Tuesday News: “Deforestation surges despite pledges”; “Rebellion shakes Russian elite’s faith in Putin’s strength”; “Trump heard on tape discussing ‘highly confidential, secret’ documents”; “One year after Dobbs, abortion rights are on the ballot” in Virginia

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, June 27.

If the defendant doesn’t go to prison for at least five to ten years, it would be a travesty. The prosecutors have him dead to rights, in more ways than we can count. https://t.co/rR7NtkYnaT

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) June 27, 2023

• ‘It’s absolutely guaranteed’: the best and worst case scenarios for sea level rise
• EU warns of rising climate-fuelled conflict, risks of geoengineering
• Destruction of world’s pristine rainforests soared in 2022 despite Cop26 pledge (Disastrous.)
• Climate change: Deforestation surges despite pledges (Ugh, horrible.)
• How Plastics Are Poisoning Us (“They both release and attract toxic chemicals, and appear everywhere from human placentas to chasms thirty-six thousand feet beneath the sea. Will we ever be rid of them?”)
• ‘Profit Over the Public’s Health’: Study Details Efforts by Makers of Forever Chemicals to Hide Their Harms
• Rebellion shakes Russian elite’s faith in Putin’s strength
• Russia Drops Mutiny Case Against Prigozhin as Putin Honors Deal
• Yesterday’s Putin Is Gone
• US keeps up weapons shipments to Ukraine with new $500 mln package
• After mutiny, Putin says Wagner can go to Belarus, go home or fight for Russia
• In his first remarks since his revolt, Prigozhin claims he wasn’t trying to overthrow Putin.
• What Russia’s Whirlwind Crisis Could Mean for Putin
• Wagner to hand over heavy weapons, Russia says
• Kyiv likely to have retaken land held since 2014 – UK (“It comes as Ukraine’s president says the country’s counter-offensive is making advances on all fronts.”)
• How Wagner’s mutiny left Putin ‘catastrophically weakened’
• Ukraine’s Zelenskiy praises frontline advances ‘in all sectors’ as Putin rails against Kyiv and west
• US Denies Any Role in Russia Uprising as Allies Watch and Wait
• Prigozhin Showed Russians That They Might Have a Choice (“This weekend, the country saw someone other than Putin act politically and—even more important—wield force.”)
• Biden is turning the screw on Putin even as US denies role in Russia’s insurrection
• His Glory Fading, a Russian Warlord Took One Last Stab at Power
• What Is Putin Worth to China? (“In standing by Russia’s embattled strongman, Chinese leader Xi Jinping signals just how high a priority he has made of undermining the power of the West.”)
• How Ukraine Viewed Russia’s Aborted Coup (“From Kyiv, a Ukrainian journalist assesses how the Prigozhin insurrection could impact Putin—and the ongoing war.”)
• Russia Latest: Hungary’s Orban Plays Down Impact of Mutiny
• Kyiv must seize this moment. Otherwise, stalemate might be inevitable.
• Putin wanted to redeem Russia’s history. He’s now haunted by it.
• Russia Attacked a Ukrainian Shopping Mall With a Missile. The War Hasn’t Been the Same Since.
• Israel views Wagner rebellion as sign that Putin is losing grip on Russia — report (“Internal document leaked from meeting in Netanyahu’s office reveals Jewish state’s concerns about Russian leader’s growing ‘weakness’ and its impact on Ukraine, Iran”)
• White House Condemns Harassment of WSJ Reporter for Questioning Modi About Rights
• In a First, Germany’s Far Right Will Take Control of a District (This headline is very weird; in fact, it’s a “first” for Germany since 1945, not ever.)
• In Isolated Guam, Abortion Is Legal. And Nearly Impossible to Get.
• Arevalo Upends Guatemalan Presidential Election, Advancing to a Runoff
• Big Tech Companies Want AI Regulation — But on Their Own Terms
• Current heatwave across US south made five times more likely by climate crisis
• Biden administration launches effort to address cancer disparities stemming from poverty
• U.S. government debunks COVID lab-leak conspiracy theory, enraging conspiracy theorists
• White House touts economic success of ‘Bidenomics’
• Why Pedestrian Deaths Are Skyrocketing in America
• The case for optimism about LGBTQ rights in the United States (“Anti-LGBTQ Republicans are governing like they have no adult supervision. At least for now, the courts aren’t tolerating that behavior.”)
• The Supreme Court May Preemptively Ban a Federal Wealth Tax (That’s absurd.)
• The Timing of Alito’s Private Jet Scandal Couldn’t Be More Damning
• Supreme Court rebuffs OSU and enables the remaining sex abuse victims to sue
• SCOTUS Ruling Could Be a Nightmare for Ohio State
• Colleges anxiously await a landmark Supreme Court affirmative action decision
• Every Supreme Court Justice Should Be Matched With a Billionaire Buddy
• Why shouldn’t public funds go to religious schools? Where to begin …
• Trump heard on tape discussing ‘highly confidential, secret’ documents
• CNN obtains audio of Trump’s 2021 meeting about military documents
• Exclusive: CNN obtains the tape of Trump’s 2021 conversation about classified documents
• Judge In Trump’s Documents Case Rejects Prosecutor’s Effort To Keep Witness List Secret (Cannon shouldn’t be a judge at all, let alone presiding over this case!)
• 703 Ways Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Conduct Bears No Resemblance to Hillary Clinton’s Emails
• ‘Game Over’: Ex-Prosecutor Has Dire Prediction For Trump After Shocking New Audio
• ‘Dead To Rights’: Legal Minds Say Damning New Trump Audio Should Mean Prison
• “Cataclysmic evidence against him”: Espionage Act expert explains how Trump faces “historic” trouble
• The Memo: Trump’s evasiveness on abortion ban raises questions with conservatives
• Trump Lists All the “Villains” He Plans to Destroy in a Second Term, Assuming He’s Not Serving Time for His Many Alleged Crimes
• Moves to expunge Trump impeachments would be laughable if not so dangerous
