Friday News: “Delta variant study highlights challenges, importance of both shots”; “Haiti and the Trump Illusion”; “US nears endgame in Afghanistan”; “The Southern Strategy Goes to School”; Sabato Thanks VA GOP For “Hearty Laugh”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, July 9.

• Delta variant study highlights challenges, importance of both shots
• Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ are contaminating plastic food containers (Not good at all.)
• We’re Right to Worry About Nightmare Climate Scenarios
• Batteries getting bigger and leaping to four-hour storage as market changes
• One of Canada’s top climate officials is trying to save the planet — by leaving government
• An Olympics without fans is the right call. But it illustrates the ongoing cost of covid-19.
• 2 Haitian Americans detained in slaying of Haiti president
• Twin epidemics in Haiti usher in ‘critical phase’ following assassination
• Two South Florida men were involved in President Moïse’s assassination, investigators say
• Haiti and the Trump Illusion (“The U.S. cannot wall itself off from the troubles facing its neighbors.”)
• Turmoil in Haiti Could Fuel Humanitarian Catastrophe
• Political Crisis in Haiti Deepens Over Rival Claims to Power
• Ex-Colombian Soldiers Implicated in Haiti President Slaying
• EXCLUSIVE U.S. set to add more Chinese companies to blacklist over Xinjiang
• New Kim Jong Un Purge Suggests North Korea Is in Deep Shit
• Pfizer says it is developing a Covid booster shot to target the highly transmissible delta variant (“Clinical studies could begin as early as August, subject to regulatory approvals.”)
• Joe Biden says US to pull its forces out of Afghanistan by 31 August (“I will not send another generation to war in Afghanistan”)
• Pakistan, After Rooting for Afghanistan’s Taliban, Faces a Blowback (“Islamabad wants a negotiated agreement, fears that outright Taliban takeover would galvanize Pakistani jihadists”)
• Biden puts faith behind Afghan troops while defending U.S. withdrawal (“The president says ‘it is not inevitable’ that the Taliban will topple the government in Kabul.”)
• Iran and Russia move to fill diplomatic vacuum in Afghanistan
• Taliban says it controls most of Afghanistan, reassures Russia
• Taliban capture key Afghanistan-Iran border crossing
• US nears endgame in Afghanistan
• Conservatives are gearing up to blame Afghanistan on liberals (“Every lost war can only be the fault of the domestic left.”)
• Fauci Says Current Vaccines Will Stand Up To The Delta Variant
• Pfizer to seek OK for 3rd vaccine dose; shots still protect
• Pfizer to seek U.S. authorization for COVID booster shot
• The Delta Variant Isn’t Just Hyper-Contagious. It Also Grows More Rapidly Inside You
• Unvaccinated hospitalized patients say they regret not getting the shot
• The climate crisis haunts Chicago’s future. A Battle Between a Great City and a Great Lake
• Amid growing frustration, White House pushes voting rights
• The Democrats’ New Voting-Rights Obstacle (“Following the Supreme Court’s recent Arizona decision, voting-rights activists know they have to act fast.”)
• The Supreme Court’s Term Appeared To Be Cautious. The Numbers Tell A Different Story
• The delta variant threatens to upend the politics of the coronavirus
• A Crucial Test Is Coming for Biden’s Climate Agenda
• Few companies stick with pledge to shut off funding for GOP objectors (So f’ed up.)
• Toyota halting contributions to U.S. lawmakers who opposed Biden certification (Every company needs to do this, immediately and PERMANENTLY)
• Toyota reverses course, says it will stop donating to Republican objectors
• Toyota to stop donating to GOP lawmakers who objected to certifying Biden’s win
• Biden to sign executive order aimed at cracking down on Big Tech business practices (“President Joe Biden’s administration will make the case that the biggest companies in the tech sector are wielding their power to box out smaller competitors and exploit consumers’ personal information”)
• Six months later: What have we learned from Jan. 6? Not enough to stop it from happening again
• The Nation Needs a Reality-Based G.O.P. Only the Kook Caucus Is Stepping Up.
