Friday News: “Biden warns Kabul airport attackers: ‘We will hunt you down’”; “GOP Hawks Rage: We Want Our Forever War Back”; “The House’s January 6 Commission Is Not Messing Around”; “McAuliffe shows leadership when it comes to vaccines. Youngkin is all double-talk.”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, August 27.

• Central Banks Helping Funnel Trillions of Dollars into Fossil Fuels Despite Climate Pledges, Research Finds (The total opposite of what needs to be happening.)
• Saving the Planet While Ignoring Two Thirds of It (“The ocean represents a major blind spot in efforts to tackle the climate crisis and that needs to change, argues investigative journalist and author Ian Urbina.”)
• In a Summer of Deadly Deluges, New Research Shows How Global Warming Fuels Flooding
• The Fires in Greece Are a Terrifying Warning
• Reporting on the climate crisis: ‘For years it was seen as a far-off problem’ (It was only seen as a “far-off problem” if you didn’t understand what was happening.)
• Western Europe Can Expect More Heavy Rainfall And Fatal Floods As The Climate Warms
• Europe Seeks Solutions as it Grapples With Catastrophic Wildfires
• EGEB: World’s largest offshore floating wind farm is now complete
• Meet the Non-Vaccines That Promise to Boost Covid Immunity
• Kabul airport atrocity offers a glimpse of the chaos to come in Afghanistan (“Biden left with no good options after deadliest day for US troops in Afghanistan in more than a decade”)
• US presses on with evacuation from Afghanistan after deadly Kabul airport attack
• U.S. and allies warn more terrorist attacks likely as Afghanistan withdrawal deadline nears
• Final evacuations resume after deadly Kabul attacks
• Pentagon Confirms 12 Services Members Killed in Suicide Bombing in Kabul (Horrible.)
• Biden warns Kabul airport attackers: ‘We will hunt you down’
• Biden vows retribution on terrorists who killed 13 US service members in Kabul
• Kabul Airport Explosion Hits Crowd Amid Afghan Evacuations
• Biden vows to complete Afghanistan evacuation, hunt down ISIS leaders after Kabul attack
• What’s happening in Afghanistan is horrible. But how else was U.S. involvement going to end?
• Biden struggles to address the most volatile crisis of his presidency
• Biden is facing his biggest crisis yet. And he will survive it (“The majority of Americans support the withdrawal from Afghanistan. That’s why his approval ratings will bounce back in the long-run”)
• What is ISIS-K? Islamic State group’s affiliate behind Kabul airport attack (“The ISIS-K attack wasn’t aimed just at the Americans. It was also meant to embarrass the Taliban, experts said.”)
• Kabul terrorist attack highlights Biden’s Afghanistan dilemma
• At a badly shaken White House, ‘sadness and horror’
• Inside the Taliban’s Hidden War Against ISIS
• GOP Hawks Rage: We Want Our Forever War Back
• Who Takes the Blame? (“People are pointing fingers in all directions over President Biden’s unfolding foreign-policy crisis”)
• Vaccine conspiracy theorists become even more desperate after full FDA authorization
• How a cheap antidepressant emerged as a promising Covid-19 treatment
• Clamoring for ivermectin, some turn to a pro-Trump telemedicine website
• Pediatricians besieged by parents over coronavirus shots for kids under 12
• Seeming at odds with players, NFL says it wants vaccine mandate to ‘go into effect tomorrow’
• The Supreme Court Blocks The Biden Administration’s Latest Ban On Evictions (Of course they did.)
• Let’s see if we have the GOP’s 2022 message straight (“Republicans are running on a whole lot of unpopular views.”)
• Republicans struggle to find new ways to scare the daylights out of voters (“The Afghanistan withdrawal reminds us that the existential threat to America is no longer supposed to come from outside.”)
• The dark future of far-right Trumpist politics is coming into view (“The combination of anti-mask derangement and ethnonationalist cruelty bodes badly.”)
• Merrick Garland, get tougher on the insurrectionists
• Biden shedding support from independent voters as Delta variant spreads – Reuters poll
• Biden’s Declining Approval Rating Is Not Just About Afghanistan (It’s also the Delta variant surge, which isn’t Biden’s fault.)
• Trumpism Has Entered Its Final Form (“In today’s Republican Party, Trump is becoming what was once unthinkable—conventional, unexceptional, even something of an establishment figure.”)
• Trump Suggests Osama Bin Laden Wasn’t That Big A Deal, Says He Only Had ‘One Hit’ (“Weeks before the 20th anniversary of 9/11, ex-President Donald Trump said the terrorist behind the 2001 attacks wasn’t as bad as the ‘monsters’ he took out.” Insane and evil as usual.)
