Friday News: “McConnell ‘blinked’ on the debt ceiling”; “The Battle of January 6th Has Just Begun”; “Trump Matter-of-Factly Tells His Lackeys to Obstruct Justice”; “Fox News just turned 25. It’s been a disaster – and it’s getting worse”; “The Moral Bankruptcy of Facebook”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, October 8.

• The UN’s Top Human Rights Panel is Set to Vote on the Right to a Clean and Sustainable Environment
• Investigation: Majority of Directors of World’s Top Insurance Companies Tied to Polluting Industries (“Analysis found links to Exxon, Koch Industries, and the US Chamber of Commerce, raising concerns about a potential “revolving door,” one campaigner said, between the insurance and fossil fuel industries.”)
• Journalists who took on Putin and Duterte win 2021 Nobel Peace Prize
• Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov Win Peace Prize (“The pair was recognized for their work fighting for free speech in Russia and the Philippines.”)
• Forrest plans 1GW thin film solar factory in Australia to build “green energies at scale”
• The US right’s love affair with Hungary’s Orban (Authoritarians.)
• Poland’s top court ruling marks major challenge to EU laws
• China warns U.S. over reports that American forces are stationed in Taiwan
• US deeply concerned over Taiwan-China tension
• U.S. officials will negotiate a new security deal with Mexico during talks Friday
• September Jobs Report Expected to Show Growth, but Suppressed by Virus
• Only Massive U.S. Jobs Miss Will Derail November Taper Bets (“The number to watch for on today’s U.S. payrolls report is 200,000.”)
• What’s Delaying Vaccine Mandates?
• The debt ceiling fight is far from over (“Get ready to do this all again in December.”)
• Senate approves short-term deal to raise debt ceiling and avert economic crisis
• Short-Term Increase in U.S. Debt Ceiling Passes Senate
• US Senate averts crisis by voting to extend debt ceiling
• Arsonist heroically agrees not to light deadly fire? Let me rewrite that for you. (“Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is getting exactly the kind of coverage he had hoped for — and had every reason to expect — from a press corps that is incapable of holding the Republican Party accountable for anything.”)
• Trump and his allies target McConnell over deal to avoid default
• Mitch McConnell ‘blinked’ on the debt ceiling. Here’s what that means. (“The Senate minority leader has no coherent argument against a long-term debt increase”)
• Schumer frustrates GOP, Manchin with fiery debt ceiling speech
• Bernie Sanders erupts at Joe Manchin, and a deeper dispute is revealed (“We’re finally getting the big argument among Democrats that we deserve.”)
• Joe Manchin Should Stop Talking About ‘Entitlement’
• Democrats split over how to pare Biden agenda as $3.5 trillion price tag falls (“Moderates want fewer but permanent programs. Progressives urge creating many, even if they expire. And what about climate policies?”)
• Biden administration releases alarming reports on climate change challenges (“The reports from 23 federal agencies examine how climate change will disrupt nearly all aspects of life, including more traffic and disease.”)
• The US is closer than ever before to making major progress on the climate crisis (“Democrats might never get another opportunity like this. The global climate certainly won’t.”)
• Biden’s Women-Focused Economic Agenda Is Getting Destroyed by Joe Manchin (“Not only is his rhetoric is out of step with his party, it’s endangering its future control in Washington.”)
• GOP tries to take filibuster pressure off Manchin, Sinema
• The Story of Trump’s Attempt to Overturn the 2020 Election Is Coming Into Focus
• Jan. 6 committee faces dilemma over holding Trump accountable (“The ex-President and his apologists in Congress are trying to bury the truth about what can now objectively be termed a coup attempt”)
• As a stunning new report reveals Trump’s threat to democracy, Republicans shrug (“The law couldn’t stop him; only a few people did. It’s not a comforting thought.”)
• Democratic anxiety rises as Trump bid appears more likely
• The Battle of January 6th Has Just Begun (“Nine months after the storming of the Capitol, Trump is more popular with the G.O.P. and his Big Lie is more widely believed.”)
• Trump lawyer tells former aides not to cooperate with Jan. 6 committee (If they don’t, then arrest them.)
• Select Committee Issues Subpoenas Related to January 6th Stop the Steal Rally at U.S. Capitol
• Trump Matter-of-Factly Tells His Lackeys to Obstruct Justice (“Legal experts say that’s a crime”)
• The GOP’s fanciful defense of Trump’s DOJ plot
• Using an old bad defense of Trump to build a new bad defense of Trump
• Advice to Trump critics and democracy lovers in the GOP: Leave the party (“It’s long past time to give up on a sane GOP.”)
• Americans Want The Government To Act On Climate Change. What’s The Hold-Up?
• How dumb can a nation get and still survive?
• Biden to expand Bears Ears and other national monuments, reversing Trump cuts, White House says
• Trump Goes Full Racist And Declares Many Haitian Migrants ‘Probably Have AIDS’ (“The former president said accepting Haitian migrants was ‘like a death wish for our country.'”)
• Palm Beach Police Ball Will Enrich Trump, Whose Jan. 6 Mob Attacked Officers (“Trump’s incitement led to five officers dead and 140 injured, but the charity is going ahead with a fundraiser that will give Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Crazy.)
• The Postal Service is slowing the mail to save money. Critics say it’s a death spiral
• Google, YouTube to prohibit ads and monetization on climate denial content (Just ban it outright.)
• California’s latest oil spill should be its last if we want to protect its environment and economy (“Drilling poses a bigger environmental and economic threat than it’s worth.”)
• The Trailer: Andrew Yang’s got a new political party — and he wants to change how we vote (What did any progressive, liberal, Democrat, etc. ever see in this guy?)
