Tuesday News: “January 6 committee opening is crucial chance to correct Trump’s lies”; “Vaccine mandate calls fueled by COVID-19’s latest spike”; Youngkin “connected to firm that paid disabled worker 11 cents an hour”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, July 27.

This week, the heroes of January 6 will finally get the chance to tell their stories.

We owe it to each of them to listen. pic.twitter.com/hOmee1INNt

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 27, 2021

• ‘Record-shattering’ heat becoming much more likely, says climate study (Totally unacceptable situation. Get off of fossil fuels, ASAP!)
• India Can Save $1.2 Billion a Year by Shutting Old Coal Plants
• China Avoids Coal Projects in Belt and Road for First Time (“Beijing is trying to make its investments more sustainable”)
• COP26 climate summit president says progress made, but not enough
• Japan must finally end the sale and trade of elephant ivory (By James A. Baker III and Hillary Rodham Clinton)
• A Distressing Reality Check for a Covid-Weary World
• Global supply lines struggle amid virus outbreaks in the developing world
• Tunisia’s Democracy Verges on Collapse as President Moves to Take Control
• The First and Now the Last Best Hope of the Arab Spring Is At Risk
• South, North Korea have restored hotlines as leaders seek to rebuild ties
• A 2nd New Nuclear Missile Base for China, and Many Questions About Strategy
• Analysis: U.S., China positions ossify at entrenched Tianjin talks
• First person charged under HK security law found guilty of terrorism, inciting secession (Disgraceful.)
• The China Model: What the Country’s Tech Crackdown Is Really About
• China Stock Rout Spreads Amid Fears of Foreign Investor Exodus
• Peru’s new president to take charge of divided country ravaged by Covid (“Pedro Castillo saw off an ugly, Trump-style revolt against his victory and must now try to unite the country”)
• Tokyo adds record number of new Covid-19 cases amid Olympic Games
• How the Taliban retook half of Afghanistan
• As Cases Rise, a New Feeling Rises Among the Vaccinated: Anger (“Frustrated by the prospect of a new surge, many Americans are blaming the unvaccinated. A tougher stance may backfire, some experts warn.”)
• Your Vaccinated Immune System Is Ready for Breakthroughs (“Getting COVID-19 when you’re vaccinated isn’t the same as getting COVID-19 when you’re unvaccinated.”)
• The US could see 200,000 Covid-19 cases a day within the next six weeks, former CDC director says
• Americans are ‘mixing and matching’ Covid vaccines over concerns about the delta variant
• Pfizer And Moderna To Expand Studies Of Vaccines In 5- To 11-Year-Olds
• The unvaccinated are testing our pandemic luck
• Enough already. It’s time for vaccine entry passes. (Absolutely!)
• V.A. Issues Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers, a First for a Federal Agency
• ‘There’s a disconnect’: after a rapid rollout why has US vaccine effort stalled?
• Vaccine mandate calls fueled by COVID-19’s latest spike
• White House Says Travel Bans To Remain For Now As Delta Variant Surges
• States that cut unemployment early didn’t see spike in hiring (So much for *that* theory?)
• U.S. Infrastructure Talks Hit Multiple Snags
• Expert says Biden’s infrastructure plan could help slow climate change
• Bipartisanship’s last gasp in 2021 (“It’s incredibly difficult to get a bipartisan infrastructure bill. And if you think that’s bad, wait until we’re past it.”)
• Toyota is quietly pushing Congress to slow the shift to electric vehicles (Don’t buy from Toyota.)
• President Biden Announces Eight Nominees to Serve as U.S. Attorneys
• The real reason Republicans want to sabotage the investigation into Jan. 6 (“Their entire political enterprise is built on the very forces that led to the insurrection.”)
• We have questions about Jan. 6. The new House committee can answer them.
