Wednesday News: “Biden answers his critics on Afghanistan. Forcefully.”; “‘Scared’ Kevin McCarthy Trashed On Twitter For ‘Thuggery’ After Threatening Telecoms”; “Texas Abortion Ban Allowed by Supreme Court in Huge Blow to Roe v. Wade”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, September 1.

• Climate change: Big increase in weather disasters over the past five decades
• When Climate Change Comes to Your Doorstep
• How oysters can stop a flood (“How oysters can stop a flood”)
• Morrison will take catastrophic climate policy failure to COP26 (This guy’s an absolute disgrace.)
• Australia aims to ‘live with virus’ instead of eliminating it
• Japan finds another Moderna vial suspected to contain foreign substance
• Biden will place U.S. support for Ukraine front and center during Zelensky visit
• Why Kamala Harris’s trip to Asia was so important (“Maybe this is the ‘pivot’ we’ve been looking for.”)
• Biden to talk Russia, anti-corruption with Ukraine’s president
• Biden answers his critics on Afghanistan. Forcefully.
• Biden declares end to war, defends exit (“‘I was not going to extend this forever war,’ president says”)
• In Biden’s Afghanistan Speech, a New Vision for U.S. Foreign Policy (“President Biden shunned the use of military power “to remake other countries” and said foreign policy would focus more on competition with China and Russia. He forcefully rejected criticism of his decision to end the 20-year war in Afghanistan and sought to justify his handling of its final weeks.”)
• Biden defends Afghanistan withdrawal: ‘Not extending a forever exit’ (“‘I was not going to extend this forever war, and I was not extending a forever exit,’ the president said, in his first address since the war ended.”)
• Era of US wars to remake countries is over – Biden
• Taliban to Unveil Government in Days After U.S. Troops Leave Afghanistan
• US operation to get 14,000 people off German base is far from over
• Biden sets himself apart by placing Afghanistan blame at predecessors’ feet
• Taliban cooperation included protecting Americans from possible terrorist attack at airport (“Not long before the U.S. finished its Afghanistan withdrawal, the Taliban stopped a bus headed to Kabul’s airport, saying it might be rigged with bombs.”)
• Hawks Would Have Afghans Die in War or Starve in Peace (“Critics of Biden’s withdrawal are hollow champions of human rights”)
• Is the U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan the End of the American Empire? (“Only time will tell whether the old adage about Afghanistan’s being the graveyard of empires proves as true for the United States as it did for the Soviet Union.”)
• NATO allies are preparing for a future without America’s “forever wars”
• GOP lawmakers spread lie about US weapons seized by Taliban
• U.S. Exit From Afghanistan Shifts Global Power Balance (“…the U.S. remains a dominant military and economic force—and the move creates new complications for China and Russia.”)
• Biden’s imperfect but powerful message
• Afghanistan withdrawal exposes Republican divide on foreign policy despite united condemnation of Biden
• Afghan refugees will know indifference, bigotry — and also kindness — in America. They will also make it better.
• Our longest war is over. The new challenges in Afghanistan begin.
• Shockingly, Americans are taking a nuanced view of the Afghanistan pullout (Unlike the f’ed-up media.)
• The New Puritans (“A growing illiberalism, fueled by social media, is trampling democratic discourse. The result is a chilling atmosphere in which mob justice has replaced due process and forgiveness is impossible.”)
• How right-wing media and social isolation lead people to eat horse paste
• Yes, you can get some immunity from having covid-19. But no one should wait to get vaccinated.
• Hurricane Ida shows investments to protect New Orleans after Katrina paid off. It’s a lesson for other cities. (Yes, but it was VERY expensive.)
• Hurricanes, wildfires, and drought: US finds itself battling climate disasters on several fronts
• The U.S. added more new energy capacity from wind than any other source last year (“42% of new electricity generation capacity in the U.S. came from land-based wind energy — more than from any other source — according to numbers in a series of reports from the Department of Energy (DOE) this week.”)
• New Orleans Aches for Electricity to Return After Hurricane Ida (“Power could be restored to parts of the city by tonight, but the rest of Louisiana will have a longer wait, officials said. Here’s the latest.”)
• Aerial Photos Show Louisiana Coast Is Still Dealing With Major Flooding Post-Ida
• After Ida wiped out power to more than 1 million, Louisiana residents now face gas shortages and dwindling supplies
• McCarthy warns telecom and social media companies that comply with January 6 committee records requests
• Former federal prosecutor says Kevin McCarthy’s ‘threatening’ response to Jan. 6 committee could be criminal
• ‘Scared’ Kevin McCarthy Trashed On Twitter For ‘Thuggery’ After Threatening Telecoms
• Democrats, don’t knuckle under to corporations on the reconciliation bill
• Martyrs to the Nation (“In 1844, a 19-year-old apprentice was killed in a street riot. What happened after shows how Trump-loving nativists want to use Ashli Babbitt’s death.”)
