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by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, July 17.
- ‘It Is All Connected’: Extreme Weather in the Age of Climate Change
- European Floods Are Latest Sign of a Global Warming Crisis
- Death toll exceeds 150 as Germany and Belgium hit by devastating floods (This is yet another nasty manifestation of the climate crisis.)
- One Culprit in the Horrific Death Toll From Europe’s Flooding: Climate Change (“It shows the urgency to act.”)
- ‘Climate change has arrived’: Deadly flooding in Europe makes future impossible to ignore
- How climate change fueled the devastating floods in Germany and northwest Europe (“These are the harbingers of climate change that have now arrived in Germany.”)
- China Dismisses U.S. Warning on Hong Kong as ‘Pure Nonsense’
- As long as the pandemic rages around the world, it’s a threat to everyone
- Senior Biden officials finding that Covid lab leak theory as credible as natural origins explanation
- Biden promised to support democracy. He now has an opportunity with Belarus to show he means business.
- Arrests at U.S.-Mexico Border This Year Top One Million
- Delta COVID variant now dominant strain worldwide, U.S. deaths surge -officials
- Covid deaths on the rise again in the U.S. after weeks of decline, CDC says (“After declining for weeks, seven-day average daily Covid deaths have increased by 26% to 211 per day. New Covid cases increased by roughly 70% since last week, while hospitalizations increased 36%. U.S. health officials maintain that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are still highly effective against the delta variant.”)
- CDC director warns of ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’ as cases rise
- White House: Florida accounts for 20 percent of all new COVID-19 infections
- Could Banking Magic Save Cities From Climate Disaster?
- For Minimum Wage Workers, Rent Is Now Unaffordable in Every County in America
- Oregon wildfire causes miles-high ‘fire clouds’ as flames grow (Our climate future if we don’t get this situation under control, ASAP!)
- The surgeon general wants Facebook to do more to stop Covid-19 lies (“Dr. Vivek Murthy considers social media misinformation to be a deadly public health threat.”)
- U.S. COVID Deaths Are Rising Again. Experts Call It A ‘Pandemic Of The Unvaccinated’
- ‘They’re killing people’: Biden slams Facebook for Covid disinformation (“False claims about vaccines has proliferated on the social network, and on other sites including Twitter and YouTube, says president” Yep.)
- Covid misinformation on Facebook is killing people – Biden
- ‘They’re Killing People’: Biden Denounces Social Media for Virus Disinformation (No doubt about it.)
- Psaki excoriates criticism of Biden administration work on vaccine misinformation
- Biden’s FDR-Size Bet (“The president’s sweeping $3.5 trillion budget package could be the key to winning 2024.”)
- Kevin McCarthy’s odd Trump-worship on Fox News hints at GOP midterm strategy (“So are Republicans really going to shape their 2022 strategy around the orthodoxy that the Donald Trump presidency was glorious and infallible in just about every conceivable way?”)
- As mountain of video evidence grows, Capitol riot trials are pushed to 2022 and beyond (“U.S. officials say that organizing and transferring the data in what the Justice Department has called one of the largest criminal investigations in U.S. history is likely to cost tens of millions of dollars.”)
- Democrats See Edge in Early Senate Map as Trump Casts Big Shadow (“Early fund-raising has given Democrats cause for optimism in key states as Republicans split over how closely to align with Donald Trump’s preferences.”)
- House Republicans close money gap with majority at stake (“Still, Democratic incumbents retain a significant cash-on-hand advantage…And some operatives were privately relieved at the small hauls of some highly touted Republican challengers. GOP state Sen. Jen Kiggans of Virginia only raised $286,000 for her run against Rep. Elaine Luria”)
- Trump says Milley should be court-martialed ‘if he said what was reported’ (Actually, Trump should be in prison for numerous crimes.)
- Sanders seeks chance to put his stamp on government
- A Federal Judge Ruled DACA Unlawful — But Current Recipients Are Safe For Now
- U.S. judge blocks new applicants to program that protects undocumented ‘dreamers’ who arrived as children (The judge is a George W. Bush appointee.)
- Federal judge declares DACA program illegal, but halts only new applications (Total bullshit.)
- The U.S. Shale Revolution Has Surrendered to Reality(“Fracking companies aren’t drilling as investment continues to dry up…The reason is that even as global oil demand and prices rise, the economics of the shale oil business model continue to not work. The U.S. shale industry has lost hundreds of billions of dollars in the past decade producing oil and selling it for less than it cost to produce.”)
- ‘A propaganda tool’ for Trump: A second federal judge castigates attorneys who filed a lawsuit challenging the 2020 results
- The Federalist Society Remains Rife With Insurrectionists. Its Leaders Don’t Care.
- The American Fringe Marches Into the Mainstream
- What the ‘Freedom Phone’ and the right’s anti-vax campaign have in common (“The conservative rank and file are a resource to be mined for money and ratings. Just keep the machine running.”)
