Thursday News: “Trump Has Treated Britain Shamefully”; Acosta #FAIL; Cooch Says ICE Raids “absolutely going to happen”; Trump’s Social Media Summit a “Bigotry Circus”; “Scuttled [VA Gen. Assembly] sessions should have voters aghast”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, July 11.

• New research shows that Paris Agreement goals might not save the Arctic (We actually need to be doing a lot *more* than the Paris Agreement calls for.)
• Iranian boats attempted to seize British tanker
• Trump Has Treated Britain Shamefully (“The president has managed to alienate America’s closest friend over the pettiest of spats.”)
• Boris Johnson Shows That He’s Donald Trump’s Poodle
• The UK ambassador to the US has resigned. Here’s why it’s a big deal. (“Darroch’s resignation is rattling British politics — and it’s underscoring the strained, and somewhat strange, relationship between the US and the UK under Trump…’The next PM publicly throws this country’s representative to the wolves to feed the ego of a fickle child in the White House. It’s tantamount to telling the civil service that they are totally disposable.'”)
• Trump’s Tweets Take Down Another Career (“The British ambassador’s critique was precisely the variety Donald Trump can’t stomach.”)
• The British ambassador was right about Trump
• Whoever Sunk the British Ambassador Has Grander Designs (“We can expect more of this. Obviously.”)
• Millions are under a flood risk as a storm strengthens in the Gulf of Mexico
• There’s An Environmental Disaster Unfolding In The Gulf of Mexico (“A slow-moving flood of polluted Mississippi River water is causing serious damage to Gulf species, and a major storm threatens to make it worse.”)
• White House pushes Congress to strike budget deal amid risk of fiscal pileup
• Conservative Legal Arguments Don’t Need to Make Sense Anymore (“They just need the right judges—and they’re everywhere in the federal judicial system.”)
• Instead of an Apology, Acosta Offers Epstein’s Victims Implicit Blame (“The secretary of labor, under fire for his handling of a sex-trafficking case, spoke for 53 minutes without saying he was sorry.”)
• Acosta does himself and Trump no good
• Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta has no good answer for cushy Jeffrey Epstein plea deal (“He offered unsatisfying defenses of his handling of the Epstein case in a Wednesday press conference.”)
• Alex Acosta Can Dodge Questions All He Wants. His Epstein Deal Looks Worse By the Day. (“His press conference was not exculpatory.”)
• AOC, Sanders Call for ‘Climate Emergency’ Declaration in Congress (“The resolution echoes the core ideas of the Green New Deal, saying global warming demands a massive mobilization of resources on par with the U.S. response to WWII.”)
• Fed’s Jerome Powell Faces Senators After Rate Cut Signal
• GOP frets over nightmare scenario for Senate primaries
• ‘Outright disrespectful’: Four House women struggle as Pelosi isolates them (“You got a complaint? You come and talk to me about it. But do not tweet about our members and expect us to think that that is just okay” Agreed.)
• ‘Do not tweet’: Pelosi scolds progressives in closed-door meeting (“The House speaker urged liberal Democrats not to criticize their centrist colleagues in public.” Pelosi’s right; it’s called being a good team player.)
• Lanes Are Starting To Emerge In The 2020 Democratic Primary (“…the fact that all three polls put Biden and Sanders in the same lane teaches us that lanes may not be what you assume”)
• Biden to rip Trump in foreign policy address
• Democratic senators want candidates to take Swalwell’s hint and drop out
• Abigail Spanberger: U.K. diplomat’s leaked cables show ‘troublesome’ world perception of Trump
• Federal judge smacks down Trump’s latest census citizenship question plan
• Top immigration official says ICE raids ‘absolutely’ going to happen (“Acting US Citizenship and Immigration Services director Ken Cuccinelli said Wednesday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are “absolutely going to happen” following a delay from the President to see if Congress could work out a legislative solution on immigration.” Screw you.)
• U.S. Prepares to Arrest Thousands of Immigrant Family Members (“The government plans to begin nationwide raids Sunday, moving forward with an operation backed by President Trump, officials said. The threat of deportation rattled immigrant communities, prompted backlash from politicians and stoked divisions in the Department of Homeland Security.”)
• Bernie Sanders to Skip Netroots Nation (Clearly, Kos doesn’t like Sanders. Meanwhile, “As of late Wednesday afternoon, the candidates listed as attending were former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, Governor Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Warren is the only candidate among the top polling five who has committed to attending.”)
• Trump invites right-wing extremists to White House ‘social media summit’
• Conspiracy theorists, far-right agitators head to White House with social media in their sights
• The White House’s social media summit is just another stunt to game the refs (“The views of the summit’s guests confirm that the event is a giant excuse to push the right’s tech grievance narrative.”)