• The lie of “expired” food and the disastrous truth of America’s food waste problem (“Stop throwing your food away.” Congress needs to change our country’s food labeling system immediately; it’s completely absurd.)
• The double standard of Kamala Harris being in charge (“Women are expected to conform to gender norms as warm nurturers, even as they break the mold.”)
• McConnell Hit With Some Home Truths After Saying He’s ‘Perplexed’ By COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy (“‘This is some hall of fame level gaslighting right here,’ one critic hit back at the Kentucky Republican.”)
• Right-wing anti-vaccine hysteria is increasing. We’ll all pay the price. (“Fox News goes on a holy war against vaccination, and every Republican officeholder wonders if they have to do the same.”)
• Neo-Confederates worked with other far-right groups in failed efforts to preserve monuments
• Conservatives distort Biden’s pledge to ‘knock on doors’ to get people vaccinated (Right wingers distorting things? Shocker, eh?)
• The Christian Right Is in Decline, and It’s Taking America With It (“I was frightened by the religious right in its triumphant phase. But it turns out that the movement is just as dangerous in decline. Maybe more so. It didn’t take long for the cocky optimism of Generation Joshua to give way to the nihilism of the Jan. 6 insurrectionists. If they can’t own the country, they’re ready to defile it.”)
• The rapid decline of White evangelical America? (“New data suggests a bigger decrease than previously understood — including in the GOP.”)
• Inside Donald Trump’s Last Days in the White House and Plans for a Comeback
• Zaila Avant-garde Makes History With National Spelling Bee Win (“The 14-year-old from Harvey, Louisiana became the first African American winner and the second Black champion in the bee’s 96-year history.”)
• An ugly new right-wing attack poses a test for populists like J.D. Vance
• Texas Republicans Reveal Bills of Far-Reaching Voting Restrictions (Disgraceful, unAmerican, etc.)
• Disgraced Trump foe Michael Avenatti weeps as he is sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for Nike extortion scheme (“Avenatti briefly flirted with seeking the Democratic nomination for president at the height of his fame.” It’s astounding that this guy actually thought he could be president. On the other, Donald Fucking Trump became president, so…)
• Trump wasn’t just an abnormal figure — psychiatrists say his rhetoric caused real trauma (“Several psychiatrists spoke with Salon about the very real trauma Trump’s presidency caused”)
• Tom Cotton’s slimy attack on a ‘critical race theory’ professor is full of holes (Tom Cotton and “slimy” seem to go together.)
• Surfside condo collapse could reshape Miami’s real estate market
• Arizona GOP’s Real Election Threat: Trump
• Two Seattle officers trespassed on U.S. Capitol grounds during riot and should be fired, investigation finds (Obviously.)
• Tucker Carlson’s Extremely Mad That Journalists FOIA’d His FOIA Request to NSA
• Sean Hannity says “it’s inevitable” that “America’s streets will run with blood” (Wildly irresponsible at best.)
• Fox News and other right-wing outlets ramp up anti-vaccine scare campaign (If we had any standards for broadcasters, Fox should be taken off the air.)
• “There’s Going to Be a Blowup”: Trump and DeSantis Are on a Collision Course
• J.D. Vance Is a Yalie Venture Capitalist With an Amoral Sugar Daddy
• Sorry, haters: Ranked-choice voting produced the most diverse city council in NYC history
• Ranked-choice voting worked in New York. More places should use it.
• What Does PRRI’s 2020 Census of American Religion Tell Us About Virginia’s Religious Diversity and Political Leanings? (Northern Virginia is *highly* diverse religiously and also very “blue” politically; SW Virginia has low relatively low religious diversity and is Trump country politically…)
• Video: Democratic Leaders, AFL-CIO, CWA Blast Glenn Youngkin’s Record of Killing American Jobs (“There’s no two-ways about it: Glenn Youngkin’s so-called leadership led to American jobs being shipped overseas.”)
• Former Ambassador, Governor Nikki Haley to Campaign With Glenn Youngkin in Virginia (Haley is absolutely awful, of course.)
