Dear Commons Community,

COVID cases are on the rise this summer as the COVID-19 FLiRT variants spread.

According to the most recent estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on August 3rd, 27.8% of cases are the KP.3.1.1 strain and 20.1% of current infections are KP.3. Both of these variants stem from the FLiRT family of the coronavirus. Another variant that is not a descendant of FLiRT, named LB.1, makes up an estimated 16% of COVID-19 cases at the moment.  As reported by Good Housekeeping and CBS News.

“The FLiRT variant appeared in March,” says Tammy Lundstrom, M.D., J.D., the senior vice president at Trinity Health who led their COVID-19 response. “Throughout the COVID-19 era, new strains have continued to arise. Like other strains, it appears highly transmissible, but it does not appear more virulent at this point.”

While it’s great that COVID-19 cases don’t seem to be as dangerous as they used to be, it still causes unpleasant symptoms which can be severe for people with certain risk factors. Unfortunately, just 22.5% of American adults had received the most recent COVID-19 vaccine as of May 11, 2024 (when the latest data was released). Could this be contributing to the summer surge we’re experiencing? We turned to experts to learn more about the newest variants, important COVID-19 symptoms to be aware of and how to protect yourself and your loved ones.

What are the FLiRT and LB.1 variants?

As fun as the name sounds, FLiRT is not the official designation for the dominant COVID-19 variant. That is actually a cheeky nickname for a whole family of different variants (any that start with KP). “The FLiRT variants came to the forefront at the end of April,” says Nikhil K. Bhayani, M.D., FIDSA, an infectious disease specialist and assistant professor at the Burnett School of Medicine at Texas Christian University.

KP.2, KP.2.3, KP.3 and KP.3.1.1 are official names of the FLiRT variants that are circulating right now. While FLiRT took over JN.1 as the dominant variant, it’s actually a descendant of JN.1. Essentially, the “parent” variant (JN.1) was unseated by several “child” variants. Various variations of JN.1 are still swirling in some capacity, but they make up a smaller percentage of COVID-19 cases. LB.1, another variant that has been circulating this summer, is not a member of the FLiRT family, but another descendant of JN.1.

Is there a summer surge?

Yes, the wastewater viral activity for COVID-19 — how the CDC tracks trends in infectious disease circulating in a community — is currently listed as “very high,” according to the most recent CDC data. However, a summer surge is not unique to FLiRT.

“Throughout the COVID-19 era, we have seen a rise in infections during summer,” says Dr. Lundstrom. Two reasons for this, according to the CDC, are that people tend to do more traveling during the summer and also congregate indoors with air conditioners on when it’s very hot outside.

What are the symptoms?

The good news is that the FLiRT and LB.1 strains of the coronavirus don’t seem to spark any surprise symptoms. “The symptoms are similar to other COVID-19 strains,” says Dr. Lundstrom. The CDC updated its list of possible symptoms on June 25th, and those include:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• New loss of taste or smell
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

“Like similar recent strains, the incidence of loss of taste and smell are not prominent,” adds Lundstrom.

How long do symptoms last?

It really depends on the person. Typically, people with mild cases will experience symptoms for 5-10 days, however, many may start to feel better sooner than that. According to the CDC, most people with long COVID will start to feel better after three months, although it can last years. It’s best to speak to your doctor if any of your symptoms are lingering.

Is there a new vaccine?

Our experts said that vaccines still provide good protection against COVID-19, “especially against severe illness and hospitalization,” says Dr. Lundstrom. However, a study published in April found that KP.2 is proving to have “the most significant resistance” to the 2023-24 COVID-19 booster, and that this “increased immune resistance ability of KP.2 partially contributes to the higher” prevalence of infections “than previous variants, including JN.1.”

At the end of June, the CDC recommended that everyone ages 6 months and older receive the updated 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccine, which was tweaked based on the most dominant variants circulating this year. The most updated COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be rolled out this fall. “The World Health Organization is recommending the upcoming COVID booster to be based on the predominant lineage for the year,” adds Dr. Bhayani.

