Thursday News: “Biden is reaching out to Republicans. But his real target is Joe Manchin.”; “Liz Cheney’s downfall shows the GOP threat to democracy is getting worse”; “How Long Can Trump’s GOP Stranglehold Last?”; “Colonial Pipeline Restarts: There’s No Need To Panic-Buy Gas (And Never Was)”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, May 13.

• India’s Crisis Marks a New Phase in the Pandemic (“In countries where the storm is lifting, it’s time to turn outward and help the rest of the world.”)
• Cities Are Woefully Unprepared for the Havoc of Climate Change
• EU carbon price running at level not expected until next year
• How Wind and Solar Power Got the Best of the Pandemic
• When Biden meets Putin: old foes could cool off but not reset
• Brazilian police target indigenous leaders after government criticism (Disgraceful.)
• Escalating Mideast violence bears hallmarks of 2014 Gaza war
• Israel vows not to stop Gaza attacks until there is ‘complete quiet’
• Israel-Hamas fighting poses test for Biden and exposes rifts among Democrats
• Israel’s army drafts Gaza ground operation plan as mob violence escalates
• What is going on between Israel and the Palestinians?
• Why This Round of Israeli-Palestinian Violence Feels Different (“There’s no more ‘peace process’ to go back to.”)
• As Gaza War Escalates, New Front Opens in Israeli Cities (“Rioting and mob violence between Arabs and Jews tore through towns and cities across Israel. Rockets from Gaza and Israeli airstrikes continued to kill civilians.”)
• Amid the Shooting, Netanyahu’s Foes See an Opening, and Risks (“Israeli politicians often close ranks in a crisis, but this time the prime minister’s enemies, trying to form a government and oust him, are blaming the violence on him.”)
• Myanmar’s coup is uniting a country riven by ethnic divisions. Will it last?
• As much as $365 billion wiped off cryptocurrency market after Tesla stops car purchases with bitcoin
• April’s inflation surge wasn’t as drastic as it looked, but the real test is still ahead (“At the root of the April inflation surge were issues related to the pandemic, both in terms of how aggressive the current recovery is and how bad things were a year ago.”)
• Declining Jobless Claims Suggest Hiring Could Pick Up
• Economic tremors hit White House at crucial moment for Biden policy agenda (Note: See Eric Boehlert’s tweets this morning on the WaPo’s “reporting” – “*entire* article is quoting GOP/Fox News making absurd claims reminder: every DC news cycle revolves around same thing: what we Republicans angry abt today?…the temporary shortage is bc of Russian hackers/ransomware. So yeah, GOP claims that it’s Biden’s fault bc he’s anti-fossil fuel make absolutely no sense WP leaves that part out”)
• Covid isn’t the flu: How pediatricians are educating vaccine hesitant families
• Biden’s ‘Big 4’ Meeting: President Meets Top Congressional Leaders
• Biden Will Host Senate Republicans In Bid For Infrastructure Package
• ‘It’s a risky strategy’: Progressives bristle over Biden on talks with GOP (“Influential leaders on the left fear the president is squandering precious time and political capital in his attempt at bipartisanship.”)
• GOP split on counteroffer to Biden’s spending
• Climate Change Is Making Big Problems Bigger
• U.S. has entered unprecedented climate territory, EPA warns (“The Trump administration delayed the report, which cites urban heat waves and permafrost loss as signs of global warming, for three years”)
• It’s Time to Kick Gas (“And do it as quickly as possible”)
• A breakthrough for U.S. wind power
• Trump’s Kingmaking Plan Threatens GOP’s Congress Hopes in 2022
• How Long Can Trump’s GOP Stranglehold Last? (“At least another year and a half”)
• Mysterious Ailments Are Said to Be More Widespread Among U.S. Personnel
• America urgently needs a real investigation of the Trump regime — or it will all happen again (“We recently learned that Trump’s minions spied on reporters — and no one cares. These crimes must not be forgotten”)
• Biden is reaching out to Republicans. But his real target is Joe Manchin. (“The president has to create space for the senator from West Virginia to vote for an infrastructure bill.”)