• A Hot Mic Could Have Lasting Impacts on the Gubernatorial Race (That wasn’t a “hot mic,” but…yes, it will have lasting implications on the governor’s race.)
• Democrats continue to attack Youngkin over The Carlyle Group business dealings
• AG Mark Herring Reaches Resolution with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family For Their Role in Creating, Prolonging the Opioid Crisis (“Virginia is expected to receive at least $80 million as its share of the settlement”)
• AG Mark Herring Sues Google For Antitrust Law Violations Over App Store (“Herring joins bipartisan coalition saying Google illegally maintains an app store monopoly; Unfairly edges out competition”)
• FWIW Virginia: Not Much Digital Spending by House of Delegates Yet, But Some By Outside Groups Like Emerging American Majorities, Freedom Virginia, and Americans for Prosperity
• DLCC: Glenn Youngkin Wants to Ban Abortion — And So Do VA GOP House of Delegates Candidates
• The Southern Strategy Goes to School (Great stuff by former Republican Party of Virginia State Central Committee member Kristina Nohe: “The names change, but the strategy remains. The strategy, however, is not racism; that is merely the tool. The strategy is fear…Critical Race Theory is not being taught in any elementary, middle, or high school in Virginia. However, across the Commonwealth, school boards are being asked to prove a negative, and when they can’t, because one cannot prove a negative, that is used as irrefutable proof that the schools are hiding something. It is a self-created political sleight of hand. So when Glenn Youngkin stands in front of the Loudoun County school administration building and declares that he will fight CRT, he is using a page directly out of the Atwater playbook.”)
• U.S. EPA Tells Army Corps *Not* to Issue Mountain Valley Pipeline Permit; Insufficient Information and Serious Threats to Water Quality Cited (“In conclusion, it appears that the project, as proposed, may not comply with the [Clean Water Act] Guidelines.”)
• EPA recommends that Army Corps of Engineers not grant Mountain Valley Pipeline stream crossing permit (Kill this godawful project.)
• Thursday (7/8) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Hospitalizations, New COVID Cases At Lowest Levels Since March 2020
• Unvaccinated and partially vaccinated Virginians account for virtually all new COVID-19 cases since December, data shows
• New, Holistic Admissions Process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (“TJ”) Improves Equity and Is Not a “Purge” (“In fact, the new way of evaluating applicants is intended to be, and is in fact, race- and gender-blind”)
• In Virginia, workforce barriers keep refugees out of the health care field — even with decades of experience
• ‘It feels sneaky’: Virginia lawmakers allocated $6.5 million to adult special education students – but disability advocates say there’s a loophole
• Va. GOP demands ethics probe of polisci heavyweight Larry Sabato’s ‘bitter partisanship’ on Twitter (Appalling by the VA GOP.)
• Williams: Harry Byrd’s statue is gone. But his legacy lives on.
• Del. Elizabeth Guzman Calls VA GOP’s “Tracker” Tactics “inappropriate and dangerous and they need to stop”; Calls On Republican Opponent to “join me in disavowing the use of aggressive trackers like this”
• Supreme Court of Virginia orders new trial for 70-year-old woman falsely implicated in attempted strawberry theft
• Officials: Critical race theory not taught in Bedford County Public Schools
• Do you want to be a beekeeper? Virginia offering free hives in hopes of boosting pollinators
• On Virginia military base, efficiency upgrades produce savings and resilience (“An energy services contract is helping the storied Quantico Marine Corps Base southwest of Washington, D.C., to tackle a host of energy projects, from lighting efficiency to a microgrid that will cut costs and bolster resiliency.”)
• Community speaks up on draft policy for Albemarle transgender students (“The fact that parents might not be notified if their child wants to transition or identify by a different gender than they were assigned at birth while at school worried some community members who spoke Thursday.”)
• Richmond City council committee forwards resolution to declare racism public health crisis in city
• Elsa’s downpours brought flash flooding south and east of Richmond, but the worst of the storm has moved out
• D.C.-area forecast: Scattered late-day storms, then a more pleasant start to the weekend