Tuesday News: “World must add 1.5TW of new wind and solar each year to keep to 1.5°C of warming”Even a Damning Federal Case Can’t Break the GOP’s Devotion to Donald Trump”; “How Biden’s big investments spurred a factory boom”; “Youngkin helpfully shows his true colors by leaping to Trump’s defense”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, June 13. Also, R.I.P. to my wife’s and my beautiful, sweet, amazing dog Kira, who died of cancer yesterday at the age of ~12.

• Global rooftop PV additions soar by 50% to 118 GW in 2022 (“The world installed 239 GW of new solar capacity in 2022, according to SolarPower Europe. The rooftop PV segment accounted for 49.5% of additions” Great, but still not fast enough.)
• World must add 1.5TW of new wind and solar each year to keep to 1.5°C of warming (“This amounts to a five-fold increase on the 0.3TW of new wind and solar capacity installed in 2022. If global wind and solar capacity additions matched this target, total wind and solar capacity would reach around 10TW, five times the 2TW installed as of the end of 2022.”)
• Did climate change cause Canada’s wildfires? (“This year’s fire season is unique in not being isolated to a particular province, says Carly Phillips, a research scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists in the US. What links the provinces is hotter than usual temperatures for this time of year and a prolonged period of drought, both of which raise wildfire risk and are getting worse in some places due to climate change.”)
• Toyota unveils sweeping plans for new battery tech, EV innovation
• U.S. Set to Approve Depleted-Uranium Tank Rounds for Ukraine (“Regularly used by the U.S. Army, the ammunition is highly effective against Russian tanks—but raises health and environmental concerns.”)
• Ukrainian forces say chunk of Donetsk has been liberated; Zelenskyy’s hometown hit with massive attack
• Putin’s Economic Forum Puts Russia’s Isolation on Display
• State Department investigating case of detained American in Russia
• Russian missile attack on Zelenskyy’s hometown kills at least 6; several others trapped in rubble
• For China’s LGBTQ community, safe spaces are becoming harder to find
• Xi Jinping revered his father. So why isn’t he more like him? (“The Chinese president has chosen a different path from his father’s.”)
• As climate change hits, China weighs new water megaprojects (“As droughts loom, China is planning ambitious new water infrastructure projects in hope that moving more of the precious liquid across the country will mitigate the impact of climate change – but experts warn more river diversions may be costly.”)
• Xi Prepares China for ‘Extreme’ Scenarios, Including Conflict with the West
• ‘Patriarchal and biased’: Israeli women fear loss of rights in legal overhaul (“Feminist groups sound alarm over little-noticed plan to expand power of state-run religious courts”)
• U.S. Lawmakers Ask White House to Punish South Africa for Supporting Russia
• 22 U.S. service members injured in helicopter incident in Syria
• Farewell to the Man Who Gave Us Trump (That would be Silvio Berlusconi, “who died on Monday at the age of 86.”)
• Australia needs 1.5°C target to break regulatory deadlock and kick coal out of grid
• Inflation Has Likely Been Cut in Half
• May Inflation Report Is Expected to Show Price Increases Easing Again
• How Biden’s big investments spurred a factory boom
• The Koch-Funded Group Undermining US Clean Energy Goals
• US-made wind and solar components are now cheaper than imports
• In a First, Wind and Solar Generated More Power Than Coal in U.S. (“Wind and solar produced more U.S. power than coal during the first five months of this year, as several coal plants closed and gas prices dropped”)
• It Is Time To End the Era of Coal
• Arguments against prosecuting Trump don’t add up (None of them are in good faith.)
• Even a Damning Federal Case Can’t Break the GOP’s Devotion to Donald Trump (“An insurrection, a couple impeachments, and now a shocking second indictment aren’t enough for Republicans to jump ship and risk antagonizing the MAGA base.”)
• Republicans Keep Failing the Same Test (“Most Republicans won’t condemn Trump. There are his millions of ultra-loyal voters, yes. And there are the challenges associated with breaking from the consensus of your political party, yes. But there is also the reality that Trump is the apotheosis of a propensity for lawlessness within the Republican Party. He is what the party and its most prominent figures have been building toward for nearly half a century. I think he knows it and I think they do too.”)
