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by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, July 18.
Scene inside Nats Park: pic.twitter.com/O4jEh7mLqw
— Ted Starkey (@TedStarkey) July 18, 2021
- Europe wields the stick to boost vaccination as Delta variant spreads (America should do the same.)
- As Frozen Land Burns, Siberia Fears: ‘If We Don’t Have the Forest, We Don’t Have Life’
- U.S. diplomats in Afghanistan face daunting, dangerous mission with little military backup
- South Africa’s leaders fear fresh wave of violence by Zuma loyalists
- Angela Merkel to visit flood-ravaged areas in Germany (“Chancellor to survey damage and meet survivors as German death toll passes 150 with dozens missing”)
- Germany comes to grips with massive flood damage as some regions brace for more rains
- Europe floods: Victims face massive clean-up as waters recede
- OPEC+ Pushes for Oil Output Deal as Standoff Eases (So, the climate crisis is out of control, we need to get off of fossil fuels ASAP, and OPEC is…doing business as usual. Yeah, this will end really well…ugh.)
- Oil Posts Biggest Weekly Loss Since March on Virus Comeback
- Poland’s attack on an American-owned TV network requires a strong U.S. response
- UK PM Johnson reverses plan to skip quarantine after COVID exposure
- U.S. Habit of Backing Strongman Allies Fed Turmoil in Haiti
- Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s government in Iraq has a long way to go. But at least it’s a start.
- Climate is the only thing Russia and the US can agree on right now. That’s how bad it’s got (“As the world’s second and sixth biggest polluters, respectively, the United States and Russia agreed on the need to step up on climate action, and said they would work together to tackle the challenge.” Obnoxious headline, by the way.)
- Half the country believes a deadly conspiracy theory
- Red-Hot U.S. Economy Expected to Cool From Here
- The total health and climate consequences of the American food system cost three times as much as the food itself (Our food system is a mess.)
- US justice department to appeal Daca court decision, says Biden
- Joe Biden: six months on, cold, hard reality eclipses early euphoria
- US democracy faces a momentous threat, says Joe Biden – but is he up for the fight?
- Biden’s silence on filibuster strains Democrats’ patience
- Here’s What Key Republican Legislatures Are Plotting Next On State Voter Restrictions (“GOP lawmakers in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are trying to circumvent Democratic vetoes as they prepare for 2022.”)
- The next voting rights battleground is Michigan (“The Michigan GOP has an aggressive plan to suppress the vote — and to bypass the governor’s veto.” Evil.)
- Voting Rights Activists Think Biden’s Actions Fall Short Of His Dire Warnings
- Biden’s Made Progress on Climate, Even if Activists Can’t See It (“There are two key climate provisions in the package. One is billions in tax incentives for electric cars and renewable energy sources like wind and solar. The other is a national clean electricity standard, a mandate requiring electric utilities to steadily reduce emissions. Unanswered so far is what that standard should look like.”)
- Wonking Out: Two Cheers for Carbon Tariffs (“For now, carbon tariffs are what we can reasonably expect to happen. And they should happen as soon as possible.”)
- Majority of Covid misinformation came from 12 people, report finds (And yet Facebook won’t kick those 12 people off? Why not? And then they claim they are blameless? Yeah, riiiiight Facebook.)
- Facebook Extends Pushback on Biden Criticism of Social Media (Facebook is completely full of crap.)
- Facebook refutes Biden claim that it is ‘killing people’ with vaccine misinformation (And Facebook is…yep, LYING.)
- Slip Sliding Away From History
- Scorched, Parched and Now Uninsurable: Climate Change Hits Wine Country (“If any nook of American agriculture has the means and incentive to outwit the climate crisis, it is Napa Valley. But so far, vineyards here show the limits of adapting to a warming planet.”)
- The Memo: Trump is diminished, but hasn’t faded
- Looks Like No One Wants To See the Donald Trump-Bill O’Reilly Arena Tour
- Arizona GOP worries Trump’s audit is destroying their chance at a Senate seat: report (“The party apparatus is deeply entrenched in MAGA and it’s the only litmus test that seems to matter at the moment”)
- 2020 election becomes early dividing line for Republicans in crucial 2022 Senate race in Arizona
- FACT FOCUS: A false narrative of 74K extra votes in Arizona (“Cyber Ninjas, the cybersecurity consulting firm hired by Arizona Senate Republicans to oversee a partisan review of the 2020 election, on Thursday pushed a false narrative that Maricopa County received thousands of mail-in ballots”)
- Gaetz and Greene Hold Bizarre Outdoor ‘Protest’ After Multiple Venues Bailed (Right-wing Republican freak show.)
- Dozens arrested in Los Angeles as anti-trans protest outside spa turns violent (“Wi Spa, a Koreatown business with a trans-inclusive policy, has become the target of a rightwing media storm” WTF???)
- 3 Texas Democrats test positive for COVID-19 in Washington, D.C.
- Florida leads nation in coronavirus infections in 2020-like surge (Ugh, Flori-DUH!)
- In Undervaccinated Arkansas, Covid Upends Life All Over Again (Just get vaccinated!)
- GOP governor’s vaccination tour reveals depths of distrust (“Free lottery tickets for those who get vaccinated had few takers. Free hunting and fishing licenses didn’t change many minds either. And this being red-state Arkansas, mandatory vaccinations are off the table.”)
- Washington Nationals’ game suspended as police say three injured in shooting outside stadium (Another day in bizarre, outlier America.)
- Padres-Nationals MLB game suspended after shooting outside stadium
- Hard-Right Republican Pollster Finds Terry McAuliffe Up 5 Points Over Glenn Youngkin (Even after the heavily right-wing-biased/”push poll”-style questions, McAuliffe STILL leads Youngkin by 3 points…)
- EDITORIAL: How do you fix ‘best state for business’? (“…if Glenn Youngkin wants to ride his ill-defined promises to save the state from financial ruin into the governor’s mansion, maybe he should find another horse. This one seems to be dead.”)
- Massive Spotsylvania solar plant is online (“The first phases are generating 259 megawatts each day, providing power for some of the companies that bought the rights to the energy.” Nope, 259 megawatts is the *capacity*…generation should be expressed in kilowatt-hours.)
- UVA COVID-19 Model Update: Delta Variant Now Dominant, Reproduction Rate >1.0, Cases “have ceased their decline in most health districts, and returned to growth in many” (The “pandemic of the unvaccinated” comes to Virginia?)
- Schapiro: Campaign as crash course in Va. government (“Youngkin needs a tutor” Youngkin is completely clueless on just about every topic.)
- ‘Not good enough’: Former commissioner faults Northam administration for crisis at state mental hospitals
- Gibson: Some statues won’t be missed
- O’Connor: Rural Virginians and the importance of ending cancer as we know it
- ‘Let them die’: Virginia PTA official resigns over comments at critical race theory rally (“Michelle Leete said she did not mean to wish death on parents opposed to teaching race history in schools. Instead, she hoped the parents’ right-wing ‘ideals’ would die.”)
- Fairfax PTA official resigns after ‘let them die’ comment
- Vote in Virginia’s Largest School District Protects Transgender, Other Gender-Expansive Students
- Arlington County Authorizes Collective Bargaining, Adopts Prevailing Wage Provision, Votes to Rename Route 29 From “Lee Highway” to “Langston Boulevard”
- Arlington approves collective bargaining for county employees, marking shifting tides on labor in Virginia
- Arlington County Board votes unanimously to rename Lee Highway
- An oceanfront condo collapsed in Florida. Could that happen in Virginia Beach?
- D.C.-area forecast: Less hot and not muggy for a couple of days
