Wednesday News: “Earth’s lungs belong to the world”; “San Juan Mayor Slams Trump As Storm Approaches”; Video – In Richmond, Joe Biden Rips Trump’s Rhetoric, Behavior; “Some early GOP markers for hot House races”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, August 28.  Note: video courtesy of Susan Platt.

• Why it will take more than $20M to help Brazil put out Amazon fires (“‘Twenty-million dollars is a drop in the bucket. It’s absurd to imagine logistically what effect it can have,’ an Amazon researcher said.”)
• Earth’s lungs belong to the world
• Exclusive: As fires race through Amazon, Brazil’s Bolsonaro weakens environment agency (The devil incarnate.)
• The Amazon rainforest’s worst-case scenario is uncomfortably near (“Wildfires and deforestation are pushing the Amazon rainforest toward a dieback scenario: an irreversible cycle of collapse.” If the United States had a real president, he or she would be taking urgent action. But we don’t, sad to say.)
• Trump backs Brazilian president as he rejects aid for fighting Amazon fires (Trump is an imbecile…and evil, as always.)
• Greta Thunberg sees land ahead as she approaches New York (“Swedish climate activist nears end of her Atlantic crossing on zero-carbon yacht”)
• U.K.’s Boris Johnson Seeks Suspension of Parliament Ahead of Brexit (“Suspension of Parliament could trigger constitutional crisis”)
• The hype over possible U.S.-Iran talks obscured something much more ominous (“Since July, Israel has quietly expanded its air campaign against Iranian assets and allied militias from Syria to Iraq.”)
• Trump’s Weird Whoppers at the G7
• A Dollar Rising Into a Possible U.S. Recession Could Be a Bad Omen (“Some fret strength could make it harder for economy to rebound”)
• GOP, Democratic senators denied visas to Russia
• San Juan Mayor Slams Trump As Storm Approaches: ‘Get Out Of The Way’
• BP’s Alaska Exit Is a Sign of Oil’s Times (“Majors have been retreating from traditional strongholds.”)
• Trump pushes to allow new logging in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest (Unacceptable.)
• Tropical Storm warning for Puerto Rico as Dorian approaches; Florida eyeing potential weekend impact
• Trump Blames Puerto Rico for Inconveniencing Him with Another Potential Hurricane
• ‘Take the land’: Trump wants a border wall. And he wants it by Election Day. (Lawless.)
• William Barr books Trump’s hotel for holiday party that could cost $30,000 (“Experts say the private, 200-person party adds to questions about the attorney general’s independence from the president.”)
• The DNC Is About To Cut The 2020 Field In Half, And Spark Plenty Of Controversy
• We Aren’t Seeing White Support for Trump for What It Is (“In less than a decade, from 2010 to 2018, whites without a college degree grew from 50 to 59 percent of all the Republican Party’s voters, while whites with college degrees fell from 40 to 29 percent of the party’s voters.”)
• Democrats Are Down to Nine Plausible Candidates (“As the huge 2020 field finally starts to shrink, the race is coming into clearer focus.”)
• Key questions in final hours before Democratic debate deadline
• Dem campaigns get desperate with debate shutout looming
• Warren’s On The Rise, But Can She Convince Democrats She Can Beat Trump?
• Poll: Americans dread the 2020 election and have doubts about the outcome; Biden maintains his lead(“In the crowded Democratic contest, former Vice President Joe Biden retained a wide lead, at 32%, up 2 percentage points from the USA TODAY/Suffolk poll taken in June. But Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren moved up 4 points to second place, at 14%, and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped 3 points, now at third place with 12%.”)
• Joe Biden isn’t just a gaffe machine. He’s the Lamborghini of gaffes. (Sigh…)
• Joe Biden took questions from black reporters for 90 minutes. He did not disappoint. (“The ex-VP explained what he’d want in a running mate and acknowledged his continued support among African Americans isn’t guaranteed.”)
• Biden: Racism in America is a ‘White Man’s Problem’
• Facebook revamps election ad rules amid disinformation fears
• Deutsche Bank all but confirms it possesses some of Trump’s tax returns (“If the 2nd Circuit upholds those subpoenas to the two banks, the president’s tax returns and other financial documents could be used as part of the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment investigation.”)
• Trump, GOP fret loss in bellwether House special election (“Republicans are funneling resources into the southern North Carolina district as they try to stave off an embarrassing loss in a GOP-heavy seat that President Donald Trump won in 2016 by more than 11 percentage points. With private polling showing a close race between Bishop and Democrat Dan McCready, Trump will travel to the district on Sept. 9, the night before the special election, for a rally in Fayetteville, N.C.”)