• Time Is Running Out for John Roberts and the Supreme Court
• Roberts isn’t an institutionalist. He’s a weather vane.
• GOP conservatives say they’ll end House floor blockade — for now
• Kevin McCarthy Has Lost Control. Can He Get It Back?
• The Right Response to Threats of Political Violence (“Trump’s sycophants in the GOP are stepping up their efforts to spread fear in American politics, and they deserve the public’s scorn.”)
• Why Do Republicans Have a Selective Ability to Understand the Law?
• The impossible challenge of telling Trump fans the truth
• What Trump’s Indictment Means for 2024 (Marc Elias: Trump “understands how the current criminal charges against him will allow him to attack free and fair elections in 2024. Those who support democracy cannot wait until it is too late to understand that as well.”)
• Trump scrambles to find lawyer on eve of first federal court appearance
• Inside the Implosion of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Legal Team
• Indictment does nothing to dampen GOP support for Trump (Sick.)
• Trump finds no new lawyers in time for Mar-a-Lago documents arraignment
• Miami Arraignment (“Here’s what to expect from Donald Trump’s federal indictment, a first for any former president.”)
• Why Trump hoarded classified documents: More than “trophies,” they are weapons (“The indictment hints that Trump saw the documents not just as prizes, but leverage to gain political advantage”)
• The Special Counsel’s Smart Use of a Flawed Statute in the Trump Indictment
• McConnell, GOP allies steer clear of defending Trump on indictment
• Trump Aides Quietly Worry Protest Could Be a ‘Disaster’ (“Ahead of Donald Trump’s arraignment at a Miami courthouse Tuesday, advisers are concerned a protest in his support could quickly go awry.”)
• Trump will face judge in historic court appearance over charges he mishandled secret documents (What’s really historic is the extent of Trump’s crimes.)
• Trump to face charges in Florida court in classified documents case
• Trump Heads to Court to Start Fighting Espionage Act Charges
• Magistrate to preside over Trump’s arraignment, not controversial Judge Aileen Cannon
• We need to talk about Trump’s bathroom chandelier
• Who is not implicated in the Trump indictment? Hillary Clinton.
• Trump Has Options for Fighting Charges, but They Might Face Challenges
• Chris Christie Hammers Trump On Secret Document Indictment
• Tracking the Trump criminal cases (“A definitive guide to the key players and legal risks in the four criminal probes of Donald Trump.”)
• Kevin McCarthy Argues That Trump Hoarding Documents Next to the Toilet Was Sufficiently Secure Because ‘A Bathroom Door Locks’ (Kevin McCarthy is a disgrace to our country.)
• Tim Scott Changes Tune and Calls Trump Indictment a ‘Serious Case With Serious Allegations’
• John Bolton Defends ‘Devastating Indictment’ From Trump Defenders: ‘This Really is a Rifle Shot’
• Exclusive: Trump holds double-digit lead after federal indictment – Reuters/Ipsos poll
• ‘I Want Blood’: Heavily-Armed Trump Supporters Say They’ll Protest Trump’s Indictment (Trump’s bloodthirsty, violent “base”)
• ‘If you want to die in jail, keep talking’ – two national security law experts discuss the special treatment for Trump and offer him some advice
• Trump is calling for support for his court appearance. The far right may stay away
• Ivanka Trump Apparently Has Nothing to Say About Her Father Becoming a Twice-Indicted Accused Criminal (“The former first daughter cannot make it clearer that she wants nothing to do with her dad.”)
• Jim Jordan’s tortured defense of Trump points to a coming GOP split
• DeSantis Vows to Rename Military Base After One of the Biggest Boobs In the History of Warfare
• Why Conservatives Are Losing Their Minds Over Biden’s Pride Flag—and Ignoring Pro-DeSantis Neo-Nazis (“Some on the political right see only authoritarian goals in the power of the state.”)
