| Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... |
by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, July 3.
- Europe’s Extreme Heat Wave Had Climate Change Fingerprints, Study Says (“The unusual heat didn’t just hit Europe. Globally, it was the hottest June on record, Greenland saw excessive melting, and wildfires lit up the Arctic.” This is absolutely disastrous; need to phase out fossil fuels rapidly, starting immediately. And yes, Gov. Northam, that means no new fossil fuel infrastructure, including the two fracked-gas pipelines you seem ok with for some stupid reason!)
- Iran warns it will take the ‘next step,’ increase uranium enrichment Sunday (So…the Iran nuclear deal was working as intended, then Trump came in and f’ed it all up, and now we’re in a very dangerous situation. Great work, eh?)
- Why Israel’s Generals Are Taking on Netanyahu (“Almost all of them believe the prime minister is destroying Israel’s democratic values and sacrificing the Zionist dream by avoiding a two-state solution.” And the generals are…correct.)
- Iran Isn’t Trying to Build a Bomb Tomorrow. It Wants Sanctions Relief. (“Iran’s decision to surpass uranium enrichment limits isn’t a dangerous provocation. It’s a calculated effort to get European leaders to reinforce the nuclear deal and halt the drift toward war.”)
- Bolton the hawk struggles to retain his influence with Trump (“Analysis: John Bolton remains the chief skeptic of diplomacy with North Korea and Iran, but is he losing influence with the president?”)
- Hundreds of U.S. Mayors Urge Congress: Put a Price on Carbon
- Democrats finally sue to get Trump’s tax returns (“The fight over the president’s taxes probably isn’t close to being over.”)
- NRA meltdown has Trump campaign sweating (“Republicans worry that the NRA and two other groups that have long formed the core of their electoral infrastructure will be effectively on the sidelines.”)
- Trump Picks Two Fed Nominees Likely to Support Easier Policy
- Federal Judge Blocks Trump Policy Ordering Indefinite Detention For Asylum-Seekers
- DHS Inspector General Finds ‘Dangerous Overcrowding’ In Border Patrol Facilities
- Squalid Conditions at Border Centers Detailed in Government Watchdog Report (“Overcrowded conditions are more widespread at migrant centers along the southern border than initially revealed, a new report said. The findings include standing-room-only cells, children without showers and hot meals, and detainees clamoring for release.”)
- At border, grim realities of crisis collide with 2020 campaign politics
- The U.S. Is ‘Headed To Fascism,’ Says Ocasio-Cortez After Tour Of Detention Facilities At Southern Border
- ‘Nothing Prepares You for the Inhumanity of It’ (“At a visit to Border Patrol facilities this week, the freshman congresswoman Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania met weeping women and exchanged notes with detained children.”)
- Fox’s Brian Kilmeade likens overcrowded border detention facilities to a house party with 100 people (Sociopath.)
- Buttigieg introduces national service plan (“Buttigieg’s plan would immediately increase the number of available national service positions to 250,000 opportunities, up from the current 75,000. It would emphasize targeting students at high schools, community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities and vocational schools, as well as young Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 who aren’t currently working or in school.”)
- Nearly Every Democratic Presidential Candidate Is Now Backing a Debate on Climate Change (“… six candidates either haven’t taken a position on a climate change debate or didn’t respond to requests for comment in time for publication. They are Sen. Cory Booker, who called for more time to be devoted to the issue after the first debate; Montana Gov. Steve Bullock; former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper; Wayne Messam, the mayor of Miramar, Florida; California Rep. Eric Swalwell; and author Marianne Williamson.” OK, that eliminates all those candidates from my considersation.)
- Biden’s support from black voters cut in half after debate: Reuters/Ipsos poll (“Former Vice President Joe Biden is still leading a crowded field, but his support has slipped since the last nationally televised debate. Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Kamala Harris is on the rise.”)
- There are two lines of counterattack on Harris. Will either work? (“Harris set the trap; Biden fell in. And now she’s on the rise, and he’s losing ground. Harris showed she can play the 21st-century political game, maybe the best qualification for taking on Trump. Nevertheless, she might want to be more precise with her policy positions so as to avoid bouts of confusion — unless the tactic is deliberate, allowing everyone to interpret her for themselves. Barack Obama used that very strategy in 2008. Welcome to media-driven, viral-moment-driven politics. The ‘electable’ candidate is the one who can excel at it.”)
- Sanders slips in polls, raising doubts about campaign
- Bernie Sanders 2020 is in big trouble
- Biden holds lead in Democratic presidential contest as Harris is praised for debate performance, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows (“When asked to identify their preferred candidate, without being prompted with a list of names, Biden is cited by 21 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, a gain of eight points since late April. Sanders runs second at 13 percent, up four points since April. Harris and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) are tied at 7 percent, both up three points.”)