However, the CDC and our experts still recommend the current vaccine to protect yourself before the 2024-25 booster is made available in the fall. “Adults over the age of 65 should get the last COVID-19 vaccine available,” says Bhayani. Dr. Lundstrom suggests that older adults “should be vaccinated four months after their last vaccination” and those with compromised immune systems “should get vaccinated two months after their last dose.”

How to protect yourself

In March, the CDC updated the Respiratory Virus Guidance as COVID-19 cases have decreased over time. “It is still an important health threat, but it is no longer the emergency that it once was, and its health impacts increasingly resemble those of other respiratory viral illnesses, including flu and RSV,” the new guidance states.

“The same precautions will help protect against the spread of most respiratory viruses: wash hands frequently, cover your mouth and nose when sneezing/coughing, stay up to date with vaccinations and stay home when ill to prevent spreading infection to others,” suggests Dr. Lundstrom. However, Dr. Bhayani reminds us that the elderly, individuals with compromised immune systems and kids “should take extra precautions, such as avoiding large crowds and wear masks if COVID-19 cases are on the rise locally.”

If you do get sick, the CDC still recommends staying at home until your symptoms are improving overall, and you have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication). Afterward, you can resume normal activities and “use added prevention strategies over the next five days.”

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Conservative attorney George Conway is trolling Donald Trump both where he lives and where he plays by placing billboards near the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home and outside two of his favorite golf courses.

The billboards (above) remind passersby that Trump cheats ― and not just at golf.  As reported by The Huffington Post.

“Donald Trump’s reputation as a cheater and liar extends beyond the golf course into every aspect of his life,” Conway said in a news release.

The PAC said the 13 billboards have been “strategically placed” around Trump’s Bedminster golf course in New Jersey, his Doral golf course in Florida, and his Mar-a-Lago home to ensure that Trump himself sees them:

Numerous Trump golf partners have said the former president cheats, especially when playing on courses he owns.

Sportswriter Rick Reilly, who has golfed with Trump, said earlier this year that the former president cheats “like a mafia accountant.”

Reilly wrote an entire book on how Trump cheats at golf.

The Anti-Psychopath PAC said it’s hoping the billboards push Trump’s buttons.

“This campaign is designed to provoke Trump into another bout of unhinged behavior, further demonstrating his unfitness for office,” the organization said in a news release.

The billboards outside the golf courses will be up through Aug. 25, while the one near Mar-a-Lago will be up through November as part of a six-figure ad campaign.

Fore!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

An exasperated Nikki Haley urged former President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans to abandon their attacks against Kamala Harris and instead focus on her policy positions, saying Americans are too smart to buy into “things that don’t matter.”

“I want this campaign to win, but the campaign is not gonna win talking about crowd sizes,” she told Fox News Bret Baier last night. “It’s not going to win talking about what race Kamala Harris is. It’s not going to win talking about whether she’s dumb.”

Haley, who served as the ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, has had a rocky relationship with the former president since she ended her own challenge for the Republican nomination. But she endorsed him last month at the Republican National Convention, saying that while she hadn’t agreed with him “100 percent of the time,” he knew what was best for the nation.

Her comments come as the Trump campaign is increasingly frustrated with the rise of Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The pair have surged in the polls amid a wave of excitement, overcrowding arenas and bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars in donations.

Haley admitted that Harris was flying high with undecided voters attracted to her vision, something Trump has so far failed to achieve.

“What they like about Kamala is that she’s being hopeful, she’s talking about freedom, she’s talking about a way forward,” she said. “They don’t want a former president talking about the past.”

Trump has claimed, falsely, that some crowds at Harris’ rallies were generated by artificial intelligence, calling her a “cheater.” He also sparked fierce condemnation after alluding to a room of Black journalists that the vice president “happened to turn Black” to score political points.

Haley said those lines of attack would only alienate the voters Republicans needed to beat Biden in November.

“Republicans should not be surprised that we are now running against Kamala Harris, it was her all the time,” Haley said.

“We need him to win, but you’ve gotta go out and do the work, and the one thing that Republicans have to stop: Quit whining about her,” she said. “More than anything, this is not an election for just the MAGA vote. Trust me, Donald Trump has that.”

