by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, May 15.
- World agog as Trump flails over pandemic despite claims US leads way
- Virus Revives Worst-Case Scenarios for U.S.-China Relationship
- Clusters Grow in Asia; Italy to Remove More Limits: Virus Update
- Germany Plunges Into Recession With Biggest Slump in Decade
- US increases military pressure on China as tensions rise over pandemic (Dangerous and stupid.)
- Coronavirus Found In Bangladesh Refugee Camp Home To More Than 1 Million Rohingya (“Aid workers have warned of a potential humanitarian disaster if an outbreak spreads in the refugee camps.”)
- Countries Slammed Their Borders Shut To Stop Coronavirus. But Is It Doing Any Good? (“An analysis by NPR finds many nations are tossing aside international health regulations and imposing strict travel restrictions. Experts say the benefits are likely to be small.”)
- The Fed chairman sides with Nancy Pelosi (“Go big, says Jerome Powell.”)
- Trump Is Smearing Fauci (“The doctor admits inconvenient facts. So the president is trying to discredit him.”)
- Changing Subject Amid a Pandemic, Trump Turns to an Old Ploy: Blame Obama (In part, it’s an appeal to racists in his base.)
- Dr. Rick Bright Blew the Whistle Loud and Clear
- Ousted official doubts U.S. ability to handle another virus wave
- Ousted whistleblower warns US facing ‘darkest winter in modern history’
- Trump’s latest Fox Business interview was an elaborate distraction campaign (“Trump wants to change the topic from coronavirus to conspiracy theories. Fox is helping him out.”)
- Fox News largely ignores coronavirus whistleblower testimony in favor of “Obamagate” and baseball coverage
- Officials Release Long-Delayed And Edited Down Coronavirus Reopening Guidance (“Early versions of the documents included detailed information for churches wanting to restart in-person services but was removed after the White House raised concerns.”)
- CDC offers few guidelines for reopening safely
- Congress Debates New Relief as State Budgets Are Ravaged (“A bitter fight is expected in Congress over a $3 trillion dollar relief package, including billions for states. The White House has threatened to veto it. A coronavirus test used to screen White House staff might not be accurate, the Food and Drug Administration said. More than 1.4 million people in the U.S. have been infected and at least 85,800 have died, according to a New York Times database. Here’s the latest.”)
- With Go-Slow Approach, Republicans Risk Political Blowback on Pandemic Aid (“With jobless numbers rising, Republicans’ refusal to negotiate on another round of pandemic relief is proving difficult to sustain.”)
- Pelosi Lays Down Marker in Coronavirus Bill Vote (“The House Speaker is pushing ahead with a vote on a $3 trillion Democratic-only virus relief bill.”)
- Historic House rule change would allow remote voting
- Top health officials vanish from national TV interviews as White House refocuses messaging
- “Obamagate” is the new birtherism (“Delegitimizing Obama is one of the core political objectives of the Trump administration.”)
- Trump allies push ‘Obamagate,’ but record fails to back them up
- Frank Rich: ‘Obamagate’ Means Trump Is Desperate
- “Obamagate” Is Niche Programming for Trump Superfans
- How a Flynn theory became central to the Trump reelection campaign
- Trump says testing may be ‘frankly overrated’ (Translation: Trump is *massively* failing on this, so he’s minimizing it to try and diminish his own culpability.)
- McConnell admits he was wrong to say Obama administration failed to leave a pandemic playbook
- McConnell says Obama administration ‘did leave behind’ pandemic plan
- Barack Obama Speaks Out After Mitch McConnell Tells Him To Keep His ‘Mouth Shut’
- Democrats Say The Worst Of The Coronavirus Is Yet To Come. Republicans Say The Worst Is Over.
- Richard Burr steps down as Senate committee chair over FBI investigation (“Burr’s cellphone seized overnight in inquiry into claims he used private coronavirus briefing to sell stocks before market plunge”)
- Burr problem grows for GOP
- How Burr’s stock scandal shocked the Senate
- Loeffler turns over documents to SEC and DOJ amid stock-trading controversy
- Your Kids May Never Return to Normal Schooling
- We need to prepare for the possibility of Trump rejecting election results
- Covid-19 Reality Has a Liberal Bias (Fact in general do have a liberal bias, which is one reason right wingers deny them.)
