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by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, May 18.
- No new oil, gas or coal development if world is to reach net zero by 2050, says world energy body (“Governments must close gap between net zero rhetoric and reality, says International Energy Agency head”)
- Nations Must Drop Fossil Fuels, Fast, World Energy Body Warns
- Geopolitical impact of long-distance transport of electricity and hydrogen
- Just 20 companies are responsible for over half of ‘throwaway’ plastic waste, study says
- EU sidelined and divided as war rages again in Middle East (“Analysis: internal tensions and differences with the US have left the bloc unable to take a clear position on Israel-Palestine”)
- Arab states split for first time on refusal to condemn Israel over Gaza
- When do Hamas and Israel reach the beginning of the end? (“The window is closing on Israel.”)
- Biden calls for cease-fire in Israel-Hamas fighting as pressure mounts to halt violence
- Israel-Gaza conflict rages on despite U.S., regional diplomacy
- Democrats, Growing More Skeptical of Israel, Pressure Biden
- U.S. Blocks U.N. Statement on Violence in Gaza
- Humanitarian Catastrophe Deepens in Gaza
- Hamas-Israel fighting abates as truce calls mount
- India’s COVID tally passes 25 mln; cyclone complicates efforts in Modi’s state
- Two possible theories of the pandemic’s origins remain viable. The world needs to know.
- State vaccine rates fall along red, blue divide
- Mask controversy spurs CDC to rethink its pandemic response
- More places in the US lift mask mandates. One local leader says the honor system is already not working
- Retail Workers are Pissed Off About the End of Masks In Stores (“That was our safety blanket, almost. And now it’s just gone.”)
- Retailers — and their customers — are divided over maskless shopping
- Meet the Four Kinds of People Holding Us Back From Full Vaccination
- Report: DHS Division Failed To Analyze Intelligence Ahead Of Capitol Violence (“A forthcoming report says DHS officials had the intelligence they needed to predict that the pro-Trump rally would become violent. What was missing was DHS telling the people who needed to know.” Why the F*** not?)
- GOP leaders split on the January 6 probe but No. 2 Republican predicts Senate will pass bill ‘in some form’
- Biden Proposes Billions for Cybersecurity After Wave of Attacks
- Voting rights hit wall in Congress amid GOP overhauls (This is maddening and 100% unacceptable. GET. IT. DONE!)
- Graham: ‘I accept the results of the election’ (That’s so magnanimous of him, eh? LOL)
- Biden Is Developing a Pardon Process With a Focus on Racial Justice
- Kamala Harris is confronting the challenge of a lifetime (“The president has assigned her one of the toughest tasks the administration faces.”)
- The Last Days of the Last Administration* Were Absolute Bedlam
- Cheney, unbound, settles into the ‘bull’s-eye of controversy’
- Liz Cheney and the mainstream media could learn from one another (“The media’s false equivalence might be teetering.”)
- Liz Cheney is right: Republicans need to police their own (“She should model how we hold the line.”)
- The Supreme Court Sidesteps a Full Climate Change Ruling, Handing Industry a Procedural Win (“Rather than rule on whether oil and gas companies should pay damages related to climate change, the high court sent Baltimore’s case back to the lower courts.”)
- Analysis: Supreme Court jumps into U.S. culture wars with abortion, gun cases
- Supreme Court Won’t Need to Overrule Roe (Nope, they can gut it or seriously weaken it.)
- Supreme Court issues rulings on policing, climate, criminal defendants’ rights
- The Supreme Court Is Taking Direct Aim at Roe v. Wade
- Roe v. Wade’s survival just got a little more unlikely (“Chief Justice Roberts has been a voice for restraint on abortion. But now the conservatives don’t even need his vote.”)
- Court to weigh in on Mississippi abortion ban intended to challenge Roe v. Wade
- Abortion Case Injects Supreme Court Into 2022 Election Fight (And Virginia 2021, big time.)
- Is Roe v. Wade Now Doomed?
- Elena Kagan Has Had Enough of Brett Kavanaugh’s Judicial “Scorekeeping”
- Trump Justice Dept. Tried to Use Grand Jury to Identify Nunes Critic on Twitter (Abuse of power.)
