Wednesday News: “Gawking in Awe at the Universe, Together”; “Biden Visits Mideast to Discuss Oil, Iran and Stronger Ties”; “Dramatic moments from deprogrammed right-wingers indict the whole GOP”; “What more does Merrick Garland need?”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, July 13.

• Global Oil-Supply Crisis Shows Signs of Easing
• A needed nuclear option for climate change
• Wind, solar and battery supply chains vulnerable to geopolitical crises, experts warn
• Why the new James Webb Space Telescope images are such a big deal (“The JWST can simply see more of the universe than the Hubble Space Telescope could.”)
• The Coolest Space Picture I’ve Ever Seen (“Seen through the James Webb Space Telescope, the Carina Nebula is positively bursting with stuff.”)
• NASA reveals Webb telescope’s new images of stars, galaxies and an exoplanet
• Gawking in Awe at the Universe, Together
• The years and billions spent on the James Webb telescope? Worth it.
• Biden: Top Islamic State leader in Syria killed in drone strike
• President Vladimir Putin’s use of energy as a weapon against the West could strain Russia’s bonds with oil-rich allies.
• Trump allowed Iran to go nuclear, but Biden will get the blame (This is, in fact, 100% the fault of Trump…and also Bibi Netanyahu.)
• Russian, Ukrainian militaries set to discuss grain exports
• Ukraine Strike on Russian Air-Defense Unit Shows Impact of New Weapons (“The strike is the latest in a series that Ukraine has conducted against high-value targets such as ammunition depots since multiple-launch rocket systems known as Himars began arriving from the U.S. last month.”)
• Meet the man who has Putin’s ear — and may want his job
• How Yellen plans to deplete Putin’s war funds
• Minister: Ukraine needs assurances to resume grain exports
• US, allies aim to cap Russian oil prices to hinder invasion
• Two exhausted armies are battling for eastern Ukraine. Can either of them strike a decisive blow?
• Biden Visits Mideast to Discuss Oil, Iran and Stronger Ties
• Biden heads to Mideast jittery about Iranian nuclear program
• Israel is working with Arab allies to destroy Iranian drones, a sign of the growing ties that President Biden is trying to shore up.
• President flees Sri Lanka amid crisis as ire turns toward PM
• Protesters storm Sri Lanka PM’s office as crowds tear-gassed
• White House begins booster push chasing BA.5 subvariant
• BA.5 variant’s spread sparks concerns about contagiousness, hospitalizations
• White House Urges Americans To Take Precautions As Covid Variants Spread
• Consumer inflation is expected to have been even hotter in June, but it could be peaking
• The Humbug Economy (“My guess about what’s really happening is that the economy is indeed slowing, but probably not into a recession, at least so far. And a moderate slowdown is actually what we want to see.”)
• The Constitution Isn’t Working (Agreed, there are several elements to it which are completely dysfunctional at this point.)
• Republicans threaten Wall Street over climate positions (This is pure evil.)
• Poll: Abortion bans reshape where young Americans choose to live (“More than six in 10 young women — and five in 10 young men — say states’ individual abortion laws will influence where they choose to live, according to a new Generation Lab/Axios poll.”)
• Red states with forced-birth laws bask in the right to fall behind
• The Trump Enablers Truly in Contempt of Congress
• Trump incited Jan. 6 attack after ‘unhinged’ White House meeting, panel told
• The meeting that changed history and 3 other takeaways from the latest Jan. 6 hearing
• Was this finally enough? Trump and his terrorist confederates must be prosecuted (“Donald Trump led a terrorist conspiracy that aimed to overthrow democracy. What more does Merrick Garland need?”)
• January 6 committee reveals Steve Bannon spoke with Donald Trump multiple times before the insurrection
• The Incitement Paper Trail
• Donald Trump Should Never Be Allowed Within 1,000 Feet of the White House Again: A Pocket Guide (Neither should a TrumpIST.)
