Tuesday News: “Belarus faces new sanctions over jetliner ‘state piracy’, arrest of journalist”; “A vaccine marvel is bringing America back”; “Are Republicans no longer small-d democrats?”; “After George Floyd, how much has changed?”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, May 25.

• To solve climate change, the innovations we need are financial
• Europe moves to isolate Belarus after Minsk forces airliner to land and detains dissident
• Russia’s power over Belarus is in the spotlight after plane ‘hijacking’ incident
• Other Regimes Will Hijack Planes Too
• ‘They will kill me’: Belarusian blogger’s descent into horror (“Roman Protasevich had told friends he was being followed in Athens. Hours later he was escorted away at Minsk airport”)
• Passengers tell of panic and fear after plane diverted by Belarus (“One person aboard flight FR4978 says detained opposition journalist appeared ‘very much afraid’”)
• Statement by President Joe Biden on Diversion of Ryanair Flight and Arrest of Journalist in Belarus
• Biden Calls Ryanair Flight Diversion And Journalist Arrest By Belarus ‘Outrageous’
• Belarus faces new sanctions over jetliner ‘state piracy,’ arrest of journalist
• U.S., EU Vow to Pressure Belarus Over Diversion of Ryanair Jet
• American journalist detained in Myanmar while trying to fly out of country
• It’s time to respond forcefully to Belarus’s wily and malevolent dictator
• India isn’t the only one. Covid cases are rising at record levels in these places too
• Support for Israel among young US evangelical Christians drops sharply — survey
• Blinken vows US support to rebuild Gaza, prevent return to war
• Republicans are far more radical than Democrats on Israel
• The Costly Success of Israel’s Iron Dome (“Iron Dome allows you to almost ignore the fact that you have a neighbor just across the border with thousands of rockets pointed at you, because they can no longer really harm you. Iron Dome allows you not to find deeper solutions for that problem. And that’s very Israeli as well.”)
• Biden and Blinken need a concrete Gaza plan (“Until Hamas’s grip is diminished, there will be no peace.”)
• The Wuhan Lab Leak Question: A Disused Chinese Mine Takes Center Stage
• COVID-19 Wuhan lab theory gets more serious look
• Military detain Mali’s president, prime minister and defence minister
• Can U.S. Aid Make Honduras More Livable? One Group Tries to Slow Out-Migration
• EXCLUSIVE: Court action seeks probe of Trump’s Scottish golf course buys
• A vaccine marvel is bringing America back (“The country has never been closer to the end of this pandemic, which inflicted the most universally experienced crisis since World War II”)
• Children’s Risk Of Serious Illness From COVID-19 Is As Low As It Is For The Flu (“But many parents seem more worried about the new and less familiar disease. That anxiety is heightened by the new guidelines on mask-wearing. But experts urge parents to try not to worry too much.”)
• How inflation fears are complicating Biden’s political future (“Republicans are licking their lips. Biden has to show voters he’s delivering for them.”)
• Fix the law that helped set the stage for Jan. 6
• ‘The final straw’: How the pandemic pushed restaurant workers over the edge
• Paul Manafort Lied To Investigators About Feeding U.S. Polling Data To Russian Spy: Files (“Trump’s former campaign manager ‘lied in multiple ways and on multiple occasions,’ according to newly unsealed federal court documents.”)
• Of inmates and asylums: Today’s House Republicans make the John Birchers look quaint
• Are Republicans no longer small-d democrats? (“An argument over the fundamental orientation of today’s GOP toward democracy itself.”)
• If the GOP is now home to ‘evil lunacy,’ it’s time to leave
• Bipartisan infrastructure talks on life support
• Infrastructure talks hit a wall as Senate GOP and White House exchange blame (Republicans aren’t negotiating in good faith – at all.)
• The Democrats Are Walking Right Into a Trap on Voting Rights
• The Banality of Democratic Collapse (“Or to put it another way, the fundamental problem lies less with the crazies than with the careerists; not with the madness of Marjorie Taylor Greene, but with the spinelessness of Kevin McCarthy. And this spinelessness has deep institutional roots…the predominance of craven careerists is what made the Republican Party so vulnerable to authoritarian takeover…The point is that neither megalomania at the top nor rage at the bottom explains why American democracy is hanging by a thread. Cowardice, not craziness, is the reason government by the people may soon perish from the earth.”)
• 53% of Republicans view Trump as true U.S. president -Reuters/Ipsos (Totally unhinged.)
• Democrats must make the GOP spell out what it is for and against (“Voters would be horrified to find out.”)
• State Revenues Pour In, Raising Pressure on Biden to Divert Federal Aid (“Many states that faced devastating shortfalls now find themselves flush with tax revenues because of a rebounding economy and a soaring stock market. The unexpectedly rosy picture has some pushing President Biden to repurpose federal aid to help fund a potential bipartisan infrastructure deal.”)
• Sotomayor Calls Out Kavanaugh for Breaking His Promise to Death Row Inmates
• Supreme Court turns down case from inmate requesting firing squad instead of lethal injection
• Democrats, About to Miss a Police Reform Deadline, Hold Out Hope (“The party will need G.O.P. buy-in to pass a bill — which could threaten activists’ priorities.”)
