by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, August 22.
- The Amazon rainforest in Brazil is ablaze, turning day into night in the city of Sao Paulo (“Fires could accelerate global warming and cause lasting harm to a cradle of biodiversity.” Horrifying.)
- Brazil’s Amazon Fires Highlight The Threat Of Deregulation Amid Climate Change (“The blazes are roasting South America’s biggest country just as far-right President Jair Bolsonaro is rolling back environmental and indigenous protections.”)
- South Korea axes military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan
- Pakistan Leader Vents Frustration at India: ‘No Point in Talking to Them’
- Trump, Greenland, Denmark. Is This Real Life? (“Or a Peter Sellers movie?”)
- “He Has Made Us a Laughing Stock”: Diplomats Stunned by Trump’s Feud with Denmark (“‘Sometimes it is hard to believe that what Trump is saying and doing on the world stage is actually happening,’ said the former ambassador to NATO. ‘This is one of those days.'”)
- Trump’s Interest in Buying Greenland Seemed Like a Joke. Then It Got Ugly. (A very bad joke, like Trump’s entire “presidency”)
- Trump’s Greenland Thing Isn’t Funny Anymore (“Denmark has been one hellaciously good ally, and it gets rewarded with the worst kind of diplomatic insult.”)
- This Isn’t the Madman Theory. This Is a Madman President. (“In business, Trump could paper over his bankruptcies, flops, asinine remarks, and failed cons. The presidency is different.”)
- Trump’s ‘Disloyalty’ Claim About Jewish Democrats Shows He Doesn’t Get How They Vote (“Trump’s comments display a lack of understanding of how and why Jewish Americans vote the way they do, which is overwhelmingly Democratic. While Israel is a threshold issue for Jewish voters, it is not determinative to the votes of most of them — and many don’t agree with President Trump’s or Republicans’ approach to Israel. Jewish people who vote Democratic care about what Democrats care about — social justice, health care, climate change, the welfare of immigrants and more.” Bingo.)
- ‘I am the chosen one’: Trump again plays on messianic claims as he embraces ‘King of Israel’ title
- Trump keeps pushing anti-Semitic stereotypes. But he thinks he’s praising Jews.
- Trump’s week: A snub, a rollback, a divisive comment — and much confusion
- Trump Is Gaslighting the Hell Out of Jews (“Trump’s affirmation of the centuries old anti-Semitic trope of dual loyalty came amid a barrage of equally unhinged proclamations before the president boarded Marine One en route to Kentucky for a speech to a veterans organization on Tuesday.”)
- Donald Trump and the ‘Disloyal’ Jews (“A president loyal only to himself uses my community as a political weapon.”)
- A Lust for Punishment (“President Trump continues to inflict pain on minorities in this country because it supports the white supremacist patriarchy.”)
- Trump is either trolling everyone or thinks he’s like a god (Occam’s Razor explanation: he’s delusional.)
- At least eight jail officials knew Jeffrey Epstein was not to be left alone in cell
- Trump’s contradictions hit a fever pitch (“Another exhausting day of the indefatigable commander in chief’s compulsive seizing of the spotlight showed how what once would have been considered outrageous has become Washington routine.”)
- Trump says he is seriously looking at ending birthright citizenship (UnAmerican.)
- Trump is weaponizing evangelicals’ mistrust. And he’s succeeding.
- Trump promotes conspiracy theorist’s claims about American and Israeli Jews
- Republicans have a choice, but they prefer the racist anti-Semite (This is by conservative Jennifer Rubin.)
- Trump’s stack of broken promises is growing (“He had no fabulous alternative to the Affordable Care Act, as he assured voters. He favored Republican plans that would have cut entitlements, contrary to his vow not to. His trade war didn’t produce fast, positive results as he claimed. He didn’t reduce or eliminate the debt” Also by conservative Jennifer Rubin.)
- Trump can’t soothe markets by blaming his Fed chair
- The Demoralizing Reality of Life Under Trump (“Every day is the same, but still awful.”)
- Jay Inslee, governor centered on climate change, drops out of presidential race (I like Inslee a lot, but clearly he wasn’t going to be nominated. Smart move.)
- Donald Trump’s War On LGBTQ Americans Is Ramping Up (“President Trump’s been gaslighting the country on the subject of LGBTQ rights since his inauguration.”)
- Environmental Groups Just Sued the Trump Administration Over Its Endangered Species Act Rollback (The next administration needs to do a 180 and massively strengthen America’s environmental protection efforts.)
