by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, May 21.
- A heat wave is hitting India and Pakistan. Climate change means it’s only going to get worse.
- The climate scientists are not alright (“Frustration, rage, terror, desperation: After decades of being ignored, scientists are resorting to more radical action to communicate the dire urgency of the climate crisis”)
- Could Google’s Carbon Emissions Have Effectively Doubled Overnight? (“A new report suggests that the money Big Tech companies keep in the banking system can do more climate damage than the products they sell.”)
- Crypto is a solution in search of a problem (Exactly.)
- World Health Organization confirms 80 cases of monkeypox with outbreaks in 11 countries (“Monkeypox is spread through close contact. It usually begins with flu-like symptoms and then progresses to body rashes.”)
- Monkeypox cases top 100 in Europe, WHO calls emergency meeting
- Finland’s state energy company says Russia has stopped supplying it with natural gas
- Only diplomacy can end Ukraine war, says Zelensky
- Putin’s War Means Russia’s Rich Aren’t Welcome at Davos Anymore
- Facebook Slammed for Spreading Putin’s Propaganda in NATO’s East
- Russian corpses and munitions litter Kharkiv’s suburbs weeks after troops pushed out
- Cosmopolitan no more: Russians feel sting of cultural and economic rift (“Magazines, production lines and consumer choices suffer as isolation from the west bites”)
- Russian army takes control of Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant (“Last group of Ukrainian soldiers have now surrendered according to Russian defence minister”)
- The Do-or-Die Battle That Putin Could Actually Win (“The Russian president may finally eke out a victory after a slew of embarrassing setbacks in the war.”)
- Biden Says He’d Consider Meeting Kim If He’s Sincere, Serious
- Joe Biden waters down Indo-Pacific Economic Framework to win more support
- US, SKorea open to expanded military drills to deter North
- Biden, South Korea’s Yoon vow to deter North Korea but offer COVID aid
- Biden’s charm offensive seeks to strengthen ties with South Korea, Indo-Pacific region
- Australia Election Live Updates: Awaiting a Result From a Close Race
- No uniform swing in early Australian election vote counting
- North Korea reports more fevers as Kim claims virus progress
- Poles need EU funds as they help Ukrainians, ambassador says
- MAGA Makes the Pilgrimage to Authoritarian Hungary (MAGA has gone full fascist.)
- Judge Orders Government to Continue Migrant Expulsions on Border
- Increasingly negative views on national outlook and economy
- C.D.C. Urges Adults 50 and Older to Get Second Booster Shot
- First on CNN: Giuliani meets with January 6 committee for more than 9 hours
- After Buffalo massacre, Republicans double down on ‘great replacement’ (“After a killer echoes their ideas, the GOP becomes more convinced than ever.”)
- Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice, pressed Ariz. lawmakers to help reverse Trump’s loss, emails show (Clarence Thomas needs to resign.)
- Ginni Thomas Urged Arizona Lawmakers to Overturn Election (“The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote to legislators in a crucial swing state after the Trump campaign’s loss in 2020.”)
- Ginni Thomas’ emails deepen her involvement in 2020 election
- Clarence Thomas calls out John Roberts as Supreme Court edges closer to overturning Roe v. Wade (Thomas is a maniac who should never have been nominated to the Supreme Court in the first place.)
- Joe Manchin’s trail of destruction is about to get much worse
- The Memory of George Floyd Is Literally Fading Across America
- GOP Ideologues Keep Flopping In Their Efforts To Take Over School Boards (“Conservative Republicans running for school boards in North Carolina and New York overwhelmingly lost their elections Tuesday night, the latest sign that the GOP’s effort to wage a sweeping anti-LGBTQ, anti-Black culture war on public schools is failing.”)
- National Dems are calling in a new communications expert: Eric Adams (Hmmm…not sure about this one!)