• Republicans call flying LGBTQ pride flag at White House a ‘disgrace’ and ‘shameful’
• Fred Ryan to leave Washington Post after nine years as publisher (Jeff Bezos has an opportunity set this paper on a better path, one based on fearlessly reporting the TRUTH as opposed to “both sidesing” everything. Will he take it? Doubtful.)
• How Elon Musk Could Affect the 2024 Election (“The personal politics of Twitter’s owner wouldn’t matter so much if he hadn’t also demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for pettiness.”)
• Fox News Sends Tucker Carlson ‘Cease And Desist’ Letter Over Twitter Show
• DOJ seeks 14 years for Jan. 6 rioter who called Trump ‘dad,’ drove stun gun into Michael Fanone’s neck
• Trump-backed Arizona ‘audit’ was even more of a debacle than previously known: newly unearthed texts
• A Star Reporter’s Break With Reality (“Lara Logan was once a respected 60 Minutes correspondent. Now she trades in conspiracy theories that even far-right media disavow. What happened?”)
• Left Out of Pat Robertson’s Obits: His Crazy, Antisemitic Conspiracy Theory (“The right-wing Christian broadcaster was a bigoted loon—and the GOP embraced him.”)
• Editorial: Youngkin helpfully shows his true colors by leaping to Trump’s defense
• Commentary: On climate change, Youngkin fails the moral leadership test
• Virginia’s Youngkin will travel to France to pay respects to D-Day fallen, visit Paris air show (Still auditioning for president.)
• In 2021, the WaPo’s “Journalists” Whitewashed Youngkin/Sears/Miyares. This Election, They’re Doing the Same with Republican VA Sen. Siobhan Dunnavant’s Opposition to Women’s Reproductive Freedom? (Apparently, for the WaPo, the fact that Dunnavant “talks about [abortion] more calmly with soft camera angles” makes her “nuanced”)
• McQuinn-Walker House primary in Henrico-based district draws big money
• Full Disclosure Briefing: RGGI and the economics of climate change
• Virginia eyes soaring college counseling demand as an answer to workforce shortages
• Soil and water board asks for loosening of campaign finance rules for local directors
• Loudoun County Democratic Committee Chair Condemns Republican “Dark Money” Interference in Democratic Commonwealth’s Attorney Primary (“This mirrors similar attempts being currently undertaken by the Fairfax County Republican Party to interfere in the Fairfax County Democratic primary next door.”)
• Republicans square off in 65th House District primary race
• Virginia Beach School Board names interim superintendent
• Drought creeping southward across Virginia
• Outgoing board member Katie Cristol on ‘The Arlington Way’ – and why she thinks it needs a refresh (“Cristol is leaving the Arlington County Board in July to lead the Tysons Community Alliance.”)
• Fairfax Schools to fight AG subpoena for National Merit delays report
• VCU board did not know development deal was failing (“The health system’s board of directors was told to keep the crumbling deal a secret – even from the university’s own board.”)
• Virginia’s first queer film festival starts this week
• Appeals panel rules Loudoun judge violated woman’s civil liberties (“In September 2021, Katie Orndoff showed up to court to testify against her ex-boyfriend in a felony assault case. By day’s end, she was in custody.”)
• Mother of 6-year-old who shot Va. teacher pleads guilty to gun charges (“The mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot a teacher at Richneck Elementary School pleaded guilty to federal gun charges. She faces a separate state case.”)
• Amid ODU, EVMS and other university citations, Virginia senators call for more animal testing accountability
• CASEY: Rainbows may be present at Thursday’s Roanoke County School Board meeting
• Virginia man who told jurors he had ‘fun’ at the Capitol riot sentenced (“Markus Maly’s [six-year] prison sentence is significantly lower than the punishment that prosecutors sought for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. The Justice Department had recommended a prison sentence of 15 years and eight months for Maly, a flooring installer.”)
• Suspect in Va. shooting, abductions found dead by suicide, police say
• Richmond council votes to put casino approval back on ballot
• PM Update: Showers end this evening, with nicer weather Tuesday