• January 6 hearing makes it clear: MAGA is a cult (“The January 6 committee portrays Trump as a sinister cult leader and his followers as his dupes”)
• A President Asking for Civil War(“The January 6th committee closes in on Trump, but it may be too late.”)
• The Jan. 6 hearing showed how lies can kill
• 5 things we learned from the committee’s latest hearing
• Trump, and Trump alone, turned Jan. 6 into a debacle for our democracy (It definitely was NOT Trump alone.)
• “A Sitting President Asking For Civil War”: January 6 Committee Details Role of Extremist Groups in Trump Insurrection
• Pat Cipollone, Apparent Leader of the Not Insane Caucus, Took the Mic on Day 7 of the Jan 6 Hearings
• Leaked Audio: Before Election Day, Bannon Said Trump Planned to Falsely Claim Victory
• Takeaways from Day 7 of the Jan. 6 panel: Trump can’t be ‘willfully blind’ in defending assembling the mob
• Dramatic moments from deprogrammed right-wingers indict the whole GOP
• Jan. 6 panel escalates showdown with Trump over influencing witnesses
• January 6 committee shows how far-right media whipped support for Trump’s rally
• Capitol attack panel examines Trump’s ‘summoning a mob’ on January 6 (“In the seventh public hearing, the committee is focusing on extremists such as Proud Boys and Oath Keepers”)
• Ex-campaign chief texted ally Trump’s January 6 rhetoric ‘killed someone’
• Trump hid plan for Capitol march on day he marked as ‘wild’, panel says
• ‘He is not an impressionable child’: Cheney lays marker on Trump, crime
• ‘His own choices’: Select panel says Trump — not his advisers — set Jan. 6 in motion
• Trump has never been held accountable for impeding inquiries. It shows.
• Tears, Screaming and Insults: Inside an ‘Unhinged’ Meeting to Keep Trump in Power
• Logs show 10 House Republicans attended White House meeting on pressuring Pence (All should be automatically expelled from Congress, given that they’re insurrectionists.)
• A Former Mueller Prosecutor Takes Merrick Garland to Task
• The Sordid Backstory to the Tweet That Started It All
• Twitter went easy on Trump because it ‘relished’ the power, ex-employee says
• Poll Shows Tight Race for Control of Congress as Class Divide Widens
• The American Courts Have Had Quite Enough of MAGA World’s Bullsh*t (“They will still have to make some time in their schedule to make their court dates, it seems.”)
• More than 200 congressional staffers urge Pelosi and Schumer to act on climate or risk dooming younger generations (The House has already passed legislation. The Senate can’t, because there are only 50 Democrats including Manchin and Sinema, who refuse to ditch the filibuster. So…add more Dems and pass climate legislation!)
• Former senior U.S. official John Bolton admits to planning attempted foreign coups
• Election officials fear copycat attacks as ‘insider threats’ loom
• Mitt Romney Is Inventing Policies for a Fantasy G.O.P. (Romney is embarrassing.)
• Twitter sues Elon Musk, setting stage for epic legal battle
• 15 Revelations In Twitter’s Suit Against Elon Musk (“The document is not a boring read”)
• Three takeaways from Twitter’s suit against Elon Musk
• Elon Musk hits back at Trump and says ex-president should ‘hang up his hat’ (“Tesla chief tweets that ex-president should ‘sail into the sunset’ after Trump calls Musk a ‘bullshit artist’ over Twitter bid”)
• Josh Hawley’s viral transphobic comments, briefly explained
• Joe Biden’s bad news problem (“Our system is set up to make every president look like a failure, at least at this stage.”)
• Exclusive: Watch Uvalde school shooting video obtained by Statesman showing response (Horrifying and enraging.)
• Why the Austin American-Statesman chose to publish video from inside Robb Elementary
• Newly Obtained Video From Uvalde Shooting Shows Slow Police Response
• Senate confirms Steve Dettelbach to head ATF
• Solar Power Is Bailing Texas Out This Summer(“Enjoying that AC? Thank the mighty power of the sun and the renewable energy source keeping the grid afloat.”)
