Monday (9/11/23) News: “Biden tries to pull Vietnam closer to US”; “Voters Feel Better About Economy, but Few Credit Biden” (Even Though Biden’s Done a SUPERB Job!); “McCarthy pressure hits a boiling point”; Biberaj Blasts Youngkin for “inappropriate intervention into an active legal case”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, September 11.

• International Court Hears Island Nations’ Case on Climate Change
• Island states seek climate protection from Law of the Sea
• We’re Thinking About Climate Risk All Wrong (“When human survival is at stake, conventional analyses ‘may become useless.'”)
• Russian Military Continues to Kill Aid Workers in Ukraine
• The Theaters of War That Make Up the Fighting in Ukraine
• Russia’s ‘Merchant of Death’ Is Looking to Forge a New Life in Politics (He’ll fit in great with Putin’s war criminals, thugs, etc.)
• Ukraine Seeks as Much as $14 Billion in US Financial Aid in 2024
• The Three Roadblocks Keeping Ukraine Mired in War (“Slow gains on the battlefield, a cautious West and Putin’s record of breaking deals have contributed to a deadlock that Kyiv fears plays in Russia’s favor.”)
• Ukraine needs to do more to fight corruption, Germany’s Baerbock says
• Kim Jong Un Heads to Russia to Help Re-Arm Putin in Ukraine (Now that’s an “axis of evil!”)
• North Korean train presumably carrying leader Kim Jong Un departed for Russia, South Korea media say
• US denies Cold War with China in historic Vietnam visit
• 5 takeaways from Joe Biden’s trip to the G20 and Vietnam (“Biden tries to pull Vietnam closer to US”)
• India Spends Big on What It Needs Most to Catch Up to China
• G20 summit agrees on words but struggles on action
• Iran, US on verge of prisoner swap under Qatar-mediated deal
• Scoop: U.S. and Bahrain to sign strategic security and economic agreement
• Almost 2,500 dead; officials accept search-and-rescue help
• ‘Please help us’: Moroccan villages cut off as quake wipes out roads
• Egypt angry as Ethiopia fills Nile dam reservoir
• ‘Wounds Will Need to Be Healed’: Collisions in a Fractured Israel
• What’s behind Africa’s recent coups (“Not all coups are the same — but they do have some important commonalities.”)
• The United States marks 22 years since 9/11, from ground zero to Alaska
• Yellen ‘Feeling Very Good’ About Soft Landing for US Economy
• Even Brief UAW Strike Seen Causing Billions in US Economic Damage
• Voters Feel Better About Economy, but Few Credit Biden (In fact, Biden deserves ENORMOUS credit.)
• What Ginni Thomas and Leonard Leo wrought: How a justice’s wife and a key activist started a movement (Definitely two of the worst people in America.)
• Here’s why many Black people despise Clarence Thomas. (It’s not because he’s a conservative.) (Every American should despise Clarence Thomas, for a bunch of reasons, including that he’s WILDLY corrupt and that he’s made a complete mockery of the rule of law, the constitution, the US Supreme Court, etc.)
• Dems inch toward House majority with recent court wins
• I don’t write about polls. You shouldn’t bother with them, either.
• Biden impeachment inquiry ‘eight months of abject failure’, watchdog report says (They’ve got NOTHING.)
• Biden campaign to focus more on Trump to boost lackluster fundraising
• Trump tells supports how extreme his second term would be (“The former president’s tendencies towards authoritarianism could make the 2024 election a profound choice”)
• Donald Trump Challenges Rupert Murdoch to a Mental Acuity Test (“Covfefe!” LOL)
• Trump Is Really Old, Too (And Trump’s in horrible physical and mental shape…)
• McCarthy pressure hits a boiling point (“He’s determined to hang onto his gavel — but it may end up plunging Congress into a shutdown.”)
• A Republican Leader From the 2013 Shutdown Has a Warning for Kevin McCarthy (“Eric Cantor offers lessons from the 2013 shutdown.”)
• Harris calls critics ‘scared,’ Tim Scott says he’ll introduce girlfriend and more campaign trail tidbits
• J.F.K. Assassination Witness Breaks His Silence and Raises New Questions
• From prime time to lurid tales in a shed: the rapid descent of Tucker Carlson (“Carlson, once seen as a Republican powerbroker and even a presidential candidate, has grown more extreme and less relevant”)
• Musk, Zuckerberg, Gates: The titans of tech will talk AI at private Capitol summit (Musk is a fascist, Zuckerberg and Gates are deeply flawed as well.)
• How Elon Musk Went from Superhero to Supervillain (“Walter Isaacson’s new biography depicts a man who wields more power than almost any other person on the planet but seems estranged from humanity itself.”)
• Chris Rufo’s dangerous fictions (“The right’s leading culture warrior has invented a leftist takeover of America to justify his very real power grabs.”)
• For the women who took on Daniel Snyder, the ultimate #MeToo moment
• Data and funds made available in Va. to improve tree cover in the Chesapeake Bay watershed
• [UPDATED with Comments on Elon Musk] Video: Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA07) Says If a *Democratic* Senator Were Damaging Our Military Like Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R)’s Doing, the Backlash and Pressure Would be BRUTAL
• Virginia Medicaid programs poised to receive more funding under budget deal
• Commentary: Youngkin’s decision to pull Virginia out of RGGI disregards science, law (Yep, and Youngkin doesn’t give a crap.)
• Video: As Expected, Youngkin Goes on Fox “News” and…Yep, Spews Wild Lies with Zero Pushback or Correction (For instance, there absolutely was no “effort to systematically lower expecations by the ‘progressive left’ [sic] as standards were lowered.”)
• Gov. Youngkin says pardoning a Loudoun County parent is ‘righting a wrong.’ The county prosecutor calls it a ‘political stunt’
• Youngkin pardons Loudoun County father convicted in school board meeting incident
• These Virginia Universities Grew by Displacing Black Residents (“Schools including Old Dominion and the flagship University of Virginia have expanded by dislodging Black families, sometimes by the threat or use of eminent domain.”)
• Video: VA Sen. Scott Surovell (D) Explains That Youngkin Falsely Frames Budget Deal as “Bipartisan,” But Actually He “gave up” and “ended up compromising 90% to our position” (Dems also won huge increases in education and mental health funding, instead of Youngkin’s “addiction to tax cuts”)
• New data center funding comes with new power demands
• Appalachian Power to purchase more solar and wind energy
• A write-in campaign is happening in a tight Senate race
• D.C.-area forecast: Feeling like fall by Thursday