Saturday News: “Greta Thunberg and students rally over climate change”; “The January 6 Commission Must Remain Merciless”; “Arizona’s election ‘audit’ comes up empty, but that won’t stop the lying”; “Pressure rising for Democrats in Virginia governor’s race”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, September 25.

At a Fridays For Future demo in Berlin, Greta Thunberg warned that the climate crisis has not disappeared https://t.co/Yl5K3Mzzn6 pic.twitter.com/8aVH00tVZe

— Reuters (@Reuters) September 24, 2021

• Young climate activists join Greta Thunberg for first major Fridays for Future strikes of pandemic
• A Friday for the Future: The Global Climate Strike May Help the Youth Movement Rebound From the Pandemic (“2019’s protests were unprecedented, driven by passion. The pandemic dampened activism and showed the importance of mass events in spurring political change. Is a comeback at hand?”)
• Global climate strike: thousands join coordinated action across world
• Climate change: Whisper it cautiously… there’s been progress in run up to COP26 (“Despite the cautious sense of progress at the UN meeting, some major questions remain. Many countries including China and India haven’t yet submitted new carbon cutting plans, as they are expected to do before the summit. Just as important, the developed world is still scrambling to come up with the $100bn per annum that’s meant to flow to the developing world from 2020.”)
• Vanuatu to push international court for opinion on protection from climate change (“We must address the crisis by systematically targeting the root causes of one of the biggest and most imminent threats we face today.”)
• Can green energy power Africa’s future? (“There has been an 80% reduction in solar prices over the last decade, and an 85% reduction in battery prices. The combination of those two things is making certain types of electricity provision quite attractive. The most plentiful resource we have is not oil and gas – it’s sunlight”)
• Sleeping Beauty’s forest is dying. It’s not the only climate crisis facing Germany’s next chancellor
• Column: Worldwide energy shortage shows up in surging coal, gas and oil prices
• Dying crops, spiking energy bills, showers once a week. In South America, the climate future has arrived.
• Angela Merkel’s departure leaves a void in Germany — and a fight to fill it (“On Sunday, Germany will elect a new government that won’t be helmed by ‘mutti,’ or mommy, as many of her compatriots dub her, although she has no children herself.”)
• Germany is the biggest economy in Europe. What if it shifts left?
• Germany elections: Final rallies before Sunday’s knife-edge vote
• China’s Xinjiang Crackdown Reaps Millions of Dollars in Assets for the State
• To contain China, joining the Pacific trade pact might be more effective than new submarines
• Crypto’s ‘Peak FUD’ Moment Has Arrived as Hammer Drops in China
• ‘Free and open’: Quad leaders call for ‘stable’ Indo-Pacific in veiled China dig (“Joe Biden meets leaders of Australia, India and Japan in latest effort to cement US leadership in Asia”)
• China Frees Canadians After Huawei CFO Leaves, Ending Crisis
• China Frees 2 Canadians After U.S. Deal Over Huawei Executive
• Exclusive: Under U.S. sanctions, Iran and Venezuela strike oil export deal
• The U.S.’s Long History of Mistreating Haitian Migrants (“The current tragedy at the border is just the latest fallout from the U.S.’s failed policies toward Haiti.”)
• All migrants have been cleared from encampment in Del Rio, Tex., homeland security secretary says
• The Ugly History Behind Those Border Agents Chasing Haitian Migrants on Horseback
• Trapped Afghan Women Fear Retribution From Taliban
• Schools With Face-Mask Requirements Had Fewer Covid-19 Outbreaks, CDC Study Finds
• The Conservatives Who’d Rather Die Than Not Own the Libs (“Rarely has so significant a faction in American politics behaved in a way that so directly claims the life of its own supporters.”)
• States Begin a Complex Booster Shot Rollout for Pfizer Recipients
• The great, good, bad and unknown in the reconciliation bill
• The meltdown among Democrats shows our budget debates are insane
• How Democrats Could Shrink Their $3.5 Trillion Budget Bill (“Here are three options to shrink down the Democrats’ climate change and social welfare bill as moderates demand less spending and smaller tax hikes to pay for it.”)