• Charges: Man lit his camper on fire, defaced own garage to appear targeted due to Trump flag (Dangerous, unhinged cultists.)
• Mehmet Oz bragged about hunting in Florida, but he’s never held a license (Oz is a pathological liar, among his many other fine qualities.)
• What happened after Pete Buttigieg went on Fox News Sunday (“Buttigieg’s appearance, taken at face value, seems like a win for the Democratic operatives and liberal commentators who have argued that the party’s representatives should go on the network and try to reach its audience. But to truly assess that claim, it’s worth looking at what’s happened on Fox after the social media conversation had moved on. On Monday, Fox propagandists used Buttigieg’s statement to claim that he supports political violence and alleged that he supports ‘domestic terrorism’ and is in league with ‘the mob.'”)
• In the first half of 2022, Fox News feverishly pushed debunked, racist, and inflammatory narratives about immigration and migrants
• Allegations of Manosphere Pastor’s Gay Past Roil Macho Men (“Jesse Lee Peterson has emerged as one of the right’s most vocal anti-gay figures, but his one-time friends now allege that the pastor has had many same-sex relationships.” Of course…)
• Video: Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA02) Says Today’s 1/6 Hearing Will Examine “how did this plot turn into a violent insurrection and attempted coup” (Luria also says Steve Bannon “like a carnival barker…Bannon was a Naval officer, he grew up right here in Norfolk, VA. And it’s really interesting to see; what trajectory did he take along his path…to be facing these criminal charges, to be defying a subpoena before Congress.”)
• Rep. Elaine Luria to lead upcoming Jan. 6 hearing investigating Trump’s actions during Capitol riot
• Why some Virginia women could face prison for seeking an abortion
• Glenn Youngkin Appoints Hard-Core Trumpist, Who Ran with Ginni Thomas for 2020 Republican National Delegate, to VA Latino Advisory Board, Commonwealth Council on Aging (More evidence that Glenn Youngkin is anything but a “moderate,” “sane,” non-Trumpist Republican…)
• Youngkin fumbles on same-sex marriage status in Virginia law
• Youngkin Gets Grade of ‘F’ in First Conservation Ranking (Youngkin focused “on rolling back important environmental safeguards, while appointing individuals with deep ties to the fossil fuel industry,” like Andrew Wheeler)
• Same-day voter registration is coming to Virginia. Here’s how it’ll work.
• We should be investing in the health of Virginians
• Youngkin’s comments raise questions on same-sex marriage future in Virginia
• Youngkin urged to immediately limit abortion in Virginia
• Virginia 10-Day New COVID-19 Cases Down 85% Compared to 1/19; Hospitalizations Down to 672 From ~4,000 in January; Both at Highest Level Since March 5
• Virginia health officials seeing ‘unprecedented demand’ for well and septic repair program
• A 50 year shift to Virginia’s suburbs likely to move to the exurbs next
• Records of transgender students could have been disclosed amid unrelated investigation (“The assaults have been swept up into the political debate about transgender student bathroom policies.”)
• Hundreds of tenants facing eviction from Henrico apartment complex next month
• Fairfax School Board Takes Step Toward Family Planning Benefit Parity for LGBTQ+ Staff (Karl Frisch: “Our LGBTQIA+ employees and their families deserve the same respect and support as anyone else. Fairness is fundamental”)
• Viral video of Fairfax Co. Police pointing guns at juvenile leads to investigation
• Virginia’s Black hospital for TB patients finally gets a historical marker (“More Blacks than whites contracted TB; many went to the Piedmont Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Nottoway County for treatment.”)
• Authorities are trying to find homes for 4,000 beagles rescued from Virginia facility
• CTE school site announced; will be Roanoke County’s largest capital project
• Reclamation work on mine sites to expand across southwest Virginia over next 15 years
• Virginia Beach committee reveals proposed site of May 31 mass shooting memorial
• UVA professor harvests silver from solar
• D.C.-area forecast: Lower storm chances the next few days with seasonable heat