by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise (e.g., COVID-19) for Thursday, June 25.
- The Decline of the American World (“Other countries are used to loathing America, admiring America, and fearing America (sometimes all at once). But pitying America? That one is new.”)
- PV module prices are falling faster than all predictions
- Has Covid-19 brought us closer to tackling climate change?
- Big Oil’s Long Bet on Hydrogen Offers a Climate Lifeline (“The clean-burning energy source is still too expensive to compete with fossil fuels, but oil companies are investing heavily.”)
- State officials, companies delay reopening measures after record high in new infections
- Coronavirus deaths trail surging infections but may catch up soon
- Coronavirus Cases Are Accelerating Across U.S.
- The only proper end to the Flynn case is to hear it to the end
- All the worrisome things happening at the DOJ could be just the tip of the iceberg
- The Flynn decision doesn’t pass the smell test
- Bolton casts light on Trump’s deference to China on coronavirus
- Bolton says Trump turned ‘a blind eye’ to the coronavirus pandemic (And to the climate crisis, which by the way is FAR more urgent and serious than the COVID-19 crisis…and COVID-19 is very serious!)
- COVID-19 crisis threatens democracy, leading world figures warn
- How the Virus Won (“Invisible outbreaks sprang up everywhere. The United States ignored the warning signs. We analyzed travel patterns, hidden infections and genetic data to show how the epidemic spun out of control.” Right, except it wasn’t the “United States” in general that “ignored the warning signs,” it was Trump and Trump death cultists.)
- The 3 most populous states are breaking coronavirus records, leading to fears of ‘apocalyptic’ surges
- U.S. Sets Record for Daily New Cases (“Nearly 37,000 infections were reported as the virus surged in the South and West. Pregnant women who contract the illness wind up in hospitals and I.C.U.’s at higher rates, a federal study suggested.”)
- U.S. hits highest single day of new coronavirus cases with more than 45,500, breaking April record (Utter debacle…thanks to Trump and to Trump Republicans more broadly.)
- Pandemic Races Through U.S., Forcing Grim Reality on States
- U.S. Recovery Looks to Be Ebbing in States With Virus Outbreaks
- Federal prosecutor, alleging political interference in Stone case, names names
- 5 takeaways from the scathing testimony about William Barr’s Justice Department
- All the worrisome things happening at the DOJ could be just the tip of the iceberg
- Analysts say Barr is eroding Justice Department independence — without facing any real personal consequence
- The Michael Flynn Case Is Being Dropped. The Bag Job Is Now Complete
- The court decision dismissing charges against Michael Flynn is astonishingly bad
- Feds Set To Cut Coronavirus Testing Funds As COVID-19 Cases Soar (Totally f’ed up and should be a huge scandal in and of itself, but…of course not.)
- Pence tries to assure GOP senators as coronavirus cases spike (Why would anyone ever be assured by anything Pence has to say on any topic?)
- Can We Call Trump a Killer? (“There is no way to remove his culpability in the neglectful handling of the coronavirus.”)
- Trump’s unhinged ‘treason’ accusation against Obama
- House’s $1.5 trillion infrastructure bill packed with pro-solar, pro-storage provisions
- Trump Is Feeding America’s Coronavirus Nightmare (“‘It’s going away’ only in the president’s delusion.”)
- A second senior economist is abruptly leaving the White House amid the ongoing economic crisis
- Why Senate Democrats just tanked the Republican police reform bill (“They think it doesn’t go far enough.” And they’re right.)
- House to pass sweeping police reform legislation
- Tuesday’s Primaries Weren’t Pretty for Trump
- Dozens of Secret Service officers and agents told to self-quarantine after Trump’s Tulsa rally
- Amid U.S. reckoning on race, Black candidates harness voters’ fervor for change
- Trump’s Sagging Popularity Drags Down Republican Senate Candidates (“A New York Times/Siena College poll paints a grim picture for Republicans in Arizona, Michigan and North Carolina as voters shun candidates aligned with the president.”)
