House Divided: The House approved a bill to create a commission to investigate the January 6^thinsurrection, with only 35 Republicans in favor and 176 against. The bill appears to face difficulty passing the Senate.

  Minority leader Mitch McConnell said he opposes the bill he described as “slanted and unbalanced” even though it was written in cooperation with Republicans. This is the same man who once wanted an investigation and said, “There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day.”

  The majority of Republicans don’t want to risk an investigation that likely will pin blame for the Capitol takeover on former President Donald Trump, who posted a statement saying there should be no investigation “unless the murders, riots, and fire bombings in Portland, Minneapolis, Seattle, Chicago, and New York are also going to be studied.”

  Several members of Congress delivered emotional speeches before the vote. Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey said, “On January 6^th I was lying on the floor to avoid possible shooters in this very chamber holding a gas mask in one hand and a phone in the other as I called my husband in case I didn’t make it home.” 

  With Republicans denying and revising the truth — one of them claims January 6^th was like an ordinary day of Capitol tourism — Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer said “An independent commission can be the antidote to the poisonous mistruths that continue to spread about Jan. 6, and that is what our founding fathers believed in.”

Fetal Heartbeat: In the mounting Republican campaign to end legal abortion, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a law making abortion illegal once a fetal heartbeat is detected, effectively banning most abortions in the state as of September 1st.

  A fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks, sometimes before a woman even knows she’s pregnant.

  The restriction puts Texas in the lead among states challenging Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court case that established legal abortion. The law will also allow virtually any private citizen to sue an abortion provider or others who “aid and abet” an abortion in violation of the new ban. The could mean the mother herself.

  “Our creator endowed us with the right to life, and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion,” Abbott said.

  The Supreme Court has already agreed to hear the challenge to a Mississippi law that would end abortion after 15 weeks. If the law is upheld, it may ultimately lead to laws that would end legal abortion in much of the South and Midwest.

War Without End: After nearly two weeks of moderate response, President Biden appears to be stepping up the pressure for an end to the warfare between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. The white House says Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he “expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a cease-fire.”

  France and Germany are also reported to be leaning on both sides.

  Despite suggestions by some officials that a cease-fire could come within days, violence continued yesterday, spilling beyond Gaza into the occupied West Bank and in northern Israel, where the Israeli military exchanged fire with militants across the border in Lebanon. So far, Israel’s Gaza bombardment has killed at least 227 people, including 64 children. In Israel, 12 people have been killed by Hamas rockets.

Criminal Intent:  The New York attorney general’s office announced that it has stepped up its investigation of Donald Trump’s finances to a criminal phase. “We have informed the Trump Organization that our investigation into the organization is no longer purely civil in nature,” the AG’s office said in a statement. “We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity, along with the Manhattan DA.” 

  One target is Trump’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.

  The attorney general’s office is working with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is digging into whether the Trump organization lied to lenders and insurance companies about the value of properties and whether it paid the appropriate taxes.

  Trump posted on his website, “There is nothing more corrupt than an investigation that is in desperate search of a crime. But, make no mistake, that is exactly what is happening here.” 

They/Them: Singer Demi Lovato announced that she is sexually “non-binary” and now prefers to be referred to as “they” or ‘them.” She — oops — they said, “this best represents the fluidity I feel in my gender expression,” and “I’m doing this for those out there that haven’t been able to share who they truly are with their loved ones.”

The Obit Page: Lee Evans, an American runner who wore a Black Panther beret and raised a fist in protest of racism on the winners’ platform at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, has died at age 74. 

  Evans won two gold medals that year, but his protest was not the one that shocked the Olympics. That was the year that 200-meter sprinters Tommie Smith (gold) and John Carlos (bronze), raised Black Power salutes as American flags were raised and “The Star-Spangled Banner” played.

  Smith and Carlos were thrown out of the Olympics and banned for life. Evans escaped that fate by bringing down his fist as the flag was raised and the national anthem began.

  Evans continued to be a championship runner before coaching track-and-field teams in the US, Africa, and the Middle East. He was felled by a stroke while coaching in Nigeria.

The Spin Rack: Donald Trump has moved from his Florida Mar-a-Lago Club to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey until early fall. You have to feel sorry for his son, Baron.

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