Monday News: “Climate Scientists Meet As Floods, Fires, Droughts And Heat Waves Batter Countries”; “Republicans unleashed a deadly vaccine skepticism. Can they now contain it?”; “Pelosi primes Capitol attack panel to take hard line on Trump”; “Is Virginia’s redistricting commission violating the law?”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, July 26.

• Climate Scientists Meet As Floods, Fires, Droughts And Heat Waves Batter Countries (“Hundreds of scientists are meeting to finalize a landmark climate report. It’s meant to guide the next decade of international climate policy, but it’s unclear if politicians will act on it.”)
• As China Boomed, It Didn’t Take Climate Change Into Account. Now It Must. (“China’s rapid economic growth created cities ill-equipped to face extreme weather. Last week’s dramatic floods showed that much will have to change. While the country has begun taking aim at climate change, the question is whether it can ward off the impact of already released greenhouse gases.”)
• Action on climate change can provide a shot in the arm for the global economy, economist says (“Charles Dumas, chief economist at U.K.-based investment research firm TS Lombard, said that action on climate change is often criticized as moving too slowly. However, with governments increasing spending to aid their post-Covid economies, they may start catching up.”)
• Fraught G20 meeting on new climate targets highlights divisions(“Marathon negotiations end with split on phasing out coal and ending fossil fuel subsidies”)
• Old style tech to give major boost to Australia’s shift to wind and solar
• U.S. Intensifies Airstrikes in Afghanistan as Taliban Offensive Nears Kandahar
• Afghan resistance to the Taliban needs U.S. support — and a big morale boost
• Toyota Led on Clean Cars. Now Critics Say It Works to Delay Them. (“The auto giant bet on hydrogen power, but as the world moves toward electric cars, the company is fighting regulations in an apparent effort to buy time.”)
• Tunisian president ousts government in move critics call a coup
• Climate change: Israel to cut 85% of emissions by mid-century (Too slow.)
• China Stocks Tumble in ‘Panic Selling’ Amid Broad Crackdown
• U.S.-China meeting off to a tense start as Beijing official says relations are in a ‘stalemate’
• US accused of ‘demonising’ China as high-level talks begin in Tianjin
• Oil Resumes Decline With Demand Outlook Clouded by Delta Spread
• Mixed AstraZeneca-Pfizer shot boosts COVID antibody level – study
• How the Delta variant upends assumptions about the coronavirus (“The Delta variant is the fastest, fittest and most formidable version of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 the world has encountered, and it is upending assumptions about the disease even as nations loosen restrictions and open their economies, according to virologists and epidemiologists.”)
• The West is burning. Climate change is making it worse.
• Fed now facing twin inflation, growth risks as virus jumps and supply chains falter
• Republicans unleashed a deadly vaccine skepticism. Can they now contain it?
• Unvaccinated Americans under mounting pressure to get Covid shots
• We’re Zeroing In On the ‘Holy Grail’ of COVID-19 Immunity (“There’s no good way of measuring whether your vaccine worked—yet.”)
• Fauci: New masking guidelines for vaccinated Americans under “active consideration”
• Many Americans were looking forward to a carefree summer. But Covid measures are creeping back into our reality (Thanks to right wingnuts…ugh.)
• As virus surges, GOP lawmakers are moving to limit public health powers (Bonkers.)
• The FDA must sprint, not stumble, on approving the covid-19 vaccines
• Covid: Fauci says US heading in wrong direction as cases rise
• How Fox News viewers are less likely to get vaccinated
• Hospitalized with Covid, a conservative Tennessee radio host shifts his message to urge vaccinations.
• Not vaccinated? Don’t go to bars or restaurants
• What the Delta Variant Means for the U.S. Economy (“Predictions of a second “Roaring Twenties” have proved premature.”)
• Senators race to seal infrastructure deal as pressure mounts
• U.S. Infrastructure Talks Near Finish as Senators Face Time Pressure
• Democrats brace for slog on Biden’s spending plan
• GOP sees debt ceiling as its leverage against Biden (Disgraceful.)
• Disinformation for Hire, a Shadow Industry, Is Quietly Booming (Disgusting.)
