1.) CBS NEWS: Fauci takes the Fifth 111 times as Rand Paul prepares a contempt vote
Questions center on U.S.-funded research and Fauci’s categorical 2021 testimony—not evidence that he created COVID.
Documented points of dispute:
- NIH funded an EcoHealth Alliance subaward for bat-coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. A 2023 HHS inspector-general audit found that NIH and EcoHealth missed opportunities to monitor the work, including a progress report submitted nearly two years late and an experiment that NIH said crossed a viral-growth reporting threshold.
- In 2021, Fauci told Congress categorically that NIH had not funded “gain-of-function” research in Wuhan. NIH officials later acknowledged that the work fit the term’s broad scientific meaning; Fauci says he was using the narrower federal definition for especially risky research. That distinction is real, but his categorical answer obscured it.
- Fauci’s diaries show that he and other scientists considered a laboratory origin early in 2020 before he publicly leaned toward natural spillover. That makes scrutiny of how the public case was presented legitimate; the entries alone do not prove a cover-up.
[TS] This has been a recurring theme and a difficult test question for Republicans, but Trump was, in fact, the president in 2020.
Fauci was the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), plus a presidential adviser. NIAID is not an independent agency. Trump possessed the authority to dismiss Fauci all on his own and at any time. Instead of dismissing him, Trump called Fauci a “disaster” and an “idiot” late in the 2020 campaign. And what did he do on his last full day in office? Awarded Fauci a presidential commendation.
All of the fury at the hearing yesterday around social distancing, masks, school closures, and any other COVID policies happened under Trump in 2020 (which continued under Biden). And yet, no Republican will dare claim or mention this or that the ultimate responsibility rested with Trump.
Red take
The strongest case against Fauci is about candor and oversight, not conspiracy. U.S. money reached risky coronavirus work in Wuhan, NIH and EcoHealth failed to monitor it properly, and Fauci answered a broad public question with a narrow regulatory definition. His diaries also show more private uncertainty about a lab origin than his public messaging conveyed. Congress is entitled to determine whether he gave the public and lawmakers a complete account.
Blue take
Oversight is warranted, but Paul keeps collapsing three different claims into one: NIH funded coronavirus research; COVID may have leaked from a lab; therefore Fauci funded or covered up the creation of COVID. The first is true, the second remains unresolved, and the third is unsupported. After years of public threats to prosecute him, taking the Fifth is a rational legal response—not evidence that the conspiracy theory is true.
2.) NYT: Trump unveils proposed $22.5 billion Dulles overhaul to replace its infamous people movers
Officials say the redesign would add new terminals, an underground connection system and a United lounge while making the airport easier to navigate. The announcement did not provide a construction timeline, identify a funding source or clarify the project’s approval status.
_QUICK BITES_
GAO: DOE isn’t systematically using foreign nuclear-cleanup lessons
Britain says it saved at least £2 billion ($2.6 billion) by using risk to decide which low-radioactivity waste actually required repository disposal; Canada expects to finish one priority site nearly 30 years early; and Britain and France use replica test facilities to troubleshoot and train before touching live sites. GAO says DOE shares too few such lessons across its 15 U.S. cleanup sites—even though DOE estimates the remaining mission could cost $641 billion to $840 billion and last until 2100.
TAX FOUNDATION: Tax Foundation models the tradeoffs in 86 tax reforms
The guide puts a price and modeled economic effect on 86 federal tax changes relative to current law. One example: it estimates cutting the top income-tax rate from 37% to 35% would add $625.3 billion to the 2027–36 primary deficit while raising long-run GDP 0.2%; raising it to 50% would reduce the deficit by $1.60 trillion before economic feedback, but by only $411.2 billion after the model accounts for weaker growth, with long-run GDP down 1.4%.
LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY: Two terawatts of proposed power are waiting for grid connections
U.S. interconnection queues held 2,061 gigawatts of proposed generation and storage at the end of 2025—down 10% from 2024 but still more than twice the country’s existing generating capacity. Solar, storage and wind made up 1,742 gigawatts; the median wait from application to operation exceeded five years. Queue entry is not a construction guarantee: only 13% of capacity requested from 2000–2020 was operating by the end of 2025.
