Thursday News: Winners, Losers, Takeaways from First Dem Debate; #1 Issue Facing Humanity (Climate Crisis) Gets Only 7 Minutes; GOP More Extreme than UKIP, France’s National Rally

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, June 27.

• China to Insist U.S. Lifts Huawei Ban as Part of Trade Truce (“Xi to present Trump with terms for settling trade fight, including asking the U.S. to lift all punitive tariffs”)
• Trump arrives at global economic summit with full agenda and list of grievances
• Exclusive: Iran still short of nuclear deal’s enriched uranium cap – diplomats
• Trump’s hawks ramp up campaign to shred last part of Iran nuclear deal
• Young activists demand that media cover climate change like the global emergency it is (“Fox News is singled out for being ‘especially terrible’ on climate change”)
• Senate leaders clinch deal on Iran war vote (“Senate Republican and Democratic leaders on Wednesday reached a deal to hold a debate on Iran this week, clearing the way for passage of a major defense policy bill before the July Fourth recess begins.”)
• Democrats need a better answer to the Mitch McConnell question (“The debate Democrats need to have: How do you win back the Senate?”)
• Democrats plot strategy to win back Senate
• The father and daughter who drowned at the border were desperate for a better life, family says
• Asylum Officers’ Union Says Trump Migration Policy ‘Abandons’ American Tradition
• Senate passes border spending package, setting up fight with House
• Video: The First 2020 Democratic Debate, Night #1
• The first debate showed Democrats are far more in consensus than at odds
• Why not let the Democrats actually debate?
• Fact-checking the first night of the first Democratic presidential debate
• Climate got more time in the Democrats’ first 2020 debate than in all 2016 debates combined (“But it was still only 7 minutes.”)
• Democratic candidates fail to challenge opponents or convey scope of climate crisis in debate (Agreed, that was a massive #FAIL)
• Only 6% of the questions at the first Democratic primary debate were about climate change — and they weren’t great (Given the urgency and importance of this issue, should have been more like 25% or higher.)
• Adios Trump? The key takeaways from the first Democratic 2020 debate (“It was a good night for Cory Booker, Julián Castro and Elizabeth Warren – just. But Beto O’Rourke and other also-rans missed their chance to break through”)
• Elizabeth Warren proved she’s ready for the big show(“She commanded on her issue but more importantly showed the political savvy Democrats have wondered about.”)
• The Landmine that Just Got Laid for Elizabeth Warren (Personally, I am not for getting rid of private insurance. I’d much prefer offering a robust public option, perhaps like Tim Kaine’s “Medicare X” proposal, to compete with private insurance.)
• Trump Takes a Back Seat to Policy at the Democratic Debate (“The president dominates every aspect of American politics, but you wouldn’t have known that from watching the first batch of candidates last night.”)
• The first debate: Who won, who lost and what matters (I mostly agree with this: definitely, a big winner was “The Democratic Party as a whole, showing off many solid contenders with a command of the issues.” I was definitely impressed with Julián Castro, Cory Booker, and Elizabeth Warren, with the big exception of Warren’s response regarding eliminating private health insurance. Also, I thought Amy Klobuchar was solid.)
• 4 winners and 3 losers from the first night of the Democratic debates (Everyone seems to agree that Warren, Castro and Booker were winners, and that Beto O’Rourke was a loser.)
• First Democratic debate: Elizabeth Warren persists, but Julián Castro is the star (I’d toss in Booker as well.)
• Democratic candidates interrupt each other to make themselves noticed (“Confounded by time constraints and broacast glitches, presidential hopefuls struggle to make memorable impression with viewers and voters”)
• 5 Takeaways From The First Democratic Debate (“The gloves stayed on — and the shape of the race stays the same.”)
• The First Debate Night Lesson: This Race Is Not All About Joe Biden
• First-Debate Combatants Focus on Each Other, Not Biden (“Frontrunner in the Democratic field went unmentioned Wednesday, but will likely be the center of attention Thursday”)
• 7 big takeaways from the first Democratic debate (“Beto gets beat up, Castro and Booker shine, and Warren takes care of business.”)