- Progressive Black candidates swept key races on Tuesday
- Trump is headlining fireworks at Mount Rushmore. Experts worry two things could spread: virus and wildfire.
- Devin Nunes Can’t Sue Twitter Over Fake Cow Account, Judge Rules
- Senate Democrats Block G.O.P. Police Bill, Calling It Inadequate (“The vote reflected the waning likelihood that Congress would be able to reach an election-year compromise on legislation to address racial bias in policing.”)
- Trump’s campaign of delusion hits the rocks — and Republican women are bailing out (“A new Sun Belt spike in COVID-19 cases could be Trump’s Waterloo. Denying reality just isn’t working anymore”)
- The Memo: Trump hopes narrow as polls worsen
- Black Americans say racism, policing top issues for November, favor Biden by huge margin, Post-Ipsos poll finds
- Trump Is Now the 2020 Underdog (“It could in theory all change, or at least get a lot more interesting, but right now Donald Trump has become a clear 2020 underdog, and his situation could just as easily get worse instead of better. In the end we may realize that Trump’s mojo depended on his ability to pose as an insurgent outsider, and wasn’t transferable to an environment in which he was called upon to govern. And he may yet try, somehow, to run against the status quo for which he is now responsible. His 2016 upset is going to be a very tough act to follow.”)
- Trump Is Struggling to Run Against a White Guy
- GOP aghast as Trump’s polls sink amid divisive racial rhetoric: ‘It’s been a bad couple weeks’ (Note that these people aren’t “aghast” at Trump’s assault on the rule of law, the constitution, etc, etc., but they ARE “aghast” at his declining poll numbers. That really says it all about the Trump Republican Party.)
- Top GOP senator fears Trump is ‘soft’ with independents, urges shift in strategy
- Dems warm to Biden’s bunker strategy
- Delegates told to stay home for Joe Biden’s nominating convention in Milwaukee
- Showing Strength With White Voters, Biden Builds Lead in Battleground States (“A nine-point advantage across six key states, including leads of at least six points in each of them.”)
- Marquette poll: Joe Biden leads Donald Trump by 49% to 41% in Wisconsin
- Polls in Wisconsin and Ohio bring good news for Joe Biden (“…a new poll out of Ohio from Quinnipiac University shows a tied race in a state where Trump bested Hillary Clinton by 8 percentage points in 2016.”)
- Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Reveal Why Biden Is the Right Man to Lead America Past Trump (“‘It’s not just, ‘We gotta get rid of that fucking guy,’” the former “Daily Show” host said of Trump, telling Colbert that Biden might just be the ‘man of the moment.'”)
- Desperate Trumpists say civilization is on the ballot as Biden lead grows (Crazy people.)
- Minnesota Sues Exxon, Koch Over Climate Change
- The U.S. Military Has a Boogaloo Problem
- Wesley Lowery is right: Media’s notion of “neutrality” is an imaginary white guy (“Mainstream media’s quest for ‘neutrality’ and ‘objectivity’ has always been racially coded. Finally we can see that”)
- Facebook boycott gains momentum
- Why Did the Washington Post Get This Woman Fired? (“This is a mortifying tale about one woman’s cluelessness, but why did it end up in a major national newspaper?…The non-recent, non-criminal bad acts of non-public figures are not ordinarily considered news, and before June 17, Schafer was a graphic designer with no public profile and no apparent power or ambitions to obtain it. What was the point of publishing this story — at considerable length, accompanied by original photography from an acclaimed staff photographer, on the front page of the paper’s “Style” section — besides causing Schafer to lose her job?”)
- US politics: police officers fired in North Carolina over racial slurs video – live updates
- Right-wing media vilify Black Lives Matter as the movement grows
- Fox News prime time ignores allegation that Trump’s DOJ leaders improperly interfered on behalf of Roger Stone
- MSNBC Expected to Tap Joy Reid to Anchor Daily News and Opinion Program
- Why Are Some Journalists Afraid of “Moral Clarity”?
