by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, September 14.
- Climate change: World now sees twice as many days over 50C (That’s 122 degrees Fahrenheit.)
- Most plans for new coal plants scrapped since Paris agreement (“Report by climate groups found more than three-quarters of projects were discarded after the deal was signed” Good, now scrap the rest.)
- Four in 10 young people fear having children due to climate crisis (Not surprising, really, given the terrifying future ahead if we don’t get multiple environmental crises under control VERY quickly.)
- Nearly half of young people worldwide say climate change anxiety is affecting their daily life (“Three-quarters of respondents aged 16-25 felt that the ‘future is frightening.’…Meanwhile 64% of young people said that governments were not doing enough to avoid a climate crisis.” They are absolutely correct.)
- Climate change could trigger migration of 216 million people, World Bank warns
- Price increases hit solar as trade uncertainties with China cloud growth goals
- China Locks Down City of 4.5 Million as Delta Surges Again
- COVID-19 cases in southeast China more than double as Delta spreads
- Iran Nears an Atomic Milestone (“Edging close to a bomb’s worth of fuel is seen as a tactic to pressure the Biden administration into agreeing to a quick renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal.”)
- Putin meets Assad, takes swipe at U.S. and Turkish forces in Syria (Assad, of course, is a vicious war criminal.)
- This Is The Candidate To Beat In The Race To Become Germany’s Next Leader (“Social Democratic Party leader Olaf Scholz is the front-runner in the polls to succeed German Chancellor Angela Merkel.”)
- Canada federal election: A look at the key numbers driving the campaign (“Canadians go to the polls on 20 September after a short 35-day election campaign sprint.”)
- Taliban deny their deputy prime minister, Mullah Baradar, is dead (“The Taliban have denied that one of their top leaders has been killed in a shootout with rivals, following rumours about internal splits in the movement nearly a month after its lightning victory over the Western-backed government in Kabul.”)
- Questions in Kabul as two top Taliban leaders ‘missing from public view’ (“Group’s leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, and one of their most recognisable faces, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, have not been seen” Bizarre.)
- A Million Afghan Children Could Die in ‘Most Perilous Hour,’ U.N. Warns
- Blinken testifies on Afghanistan: “We inherited a deadline, but not a plan”
- Key takeaways from Blinken’s Capitol Hill testimony on Afghanistan withdrawal
- As the largest-ever U.S. climate bill inches forward, a lobbying frenzy ensues
- First Thing: Biden says wildfires highlight climate emergency (Absolutely correct.)
- Some states fell far behind in vaccinating against Covid-19. How many lives could have been saved if they had caught up?
- Biden vaccine mandate puts McConnell, GOP leaders in a tough spot
- More workers are facing compulsory Covid vaccination or no job
- Most Americans support vaccine requirements amid GOP attacks, new poll says
- Republicans aren’t rational about covid-19. So stop reasoning with them. (“Republicans’ irrationality has overtaken self-interest.”)
- Biden’s covid order for big employers isn’t unconstitutional. It’s ordinary. (“Critics seem ignorant of basic statutory regulation of workplaces.”)
- GOP rejection of Biden vaccine mandate fuels concern for other directives (“Leading Republicans have declined to say whether they think requirements by schools, the military and private employers should be overturned, raising concerns among public health experts as vaccines become more politicized.”)
- Covid Hospitalizations Hit Crisis Levels in Southern I.C.U.s
- Tuesday’s CPI report likely to show inflation continuing to run hot, putting the Fed in tough spot
- Inflation Likely Eased in August, Though Still High
- Joe Manchin Irks Fellow Democrats With Demands To Cut $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan
- Democrats seek corporate, wealthy tax hikes for $3.5T plan
- Democrats Release Details of Proposed Tax Increase
- Democrats draw red lines in spending fight
- Ocasio-Cortez calls out Manchin for referring to her as ‘young lady’
- Senate Democrats Offer A New Voting Bill, But A GOP Filibuster Likely Blocks The Way (“Along with Manchin, the new bill’s cosponsors are Democratic Sens. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, Jon Tester of Montana, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Alex Padilla of California, along with Maine independent Sen. Angus King.”)
