Wednesday News: “An emboldened Biden meets an unbothered Putin”; “Democratic patience runs out on bipartisan talks”; “Stopping Critical Race Theory Is Now a Bona Fide Right-Wing Grift”; “If you didn’t watch yesterday’s debate, you missed why we cannot afford @JasonMiyaresVA”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, June 16. Oh, and if you want to watch yesterday’s AG debate – and find out why Republican Jason Miyares would be such a disaster – click here.

If you didn’t watch yesterday’s debate, you missed why we cannot afford @JasonMiyaresVA.

From being opposed to Medicaid expansion to voting against commonsense gun safety measures, it’s clear why we must re-elect @MarkHerringVA. https://t.co/AcA9FmPJuB

— Andrew Whitley (@AndrewWhitleyVA) June 16, 2021

• Wide disagreements, low expectations as Biden, Putin meet
• An emboldened Biden meets an unbothered Putin
• Tensions Are High as Biden and Putin Prepare to Meet in Geneva
• What You Need To Know About Biden’s Meeting With Putin
• Biden’s meeting with Putin carries historic echoes
• Biden and Putin Seek Detente in Summit After Rising Tensions
• What Joe Biden Can Offer Vladimir Putin (“The American president is unlikely to reach accommodation with his Russian counterpart. That’s because Putin’s domestic balancing act is over.”)
• Amid internal disputes over Russia policy, Biden has chosen a mix of confrontation and cooperation
• First person: What I learned in the room with Vladimir Putin
• President Biden puts decades of experience to the test in high-stakes meeting with Vladimir Putin
• The Putin summit may backfire on Biden (“The biggest risk Biden faces won’t come during the Putin summit. It’ll possibly come right afterward.”)
• China sends 28 warplanes near Taiwan in year’s largest exercise
• Israel strikes in Gaza after arson balloons launched
• Biden to nominate Tom Nides as ambassador to Israel; Ken Salazar, ‘Sully’ Sullenberger also get posts
• Climate crisis to hit Europe’s coffee and chocolate supplies
• “Back to normal” puts us back on the path to climate catastrophe (“The data is in: The pandemic did nothing to slow climate change.”)
• UK failing to protect against climate dangers, advisers warn
• Biden ‘greatly expands’ number of Central American children eligible to apply for asylum in U.S.
• Trump-era hunt for pandemic ‘lab leak’ went down many fruitless paths
• Many Post-Covid Patients Are Experiencing New Medical Problems, Study Finds
• Some Americans were infected with COVID in December 2019
• Regeneron antibody ‘cocktail’ can save lives in hospitalized Covid patients, study finds
• As U.S. Death Toll Nears 600,000, the Counting Is Complicated
• Trumpism Without Borders (“The forces that brought Donald Trump to power are exerting pressure all over the world.”)
• A full rundown of what to expect from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday (“The Federal Reserve is not expected to make any policy moves, but it is likely to signal to the market that it is thinking about changing its bond-buying policy.”)
• 50 Million Under Heat Warning As Extreme Temps, Drought Envelop Western U.S. (This is the climate crisis.)
• U.S. solar installations soared by 46% in the first quarter (“The report reflects both robust demand from utilities and corporations seeking to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals and declining costs for the technology that has made it competitive with power generated from fossil fuels.”)
• Call it authoritarianism (“The Republican Party has embraced an agenda that rigs the rules in their favor. There’s a name for that behavior.”)
• Judge Says Biden Cannot Pause New Leases for Drilling on Federal Lands (“The move was the first major legal roadblock for President Biden’s quest to cut fossil fuel pollution and conserve public lands.” A Trump-appointed judge. ‘Nuff said.)
• Here’s what is missing from Biden’s new domestic terrorism strategy (“The elephant in the room that’s barely mentioned: Jan. 6.”)
• Lina Khan will be chair of the Federal Trade Commission (“Democrats and Republicans came together to confirm the antitrust expert to the FTC.”)
• The ‘reconciliation’ train is about to leave the station(“We should not lose sight of why this has taken so long. It’s because of two factors: the filibuster and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.). The filibuster is why all this effort has to be poured into creating a reconciliation package in the first place. And this has dragged on to this point because Manchin will not support a Democrats-only bill until all efforts to win GOP support have been exhausted.”)
• Are Democrats Falling Into a Republican Trap on Biden’s Biggest Priority? (“A narrow bipartisan infrastructure deal could leave no room for the broad agenda.”)
• Schumer to trigger reconciliation process on Wednesday
• Democrats raise fresh alarms on emerging Senate infrastructure compromise
• Democratic patience runs out on bipartisan talks
• Democrats Fret They’ll Get Hoodwinked On Infrastructure (“A growing number of Democratic senators are demanding assurances that Congress will pass another package that includes progressive priorities.”)
• Manchin thinks the filibuster fosters bipartisanship. Here’s why it doesn’t. (Exact opposite, actually.)
• The Justice Department must be depoliticized (“Nixon started it. Trump perfected it. Now it’s time to clean it up.”)
• Garland tries to mollify Dems who want de-Trumpified DOJ after secret subpoenas (“‘I’m willing to be patient for a bit,’ one Democratic senator said of the new attorney general’s progress. ‘But if it doesn’t get better … I’m going to get pretty impatient.'”)