- Florida’s Idiocracy
- Southeast states to add nearly 15 GW of solar by 2023
- Voting during a pandemic doesn’t have to be a disaster. Look at Kentucky.
- Jamaal Bowman Declares Victory Over 16-Term Rep. Eliot Engel
- New York City will paint ‘Black Lives Matter’ on street in front of Trump Tower
- ‘The explosion has to slow down’: Texas hospitals on edge as coronavirus cases surge
- Editorial: Just how competitive is the 5th District now? (The Roanoke Times editorial board managed to write an entire piece on how competitive VA05 is *without* mentioning, somehow, that Bob Good still might not make the ballot and that Denver Riggleman might run as an independent and that VA05 GOP is badly divided. Other than that, great editorial, guys! LOL)
- Cameron Webb’s victory in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District shows strength of Black vote (Sure, but he got two-thirds of the vote in a four-way field, showing the strength of his candidacy in general, including his great appeal to Black AND to white voters!)
- Virginia Legislative Black Caucus calls for wide-ranging police reform, urges ‘immediate action’
- From banning chokeholds to ‘divesting’ from police, Va. Black Caucus rolls out reform agenda
- Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Priorities for Special Session (Address & Combat Racism; Police and Criminal Justice Reform; COVID-19 Relief and Protections)
- Terry McAuliffe may not see a second term (Riiiight, except that there’s no Ranked Choice Voting, which means it’s not a one-on-one matchup.)
- Wednesday (6/24) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +520 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 59,514), +42 Hospitalizations (to 5,955), +16 Deaths (to 1,661) From Yesterday
- After sharp drops, virus numbers may be starting to plateau in region
- Trump Fighting to Take Health Coverage from 741,000 Virginians
- Pandemic workplace safety regulations, first of their kind in U.S., advance in Virginia
- Virginia poised to create first pandemic workplace safety mandates in nation, as Trump labor agency sits on sidelines (“The governor’s office said the rules were prompted in large part by the lack of enforcement by the federal agency tasked with upholding workplace safety, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.”)
- Editorial: On pipeline project, a misplaced debate (This is a really dumb editorial by the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press. I mean, seriously? They don’t get that pipelines are a major part of natural gas infrastructure, and that without the pipelines, you can’t move the gas, which is an environmental disaster? Sounds like these editorial boards – or is it one editorial board for the two papers now that they’ve downsized? – are the ones who have gotten “lost” “badly” here.)
- Virginia’s COVID-19 “Reproduction Rate” (Rt) Around 0.76, Ranking Us 5th-Best in Country
- Video: Virginia Women’s Summit Features Rachel Bitecofer, Ashlei Blue with 2020 Election Predictions, Analysis
- Republican Virginia State Senator Calls Those Concerned About COVID-19 Spread “The Snitch Police”
- Entertainment venues in Virginia prepare to reopen under phase three
- Washington and Lee University professors discuss name change and removal of all references to the Confederacy
- Crowd gathers at Lee monument hours after Richmond police declared unlawful assembly
- A young black autistic man was sentenced to 50 years for a car crash. Tens of thousands of people are now calling for his freedom. (“More than 85,000 people have signed a petition in support of Matthew Rushin, and the 21-year-old’s family has asked Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to grant him a pardon.”)
- Newport News Confederate monument may not be moved until October
- University of Richmond releases statement on offensive social media video (“According to a statement, the university says they rescinded an offer of admission to an incoming student who posted the video online.”)
- Fairfax families have a choice for next school year: Two days on campus or full-time remote learning
- Fairfax County moves coronavirus testing event after backlash
- Black Lives Matter FXBG organizes downtown Pride parade
- Norfolk councilman Tommy Smigiel named principal of Granby High (“Smigiel is a longtime principal, but the School Board voted on his appointment in an unusually secretive way.”)
- Tidewater Community College campus in Chesapeake closed after employee tests positive for coronavirus
- Spotty showers today, but otherwise nice weather through Friday; steamy this weekend
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