by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, May 16.
- Plastic pollution could be slashed by 80% by 2040, UN says (“Changes needed are major but also practical and affordable, report says, and would bring trillions of dollars in benefits”)
- Who Said Recycling Was Green? It Makes Microplastics By the Ton
- Cop28 host UAE’s approach is ‘dangerous’, says UN’s ex-climate chief (“Christiana Figueres says focus on carbon capture is direct threat to the survival of vulnerable countries”)
- How the Russia-Ukraine War Has Changed Europe (“The new Europe is boosting defense spending, severing ties with Russia, and forging tighter bonds of unity.” Also note, it should be called the Russian INVASION of Ukraine, not the vague “Russia-Ukraine War”)
- Russia launches ‘exceptional’ air attack on Kyiv as Europe, China look to exert influence
- Ukraine Says It Defeated ‘Exceptional’ Russian Missile Blitz
- Why preparations for Ukraine’s counteroffensive have taken so long
- With eye on Ukraine, top Chinese general calls for unconventional warfare capabilities
- Erdogan has the edge as Turkey’s elections head to a runoff (This sucks.)
- Thai voters choose democracy in a stunning election (Excellent news.)
- Elon Musk Didn’t Just Do Turkey’s Bidding. Censoring for Strongmen Is Now a Pattern.
- Elon Musk subpoenaed in Jeffrey Epstein litigation in U.S. Virgin Islands
- Yellen Warns ‘Time Is Running Out’ Ahead of Biden-McCarthy Meet
- The Memo: Nonexistent ‘border surge’ scrambles immigration politics
- Debt-Limit Talks Are Far From Over, McCarthy Says Ahead of Biden Meeting
- Democrats Should Make People Panic About the Debt Limit (“There’s not much pressure on House Republicans to stop playing games. More public worry might help.”)
- White House memo warns of steep cuts from GOP spending bills ahead of Biden-McCarthy meeting (This headline should read, “Ahead of Biden-McCarthy meeting, White House memo warns of…”)
- The Media Is Normalizing Debt-Ceiling Extortion (“No, this is not how Congress always does it. This is different, and dangerous.”)
- GOP rejected White House effort to close tax loopholes in debt ceiling talks
- Intensifying debt talks threaten rare GOP unity
- Why Are Americans So Negative About the Economy? (“…there’s good reason to believe that media reports about the economy have had a strongly negative bias. One thing that has gone really, really right in America lately is job creation, yet the public consistently reports having heard more negative than positive news about employment.”)
- The Return to the Office Has Stalled (“Half-empty offices are putting pressure on cities that are suffering from declining real-estate values and pressuring small businesses that rely on five-day-a-week office workers”)
- Biden administration announces nearly $11 billion for renewable energy in rural communities
- A lonely nation: Has the notion of the ‘American way’ promoted isolation across history?
- IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax prep giants
- EPA finally wakes up with stiff new climate rules: ‘They’ve hit full throttle’
- IRS details which renewable energy components must be made in the US to qualify for IRA tax credits
- In Another Blow to Big Oil, US Supreme Court Rejects Effort to Kill Climate Suits (“The Supreme Court’s decision brings the people of Delaware and Hoboken one step closer to putting these polluters on trial and making them pay for their climate deception.”)
- The Supreme Court Could Bury What’s Left of the Voting Rights Act (“A gerrymandering case out of South Carolina is an opportunity for the court to exercise all its worst instincts at once.”)
