by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, June 17.
- North Korea blows up a strategic building to try to blackmail the U.S. and South Korea (“The destruction was a very loud wake-up call for those who still believe that Pyongyang has any interest in dismantling its nuclear arsenal.”)
- BP Adopts $100 Carbon Price Assumption for 2030, With Big Implications for Clean Energy (“Are Europe’s oil majors finally ready to supersize their low-carbon businesses?”)
- Himalayan flashpoint could spiral out of control as India and China face off
- India and China just had their deadliest clash since the 1960s (“Experts warn there’s no off-ramp to lower tensions right now.”)
- The China-India Border Dispute Just Got Real
- Putin takes an American hostage. Trump seems fine with that.
- Trump Could Still Break Democracy’s Biggest Norm
- Emissions Are Surging Back as Countries and States Reopen (Greeeeaaat.)
- Brazil Reports Big Surge In Coronavirus Infections (Reminder that Brazil’s president is a Trump-style disaster in every way.)
- Top UN official condemns ‘systemic’ US police killings and urges radical changes (“Agnès Callamard, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, says killing of Rayshard Brooks ‘makes my stomach turn’”)
- To prepare for next pandemic, U.S. must change national security priorities, experts say
- Absent From Stimulus Packages: Overhauling Energy, Climate Programs (MASSIVE mistake)
- Is Trump Trying to Spread Covid-19? (“Does he start each day wondering what expert advice to ignore next?” Seems like it.)
- Face masks are vital to stopping the spread of the virus. Wear one.
- Coronavirus is back, and spreading — but let’s blame Trump, instead of each other (“An indefinite lockdown was always unsustainable, but Trump’s lack of a plan led to our current predicament”)
- Trump’s ‘woeful’ police reform order leaves systemic racism intact, critics say
- 2020 Electoral Map Ratings: Biden Has An Edge Over Trump, With 5 Months To Go (This is about as pro-Trump a map as you could draw. NPR continues to suck.)
- Biden opens 13-point advantage as Trump popularity drops to seven-month low: Reuters/Ipsos poll (“Biden’s advantage is the biggest recorded by the Reuters/Ipsos poll since Democrats began their state nominating contests this year to pick their party’s nominee to challenge Trump in November. A similar CNN poll from earlier this month showed Biden with a 14-point lead over Trump among registered voters.”)
- Trump’s push for major infrastructure bill faces GOP opposition
- If Republicans are struggling in Iowa, they are in deep trouble
- Trump scrambles to suppress inconvenient information with Bolton book and coronavirus (“The President doesn’t want Americans to see information that could harm the narrative he has constructed”)
- Trump Could Still Break Democracy’s Biggest Norm
- The President* Has a Landfill for a Brain (That’s an insult to perfectly good landfills everywhere!)
- Forget vaccines and treatments. The very stable genius has a foolproof coronavirus cure. (“If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any”)
- Fauci: No Need for a Second Lockdown for COVID-19 (“The infectious-diseases specialist doesn’t think we’ll have another New York City. But he’s nervous about re-openings and said he personally wouldn’t go to Trump’s rallies.”)
- Mike Pence’s abrupt Covid shift (Pence is about the last person anyone should listen to on COVID-19… or anything else, really.)
- Trump administration dismisses COVID-19 spikes as nothing to worry about
- In Trump Years, It Feels Like Late in His Second Term
- Scientists Warn Against Consumer Protection Nominee
- Retail Sales Data Shows the CARES Act Is Working
- Trump says Obama didn’t reform policing. But he did and then the president ditched it. (Trump lies again. And again. And again…)
- Suspect in killing of 2 Bay Area cops tied to right-wing Boogaloo group, prosecutors allege (Yep, let’s hear Trump, Corey Stewart, etc. rant about *this*. Of course, they won’t.)
- Trump Considers Suing His Niece Over Her Tell-All Book, Saying She Signed an NDA (“The president has long favored using legal threats to stop people from writing bad books about him. Going after his own family may be next.”)
- Charles Koch’s Radical Free Market Ideology Is Not a Symptom of America’s Disastrous Response to COVID-19. It’s a Cause.
- Trump’s Rally Could Be a ‘Perfect Storm’ for the Virus, Tulsa Officials Fear
- Judge denies Oklahoma residents’ bid to block Trump’s rally because of coronavirus fears
- Google and Facebook Are Cracking Down on the Far Right (“Google banned Zero Hedge from its ad platform while Facebook took down accounts associated with white supremacist groups, as big tech’s role in the racial justice movement continues to come under scrutiny.”)
- Google bans two websites from its ad platform over protest articles
- If The Supreme Court Lets The Electoral College Vote However It Wants, Will Chaos Ensue? (“Probably not”)
- Sen. John Cornyn showed he has no idea what systemic racism is (Cornyn is a stone-cold moron, among other bad things.)
