Wednesday News: “Europe Plans Aggressive New Laws to Phase Out Fossil Fuels”; “Senate Democrats, White House agree on $3.5 trillion budget package”; “There’s a Word for What Trumpism Is Becoming”; “Biden blasts GOP’s attack on voting rights — Fox News doesn’t air it”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, July 14.

• Europe Plans Aggressive New Laws to Phase Out Fossil Fuels (“The proposals, expected Wednesday, are likely to be more ambitious and specific than other countries’ efforts to fight climate change and may include a border tax on imports deemed to be polluting.”)
• EU set to call time on combustion engine within two decades (“Carmakers already accelerating switch to electric motors”)
• China to Launch World’s Largest Carbon Market (“The national emissions-trading program will double the share of global emissions covered under such plans and include thousands of companies involved in fossil-fuel combustion.”)
• New report suggests corporate climate change pledges aren’t that valuable
• New AEMO boss wants Australian grids ready to handle 100 pct renewables by 2025
• Singapore unveils one of the world’s biggest floating solar panel farms (“Singapore unveiled on Wednesday one of the world’s largest floating solar panel farms, spanning an area equivalent to 45 football fields and producing enough electricity to power the island’s five water treatment plants.”)
• The world economy is slowly rebounding. But challenges still lie ahead.
• ‘Together, We Can Become a Force’: Haitians Seek Change After Assassination (“Civic leaders hope that in the midst of the turmoil, the country can find a way to reimagine itself for a better future.”)
• Canada: at least 160 more unmarked graves found in British Columbia (“Kuper Island school run by Catholic church closed in 1975”)
• Cuba protests: one man killed and more than 100 missing in historic unrest
• Raúl Castro reappears in emergency meeting prompted by massive protests in Cuba
• Afghanistan: Taliban flag raised above border crossing with Pakistan
• Australia extends Sydney lockdown as COVID-19 outbreak nears 900 infections
• Moderna’s Next Act Is Using mRNA vs. Flu, Zika, HIV, and Cancer
• South African crowds rampage, hospital operations disrupted
• Death toll rises to 72 in South Africa as violence triggered by Zuma arrest escalates (“The spasm of violent protests and looting is South Africa’s worst since the first all-race election in 1994 ended decades of apartheid rule that made the country an international pariah.”)
• China Deals Another Blow to Its Crypto Miners
• China Slams ‘Sinister’ U.S. Over Hong Kong, Digital Trade Deal
• Iranian Intelligence Plotted to Kidnap U.S.-Based Activist, Prosecutors Say
• Iranian Intelligence Officials Indicted on Kidnapping Conspiracy Charges
• Iranian Agents Are Facing Charges For Their Role In A Plot To Kidnap A U.S. Journalist
• India states considering two-child policy and incentives for sterilisation (“Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Gujarat have announced draft legislation which would see anyone with more than two children denied benefits and in some cases jobs”)
• Biden names Arizona Republican Jeff Flake as his ambassador pick for Turkey
• Green-Tech Startups Are Getting Fresh Wave of Cash (“Investor and government funds are pouring into clean tech years after the failures of Solyndra and A123 Systems chilled early enthusiasm for green investing”)
• More than 60 wildfires rage across US west – including blaze bigger than Portland (Stop emitting greenhouse gases, on an emergency basis…not 2040, 2045, 2050 or whatever absurdly weak/pathetic target dates are being set.)
• Hospitalizations rising again as delta variant spreads among the unvaccinated, doctors say (“Cases are rising in Missouri, Arkansas, Nevada, Utah and Florida at higher rates than in other states over the past couple of weeks.” Mostly “red” states…hmmm.)
• Customers Are Back at Restaurants and Bars, but Workers Have Moved On
• Senate Democrats reveal $3.5 trillion plan to invest in health care, climate change and more (“‘If we pass this, this is the most profound change to help American families in generations,’ said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.”)
• Democrats Propose $3.5 Trillion Budget to Advance With Infrastructure Deal(“The measure, which would include money to address climate change, expand Medicare and fulfill other Democratic priorities, is intended to deliver on President Biden’s economic proposal.”)