- ‘Rogue’ U.S. Agency Used Racial Profiling to Investigate Commerce Dept. Employees, Report Says (” An obscure federal office operated for more than a decade as an ‘unaccountable police force’ inside the Commerce Department, using extreme and unauthorized tactics.”)
- William Regnery II, Reclusive Millionaire Who Financed American Fascists, Dead At 80 (Evil person.)
- Two men charged in plot to blow up Democratic headquarters in California
- In Texas, Top Two Republicans Steer Ship of State Hard to the Right (Disastrous.)
- In Texas, vigilantism replaces the rule of law (“Skirting the constitution, Texas Republicans turn to vigilantism”)
- Sen. Joe Manchin, key Democratic holdout on federal voting protections, coming to Texas for fundraiser hosted by several GOP donors
- Two Fla. police officers charged in new Proud Boys indictment in Capitol riot
- Delta Is Driving a Wedge Through Missouri
- Arizona has identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud in last year’s presidential election, undercutting Trump’s claims (Key words: 1) “potential”; 2) “fewer than 200 cases…out of more than 3 million ballots cast”)
- The Phony Arizona ‘Audit’ Will Never Be Finished
- Officials advise wearing masks in Vegas as COVID cases rise
- Haunted by Past Virus Surges, California Leans on Masks and Vaccines
- Whose side is Mark Warner on: Big Tech or the working people of Virginia?
- GOP Candidate Lifts Language From Dem Opponent’s Op-Ed (“Republican candidate Jen Kiggans appears to have taken direct phrases from an op-ed by her Democratic opponent, and then passed off the argument as her own.”)
- For Youngkin, skipped debate prompts questions about policy ideas and views
- WATCH: Terrified Glenn Youngkin Runs Away From Reporters
- Video: TX, MD, VA Legislative Black Caucuses Hold Press Conference for Voting Rights at Historic Library in Alexandria
- Governor Northam Announces Virginia to Invest $700 Million in American Rescue Plan Funding to Achieve Universal Broadband by 2024
- Virginia Shifts $700 Million In Relief Funds To Boost Rural Broadband Access
- 2Q21 Virginia Fundraising Numbers Coming In…Dems Looking Very Strong
- Democrat McAuliffe reports raising twice as much money as GOP rival Youngkin during June in Virginia governor’s race
- Families should have access to police shooting footage, Herring says
- Friday (7/16) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Still Relatively Low, But…Highest New 1-Day COVID Cases (+445) Since 5/25; Highest 10-Day New COVID Cases (+2,860) Since 5/31
- Black drivers in Virginia are the only demographic stopped by police at higher rate than share of population, data shows (“Black drivers accounted for about 31% of traffic stops statewide, despite making up 20% of the state’s population. White drivers made up 63% of stops statewide, though whites are 69% of the population.”)
- Environmentalists Still Battling Fossil Fuels Despite Clean Economy Act (Why the word “despite?” Odd.)
- Virginia deputy indicted in shooting of unarmed man (“Prosecutor Justin Witt of the Fredericksburg County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office told CNN on Friday that Spotsylvania County Deputy David Turbyfill had been indicted on a felony charge of ‘reckless handling of a firearm resulting in serious injury.'”)
- School board rejects mandatory Virginia pronoun and transgender bathroom policy (“The Russell County school board voted unanimously to reject mandatory rule changes after residents packed into a meeting hall and expressed their displeasure with the guidelines for transgender students”)
- Virginia State University and Virginia Union University to use CARES Act funds to forgive student balances
- Navy tightens COVID-19 restrictions in Hampton Roads
- Listen: Mayor Of Alexandria Wants Lawmakers To Improve Building Safety Measures
- Fairfax schools adopt updated guidelines to protect transgender students at meeting that drew dueling protests
- Ransomware attacks target Virginia Tech, no data believed stolen
- VMI’s funding is rightfully at stake as accounts of sexism and racism multiply
- Karl Frisch: Sweeping Climate Goals Adopted by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and School Board
- Western Tidewater Regional Jail inmate was handcuffed to wheelchair when officer pepper-sprayed him, lawsuit says (WTF???)
- The luck of growing up in Loudoun County
- Virginia PTA Official Says ‘Let Them Die’ About Parents Opposing Critical Race Theory (That language is obviously and completely unacceptable, even if it’s true that the people she’s referring to are “anti-education, anti-teacher, anti-equity, anti-history, anti-racial reckoning,” etc. Instead, the goal should be to either convince other people or to defeat them at the polls; that’s how democracy is supposed to work – peacefully working out our differences.)
- The long downfall of Delta Chi, the fraternity VCU banned following a student’s death
- D.C.-area forecast: High heat and brutal humidity sets up thunderstorms that may cause flooding late today