“Republicans need to be fighting for suburban women, for college educated, for independents, for moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats.”

She added that the GOP has long known that Harris would rise to replace Biden if the president ended his own reelection campaign and it was time to stop “complaining” that she was the Democratic nominee.

“Republicans should not be surprised that we are now running against Kamala Harris,” Haley said. “It was her all the time.”

I saw the interview last night and I could not help but thinking that the presidential election should be between Harris and Haley.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The United Auto Workers Union said yesterday it has filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk over attempts to threaten and intimidate workers.

The action came after Musk and Trump held a two-hour conversation on social media platform X on Monday night, during which the two discussed workers walking off the job to go on strike.

“You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump said during the conversation. “I mean, I look at what you do. You walk in, you just say: ‘You want to quit?’ They go on strike – I won’t mention the name of the company – but they go on strike. And you say: ‘That’s okay, you’re all gone.'”

Under federal law, workers cannot be fired for going on strike, and threatening to do so is illegal under the National Labor Relations Act, the UAW said in a statement.

The UAW has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for U.S. president. She met with union officials and workers last week near Detroit.  As reported by Reuters.

“Both Trump and Musk want working class people to sit down and shut up, and they laugh about it openly. It’s disgusting, illegal, and totally predictable from these two clowns,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement on Tuesday.

The NLRB has limited power to punish unlawful labor practices. In cases involving illegal threats, the board can order employers to cease and desist from such conduct and to post notices in the workplace informing workers of their rights. Unions can also use favorable rulings from the NLRB to engage workers they are trying to organize.

Fain filed separate complaints against Musk and Trump with the NLRB, claiming both men had made statements suggesting they “would fire employees engaged in protected concerted activity, including striking.” The complaints did not provide further detail.

The Harris and Trump campaigns did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Musk also did not respond to a request for comment.

The UAW led a six-week strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers last autumn, in which workers at Ford Motor, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis walked picket lines across the country.

The union won record contracts, which included a 25% general wage increase over the life of the agreement, along with cost-of-living adjustments. The wins equated to substantial labor expenses for the Detroit carmakers, auto executives said, an added challenge as they race to slim costs to stay competitive with Tesla.

Musk, who has endorsed Trump for president, has had numerous run-ins with the labor board. His rocket company SpaceX is currently challenging the entire structure of the agency in a pair of pending lawsuits. Those cases stemmed from NLRB complaints accusing SpaceX of firing engineers who were critical of Musk and forcing employees to sign severance agreements with unlawful terms.

In March, a U.S. appeals court upheld an NLRB decision that said Musk illegally threatened Tesla employees by tweeting in 2018: “Nothing stopping Tesla team at our car plant from voting union … But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?”

The electric vehicle maker is separately facing allegations from the board that it illegally discouraged unionizing at a Buffalo, New York, assembly plant. Last year, an appeals court threw out a labor board decision that said Tesla broke the law by barring factory workers from wearing UAW T-shirts.

Trump and Musk are two of a kind.  Billionaires who have no regard for the working men and women of our country!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

I did not even consider tuning into this event.  Here are five takeaways courtesy of  The Huffington Post.

Tony

————————————————

Former President Donald Trump went on a two-hour tear of lies, exaggerations and fearmongering in a conversation yesterday with billionaire Elon Musk on the X social media platform.

The chat between the two men, one the Republican nominee for president and the other the world’s richest man, is Trump’s latest effort to appeal to voters as Vice President Kamala Harris has continued to gain ground in the early days of her Democratic presidential bid. Musk, who has endorsed Trump, said the event was meant to let people “get a feel” for what the former president is like when he’s having a casual conversation.

“It’s hard to catch a vibe when people don’t talk in a normal way,” Musk said.

Here are five notable moments from their conversation.

Trump repeated his lies about a migrant crisis on the southern border.

The former president shared familiar attacks against migrants who cross the U.S. border with Mexico, describing many of them as “rapists,” “murderers” and “criminals” while claiming countries such as Venezuela were emptying their jails to ship people to the United States.