• Pelosi Plans Votes on Spending Proposals Next Week
• ‘We couldn’t be more inconsistent’: discordant Democrats imperil Biden’s agenda
• Mitch McConnell is trying to troll Democrats — but the debt limit fight will blow back on the GOP (“Every government shutdown since Newt Gingrich has blown back on the GOP because obstruction is the Republican brand”)
• Biden defends his social agenda bill, saying the cost will be zero
• Congress needs to gird the country for climate crisis
• At every step of the way, right-wing media provided the pretext for Trump’s attempted coup (“Trump lawyer John Eastman’s seditious internal memo has now been unearthed — but the coup had already been plotted in public, via right-wing media outlets”)
• Fox News cares about the pandemic only when it can use it to fearmonger about immigration
• Fact check: No, Democrats did not vote for abortion ‘on demand until birth’ (“But every Republican present voted against the House bill that would protect abortion rights.”)
• If Trump’s Adult Children Helped Him Commit Fraud, New York Prosecutors Are About to Find Out
• Analysis: By pursuing laws that suppress the Black vote, the GOP is hurting its base (I’m skeptical of this analysis.)
• Who is Kash Patel, the Trump associate subpoenaed by Jan. 6 committee?
• Maybe We Should Be Talking More About the Trump Coup Memo
• Biden does not plan to shield Trump docs in Jan. 6 probe
• Police Officers Resist Getting Vaccinated for Covid-19, Now Their No. 1 Killer (F’ing brilliant.)
• So much for the reckoning on police misconduct
• Senate GOP pushes DOJ to roll back Trump oversight rule
• The January 6 Commission Must Remain Merciless
• Lauren Boebert Calls For Joe Biden’s ‘Imeachment’ (She’s an imbecile.)
• Harris hires two senior advisers (“Vice President Harris has brought on two new senior advisers in recent months as part of an effort to bolster her office’s capacity amid a heightened media profile and a growing portfolio, according to a White House official.”)
• ‘He knows he lost’: Georgia Republican braces for Trump rally in Perry (“Top voting official Brad Raffensperger dismayed that the former president uses his lies to fundraise”)
• Texas Caves To Donald Trump And Announces Election Audit (“The former president had pressured GOP Gov. Greg Abbott for a ballot review despite his victory in the state.” Totally f’ed up.)
• Even The Arizona GOP’s Fake Election Audit Failed To Find Evidence Of Fraud (“Joe Biden’s 2020 vote tally actually increased under a Republican-led ‘audit.’ But that won’t put a stop to the GOP’s efforts to conduct similarly absurd reviews.”)
• The Arizona ‘audit’ just destroyed a big GOP lie — in more ways than one
• Arizona’s election ‘audit’ comes up empty, but that won’t stop the lying
• Analysis: The “stop the steal” movement is racing forward, ignoring its Arizona humiliation.
• The Memo: Trump’s Arizona embarrassment sharpens questions for GOP
• Arizona recount results raise stakes for GOP-backed ballot reviews in other states (First of all, it wasn’t an actual recount, so why does the WaPo use that word without air quotes or whatever?)
• Trump Probe by Vance Has Collected Millions of Internal Records
• Think tank: Trump faces ‘substantial’ legal risk in Georgia case
• “Crisis of Trust in the Media”: Inside A.G. Sulzberger’s Top Times Project (Start by bringing in completely new leadership and also firing a bunch of the columnists and U.S. political news reporters.)
• FERC Chair Glick wants mandatory winterization standards for power plants following Texas grid failure
• Marjorie Taylor Greene starts screaming match with Democrats over abortion rights bill (She shouldn’t be in Congress, obviously.)
