Friday News: “America Didn’t Give Up on Covid-19. Republicans Did”; “Biden rips Trump’s coronavirus response and Obamacare assault in fiery speech: ‘A new pre-existing condition’”; “Bill Barr Is Eroding the Rule of Law. Don’t Let Him Get Away With It.”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, June 26.

• Why Did Kim Jong-un’s Sister Become the Face of North Korea? (“He’s fierce. She’s fiercer. Or so goes their game.”)
• First Thing: Covid-19 has made the US a ‘pariah nation’ (Nope, actually it was Trump’s mishandling of Covid-19 that made the US a “pariah nation”)
• U.S. Postpones Balkan Peace Summit, in Blow to Trump Foreign Policy
• Scientists just beginning to understand the many health problems caused by COVID-19
• Many Latinos Couldn’t Stay Home. Now the Virus Is Soaring in the Community. (“Rates of coronavirus infection among Latinos have risen rapidly across the U.S.”)
• A Devastating New Stage of the Pandemic (“The U.S. has seen more cases in the past week than in any week since the pandemic began.”)
• CDC chief says cases may be 10 times higher than reported
• U.S. Breaks Record for Daily Coronavirus Cases
• America Didn’t Give Up on Covid-19. Republicans Did.
• Nothing in America fits the GOP’s ‘back to normal’ fantasy
• Defense Secretary Faces White House Pressure on Aides and a Military Promotion
• Republicans are choosing rosy assessments of coronavirus that do not match reality
• As Virus Surges, Younger People Account for ‘Disturbing’ Number of Cases (“People in their 20s, 30s and 40s account for a growing proportion of the cases in many places, raising fears that asymptomatic young people are helping to fuel the virus’s spread.”)
• States pause reopening plans as new coronavirus cases hit a single-day record
• Trump’s post-Covid bubble is popping (“The US hit a single-day record for new coronavirus cases, suggesting the sacrifices made by millions of Americans who stayed at home might have been in vain”)
• Judge Tosses Trump Family Attempt to Block Mary Trump’s Tell-All
• Inside Barr’s Effort to Undermine Prosecutors in N.Y.
• Bill Barr Is Eroding the Rule of Law. Don’t Let Him Get Away With It.
• Attorney General Barr Says DOJ Acts Independent Of Trump’s Interests (LOL, good one Bill!)
• Senate panel votes 21-1 to back Justice IG measure over Graham objections (Seriously, what does Trump have on Graham?!?)
• The House just passed a sweeping police reform bill (“It’s not expected to go anywhere in the Senate, however.” Not now, but next year, after this November’s elections?)
• House passes broad police overhaul bill (“The measure would ban chokeholds and establish a national database to track police misconduct. President Trump has said the bill goes too far, and Senate Republicans prefer a measure with incentives to change police practices.”)
• Trump administration wants drilling on more than two-thirds of the largest swath of U.S. public land (Heinous.)
• Trump says the coronavirus is ‘going away.’ His own task force disagrees. (In fact, as is usually the case with Trump, reality is the polar opposite of whatever he says.)
• Black Lives Matter network debunks Trump Twitter post
• Trump lashes out at Black Lives Matter (“The president accused one of the movement’s members of treason and lamented a reported plan for a New York mural in front of Trump Tower.” Yeah, because accusing everyone you dislike of “treason” is *totally* normal!)
• Joe Biden and the empathy gap (“…the more significant moment might have been when the presumptive Democratic nominee offered what may be the longest soliloquy yet in this campaign to the emotional hardships countless Americans are enduring due to the constraints of social distancing.”)
• Kamala Harris: Getting to be kind of a lock here.
• Democrats vow complacency won’t be issue as Biden builds lead
• ‘He’s like a child’: Biden slams Trump’s handling of coronavirus pandemic amid ‘heartless crusade’ to end Obamacare
• Biden rips Trump’s coronavirus response and Obamacare assault in fiery speech: ‘A new pre-existing condition’
• Obamacare Must ‘Fall,’ Trump Administration Tells Supreme Court
• Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare (Absolutely nuts. But watch the stolent Supreme Court seat guy and ILIKEBEERDOYOULIKEBEER dude vote for this.)
• Trump administration asks Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare amid pandemic, recession
• The Week It Went South for Trump
• Trump entrenched in failed strategy as virus surges and polling drops
• Fox News Poll: Biden leads in Florida as Trump lags among seniors
• Fox News Poll: Texas tossup, Biden-Trump a one-point race
• Fox News Poll: Trump and Biden in close race in Georgia
• Wall Street executives brace for a potential Biden win as Trump fades in polls
• The Betting Markets Are Betting Big on Biden
• Trump Regulators Just Rolled Back a Major Obama Era Bank Reform (Just a reminder that the Trump administration keeps doing really bad shit.)
• This moment for lasting reform on racial inequities didn’t come cheap. Don’t waste it.
• 11 Republican attorneys general ask Congress to shut down criticism of police
• Trump and the statues: He still thinks provoking conflict will get him re-elected (“Despite the tear gas and Tulsa, Trump still believes he can win by inciting cops to crack protesters’ skulls”)
• A Major GOP Nightmare Moves a Step Closer to Reality (“The House will vote today to grant D.C. statehood. The Senate won’t, of course, but the long-overdue day is coming.”)