• 4 Officers Who Responded To Capitol Riot Will Deliver 1st Testimonies To New Panel
• January 6 committee opening is crucial chance to correct Trump’s lies
• The absurd coverage of the January 6 committee
• Democrats look to move past partisan rancor and set serious tone for Jan. 6 investigation
• Chairman of Jan. 6 Committee Casts Wide Net on Witnesses
• Shunned by G.O.P., Cheney and Kinzinger Seek Answers on Jan. 6 Riot
• Five things to watch as Jan. 6 panel begins its work
• What did Jim Jordan know about the insurrection and when did he know it? (And how about Kevin McCarthy???)
• GOP brawls over Trump on eve of first Jan. 6 hearing
• Republicans Recast Jan. 6 Riot Defendants as ‘Political Prisoners’ (Completely unhinged.)
• Democrats have a massive opportunity with Capitol riot committee: Shove it down the GOP’s throat (“The House select committee on the Jan. 6 insurrection is a potent political weapon. Democrats better not waste it”)
• Rep. Bennie Thompson: We have started investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Nothing will be off-limits.
• What Is Adam Kinzinger’s Long Game Here?
• Why it matters that Kinzinger and Cheney will serve on the Jan. 6 committee (“They will bring credibility to the panel and might learn something along the way.”)
• Joe Biden’s relapse: Can the president shake off his fantasies about Republican leaders? (“Biden still claims that Republicans ‘know better.’ But as one critic says, the time for magical thinking is over”)
• Republicans poised to rig the next election by gerrymandering electoral maps (“A supreme court justice described the last round of gerrymandering as ‘dishonoring US democracy’. Another round is about to start – will this be another ‘political heist’?”)
• The 2022 Elections Will Be a Conflict Between What’s Happening and What People Believe Is Happening
• Latino Voters Moved Toward Republicans. Now Biden Wants Them Back. (“Did Democrats take the Hispanic vote for granted in 2020? Some in the party think they did, and can’t afford the same mistakes going forward.”)
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren Rips Jeff Bezos For Space Trip While Stiffing IRS
• The case for optimism about American democracy (“Why Fareed Zakaria believes the American experiment is flawed but resilient.” Unfortunately, Zakaria is wrong a lot.)
• The ‘Founding Fathers’ Were Surprisingly Pessimistic (“Whereas Washington was worried about the politics of the nation, and Adams the character of its people, Hamilton was worried about its institutions. He feared the national government would be too weak…”)
• Democrats Are Freaking Out Over the GOP’s Restrictive Voting Laws (“The party’s failure (so far) to stop the Republicans’ lie-fueled assault on voting rights has some Democrats dreading 2022 and beyond.”)
• Merrick Garland, don’t politicize the pursuit of justice (“We need aggressive action from the Justice Department. Period.”)
• Lawyer Steven Donziger found guilty of withholding evidence in Chevron case (“Lawyer now faces six months in jail following a decades-long battle against the oil company”)
• Water level in Utah’s Great Salt Lake hits historic low (” Level likely to drop further in coming months, official says; Millions of birds rely on lake as boats left high and dry”)
• First look: Don Jr., Ron DeSantis dominate poll of GOP frontrunners (Don Jr? That’s completely insane, of course.)
• Judge Scales Back Climate Scientist’s Case Against Bloggers (“Michael Mann may succeed in going to trial over the effort to smear his ‘hockey stick’ research, but the blog publishers won’t be defendants.”)
• Sarah Huckabee Sanders Deploys Big Lie to Boost Vaccinations (The “Trump vaccine?” Bonkers.)
• Journalists praised Sean Hannity’s vaccination commentary. Then the right-wing backlash hit.
• ABC’s ‘This Week’ and ‘Fox News Sunday’ whitewashed GOP election lies from their January 6 committee coverage (“Republican attacks on the committee shouldn’t be a reason to question its ‘credibility’ — the real question should be about why Republicans are against the investigation”)
• Blue Origin offers to waive $2 billion in NASA payments in bid for moon landing contract
• How A Special Election In Texas’s 6th District Will Test Trump’s Influence On The GOP
• Trump Endorses Paxton Over Bush In Texas (So George P. Bush utterly disgraced himself by groveling to the far right and to Trump, but in the end didn’t get Trump’s precccciousss endorsement anyway.)
