Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 07-31-14, M, St. Ignatius Of Loyola, Priest

“Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), a first-term progressive Democrat, won her primary contest in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday, fending off a moderate challenger in a race that centered on her stance on the war in Gaza,” the New York Times reports. “The primary, in Pennsylvania’s 12th District, presented one of this year’s first down-ballot tests of whether left-wing incumbents would be hurt by their opposition to Israel’s military campaign.” NOTUS: Other progressives may use Summer Lee’s playbook.

The U. S. Senate overwhelmingly passed a $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, 79 to 18, sending it to President Biden’s desk, the New York Times reports. “The vote reflected resounding bipartisan support for the measure, which passed the House on Saturday by lopsided margins after a tortured journey on Capitol Hill, where it was nearly derailed by right-wing resistance.” “And it capped an extraordinary political saga that raised questions about whether the United States would continue to play a leading role in upholding the international order and projecting its values globally.”

“Donald Trump took his boast about overturning Roe v. Wade to a critical swing state Tuesday, even as he was stuck in court in New York City,” Los Angeles Magazine reports. Said Trump: “When you look at it and you look at what’s happening all over the country now, states are voting.

Reacting for the first time to Donald Trump’s vow to order the Justice Department to investigate his political opponents, FBI Director Christopher Wray said he would not allow his agents to conduct any investigation that doesn’t comply with “our rules, our procedures, our best practices, our core values,” NBC News reports.

Wisconsin U. S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde (R) missed a line in the Pledge of Allegiance at a recent appearance, skipping “one nation, under God” and going right to “indivisible,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

Politico: “If the opening week of Trump’s hush-money trial laid bare the courtroom’s constraints on Trump, no single 24-hour stretch demonstrated the extreme asymmetry of the unfolding campaign more than Tuesday. There was Biden making campaign stops with fawning supporters of abortion rights in Tampa, Florida, while Trump was sitting in a “freezing” Manhattan courtroom, with barely any supporters in sight.” Said Trump: “He’s out campaigning, and I’m here in the courtroom, sitting here, sitting up as straight as I can all day long.” He added: “It’s a very unfair situation.