- It’s Not Just Trump—the GOP Is Getting Crueler and Crazier (“In Virginia, a GOP House incumbent who was in the Freedom Caucus just lost a primary. He wasn’t right-wing enough. This is where we’re headed.”)
- Albuquerque shooting the latest example of fringe actors at protests
- McConnell ‘OK’ with removing Confederate names from bases
- Baseball’s Disastrous Spring Feels Like an Existential Crisis (“At this point, does it even matter when the sport comes back?”)
- Trump Campaign Asks Donors to Convention With $1 Million Package
- Nebraska Democrats renounce their Senate pick over comments (“Janicek, the owner of an Omaha cupcake bakery, is challenging Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, who is seeking a second term. Janicek accepted the Democratic nomination a little more than a month ago after winning a seven-candidate primary race, but the odds of winning in November were against him in Republican-dominated Nebraska even before his party withdrew its support.”)
- A Virginia incident reflects the reality of being black in America
- Buffalo protester Martin Gugino has a fractured skull and cannot walk
- ‘We just need a win’: The left unites to take down Eliot Engel
- Tucker Carlson assures his viewers they “are not crazy” for watching his show
- Fox News Stars Push Shake Shack Cop Poisoning Claim Even After NYPD Debunked It (Just a reminder that Fox is right-wing propaganda, not real news.)
- Nine ways Fox has pushed disinformation about civil unrest to terrify its audience (“The network can’t stop pushing hoaxes on its website, on Twitter, and on its airwaves”)
- Video: Sen. Tim Kaine Speaks in Support of the “Justice in Policing Act of 2020”
- Lopez: Trump Set The Stage For Economic Disaster: Now, Virginians Are Feeling The Pain
- It’s Not Just the VA-5 GOP Lurching to the Far Right; VA-10 GOP Has Resolution to Require Mandatory Ultrasounds
- Stronger LGBTQ+ Rights Soon Enforced in Virginia…Thanks to Virginia Democrats
- Five Years of Trump’s Broken Promises to Virginia’s Military
- Live Video: Gov. Ralph Northam Holds Press Conference on COVID-19, etc. [UPDATE: Northam Announces Juneteenth as State Holiday]
- Democratic legislators take majority on tobacco commission, wipe out Senate GOP presence on some panels
- Mid-Year Campaign Finance #s: Alexsis Rodgers Outraises Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney >10:1; Jody Wagner (D) FAR Outraises VA Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer (R)
- Tuesday (6/16) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +445 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 55,331), +55 Hospitalizations (to 5,643), +18 Deaths (to 1,570) From Yesterday
- Virginia will not move into phase 3 this week, Gov. Ralph Northam says
- Jen Kiggans: Virus shows need to improve long-term care in Virginia
- Video: Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney Announces Resignation of Police Chief, Other Changes, After What He Calls “One of the Most Challenging Periods of My Life”
- Protesters Demonstrate Outside Mayor Stoney’s Apartment, Pull Down Confederate Statue At VCU
- Richmond mayor ousts police chief after days of protests, clashes; Confederate statue toppled on VCU campus
- Virginia Beach native Pharrell joins Gov. Northam to announce Juneteenth will be a state holiday
- Pharrell, Northam Address Protests, Declare Juneteenth Holiday
- Ship repair company plans to bring 300 jobs to Newport News’ Southeast Community in $64 million investment
- Virginia’s proposed workplace safety rules would make social distancing mandatory
- Loudoun County’s Republican Sheriff Stands with Trump at White House Announcement on Police Reform
- Stephen C. Piepgrass and Miranda A. Dore column: As Virginia enters Phase 2 of COVID-19 recovery, groups must reassess public meeting obligations
- Advocates warn environmental rollbacks threaten Va. minority communities
- Photos refute Brackney’s claim of VSP’s role in protest (“’I don’t have any knowledge of any state troopers driving city cars,’ Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney said. ‘They didn’t have our vehicles and don’t have our vehicles.'”)
- Protesters tear down another Confederate statue in Richmond
- Confederate Howitzer monument torn down on VCU campus
- Video, Photos from Richmond Police HQ Monday Night; “Police are using explosives and smoke on demonstrators”
- Third Confederate statue toppled by protesters in Richmond in recent weeks (“The Richmond Howitzers Monument near Virginia Commonwealth University was damaged Tuesday evening.”)
- Arlington County to focus on equity during pandemic recovery (Good. Also add in environmental sustainability.)
- From housing to dining, Virginia Tech to require students to ‘adult in a very different way’
- Loudoun Clergy and Faith Leaders Group call for Leesburg Confederate statue’s removal
- Editorial: Argument against James River lines lacks power
- Petition urges Franklin County to remove Confederate soldier statue from courthouse
- Daily chance of showers through the weekend; summer heat on brief hiatus
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