There is no evidence to support those claims. In fact, recent research shows that immigrants are much less likely to be incarcerated than people who were born in the U.S. Other studies show that undocumented migration does not increase violent crime.

Trump also attempted to link the surge in migration to Harris, echoing Republican claims that she was the Biden administration’s “border czar.” She was tasked with investigating the root causes of the immigration wave, but claims about an all-encompassing role are exaggerations.

Trump bragged about his relationships with Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

At one point, Musk congratulated Trump for his “epic tweets” during his administration, including when the former president called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “rocket man.”

“I know Putin, I know President Xi, I know Kim Jong Un of North Korea. I know every one of them,” Trump said. “I’m not saying anything good or bad. They’re at the top of their game. They’re tough, they’re smart, they’re vicious, and they’re going to protect their country. Whether they love their country, they probably do. It’s just a different form of love, but they’re going to protect their country.”

Trump was the first president to meet with Kim, a decision critics said lended legitimacy to Kim’s authoritarian regime on an international stage.

Musk said critics shouldn’t ‘vilify’ the oil and gas industry.

Musk, whose mammoth fortune is largely tied to his electric vehicle company, said the world should “lean in the direction of sustainability” but not vilify fossil fuels because they’re needed to keep the world moving.

“I’m pro-environment, but I’m not against, I don’t think we should vilify the oil and gas industry,” Musk said.

Trump, for his part, made fun of those concerned about climate change and touted his efforts to open up a critical wildlife refuge in Alaska to oil and gas exploration during his administration. (President Joe Biden rolled back those plans.)

Trump is still obsessed with crowd sizes.

Trump repeatedly mentioned the sizes of his various audiences throughout the conversation. At one point he claimed that “60 million” people were listening to the livestream on Monday night, even though the count on X indicated 1.3 million listeners at its peak.

He also described the July 13 assassination attempt at a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, saying he had a “massive crowd” there. The size of the event, he said, made him worry how many people could have been killed. A bystander was fatally shot.

Trump sounded odd for a large portion of the call.

The former president sounded like he was slurring his words for a large portion of the conversation, although it’s unclear if the audio was to blame. Video of Trump speaking that was shared by an X employee appeared to show similar issues.

Dear Commons Community,

A judge ruled yesterday that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely claimed a New York residence on nominating petitions, invalidating the documents he needs to appear on the ballot in the state.

The ruling from Justice Christina Ryba after a short trial in state court is expected to be appealed. If upheld, it could open the door to challenges in other states where Kennedy used the address in New York City’s northern suburbs to gather signatures.

The lawsuit backed by a Democrat-aligned political action committee claims Kennedy’s state nominating petition falsely listed a residence in well-to-do Katonah, while he actually has lived in the Los Angeles area since 2014, when he married “Curb Your Enthusiasm” actor Cheryl Hines.

Kennedy argued during the trial that he has lifelong ties to New York and intends to move back.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The Associated Press analyzes the state of American higher education this morning focusing on the dire situation that many colleges are facing in a period of declining enrollment and fiscal austerity. It is a painful story that is playing itself out in one college after another. There is also little sunshine for many small colleges both private and public that are heavily invested in undergraduate programs and are tuition-driven.

Below is the entire article.

Tony

——————————————–

The Associated Press

“US colleges are cutting majors and slashing programs after years of putting it off”

By  Heather Hollingsworth

Updated 12:01 AM EDT, August 11, 2024

Christina Westman dreamed of working with Parkinson’s disease and stroke patients as a music therapist when she started studying at St. Cloud State University.

But her schooling was upended in May when administrators at the Minnesota college announced a plan to eliminate its music department as it slashes 42 degree programs and 50 minors.

It’s part of a wave of program cuts in recent months, as U.S. colleges large and small try to make ends meet. Among their budget challenges: Federal COVID relief money is now gone, operational costs are rising and fewer high school graduates are going straight to college.

The cuts mean more than just savings, or even job losses. Often, they create turmoil for students who chose a campus because of certain degree programs and then wrote checks or signed up for student loans.

“For me, it’s really been anxiety-ridden,” said Westman, 23, as she began the effort that ultimately led her to transfer to Augsburg University in Minneapolis. “It’s just the fear of the unknown.”