• The White House Social Media Summit Is Already A Bigotry Circus (“Ben Garrison, a conservative cartoonist, was uninvited over an anti-Semitic cartoon. The rest of the guest list is a who’s who of trolls and extremists.”)
• Trump’s Social Media Summit Mortifies White House, Enrages Far-Right Allies (“No one who is invited to the summit has actually been banned from social platforms.”)
• The Cleverness of Trump’s “Social Media Summit” (“The president can’t actually crack down on Facebook and Twitter’s supposed ‘bias.’ But he can achieve something else.”)
• Failing Trump resort to host strip-club tournament with dancers auctioned as “caddy girls” (“A supposed benefit for an unregistered charity will feature a burlesque show and auction for ‘caddy girls'”)
• Sebastian Gorka: The U.S. Women’s soccer team wants “to destroy everything that is wholesome in our country and in our Judeo-Christian civilization” (Gorka is a fascist.)
• Fox’s Jesse Watters: The U.S. Women’s National soccer team is “unpatriotic” (Demented as always.)
• A Republican Politician Says This Woman Can’t Cover His Campaign Unless She’s Accompanied by a Man
• Warner seeks DOJ meeting on timeline to implement Ashanti Alert system
• Video: Sen. Tim Kaine Warns Against ACA Repeal As Texas V. U.S. Oral Arguments Begin
• Kaine says it’s ‘completely bogus’ to compare his Virginia Tech panel to GOP’s gun plan (Kaine: “I’m not saying an investigation isn’t a good idea, but that’s not the reason they cancelled the session after two hours. They did that because they are unwilling to make the NRA and gun manufacturers mad.”)
• How will GOP’s get-out-of-Dodge move play in November? (It *should* play horribly.
• Hanger: Gun control discussion to ‘play out’ in fall elections
• Editorial: Scuttled sessions should have voters aghast (“…the lack of seriousness on Tuesday was infuriating. It was an abdication of responsibility. And it’s something voters shouldn’t forget, come November.”)
• Virginia held a special legislative session to address gun control. It was a mess. (No, the “Virginia General Assembly” generically didn’t “cut and run,” it was 100% Republicans who did that. Grrrr.)
• Editorial: 5 takeaways from the special session (Very “both sidesy”)
• Status quo will not suffice when it comes to Virginia’s gun laws
• Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam: I regret how the scandal over a 1980s racist photo was handled
• BREAKING: LG Justin Fairfax’s Attorney Says Eyewitness Can Refute Duke University Rape Accusation; Meredith Watson’s Attorney Says “Fairfax Continues to Dodge Public Hearings”
• Fairfax’s lawyer says witness will corroborate his account of sex (“Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has described a Duke University incident from 2000 as a consensual encounter.”)
• AG Mark Herring Defends Human Rights of Immigrant Children in Civil Detention
• Former Virginia governor Wilder kissed 20-year-old student against her will, investigation finds (“An inquiry funded by Virginia Commonwealth University found L. Douglas Wilder responsible for ‘non-consensual sexual contact.'”)
• Editorial: The time is right for Virginia to get serious about offshore wind energy (“Among the questions are: Is Dominion moving too slowly as it takes its first steps toward generating offshore wind energy?” Yes.)
• What repeal of the Affordable Care Act would mean for Virginia
• No, It’s Not Acceptable for a Police Officer to Physically Force Someone to Stand During the Pledge of Allegiance
• Virginia utility could become statewide test case for solar net metering
• Gov. Northam, Speaker Cox, etc. Take Credit for Virginia Being #1 State for Business. That’s Fine, But How About Worker-Friendly? Environment-Friendly?
• Editorial: Virginia is for business (Rah rah rah! LOL)
• Amazon had it right: Virginia is America’s Top State for Business in 2019
• Northam announces assistance for locked-out Blackjewel miners
• Arlington manager declares state of emergency after Monday floods (“The move will allow the Virginia county to seek federal and state aid.”)
• Flooding Challenges at pair of Peninsula communities to inform federal ideas on climate
• Thoughts on the 6th District College Republican Representative Debacle
• Amazon HQ2 Is Upending Northern Virginia’s Already Unstable Housing Market (“As of June, the median home price in Arlington County was on track to spike 17.2 percent by the end of 2019, according to a report by the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors and the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis.”)
• Coast Guard suspends search for missing teacher off Virginia Beach (“He acted heroically and did save that 13-year-old”)
• Floyd Energy Fest to highlight renewable energy Saturday
• Steamy today with thunderstorms likely. Tranquil weather returns for weekend.