- Biden, Harris Incomes Dropped in 2020, Tax Returns Show
- Fact check: Crenshaw tries to whitewash Republican brief supporting lawsuit that sought to overturn election
- The Gates Divorce Gets Sordid (“According to a new report, Gates pursued women at both Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation while married.”)
- Ron DeSantis’ Fox-fueled rise to GOP presidential contender
- He was banned from having guns after his Capitol riot arrest. Then he shot a mountain lion, feds say.
- Facebook Calls Links To Depression Inconclusive. These Researchers Disagree
- Trump tests the limits of GOP loyalty with Arizona “audit” (“Pushback to Trump from within his own party slowly grows louder as his ‘unhinged’ rantings lead to a bizarre scene”)
- As Arizona Republicans erupt over Trump’s lies, a big truth is exposed (“Republicans have had many offramps from ongoing radicalization. They keep refusing to take them.”)
- Arizona G.O.P. Is Split on Vote Review: ‘We Can’t Indulge These Insane Lies’
- Arizona is now ground zero in Republicans’ war on voting
- ‘Our democracy is imperiled’: Maricopa County officials decry 2020 recount as a sham and call on Arizona Republicans to end the process
- Black Lives Matter activists said a man tried to hit them with his car. The suspect turned out to be a judge.
- Cuomo Set to Receive $5.1 Million From Pandemic Book Deal
- Georgia lieutenant governor won’t run for reelection after slamming GOP voter fraud lies
- Va. revenue surplus likely to exceed $500 million after ‘unusual recession’
- Federal Aid and Unexpected Revenues Could Fund ‘Historic Investments’
- In Glenn Youngkin, Virginia Republicans Have Nominated a Trump Loyalist With a Far-Right Agenda (Youngkin was asked “twice if he would separate himself from President Trump in any areas” and “didn’t provide any examples”)
- Audio: VA GOP 2021 Nominee Glenn Youngkin Emphasizes That He Was “HONORED” to Receive Trump’s Endorsement, Adds “President Trump represents so much of why I’m running” (Also gotta love how Youngkin refers to “President Trump” and not “FORMER President Trump”)
- As Supreme Court Threat to Roe v Wade Looms, NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia Announces Endorsement of Jennifer McClellan for Governor
- Video: Jennifer Carroll Foy Campaign Launches New TV Ad, “Petersburg”
- Monday (5/17) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Lowest 1-Day New COVID Cases Since 4/12/20; Lowest 10-Day New COVID Cases Since 6/25/20
- Senate Republicans call on Northam to lift remaining COVID restrictions (Of course they do…)
- A federal lawsuit forces Virginia to own its duty to handle pandemic jobless claims promptly
- Virginia 2021 primary: House of Delegates races to watch (This isn’t right at all in terms of the most competitive races.)
- Dominion Energy-Linked Group Launches $300K Ad Blitz After Texas Storm (“A group connected to Dominion Energy has spent at least $300,000 on TV and Facebook ads in the last two months warning consumers against deregulating the state’s utility market. The ads warn blackouts that blanketed Texas in February could come to Virginia if the state changes existing electric providers’ monopolies, a claim that some experts say is misleading.”)
- New Report Shows George Mason University Continues to Top Schools Funded by Charles Koch (GMU “continues to eclipse all other schools that Koch funds”)
- Arlington Democrats School Board Caucus Voting Opens Today Via Convenient, Secure Online Platform
- Fort Wool, Mt. Calvary cemetery in Portsmouth make this year’s roster of the most endangered historic places in Virginia
- About 100 Norfolk students got vaccines at school last week
- Two Hampton Roads health systems’ legal battle reignites old debate over state’s medical facility policy
- Roanoke approves plastic shopping bag tax; set to take effect Jan. 1 (Every locality should do that.)
- Editorial: At last, baseball is back (“After a year without them, the Norfolk Tides bring baseball back to Hampton Roads and that’s reason to cheer.”)
- D.C.-area forecast: Sunny skies for days ahead, but summerlike heat is returning
