In extraordinary move, Texas Democrats are planning to flee the state

[View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter]( July 12, 2021 There's some big news on the international front today. The United States' top general in Afghanistan stepped down this morning, bringing the war there to a symbolic end—and opening up the door for Taliban insurgents to potentially regain control of the country. A [Florida resident]( became one of roughly two dozen people arrested in last week's assassination of Haiti's president. The man was born in Haiti and identifies himself as a doctor. But it doesn't seem like anyone really has a solid understanding of [what's going on](. And in nearby Cuba, the streets have erupted with anti-government protests over an economic crisis and restrictions on individual liberties, with many protesters calling for Miguel Díaz-Canel to step down. President Biden expressed his support for the demonstrations, saying in a statement, "The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves." Oh, and Italy beat England in a soccer match. Got all that? —Abigail Weinberg Advertisement [House Donations Ad]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [Texas Democrats Will Flee State to Thwart GOP Voter Suppression Bill]( Lone Star lawmakers will reportedly head to DC to demand federal voting protections. BY INAE OH [Trending] [Fox News invites Trump on to whitewash the January 6 insurrection]( BY RUSS CHOMA [Fauci calls CPAC cheering of low vaccination numbers "horrifying"]( BY RUSS CHOMA [Under Trump, presidents got more power to fire agency heads. Biden just used it.]( BY DAN SPINELLI [With 130 degrees in Death Valley, the Western heat wave is one for the record books]( BY DAN SPINELLI Advertisement [House Subscriptions Ad]( [Health & Environment] [Special Feature]( [None of the Old Rules Still Apply When the Driest City in the US Faces a Catastrophic Drought]( "We live in a desert. We have to act like it." BY OLIVER MILMAN [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( [Recharge] SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE [Charlottesville Finally Removes Its Robert E. Lee Statue]( On Saturday morning, a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia, which sparked a deadly white supremacist rally in 2017, was finally removed. New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie [captured]( the moment on Twitter. City officials took action after an April [ruling]( by Virginia’s Supreme Court authorizing its removal, along with another monument honoring Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The decision is part of a fractious and [yearslong nationwide push]( to scrub Confederate monuments and honors from [military bases](, [schools](, and [public squares](. Nowhere was this conversation more resonant than in Charlottesville, where the City Council first [voted]( in February 2017 to remove the Lee statute. White supremacists mobilized in opposition to the move and in August of that year marched through Charlottesville chanting “[Blood and soil](!” and “[Jews will not replace us](!” The rally turned deadly after a white supremacist [plowed his car]( through a crowd of counterprotesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. Nearly 20 other people [were injured]( in the attack, which [landed]( driver James Alex Fields in prison for first-degree murder. (Separately, two Virginia state troopers [were killed]( in a helicopter crash while monitoring the rally.) The protests in Charlottesville marked a turning point in Donald Trump’s presidency [after he famously said]( there “were very fine people on both sides” of the demonstrations, equating white supremacists with the people there to oppose them. That moment quickly sparked outrage and led Trump’s supporters to attempt to [reframe his remarks]( and pretend the president was only defending peaceful, nonracist demonstrators even though the rally had been [plainly advertised]( as a gathering of neo-Nazis and racists. When Joe Biden declared his presidential bid in April 2019, he [cited]( Trump’s reaction to the Charlottesville rally as a reason he entered the race. “With those words, the president of the United States assigned a moral equivalence between those spreading hate and those with the courage to stand against it,” Biden [said](. “And in that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I’d ever seen in my lifetime.” —Dan Spinelli Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755