Thursday News: “‘Obamagate’ Is Trump’s Name for the Crimes He’s Trying to Commit Himself”; “William Barr’s Scheme to Exonerate Michael Flynn Just Hit a Brick Wall”; How Virginia Juked Its COVID-19 Statistics”; “What part of ‘zero’ doesn’t Dominion understand?”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, May 14.

• Coronavirus live news: global deaths near 300,000 as WHO says Covid-19 may never disappear (“Japan expected to ease state of emergency in many regions; Russia has second highest number of infections; Wuhan mass testing begins”)
• IEA Sees Oil Market Improving Amid Sharp Drop in Production
• France Threatens Big Fines for Social Media With Hate-Speech Law (“Social-media companies must remove content deemed hateful in France within 24 hours, or face fines of up to 4% of global revenue”)
• Virus Could Be Here to Stay, and Economic Pain Long-Lasting (“The coronavirus might become endemic in our communities and “may never go away,” said Mike Ryan, head of the W.H.O. emergency response team. New figures are expected to show that more than two million U.S. workers filed for unemployment last week. Although the weekly tally has been declining since late March, the latest count is likely to push the eight-week total above 35 million. Here’s the latest.”)
• Fed warns more cash is needed as US figures reveal widening inequality (“Jerome Powell: pace of downturn ‘without modern precedent’”
• Storm clouds gather over U.S. stocks as hopes of quick recovery fade
• Wall Street Heavyweights Sound Alarm About Stock Prices
• Black light experiment shows how quickly a virus like Covid-19 can spread at a restaurant
• Millions of U.S. Workers Continue Filing Jobless Claims
• US immunologist warns of ‘darkest winter’ if virus rebounds
• Ousted Scientist Says ‘Window Of Opportunity’ To Fight Coronavirus Is Closing
• America’s True Covid Toll Already Exceeds 100,000 (“The reported numbers leave out thousands of deaths clearly resulting from the pandemic.”)
• Expert Explainer: What the Trump Administration Doesn’t Understand About Vaccines
• Mitch McConnell goes after the wrong president (Or maybe racist scumbag McConnell just likes going after the black guy?)
• How the Coronavirus is Killing the Middle Class (“As the economic shutdown prompted by the pandemic stretches on, many who were already struggling to make ends meet have begun to feel the strains of debts without the assurance of income.”)
• We don’t have a president, or a plan (“60 days into the coronavirus crisis, the White House does not have a plan, a framework, a philosophy, or a goal.”)
• Trump to name former pharma exec as vaccine czar
• Experts’ 7 best ideas on how to beat Covid-19 and save the economy (“Trump could do a lot more.”)
• Ex-F.B.I. Official Is Said to Undercut Justice Dept. Effort to Drop Flynn Case
• Coronavirus government response updates: Trump rejects Fauci’s caution on reopening schools
• ‘Obamagate’: Trump seeks to draw Biden into conspiracy theory (“Obama alumni dismiss ‘sideshow’ as distraction effort”)
• Obamagate! Trump is peddling a new fake scandal — but reality is causing him big problems (“Sure, Bill Barr and Fox News will play along with this latest distraction. But there’s no way around 83,000 deaths”)
• ‘Obamagate’ Is Trump’s Name for the Crimes He’s Trying to Commit Himself (Yep, it’s 100% “projection”)
• Not Even the People Ranting About “Obamagate” Know What It Is
• Republicans Release Names of Obama-Era Officials in ‘Unmaskings’ That Revealed Flynn
• The House is at last moving toward being able to govern in a crisis
• Abbott Virus Test Used at White House Faces Accuracy Concern
• Judge slams the brakes on William Barr’s abuse of power
• What voters and Pelosi know that Trump does not (“Trump misses the biggest worry among voters: their lives.”)
• Will the courts thwart Trump’s overreach?
• William Barr’s Scheme to Exonerate Michael Flynn Just Hit a Brick Wall
• FBI serves warrant on senator in investigation of stock sales linked to coronavirus
• Court asks retired judge to oppose Justice Dept. effort to drop Michael Flynn case, examine if ex-Trump adviser committed perjury
• Federal judge mulls contempt charge against Michael Flynn
• McConnell pines for Pompeo as Kansas chaos looms (“Republicans fear they could lose a critical Senate seat if the secretary of State doesn’t run.”)
• Republicans divided over how to help states hit hard by coronavirus
• Senate narrowly rejects new limits on internet surveillance
• The Supreme Court Isn’t Eager to Let Faithless Electors Blow Up the 2020 Election (“No justice seemed prepared to let 538 obscure party loyalists choose the next president.”)
• The Electoral College Is a Confusing Mess
• Right-wing America’s obsession with ‘liberty’ is built on a big misunderstanding (“What might happen if we were to understand liberty as a type of freedom that holds us accountable for the welfare of all Americans?”)
• NeverTrump becomes NeverRepublican
• Fox’s weekslong campaign to downplay America’s coronavirus death toll
• The Fox cabinet is trying to get Fauci fired
• Biden Names Ocasio-Cortez, Kerry to Lead His Climate Task Force, Bridging Democrats’ Divide
• The Pros And Cons Of 12 Potential Running Mates For Joe Biden
• Biden’s Latino outreach under fire: ‘I can’t tell what their strategy is’ (“Though he has shifted left on immigration policy, prominent Latinos don’t see a game plan to marshal Hispanic voters in the fall.”)