• You Mean Liz Cheney Is Still…a Republican?
• Limiting Qualified Immunity for Cops Was a Bipartisan Issue After George Floyd’s Murder. What Happened? (“Revisiting qualified immunity, one year after Floyd’s death.”)
• After George Floyd, how much has changed?
• Talks on Biden’s Policing Bill Drag On as He Meets Floyd Family
• Biden to meet with George Floyd’s family amid uncertain progress on race
• How 24 Hours of Racist Violence Caused Decades of Harm (“A century after a white mob attacked ‘Black Wall Street’ in Tulsa, digitized census records are bringing the economic impact into clearer focus.”)
• The monumental impact of one man’s death on Black America
• AP Staffers Demanded To Know Why Emily Wilder Was Fired After A Conservative “Smear Campaign” Over Her Pro-Palestinian Activism (“Wilder was a young journalist, unnecessarily harmed by the AP’s handling and announcement of its firing of her.”)
• If Democracy Is Dying, Why Are Democrats So Complacent? (“Democrats are unwilling to match their language of urgency with a strategy even remotely proportional to it.”)
• The GOP’s shifting arguments against a Jan. 6 commission (They’re all dishonest/disingenuous.)
• Romney first GOP senator to say he would vote for Jan. 6 commission bill
• CNN’s Rick Santorum dilemma and the Republican pundit paradox (“If they’re reasonable, they’re not representative. But if they’re representative, they are too repulsive to air”)
• The abortion fault line is about to start rumbling
• DOJ partially discloses memo on why Trump wasn’t charged with obstruction
• Biden’s DOJ appeals order to release full memo on why Trump wasn’t charged with obstruction
• McGahn Is Likely to Testify Next Week on Trump’s Efforts to Obstruct Russia Inquiry
• Arizona and Georgia audits move forward as Republicans continue to push election fraud lies
• DeSantis gives shoutout to far-right activist as he signs bill to punish Twitter (DeSantis is evil and must never be president.)
• Florida, in a First, Will Fine Social Media Companies That Bar Candidates (Unconstitutional?)
• Florida governor signs bill barring social media companies from blocking political candidates
• Will “climate lockdowns” be Fox’s next bonkers conspiracy theory? (That network is completely insane.)
• New York City Will End Remote Learning in the Fall
• Texas Gets Ready To Allow Unlicensed Carrying Of Handguns (This is what Republican-run states do. Don’t let your state be a Republican-run state.)
• Senators from Virginia recommend three candidates to fill federal appeals court vacancy
• New Report Finds High Percentage of Solar, Wind Power Plants “Seeking Transmission Interconnection,” But Still Needs To Be Speeded Up
• Dominion’s exit from regional capacity market raises some eyebrows — and questions (“The decision, which wasn’t made public until April and was first reported by RTO Insider on May 6, caught many energy industry insiders off guard.”)
• 23 Attorneys General, Including Virginia AG Mark Herring, Send Letter In Support of Equitable Student Discipline in School
• Virginia should jettison its special privileges for lawyer-lawmakers
• Virginia’s Recidivism Rate Remains Among the Lowest in the Country (“Virginia’s ability to maintain a low recidivism rate means increased public safety for families, neighborhoods, and the entire Commonwealth.”)
• Monday (5/24) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Hospitalizations At Lowest Point Since Early in Pandemic; 10-Day New COVID Cases Lowest Since 4/2/20 (Only 76 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, the lowest since 3/26/20)
• Glenn Youngkin’s Hardline GOP Agenda: Opposing Virginia’s Economic Recovery (“Youngkin to speak in Prince William County, which received a vital $92 million lifeline he steadfastly opposes”)
• Redistricting Commission to Begin Drawing Districts by August 16 (“A US Census Bureau official clarified Virginia’s Redistricting Commission’s timeline for producing new voter districts in the commission’s meeting Monday.”)
• The Post’s endorsements in Virginia’s Democratic primary
• 12/9/20 Letter From VA Association of Professional Soil Scientists Demanded That “DEQ and State Water Control Board put a stop work order on the [Mountain Valley Pipeline] project”
• Census delays mean some Virginia Democrats will be on the June ballot twice (The WaPo is just getting around to reporting on this? LOL)
• Hala Ayala Releases Plan to Protect Reproductive Rights and Expand Access to Care
• It’s been a year since George Floyd was murdered. Richmonders reflect on what’s changed
• Governor Northam Announces Innovative Indoor Vertical Farm to Expand in Fairfax County
• Source: UVa volleyball players secretly recorded their coaches prior to their firing and the season’s cancellation
• One Casino + Resort heads to Richmond City Council; if approved, could open by 2023
• City Council Approves New Budget, Pay Raises For Employees
• Audio Interview: Tom Barbour, candidate for Richmond City Commonwealth Attorney
• D.C.-area forecast: Clouds linger today, then sunnier and hot on Wednesday with a chance of storms