• The GOP Is Scrambled On Its Anti-Abortion Message (“The right to abortion is only getting more popular among voters. The GOP candidates are only getting more extreme.”)
• A year after Dobbs, the pro-choice movement has never been stronger
• Five or six Secret Service agents have testified before Jan. 6 grand jury, sources say
• Senate investigation argues FBI, DHS officials “downplayed” or failed to properly share warnings of violence on Jan. 6
• ‘Planned in plain sight’: Senate report finds intel agencies failed in the lead-up to Jan. 6
• FBI and Homeland Security ignored ‘massive amount’ of intelligence before Jan. 6, Senate report says (“The report by the panel’s majority staff says the intelligence community has not entirely recalibrated to focus on the threats of domestic, rather than international, terrorism.”)
• Justice Dept. asks about election fraud claims as well as fake electors
• VP Harris Says Young Voters Have the Power to Fight “Extremist” Abortion Bans
• No more sleepy Senate: Schumer seeks to jump-start agenda
• Ron DeSantis says he’ll end birthright citizenship as president
• DeSantis asks federal judge to dismiss Disney suit, claiming broad immunity
• “Trump thinks he has this big army out there still”: A MAGA movement betrayed has now morphed
• Top Trump Adviser Pushed for Drone Strikes on Migrants, New Book Claims (Stephen Miller is a fascist.)
• Jan. 6 defendant, representing himself, questions son who turned him into the FBI
• It’s Not Looking Good for Trump’s Coup Lawyer John Eastman (Any/every lawyer who participated in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election should be disbarred, ASAP.)
• Trump Is Fleecing the Rubes of Every Dime
• Inside the House’s right-wing schism
• ‘Ego, pure delusion and fantasy’: How the 2024 GOP field got so big
• Freedom Caucus takes key vote on Marjorie Taylor Greene’s future
• Bill Maher Gives Anti-Vaxxer RFK Jr. Another Big Boost (Bill Maher is awful.)
• The First MAGA Democrat (“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is feeding Americans’ appetite for conspiracies.”)
• Steve Bannon has spent years promoting RFK Jr. and his crackpot anti-vaccine theories
• Jesse Watters is Fox’s new 8 p.m. host. Advertisers should beware.
• Greg Gutfeld’s toxic and extreme commentary is now moving to Fox News prime time
• Greg Abbott’s anti-woke tirade mocked after he shares spoof Garth Brooks story (The word “woke” should be in air quotes, because it’s absolutely meaningless – other than as an all-purpose pejorative for whatever they don’t like – when used by right wingers.)
• A Giant Wind Farm Is Taking Root Off Massachusetts (“Vineyard Wind says its machines will crank out enough power to light up 400,000 homes.”)
• Chesapeake Bay dead zone expected to be smaller this summer because of ‘abnormally dry’ conditions
• CASEY: Two U.S. senators tackle Virginia mail-delivery problems
• Warner Announces $1.4 Billion for Broadband in Virginia
• Virginia nets almost $1.5 billion in federal broadband funds
• Opinion: One year after Dobbs, abortion rights are on the ballot (“Virginia’s status as a key access point for reproductive freedom is on the ballot in 2023, writes U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan.”)
• Virginians Are Fighting Climate Change Through Down-Ballot Races (“Twenty of the 25 candidates supported by a pro-environment political group won their primaries.” The Democratic candidates who lost, like former VA Sierra Club head Bob Shippee, were also pro-environment, while the Republicans are all anti-environment to varying degrees.)
• The Relentlessly Anti-Progressive WaPo Strikes Again, This Time Falsely Claiming That “Northern Virginia shifts to the left with Democratic primary victories” (Perhaps this pro-corporate, anti-progressive paper is just mad that a bunch of their endorsed candidates lost?)
• Virginia elections feature historically diverse slate of candidates (“More than half of the Democrats running for the House of Delegates and state Senate are women, and at least half are people of color, matching or exceeding historic levels of diversity. On the Republican side, the proportions are far smaller — closer to 15 percent women and about 10 percent people of color.” They really try to spin this as positive for Republicans, when it is definitely not.)
• With primaries over, what role will big donors play in General Assembly races?
• Virginia ABC inventory losses may be less certain than authority indicated
• Virginia weatherization groups seek alternatives as Youngkin undercuts funding source
• Lawsuit takes aim at Va. law stripping felons of voting rights (“The suit says Virginia’s law stripping the right to vote from more than 300,000 convicted felons violates the terms of the state’s readmission to the Union.”)
• Freeway shootings continue to menace Hampton Roads, commonwealth
• Environmental and Community Groups Challenge Effort to Throw Out Mountain Valley Pipeline Lawsuit (“Mountain Valley Pipeline is an environmental disaster that’s already caused significant harm to sensitive streams and imperiled wildlife”)
• Republicans censure former House candidate for dropping out of race after voting began (“John Marsden withdrew from his primary after early voting had begun, citing a personal conflict with unidentified Republicans nominated elsewhere. The party says putting on a primary with only one candidate cost taxpayers $50,000.”)
• Virginia to require age verification for online porn starting Saturday
• Much of Southwest and Southside is eligible for a new federal economic development program
• A Richmond Teacher Recounts the Moment His Nonverbal Student Finally Spoke to Him
• Egret rescue efforts underway after Sunday’s storms blew chicks from trees in Portsmouth
• Hampton Roads faced threat of severe weather two days in a row
• D.C.-area forecast: Another shot at showers and storms today, trending nicer tomorrow