belongs to the African People’s Socialist party and purports to unite “African people as one … for liberation, social justice, self-reliance and economic development”.
    5. At a news conference on Friday, a Uhuru leader declared openly that his group was “in support of Russia” and dismissed the raid as an attack meant to isolate Africans in the US who are fighting for liberation.
    6. “We can have relationships with whoever we want to make this revolution possible,” said the leader, Eritha “Akile” Cainion. …
    7. According to the justice department, Ionov was acting on behalf of the FSB Russian intelligence agency when he financially supported the groups at the center of the case, none of which are explicitly named in the indictment. He allegedly ordered them to publish pro-Russian lies and coordinated actions by them intended to further Russian interests.
    8. The department also claimed Ionov influenced a US political group in Florida under his control to interfere in local elections, supporting the St Petersburg, Florida, political campaigns of two people in 2017 and 2019. It listed the group and individuals as “unindicted co-conspirators” but did not name them.
    9. ANDREW: Not going to judge the group mentioned, as I know nothing about them except that their goals seem noble, and anyone can be well-intentioned yet wrong. Russia shouldn’t meddle in other countries’ affairs, but neither should we, and we do it all the time. We had, and have, it coming. If we want that to change, the culture of geopolitics needs to change, and that doesn’t happen until someone decides to change their own actions.
14. Russia threatens to break off diplomatic relations with US; By John Bacon, Jorge L. Ortiz, Celina Tebor | USA TODAY | Aug 2, 2022
    1. The Kremlin threatened Tuesday to break off diplomatic relations with Washington if the U.S. declares Russia a sponsor of terrorism.
    2. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the proposed designation “naive” and a violation of international law. …
    3. Last week, the Senate passed a nonbinding resolution urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged the U.S. to adopt the designation.
    4. Blinken, however, has balked at the plan, saying that current sanctions are similar to what would be imposed with the designation.
    5. ANDREW: When even the State Department says something is unnecessary, it’s time to dial back the jingoism. Terrorism sponsor designation would make civil solution to Ukraine invasion even more difficult. I hope Blinken holds fast on this one.

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