Currently showing What is waiting to connectWhat is waiting to connect2 viewsTHE ARGUMENT: Americans call billionaires elite
In a July 20–26 national poll, 77.1% of registered voters called billionaires elite—versus 60.1% for celebrities, 47.9% for business executives, 42.9% for elected officials, 12.2% for government employees, 11.7% for college professors and 9.4% for journalists. The Argument designed and weighted the 3,000-voter online survey; Verasight recruited respondents by text, online targeting and address-based sampling. Full margin of error: ±2.0 points.
See the poll chart
Share of registered voters who classify each group as elite
The chart compares the full set of groups tested. The percentages are shares of registered voters who selected each group; respondents could select more than one.
JESSICA RIEDL: Mortgage payments consumed more income in 1979–80 than in 2024
For a median new home with 20% down, Riedl calculates principal and interest consumed 31.1% of median household income in 2024—below 35.4% in 1979, 40.9% in 1980 and 34.8% in 1990.
Mortgage principal and interest as a share of median household income
ST. LOUIS FED / GALLUP: AI use is spreading at home and at work
Weekly generative-AI use outside work among U.S. adults ages 18–64 rose from 28.7% in Q3 2024 to 44.6% in Q1 2026. Separately, Gallup found 52% of employees use AI at work at least occasionally, but only 30% use it several times a week and 15% daily; 47% say their organization has integrated AI tools, up six points in one quarter. These are different surveys, populations and usage thresholds, so the home and workplace percentages should not be compared directly.
Currently showing AI use outside workAI use outside work2 viewsAXIOS: Senate goes on record against pardoning Ghislaine Maxwell
The Senate unanimously passed a nonbinding resolution opposing any pardon or clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell.
NYT POLITICS: Trump asks Supreme Court to overturn Carroll’s $83.3 million award
Trump asked the Supreme Court to erase E. Jean Carroll’s $83.3 million defamation award, arguing presidential immunity shields his statements.
AXIOS: Musk revives America PAC for the midterms
Musk is reviving America PAC for a 2026 GOP turnout push; he has not disclosed the budget, but the PAC spent more than $260 million in 2024.
NOT NEWS NEWS
3.) OUR WORLD IN DATA: Africa is projected to drive the next wave of megacity growth
Luanda could overtake São Paulo around 2045 and Shanghai late in the century.
4.) THE TELEGRAPH: Cambridge professor Jason Arday faces plagiarism claims involving more than 100 thesis passages
The Telegraph found identical or near-identical passages from a 2009 dissertation; Cambridge and Liverpool John Moores say he was cleared.
The documented allegations go beyond one thesis:
- Nathan Cofnas published side-by-side comparisons of 36 thesis passages. Separately, Purdue biochemist David Sanders reviewed a 63-page dossier prepared for Times Higher Education and told Retraction Watch he found “extensive plagiarism.”
- A 2023 correction to Arday’s 2018 paper changed or removed 18 of 31 interview quotations and deleted claims about NVivo coding and an independent review of transcripts. Retraction Watch found that some original quotations resembled language attributed to participants in another published study.
- Cambridge says Arday was cleared of allegations involving his thesis and journal articles. Liverpool John Moores, which awarded the doctorate, also says its investigation found no plagiarism. Neither university has publicly released a detailed comparison explaining those conclusions.
Arday’s widely publicized biography is separate from the plagiarism evidence. Arday and public profiles have said he:
- did not speak until age 11 and could not read or write until 18;
- was a youth player at a professional football club and was on the verge of turning professional in snooker;
- completed 30 marathons in 35 days, then 300 miles on a treadmill in three days;
- worked with more than 70 charities and raised more than £5 million, according to a 2024 profile.
Those claims should be read as biographical claims, not as facts disproved by the text comparisons. The marathon challenge had a contemporaneous fundraising page and press coverage; the other claims have largely been repeated from profiles and Arday’s own accounts.
See three side-by-side text comparisons
These are three comparisons published by Nathan Cofnas, placing passages from Arday’s 2015 thesis beside passages from Paula Zwozdiak-Myers’s 2009 dissertation.
Side-by-side comparison of Arday and Zwozdiak-Myers passages
Second side-by-side comparison of Arday and Zwozdiak-Myers passages
Third side-by-side comparison of Arday and Zwozdiak-Myers passages