Friday News: “Christian Leaders Call For Action On Climate Change”; Biden’s New Vaccine Push Is a Fight for the U.S. Economy”; “How 9/11 led the US to forever wars, eroded rights – and insurrection”; “Christie Decries Focus on Lying, Conspiracies in Stinging Rebuke of GOP”; “Robert E. Lee’s statue is gone. Now can we dismantle the myth, too?”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, September 10.

• Pope Francis And Other Christian Leaders Are Calling For Bold Climate Action
• What Smart People Get Wrong About Climate Change Extremes (“There isn’t enough appreciation of the risks associated with new weather patterns we don’t yet understand.”)
• The US was a world leader in vaccination. What went wrong? (“How most of Europe caught up to — and then surpassed — the US in their Covid-19 vaccine drives.” Because of Fox and the GQP, obviously.)
• Spread of ‘Delta’ COVID-19 knocks wind out of UK economy in July
• Biden, Xi discuss avoiding confrontation in second phone call of new U.S. administration (“A White House readout said ‘the two leaders discussed the responsibility of both nations to ensure competition does not veer into conflict.'”)
• West to decide on Iran censure after damning UN nuclear watchdog report (“IAEA says new hardline government in Tehran making oversight of nuclear programme impossible”)
• Matt Kean: We absolutely can cut out coal generation by 2030 (“New South Wales energy minister Matt Kean has dramatically widened the gulf between the NSW state Coalition government and the federal Coalition government after declaring that bringing an end to coal fired generation by 2030 is entirely feasible.”)
• Harvard’s $42 Billion Fund to Stop Investing in Fossil Fuels (“It joins a growing wave of big investors moving away from pollutive industries.” Hello, Virginia colleges/universities?)
• A brave woman in Belarus gets 11 years in prison. Her crime? Trying to bring democracy to the country.
• Inside the Bromance Between the ‘Trump of the Tropics’ and the Original (It’s very hard to decide which one’s more evil, Trump or Bolsonaro, but they are both heinous.)
• The Islamic world has changed over the past 20 years. The Taliban is about to feel it.
• Americans refuse to leave Afghanistan without their families as evacuation flights resume
• Afghanistan flight carrying more than 100 foreign passengers lands in Doha (“Antony Blinken thanks Qatar and Taliban for facilitating flight that he says shows US commitment to help citizens and others who assisted US”)
• Inside the Wild, Twitter-Fueled Race to Airlift Dogs From Afghanistan
• Canada federal election: Key takeaways from the debate (“Canadian federal party leaders traded barbs over leadership, climate change and indigenous reconciliation in their final debate pitch to voters.”)
• Analysis: Biden’s New Vaccine Push Is a Fight for the U.S. Economy (“Faced with the Delta variant and slowed job growth, President Biden is pursuing vaccinations as fewer states impose lockdowns and business restrictions. A surge in Covid deaths has deterred would-be workers from accepting jobs, economists say, causing labor shortages and potential cutbacks in consumer spending.”)
• Biden outlines plan to mandate Covid vaccines for millions: ‘Our patience is wearing thin’ (Good, it’s long past time!)
• Biden announces sweeping new vaccine mandates for businesses, federal workers (Excellent.)
• President Biden’s COVID-19 Plan
• Biden Asks OSHA to Order Vaccine Mandates at Large Employers
• Vaccination Mandates Are an American Tradition. So Is the Backlash.
• Biden’s six-step strategy to deal with Covid, explained
• Biden vaccination mandates are an attack on both Covid and the GOP (“Analysis: The president’s flex of executive muscle to vaccinate more people in the U.S. is a low-risk strategy that unifies Democrats and divides Republicans.”)
• Our Patience Is Wearing Thin Indeed
• Dr. Anthony Fauci Spells Out How Far Away U.S. Is From Ending COVID-19 Pandemic (“The country is ‘still in pandemic mode’ until daily infections drop to under 10,000 per day, warned the infectious disease expert.”)
• Congress raising the debt ceiling is suddenly a problem for Republicans
• The Ways Bin Laden Won (“Bin Laden didn’t build the trap that America fell into. We constructed it ourselves…Today Al Qaeda has reconstituted itself — it is now far larger than it was two decades ago. And the United States in September 2021 is in truly terrible shape. Twenty years ago we were credulous and blundering. Now we’re sour, suspicious and lacking in discernible ideals.”)
