Friday News: “‘Off the charts’: Earth’s vital signs are going haywire”; Russia “losing the 21st century”; SCOTUS “Conservatives Are Breaking History and Our Future”; “Virginia universities eye admissions policies following high court ruling”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, June 30.

• ‘Off the charts’: Earth’s vital signs are going haywire
• Climate nears point of no return as land, sea temperatures break records, experts say (Humanity was warned for decades, failed to take effective action in the time period required, and now…disaster, as predicted.)
• Climate Change May Leave Island Nations Stateless
• Exclusive: EU to announce deal with Pfizer, others to reserve vaccines for future pandemic
• Ukraine Hits Russian Defenses From a Distance Before Risking Troops
• Ukraine has an array of new Western weapons. What advantages could they offer in a counteroffensive?
• Ukraine’s top general, Valery Zaluzhny, wants shells, planes and patience (“Zaluzhny expressed frustration that Ukraine still has not received modern fighter jets but is expected to rapidly take back territory from the occupying Russians.”)
• Russian general was secret VIP member of Wagner, docs show
• Gen. Surovikin, Russia’s former commander in Ukraine, is detained
• U.S. actively considering giving cluster munitions to Ukraine
• Exclusive: Ukraine brings first charges for deporting Kherson orphans
• Russia Has Reached a Dead End (“An indifferent response to a warlord’s march on Moscow heralds the dawning realization that Russia has no good way out in Ukraine.”)
• Putin Thinks He’s Still in Control. He’s Not.
• Russia’s biggest problem isn’t the war. It’s losing the 21st century.
• Wagner mercenaries are still in Ukraine, Pentagon says; EU leaders pledge more security commitments
• Lukashenko relishes peacemaker role, but threats abound
• China’s Economic Woes Are Multiplying — and Xi Jinping Has No Easy Fix
• French Riots Escalate as Macron Struggles to Respond
• 600 arrested and 200 police officers hurt on France’s 3rd night of protests over teen’s killing
• A year of Marcos Jr: how a dictator’s son has changed the Philippines
• Rishi Sunak Boasts That Oil Funded Think Tank ‘Helped Us Draft’ Crackdown on Climate Protests
• As Beijing swelters, activists hope the heat will prompt climate action
• EV sales to account for one-third of US passenger car sales by 2026, says BNEF
• ‘Bidenomics’ is transformative. Biden needs to ensure voters know it.
• America’s fastest-growing demographic groups (“The country’s Pacific Islander, Asian and Hispanic populations saw the biggest percentage increases between 2000 and 2022, per a new Axios analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.”)
• The Supreme Court’s Conservatives Are Breaking History and Our Future
• The Supreme Court’s Decision on Affirmative Action Must Not Be the Final Word
• The Supreme Court’s ultimate ‘judicial activism’: striking down affirmative action in college admissions
• Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action in Harvard, UNC admissions (Six right-wing activists wearing robes.)
• Supreme Court tosses nearly 50 years of progress on racial equity
• Ketanji Brown Jackson Torches Clarence Thomas for Bulls–t Take on Affirmative Action (“If the colleges of this country are required to ignore a thing that matters, it will not just go away. It will take longer for racism to leave us”)
• The monstrous arrogance of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision
• Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson Spar Over Affirmative Action Ruling (Note the NY Times’ bland, false equivalence/”both sides” headline? Compare/contrast to the next headline, by the Daily Beast. Which is more accurate/informative as to what actually happened?)
• Ketanji Brown Jackson Dismantles SCOTUS Conservatives in Blistering Dissent
• State affirmative action bans helped White, Asian students, hurt others
• ‘Race Neutral’ Is the New ‘Separate but Equal’
• Curtailing Affirmative Action Is a Blow Against a Rising Generation
• Biden on affirmative action decision: ‘This is not a normal court’
• The Supreme Court Has Validated Every Bigot Who Ever Called a Talk Show
• What the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action does and does not do (“While the decision will impact admissions policies that have historically benefited Black and Latino students, the ruling still allows colleges and universities to consider an applicant’s discussion of how race has affected their life as long as it is ‘concretely tied’ to a ‘quality of character or unique ability’ that the applicant can bring to the school.”)
• Opinion: The Supreme Court rewrites American society once again
• Did Justice Jackson Sneak a Loophole into the Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Ban? (“Or is John Roberts’ concession on personal essays just a face-saving feint?”)
• “Let-Them-Eat-Cake Obliviousness”: Liberal Justices Blast Supreme Court Ruling Striking Down Affirmative Action
• With Supreme Court Decision, College Admissions Could Become More Subjective (“U.S. colleges have a game plan, like emphasizing the personal essay, after a ruling struck down affirmative action programs.”)
• Affirmative action is gone. Diversity on campus need not be.