- A new Supreme Court case threatens to make gerrymandering even worse
- Biden to mark Jewish American Heritage Month with Broadway stars, speak out on antisemitism
- The Republican Embrace of Vigilantism Is No Accident
- DeSantis’s celebration of vigilantism is a new low in MAGA extremism
- U.S. conservatives have found an alarming model for their movement
- What the media missed from Trump by falling for his CNN distraction
- Trump’s Call-In to Far-Right Roadshow Is Red Meat for Christian Nationalists (“What Trump said on CNN was a G-rated version of what he recently told a meeting of neofascists in Hungary”)
- Pence Looks Toward 2024 Run, Using Reagan’s Playbook, Not Trump’s
- Woman sues Rudy Giuliani, saying he coerced her into sex, owes her $2 million in unpaid wages
- Rudy Giuliani said he and Trump were selling pardons for $2m apiece, ex-aide claims
- Woman Sues Rudy Giuliani, Saying He Coerced Her Into Sex, Owes Her $2 Million In Unpaid Wages
- Harassment Suit Against Rudy Giuliani Full of Graphic Allegations
- Rudy Giuliani made antisemitic remarks about Jews’ genitalia, mocked ‘freaking Passover’ observance, new lawsuit claims
- Results of That ‘Investigation’ Into the Russia Investigation Are Out
- FBI accused of failures but key report finds no deep-state plot against Trump
- Trump weaponizes FBI-Russia report he demanded to keep fighting the election that never ends
- Trump claimed the Durham probe would uncover the ‘crime of the century.’ Here’s what it really found
- Fox News uses the end of Title 42 to spread “great replacement” theory rhetoric
- Fox’s breathless promotion of Biden corruption allegations was a total flop
- Trump’s Republican Rivals Are Funneling Money to Daniel Penny
- Ignorant Ron DeSantis and Other Republicans Are Calling The Man Who Killed Jordan Neely ‘A Good Samaritan’
- Ron DeSantis Is Still Trapped In Trump’s Shadow. Will He Ever Get Out?
- Ron DeSantis’s Education Dept. Is Investigating a Fifth-Grade Teacher for Showing Students a Disney Movie (“The Florida governor’s reign of terror continues.”)
- DeSantis defunds diversity programs at Florida public colleges
- Biden administration may halt plans to move Space Command to Alabama over state’s abortion law, officials say
- 5 things to watch in Tuesday’s primary elections in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Florida
- Don’t believe Fox’s spin — its advertisers are still paying to support bigotry and propaganda
- CNN Loses to Newsmax in Primetime Ratings Two Days After Trump Town Hall (Hahahahaha.)
- Montana Is Paying a Climate Denier to Give Expert Testimony in Upcoming Trial (“Climatologist Judith Curry, a go-to figure on the denial circuit, is expected to take the stand for the defense in the youth climate lawsuit.” Insanity.)
- Security fears flare anew in Congress after an attack on one of their own
- At least three people killed, two officers injured in New Mexico shooting
- Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11): “This morning, an individual entered my District Office armed with a baseball bat and asked for me before committing an act of violence against two members of my staff”
- Gerry Connolly staffers assaulted by man with bat at Va. office
- Police ID man arrested in baseball bat attack at Rep. Connolly’s Fairfax office
- The USCP Launches Joint Investigation into Assault of Congressional Staff in Virginia
- AG Miyares defends staying out of abortion pill case
- Democrats assail Glenn Youngkin for pulling Virginia out of bipartisan voting system
- Video: House Democratic Leader Don Scott, Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Mamie Locke Discuss Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Latest Attack on Voting Rights (Last week, the Youngkin administration caved to right-wing conspiracy theorists and announced it was pulling out of the Electronic Registration Information Center (“ERIC”))
- Virginia ‘in talks with other states’ for alternative to bipartisan voter collab ERIC (Totally absurd.)
- Democrats criticize Virginia’s withdrawal from voter data partnership
- How redistricting reform is launching the Virginia General Assembly into a new era
- Three Virginia electric co-ops ask to make community solar programs permanent
- Sinking land is a ‘hidden vulnerability’ for Hampton Roads, recent study finds
- Commentary: After reneging on promises, Va. must halt tax handouts to Amazon (Horribly written headline, sounds like Virginia reneged on promises; should say, “After Amazon reneges on promises, Virginia must halt…”)
- EMILYs List accuses 55th district candidate of ‘flip-flop’; he says it was ‘Democratic counter operations’ (What on earth are “Democratic counter operations?”)
- New migration data shows an uptick of people moving into some rural areas
- Editorial: Virginia Beach School Board can show empathy for LGBTQ+ students
- Republican nomination in Central Virginia House district will be decided this week (“Former U.S. Rep. Tom Garrett is attempting a comeback after stepping away to recover from alcoholism. He faces Kevin Bailey and Jennie Wood in a convention on May 20.”)
- D.C.-area forecast: Warm today with showers possible late, then sunny and cooler Wednesday
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