• The Fight Over the “Ground Zero Mosque” Was a Grim Preview of the Trump Era (“A decade after 9/11, the future president fanned the flames of anti-Muslim bigotry.”)
• How 9/11 led the US to forever wars, eroded rights – and insurrection
• 9/11 Made the Media Whitewash What Really Happened in Bush v. Gore (“The recount was published during the post-9/11 frenzy, and the myth endured”)
• It’s Not Too Late to Learn the Lessons We Didn’t Learn From 9/11 (“Remember when we were all going to care more about the rest of the world?”)
• ‘A heavy price’: Two decades of war, wariness and the post-9/11 security state
• What year is it in America, anyway? How complacency and naiveté brought us to this crisis (“Roe v. Wade is dead. The assault on democracy is unrelenting. Our worst enemy may be the sense of disbelief”)
• Senate Democrats Close To Agreement On Voting Rights Compromise
• Joe Manchin’s demands are getting clearer, and they aren’t pretty (“He seems determined to cut the reconciliation bill down mercilessly.”)
• Manchin, Sanders set for clash over Biden spending package
• Democrats Unveil Details of Sweeping Climate Change Spending Plan
• Is There Any Way to Change Joe Manchin’s Mind?
• The Scoreboard Says “Salmon 1, Gold 0”
• How Biden can go on offense (“It’s time to make clear how much of a threat the other guys pose.” Absolutely – call them out!)
• How Democrats will try to ‘Trump proof’ the White House — behind the GOP’s back (“An effort at a clever strategy to smuggle reforms passed Republican senators.”)
• Fence going up around US Capitol, as law enforcement braces for Sept. 18 protest
• Police suspected pro-Trump ‘proxies’ were ‘planning trouble’ on Jan. 6 — but top officials granted permits anyway: New documents (Huge mistake.)
• Ex-Marines in neo-Nazi terror cell planned to attack power grid as precursor to assassination campaign: government
• The Justice Department moves to protect abortion rights. It should start a trend.
• Justice Department sues Texas to block six-week abortion ban
• Biden administration sues Texas over ‘clearly unconstitutional’ abortion ban
• Biden Administration Sues Over Barbaric Texas Abortion Law That Would Force a 12-Year-Old to Have Her Rapist’s Child
• Progressives Want Justice Stephen Breyer To Retire. His Response? Not Yet (C’mon, dude, it’s time!)
• Stephen Breyer calls Supreme Court decision on Texas abortion law ‘very, very, very wrong’
• Robert E. Lee’s statue is gone. Now can we dismantle the myth, too?
• Google, Amazon, Facebook are among top companies helping COVID-19 misinformation sites stay in business (“The DFR Lab published a list of websites exclusively devoted to COVID-19 misinformation, and Media Matters found the sites commonly used Google, Amazon, and Facebook services to monetize or drive traffic”)
• Lauren Boebert allows 8-year-old to play alone, next to possibly-loaded firearm (“In apparent violation of Colorado’s new gun safety law, congresswoman’s son plays alone near rifle and handgun” Charge her.)
• With Democratic help, Republicans notch a victory in their war on government (“After all, they wouldn’t want gun laws to be too strictly enforced.”)
• They’d Rather the ATF Not Do Much About the F (“David Chipman’s nomination to lead any other federal department would have sailed through the Senate”)
• FBI Seizes Oath Keeper Lawyer’s Phone in “Seditious Conspiracy” Investigation
• Christie Decries Focus on Lying, Conspiracies in Stinging Rebuke of GOP (“He blasted the party without ever mentioning Donald Trump by name.”)
• McConnell carefully choosing battles in Trump proxy war for the midterms
• The California Recall Could Be a Road Map for Democrats (Yep, as long as the Republican candidate is as clearly extreme and unappealing as Larry Elder.)
• Mary Trump: Uncle may be ‘too busy’ with depositions to stay politically involved
• Andrew Yang planning to launch third party: report (Why did any Democrat ever support this guy?)
