Saturday News: “There Will Be More Mauis”; “Russia’s ‘August curse’ sees war come home”; “Is Trump Daring a Judge to Jail Him?”; “DeSantis’s Florida shows the disaster of more competent Trumpism”; “The women in Virginia’s future”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, August 12.

• Global heating likely to hit world food supply before 1.5C, says UN expert (“Water scarcity threatening agriculture faster than expected, warns Cop15 desertification president”)
• Solar Built on Trash Offers Solution to Renewable Energy’s Space Problem
• As record warming puts climate targets at risk, young people’s ‘green skills’ may help save the planet
• Russia’s ‘August curse’ sees war come home
• Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny slams Russia’s ‘corrupt’ elite for bringing Putin to power
• Ukraine Makes Progress Along 2 Lines of Attack (“Although the advances are small, Ukraine is forcing Russia to redeploy fighters to keep hold of fortified defenses across the vast front line, analysts say.”)
• Behind the ticking time bomb – should we fear China’s slide into deflation? (“China was expected to roar back into life after Covid, but its weak rebound has shocked analysts”)
• Mining giants agree to end feudal energy grids and create massive renewables hub (“Those involved include global mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto, oil and gas majors such as Woodside, BP, and Atco, and local energy groups such as Horizon Energy and Alinta.It also includes Fortescue Metals and Roy Hill, owned by the country’s two richest families – the Forrests and the Rineharts – who are about as wide apart as is possible on the use of fossil fuels and the benefits of renewables.”)
• Defiant leaders of Niger coup confident of holding on to power (“Analysts says key figures in new regime were underestimated as elected president remains confined to residence”)
• Republicans Apparently Don’t Care If Americans Languish in Prison in Iran
• ‘Setback’ ordinances could cut US wind potential by 87%, solar by 38%: NREL (“Restrictive setback ordinances could cut the nation’s renewable energy potential 42%, to 93 TW from 161 TW, according to a study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.” Ugh.)
• Is Carbon Capture and Storage a Climate Solution? (Almost certainly not.)
• Energy Dept. Announces $1.2 Billion to Advance Controversial Climate Technology (“‘Direct air capture’ of carbon pollution is still experimental, but a fossil fuel company is embracing it as a way to keep drilling.”)
• Wildfires Are Exploding in Unexpected Places Due to Climate Change. Is Hawaii the Latest Example?
• There Will Be More Mauis (“The combination of high winds and dry grasslands makes for a dangerous wildfire formula.”)
• Hawaii fires: fresh blaze prompts renewed evacuations as Maui death toll rises
• Death toll rises to 80 in Maui wildfires as survivors begin returning to communities in ruins
• Hawaii fires: Maui death toll climbs to 80
• An insidious form of climate denial is festering in the Republican Party
• Court dismisses challenge to Biden’s restoration of Utah monuments shrunk by Trump
• Millions of kids are missing weeks of school as attendance tanks across the US (“Nationwide, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened after COVID-forced closures. More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year. Before the pandemic, only 15% of students missed that much school.”)
• Voters Keep Thwarting the Right’s Plans to Build Their Post-Dobbs Dystopia
• Charting the Global Economy: US Stays on Moderate-Inflation Path
• The constitutional case that Donald Trump is already banned from being president (“Two conservative lawyers make a strong 14th Amendment argument. But the politics of their theory are very, very dicey.”)
• Judge warns Trump: ‘Inflammatory’ statements about election case could speed trial
• Judge Chutkan says Trump’s right to free speech in January 6 case is ‘not absolute’
• Is Trump Daring a Judge to Jail Him? (“The impossible task of containing Donald Trump”)
• The strongest part of Trump’s Jan. 6 indictment has its own weaknesses
• Trump could face “big picture” RICO case in Georgia, expert says
• Trump Allies Deliver ‘Incriminating’ Info on Conspiracy-Peddling Sidney Powell
• GOP lawmaker warns of ‘civil war’ at fundraiser for indicted Trump electors
• It’s Time to Give Kamala Harris Her Due (“The press has taken too long to notice, but the barrier-breaking vice president has been an accomplished leader and advocate in the Biden administration.”)
