Tuesday News: “Biden Deserves Credit, Not Blame, for Afghanistan”; Ida Shows “It’s past time to take the planet’s limits seriously”; VA GOP “seeks to cancel 307,000 votes” For Terry McAuliffe; “How the Critical Race Theory Scaremongering Failed in Virginia”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, August 31.

• The Next Weeks Are Critical for Climate Diplomacy
• The major emitter that’s missing from climate negotiations
• Editorial: The time is now on climate (“Recent reports — one international, one closer to home — offer a clear view of the threat posed by climate change and underscore the need for urgent action.”)
• U.S. climate envoy Kerry visits Japan, China for emissions talks
• Britain’s economy is already seeing a rapid shift due to climate change
• China may make new pledges in talks with visiting US climate envoy John Kerry (“He is due to arrive in Tianjin on Tuesday evening following a stop in Tokyo and will meet Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua. Beijing could commit to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and a ban on funding overseas coal-fired plants, observer says”)
• Moderna Creates Twice as Many Antibodies as Pfizer, Study Shows
• US travelers dropped from EU safe list as Covid cases surge
• America’s Greatest Existential Threat Wasn’t Terrorism (Nope, not even close.)
• Reports of America’s demise are greatly exaggerated. It’s still the only superpower.
• UN Votes to Demand Continued Safe Passage: Afghanistan Update
• Taliban are back – what next for Afghanistan?
• Biden Deserves Credit, Not Blame, for Afghanistan (“Americans should feel proud of what the U.S. government and military have accomplished in these past two weeks.”)
• America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan ends as last U.S. military cargo plane lumbers into the sky over Kabul
• Statement by President Joe Biden (” I want to thank our commanders and the men and women serving under them for their execution of the dangerous retrograde from Afghanistan as scheduled – in the early morning hours of August 31, Kabul time – with no further loss of American lives.”)
• In Afghanistan, an Unceremonious End, and a Shrouded Beginning
• On cable news, the architects of the war in Afghanistan are now framing coverage of the withdrawal (“Frequent cable guests like Barry McCaffrey and David Petraeus have systematically misinformed the public on the situation in Afghanistan”)
• America’s War in Afghanistan Is Over but Our Big Lies About It Live On (“After a collapse that took everyone off guard, ‘experts’ retreated further into comforting fantasies about the mission and its significance rather than finally facing reality.”)
• The State Department deserves more credit for its effort to evacuate Americans from Afghanistan
• Joe Biden’s Critics Lost Afghanistan
• Explainer: What happens now that U.S. troops have left Afghanistan?
• How Turf Wars Mucked Up America’s Exit From Afghanistan
• American Humane Condemns Death Sentence Delivered to Contract Working Dogs Left Behind in Kabul, Afghanistan
• Can Afghanistan’s Leading Broadcaster Survive the Taliban?
• Less than 200 Americans remain in Afghanistan after US withdrawal (Should be “fewer than” – apparently newspapers don’t have copy editors. Also, worth noting that Americans in Afghanistan had been urged, repeatedly, to leave the country starting MONTHS ago…so if they haven’t left by now, it’s pretty much on them.)
• No, the Taliban did not seize $83 billion of U.S. weapons (“That’s the figure for all the money spent on the Afghan military over 20 years, about $24 billion of which was for equipment.”)
• The Guardian view on dealing with the Taliban: no good options
• We’re still lying to ourselves about American military power (“All our self-delusions are still on display as we withdraw from Afghanistan.”)
• Many Republicans Are Anti-Vax. Are They Also Pro-Covid? (Effectively, yes.)
• The Intolerable Wait for a Kids’ Vaccine (“Most experts don’t think this data is necessary for the F.D.A. to authorize the vaccine on an emergency basis. But we don’t know if the F.D.A. will insist on waiting for it.”)
• Education Department probing 5 states over mask mandate bans
• Biden throws down the gauntlet against anti-mask GOP governors
• A judge asked a mother if she got the coronavirus vaccine. She said no, and he revoked custody of her son.
• McConnell: ‘I don’t think it serves any particular purpose’ to call out vaccine lies (Profiles in courage by Moscow Mitch…)
• Climate change is making hurricanes stronger, slower and wetter. Ida checked all the boxes
• Hurricane Ida and the Political Fight on Climate Change (“It’s past time to take the planet’s limits seriously”)
• ‘Like a monster tried to get in’: New Orleans, scarred by Katrina, surveys Ida’s wreckage
• Why Hurricane Ida has been so devastating to the Gulf Coast (“Rising seas, a warming world, and Covid-19 are shaping the impact of ‘one of the strongest storms to ever hit Louisiana.'”)
• Hurricane Ida knocked out 2,000 miles of transmission lines; outages could last ‘for weeks’
• Hurricane-Battered U.S. Oil Industry Examines Damage From Ida (The fossil fuel industry is largely responsible for climate-fueled disasters and should PAY for those disasters.)
• Hurricane Ida Is a Manmade Disaster
• Scientists detail role of climate change in Ida’s intensity
• Hurricane Ida Leaves Over 1 Million Without Power, Could Be Weeks To Restore
• Hurricane Ida victims could swamp Louisiana’s already Covid-stretched hospitals
• These Images Show Just How Bad Hurricane Ida Hit Louisiana’s Coastline
• Progressives Urge Biden Not to Nominate Powell as Fed Chair
• How to be a crisis president when crises don’t unite the country anymore
• Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump Rule Governing Water Pollution (“The rule allowed fertilizers, pesticides and industrial chemicals to flow into small streams, marshes and wetlands. The judge warned of environmental harm.”)