- ‘They are angry’: Pandemic and economic collapse slam Trump across Rust Belt
- Coronavirus is now invading Trump counties in the swing states (Virginia’s not one of them, btw.)
- A sweeping setback for Trump’s foreign business dealings (“The full 4th Circuit repuidiates Trump’s receipt of foreign emoluments.”)
- Obama’s former aides angry, hurt over Ronny Jackson’s embrace of Trump’s conspiracy theories
- Trump encourages Pompeo to run for Senate but secretary of state rebuffs him
- In 3 Key States That Elected Trump, Bitter Divisions on Reopening
- Ahmaud Arbery’s death demands justice — and change
- Postal Services launches review of package delivery fees as Trump influence grows
- Bernie world descends into disarray (That’s unfortunate.)
- The Swing States Joe Biden Should Go All-In On
- Biden says he would not pardon Trump (“Biden committed to ensuring that any prosecutorial decisions would be dictated by the law, in contrast to what he called the ‘dereliction of duty’ by Trump and his attorney general, William Barr.”)
- Tara Reade’s Dubious Claims and Shifting Stories Show the Limits of #BelieveWomen (We need to replace a blanket “believe” with “listen to, check out, verify or not, etc.” In Reade’s case, her credibility is completely shot to hell.)
- Michigan Cancels Legislative Session to Avoid Armed Protesters (This is crazy, obviously should *never* happen in America.)
- Video: On Senate Floor, Sen. Mark Warner Calls for Additional Coronavirus Funding, Flexibility for State and Local Governments
- Senator Tim Kaine slams U.S. response to pandemic (“Kaine calls Trump’s handling of coronavirus abysmal”)
- 10th District Republicans set mid-June convention date
- Republicans to decide Spanberger challenger at July 18 convention
- Video: Virginia’s Embarrassment, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA09), Badgers Dr. Rick Bright on Discredited Hydroxychloroquine
- Obamagate Is a Fake Scandal. Rick Bright Described a Real One.
- BREAKING: Virginia Dept. of Health Responds to “The Atlantic” Story on State’s Testing Statistics; Says Removing Antibody Tests Makes “No Difference in Overall Trends”
- Thursday (5/14) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +1,067 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 27,813), +72 Hospitalizations (to 3,592), +28 Deaths (to 955) From Yesterday
- Governor Northam Calls for Increased COVID-19 Testing in Two Federally-Run Detention Facilities
- Virginia’s April 2020 Revenue Report Shows Collections Down 26.2% From Previous Year, Due to COVID-19, Income Tax Payment Extensions
- Dominion Just Proved That the Virginia Clean Economy Act Won’t Stop It From Continuing to Push Climate-Killing Fossil Fuels
- Do Electric Co-ops Speak For Their Members? Not Us.
- Activist Groups Demand Protections for Vulnerable Communities, Frontline Workers Before Re-Opening Virginia
- Walmart blasts Virginia regulator’s report on pricing, biomass in Dominion’s proposed 100% renewable energy tariff
- Editorial: Today’s reopening will put more Virginians at risk (“The governor’s plan to reopen Virginia begins today and will inevitably risk the health and safety of front-line workers.”)
- Virginia won’t require people to search for jobs to get unemployment checks in Phase 1
- County Where Sheriff Is Refusing Northam’s Order Has Higher Per Capita Cases Than Hardest Hit Areas (“A Culpeper sheriff is refusing to keep Gov. Ralph Northam’s stay-at-home order in place, even though his county has a higher number of cases per capita than many other northern Virginia counties, including Fairfax, which has the most cases in the state.”)
- BREAKING: Governor Northam Delays Phase One for Accomack County and the City of Richmond
- Northam grants Richmond and Accomack County’s requests to delay reopening due to COVID-19 cases
- Editorial: Where is the urgency? More outreach is needed to close Richmond’s census divide
- Northam grants Phase One exception to Richmond, delaying city’s reopening
- Arlington’s School Board Caucus Furthers North-South Inequities With Vote-By-Mail Process
- Virginia DMV locations in Virginia Beach and Hampton to reopen for appointments only
- Some Richmond Public School teachers, administrators at odds over timing of new curriculum roll-out
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