• Manchin to support measured voting reform in lieu of sweeping Democratic proposal (“The Democrat from West Virginia told ABC News exclusively that he intends to support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, a more narrowly tailored piece of voting rights legislation that he said he believes could muster bipartisan support even as voting legislation is becoming a flash point between the two parties…Its key objective is to put back in place key measures from the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the Supreme Court overruled in 2013. The bill implements a federal process for reviewing changes to voting rules in any jurisdiction nationwide, with an eye toward measures that are historically discriminatory.”)
• ‘A Perpetual Motion Machine’: How Disinformation Drives Voting Laws
• The GOP’s past election lies led to Trump’s big one (Republicans have been pushing the “voter fraud” Big Lie for years, well before Trump came along. This shows the failures of the media, among others, in not calling out lies strongly and clearly.)
• Biden orders federal cyber upgrade after barrage of hacks
• FACT SHEET: President Signs Executive Order Charting New Course to Improve the Nation’s Cybersecurity and Protect Federal Government Networks
• The cancel-culture Republicans just canceled Liz Cheney
• GOP governors aren’t nearly as unhinged as House and Senate Republicans (“Biden has rational opponents — just not in Congress.”)
• Republicans’ Overthrow of Liz Cheney Risks Worsening Their Headaches (“I don’t think it’s a healthy moment for the party”)
• Truth-telling Republicans will have a lot of hard questions to answer (“Will they stay in the party, or leave?”)
• With Cheney out, the GOP’s cowardice is on display (“Liz Cheney has shown that the vast majority of her Republican colleagues are delusional, dangerous and devoid of courage.”)
• Liz Cheney’s honesty about the 2020 election just got her ousted from House GOP leadership (“If Trump critics end up purged from the GOP, the next electoral crisis will be even worse.”)
• The Big Lie is the GOP’s one and only truth (“Liz Cheney’s downfall shows the GOP threat to democracy is getting worse.”)
• In Liz Cheney vs. Donald Trump, Guess Who Won
• The GOP Has Shattered Its Once-Sacred “11th Commandment” (“In ousting Liz Cheney, the party has abandoned principles and reduced itself to a cult of Trump.”)
• 100 Republicans are vowing a GOP ‘civil war.’ Here’s why that’s good news.
• McCarthy is actually claiming no one is ‘questioning the legitimacy’ of the election (Except for the leader of their party, Donald Trump, and a bunch of Trump Republicans who do it all the time.)
• Cheney ousted from leadership post. The other 9 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump have also faced a backlash.
• Senate GOP dismayed by vote to boot Cheney
• Cheney’s Mission Impossible to save the GOP from itself
• ‘Death by a thousand cuts’: How the House GOP took down Cheney
• Freedom Caucus Republican says Cheney was ‘canceled’
• Liz Cheney’s Unforgivable Sin (“The modern Republican Party does not tolerate criticism of its once—and current—leader.”)
• Why Republican voter suppression may contain the seed of its own undoing (“Their incompetence doesn’t excuse their malevolence. But it does offer a silver lining.”)
• Trump’s Pentagon chief attributes Capitol breach to ‘organized conspiracy’
• White Supremacists Are The Biggest Domestic Terrorism Threat, Top Biden Officials Say (“’I have not seen a more dangerous threat to democracy than the invasion of the Capitol,’ Attorney General Merrick Garland said.”)
• Republican loyal to Trump claims Capitol riot looked more like ‘normal tourist visit’ (Completely unhinged.)
• Takeaways from a day of congressional Republicans embracing Trump and downplaying the US Capitol riot (100% unacceptable.)
• GOP Spewed Batsh*t at House Insurrection Hearing
• Former U.S. Military Leaders Sign Bizarre Open Letter Pushing Election Lies (Any way to penalize them for this seditionist crap?)
• Ex-WH counsel McGahn to testify behind closed doors about Trump efforts to obstruct Russia investigation
• Scoop: FEC drops first of several election complaints against Trump
• Rep. Greene aggressively confronts Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, causing New York congresswoman to raise security concerns (Greene is a menace.)
• The GOP’s New Heroes Are All Killers, Kooks, and Creeps
• In 2021, Fox News is still spreading dangerous climate denial (“Fox News’ dangerous climate denial is on brand for it. But is it for the companies advertising on the network?” No company should be advertising on Fox.)
• Ohio Raises The Stakes To Boost Vaccinations, Offers 5, $1 Million Drawings
• Ranked-choice voting works. Get used to it.