At St. Cloud State, most students will be able to finish their degrees before cuts kick in, but Westman’s music therapy major was a new one that hadn’t officially started. She has spent the past three months in a mad dash to find work in a new city and sublet her apartment in St. Cloud after she had already signed a lease. She was moving into her new apartment Friday.

For years, many colleges held off making cuts, said Larry Lee, who was acting president of St. Cloud State but left last month to lead Blackburn College in Illinois.

College enrollment declined during the pandemic, but officials hoped the figures would recover to pre-COVID levels and had used federal relief money to prop up their budgets in the meantime, he said.

“They were holding on, holding on,” Lee said, noting colleges must now face their new reality.

Higher education made up some ground last fall and in the spring semester, largely as community college enrollment began to rebound, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center data showed.

But the trend for four-year colleges remains worrisome. Even without growing concerns about the cost of college and the long-term burden of student debt, the pool of young adults is shrinking.

Birth rates fell during the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 and never recovered. Now those smaller classes are preparing to graduate and head off to college.

“It’s very difficult math to overcome,” said Patrick Lane, vice president at the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, a leading authority on student demographics.

Complicating the situation: the federal government’s chaotic overhaul of its financial aid application. Millions of students entered summer break still wondering where they were going to college this fall and how they would pay for it. With jobs still plentiful, although not as much as last year, some experts fear students won’t bother to enroll at all.

“This year going into next fall, it’s going to be bad,” said Katharine Meyer, a fellow in the Governance Studies program for the Brown Center on Education Policy at the nonprofit Brookings Institution. “I think a lot of colleges are really concerned they’re not going to make their enrollment targets.”

Many colleges like St. Cloud State already had started plowing through their budget reserves. The university’s enrollment rose to around 18,300 students in fall 2020 before steadily falling to about 10,000 students in fall 2023.

St. Cloud State’s student population has now stabilized, Lee said, but spending was far too high for the reduced number of students. The college’s budget shortfall totaled $32 million over the past two years, forcing the sweeping cuts.

Some colleges have taken more extreme steps, closing their doors. That happened at the 1,000-student Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama, the 900-student Fontbonne University in Missouri, the 350-student Wells College in New York and the 220-student Goddard College in Vermont.

Cuts, however, appear to be more commonplace. Two of North Carolina’s public universities got the green light last month to eliminate more than a dozen degree programs ranging from ancient Mediterranean studies to physics.

Arkansas State University announced last fall it was phasing out nine programs. Three of the 64 colleges in the State University of New York system have cut programs amid low enrollment and budget woes.

Other schools slashing and phasing out programs include West Virginia University, Drake University in Iowa, the University of Nebraska campus in Kearney, North Dakota State University and, on the other side of the state, Dickinson State University.

Experts say it’s just the beginning. Even schools that aren’t immediately making cuts are reviewing their degree offerings. At Pennsylvania State University, officials are looking for duplicative and under-enrolled academic programs as the number of students shrinks at its branch campuses.

Particularly affected are students in smaller programs and those in the humanities, which now graduate a smaller share of students than 15 years ago.

“It’s a humanitarian disaster for all of the faculty and staff involved, not to mention the students who want to pursue this stuff,” said Bryan Alexander, a Georgetown University senior scholar who has written on higher education. “It’s an open question to what extent colleges and universities can cut their way to sustainability.”

For Terry Vermillion, who just retired after 34 years as a music professor at St. Cloud State, the cuts are hard to watch. The nation’s music programs took a hit during the pandemic, he said, with Zoom band nothing short of “disastrous” for many public school programs.

“We were just unable to really effectively teach music online, so there’s a gap,” he said. “And, you know, we’re just starting to come out of that gap and we’re just starting to rebound a little bit. And then the cuts are coming.”

For St. Cloud State music majors such as Lilly Rhodes, the biggest fear is what will happen as the program is phased out. New students won’t be admitted to the department and her professors will look for new jobs.

“When you suspend the whole music department, it’s awfully difficult to keep ensembles alive,” she said. “There’s no musicians coming in, so when our seniors graduate, they go on, and our ensembles just keep getting smaller and smaller.

