Friday News: “Kyiv says it has proof Russia blew up Kakhovka dam”; SCOTUS Ruling a “Rare Win for Democracy”; “Jack Smith Could Also Indict Trump for Trying to Overturn the Election”; “How Pat Robertson created today’s Christian nationalist GOP”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, June 9.

• World’s ‘carbon budget’ for key climate goal was halved in just three years (“The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had projected humans could burn only 500 billion more tons of CO2 to have a decent chance of hitting the climate target. Now there’s just half of that carbon to spare.” GET OFF OF FOSSIL FUELS ASAP!)
• Methane reduction holds key to averting climate catastrophe (“Halting known sources, such as leaky oilwells, could slash projected emissions by half by 2030”)
• Kyiv says it intercepted call showing Russia blew up Kakhovka dam
• Russia reports heavy fighting in southern Ukraine, Kyiv silent on counterattack
• Kyiv says it has proof Russia blew up Kakhovka dam; counteroffensive gets underway in Ukraine’s east
• The True Purpose of Ukraine’s Counteroffensive
• Shadow Men: Inside Wagner, Russia’s Secret War Company (“The Wagner Group began as a small clandestine force but has grown into a global war cartel run by Yevgeny Prigozhin, plundering gold and diamonds while advancing the Kremlin’s interests and becoming the face of the Russian assault in Ukraine.”)
• Dam’s Destruction Reshapes Ukraine, but Not the Arc of the War (“The main thrust of the Ukrainian counteroffensive is not expected along the Dnipro River, where the fighting quickly resumed after the disaster.”)
• UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tells CNN he has confidence in US support in Ukraine
• Evidence emerges of explosion before Ukraine dam breached
• The Pentagon Is Freaking Out About a Potential War With China
• China’s Inflation Problem? It Has None (“As Western central banks continue to jack up interest rates to douse stubbornly high inflation, China faces a growing risk of the opposite problem—deflation”)
• Saudi crown prince threatened ‘major’ economic pain on U.S. amid oil feud (“After President Biden vowed to impose ‘consequences’ on Saudi Arabia for slashing oil production last year, Mohammed bin Salman privately threatened to sever ties and retaliate economically, according to a classified U.S. intelligence document.” We need to get off of oil once and for all.)
• On the tee, from Washington: Bipartisan anger over Saudi golf mega-deal
• Unsubsidized solar installations rise by 68% in India in Q1
• Sudan Expels Top UN Envoy, Complicating Efforts to End Conflict
• Canada’s ‘worst wildfire season’ is just getting started
• It’s the Features, Stupid: EV Market Share Is Growing Because the Vehicles Keep Getting Better
• Climate Change and Homeowners’ Insurance Are on a Collision Course
• ‘Ridiculous’: How the smoke is spurring a new climate debate in Washington
• Dems seize on wildfires to pound GOP’s climate opposition (It’s not climate “opposition,” it’s climate DENIAL!)
• Record-breaking wildfire-related smoke event affects at least 61.8 million
• Looking at the White House Through Wildfire Smoke (“This week, elected officials can see for themselves why they must get serious about climate change.”)
• Department of Agriculture Conservation Programs Are Giving Millions to Farms That Worsen Climate Change (We need to ditch corn-based ethanol.)
• Surprise! The Supreme Court just handed down a significant victory for voting rights (“The Court’s new voting rights decision is one of the most reassuring opinions it’s handed down in years.”)
• What the Supreme Court’s surprise voting rights ruling means for 2024 (“The surprise ruling will create a new Democratic-friendly district in Alabama — and might open up pathways elsewhere.”)
• Today’s Giant Supreme Court Surprise Ruling Is a Rare Win for Democracy
• Supreme Court Rejects Voting Map That Diluted Black Voters’ Power
• Clarence Thomas wrote a scathing, nearly 50-page dissent about why the Supreme Court should have gutted voting rights (Clarence Thomas is appallingly bad.)
• A Supreme Court Ruling That Could Tip the House (“The Court delivered a rare victory for voting rights—and may have given Democrats a handful of new seats.”)
• Supreme Court voting rights ruling stuns minority voters, who hope it expands their representation
• The Supreme Court’s New Ruling Could Help Democrats Flip The House In 2024
• Why Two Supreme Court Conservatives Just Saved The Voting Rights Act
• US supreme court ruling could upend voting maps in boost for Democrats
• Supreme Court Gives the Voting Rights Act a Tenuous New Lease on Life
• The Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Decision Is Even Better Than It Looks
• Roberts and Kavanaugh Just Delivered the Surprise of the Term
• John Roberts’s Shocking Defense of Black Voting Rights (“A decade ago, the chief justice gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Why did he join the court’s liberals (and Brett Kavanaugh!) to preserve what’s left of it?”)
• The Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling is no victory for democracy (“Yes, the court’s conservative supermajority failed to undermine voting rights. But this is not an unalloyed victory. As an initial matter, the decision does not strengthen the act, as some pundits claimed. It merely preserves the status quo. And the status quo is that this court, over the past 10 years, has severely hobbled the law and its protections for minority voters.”)
• Trump Is Expected to Surrender to the Authorities on Tuesday
• The twice-impeached Trump now faces his second criminal indictment as he looks to recapture White House
• This Indictment Is Different (“As Trump faces federal charges, the evidence seems stronger, and the legal issues simpler.”)