• Inhofe tells EPA nominee, ‘if you don’t behave, I’m going to talk to your daddy’ (Inhofe is a real piece of work…)
• ‘Overwhelming’ Evidence Facebook is Failing to Tackle Climate Misinformation
• Caitlyn Jenner’s bid to be California’s next Governator is falling flat (“She hopes to repeat Schwarzenegger’s success as a celebrity running to replace the governor. Polls suggest it’s not working”)
• Andrew Yang back on top of mayoral field, clocks 21% support in latest poll
• Yang Walks Back Stance on Israel After Ocasio-Cortez Calls It ‘Shameful’
• Virginia’s GOP congressmen largely silent on Cheney’s ouster for rejecting Trump’s ‘big lie’ (They’re all seditionists themselves…)
• Video: Sen. Warner Comments on Colonial Pipeline “Ransomware” Attack, Says “imagine you had somebody shutting down 18,000 companies across our economy, we would come to a grinding halt” (Sen. Warner: “Cyber security needs to be a higher priority for all of us.”)
• Colonial Pipeline has restarted, but will need time to get back to normal
• Colonial Pipeline Restarts: There’s No Need To Panic-Buy Gas (And Never Was)
• Editorial: Pipeline hack shows cybersecurity lapse (“A spate of attacks, including to a pipeline proving gasoline to Virginia, underscores the urgency of bolstering cybersecurity in the public and private sector.”)
• The Colonial Pipeline Is Back Online. When Will Virginia Return to Normal?
• Joint Statement from Governor Northam and General Assembly Leaders on Shared Priorities for American Rescue Plan Funding
• With approval of Dominion’s renewables plan, is it a ‘new day’ or ‘business as usual’ for state regulators? (“The VCEA does not exist to let Dominion acquire assets for the sake of acquiring assets…There must be a purpose, and that purpose must serve customers…It’s not just building renewables for the sake of building renewables, it’s building renewables for the sake of the RPS.”)
• With Virginia Republicans “Excited”/”Fired Up” About Their 2021 Ticket; VA Dems Had Better Not Get Complacent (“It is very much a race and no one should take it for granted”; Dems “need to do the work, organize, & make sure voters understand what’s at stake.”)
• How Did the Pre-Virginia GOP-Convention Polls and Prognosticators Do? (Hint: Not Great For the Most Part)
• Video: Terry for Virginia Launches New Digital Ad Calling Out Extreme Republican Glenn Youngkin for Peddling Donald Trump’s Dangerous, Divisive Playbook (Youngkin: “said you know what, here comes another guy who is like Donald Trump, and I said thank you very much”)
• The Virginia GOP exorcised a few political ghosts
• Schapiro: Republican newbie tries threading the needle
• Youngkin tries to appease the party base and moderates as he pivots to November (Good luck with that, lol.)
• Analysts: Relative Anonymity Could Be An Asset For Republican Statewide Ticket (Highly doubtful.)
• McAuliffe’s Ability To Defeat Youngkin Questioned By Candidates (“Terry McAuliffe’s fellow candidates for the Democratic nomination are pointing to his slim victory over Republican Ken Cuccinelli in 2013.”)
• Virginia attorney general says state aims to protect historic River Farm as donor wished (“Mark Herring said he is satisfied the benefactor wanted the property to remain green and open to the public”)
• Wednesday (5/12) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Lowest 10-Day New COVID Cases Since 7/11/20; Lowest COVID-Related Hospitalizations Since March 2020
• Virginia will officially start vaccinations for kids 12 and up following CDC’s go ahead
• Virginia Beach will seek public input before a federal court decides how to redraw city’s election districts
• Amazon releases new images of HQ2 as it ramps up hiring in Virginia
• Amazon to double job presence in northern Virginia (“By 2025, the company expects to employ 25,000 in Arlington, supported by a $2.5 billion investment.”)
• Finding gasoline in Richmond is getting more difficult as customers panic purchase (So dumb.)
• Fairfax NAACP Requests Information on Police Chief Hiring (“We urge the county to rescind the NDA that seems to shield the county from disclosing important information”)
• How Virginia Tech’s Class of 2020 handled the past year after graduating into a pandemic (“While far fewer attended Wednesday’s commencement ceremony, the stories were rich with meaning.”)
• Pleasantly mild through the weekend with plenty of sun