• Democratic Women Urge Stronger Biden Response in Tara Reade Case
• States Keep Failing Black People (“The great racial imbalance in Covid-19’s effect and the violent killings of black people are related.”)
• GOP wins special election in California after Democrat concedes (Swingy, historically Republican district that Dems took in the 2018 midterms, and hopefully win back in November)
• The police shooting of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed in her apartment, explained (“An essential worker, Taylor was fatally shot in March. Her death is just starting to get national attention now”)
• ‘Calls to violence’: Michigan Gov. Whitmer says armed protests could lengthen stay-at-home order
• The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s conservative majority strikes down state stay-home order
• Wis. supreme court strikes down extension of stay-at-home order (Activist right-wing court strikes again.)
• Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA02), Donald McEachin (D-VA04) Named to Biden/Sanders “Unity Task Forces”
• Video: On Senate Floor, Sen. Mark Warner Calls for Paychecks for Laid-Off, Furloughed Workers (Warner “warns of economic depression, calls for Paycheck Security program to assist workers and businesses impacted by COVID-19”)
• How can Metro mount a recovery from the pandemic?
• Luria demands $20 million in funding to support Virginia fisheries
• Good responds to corruption accusations by Riggleman’s campaign (“It’s sad to have a congressman who is completely dishonest, who is doing anything he can to hold on to power and to see the levels that he’s sinking to. Everything that he’s alleging, and I say that again, emphatically, everything he’s alleging is dishonest”)
• Audio: Jerry Falwell Muses What Would Have Happened If “80-Year-Old Egghead Doctor Like Anthony Fauci” Were Advising on “The Public Health of Our Soldiers” During WW2 (Also: “Obama knows that [U.S. Attorney for Connecticut] John Durham is going to bring the hammer down”)
• Hogan joins Northam in allowing hard-hit localities to opt out of reopening
• How Virginia Juked Its COVID-19 Statistics (“The state is combining results from viral and antibody tests in the same statistic. This threatens to confound America’s understanding of the pandemic.”)
• What percent positivity can — and can’t — tell us about Virginia’s COVID-19 epidemic
• ‘Our numbers are not there’: Northern Va. leaders praise delay of Phase I
• Working Groups to Northam: Recommendations Should Be Requirements
• What part of ‘zero’ doesn’t Dominion understand? (“Dominion’s IRP, however, does not accept the challenge to get off fossil fuels. It rejects the challenge, directing a giant middle finger at the governor and the General Assembly. Dominion’s ‘preferred’ plan keeps the utility’s existing fracked gas generating plants — currently 40 percent of its electric generation — operating through 2045. The IRP acknowledges this violates the law, so it argues against the law. “)
• Live Video, Highlights: Gov. Ralph Northam’s Wednesday (5/13) Virginia COVID-19 Briefing
• Video: Del. Jay Jones (D-Norfolk) Announces He’s “Exploring a Run for Attorney General of Virginia in 2021”
• ‘Our numbers are not there’: Northern Va. leaders praise delay of Phase I
• Virginia is Allowing Some Business to Reopen, But These Owners Aren’t Sure
• What It Will Take For NoVa To Reopen With The Rest Of The State
• Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Strongly Opposes Plans to Begin Phase One of the “Forward Virginia” Plan on May 15
• Black Lawmakers Assail Virginia Governor Over Reopening Plans
• AG Mark Herring Sues Trump Administration for Abandoning Enforcement of Federal Environmental, Public Health Laws
• Virginia GOP Okay With Parole…As Long As No One Gets Paroled
• Virginia sees new voter registrations plummet in April
• Wednesday (5/13) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +946 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 26,746), +125 Hospitalizations (to 3,520), +36 Deaths (to 927) From Yesterday
• Virginia Beach merchants fret over beach closures as Memorial Day approaches
• The Future of Appalachia Depends on an Economic, Clean, Consistent Source of Energy
• Schapiro: Va. Republicans imitate Trump while political distancing
• NEW REPORT: State police pilot not trained in situation that led to fatal crash after Charlottesville rally in 2017
• Christopulos: Tulsa-based union is poorly informed about COVID-19 and MVP in Virginia
• Donna P. Henry column: Va.’s colleges and universities are working to reopen this fall
• Editorial: Air quality report leaves room for improvement (“The American Lung Association’s ‘State of the Air’ report has positive marks for Hampton Roads, though there is more work to be done.”)
• Virginia ABC to expand outdoor dining for businesses, potentially into parking lots, sidewalks
• Carilion seeks donations of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients
• Roanoke gym owner challenges charge of violating closure order
• Cristina Diaz-Torres: What Comes Next? Creating Pathways to Success for All Arlington Students When They Return to School
• Fancy Virginia restaurant to serve stylish mannequins (LOL)
• Newport News plans to hold graduations in Todd Stadium with no more than 10 people at a time
• Up over 70 today, and then topping 80 Friday and Saturday before trending cooler