• Donald Trump indicted for second time, in classified documents investigation: Sources
• Trump and the classified documents: An indictment unlike any other
• 4 takeaways from Trump’s federal indictment
• Trump can still run for president in 2024 after being indicted twice
• Trump defiant, some 2024 GOP rivals supportive as he faces DOJ charges
• Trump is the first former president in U.S. history to face federal charges.
• Trump Charged with 7 Counts, Including Obstruction of Justice, Conspiracy, False Statements, Willful Retention of National Defense Information, etc. (Glenn Youngkin presumably will be faux OUTRAGED publicly, but privately very happy, as he’ll see this as opening up a path for his own presidential run.)
• Trump charged in secret documents case (“The former president is first ever to face federal criminal charges” He also needs to be charged for trying to steal the election in Georgia, trying to overthrow our democracy, etc, etc, etc.)
• Lawyer for Trump valet in Mar-a-Lago documents case alleges misconduct
• Past cases persuaded Justice Dept. officials to shift Trump case south
• Trump’s 2024 GOP opponents rush to his defense, post indictment (“Vivek Ramaswamy promised to pardon Trump if elected. Ron DeSantis pledged to go after the DOJ.” Disqualifying and disgraceful.)
• Reminder: Jack Smith Could Also Indict Trump for Trying to Overturn the Election
• Judge clears way for disciplinary proceedings against Trump ally Jeffrey Clark
• Twice-Indicted Trump Still Has No Clue What the ‘Rule of Law’ Means
• Fox News responds to federal Trump indictment with unhinged demagoguery (That’s what Fox “News” does…”unhinged demagoguery” and lies.)
• FBI agent who testified for Republicans was suspended over leaked sensitive information
• The party of pollution, disease and death: When Republicans tell you who they are, believe them (“In the name of imaginary freedom, Republicans are willing to let many people die. In fact, they’re proud of it”)
• House Republicans Call It Quits Amid Rampant Dysfunction
• Kevin McCarthy’s Standing Among House Republicans Is Only Looking Worse (“Not only are the hard-line conservatives pissed off over the debt deal, the Speaker is now playing a blame game with his own deputy in leadership.”)
• ‘Why the hell are we doing this?’ McCarthy’s fractured leadership team faces new abortion tension
• Speaker McCarthy calls Trump indictment a ‘grave injustice’ (Disgusting by McCarthy.)
• Finally, a Few G.O.P. Candidates Dare to Speak Trump’s Name
• Biden has done the hard part. Here’s how he can rack up more wins.
• DeSantis campaign shares fake Trump/Fauci images, prompting new AI fears
• Ron DeSantis’ top aide organized government staff to solicit campaign cash from lobbyists
• 200+ things that Fox News has labeled “woke” (Pretty much anything white supremacists and bigots don’t like.)
• With Canadian wildfires, Fox News follows its COVID playbook (Pure evil.)
• Elon Musk is the most dangerous antisemite in America
• CNN Insiders On What Led to Chris Licht’s Exit, And What Comes Next: ‘Nowhere Near the Final Battle’
• James G. Watt, Interior Secretary Under Reagan, Dies at 85 (One of the worst Interior Secretaries in U.S. history.)
• George Santos’ Lawyer Was Part of the January 6 Mob
• The Golf Merger May Be Dead on Arrival
• Sen. Obama knew Pat Robertson was poisonous to the U.S.
  (“Before becoming president, Obama warned religious liberals not to let extremists like Robertson control the narrative around what it means to be faithful.”)
• Without Pat Robertson, American Politics Would Have Been Infinitely Better
• Watch Pat Robertson’s Unholy Alliance With Bigotry In Montage Of Hate Comments (“The Daily Show captured the lowlights of the televangelist’s career well before his death at age 93.”)
• Late Pat Robertson had history of anti-LGBT rhetoric, other controversial remarks (“Controversial” is a wimpy, whitewash word the media LOVES to use.)
• How Pat Robertson created today’s Christian nationalist GOP
• Gov. Glenn Youngkin Calls Pat Robertson, Who Died This Morning, “an inspiring Virginian…[whose] lifelong example leaves a legacy matched by very few” (Robertson, of course, spent decades saying outrageous, bigoted, hateful, false and ignorant things, such as that the horrendous 2010 earthquake in Haiti was due to a “pact to the devil!”)
• Sen. Kaine speaks on the Graduation Day shooting outside Altria Theater: ‘There’s no safe space left’
• Mark Rozell: Youngkin should stop the tease — and run (This op-ed is utterly moronic.)
• Virginia providers ask federal judge to shield abortion pill access
• State lawmakers still at odds over Youngkin’s proposed tax cuts
• Virginia Moves Forward With Plan to Exit Carbon-Cutting Coalition as State Is Blanketed by Smoke
• FOIA Friday: What Virginia officials withheld or disclosed, June 2–9, 2023
• Pope & Schapiro: A busy week in environmental news and another shooting in Richmond
• Climate advocates protest Mountain Valley Pipeline outside White House
• What’s next for the court cases challenging Mountain Valley Pipeline?
• Edwards: Virginia’s budget must prioritize higher education and public schools
• Northern Virginia Education Leaders Endorse Stella Pekarsky (Former VA Secretary of Education Atif Qarni: “Pekarsky is the leader our students, teachers, and families need in the State Senate.”)
• NEW: Arlington police annual report confirms rise in crime (“The overall crime rate in Arlington County, reported as Group A Offenses (defined on page 18 of the Annual Report), increased 17.8% in 2022 as compared to the previous year”)
• Virginia Beach surgeon convicted of drug possession, acquitted of stealing from patients
• D.C.-area forecast: Air quality remains bad today but turning better into the weekend