• The Supreme Court Turns ‘Equal Protection’ Upside Down
• Key document may be fake in LGBTQ+ rights case before US supreme court (“Christian website designer says she received email request from same-sex couple but ‘author’ says he did not send it – and is not gay”)
• Supreme Court will rule on student debt relief Friday
• Former Trump campaign official cooperating with special counsel in 2020 election interference probe
• Prosecutors are prepared to hit Trump and his allies with new charges, sources say
• Top Trump campaign aide Susie Wiles met numerous times with special counsel investigators in documents probe
• Special counsel office still investigating Trump’s handling of documents, sources say
• Trump ‘Standing Order’ to Declassify Not Found by DOJ, Intelligence Agency
• Trump says may skip first Republican debate, hold rival event
• Koch Network Raises Over $70 Million for Push to Sink Trump
• Revealed: Christian ‘hate group’ funds US anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion organizations (“Alliance Defending Freedom distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to fringe groups attacking trans, gay and abortion rights”)
• What Frederick Douglass Knew That Trump and DeSantis Don’t (“Embedded in birthright citizenship, in other words, is the potential for a freer, more equal America. For Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, that appears to be the problem.”)
• GOP primaries threaten Republican hopes of winning back Senate
• Shutting down the right-wing rabbit hole is possible: First, follow the money (“Schools and parents are suing social media giants over their ‘addictive’ algorithms. Can that force a reckoning?”)
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Coalition of the Distrustful
• RFK Jr.’s Inside Job (“How a conspiracy-spewing literal Kennedy posing as a populist outsider jolted the Democratic Party.”)
• Ron DeSantis the ‘Worst Candidate I’ve Ever Seen’—Former GOP Strategist
• DeSantis’s ugly descent into ‘invasion’ hysteria can’t go unanswered
• Ron DeSantis faces one setback after another in battle against LGBTQ rights
• Jesse Watters was invited to speak before a group of executives. His remarks led to an ‘epic meltdown’ (“Watters, who has a history of making offensive remarks on Fox News, made a crude comment questioning the gender of Vice President Kamala Harris, the people said. The gross attempt at humor prompted some laughs, but also outrage.”)
• Man with Jan. 6 warrant and weapons arrested after running toward Obamas’ D.C. home
• Christine King Farris, the last living sibling of Martin Luther King Jr., dies at 95
• Biden’s Iran envoy placed on leave after security clearance suspended amid investigation into possible mishandling of classified material, sources say (That’s how a normal, law-abiding administration is supposed to work.)
• Then-Parkland school resource officer who stayed outside during mass shooting found not guilty
• Former Ohio House Speaker Householder sentenced to 20 years for state’s largest bribery scheme
• Geraldo Rivera Says He’s Quitting Fox News Altogether After ‘The Five’ Ouster
• Virginia Senator Renews Push for Veteran Housing Protections
• Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA04): “Justice Jackson’s dissent is a must-read dissertation on why #AffirmativeAction is a still necessary redress of the impact of 300 years of slavery and Jim Crow”(Sen. Tim Kaine is “deeply disturbed by SCOTUS’ decision rolling back affirmative action”)
• Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA04) Urges Longer Public Comment Period for MVP’s Southgate Pipeline Request (“The current 15-day comment period over a Federal holiday is an extraordinarily short timeline to receive sufficient community input”)
• Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia Endorses 99 Reproductive Rights Champion (“Virginians require bold leadership to defend and expand our access to essential health care, including abortion.”)
• Virginia universities eye admissions policies following high court ruling
• Virginia GOP leaders praise affirmative action ruling, schools vow to keep pursuing diversity
• UVa, William & Mary could be affected by Supreme Court ruling on race
• Formerly incarcerated Virginians ten times more likely to face homelessness
• FOIA Friday: What Virginia officials withheld or disclosed, June 23–30, 2023
• Mark Rozell: Want to stop primary interlopers? Require voter registration [by party]
• VA House, Senate Dems on Current Budget Negotiations: “Extremists in the MAGA Virginia GOP are holding middle class Virginians hostage by refusing to come to the table” (“It’s disappointing that Republicans favor tax cuts for their wealthy donors over financial stability, and would walk away from the table in the middle of ongoing negotiations.”)
• Rural GroundGame: Building the Bench for Democrats in ’23 and Beyond (“There is an abundance of hope and help out here. We just need to connect with it.”)
• Lawsuit claims Virginia’s felony disenfranchisement violates Reconstruction-era federal law
• Pope & Schapiro: Budget stalemate & candidate diversity
• Laws taking effect Saturday to bring change to Virginians’ daily lives
• Pornhub blocks access to Virginia users in response to new age verification law
• Voters of Tomorrow Virginia Chapter Completes First Youth-Focused Endorsement Process in Commonwealth’s History (“Young people are prepared to get active and excited over a candidate who is prepared to serve their community and look out for the interests of young people”)
• Youngkin appoints major donors to UVA Board of Visitors
• Gov. Youngkin appoints four new members to the Board of Visitors (“Three of the appointees have donated to Youngkin in the past”)
• Youngkin names three new members to VCU board of visitors
• Norfolk council approves solar panel field for former Campostella landfill site
• Henry County bids farewell to longtime sheriff
• Arlington Ranks Among Best Places To Live Without A Car
• Fairfax Co. committee updates recommended changes for coed sex education lessons
• D.C.-area forecast: Heat, humidity, rain chances rise in coming days