- Seven reasons to think Senate Democrats will actually change the filibuster (Let’s hope this is right, but…not holding our breaths?)
- Let’s stop pretending Biden’s proposed tax increases on the rich are radical (“It’s not a revolution, it’s a recalibration.”)
- With big tax push, Democrats aim to tackle enormous gains of top 1 percent
- GOP condemnation of Biden coronavirus mandate fuels concern other vaccine requirements could be targeted
- US faces ‘real battle for democracy’ against far right, says Hillary Clinton (“Speaking at a Guardian Live event, the former presidential candidate says the Capitol riot was a ‘terror attack’ that shows a new ‘internal threat’”)
- George W. Bush 2021, Meet George W. Bush 2001
- George W. Bush reminds us that Republicans once believed in democracy
- What the Never Trumpers Want Now (“Many of the conservatives and Republicans appalled by Donald Trump’s presidency clutched a hope through the bewildering years: Someday this would all be over and politics would return to normal. — But normal has not returned.”)
- Republicans cannot duck responsibility for Trump
- A Woman Of Color Will Lead EMILY’s List For The First Time
- Ivermectin and the right-wing media’s con culture
- The F.E.C. dismisses claims that Twitter illegally blocked a Hunter Biden article.
- Don’t let Amy Coney Barrett fool you: Everything the court does is political (“She had the gall to claim to be above politics speaking at an event honoring Mitch McConnell.”)
- Amy Coney Barrett Is the Politicized Supreme Court
- Amy Coney Barrett wants us to believe the Supreme Court isn’t partisan. Good luck with that.
- Schools facing critical race theory battles are diversifying rapidly, analysis finds
- DeSantis and the Agony of the Anti-Anti-Anti-Vaxx Republican (“The GOP-elite darling tries to walk a careful line, and falls off”)
- Chris Wallace’s grilling of a GOP governor exposes a much bigger scam (“Catch the sleight of hand there? Ricketts treats it as a natural fact of life that people lack confidence in federal officials overseeing national vaccination efforts, then uses that as justification for opposing vaccine mandates. But Ricketts himself essentially endorses the idea that people have good reason to lack confidence in the feds on vaccines.”)
- Facebook Is Raking It in With Shady Anti-Abortion Ads
- Facebook Says Its Rules Apply to All. Company Documents Reveal a Secret Elite That’s Exempt.
- Steve Bannon’s Billionaire Benefactor Was Just Fined $539 Million
- EXCLUSIVE Amazon hikes starting pay to $18 an hour
- White supremacist arrested outside DNC headquarters with a bayonet and machete
- Bob Enyart, conservative firebrand and pastor, dies of COVID-19 (Another ridiculous news media word is “firebrand,” instead of “extremist” or whatever.)
- Right-Wing Anti-Vax Radio Host Who Mocked AIDS Victims Dies Of COVID-19 (“Bob Enyart fought mask mandates and refused the vaccine.” Yep, this is the nutjob the Denver Post called a “firebrand” instead of a “bigot,” “extremist,” and the many other things he was.)
- Veronica Wolski, Woman Who QAnoners Demanded Hospital Treat COVID With Ivermectin, Dies
- Larry Elder Campaign Concedes Defeat and Claims Fraud – Before Election Day (“Telling the Big Lie extra-early is a new one for California Republicans.”)
- As Newsom leads California recall polls, Larry Elder pushes baseless fraud claims (Why does the media always use the word “baseless” instead of “false” or “lies” or whatever?)