• There’s A March On Washington For Voting Rights. Here’s What Is Holding Up Action
• Real Accountability for Those Responsible for Jan. 6 Is Actually Starting to Pile Up
• The House’s January 6 Commission Is Not Messing Around (“The Washington Post got a hold of a letter sent to the a number of federal agencies requesting documents about, well, everything.”)
• It looks like the Jan. 6 select committee means business (“An exhaustive investigation of the coup is underway. Finally.”)
• Capitol Police Officers Sue Trump and Allies Over Election Lies and Jan. 6
• Officer who shot Ashli Babbitt during Capitol riot breaks silence: ‘I saved countless lives’
• Trump Repeatedly Refers to ‘ISIS-X’ Instead of ISIS-K, Corrects Himself, Then Says ‘They’ll Have ISIS-X Pretty Soon’
• Texas House Passes Voting Rights Restrictions Despite Democrats’ Efforts
• Vice President Harris cancels plans to campaign for California Gov. Newsom (“After an attack in Afghanistan killed U.S. service members, the vice president will skip a campaign stop in California.”)
• California Could Throw Away What It’s Won
• Time’s Up leader Tina Tchen resigns in fallout from Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment scandal
• Facing Its Worst Virus Surge, Oregon Returns to Strict Mandates
• Controversial Missouri gun rights law has taken a toll on fighting crime
• ‘Jeopardy!’ Alums Feel ‘Betrayed’ by Mike Richards and Sony
• ‘The Taliban doesn’t tell the US what to do:’ Sen. Tim Kaine on Afghanistan chaos
• New AARP/Wason Center Poll of Virginia: McAuliffe 50%-Youngkin 41%; Ayala 52%-Sears 42%; Herring 53%-Miyares 41%; Dems Up 50%-43% for House of Delegates
• CNU poll shows McAuliffe with a nine-point lead in the gubernatorial race
• Two “Pinocchios” Aren’t Enough “Pinocchios” for Glenn Youngkin on Crime; In Fact, Virginia’s “violent crime rate was about half the rate for the entire United States” When McAuliffe Was Governor (“Virginia was one of the safest states in the country during McAuliffe’s governorship”)
• Virginia GOP tries legal tactic to force Democrat McAuliffe off the ballot for governor (“A Republican Party lawsuit asserts that the absence of a signature from the declaration of candidacy filed in March disqualifies the former governor.” So dumb.)
• Virginia GOP Sues to Keep McAuliffe Off Governor Race Ballot (“Democrat’s campaign called the Republican lawsuit ‘Trumpian’”)
• Virginia Republicans file lawsuit in attempt to remove McAuliffe from the ballot
• Virginia GOP sues to remove McAuliffe from ballot; Democrat’s campaign calls lawsuit ‘desperate’
• McAuliffe shows leadership when it comes to vaccines. Youngkin is all double-talk.
• George Allen with Glenn Youngkin in Salem: Liberal agenda must be stopped (George Allen, the “macaca” racist guy, as usual with zero “positive, constructive ideas.”
• New Outside Groups Online in Virginia; Cumulative Digital Ad Spending Across the State
• Gov. Northam encourages Virginia parents to get children caught up on vaccines
• Thursday (8/26) Virginia Data on COVID-19: With Delta Now Dominant, Hospitalizations (1,537) at Highest Level Since Late February, 10-Day New Cases Highest Since Mid February(!)
• VDH: 11th child in Virginia has died of COVID-19
• Virginia’s breakthrough case numbers are likely an undercount
• Some Virginians are trying to game the system for early COVID-19 booster shots
• VA Dept. of Education: 2020-2021 SOL Test Results “reflect the extraordinary circumstances faced by students and schools last year, and establish a baseline for recovery from the pandemic”
• Virginia students’ performance on Standards of Learning tests plummeted during pandemic (“Fewer Virginia public school students sat for annual state accountability tests this spring, and those who did fared worse than in previous years, statewide scores released Thursday show.”)
• Hutzell: Fallen Journalist Memorial will honor the sacrifice of Allison Parker and Adam Ward
• Roanoke-area nonprofits work to help Afghan refugees — and prepare for more arrivals
• 5,000 Afghan refugees heading to Quantico
• VMI denies discriminating against Asian professor who filed lawsuit
• Eastern Virginia hospitals are busy but not overcrowded — yet
• Armed Picnics and Snipers at Family Dollar: Life in a Town With a Government-Approved Militia (“In Virginia, paramilitarism gets a rebrand.”)
• Newport News School Board narrowly votes to pass protections for transgender students
• D.C.-area forecast: More days of hit-or-miss strong storms, with patchy flash flooding possible