• The Political, Legal, and Moral Minefield That Donald Trump Left for Merrick Garland (“Some fear that the former judge cannot effectively counter Trump.”)
• Dems Rage at Biden DOJ: Your Moves ‘Make No Sense’ (“Three months into his tenure as attorney general, Democrats are wondering what’s going on at the Department of Justice under Merrick Garland.”)
• Merrick Garland seems to operate as though the last four years didn’t happen
• The nation cannot forget Donald Trump’s betrayal of his oath
• 21 House Republicans vote against awarding Congressional Gold Medal to all police officers who responded on Jan. 6 (One of them was Virginia’s own Bob Good, an extremist nutter from the 5th Congressional District.)
• I’ve urged Supreme Court justices to stick around — but never to retire. Until now. (Yep, Breyer needs to retire immediately.)
• Senate Unanimously Approves A Bill To Make Juneteenth A Public Holiday
• Memo to “respectable” Republicans: Stop looking for GOP heroes to fight Trumpism from the inside
• F.B.I. Is Pursuing ‘Hundreds’ in Capitol Riot Inquiry, Wray Tells Congress
• ‘Shocking failure’: Pentagon and FBI come under fire for Jan. 6 response
• Proud Boys descended into dysfunction and finger-pointing as members were arrested in US Capitol riot, new messages show
• Jared Kushner agrees book deal for ‘definitive’ account of Trump presidency (Gack.)
• Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s popularity continues to slide — even among Republicans
• OAN is a cesspool of anti-LGBTQ hate. It’s supported by these cable providers and streaming services. (“Companies like Verizon and DirecTV claim to be champions of Pride while subsidizing OAN’s hateful rhetoric”)
• Republicans are afraid of history (“Historical amnesia is the goal of their opposition to critical race theory.”)
• Stopping Critical Race Theory Is Now a Bona Fide Right-Wing Grift
• Fox has mentioned “critical race theory” nearly 1,300 times in the past 3.5 months
• Woes mount for legal loyalists who pushed Trump’s election conspiracies (Good.)
• Trump Executive Could Face Charges as Soon as This Summer
• Why The Two-Party System Is Wrecking American Democracy (“Other democracies are polarized, but the U.S. is unique.” Yep, our system is almost completely broken. That includes the lack of ability to fix it.)
• We Are Lucky That This Republic Survived (“The evidence for the prosecution in what was the Second Impeachment is piling up.”)
• ‘Pure insanity’: emails reveal Trump push to overturn election defeat
• Southern Baptists elect Ed Litton as their president, a defeat for the hard right
• Billionaire Mackenzie Scott gives away £2bn more (“She wrote that she had chosen 286 organisations working on racial inequality, the arts and education…Despite the size of these donations, she is still the world’s 22nd-richest person, worth $59.5bn, according to Forbes.”)
• Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08): “Attorney General Merrick Garland made the right call by instructing the Justice Department to cooperate with prosecutors in the Ghaisar case”
• New mapping tool aims to clarify Virginia environmental justice debates
• McAuliffe accepts invitations to participate in five gubernatorial debates
• Terry McAuliffe Releases First Bold Plan of General Election to Tackle Rising Costs and Meet the Health Care Needs of All Virginians
• Virginia Likely To Have Close, Expensive Governor’s Race
• Editorial: Haze surrounds legal pot in Virginia (“A recent presentation to lawmakers shows there are potential pitfalls aplenty that must be resolved as Virginia moves toward marijuana legalization.”)
• At This Afternoon’s Virginia State Bar Debate, We’ll See Why Republican Jason Miyares’ Far-Right-Wing Record Makes Him an Unacceptable Choice for Attorney General (In stark contrast, Mark Herring has a “record of fighting to protect and expand the rights of Virginians”)
• Attorney General Herring and GOP challenger Jason Miyares air differences in virtual debate (Gotta love the “neutral” corporate media headline. In fact, Miyares spewed out falsehoods and right-wing talking points the entire debate, avoided answering the questions, etc.)
• Clashing visions and attacks mark first debate for attorney general in Virginia (This headline is also scrupulously “neutral” and “both sides-ist.” Yuck.)
• Claims of Critical Race Theory in Virginia Schools Spark Massive Resistance (This article repeatedly misspells Loudoun County as “Loudon.” So bad.)
• Tuesday (6/15) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Hospitalizations, 10-Day New COVID Cases Near Lowest Points Since Start of Pandemic
• A testament to Virginia’s Black union members
• DLCC Announces Second Round of Virginia Spotlight Candidates
• Chesterfield Activist Caitlin Coakley Announces Run For House of Delegates
• Stuarts Draft-Based Activist Randall Wolf to Challenge Republican John Avoli in District 20
• New Virginia Beach police equipment will activate body cams of nearby officers when a gun is drawn
• Chesapeake schools won’t require masks — unless state does — after board’s near-unanimous vote
• Chesapeake council approves massive 900-acre solar project
• Editorial: Richmond’s November referendum is about a whole lot more than a casino
• Hampton police enforce loitering ban for pedestrian safety — and panhandlers could face fines
• D.C.-area forecast: A pair of pretty much perfect days, then hotter and more humid by the weekend