• New twist in Hunter Biden case is a huge political headache
• As Hunter Biden Saga Endures, Democrats Seek to Dismiss Worries
• Republicans grumble that Hunter Biden special counsel is too little, too late
• House GOP blasts appointment of Hunter Biden special counsel
• Biden world resigned to a campaign shadowed by Hunter drama
• Merrick Garland Names David Weiss as Special Counsel in Hunter Biden Investigation
• Sheriff: Ronny Jackson threatened to ‘beat’ state trooper after being handcuffed at rodeo (Ronny Jackson is completely unhinged.)
• Fox’s Top Lawyer, Viet Dinh, Will Depart
• X Corp. CEO Yaccarino’s interview on CNBC should alarm major advertising brands
• Experts: Elon Musk offers “economic incentive” to spew “most shocking and hateful” rhetoric on X (“Even account suspended for posting child sexual abuse images is boasting about earning thousands in Musk’s scheme”)
• DeSantis Has Law Enforcement Block Iowa Journalist From Event
• DeSantis greeted by ‘pudding fingers’ chant in Iowa (DeSantis is DeFascist.)
• Ron DeSantis’s Most Awkward Campaign Moments
• DeSantis’s Florida shows the disaster of more competent Trumpism
• As paradise burned, DeSantis fiddled with climate-change education
• DeSantis torches Trump for refusing to sign GOP candidate pledge: ‘You don’t take your ball and go home’
• Pence is having a moment. It’s all about Trump and Jan. 6
• The Millennial Republican Who Doesn’t Want Young People to Vote
• 3-Year-Old Riding One Of Abbott’s Migrant Buses Dies On The Way To Chicago (Abbott is evil.)
• FTX’s Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
• The FBI killed a Utah man who issued numerous death threats. Far-right figures are now claiming the Biden administration is coming to kill conservatives. (“Emerging narratives echo right-wing reaction to the infamous 1992 raid in Ruby Ridge, Idaho”)
• A D.C. Democratic Party lawsuit is decidedly undemocratic (“The party filed a meritless lawsuit aimed at killing a ballot initiative that would open primaries to independents and implement ranked-choice voting.”)
• Is Ben Wikler the Most Important Democrat in America? (“The Wisconsin chair has turned around his party’s fortunes. But his winning formula faces a stern test in 2024.”)
• How liberals learned to love the ballot initiative
• The Guy Who Blew It for Republicans in Ohio
• Illinois Supreme Court upholds state’s ban on semiautomatic weapons
• Audio: On WAMU’s “Politics Hour,” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) Says “the so-called crisis at the border is non-existent” and Gov. Youngkin Sending VA National Guard Troops to TX Border Was a “shameful use of VA resources” (Rep. Connolly also says Trump trial should be televised, NFL should release full report on the Commanders, federal workers should go back to office more…)
• Virginia Senate Democrats make another counteroffer in long-running budget talks
• Schapiro: The women in Virginia’s future
• While Federal Court Dismisses Challenge to Mountain Valley Pipeline, One Judge Calls Congress Ramming This Project Through a Possible “harbinger of erosion not just to the environment, but to our republic”
• 4th Circuit dismisses environmental cases against Mountain Valley Pipeline
• US appeals court dismisses motion challenging permits for natural gas pipeline
• 4th Circuit dismisses remaining two Mountain Valley Pipeline cases
• VA Sierra Club: “Dominion’s proposed plans fail to comply with state climate mandates and come with heavy consequences for ratepayers and communities.” (“None of the proposed plans by the utility comply with the Virginia Clean Economy Act,” which is “legally binding”)
• Flip and Defend-A-District Friday: Volume VIII (Del. Marcus Simon, Adele McClure, Cat Porterfield, Jennifer Woofter, Kannan Srinivasan) (“We cannot let Youngkin buy his agenda into Virginia’s legislature”)
• Want to Listen to the Actual Audio Recordings of Republican John Stirrup Admitting He Supports a TOTAL ABORTION BAN in Virginia? Here They Are! (Stirrup claims U.S. abortion laws are “the same as North Korea and China, and it’s just, you know, we’re barbarian.”)
• Prison inmate says she must sue for bathroom access
• Residents upset over proposed battlefield store and gas station
• UVa mandates students complete active shooter training before classes
• D.C.-area forecast: August’s first 90s this weekend as rain odds stay low