by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, May 22.
- Green Finance Goes Mainstream, Lining Up Trillions Behind Global Energy Transition (“After years of intermittent excitement and fizzled expectations, environmental-oriented investing is no longer just a niche interest” “’We’ve reached the tipping point and beyond,’ said James Chapman, chief financial officer at Dominion Energy Inc., one of the country’s biggest utilities. Dominion, which has begun issuing green bonds, is planning to spend $26 billion or more on clean energy such as wind and solar in the next five years.”)
- Climate change: G7 ministers agree new steps against fossil fuels
- If We Put Solar Panels on Top of Airports, We Could Power Entire Cities
- COVID-19 deaths in Latin America surpass 1 mln as outbreak worsens
- Myanmar junta leader says Suu Kyi will soon appear
- Is 1.5 Degrees Still Possible? (“Sudden decarbonization seems tantalizingly close, but steep challenges remain.”)
- China just became the second country to drive a rover on the surface of Mars
- Richest Nations Vow to Stop Supporting Overseas Coal Production (Good…should have happened many years ago. Ditch oil, too, of course.)
- Biden digs at Trump for giving Kim Jong Un ‘all that he’s looking for’
- Biden rejects Trump’s approach to North Korea, says he won’t give Kim Jong-Un ‘international recognition’ (“Biden used the example of former President Donald Trump’s high-profile meetings with Kim Jong-Un to illustrate what he, as president, would never do. Biden also announced that the United States would provide 550,000 South Korean service members with Covid-19 vaccines.”)
- Joe Biden, Crisis Diplomat
- Biden Wants A ‘Stable, Predictable’ Relationship with Russia. That’s Complicated
- Even with a Ceasefire, Israel Must Face a Changed Reality (“There is a growing sense that Israel cannot come out of this crisis the same country it was when it went into it.”)
- The Everyday Misery of Life Under Israeli Occupation
- Biden sees ‘genuine opportunity’ for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Could it actually happen?
- Biden says ‘no shift’ in commitment to Israel
- U.S. Learned From Past in Latest Israel-Hamas Conflict (“Biden administration officials made a conscious decision to avoid publicly clashing with Israel, in part because they believed an antagonistic U.S. approach aggravated tensions during the last conflict, in 2014.”)
- Biden scores a foreign policy victory in the Middle East. What’s next? (“The president plays the honest broker.”)
- Israel-Hamas War Showcased Iran’s Rocket Threat
- Palestinians return to devastated homes as UN calls for Gaza dialogue (“World leaders welcome ceasefire but Hamas and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu remain belligerent”)
- After High-Wire Act, Biden Faces Tough New Middle East Tests (“The administration is considering how to recalibrate its policy in the region in light of the cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians without distracting from other priorities.”)
- Israel-Hamas ceasefire holds, Egyptian mediators shuttle between the two sides
- Conflict Strengthens Netanyahu, but the Price is High (“The battle with Hamas may benefit Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel politically in the short term, but it leaves his underlying problems unresolved.”)
- Gaza’s humanitarian nightmare
- Eiffel Tower to Reopen in Mid-July After Suffering Heavy Losses
- A New Study Suggests It’s Safer For Schools To Keep Up With Mask Requirements
- Antisemitic incidents heightened across U.S. amid Israel-Gaza fighting; mosques were damaged, too (Totally unacceptable.)
- New York Police Investigate Beating of Jewish Man During Pro-Palestinian March
- Joe Manchin, please listen carefully to what Mitch McConnell just told you (“If one party is abandoning democracy, then protecting it in a bipartisan way might not be an option.”)
- Dems plead for more security cash as threats rise post Jan. 6 (“Opposition from GOP senators could mean months of delays for protective help that Democrats say is sorely needed for their personal safety.”)
- The new shape of the culture war is a revived Lost Cause (“Across the country, Republicans use political power to stamp out classroom discussions of racism.”)
- Key progressive initiatives stall in Congress as some on the left urge Biden to go bold, and go alone
- Biden’s negotiations with Republicans are making some Democrats anxious
- White House makes $1.7 trillion infrastructure counteroffer — but Republicans say sides now seem further apart (“The $600 billion in cost reductions came partly from shifting elements of the American Jobs Plan over to other legislation currently under consideration. In response, Republicans said the new proposal was still ‘well above the range of what can pass Congress with bipartisan support.'”)
- Gap With White House on Infrastructure Is Widening, GOP Says
- White House proposes smaller $1.7 trillion infrastructure package to try to sway skeptical Republicans (Forget Republicans, they have zero interest in compromise or in dealing honestly/fairly, only obstructionism.)
- GOP Balks as White House Cuts Infrastructure Price Tag to $1.7 Trillion
- White House budget plan set to leave out some health care proposals from campaign
- Where do social media platforms draw the line between expression and exploitation?
- Legal intrigue swirls over ex-Trump exec Weisselberg: Five key points
- Nancy Pelosi may be on to something when it comes to masks (“Shift the burden to unvaccinated Republicans.”)