• Brad Parscale, Other Trump Staff in Quasi-Quarantine After Tulsa COVID Cases
• Fox’s prime-time shows have covered the toppling of statues more than 3 times as much as coronavirus this week (“Tucker Carlson Tonight, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle ran 27 segments on the statues and just six on the coronavirus” Of course, coronavirus is orders of magnitude more important than statues, but this the Fox reality distortion network, so…)
• Fox anchor talked about Biden being in his basement just minutes after the network ignored his speech in Pennsylvania (Fox is a disgrace, part infinity.)
• The Latest Senate Polls Show Some Good News For Democrats (Headlines at FiveThirtyEight.com are so predictable; every time they say *anything* encouraging about Democrats, literally the next word will be “But…” Same thing here, with “But Republicans are running ahead in Alabama and Kentucky.”)
• Tom Cotton: DC shouldn’t be a state because it’s not ‘working class’ like Wyoming
• Tom Cotton Is Nuttier Than a Bag of Squirrels
• Democratic Lawmakers Include Renewables Incentives In US Infrastructure Bill
• By 2029, Half of New US Wind Installations Will Be Offshore (“The U.S. offshore wind sector will start to take off in 2023 when the 800-megawatt Vineyard Wind project comes online to supply Massachusetts customers.”)
• Facebook faces trust crisis as ad boycott grows
• Verizon is pulling advertising from Facebook and Instagram
• Amazon to Rename Seattle Venue as Climate Pledge Arena (“Site would be world’s first net-zero carbon certified arena, project developers say”)
• How Arizona ‘lost control of the epidemic’
• North Texas family shaken after 18 relatives test positive for COVID-19 following family gathering
• Sen. Warner, Daniel Gade discuss upcoming 2020 election battle
• Sen. Kaine pushes bill to help students with emergency financial aid
• Audio: 2021 VA GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Amanda Chase (R) Says People Would Be “So Triggered” If We Had a “White History Month” or “White Legislative Caucus”
• Video: VA GOP May Have Another 2021 Gubernatorial Candidate…and It’s a REALLY Bad One (Among other things, Bill Carrico literally walked off the Senate floor rather than listen to an opening prayer by a Muslim)
• Clean Virginia Spends $200,000 in First Contribution to Candidates for Virginia Governor (“Sen. McClellan and Del. Carroll Foy each receive $100,000 for gubernatorial bids”)
• Editorial: 4 observations about the coming Democratic race for governor
• AG Mark Herring Defends Gun Violence Prevention Measures [UPDATE: “AG Herring WINS one-handgun-a-month lawsuit”]
• Virginia judge rejects effort to block handgun-a-month law
• Thursday (6/25) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +432 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 59,946), +40 Hospitalizations (to 5,995), +14 Deaths (to 1,675) From Yesterday
• Live Video: Gov. Ralph Northam Holds Press Conference on COVID-19, etc.
• Northam: Virginia still on track to enter Phase 3 despite surges in other states
• Health officials shift to ‘sentinel surveillance’ for COVID-19 as Virginia moves to Phase 3 reopening
• Pandemic workplace safety regulations, first of their kind in U.S., advance in Virginia
• ’These decisions are tough’: Northam affirms 1,000 patron limits for amusement parks after Busch Gardens announces plans to remain closed
• Northam says state will use $50M in federal funds to help residents pay housing costs; asks circuit courts to extend bans on evictions
• Behind bars during a pandemic: Virginia inmates and guards tell us what it’s like
• Editorial, June 26, 2020: Protesters shouldn’t be tearing down statues (“Bring them down but leave that to the professionals. Mobs tearing down statues with ropes and chains is not only dangerous, the practice speaks to a frightening, violent anger that does little to effect the real change so desperately needed.”)
• Virginia universities propose $200 million plan for coronavirus testing during upcoming school year
• VLBC Statement on Announcement of the Virginia Rent and Mortgage Relief Program
• Virginia Is Inefficient: The Department of Housing & Community Development Can Do Something About This
• AG Mark Herring Sues Advanced Towing; “allegedly took part in ‘frequently predatory, aggressive, overreaching and illegal’ business practices”
• Virginia House Democrats Enhance Rights for Victims of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence
• Virginia college students take first-place honors at wind turbine design contest
• BREAKING: Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor Files Hate Crimes, Other Charges Against KKK “President” Who Rammed His Truck Into Peaceful Protesters
• ‘Offensive, inappropriate’ — Loudoun Co. treasurer addresses ‘Aunt Jemima’ Facebook post
• Amid local, national calls to end police presence in schools, Roanoke Valley districts seem unlikely to acquiesce
• Roanoke County Public Schools unveils plan for daily, staggered in-person classes based on grade level
• Four arrested after police again declare unlawful assembly at Lee monument Wednesday night
• Commonwealth Times Stands Out Amid Protest Coverage (Agreed, amazing job!)
• Albemarle to meet to discuss Confederate statue July 1
• CPD wants to charge four with vandalism over spraypaint protest
• Sunny, rain-free and toasty today; turning steamier this weekend