• Twitter Users Dunk On George P. Bush After ‘Humiliating’ Trump Snub (“He kissed up to Trump only for the former president to endorse his rival.”)
• Matt Gaetz’s Future Sister-in-Law Says He’s a Gaslighting ‘Creep’
• So Now Tucker Carlson Isn’t a Fan of Ambushing People Over COVID Views (“‘Settle down, son,’ the Fox News host told a man confronting him in a Montana store—just three months after urging his viewers to harass the parents of kids wearing masks.”)
• Ex-US Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming dies after bicycle accident
• Why LeVar Burton’s Jeopardy! quest feels so meaningful (“LeVar Burton is America’s favorite teacher. He’s a natural fit for the long-running game show that Alex Trebek made a cultural institution.”)
• AARP Virginia encourages Youngkin to participate in The People’s Debate
• Virginia governor candidate connected to firm that paid disabled worker 11 cents an hour
• Glenn Youngkin releases two new TV ads for gubernatorial campaign (Hopefully, voters don’t buy this bullshit.)
• DPVA Statement on Glenn Youngkin Hiding From Crucial Richmond Debate (AARP: “We were disappointed to see that The People’s Debate wasn’t among the forums Mr. Youngkin has announced he will participate in”)
• Governor Northam Announces $500 Million Investment to Improve Air Quality in Virginia Schools
• Northam proposes spending $500 million in federal relief money for school air quality projects
• Northam’s $250 million HVAC investment leaves education advocates underwhelmed (“‘Short-sighted’ approach ignores the real needs facing local schools, some say”)
• The Roanoke Times and Other Newspaper Editorial Boards Relentlessly Pushed the Fatally Flawed Redistricting Amendment. Now They’re Shocked (?) That It’s the Debacle Many of Us Predicted?!? (Roanoke Times rips commission for breaking its promise on geographic and gender diversity, blocking “truly independent-minded people from serving,” putting “unelected conspiracy theorist[s]” on the commission…)
• Special Session Will Remake Virginia Court Of Appeals
• Democratic leadership says no amendments allowed in money committees during upcoming special session
• VA Hospital & Healthcare Association Letter to State Leaders Argues Acute Care Hospitals “not designed or intended to provide long-term care for patients with specialized needs”
• Virginia HD66 GOP Nominee Heads “Life Christian Academy” School Which Uses Extreme, Anti-Science, Racist, Anti-LGBT, Anti-Environment Curriculum (For instance, textbooks teach that “most black and white southerners had long lived together in harmony; they had been taught to accept segregation as a way of life”)
• Monday (7/26) Virginia Data on COVID-19: With Delta Now Dominant, Hospitalizations Picking Up, Highest 10-Day New COVID Cases (+5,684) Since 5/16
• Video: Loudoun County Board Votes 6-3 for Collective Bargaining, After Chair Phyllis Randall Strongly Rebuts Argument That This Is In Any Way a “White Supremacy Issue” (Randall: “If you make everything about race then nothing is about race”)
• Loudoun County COVID-19 Cases Significantly Increase (“The Virginia county reports the delta variant is fueling the increase in cases among unvaccinated residents”)
• School Board Recall Effort Nears Signature Thresholds
• Virginia Beach contradicts witness, says Donovon Lynch pointed gun at police officer before being shot
• Wind farm planned for Botetourt missed deadline for approval, county says
• Franklin County School Board makes mask wearing parents’ choice
• Federal review recommends leaving cancelled Atlantic Coast Pipeline pipe, felled trees in place
• Hopewell Requires Masking, Social Distancing for New School Year
• ‘Deeply disappointing:’ Opening of new Potomac Yard Metro station in Alexandria delayed (“The new Potomac Yard Metro station that was set to open near the sprawling Amazon headquarters development in Alexandria, Virginia, next spring will be delayed by at least five months because of design flaws in a critical safety system, Metro announced Monday.”)
• City documents reveal entities interested in Confederate statues
• Elections officials push back against Schilling lawsuit
• D.C.-area forecast: Hot again today with late-week relief on the way