“It’s a little difficult to keep going if it’s like this,” she said.

Leah Abucayan/CNN

Dear Commons Community,

Maureen Dowd had a column yesterday entitled, “Trump, by the Numbers,” in which she reviews Trump’s obsession with winning, crowds, and numbers.  She also segues into his problems dealing with Kamala Harris as an opponent in the presidential race and comments:

“He is clearly befuddled by someone with brown skin who has come not to hurt Americans, but to save them from Donald Trump; someone who is not scary, as he is, but joyful, not threatening but thrilling.

And, in Trump’s worst nightmare, this dark-skinned someone is attracting huge adoring, dancing, laughing crowds.”

YES!

Her entire column is below.

Tony

————————————————————————-

The New York Times

“Trump, by the Numbers”

By Maureen Dowd

Aug. 10, 2024

Dear Commons Community,

Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said yesterday that it has been hacked and suggested Iranian actors were involved in stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents.

The campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran’s involvement, but the claim comes a day after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents’ attempts to interfere in the U.S. campaign in 2024.  As reported by The Associated Press.

It cited an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending “a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.”

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung blamed the hack on “foreign sources hostile to the United States.” A spokesperson for the National Security Council said in a statement that it takes any report of improper foreign interference “extremely seriously” and condemns any government or entity that attempts to undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions, but said it deferred to the Justice Department on this matter.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations, when asked about the claim of the Trump campaign, denied being involved. “We do not accord any credence to such reports,” the mission told The Associated Press. “The Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”

However, Iran long has been suspected of running hacking campaigns targeting its enemies in the Middle East and beyond. Tehran also long has threatened to retaliate against Trump over the 2020 drone strike he ordered that killed prominent Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

The U.S. Justice Department this past week unsealed criminal charges against a Pakistani national with ties to Iran alleged to have plotted assassination attempts against political figures in the United States, including potentially Trump, and to have sought to hire purported hitmen who were actually undercover law enforcement officials. Court documents in that case pointedly noted a desire by Iran to conduct operations against perceived enemies of the regime and to avenge the killing of Soleimani.

Politico first reported Saturday on the hack. The outlet reported that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source — an AOL email account identified only as “Robert” — passed along what appeared to be a research dossier the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The document was dated Feb. 23, almost five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.

“These documents were obtained illegally” and “intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process,” Cheung said.

He pointed to the Microsoft report issued Friday and its conclusions that “Iranian hackers broke into the account of a ‘high ranking official’ on the U.S. presidential campaign in June 2024, which coincides with the close timing of President Trump’s selection of a vice presidential nominee.”

“The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House,” Cheung said, adding a warning that “any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.”

Cheung did not immediately respond to questions about the campaign’s interactions with Microsoft on the matter. Microsoft said Saturday it had no comment beyond its blog post and Friday report.

In that report, Microsoft stated that “foreign malign influence concerning the 2024 US election started off slowly but has steadily picked up pace over the last six months due initially to Russian operations, but more recently from Iranian activity.”

The analysis continued: “Iranian cyber-enabled influence operations have been a consistent feature of at least the last three U.S. election cycles. Iran’s operations have been notable and distinguishable from Russian campaigns for appearing later in the election season and employing cyberattacks more geared toward election conduct than swaying voters.”

“Recent activity suggests the Iranian regime — along with the Kremlin — may be equally engaged in election 2024,” Microsoft concluded.

Specifically, the report detailed that in June 2024, an Iranian military intelligence unit, Mint Sandstorm, sent a phishing email to an American presidential campaign via the compromised account of a former adviser.

“The phishing email contained a fake forward with a hyperlink that directs traffic through an actor-controlled domain before redirecting to the listed domain,” the report states.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

David Dempsey, a Donald Trump supporter who stood in front of a gallows and spoke of his desire to hang Democratic politicians before he assaulted numerous police officers during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison on Friday.

It’s the second-longest sentence handed out in a Jan. 6 case to date.

Prosecutors had sought more than 21 years (262 months) for David Dempsey, saying he “viciously” assaulted law enforcement officers at the lower west tunnel of the Capitol, where some of the worst violence took place that day.

