Thursday News: “Climate damages by 2050 will be 6 times the cost of limiting warming to 2°”; After 6 Months of Disastrous Delay, Will “MAGA Mike” Johnson Finally Do the Right Thing on Ukraine?; Virginia Budget Goes “back to the drawing board?”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, April 18.

• Climate change may cost $38 trillion a year by 2049, study says (Instead, how about spending a lot less than that to switch from fossil fuels to clean energy ASAP???)
• Climate crisis: average world incomes to drop by nearly a fifth by 2050 (“Cost of environmental damage will be six times higher than price of limiting global heating to 2C, study finds” SIX TIMES!!!)
• Climate damages by 2050 will be 6 times the cost of limiting warming to 2°
• Dubai’s record-shattering “rain bomb” has clear climate change ties
• Deadly Africa heat caused by human-induced warming (“Extreme heat linked to the deaths of hundreds of people would not have happened without global warming.”)
• Lethal heatwave in Sahel worsened by fossil fuel burning, study finds
• Ukraine warns of WW3 ahead of long-stalled Congress aid vote
• Council of Europe unanimously votes to use seized Russian assets to fund Ukraine reconstruction, compensation
• Prosecutors Seek to Try Russians for Ukraine War Crimes—In Argentina
• Biden gets behind Johnson’s foreign aid plan
• Speaker Johnson moves on foreign aid, possibly triggering vote to oust him
• Endgame Begins On Ukraine Funding Fight After White House Endorses Standalone Bills (“Hardliners in House GOP will likely oppose the measure, which would be one of three country-specific aid packages.”)
• What’s inside the $95 billion House package focused on aiding Ukraine and Israel
• Doing ‘the right thing’ may cost Johnson his speaker’s gavel (“Johnson’s problem is a more extreme version of one that has dogged Republican speakers for years”)
• House’s Ukraine and Israel aid package gains Biden’s support as Speaker Johnson fights to keep his job
• Johnson’s Chamberlain-or-Churchill moment
• Johnson Defies GOP Critics, Setting Up Showdown Over Ukraine-Israel Aid
• Ukraine, Israel aid package faces major challenge: Lost time (Hell, double the Ukraine aid package at this point!)
• Janet Yellen’s Ukraine mission
• This defiant Ukrainian general has no smile — and surprising remarks on Trump (They’re not “surprising” at all; Budanov is hedging his bets.)
• Russia, Iran turning Israel and Ukraine into ‘battlefield laboratories,’ experts say
• Palestinian president rejected U.S. requests to hold off on UN membership vote
• Israel considered striking Iran on Monday but decided to wait, officials say
• ‘I’m in pieces’ – Israeli hostage’s agony over husband held in Gaza by Hamas
• The number of hostages still alive in Gaza is a mystery, officials say
• E.U. Will Impose New Sanctions on Iran for Attacking Israel
• Netanyahu Is Caught Between Hitting Iran and Heeding Allies (“Israel is divided over what to do next, and whether the Middle East plunges into a wider war might come down to the prime minister’s survival instincts. “)
• Why Biden wants to raise tariffs on Chinese steel
• Chinese diplomats are quietly meeting with Hill staffers about TikTok
• Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi’s decade in power
• German far-right lawmaker goes on trial charged with using Nazi slogan
• In a rebel-held Myanmar town, fragile unity pushes junta to the brink
• Brazil’s plans to drill for oil in the Amazon hit stiff Indigenous resistance
• South Africa’s ANC is headed for a reckoning at the ballot box. That’s good.
• Greek economy surges after decade of pain
• After 13 Years, No End in Sight for Caribbean Sargassum Invasion
• Offshore wind projects have been dogged by inflation and culture wars. Now they’re making a comeback (The media really needs to stop using the misleading, moronic phrase “culture wars”)
• Red states threaten librarians with prison — as blue states work to protect them
• Boeing’s problems were as bad as you thought
• Biden Tries to Build on Small Gains as Trump Stands Trial
• Biden chokes up while talking about deceased son and Trump’s disparaging remarks about service members
• Biden says Trump ‘doesn’t deserve to be the Commander in Chief for my son
• Kennedy family to endorse Biden in show of force against RFK Jr.
• Biden seeks to make Trump the face of anti-abortion movement
• Trump could have helped response to Jan. 6 riot — but didn’t — per new testimony
• Trump gripes he can’t reject ‘unlimited’ jurors in New York hush money trial
• Trump’s reckoning begins (“Traditional media insist this is a traditional election with two competing parties, not a contest between democracy and authoritarianism. Media have so completely bought into the false equivalence that they cannot accurately define the MAGA movement. Nevertheless, President Biden now consistently highlights Trump’s dictatorial plans and fascist language. Biden will need to do more to force the media to pay attention.”)