• Julián Castro Is an Underrated Candidate (He really is.)
• Democrats spar over health care, immigration at first debate, agree Trump economy rigged
• Here’s Who Won (and Lost) the First Democratic Primary Debate
• Elizabeth Warren Takes a Huge Risk by Calling to End Private Health Insurance (“Warren ventured boldly, perhaps foolishly, onto a shaky limb. She may have just filmed the most effective attack ad against herself.”)
• 8 takeaways from the Democratic presidential debate’s first night (“Warren dominated the debate’s first half hour, moving herself closer to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on single-payer health care — a move that could ease the concerns of progressives in the process. She faded the rest of the way, but went unscathed.” Yeah, she kind of disappeared after the first half hour or so. And yes, O’Rourke really was a target last night.)
• Five takeaways from the first Democratic debate (“With the exception of Castro, few second-tier candidates made much of a mark.”)
• Elizabeth Warren Stands Alone (“There were nine candidates desperate to make their mark at the first Democratic debate. Then there was Warren.”)
• It Was Almost a Good Debate Until Chuck Todd Mucked It Up (“Todd himself uttered the fourth most words of anyone on the debate stage despite only being on camera for half of the event. That verbosity might not have been a problem if his questions had been great or even helpful ones. They largely weren’t.”)
• What Happened to America’s Political Center of Gravity? (“The Republican Party leans much farther right than most traditional conservative parties in Western Europe and Canada, according to an analysis of their election manifestos. It is more extreme than Britain’s Independence Party and France’s National Rally (formerly the National Front), which some consider far-right populist parties. The Democratic Party, in contrast, is positioned closer to mainstream liberal parties.”)
• GOP’s Mitt Romney and Joni Ernst call for investigation into E. Jean Carroll rape allegation
• Republicans AWOL and Democrats surrendering: the latest on Oregon’s climate chaos
• For the first time ever renewables beat coal in the US (“Renewables provided 23% of U.S. power in April, while coal generated 20%.”)
• Virginia Sen. Warner: Consumers have a right to know what their data is worth
• Video: HELP Committee Passes Sen. Tim Kaine’s Bill to Raise the Tobacco Age to 21 as Part of Health Care Package
• Video: Rep. Donald McEachin, Rep. Raúl Grijalva Host “First-of-Its-Kind Congressional Convening on Environmental Justice”
• Some Virginians say fighting gun violence requires more than new laws (Straw man alert!)
• Gov. Northam: Gun deaths are an ’emergency in Virginia’
• Poll Finds Steady Support for Northam, Drop for a Democrat-Controlled General Assembly
• Editorial: Seven facts about immigration in Roanoke
• Will Virginia Learn from France (Offshore Wind Edition)
• Tom Perriello: “Presence of Evil” Clearer with Jerry Falwell, Jr. than Even with “Warlords and War Criminals on Multiple Continents”
• The Metro board made a hash of the Jack Evans inquiry. Now its integrity is in question.
• Virginia Beach City Council missed a chance to stand up for localities on gun restrictions
• Jefferson Davis monument lacks context needed to stand alone
• Schapiro: Independents gamble on beating the odds
• What is NH District Corp.? Documents lay out structure and business ties of Coliseum project group
• William Smith, a native Richmonder and the son of a city police officer, named chief of police
• Hanover Board of Supervisors ousts School Board member who voted for changes to Confederate school names
• Roanoke doctor wasn’t target in Belize killing, local police say
• Loudoun Co. assistant principal killed in double-fatal crash (“Jonathan Kite, 37, of Elkton, was traveling west on Route 211 when his 2020 Kia Telluride ran off the road about 4:54 p.m. and collided head on with an eastbound 2005 Chevy Impala. The impact caused the Kia to strike an eastbound 1999 GMC Envoy, state police said in a news release.”)
• In day 3 of hunt for missing toddler, search moves to Hampton landfill
• Heat is unrelenting through the weekend (Just a reminder about why the debates need to be heavily about the climate crisis, and why there in fact should be a separate debate about climate.)