Unvaccinated Americans don't blame selves for virus surge, poll says
Most unvaccinated Americans don’t blame themselves for the recent surge in COVID-19 cases across the U.S., pointing instead to international travelers, mainstream media and President Joe Biden as causes.
An Axios/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found that among the unvaccinated, 37% blame people traveling to the U.S. from other countries, 27% blame mainstream media, 23% blame Americans traveling to other countries, 21% blame Biden and 10% blame the unvaccinated.
Meanwhile, among vaccinated respondents, 79% blame the unvaccinated, 36% blame former President Donald Trump, 33% blame conservative media, 30% blame people traveling to the U.S. and 25% blame Americans traveling outside the country.
The survey was conducted July 30-Aug. 2 based on a sample of 999 adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.0-3.4 percentage points.
“It’s purely political at its core,” said Cliff Young, president of Ipsos U.S. Public Affairs. “To the unvaccinated, it just reinforces an already existing false belief system.”
“We’re dealing with a serious misinformation wall at this point that’s clouding facts” for a recalcitrant group, Young said.
—Miami Herald
Legislators from across US join Texans in DC for voting rights push
WASHINGTON — More than 100 legislators from 30 states converged on the District of Columbia Tuesday, pressuring the Biden administration to pass national voting rights protections and bolstering the Texas Democrats’ monthlong mission to thwart election bills in Austin.
The Texas legislators are having to consider the possibility that Gov. Greg Abbott will immediately issue the call for another special session after the current one ends by midnight Friday, as he said he will do.
Members have not explicitly stated whether they plan on staying in Washington for the next special session.
According to the Quorum Report, a political newsletter, two members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus have left Washington for vacation in Europe. The website did not identify the members. Caucus officials said they were “unable to confirm” whether the two members left.
A rally outside Capitol grounds Tuesday drew about 100 attendees, featuring legislators from states including Arizona, Georgia and Florida.
The crowd drew a high-profile cast of speakers — many of them Democratic senators whom Texas Democrats have already met with. Many, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, roundly praised the Texans.
“Our freedom fighters that are here seeking salvation — the Texas legislators — thank you for the declaration for American democracy,” Klobuchar said.
—The Dallas Morning News
California woman contracts typhus after disposing of dead rat
LOS ANGELES — A California woman said she contracted typhus after she disposed of a dead rat found in her backyard. She later found out her neighbor had also contracted the virus.
Margaret Holzmann of Monrovia initially thought she had COVID-19 when she began to feel ill. But after a negative test, and a relentless headache and fever that lingered for weeks, she went back to her doctor looking for answers.
“He asked me the relevant question which is, ‘Have you had any contact with wild animals?’” Holzmann told KTLA-TV Channel 5. “I thought, ‘No, not really,’ and then I thought, ‘Oh, wait. There was that rat!’”
Weeks earlier, Holzmann disposed of a dead rat found in her yard that was apparently infested with fleas carrying typhus, a bacterial disease often carried by fleas and ticks that causes fever, headaches and rashes within a couple of weeks of exposure.
Holzmann shared her story and diagnosis on the NextDoor app, and as it turns out, she wasn’t alone — other neighbors in her area had also contracted typhus.
“Two blocks over, (a neighbor) says her grandfather got it around the same time I did and [it was] also, same thing: disposing of a dead rat on their property,” Holzmann said.
It’s unclear how many others in Holzmann’s neighborhood have contracted the disease or how it has spread.
—Los Angeles Times
R. Kelly's lawyer concedes, then backtracks, on ‘sexual contact’ with wife
NEW YORK — A lawyer for R. Kelly conceded Tuesday that the singer had “sexual contact” with recording artist Aaliyah during an awkward exchange over the R&B stars’ illegal marriage when she was just 15.
But Kelly defense lawyer Thomas Farinella quickly walked back the surprising admission about Kelly and the underage “Are You That Somebody” singer.
One of the allegations against Kelly in his Brooklyn Federal Court criminal case is that he bribed an Illinois official to issue a wedding certificate in 1994 stating that Aaliyah was 18 — which if true would have made the marriage legal.
Farinella made the admission under questioning from Judge Ann Donnelly.
“Are you going to deny that there was sexual contact with Jane Doe 1?” Donnelly asked, using the pseudonym that Aaliyah goes by in the criminal case. “They were married.”
Farinella let out a deep sigh sitting at the defense table next to Kelly and responded, “No.”
Federal prosecutor Elizabeth Geddes then chimed in, giving Farinella an opening to walk back his remark by reminding him that Aaliyah was underage at the time.
Aaliyah — born Aaliyah Haughton — was a performing artist and actress who had a mysterious friendship with Kelly for years before the two were secretly married in 1994, when she was 15 years old, and he was 27.
Aaliyah died in an August 2001 plane crash in the Bahamas.
Kelly, 54, is accused of running an enterprise that trafficked women and girls across state lines.
—New York Daily News
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