- Gavin Newsom faced a tight recall race. Then Larry Elder came along (“Elder has helped galvanize many Democrats, who have recoiled most virulently from his views on Covid and his opposition to mask and vaccine mandates”)
- California recall exposes the limit of Trump’s GOP
- Biden Urges Californians To Keep Newsom In Office, Calling GOP Challenger A ‘Trump Clone’
- Right-wing media are already crying foul on the California recall
- Tucker Carlson: “I lie if I’m really cornered or something. I lie.” (Translation: Tucker Carlson lies constantly)
- Tucker Carlson Touts Nicki Minaj’s Vaccine Comments, Reads Aloud Her Swollen Testicle Tweet
- Sen. Warner: ‘I want to get to the bottom of ‘ Kabul drone strike
- After South China Sea Incidents, US Needs ‘Sustained’ Pacific Presence, Lawmaker Says (“Rep. Elaine Luria and analysts say the US Navy must a play the long game when it comes to confronting China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.”)
- August 2021 Revenue Report Finds Virginia General Fund Revenue Collections Up 18.9% From the Previous Year and 5.2% Fiscal-Year-to-Date (“August’s revenue numbers show that our roaring economic recovery is continuing”)
- Glenn Youngkin Lies and Demagogues Yet Again, This Time on Supposedly “Skyrocketing” Gasoline Prices, Which Are…Uh, Actually *DOWN* a Penny From a Month Ago, and About Average Historically (Youngkin also apparently has no understanding of the basics of economics, including supply and demand.)
- Virginia lieutenant governor nominee scrubs extreme views on guns, abortion from website
- McAuliffe Welcomes Salesforce Employees to Relocate from Texas to Virginia Following Draconian Texas Abortion Ban (“Come to Virginia – where we remain open and welcoming”)
- McAuliffe: Texas Salesforce employees would be welcome in Virginia in wake of abortion law
- Abortion enters the Virginia governor’s race
- With Early Voting Beginning on Friday, Democratic Statewide Ticket Has “built the most robust coordinated campaign in Virginia history”
- Editorial: A boost for higher ed? (“Investing in higher education would better position the commonwealth to compete with neighboring states.” In sharp contrast, Glenn Youngkin’s income tax cut would massively defund public education in Virginia.)
- In Newport News, Gov. Northam Ceremonially Signs Voting Rights Act of Virginia (Historic New Law, Patroned by Sen. Jennifer McClellan and Del. Cia Price, Makes Virginia the 1st Southern State with a Voting Rights Act)
- PolitiFact VA: Miyares Claims About Parole Board Lack Merit (“We rate Miyares’ statement False.”)
- Monday (9/13) Virginia Data on COVID-19: With Delta Now Dominant, Hospitalizations (2,103) Near Highest Level Since Mid February, 10-Day New Cases (+32,912) Near Highest Since Early February
- Redistricting commission scraps regional approach, calls for legislative maps of entire state
- Redistricting Commission drops region-by-region approach, expects statewide maps Sept. 20
- Virginia’s Grocery Tax Becoming Hot Topic in Governor’s Race
- Dominion to partner on solar project in Virginia coalfields
- House candidate doubles down & reaffirms his opposition to Virginia’s new LGBTQ laws
- Loudoun Co. School Board to codify free speech after courts overturn teacher suspension (“The draft policy, which the board is scheduled to vote on Tuesday evening, would specify that school employees have the First Amendment right to engage in protected speech in their free time, but also reinforces the expectation that employees support the school system’s equity and nondiscrimination practices.”)
- Future of Fairfax County roads named after Confederate leaders still up in the air
- Special grand jury investigating Virginia Beach police killing of Donovon Lynch
- Task force recommends civilian oversight of Richmond police to City Council
- I-64 widening project in York nears completion with estimated end-of-year finish (Widening roads, generally speaking, is a massive waste of money and bad for the environment.)
- Stoney proposing $78 million for parks and community centers, $3,000 bonus for first responders in 2-year special budget
- In Southwest Virginia, farmers and brewers hope for a grain renaissance (“Backers say ‘Appalachian Grains’ could offer a new industry for the coalfields region”)
- D.C.-area forecast: Two more days of 90-degree heat, with storm chances returning midweek
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