According to prosecutors, Dempsey climbed over fellow rioters “like human scaffolding” and used “his hands, feet, flag poles, crutches, pepper spray, broken pieces of furniture, and anything else he could get his hands on” as weapons against police officers. As reported by NBC News.

“Dempsey was one of the most violent rioters, during one of the most violent stretches of time, at the scene of the most violent confrontations at the Capitol on January 6, 2021,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo.

The 20-year sentence was imposed by Senior U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee who has spoken out about the “preposterous” rhetoric some Republicans have used as they attempt to “rewrite history” about the Jan. 6 attack. Lamberth has warned that “such meritless justifications of criminal activity” from politicians “could presage further danger to our country.”

Echoing his language about the “distortions and outright falsehoods” that Republican politicians have promoted about Jan. 6, Lamberth said he was concerned that Dempsey had “minimized” his conduct that day and tried to come up with non-factual justifications for his behavior. Lamberth called Dempsey’s behavior “exceptionally egregious” and said Dempsey was “dressed for battle” when he joined the mob trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power after President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

“You failed, fortunately, for our country,” Lamberth said.

He added that Jan. 6 could have been even worse — “a bloodbath” — had rioters succeeded in their goal of getting to members of Congress who were certifying the presidential election results.

Witnesses in court said that Dempsey, while being led out of court, appeared to flash an “okay” gesture with his fingers that has in recent years become a symbol of white supremacy and far-right causes.

Dempsey assaulted numerous officers on Jan. 6 but pleaded guilty specifically in connection with attacks on Washington Police Detective Phuson Nguyen, whom he hit with “a torrent of pepper spray” just after another rioter compromised Nguyen’s mask, and Washington Police Sgt. Jason Mastony, who was hit so hard with a metal crutch that he collapsed in a daze and was left with a gash in his head, prosecutors wrote.

“Though Dempsey has pled guilty only for his assaults on Detective Nguyen and Sergeant Mastony, his violent assault on other officers defending the Capitol was relentless: swinging pole-like weapons more than 20 times, spraying chemical agents at least three times, hurling objects at officers at least ten times, stomping on the heads of police officers as he perched above them five times, attempting to steal a riot shield and baton, and incessantly hurling threats and insults at police while rallying other rioters to join his onslaught,” prosecutors wrote.

Before he assaulted officers, Dempsey stood in front of a gallows that had been set up near the Capitol, which included a sign that said, “this is art.” Dempsey, known to online sleuths as #FlagGaiterCopHater because of his American flag face covering and his assaults on officers, indicated he thought the gallows should be used to hang politicians he dubbed “worthless cretins” in video cited by prosecutors.

“String all these f—in’ worthless bastards up from the top of those,” he said in the video, pointing to the gallows, “these treelines, the rafters, the rooftops, the statues, I don’t care where they go. String ’em up and string ’em up high. And let everybody know this is what happens when you are a treasonous piece of s— who doesn’t belong in this f—in’ country and has this f—in’ country’s worst objective at heart.”

Dempsey was arrested in connection with the Capitol attack in August 2021 and had previously been charged in 2019 with dousing demonstrators in California with bear spray while he wore a “Make America Great Again” hat; he pleaded no contest in that case. He pleaded guilty in his Capitol attack case on Jan. 4.

Dempsey, who prosecutors say is a former construction worker and fast-food employee with a “very significant history of arrests and convictions,” was identified with the help of online sleuths who have aided the FBI in hundreds of cases against Jan. 6 rioters. Federal prosecutors say that in addition to assaulting anti-Trump protesters with bear spray in 2019, resulting in a two-year suspended sentence, he previously assaulted a counterprotester with a skateboard in a separate incident in 2019, used the same skateboard to assault another person at a political protest in 2020 and hit a person with a metal bat during another 2020 protest.

More than 1,400 people have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, and prosecutors have secured more than 1,000 convictions. Hundreds of defendants have received probationary sentences, but more than 560 defendants have been sentenced to periods of incarceration ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison.

Justice served!

Tony