- Facebook profited from ads promoting white supremacist “great replacement” theory (Facebook is bad, bad news…)
- Fox adopts Elon Musk’s defense that sexual harassment report is merely “dirty tricks” and “political attacks” (“Fox personalities rallied to Musk’s defense even after details emerged that he exposed his genitals to a flight attendant and paid $250,000 to cover it up”)
- Union blasts Musk after misconduct allegation: ‘Flight attendants are not just another accessory’
- Hillary Clinton personally approved plan to share Trump-Russia allegation with the press in 2016, campaign manager says (It’s interesting that this story is mostly in far-right outlets.)
- In Georgia, a G.O.P. Primary Tests the Power of a Trump Vendetta (“Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is fending off a challenger fueled by Donald J. Trump’s election lies. But do voters still care about 2020 as much as the former president does?”)
- Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy: Our Maternal Death Rates Are Only Bad If You Count Black Women (Wuuuut?)
- Ohio GOP House candidate J.R. Majewski called for secession in livestream following 2020 election (That should be automatically disqualifying, of course. In a sane country, that is.)
- S.F. archbishop says Pelosi will be denied communion over abortion (Pathetic.)
- The Republican Party’s Extremist Wing Has a New Face
- Pa. governor nominee Doug Mastriano warned of left-wing ‘Hitlerian Putsch’ in master’s thesis
- The outcome of the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary might not be known before June
- Pennsylvania GOP Senate race is likely headed to a recount
- A federal appeals court says undated Pa. mail ballots should be counted, a decision that breaks with state courts and could have immediate impact
- How Elise Stefanik, ‘bright light’ of a generation, chose a dark path (“It’s an old story: Ambitious Republican abandons principle to advance in Trump’s GOP.” She chose evil.)
- Tesla’s Aura Dims as Its Plunging Stock Highlights the Risks It Faces (Nobody should ever buy any product made by a company owned by Elon Musk. The guy’s gone fascist.)
- It Sure Sounds Like Elon Musk Decided to Become a Republican After Finding Out a Story About Him Allegedly Exposing Himself to a Flight Attendant Was Going Public
- Billionaires turn their backs on Biden: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos go to Twitter to get political (“Both Bezos and Musks have curiously found their political voices at the same time — just as labor forces take hold”)
- Oracle’s Larry Ellison joined Nov. 2020 call about contesting Trump’s loss (Also, ditch Oracle.)
- Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Kyle Mooney Expected to Exit ‘SNL’
- Video: At Event in Falls Church, VP Kamala Harris Touts “$5 billion we will invest in clean school buses over the next five years” (“…for far too long, the danger posed by diesel school buses to our planet and to our children has not received the attention it deserves.”)
- GOP to pick nominees in three Virginia Congressional districts Saturday
- Rep. Bob Good, Dan Moy to face-off in 5th Congressional District GOP convention
- Bob Good defends congressional seat against Dan Moy in GOP convention
- 10th District GOP Holds Firehouse Primary Saturday
- Virginia Republicans Vote Against Emergency Action to Address Baby Formula Shortage (In contrast, “Democrats are laser-focused on providing the resources to help Virginia address the infant formula shortage, and working to lower costs on everything from gas to groceries.”)
- New Education Report Blames Parents and Continues the Youngkin Administration’s Divisive Attacks On Public Schools (Youngkin “has shown his true intentions to undermine public education, bringing the destructive DeVos agenda to the Commonwealth.”)
- Critics say education report paints inaccurate picture of Virginia schools (Gotta love the “critics say” formulation, instead of determining for readers what the actual situation is and reporting that.)
- Loudoun Co. board files injunction to ‘limit’ AG Miyares investigation on school system
- Va. Gov. Youngkin restores voting rights to thousands of ex-felons
- Members of the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates Call on Gov. Youngkin to Reverse New Telework Policy
- Virginia Democrats urge Youngkin to reverse state’s new telework policy
- Virginia 10-Day New COVID-19 Cases Down 84% Compared to 1/19, But Near 3-Month High; Hospitalizations Down to 429 From ~4,000 in January, But Also Increasing
- Former Norfolk Sheriff Bob McCabe sentenced to 12 years in prison
- New restaurants and apartments opening in downtown Newport News, thanks to a plan to avoid tunnel traffic
- D.C.-area forecast: Flirting with record highs today as heat intensifies
