Wednesday News: “Welcome to the End of the ‘Human Climate Niche’”; “Trump sows division and confusion as anxious country edges toward opening”; “2020 Virginia city, town election results”; “Virginia Is For…Potatoes!”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, May 20.

• China’s New Outbreak Shows Signs the Virus Could Be Changing
• China Vows Retaliation Over Pompeo’s Message to Taiwan’s Tsai
• Climate change is turning parts of Antarctica green, say scientists (“Researchers map ‘beginning of new ecosystem’ as algae bloom across surface of melting snow” Very, very bad news.)
• Climate change: Top 10 tips to reduce carbon footprint revealed (Live car free or switch to a clean-energy-powered electric car, ditch meat, make your home energy efficient, etc.)
• Global emissions plunged an unprecedented 17 percent during the coronavirus pandemic (“But scientists say the drivers of global warming could quickly bounce back as social distancing ends and economies rebound.”)
• Welcome to the End of the ‘Human Climate Niche’ (“The pandemic shows how hard it is going to be to adapt comfortably to climate change.”)
• Russia passes 300,000 cases; Spain mandates face masks for those over six
• Climate? We’re Too Busy Ignoring Pandemic Science.
• Global report: Brazil’s deadliest day as Trump calls US cases a ‘badge of honour’ (Wuuuuut?)
• Twitter Users Slam Trump’s ‘Ignorant’ Spin On High U.S. Coronavirus Cases, Testing
• Trump Is Playing the China Card. Who Believes Him?
• Trump threatens to permanently cut WHO funding if it doesn’t reform in 30 days (“Experts say it’s a foolish idea.”)
• The WHO has been more effective at fighting the coronavirus than Trump has. No wonder he hates it.
• Trump is his own — and his advisers’ — worst enemy (“Trump’s incoherence, ignorance and contempt for ethics are on display again.”)
• What we learned from Trump’s hydroxychloroquine claim (“Further evidence of Trump’s intellectual unfitness.”)
• Will Republican governors pay a price for their recklessness? (“They are risking their residents’ lives.”)
• Trump administration declassifies full Susan Rice email sent on Inauguration Day
• Pompeo’s elite taxpayer-funded dinners raise new concerns
• Servile Stooge Mike Pompeo Knows Just What the Boss Wants, and It Isn’t Democracy
• Scandal at State: A huge arms deal, a revolving-door lobbyist and the fired inspector general (“An $8 billion Saudi arms deal, a revolving-door lobbyist and a fired inspector general: Is Pompeo in trouble?” Lock Him Up?)
• Coronavirus Live Updates: All 50 States Have Eased Restrictions, but Rules Vary Widely (“Connecticut’s stay-at-home-order lifts today, making it one of the last states to return to business. C.D.C. guidance, rejected by the White House, is released…The coronavirus has killed at least 91,900 people in the United States, according to a New York Times database, and sickened more than 1.5 million.”)
• Trump’s preferred construction firm lands $1.3 billion border wall contract, the biggest so far
• Trump sows division and confusion as anxious country edges toward opening
• Trump, Barr and the Obamagate scam: there’s no there there. The Red Hats won’t care (“It’s Ukraine all over again: Trump doesn’t care if the charges stick — he just wants the appearance of wrongdoing”)
• Trump is taking hydroxychloroquine, White House confirms (Dangerous. And stupid.)
• ‘A moonshot mission’: Trump campaign eyes a return to megarallies
• ‘He’s ready to hit the trail’: Trump turns GOP lunch into campaign rally
• Asian American doctors and nurses are fighting racism and the coronavirus (Trump has stoked that through his anti-Chinese rhetoric.)
• Just how big could the map get for Democrats? (“Trump and Senate Republicans are in trouble in some surprising places.”)
• New GOP Reopening Plan: Put Right-Wing Doctors on TV to Parrot Trump Talking Points (“Republicans are trying to give Trump’s push to reopen ASAP an air of legitimacy, even as public health experts warn it could carry serious consequences.”)
• “With Obama He’s Going for the Jugular”: As Trump Goes After Obama, Some in Trumpworld See a “Big Risk” (“Frustrated with his campaign (he ‘feels he’s doing it all alone’), Trump has settled on a campaign bank shot: hit Obama to destroy Biden. But there’s a problem: ‘Obama can’t be ‘softened’ up.'”)
• In the battle of Biden vs. Trump, money may be less important than ever
• Why the Uncle Joe-Can’t-Internet Criticism Is Mostly Malarkey (“Joe Biden is definitely losing the internet—but the North Star of his campaign is the normie voter, which means it shouldn’t become a meme factory. The golden rule: ‘Does this work for Joe?'”)
• ‘WHAT IN GOD’S NAME IS HE DOING?’ Biden Blasts Trump’s Hydroxy
• Democrats give Biden an earful on VP choice (“Democrats are now unified behind Biden, and they’re cheering his pledge to pick a woman as his running mate this summer. They just can’t agree on who that woman should be.”)
• The future of cars is electric – but how soon is this future? (“According to a new report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, 58% of global passenger vehicle sales in 2040 will come from electric vehicles, yet they will make up less than 33% of all cars on the road.”)
• Will Kavanaugh Provide Cover for Trump?
• McConnell blocks help for abuse victims as lockdown puts them at greater risk
• Trump is purging the Pentagon of perceived enemies and installing loyalists in their place, critics say
• U.S. Birthrates Fall to Record Low (“Last year’s data are another sign of how American childbearing, which began declining during the 2007-09 recession, never fully rebounded”)
• Trump Thinks He Can Win the Election With Off-the-Rails Memes
• Trump’s Favorite TV Network Is Post-parody (“One America News is the straight truth for Trump fans, and completely surreal for everyone else.”)