• Trump to return to court for third day of jury selection in hush-money trial (“Seven people have been picked from a vast jury pool – five more jurors and six alternates remain to be chosen for the historic trial”)
• Democrats who investigated Trump say they expect to face arrest, retaliation if he wins presidency (If Trump wins, we will NOT have a democracy or rule of law anymore. Period.)
• He’s dropping little clues: The troubling message we are missing from Trump’s MAGA rallies
• Trump campaign asks for cut of candidates’ fundraising when they use his name and likeness
• Inside Trump’s shadow grievance campaign
• The Trump Trial’s Extraordinary Opening (“The first days of the criminal case against the former president have been mundane, even boring—and that’s remarkable.”)
• GOP House speaker tenures shrink as caucus fractures
• Marjorie Taylor Greene is an idiot. She is trying to wreck the GOP (No shit, ya think???)
• The MAGA Right is Flirting With Political Violence (“Tom Cotton is encouraging vigilantism, and Kari Lake is urging supporters to ‘strap on a Glock'”)
• Senate kills articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas (The “mainstream media” MASSIVELY failed in reporting on this bogus, bad-faith, illegitimate, baseless, far-right-House-GOP impeachment.)
• The very short Mayorkas impeachment trial, explained (Vox nails it: “Senate Democrats put a quick end to Republicans’ political stunt.”)
• NPR Editor Who Accused Broadcaster of Liberal Bias Resigns (This headline should say FALSELY Accused, also noting that this guy’s “argument,” such as it was, had numerous errors/lies in it.)
• Western States Could Make Billions Selling Renewable Energy, But They’ll Need a Lot More Regional Transmission Lines
• As states increasingly look to advanced nuclear, Wyoming, Virginia and Michigan lead the way
• Combatting cannibalism and jailing librarians: Idaho Democrats see opportunity in extreme GOP agenda
• “You can go three hours that way”: Kari Lake and Arizona GOP can’t decide if abortion is bad or not
• Arizona Democrats Clear Path For Vote On Repeal Of 1864 Abortion Ban
• “I’m Here…to Represent Jesus Christ”: Arizona Republicans Block Second Attempt to Repeal Civil War–Era Abortion Ban (“Why won’t these cowards allow the vote to come to the floor?”)
• USC decision to cancel Muslim valedictorian’s speech further inflames tensions on campus
• DPVA Releases Clock Counting So Virginians Can Keep Track Of How Long Hung Cao Has Remained Silent About His Scam PAC
• Virginia legislature will consider reworked state budget in May 13 special session
• In a bipartisan move, Youngkin and Democrats agree to take the state budget back to the drawing board (“The governor plans to call a special session for May 13 for lawmakers to review and vote on a new spending plan.”)
• Youngkin, Virginia lawmakers agree to seek new state budget, avert crisis (“Budget negotiators aim to submit a new budget in a special legislative session May 13, returning two days later to vote on it.”)
• Youngkin, lawmakers to seek fresh start on state budget, but not now
• Legislators, governor break budget deadlock, extend negotiations (“The House exercised an arcane constitutional maneuver to prevent a full budget veto.”)
• VA General Assembly Leaders, Gov. Glenn Youngkin Joint Statement on Next Steps in Reaching a Budget Agreement (“An updated budget will then be presented to the General Assembly on May 13th to be voted on in a special session on May 15th.”)
• Virginia’s budget deal pushed to May after newfound collaboration between Youngkin and legislature
• Virginia Senate rejects Youngkin’s tougher rules for skill games
• Future of skill games in Virginia still unclear as Senate rejects Youngkin’s proposal
• Virginia Republicans Fail Working Families By Sustaining Youngkin Veto of Paid Family and Medical Leave Bill
• Governor hopes to delay ban on single use plastic (Youngkin is relentlessly anti-environment)
• Virginia General Assembly Rejects Governor Youngkin’s “Ethical” Exemption Amendment to the Contraceptive Equity Act (“The bill now goes back to Gov. Youngkin to either sign the bill as is or veto it”)
• Planned Parenthood: Reproductive Health Care Votes to Watch for During Virginia’s Reconvened “Veto” Session Today (“Youngkin’s vetoes underscore the need for a constitutional amendment for reproductive freedom”)
• School surcharge veto stands; lawmakers pave way for Petersburg casino vote
• State Senate sends Youngkin’s skill games amendments back to his desk
• Youngkin’s changes to bills that would let utilities seek approval to charge customers for nuclear development costs clear General Assembly (SMRs are a speculative boondoggle which ratepayers should NOT have to pay for.)
• Schapiro: Antisemitism at UVa? Depends who you ask
• Paul Goldman: Stoney’s $280 million stadium bet is a gamble RVA cannot afford
• D.C.-area forecast: Warm today, a few showers Friday and cooler into the weekend