Thursday News: “Donald Trump Is Weirdly Full of Praise For the Taliban”; “Biden Leaps Into Fight With Republican Governors Over School Mask Mandates”; “Youngkin [dishonestly] tries to claim opponent doesn’t care about people with disabilities”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, August 19.

• The climate crisis is an accelerating calamity of our own making. So what would it take to turn things around? (“Vote. Divest. Plant trees. Recycle. Remove fossil fuel subsidies. Go renewable. We don’t need to accept the inevitable demise of life on the planet”)
• Saving ozone layer has given humans a chance in climate crisis – study (“CFC chemicals once used in refrigerators would have driven 2.5C of extra warming by 2100 if they had not been outlawed, researchers claim”)
• Haiti cannot rebuild without political sovereignty (“An expert explains why Haiti’s political and earthquake crises are intertwined.”)
• ‘Painful days ahead’ as Haitians struggle to count lives lost in quake
• A lament for Haiti: ‘It is as if we are cursed’
• How Chinese pressure on coronavirus origins probe shocked WHO — and led its director to push back
• Afghanistan Live Updates: Protests Spread to Kabul as Taliban Struggle to Govern (“The day after protests in two cities were met with violence, rallies broke out in Kabul and at least one other city. A troubled evacuation from Kabul slowly gathered pace as Afghans and others arrived in Europe, the Persian Gulf and elsewhere”
• Afghans plead for faster US evacuation from Taliban rule
• Taliban Is Denied Foreign Aid but Taps Billion-Dollar Drug Trade
• Intelligence Agencies Did Not Predict Imminence of Afghan Collapse, Officials Say
• Top General: No Intel That Afghan Government Would Fall In 11 Days
• “Good Fighters” and “Great Negotiators”: Donald Trump Is Weirdly Full of Praise For the Taliban (“He also declared the organization very ‘smart.'”)
• Why Biden was so set on withdrawing from Afghanistan(“Even in 2009, he didn’t believe the military had a strategy for victory.”)
• Afghanistan to be ruled under sharia law, Taliban commander confirms (More like the Taliban’s warped, hardline version of Sharia law)
• Live updates: U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan until all American citizens are evacuated, Biden tells ABC News
• Afghan Women Are Already Fading From Public View as Fear of the Taliban and Uncertainty Prevail
• Biden says he did not see a way to withdraw from Afghanistan without ‘chaos ensuing’
• Joe Biden bets a war-weary America will reward him for leaving Afghanistan
• Biden administration moved slowly to help Afghan refugees as it prepared to exit
• The mujahideen resistance to the Taliban begins now. But we need help.
• These Are the Shadowy Taliban Leaders Now Running Afghanistan
• U.S. forces can’t help Americans flee to Kabul airport, Pentagon chief says
• The Taliban want the world to think they’ve changed. Early signs suggest otherwise
• The Worst Take on Afghanistan Yet (“Probably the most perverse example of this perverse idea—that a global audience encountering images of American defeat is a more alarming news event than actual Americans continuing to die and kill others indefinitely—was published this week in the Atlantic.”)
• The Taliban Have Claimed Afghanistan’s Real Economic Prize
• Biden has leverage in Afghanistan. Still. (“Here’s how the administration can pressure the Taliban to cooperate.”)
• Billions in US weaponry seized by Taliban (Not good at all.)
• A primer on false narratives about Afghanistan (“Misconceptions plague media coverage of the withdrawal.”)
• One Of These Men Is Likely Afghanistan’s Next Ruler (“Following the Taliban victory over Afghan security forces that culminated earlier this week with the fall of Kabul, Baradar, and Mansour’s successor, Haibatullah Akhundzada, are poised to become the country’s new rulers.”)
• Covid Vaccines Are Less Effective Against Delta, Large Study Finds
• Delta Has Changed the Pandemic Risk Calculus (“If you’re confused about what you can do right now, you should be.”)
• Vaccines’ protection against virus infection is waning, C.D.C. studies suggest.
• The GOP is losing the PR battle on coronavirus mandates
• The Biden administration will use a federal civil rights office to deter states from banning universal masking in classrooms.
• Biden orders Education Department to take action against governors who ban school mask mandates
• Biden Leaps Into Fight With Republican Governors Over School Mask Mandates
• Schools defy GOP governors on masks as Democrats dial up pressure on vaccines
• How Pelosi is trying to jam the rebels threatening to tank Biden’s agenda (“The glorious centrist rebellion is about to get a lot harder to sustain.” Yeah, except they’re not “centrists,” just douchebags.)
• The U.S. could be on the verge of a productivity boom, a game-changer for the economy (“Rapid adoption of robots and artificial intelligence during the pandemic combined with a rebound in government investment is making some economists optimistic about a return of a 1990s economy with widespread benefits”)
• Offshore oil and gas worker fatalities underreported by federal safety agency
• The planet is in peril. We’re building Congress’s strongest-ever climate bill
• Chlorpyrifos Will No Longer Be Allowed on Food Crops )(Good. Need to ditch a bunch more pesticides…anything that harms bees, fish, etc.)
• As momentum for hydrogen builds, electric utilities chart multiple paths forward (“Utilities interested in the hydrogen market are considering the fuel for carbon-free generation and for new business models on the horizon.”)
• Democrats have finally identified the greatest threat to voting rights — the Supreme Court (“Nancy Pelosi is planning a vote on a bill that would undo many of the Court’s attacks on democracy.”)
• It’s time Democrats stood up for the ‘silent majority’ (“Democrats have won the battle of ideas. They should act like it.”)