- Standing up to Trump may not be so fatal anymore for Republicans
- Republican Rep. Gonzalez, who voted to impeach Trump, warns of a GOP ‘recipe for disaster’
- GOP efforts to downplay danger of Capitol riot increase
- At the Supreme Court, precedent takes a leave of absence
- Marjorie Taylor Greene Condemned For ‘Grotesque’ Face Masks-Holocaust Comparison
- Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn’t think white people can be terrorists
- Marjorie Taylor Greene compares House mask mandates to the Holocaust (Right, because protecting people from a deadly disease is exactly the same as mass murder and genocide.)
- Madison Cawthorn says his ‘service as a husband’ kept him from voting on bills (Alrighty…)
- GOP challenger to Cheney says he impregnated 14-year-old when he was 18: ‘It’s like the Romeo and Juliet story’ (Yuuuuuck.)
- There’s Money in the Democracy Destruction Biz
- Republicans Move to Limit a Grass-Roots Tradition of Direct Democracy (“Through ballot initiatives, voters in red states have defied legislators’ wishes and produced liberal outcomes in recent years. Republicans want to make the practice harder, or even eliminate it.”)
- The survivors of the Tulsa massacre deserve recompense. Congress should help make it happen.
- The Truth About January 6 Will Be in the Trials
- One year on, how George Floyd’s murder has changed the world
- George Floyd’s family to visit White House on Tuesday
- Fox News set off a wave of right-wing anger against Black Lives Matter with a fake headline
- Louisiana releases footage of Ronald Greene’s arrest that ex-officers say further erodes trust in police
- U.S. Attorney General Garland weighs release of Trump-era obstruction memo
- The GOP Welcomes the McCloskeys’ Sick, Sad American Dream
- Joe Biden Wants to Fire Right-Wing Radio Host Michael Savage From Board of National Park
- Who Is the Media Really For? — Emily Wilder is a promising young journalist.
- Hey conservatives, this is why liberals don’t believe you care about free speech (“If conservatives wonder why liberals aren’t inclined to trust their supposed concern for free speech, controversies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Associated Press would be a good place to start.”)
- America’s rich people could have saved local journalism — and perhaps democracy. They refused. (Appalling.)
- ‘Vulture’ Fund Alden Global, Known For Slashing Newsrooms, Buys Tribune Papers (So bad.)
- CNN’s Cuomo problem just keeps getting worse
- Trump is sliding toward online irrelevance. His new blog isn’t helping.
- New Idaho Law Calls For Killing 90% Of State’s Wolves (Barbaric and unacceptable.)
- Republicans lose patience with Arizona election audit
- In echo of Arizona, Georgia state judge orders Fulton County to allow local voters to inspect mailed ballots cast last fall (Why?!?)
- The mess in Maricopa
- Matt Gaetz’s ex-girlfriend to cooperate with federal authorities in sex trafficking investigation
- Epstein guards to skirt jail time in deal with prosecutors
- Bob Dylan at 80: in praise of a mighty and unbowed singer-songwriter
- Bill Gates’s Carefully Curated Geek Image Unravels in Two Weeks
- In Virginia, Trump’s election lies look like a GOP liability
- Virginia Rep. Bob Good calls on Gov. Northam to lift mask mandate for schools (Why would anyone listen to anything this extremist, bigot and insurrectionist has to say on any subject?)
- Governor Northam Announces Commonwealth’s Unemployment Rate Dropped to 4.7 Percent in April (“Virginia’s unemployment rate has decreased every month since last June and is edging closer to pre-pandemic record lows”)
- Video: At Press Conference in Roanoke, Democratic Leaders Contrast Glenn Youngkin’s Extreme Agenda With Democrats’ Accomplishments (Youngkin is “opposing most everything Biden is trying to do — especially with infrastructure”)
- Number of Twitter, Facebook Followers Didn’t Particularly Correlate to Virginia Republicans’ Order of Finish on 5/8. How Are Dems Looking Heading Into the 6/8 Primary?
- Raffles, event tickets, lifetime fishing licenses: Va. considers vaccine incentives, but no cash payments
- Friday (5/21) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Hospitalizations, 10-Day New COVID Cases Hover Near Lowest Points Since Early in Pandemic
- At least 52,000 Virginians ages 12 to 15 have gotten first COVID shot, driving up vaccination rates
- Editorial: Rural Virginia should welcome Biden’s new refugee cap (I generally won’t link to the Roanoke Times’ abysmally bad editorial board’s crap, but this one’s ok.)
- Trump-Loving Del. John McGuire’s Racist Slur Of Middle Easterners Demonstrates Why We Need To Help Democrat Blakely Lockhart Flip This Seat!
- Task force creating Richmond police oversight board publicly calls out Chief Smith
- Suit alleging admissions discrimination moves forward in Va. (“A federal judge ruled Friday that a parents’ group can move forward with a lawsuit alleging that new admissions policies at an elite public high school in northern Virginia discriminate against Asian Americans…At a hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, lawyers for the Fairfax County School Board urged the judge to dismiss the lawsuit entirely.”)
- Walker announces re-election campaign for City Council
- Loudoun School Board Reviews Transgender Student Policy
- Effort to get elected school board referendum on Roanoke ballot continues, with work to do
- D.C.-area forecast: Feeling like the middle of summer through the weekend
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