• Plaintiff in Roe v. Wade U.S. abortion case says she was paid to switch sides
• After months away, pro-Trump commentators return to CNN
• How Tucker Carlson manipulates President Trump (“The Fox host skillfully plays to Trump’s grievances and blames advisers for his failures”)
• Fox & Friends has hosted 49 people to discuss coronavirus in the past 4 days. Only one was a medical professional.
• Two states that opened early questioned over public access to Covid-19 data (Two of the country’s worst governors are in Florida and Georgia.)
• Florida Ousts Top COVID-19 Data Scientist (WTF?)
• The Nightmare That Colleges Face This Fall
• Video: Sen. Mark Warner Questions Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Warns of “Long-Term Scars” the Current Economic Recession, or Depression, Could Incur
• Video: Trump, Who’s Massively Unopular in Virginia, Attacks the Far-More-Popular Governor Northam as “Crazy” (Northam responds: “As the only medical doctor among our nation’s governors, I suggest you stop taking hydroxychloroquine”)
• Gov. Northam suggests Trump stop taking malaria drug after president attacks Virginia’s gun control legislation
• While Trump Babbles About Guarding Virginia’s Potatoes, Governor Northam Highlights New Housing Resources and Eviction Protections
• New Virginia Poll: Gov. Ralph Northam at 59%-29% Approval; Joe Biden Crushing Donald Trump 51%-39%; Mark Warner Up 17 Points
• Tuesday (5/19) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +1,005 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 32,145), +82 Hospitalizations (to 3,904), +27 Deaths (to 1,041) From Yesterday
• AG Herring Again Successfully Defends Gov’s COVID-19 Safety Measures (VA Supreme Court denies review of Culpeper County lawsuit against Gov. Northam’s executive orders)
• COVID-19 Shapes the Future of Virginia Hospitals
• Williams: Virginia is divided about reopening. This pandemic is exploiting our divisions.
• Sen. Joe Morrissey files defamation lawsuit against former Rep. Barbara Comstock
• Virginia Department of Health names hospitals that received an experimental COVID-19 drug
• Richmond startup awarded $354 million federal contract to make ingredients for COVID-19 drugs (Very sketchy.)
• Old Dominion University president announces retirement plans
• Editorial: Broderick’s leadership served ODU, region well (“ODU President John Broderick announced that he would step down next year, ending a tenure that saw the school made great strides and remarkable growth.”)
• CCAN Activists Call on Governors Hogan and Northam to Only Reopen Based on Best Available Science (“If the fight against the climate crisis has taught us anything, it is that ignoring science leads to lives lost”)
• Patients Flock To Northern Virginia’s First No-Referral Public Testing Sites
• Q&A: The head of a Virginia efficiency nonprofit on navigating the pandemic
• ‘It’s important to vote’: Despite pandemic, residents in Ashland and around Va. vote in municipal elections
• Virginia voters cast in-person Election Day ballots, with distancing restrictions
• Longtime Norfolk School Board member Rodney Jordan locked in tight race (“Jordan and Billy Cook were neck and neck, with thousands of absentee ballots yet to be counted. Board Chairwoman Noelle Gabriel looked headed for an easy win.”)
• Chesapeake councilman in danger of losing seat as mayor looks headed to easy re-election (“Dwight Parker, who was first elected to the council in 1995, was in fifth place in the race for three seats. Retired NFL player and council newcomer Don Carey was leading.”)
• 2020 Northern Virginia Election Results: Haymarket mayor loses re-election (“In Fairfax City, Mayor David Meyer won re-election with 2,446 votes to Mark Angres’ 835 votes. Seven candidates were running for six council seats. The top six candidates were Joseph Harmon, Jon Stehle Jr., Janice Miller, So Lim, Sang Yi and Tom Ross.”)
• 2020 Virginia city, town election results
• Southwest Virginia elections and results – 5/19/2020
• Newcomers Rogers, Dent elected to Williamsburg City Council
• Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck apparent winner for 2nd term (“I’d like to think I’ve done a good job as mayor and we are on the right course”)
• Three candidates running for reelection hold leads in races for Newport News City Council
• Incumbents Greenlaw, Devine, Kelly win re-election to Fredericksburg council
• Newcomers elected in Radford; one school board seat still too close to call
• Salem voters choose 2 new faces for city council seats
• Data Shows Demographic Disparities in Arlington’s Coronavirus Cases (“New demographic data from the Virginia Dept. of Health shows that 51% of COVID-19 cases in Arlington are among those identified as Hispanic or Latino, while according to the county only 15% of the population is Hispanic or Latino. That data only includes instances in which ethnicity was reported…The two zip codes with the highest number of coronavirus cases and the highest test positivity rates are 22203 and 22204, both of which are home to sizable populations of Hispanic immigrants.”)
• DC parks second-best in nation, Arlington is 4th, according to new ranking
• Controversial 287(g) Program Causing Debate in Prince William County Once Again
• JUST IN: Tysons Corner Center Now Fully Open Again
• Richmond Looks At Expanding Outdoor Space For Businesses During Coronavirus Recovery
• Byrd statue on Capitol Square to get sign noting his role in Massive Resistance
• Still cloudy and cool, but not much rain for now; warmer and brighter this weekend