• How Our Classrooms Became Battlegrounds (“A main pillar of white supremacy is patriarchal sexism: White men justify their aggression and violence by claiming that they are merely protecting vulnerable and “defenseless” white women and children. This can, in the mind of the white terrorist, make his savagery and chicanery feel like chivalry. And so our classrooms make perfect battlegrounds. There, guilt can be disguised as protecting the innocent.”)
• Federal judge rejects Trump-era permits for major Alaska oil project
• Court Blocks a Vast Alaskan Drilling Project, Citing Climate Dangers
• Why The Domestic Political Fallout From The Afghanistan War Is So Hard To Assess
• The California recall shows how democracy can spin out of control (“Giving the public a voice? Great. Allowing a small minority to seize power it couldn’t win otherwise? Not so much.” Agreed, this is absolutely nuts.)
• Facebook shared new data about what’s popular on its platform. The answers are deeply weird. (” Report shows a Green Bay Packers alumni page and an online CBD store, not right-wing pundits, are among the most viewed links in people’s feeds, as Facebook pushes back against independent studies.” I don’t believe Facebook as far as I can throw those @#$@#!ers.)
• Barstool Sports is a cesspool of misogyny and bigotry (“MLB’s potential partnership with the company would be a catastrophe”)
• Fox News mandates employees disclose vaccination status, contradicting rhetoric from top stars
• Trump promoted vaccines on Fox. Then the host goaded him into bashing boosters.
• Fox memo details mask requirements and vaccine passport system — while the network keeps railing against them for everyone else
• Kushner Friend Who Was Pardoned by Trump Is Charged in New York
• Texas faces tipping point as COVID-19 spreads (Disastrous Republican leadership.)
• Larry David ‘screamed’ at Alan Dershowitz at grocery store over Trump ties
• ‘I’d rather be somewhere else’: Ron Johnson suggests he doesn’t want to be in the Senate
• Ron Johnson Just Happened to Serve Big Donors (This guy is that classic combo of nut and crook – epitome of a MAGA/Trumpster.)
• Incoming ‘Jeopardy!’ Host Mike Richards Apologizes For Sexist Remarks (“Incoming ‘Jeopardy!’ Host Mike Richards Apologizes For Sexist Remarks” What is…time to find a new host!)
• Spanberger Calls Afghanistan “A Heartbreaking Turn of Events”
• The Reckless Youngkin-DeSantis Agenda Threatens the Health and Safety of Virginia Students and Families
• Glenn Youngkin’s campaign rolls out the crime ads (Demagoguery, fearmongering and lies.)
• Jason Miyares Campaigns With Yet Another Extremist: Anti-LGBTQ, Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Choice, Anti-Science, Trump Appointee Ken Cuccinelli
• Youngkin tries to claim opponent doesn’t care about people with disabilities
• In Annual Revenue Speech, Governor Northam Highlights Historic $2.6 Billion Surplus, Record Reserve Funding (“Virginia has been a leader among the states—in policy making, in our COVID response, and in the performance of our roaring economy.”)
• ‘Business is good’: Northam hails $2.6 billion surplus in speech to money committees
• Northam touts Virginia’s ‘roaring’ economy while warning of delta variant
• New Report Provides “comprehensive review of Virginia’s campaign finance issues and a roadmap for passage of forthcoming legislation” (A legislative study committee on VA campaign finance reform will meet on Monday, August 23)
• Citizens who want money out of Va. politics release new report urging changes
• Bob Holsworth: “Given the composition of the [Redistricting] Commission, the most likely agreement is one where incumbent protection is a primary driver” (Obviously, this is “not an outcome that the public thought it was endorsing.”)
• Chris Ambrose: VA Redistricting Commission “travesty that was pushed on the voters by a disinformation campaign by OneVirginia2021” (Also, check out the video of Sen. George Barker’s “hot mic” moment, which makes clear that he’s calculated he can now gerrymander with almost none of the public watching. Oh, and check out the video of Phillip Thompson of the National Black Nonpartisan Redistricting Organization ripping the shit out of the commission, saying, “I took heat from the Black Legislative Caucus by pushing for this commission”; now, this is a “political circus”; this is “not what we worked for.”)
• Wednesday (8/18) Virginia Data on COVID-19: With Delta Now Dominant, Hospitalizations at Highest Level Since Mid-March, 10-Day New Cases (+23,589) Highest Since Late February(!)
• Terry McAuliffe Calls on All Virginia School Systems to Require Full COVID-19 Vaccination for Educators & Staff
• Where are we now? State of the Race: McAuliffe v. Youngkin
• ‘We, not me’: Hala Ayala focuses on ‘collective work’ in run for lieutenant governor
• Virginia’s new census data is distorted at local levels, analysts say: ‘It can’t be accepted as fact’ (“It’s the result of a new methodology the Census Bureau used to protect people’s privacy against sophisticated data attacks. And though it sounds wonky, it could have serious implications for decision-making in the commonwealth.”)
• Schapiro: Un-pretty picture or connecting the dots in redistricting (“Un-pretty?” LOL)
• Editorial: Transit dreams derailed (“Norfolk’s light-rail system, The Tide, turns 10 on Thursday, but the dreams it fostered of regional mass transit seem further away than ever.”)
• ‘This is a sign of recovery’: U.S Secretary of Education visits Henrico school
• Newport News School Board votes to defy state law requiring transgender student protections (“School board chair says rights of Christian parents trump the rights of trans kids.”)
• University of Richmond Welcomes Back Vaccinated Student Body for In-Person Learning
• Civilian Review Board Task Force in Richmond Recommends New Office to Oversee Law Enforcement
• Chesterfield man charged with possessing too many pot plants in violation of Virginia’s new law
• Former Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe admits to violating campaign finance laws, but denies taking bribes
• D.C.-area forecast: Very warm and humid with storm chances into the weekend