• ‘Bring it’: Liz Cheney throws down gauntlet after Trump endorses primary challenger
• L.A. school officials order sweeping student vaccine mandate, a first by a major district
• Tucker Carlson hosts Anders Breivik apologist and self-described defender of white nationalism for friendly hour-long interview (Fox is white supremacist propaganda TV.)
• Virginians React to President Biden’s Rollout of “Six-Pronged, Comprehensive National Strategy” to Combat COVID-19, Keep Schools Open, Protect the Economy (Democrats love it, while the right-wing reactions are as unhinged as you’d expect…)
• Bowser, Hogan and Northam discuss continued partnership in region’s economic comeback
• Doris Crouse-Mays column: PRO Act supports Virginia’s workers
• FWIW Virginia: McAuliffe, Dems Go on Offense Over Texas Abortion Law, Women’s Reproductive Rights; Also, Hala Ayala Rips Winsome Sears as Too “Dangerous” and “Divisive”
• Texas’s antiabortion law isn’t the first to empower the mob — and it won’t be the last
• Terry McAuliffe Praises President Biden’s Vaccine Mandate for All Federal Employees (“With Over 140,000 Federal Employees In Virginia, President Biden’s Executive Order Will Keep The Commonwealth’s Workforce And Families Strong”)
• McAuliffe calls federal employee vaccine mandate “great news for Virginia” (Absolutely.)
• Biden’s new COVID plan would require millions of workers to get vaccinated. How that will work in Va. is unclear
• Most Virginia students are returning to school without COVID-19 testing programs in place
• With COVID-19 Cases and Hospitalizations Surging, Virginia Health Care Organizations Implore People to Get Vaccinated
• Thursday (9/9) Virginia Data on COVID-19: With Delta Now Dominant, Hospitalizations (2,176) at Highest Level Since Mid February, 10-Day New Cases (+34,396) Highest Since Early February
• Equality Virginia PAC Donates $50,000 to Virginia House Democratic Caucus to Support LGBTQ Equality (“The stakes are incredibly high for LGBTQ Virginians this November and it is imperative that Eileen Filler-Corn remain Speaker”)
• Video, Highlights From Today’s VA Redistricting Commission Meeting; Things Get Heated Over Issue of Use (or Not) of Incumbent Addresses in Drawing District Lines
• Hey incumbents, the General Assembly will survive without you (“You may have thought the comment was in jest. On Thursday, however, at the latest commission meeting, Barker took the stunning step of drawing an amended plan putting himself back in a Senate district with no other incumbents. He said it even would keep a community of interest together. Well, how altruistic of him.”)
• DMV to reopen for walk-in service on Oct. 5, alternate days for appointments
• Task Force Recommends Tools to Help Schools Adopt Culturally and Religiously Inclusive Holidays and Dietary Practices
• Virginia Ranks Towards the Bottom in Education Spending Per Student
• NEW TV AD: Terry for Virginia Releases New Ad “Good Life” Highlighting Terry McAuliffe’s Strong Record On Bringing Jobs To Virginia
• Northern Virginia schools adopt bevy of testing, vaccine rules as pandemic rages
• Virginia Republican Candidate Compares Protection for Marriage Equality to Infamous Pro-Slavery Decision (Del. Danica Roem’s opponent “said that rulings protecting LGBTQ rights were akin to the Dred Scott case”)
• ICYMI: Delegate Shelly Simonds Holds Press Conference In Response to Voter Registration Concerns in Newport News
• Editorial: Improving public health (“The agreement to create a School of Public Health will bring needed focus on improving care in Coastal Virginia.”)
• The statue of Robert E. Lee is gone, but the mystery of the time capsule persists
• Charlottesville, Four Years Later: Attorneys Prepare for October Trial to Hold Perpetrators Accountable
• Stoney to introduce special $77 million federal aid spending plan for Richmond next week
• Virginia Tech apologizes to fans for opening night stadium woes, pledges fixes for Saturday (“The debut of mobile tickets, long lines, weak crowd control, students sitting in seats they didn’t have tickets to and bad conduct by some fans marred the experience of seeing the opening victory in person.”)
• D.C.-area forecast: Breezy today but rain-free and sunny for days to come