• Warner and Kaine say government shutdown unlikely
• Video: Sen. Kaine Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, Says “We’ve Got No Excuse” Not To Pass Immigration Reform, Despite Parliamentarian’s Ruling (Del. Alfonso Lopez says we need more Latino representation; Del. Elizabeth Guzman urges Latinos to “use our superpower, which is voting, and let’s decide the upcoming elections”)
• Rep. Elaine Luria, endorsed by U.S. Chamber of Commerce, now targeted by its ad campaign (The Chamber of Commerce is basically an arm of the GQP)
• Covid cases plateau in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, showing effectiveness of vaccines, experts say
• Cook Political Report Shifts VA Governor’s Race to “Toss Up”; With Early Voting Off to Sluggish Start, It’s Time For Democrats to Fire Up a Serious Sense of Urgency…and GO VOTE! (Cook could be wrong, of course, but it’s not worth the risk…crank it up!)
• Cook Political Report: VA gov is a toss-up
• Pressure rising for Democrats in Virginia governor’s race
• McAuliffe Hits Youngkin Over Wall Street Ties as Race Tightens
• Video: Terry for Virginia Releases Two New TV Ads Exposing Glenn Youngkin’s Dangerous Wall Street Record (“25,000 seniors faced neglect, abuse or even worse, but Glenn Youngkin, he made over $500 million”)
• Schapiro: Looking for the upside of shutdown politics
• Flip-[Or-Hold-]A-District Friday: Volume XI (Del. Clint Jenkins, Scott Flax, Kecia Evans, Mark Downey, Caitlin Coakley, Sara Ratcliffe)
• Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Steals Citizen Board Authority, Falsely Claims Board Made a “Preliminary Decision” to Issue Mountain Valley Pipeline Permit (“Will the State Water Control Board go along with this charade?”)
• Opponents Fear MVP Hearings Could Spread COVID-19 (“DEQ’s Director of Wetlands and Stream Protection says, by law, the meeting must be held in person now that the governor’s emergency order has expired, and Dave Davis says opponents are free to share testimony in writing.”)
• Friday (9/24) Virginia Data on COVID-19: With Delta Now Dominant, Hospitalizations (2,106) Near Highest Level Since Mid February, 10-Day New Cases (+35,127) Near Highest Since Early February
• It’s crunch time for fair voting in Virginia (“By Oct. 10, the commission must submit a set of electoral maps, for the state Senate and House of Delegates, to the General Assembly for an up-or-down vote; a congressional map is due 15 days later. At the moment, the commission’s chances of success are anything but assured.” Reminder: the WaPo pushed hard for this moronic, fatally flawed commission.)
• Williams: “If we live up to it.” Richmond’s newest monument celebrates freedom, not oppression.
• Video: Fairfax Supervisors James Walkinshaw, Dalia Palchik, John Foust Rip Trump EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler For Opposing 5-Cent Plastic Bag Tax (Walkinshaw: “Wheeler’s tenure at the EPA was a *disaster*. If [he] says we should turn right on an environmental issue, we should turn left. If he says we should go down, we should go up.”)
• Still a Bellwether? Loudoun’s Long Held Sway in Governor’s Races
• Cville Kids Strike Over Climate Change
• Fairfax County schools pulls 2 books with graphic sex from libraries
• Loudoun Schools Superintendnet Calls on Business Leaders to Defend Shared Values (Yes, they spelled Superintendent wrong.)
• Led by Roanoke, Virginia cities and counties begin taxing plastic bags (Good, it’s about friggin’ time! No brainer.)
• Tech computer policy could violate students’ free-speech rights, judge rules
• Paul Trible to retire from Christopher Newport University (“Trible was appointed Christopher Newport’s fifth president in 1995, and oversaw its transformation from a small state college that mostly served commuting students to a highly regarded liberal arts college that draws students from across the state and beyond.”)
• UPDATED: Police arrest 8 and indict three others in connection to alleged hazing death of VCU student Adam Oakes
• D.C.-area forecast: Pleasant weather is the rule through early week