• Senate Democrats, White House agree on $3.5 trillion budget package (“Biden headed to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for sales pitch; Warner says plan is ‘fully paid for'”)
• Democrats Have Just Two Things to Get Done Before Summer Break. Surely This Will Be No Problem.
• Biden administration assigns more staff to review DACA applications as backlog soars
• ‘Lean Into It. Lean Into the Culture War.’
• EPA Struggles to Track Methane Emissions From Landfills. Here’s Why It Matters (“Amid reports of ‘super emitters,’ experts say getting the emissions numbers right is essential to curbing a potent climate pollutant.” Huge problem.)
• Democrats must do whatever it takes to defend voting. And not just in Texas.
• Biden: “We are facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War”
• Biden Calls Voting Rights Bills ‘Imperative’ to Fight GOP Curbs
• The good and the bad in Biden’s blistering attack on GOP voter suppression
• Sorry NYT, Joe Biden isn’t Boring (That NYT article was a disgrace to journalism.)
• Joe Biden Gave a Great Speech on Voting Rights. I Just Wish It Mattered.
• ‘Have you no shame?’: Biden decries Republican attacks on voting rights (“President condemns Trump’s ‘big lie’ about a stolen election but fails to mention filibuster in 20-minute Philadelphia speech”)
• Biden blasts GOP’s attack on voting rights — Fox News doesn’t air it (“President blasts ’21st-century Jim Crow’ attack on voting rights — Fox News airs right-wing outrage, but not speech”)
• This Video of Trump’s January 6 Lies Over Footage of What Actually Happened Is the Whole Ballgame (“But the former president is not actually making an argument about what happened. He is presenting, to the faithful, a path back to power and dominance.”)
• There’s a Word for What Trumpism Is Becoming (“Two traits have historically marked off European-style fascism from more homegrown American traditions of illiberalism: contempt for legality and the cult of violence. Presidential-era Trumpism operated through at least the forms of law. Presidential-era Trumpism glorified military power, not mob attacks on government institutions. Post-presidentially, those past inhibitions are fast dissolving.”)
• Trump has found his January 6 martyr (“His fact-free mythologizing of Ashli Babbitt’s death is part of a broader effort to justify the insurrection.”)
• The Lies Were Always the Point (“The GOP has abandoned truth. Trump is ancillary to that choice.”)
• Republicans are dismantling the right to vote. But they’ve enshrined the right to infect.
• Michael Wolff on Donald Trump’s Last Days (for Now)
• Yes, Donald Trump’s final days in office were even worse than we thought
• In a party of extremists, GOP primary contenders struggle to break out (“The Republican culture warrior candidates are coming. But they don’t seem different from those already in office.”)
• The Senate Primary Races We’re Watching So Far
• My Black Generation Is Fighting Like Hell to Stop the Whitelash
• GOP leans into racial issues ahead of midterms (An accurate headline would be more like “GOP leans into racism ahead of midterms,” but god forbid the media do that.)
• Transcript: Vice President Harris On Voting Rights, The Filibuster And The Courts
• Voting rights: How the battle is unfolding across the US
• Why Is the Country Panicking About Critical Race Theory?
• DOJ charges 5 members of same family for allegedly joining Capitol riot
• It’s Time for Murkowski to Leave the Dark Side and Join the Dems
• A bank executive is convicted of loaning Paul Manafort money to obtain a job with the Trump administration.
• Newsmax vouches for vaccines after host Rob Schmitt says shots are ‘against nature’ (Did they immediately fire the host? If not, then they’re full of crap.)
• [Texas] Senate presses forward passing GOP voting and bail bills, as Texas House in chaos over Democrats’ decampment
• Texas Republicans renew their attack on democracy
• Inside the secret plan for the Texas Democratic exodus: A phone tree, a scramble to pack and a politically perilous trip
• Texas House Republicans vote to track down absent Democrats and arrest them if necessary
• Ken Starr helped Jeffrey Epstein with ‘scorched-earth’ campaign, book claims (Ken Starr is certainly a horrible enough person.)