• Texas abortions resume after court ruling despite legal fears
• The federal court ruling blocking Texas’s abortion law is a marvel (“The decision may be short-lived, but it is worth celebrating.”)
• Biggs Clings To Big Lie During Cyber Ninjas Hearing: ‘We Don’t Know’ Who Won Arizona
• How Michael P. Farris Tried to Block 2020 Election Outcome (“One of the nation’s most prominent religious conservative lawyers played a critical behind-the-scenes role in the lawsuit that Republican state attorneys general filed in December in a last-ditch effort to overturn the election of President Biden, documents show.” Disbar him!)
• Michael Gableman, the GOP attorney reviewing Wisconsin’s 2020 election, is backing off on the subpoenas to cities days after issuing them (This guy should be disbarred, as should anyone participating in these anti-democracy activities.)
• ‘Facebook can’t keep its head in the sand’: five experts debate the company’s future
• The Moral Bankruptcy of Facebook (“The whistle-blower Frances Haugen hoped that her revelations would prompt a reckoning. Instead, the company has doubled down.”)
• Facebook Will Not Fix Itself
• Fox News just turned 25. It’s been a disaster – and it’s getting worse.
• Examining how Fox News has changed America as it turns 25 years old
• Video footage amid unrest after George Floyd’s death captures Minneapolis police discussing ‘hunting people’
• Marjorie Taylor Greene says Jan. 6 domestic terrorists are merely ‘patriotic’ (This rhetoric is very dangerous.)
• Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says Glenn Youngkin’s Embrace of Trump’s “Big Lie” Is “Extraordinarily Dangerous,” the Kind of Thing That Happens in Russia and Communist China (Sen. Warner adds, “I’d be very afraid if we changed direction in the governor’s office or the House of Delegates”)
• Sen. Mark Warner: Congress should ‘get rid of’ debt ceiling
• Sen. Tim Kaine On The Debt Ceiling, Infrastructure, And Mitch McConnell
• Rep. Spanberger: infrastructure bill could have significant impacts on central Va.
• AG Mark Herring Helps Block Texas Abortion Ban
• Trump’s false election claims in focus in Va. governor race
• VA Planned Parenthood: “Glenn Youngkin Amplifies Support From Anti-Abortion Extremists,” Spent Tuesday Evening at Event With Trump HHS Appointee Whose Goal Is “Post-Roe Nation”
• Video: On MSNBC, Stacey Abrams Says Glenn Youngkin Is “Speaking of an Overturning,” “Willfully Participating In the Subversion of Our Democracy” (Abrams adds that Youngkin “should be rejected for that reason”)
• FWIW Virginia on “McAuliffe’s October Surprise”: “Small ad buy of fun ads featuring Taylor Swift” “draw[s] attention to Glenn Youngkin’s career as a vulture capitalist”
• Virginia Republicans seize on parental rights and schools fight in final weeks of campaign
• Virginia’s Medicaid expansion is a success story (“The program has helped 550,000 Virginians get health insurance — and has saved the state hundreds of millions of dollars.”)
• Video: Glenn Youngkin Laughs Uncomfortably at Climate Question, Says “I don’t know what’s responsible for climate change.” This Is 100% Disqualifying!
• Will Virginia delegates have to run again in 2022? A judge could decide soon.
• BREAKING: Glenn Youngkin’s Running Mate Refuses to Answer About Vaccination Status to CNN
• Ayala slams Sears for not saying whether or not she’s vaccinated
• Winsome Sears refuses to say if she received the COVID-19 vaccine
• Republican candidate’s vaccination status becomes a target in Virginia lieutenant governor’s race (“Republican Winsome E. Sears has refused to disclose whether she’s been vaccinated, which Democrat Hala S. Ayala calls irresponsible.”)
• Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Launches $500,000 Effort to Protect and Expand Gun Sense Majority in VA House of Delegates; Unveils New Polling Show Gun Safety Top Issue for Voters
• In Virginia, Democrats rebuke GOP over ‘racist, anti-Semitic’ campaign mailings
• With Commission Deadlocked on Race’s Relationship to Districts, Most Public Comment Focuses on Local Concerns
• Virginia advocates hope new commuter train marks start of transportation shift (“A new Richmond-to-D.C. line is the first project under the state’s $37 billion, 10-year program called Transforming Rail, which aims to expand and streamline commuter, passenger and freight rail systems.”)
• Thursday (10/7) Virginia Data on COVID-19: With Delta Now Dominant, Hospitalizations (1,669) Near Highest Level Since Mid February, 10-Day New Cases (+27,471) Near Highest Since Mid February
• The threat of domestic terrorism hits home (“The just-revealed plot to kill Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, no matter how tentative or ephemeral, might well strike fear in anyone in the public sphere. It’s an indicator of the depths of hatred and the eagerness to commit violence among folks who don’t get their way at the ballot box. It’s why domestic terrorists can never be taken lightly, even if their schemes are scatterbrained or poorly executed.”)
• Elections officials remind absentee voters to get witness signature (“Virginia elections officials are working to alert voters that absentee ballots cast in this fall’s election require witness signatures.”)
• Virginia mussel declared extinct, a ‘warning sign’ for state’s rivers (Ugh…)
• Editorial: End of Something in the Water a huge loss for the Beach
• Northside community organizations request investigation into bump-out removal
• Virginia Beach School Board considers banning books because of “pornographic nature”
• City Council to Library Boards: Should Local Entities Be Allowed to Meet Virtually?
• D.C.-area forecast: Temperatures eye the 80-degree mark today, despite occasional clouds