• New York Times takes hits from all sides (“Stephens has been a target of the left and the right, with conservatives casting him as the Times’s token Republican and liberals angered that the paper would give a prominent platform to a writer who has questioned scientific orthodoxy on climate change.”)
• ‘Depraved human being’: Jeffrey Epstein accusers voice their anguish in court
• Trump campaign official agrees with Sean Hannity that Fox News hosts are crucial to Trump’s reelection effort (“Kayleigh McEnany credits Hannity for DOJ investigating the Obama administration”)
• Fox host Jeanine Pirro accuses Democrats of “remaking America” by letting in “illegals” (“Pirro uses language perilously close to the white supremacist ‘great replacement’ conspiracy theory”)
• Trump denies his Doral resort is infested with bed bugs (Yesterday was apparently national bedbug day! LOL)
• After Bret Stephens complained about a professor’s tweet calling him a bedbug, GW invites him to campus (Beyond parody.)
• Harvard freshman deported after officials review friends’ social media posts: report
• Dems Sound Alarm: Trump Is ‘Carpet-Bombing’ Us in Key Battlegrounds (“‘Where’s all the support? They keep talking about the calories coming. People generally are feeling Trump is beating us on all fronts right now,’ one DNC official said.”)
• At Richmond fundraiser, Biden says he wouldn’t be running if it weren’t for Charlottesville (“I never thought I’d see something like that again in my life. That’s when I decided.” Hmmmm.)
• See Jane Win Is an Inspiring Look at How Female Candidates Won Big in 2018 (and What It All Means for 2020) (“Among the book’s stars: former CIA agent and Virginia congressional candidate Abigail Spanberger”)
• Congresswoman Wexton visits Winchester to discuss education
• Editorial: Embracing the importance of African American history
• With Absolutely Nothing Positive to Offer, Panicked They’re Going to Lose Control, Virginia GOP Goes All-Out for Fear, Anger, Bigotry
• VPAP Gets Called Out for Its Pro-Republican Bias Yet Again; Includes Nick Freitas (R), Who’s NOT on the Ballot, In Its List of Candidates
• Shad Plank: Where’s the big money been going this summer? (“The big money flowing into campaign warchests this summer has a decidedly blue-ish tinge, a quick look at the running tally of large donation reports compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project suggests.”)
• Shad Plank: Some early GOP markers for hot House races (“The Republican State Leadership Committee gave $45,000 each to Del. Chris Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, and Rocky Holcomb, who is seeking to win back for the GOP the Virginia Beach district won by Del. Cheryl Turpin in 2017…A third RSLC priority race is Mary Margaret Kastelberg’s bid to win the Henrico County district Del. Debra Rodman flipped blue in 2017.”)
• EDITORIAL: Speaker’s tuition freeze a good idea, for now
• Munley: Northam is ‘greenwashing’ MVP (Very much so.)
• State commission approves new emergency regulations to protect striped bass numbers (“Deputy Commissioner Ellen Bolen said the commission’s staff found that 2018 was the lowest estimate of the harvest of striped bass since a moratorium was placed on the fishery in 1990.”)
• Here’s what happens if voters spell Del. Nick Freitas’ name wrong during his write-in campaign (“But, according to state policy, as long as a voter makes it ‘reasonably clear’ they’re writing in Freitas, it will probably count as a vote for him.”)
• Fourth attacker sentenced in Charlottesville parking garage beating of black man
• Catholic bishops call on Northam to rescind appointment over anti-Catholic jokes (“Donegan tweeted under the handle ‘Satirical Alexandria — Rated Fx by the NRA.’ The account is now private.”)
• Stan Scott: I Stand with the Hanover NAACP on Need to Change Confederate School Names
• Family of Virginia Beach mass shooting victim feels ignored by independent investigators
• Video: Re-Elect Dr. Babur Lateef Chairman of the Prince William County School Board
• Ex-Portsmouth police chief pulls out of running for top job on major Maryland force
• Cost of Richmond schools rezoning expected by the end of September
• Virginia police were searching for a ‘very dangerous’ murder suspect. He was caught naked, TV video shows
• Warmer with a shower or thundershower today, beautiful tomorrow (“Fair weather remains for Friday and Saturday, before a cloudier Sunday and Labor Day with a chance of showers.”)