Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the far-right Proud Boys, was sentenced this afternoon to 22 years in prison for organizing a gang of his pro-Trump followers to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power.

It was the most severe penalty handed down so far to any of the more than 1,100 rioters charged in connection with the Capitol attack, and no other defendant faces accusations as serious. Two others — another Proud Boys leader as well as Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers militia — had received 18-year sentences.

Tarrio’s sentence is notable not just for its length, but also because of what it suggests about the current state of the extremist group, which has long espoused a kind of violent patriarchal nationalism. The Justice Department has all but decapitated the group’s national leadership and mostly put an end to its involvement in often-violent pro-Trump rallies.

Still, the Proud Boys as a whole have persisted as “foot soldiers for the right,” in the words of one member who testified for the government at Tarrio’s trial, and have inserted themselves into conflicts at the local level.

Separately, a trial began today in Washington of Peter Navarro, a former White House adviser to Donald Trump accused of showing contempt for Congress by defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. He faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $200,000.

Ukraine confronts a second Russian defense line

Ukrainian forces are battling to break through a Russian defense line near the southern village of Verbove, analysts said. The push comes a week after Ukrainian forces said they had retaken the village of Robotyne, the first of several tiers of formidable Russian defenses in the south.

A Ukrainian official said that the Russian trenches and dugouts that Kyiv’s forces were now encountering were “not as strong” as those from the first line of defense, but that minefields would complicate Ukraine’s push. Analysts have also suggested that Moscow has reinforced its defenses south of Robotyne.

In other news from the war: A rare trip by North Korea’s leader to Russia this month could provide two things the North has long wanted: technical help with its weapons programs and to be needed by an important neighbor.

The Texas attorney general’s impeachment trial began

Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas, pleaded not guilty today at the start of his impeachment proceedings. The Republican-dominated Texas House adopted 16 articles of impeachment in May, which a jury of 31 state senators are now considering.

Paxton is accused of using his office to benefit an Austin real estate developer, Nate Paul. Paxton appeared to have the support of at least six senators, but a solid majority of Republicans do not appear to view the proceedings as a “sham,” as some of his supporters have called it.

A federal court struck down Alabama’s voting map, again

A panel of federal judges rejected Alabama’s latest congressional map today, ruling that Republican lawmakers had failed to comply with orders to create a second majority-Black district or something “close to it.”

The judges ordered that a new map be independently drawn. The Republican-controlled legislature had pushed through a revised map in July after a surprise Supreme Court ruling found that Alabama’s existing map violated a civil rights law by undercutting the state’s Black voters.

A very American U.S. Open

Tonight at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, two American players — Frances Tiafoe and Ben Shelton — will face off for a spot in the semifinals of the U.S. Open. Earlier today, the American Taylor Fritz lost to Novak Djokovic. It has been several decades since U.S. players have done this well at the Open, their biggest home tournament.

Get ready for more reality shows this fall

If you’ve turned on your television recently, you’ve probably seen one of the unscripted reality competitions or game shows that have come to dominate the screen. Their pervasiveness, I thought, was a reflection of the ongoing Hollywood strikes.

In 17th-century Europe, revenants were to be feared

When researchers in Poland recently excavated an unmarked cemetery, they unearthed the first physical evidence of a suspected child revenant: the 400-year-old remains of what has been described as a “vampire child,” buried facedown with an iron padlock under its left foot.

“If it returned from the dead and tried to ascend, it would bite into dirt instead,” one expert said.

In 17th-century Poland, the dead were thought to be a constant threat to rise again and bedevil the living. Locks weren’t the only solution: Bodies were also nailed down and hearts were sometimes removed.

Have a safe evening.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

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