• The Snake Oil Theory of the Modern Right
• Elections are about the future. Democrats forget this at their own peril.
• The Density Divide and the Southernification of Rural America (“The Old North/South Split Lives on in the Urban/Rural Divide” Ugh.)
• The Supreme Court Has Just Two Days to Decide the Fate of Roe v. Wade (This is gonna end well…not.)
• Goldman Sachs says 750,000 households could be evicted this year unless Congress acts
• The Economy Is Booming but Far From Normal, Posing a Challenge for Biden
• Partisan divides in media trust widen, driven by a decline among Republicans (Democrats inexplicably continue to say they trust the media…)
• Analysis: U.S. liberals see dwindling legal options to challenge voting curbs
• In Texas, Republicans take another step away from democracy
• Rep. Madison Cawthorn falsely suggests elections are ‘rigged,’ says there will be ‘bloodshed’ if system continues on its path (At the minimum, Cawthorn should be expelled from Congress.)
• Fox News manipulates its own video to spread allegation that Biden looked at his watch during transfer of fallen troops (“Fox previously downplayed its own reporter’s confirmation that then-President Donald Trump called fallen troops ‘losers’ and ‘suckers'”)
• R. Kelly Associate Testifies He Was Sexually Abused by the Singer at 17
• Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., on the Taliban (“Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. , talks about the Taliban at a press conference after he visited Afghan refugees at Fort Lee in Virginia Monday, August 30, 2021”)
• Thousands of Afghan refugees come to Fort Lee for medical care, process into U.S., Sen. Kaine says after visit
• ‘This will mean jobs in Hampton Roads:’ Luria supports bid to save some cruisers and build an additional sub (“Rep. Elaine Luria, a Norfolk Democrat serving as vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee, is backing a budget plan that the panel’s senior Republican, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, plans to introduce Wednesday.”)
• Glenn Youngkin Promises to “Protect” Retiree Homeowners, Yet His Carlyle Record Includes Raising Rents and Forcing Seniors from Mobile Homes
• Youngkin’s Policy Proposals Are *Exactly* What You’d Expect From Someone Whose Top Economic Advisor Is the Coauthor of “Trumponomics”…and Who Helped Trash Kansas (Yep, it’s the usual “trickle-down” economics we’ve come to know and definitely NOT love from the Republican Party.)
• Republican Youngkin unveils long list of policy priorities in Virginia governor’s race, including tax cuts and new spending (Total joke.)
• Youngkin’s ‘day one game plan’ includes billions in tax cuts (Basically, he’d do to Virginia what his senior economic advisor, Stephen “Trumponomics” Moore, did to Kansas.)
• CASEY: The party of ‘election integrity’ seeks to cancel 307,000 votes (“A ‘win’ by the Virginia Republican Party in a lawsuit it filed last week would nullify the ballots of every person who voted for Terry McAuliffe in the June primary.”)
• Editorial: An extreme remedy for inconsistencies in political paperwork (“Virginia’s Republican Party wants a court to invalidate Terry McAuliffe’s candidacy.”)
• Youngkin announces new policy plans to cut taxes and increase spending with surplus and revenue funds
• Youngkin and McAuliffe’s Plans Hinge on Optimistic Math (Classic “both sides”/false equivalence headline, in this case by VPM.)
• Bill Clinton to raise money for Terry McAuliffe at Skaneateles Lake event
• Monday (8/30) Virginia Data on COVID-19: With Delta Now Dominant, Hospitalizations (1,700) at Highest Level Since Late February, 10-Day New Cases (+28,869) Highest Since Mid February
• Judge declines to dismiss lawsuit over slow processing of unemployment benefits, citing ongoing complaints
• 3 Mountain Valley Pipeline protesters convicted, fined for Poor Mountain blockade
• Rural Virginians will lose political clout in redistricting
• On Shenandoah River, algae and bacteria continue to plague recreation — and human health
• Electrify Virginia homes now (“Moving away from gas is necessary to help Virginia meet climate goals”)
• VA Dems Rip Republican House of Delegates Candidate Gary Pan After He Attacked His Opponent, Del. Kathleen Murphy (D-HD34) For Supposedly “Phoning It In,” When In Fact She Was Out of Town Caring For Critically Ill Daughter…Who Sadly Passed Away on Friday
• Virginia Supreme Court sides with lower court in Loudoun County on teacher suspension case
• How the Critical Race Theory Scaremongering Failed in Virginia (“The right bought race and trans hysteria to school board meetings in once scarlet-red Loudoun County. But guess which side won?”)
• Emporia woman alleges Norfolk police officer punched her during July traffic stop
• Someone Just Played A Hilarious ‘Simpsons’ Prank On A Virginia School Board (“Phil McCracken, Eileen Dover and Ophelia McCaulk were some of the names submitted for public comment at a school board meeting in Henrico County, Virginia.”)
• Ida brings another round of tropical rain to SW Virginia late Tuesday, Wednesday
• Hurricane Ida’s leftover rain is heading for Va.; places north and west of Richmond stand to see the biggest soaking
• D.C.-area forecast: A few showers possible today before bigger Ida rains Wednesday into Wednesday night