- Democrats Shouldn’t Worry About Looking “Moderate” in 2020 (“President Trump will do that for them”)
- Trump’s Apparent Decision to Drop the Citizenship Question Is the Biggest Legal Defeat of His Presidency
- U.S. Drops Citizenship Question From Census (“Move marks reversal for administration and victory for civil-rights advocates”)
- Why Experts Are Worried About the 2020 Census (“The government has embraced new technology for next year’s count. But that has raised the risk of problems, including software glitches and cyberattacks.”)
- Congress Calls for Immediate Moratorium on Zuckerberg’s New Cryptocurrency
- Lee Iacocca, Visionary Automaker Who Led Ford and Chrysler, Dies at 94 (“Mr. Iacocca helped create the Ford Mustang, saved the Chrysler Corporation and came to personify the American auto industry. The son of an immigrant hot-dog vendor, he was so admired that there was serious talk of his running for president in 1988.”)
- Alex Morgan heads USA past England into Women’s World Cup final
- Trump said he’d save coal: Two more producers go bankrupt with 1,800 jobs lost (“Two more mining companies go down, ending nearly 2,000 jobs in four states. Expert: ‘The market has spoken'”)
- This Is Out-and-Out Authoritarian Performance Art (“The Second Continental Congress made no mention of aging narcissists who need to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to overcompensate.’)
- The brightest star this Fourth of July? Donald Trump. Oh, and the tanks. (“When Donald Trump develops a fixation, he does not give it up easily.”)
- Trump’s grandiose July 4th plan says everything about his presidency
- ‘A narcissistic travesty’: critics savage Trump’s Independence Day jamboree (“Breaking with tradition, the president has decreed a military parade featuring jets, tanks – and at the centre, himself”)
- Will Donald Trump’s Fourth of July Parade Break the Law? (“The Hatch Act prevents the president from spending tax dollars on a political rally. Here’s what would turn his ‘parade’ into an illegal act.”)
- Park Service diverts $2.5 million in fees for Trump’s July Fourth extravaganza (This is outrageous, should be illegal if it isn’t.)
- Pentagon grapples with how to move tanks from a Washington rail yard to the National Mall
- Trump’s ‘assault on the ear’ means a hard pass on Fourth of July speech
- Regressing, to look forward: CNU’s Bitecofer forecasts a Trump defeat in 2020
- Spanberger bill takes aim at child porn sharing on government networks
- Rep. Don Beyer Calls On Trump To Personally Reimburse Taxpayers For Any Damage To Local Infrastructure At July 4th Event
- In Roanoke, Northam celebrates restoration of driving privileges (“Just one day after Virginians with court debt got their driving privileges restored, Gov. Ralph Northam celebrated the suspension of what he deemed to be an ‘unfair’ practice.”)
- Virginia’s State Legislative Elections in 2007 vs. 2019: What’s Similar? What’s Different? Could Past (2007) Be Prologue (2019)?
- ‘They want our state:’ NRA, Va. Republicans say gun control is just the start of upheaval (“They intentionally want to turn it blue. Gun control, abortion rights, social justice — they’ve named their three; that’s what they want.” OMG, not preventing gun violence, letting women decide what to do with their own bodies and making our nation more fair and equitable. How horrible! Oh, and Bryce Reeves is a horrible human being, as evidenced by his comments about Sen. Adam Ebbin.)
- Following controversy, former Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling leaves job at James Madison University (“This is due to legislation that was passed by the General Assembly earlier this year. It is not what we wanted nor expected”)
- Even the Virginia Way has limits
- Sorting out the Big Sort in Virginia
- Virginia announces $73M in funding for conservation program
- GOP nominee Scott Wyatt and Speaker Kirk Cox urge Republicans to unite and focus on November
- Lt. Gov. Fairfax talks about gun violence during visit to Portsmouth
- Former Del. Ron Villanueva sentenced to 2½ years in prison for defrauding federal government
- EDITORIAL: Band-aid solution to teacher burnout
- Lawyers ask judge to order white nationalist Chris Cantwell to stop ‘unlawful threats’ against plaintiffs, attorney
- Virginia Beach council votes for independent probe of mass shooting
- VA Del. Chris Peace (R-HD97): “further litigation of this contest does not serve the best interests of the district”
- Charlottesville nixes Jefferson’s birthday as holiday
- City nixes Jefferson’s birthday as holiday
- Arlington County Struggles with How to Reach Ambitious “Net Zero” Carbon Emissions With Limited Tools to Get There (“The Importance of Being Zero: Climate Policy in a Partisan Age.”)
- Charlottesville Community Responds to City’s Bold Climate Action Goal (Carbon Neutral by 2050)
- On emotional, rain-soaked evening, Trea Turner walks it off for the Nationals
- Hot, humid and occasionally stormy pattern continues through the Fourth and into this weekend