• Nancy Pelosi primes Capitol attack panel to take hard line on Trump (“The Republican leadership’s decision to boycott the inquiry leaves the ex-president without defenders on the committee”)
• Pelosi Announces Appointment of Congressman Adam Kinzinger to Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol
• Pelosi confident in bipartisan committee, plans to add more Republicans
• Kinzinger on January 6th Commission: When Duty Calls, I Will Answer
• Growing group of GOP members wants McCarthy to punish Kinzinger and Cheney for joining January 6 committee (Anti-democracy authoritarians.)
• Republicans Can’t Hide From a Bipartisan January 6 Investigation
• What Biden can do to show he’s serious about voting rights (“First, stop making Manchin’s arguments for him. Biden should instead make the case that the Republicans’ use of the filibuster is a gross distortion and abuse of the procedure…Second, Vice President Harris, instead of meeting with voting rights advocates already on board, would do well to meet with business leaders and persuade them to sign a pledge to support voting rights…Finally, Biden can project his seriousness on the issue.”)
• Mr. President, You’re Just Plain Wrong on Voter Suppression
• Americans’ optimism about country’s direction over next year drops nearly 20 points since May: POLL
• Carl Bernstein Brands Trump As ‘War Criminal’ For Capitol Riot And Pandemic Deaths (“The veteran journalist accused the former president of ‘fomenting a coup’ and called his mishandling of the pandemic ‘homicidal negligence.'”)
• What Ken Starr’s Alleged Affair Means for Republicans
• Mar-a-Lago primary: Trump wields power with endorsements, but some in GOP fear midterm damage
• Facebook’s Broken Vows (“How the company’s pledge to bring the world together wound up pulling us apart”)
• Fox News hosts discuss how to ban ‘childless’ liberals from voting (Completely unhinged shit.)
• Why Top Democrats Are Listening to Eric Adams Right Now (“Some prominent Democrats think their party’s nominee for mayor of New York offers a template for how to address issues of public safety.”)
• A Catholic newsletter promised investigative journalism. Then it outed a priest using Grindr data.
• Armed Standoffs With the Government, “Uber Militias,” and Ammon Bundy’s Run to Be Idaho’s Next Governor (“Does running for office make him less dangerous—or more?”)
• GOP Rep. Clay Higgins says he has Covid
• Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance blames America’s woes on ‘the childless left’ (“Hillbilly Elegy author singles out Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker and AOC as he praises far-right president of Hungary” Yep, Vance is a fascist.)
• Bob Moses, Crusader for Civil Rights and Math Education, Dies at 86
• Tucker Carlson Confronted at Store by Man Saying ‘You Are the Worst Human Being’ (There’s a lot of competition for that title, but sure, Carlson’s one of the worst people in the country.)
• LA man who mocked Covid-19 vaccines dies of virus
• Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says “We’re down to the last couple of items, and I think you’re going to see a [bipartisan infrastructure] bill Monday afternoon.” (On ditching the filibuster, Sen. Warner says “If we have to do a small carve out on filibuster for voting rights, that is the only area where I would allow that kind of reform.”)
• Team USA falls to France at Tokyo Games for first Olympic men’s basketball loss since 2004
• Political opponents, yes, but Virginia’s gubernatorial candidates share a taste for pricey Zip codes
• “Out-of-Touch” and “Offensive”: Glenn Youngkin Sought Private Horse Tax Break During Pandemic State of Emergency in Spring 2020 (Youngkin’s “agricultural district” in his front yard has “European fronted stalls” and a “designer club room”)
• Incarcerated Virginians and their families have gone a year without in-person contact. The state says visits won’t resume for three months.
• Editorial: Is Virginia’s redistricting commission violating the law? (The subheader in this Roanoke Times headline is classic, in that it shows how f’ing stupid the media was on the Virginia Redistricting Amendment, which newspaper editorial boards overwhelmingly supported. A bunch of us kept saying they were wrong, but did they listen? Of COURSE they didn’t, because they are above all arrogant.)
• Betsy B. Carr column: Virginia needs Biden’s care plan
• Virginia Department of Corrections announces plans to de-privatize prison health care
• 100 Days Out: Hala For Virginia Releases State of the Race Memo
• City kept Charlottesville statue removal timeline quiet due to violence concerns, documents show
• Cubans in Roanoke react to protests in their native country
• Potential concrete plant expansion near Cape Charles Natural Preserve on Eastern Shore met with resident concern
• City of Fairfax makes history with its inaugural Asian Festival
• D.C.-area forecast: Hot through Thursday before storms usher in some relief