• Madison Cawthorn Keeps Getting Worse
• McCarthy silent after Cawthorn warns of ‘bloodshed’ over ‘rigged’ elections
• Texas Begins the End of Abortion as We Know It
• Texas Abortion Law Takes Effect for Now as Top Court Deliberates
• Supreme Court Allows Extreme Texas Abortion Ban To Go Into Effect (“S.B. 8 offers private citizens a $10,000 bounty if they successfully sue anyone ‘aiding or abetting’ abortion-seeking patients in Texas.” WTF???)
• Texas Abortion Ban Allowed by Supreme Court in Huge Blow to Roe v. Wade
• Another MAGA legacy: An explosion of hate crimes
• The 5th Circuit is staking out a claim to be America’s most dangerous court
• Which Senators And Representatives Vote In Favor Of Democracy?
• Paul Ryan says former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election
• G.O.P. Election Reviews Create a New Kind of Security Threat (“As Republicans continue to challenge the 2020 results, voting equipment is being compromised when partisan insiders and unvetted operatives gain access.” Totally inexcusable and should be illegal if it already isn’t.)
• “We’re Going to Win, But It’s Precarious”: Gavin Newsom’s Team Feeling Bullish on Recall Vote
• Texas legislature gives final approval to sweeping voting restrictions bill (“Bill, nearly identical to a measure that passed last week, gives poll watchers more power and prohibits 24-hour and drive-thru voting” Appalling. Congress needs to act, ASAP.)
• ‘I’ve Lost Track, Really’: Radio Hosts Are Being Killed by Their Own Anti-Vax Propaganda
• Gab’s CEO is trying to use his platform to sabotage coronavirus vaccination efforts
• The Jeopardy hosting saga has become a cautionary morality tale (“Jeopardy is a wholesome American icon. Its Mike Richards crisis may change that.”)
• Kaine talks infrastructure bill at Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport
• Video: Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA02) Says “we’re casting a wide net to make sure that we understand all of the facts about what happened” on 1/6/21 (Rep. Luria as the Afghan war ends: “We did prevent terrorists from gaining ground and planting a seed in Afghanistan from which they could launch attacks against our country.”)
• Opinion: Luria, Wittman must lead groundwater clean-up effort
• Monmouth Virginia Poll Too Close For Comfort: McAuliffe 47%-Youngkin 42%; Ayala 43%-Sears 42%; Herring 45%-Miyares 43% (Also concerning: “Republicans are a little more excited than Democrats this year.”)
• McAuliffe up by 5 points in Virginia governor race: poll
• NEW TV AD: Terry for Virginia Releases New Ad “What It Means” Highlighting Glenn Youngkin’s Far Right Agenda to Ban Abortion
• Video: DPVA, Sen. Scott Surovell, Del. Jay Jones Highlight Glenn Youngkin’s Dangerous Economic Agenda (“Youngkin aspires to eliminate the income tax, which would destroy Virginia’s economy, decimate education and public safety”)
• Democrats push back on Youngkin’s big policy proposal
• Governor Northam Declares State of Emergency in Response to Tropical Depression Ida (“Declaration provides resources to localities as Southwest Virginia faces additional rainfall, flooding”)
• Governor Northam Grants Posthumous Pardons for ‘Martinsville Seven’ 70 Years After Unjust Executions (“With today’s act, Governor Northam has granted more pardons than previous nine governors combined”)
• Virginia no longer ranked ‘worst for workers’
• ‘These men were executed because they were Black and that’s not right’: Northam pardons Martinsville Seven who were executed in 1949 rape case
• Northam grants posthumous pardons to the Martinsville Seven, Black men executed in 1951 for rape
• Northam Pardons 7 Men Executed in 1951
• Republican Senate Leadership Committee Endorses Insurrection Attendees in Virginia After Giving Money to Insurrectionist Attorney (“The RSLC is actively supporting candidates who attended the January 6th insurrection”)
• Tuesday (8/31) Virginia Data on COVID-19: With Delta Now Dominant, Hospitalizations (1,768) at Highest Level Since Mid February, 10-Day New Cases (+32,356) Highest Since Mid February
• Virginia Created Fines for Workplace COVID-19 Violations, but Few Employers Paid Them
• Editorial: Remembering the Afghanistan war’s cost for Western Virginia
• Virginia Tech doesn’t enroll 134 students due to vaccination non-compliance
• Federal inspectors issue warning after finding animal welfare violations at Virginia Tech
• Virginia pioneered in vitro fertilization 40 years ago. It’s overdue for insurance to cover it. (Actually, IVF was pioneered in England, then in India…)
• The State of Recycling in Virginia: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Truth
• In Wake of Monday’s Supreme Court of Virginia Ruling, Local LGBTQIA+ Organizations Call on Fairfax Officials to Stand Up for Trans Students (“One student lamented about the SCOVA ruling: ‘I feel dehumanized. Is it really that hard to respect us?'”)
• Va. Supreme Court affirms judge’s ruling reinstating Loudoun teacher who refused to use transgender pronouns
• Mayor, Richmond City Council members walk away from talk on policing after their lawyer says the meeting must be public
• Loudoun County will require high school student-athletes to get vaccinated against the coronavirus
• D.C.-area forecast: Thunderstorms today, with possible flooding and tornadoes