- A new Trump rule could hold migrant families indefinitely in detention (“Migrants families need to be released from detention after 20 days. A new Trump rule could change that by rolling back protections established by the Flores settlement.” Unacceptable.)
- The Law Says You Must Treat Children Humanely. That’s Not a ‘Loophole.’ (“The Trump administration* specializes in vandalism, bullshit, and of course, cruelty.”)
- John Hickenlooper is running for U.S. Senate: “I’m not done fighting for the people of Colorado” (Good. Now, what about Julian Castro or Beto O’Rourke for U.S. Senate from Texas?)
- Soaring deficits could put Trump in a corner if there’s a recession
- Trump’s Tweets About Jews Prove GOP Attacks on Omar, Tlaib Were Never Really About Anti-Semitism (Insteady, they “were always about Islamophobia”)
- Health Insurers Set to Expand Offerings Under the ACA (“Insurers are expanding their Affordable Care Act plan offerings for next year, with the once-troubled business now generating profits, even as the overall individual-insurance market has shrunk”)
- A new tone from some Republicans on climate change — mostly behind closed doors
- Rising Warren faces uphill climb with black voters
- Kamala Harris joins CNN climate change town hall after criticism from activists
- The Parkland students propose ‘a Green New Deal, but for guns’ (“While Trump caves in to the NRA, the Parkland students propose comprehensive gun policy”)
- Native Americans had their 2020 Democratic campaign forum. Here, in pictures, is how it went. (“The candidates addressed issues of critical importance to Native communities, including ballot access and sovereign land rights”)
- Former VP Biden coming to Richmond (“A statement from the Biden campaign said. ‘On Tuesday, August 27, Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Richmond, Virginia. Additional details to follow.'”)
- Virginia reps. add southern influence to U.S. climate policy development
- What’s happening with Virginia women? They have more political capital, but other progress has stalled, new report says
- National gun-control group launches campaign against suburban Republicans in Virginia
- Renewable energy providers win skirmish against Dominion, but larger war drags on (“…while the commission’s ruling on the enrollments allows Direct Energy and Calpine to resume operations in Virginia, their fate will remain uncertain until the commissioners decide the outcome of a broader case determining what exactly ‘100 percent renewable energy’ is and whether those companies are selling it.”)
- Virginia Can Strengthen Its Economy and Communities With Four Immigrant-Inclusive Policies
- Video: Coming Out of Crime Commission Meeting, Virginia Republican Senators, Delegates Desperately Dodge Questions About “Red Flag” Laws (One, walking alone, falsely claims he’s talking to someone.)
- Schapiro: With opinion shifting, Virginia firearms crowd plays inside game
- State Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) is Bad for Business
- Central and Western Virginia Democrats Form Rural GroundGame Coalition
- Virginia penalized $3.8 million for high error rate in SNAP food assistance program
- Gov. Northam Announces Virginia Awarded $1.6M Grant to Expand Apprenticeships
- 5th District RVA Council Candidates Reject Dominion & Tom Farrell Contributions
- Rural counties push back against regional gas tax increase to fund I-81 improvements
- Letter: MVP and Yellow Finch tree-sitters (“Once again the Mountain Valley Pipeline wastes time and money going to court to try to convince a judge to give them permission to remove the tree-sitters.”)
- Editorial: Transgender ruling a move toward equal protection
- Day care operator supplied large quantities of fentanyl to Virginia Beach drug dealer, feds say
- Newport News becomes largest Virginia school district to make all meals free for 2019-20
- Sixth annual ‘Cities United’ conference comes to Hampton (“More than 450 mayors, youth and community leaders are expected to gather in Hampton to share strategies for reducing homicides and shooting rates of young African American men.”)
- Sen. Warner starts week-long trip across Virginia in Hampton Roads
- Opinion/Editorial: City to lead by example on equity issues (“When it comes to equitable wages, Charlottesville is right to turn its gaze inward.”)
- Norfolk sues to remove Confederate monument, citing free speech
- In one unusual Virginia neighborhood, roots stretch to the first Africans in America (“Built in the 1930s, Hampton’s Aberdeen Gardens was the first federal housing project created for African Americans under the New Deal. It was the only one designed by a black architect, overseen by a black supervisor and built by black laborers.”)
- Steamy today, with showers and storms tonight and Friday (“The weekend is comfortably dry.”)
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