• Sacha Baron Cohen, Showtime win dismissal of Roy Moore defamation lawsuit
• DeSantis’ anti-riot law didn’t apply as Cuba protesters shut down a Miami-Dade road. Hmmm . . .
• Fox chief political anchor Bret Baier whitewashes Trump’s CPAC election lies (“Fox’s ‘straight news’ anchor reports on Trump’s latest election lies without noting network’s own past disclaimer”)
• Inside Shepard Smith’s Post-Fox News Crash on CNBC
• Tennessee abandons vaccine outreach to minors — not just for COVID-19 (Idiocracy.)
• Top Tennessee Vaccine Official Says She Was Fired Over Shots for Teens
• Tennessee vaccine official’s story reveals an ugly truth about GOP and children’s rights
• Another Republican files to run in VA-07
• Video: Under *Democratic* Leadership, Virginia Named the Top State for Business in America – “first ever back-to-back winner” (“Virginia’s best category – education, with well-performing public schools and great universities, all feeding the third-best workforce in the country.”)
• Spanberger Talks Up Expanded Child Tax Credit, But Some Say More is Needed
• Gov. Ralph Northam Talks to CNBC About Virginia Earning Back-to-Back Titles in CNBC Ranking, Remaining “America’s Top State for Business”
• Beyond Parody: Glenn Youngkin’s “Senior Economic Advisor” Is “Trumponomics” Coauthor Whose Economic Advice Helped Lead to Disaster in KS; Called Climate Scientists “Stalinistic,” Said “I’d get rid of a lot of these child labor laws” (Moore also wrote columns “that disparaged women”; called people who protested COVID stay-at-home orders “modern-day Rosa Parks”…)
• Virginia Republicans have been warning Democratic control was bad for business. CNBC disagrees.
• Pity the MAGA Candidate Who Tries to Pivot (Youngkin is that “MAGA candidate.”)
• A clearer picture is emerging of Glenn Youngkin (“The bigger problem is the lack of candor and specificity Youngkin has displayed so far. Virginians deserve to know how he would wield power before Nov. 2 – not after. They already know how his Democratic opponent would do things…’I’m not a politician,’ Youngkin says on his campaign’s website. He’s sure acting like one. That much is clear.”)
• Glenn Youngkin’s Policies Remain Elusive Six Months Into Campaign
• Is Virginia an economic success or ‘in the ditch?’ Depends on which candidate you ask. (This horrendously bad headline reflects so much that’s wrong with the media – in this case, the WaPo. In fact, whether or not Virginia is an economic success is *objectively* determinable, but of course that would actually require the reporter to stop the bullshit “both sides”/false equivalency. UGH.)
• Virginia is back as America’s Top State for Business in 2021
• Glenn Youngkin to Campaign With Nikki Haley, Who Said Trump Will Be “Judged Harshly By History” and That “I’m deeply disturbed by what’s happened to him,” But Also That She’ll Back Him Again For President in 2024 (Also from Haley: “[Trump]’s not going to run for federal office again,” “He’s fallen so far,” “He went down a path he shouldn’t have”)
• Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley campaigns for Youngkin in Richmond (Pathetic.)
• Tuesday (7/13) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Hospitalizations, New COVID Cases At Lowest Levels Since March 2020
• What’s the best way to protect young Virginians from COVID-19? Experts say it’s getting more adults immunized.
• Albemarle School Board backs Henley, anti-racism policy in joint statement following uproar (“Adding Critical Race Theory to our curricula has not occurred, nor are there any plans to do so. Reports to the contrary are false.”)
• VMI begins adopting recommended changes following investigation
• VMI superintendent: ‘zero tolerance’ for racism, sexism
• Amazon to donate undeveloped Crystal City land to Arlington for affordable housing
• Fairfax moves toward renaming major highways that honor Confederate generals (“The county appointed a 30-member task force charged with recommending new names for Lee Highway and Lee Jackson Memorial Highway.”)
• Policy change has led to Virginia Beach police activating body cams more often, audit shows
• D.C.-area forecast: Consistently hot and humid into this weekend; storms possible today