by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, August 4.
- World in $1.5tn ‘plastics crisis’ hitting health from infancy to old age, report warns (“Plastic production has increased more than 200 times since 1950 and hits health at every stage from extraction to disposal, says review in the Lancet” Total disaster.)
- Oil Slides as Traders Assess OPEC+ Hike and Russian Risks
- Home by Home, Russia Is Selling Occupied Ukraine to Russians (“Kremlin-linked construction firms reap profits from redevelopment of housing destroyed by Russia’s invasion”)
- Kremlin warns against nuclear rhetoric after Trump’s submarine order
- Putin Widens Effort to Control Russia’s Internet (“The introduction of a state-approved messaging app has raised fears that Russia could be preparing to block WhatsApp and Telegram.”)
- Ukrainian attack sparks blaze at Russian oil depot as countries trade strikes
- Top Trump aide accuses India of financing Russia’s war in Ukraine
- China Is Choking Supply of Critical Minerals to Western Defense Companies
- China is winning the trade war Trump started (“On many fronts, Trump is inadvertently aiding China’s anti-American dictatorship.”)
- China welcomes 183 Brazil coffee sellers in wake of US tariffs (“The measure, a boon to local exporters after the United States government’s announcement of steep tariffs on Brazilian coffee and other products, took effect on July 30.”)
- Hamas says it will allow aid for hostages if Israel halts airstrikes
- Hundreds of Israeli ex-officials appeal to Trump to help end Gaza war
Israeli forces kill at least 27 at food site while minister’s al-Aqsa visit causes outrage (“Six more people die from malnutrition, while Itamar Ben-Gvir is first minister to publicly pray at sensitive site”)- Netanyahu Squanders His Moment to Halt the War (“After securing a victory over Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is pushing for an ‘all or nothing’ deal with Hamas without offering compromises.”)
- Hamas Releases Video of Hostage Digging His Own Grave in a Tunnel (Evil.)
- A Weakened Hezbollah Resists Pressure to Give Up Its Weapons
- ‘They do not teach us what we need’: Inside the expansion of religious schools for girls across Afghanistan
- ‘We have to clear our names’: Venezuelan make-up artist who survived Ice detainment tries to rebuild his life (“Andry José Hernández Romero was one of 251 men flown from Texas to the Cecot prison in El Salvador. Now he’s seeking justice”)
- Trump Is Hiring ICE Agents to Arrest Immigrants Coast to Coast, Border to Border (“Job listings in 25 cities show where ICE may be ramping up deportations and detentions”)
- Trump’s rewriting of reality on jobs numbers is chilling, but it could backfire
- Wavering US Consumer and Job Market Show Risks to Economy
- Trump to Name New Fed Governor, Jobs Data Head in Coming Days
- The Supreme Court Just Signaled Something Deeply Disturbing About the Next Term
- The Media’s Urge to Be “Fair” to Trump Is Killing the Republic (“70 percent of Republicans understand that Trump’s tariffs will raise prices. Why is the press acting like they’re a huge success?”)
- The E.P.A.’s Disastrous Plan to End the Regulation of Greenhouse Gases (“With a new proposal, the Trump Administration, which has already laid waste to dozens of programs aimed at limiting climate change, has managed to outdo itself.”)
- Top Trump Adviser Fails To Offer Evidence That Jobs Reports Were ‘Rigged’ (“He claimed “patterns” in revisions to labor data, but balked when asked to provide specific proof.” Because there is ZERO evidence of what Trump is charging.)
- Trump adviser defends labor official’s firing, deflects on how data was ‘rigged’ (“Kevin Hassett pointed to the scale of hiring data revisions when asked for evidence to support Trump’s claims that a jobs report was politically rigged.” This headline – and the subheader – by the WaPo are wildly insufficient. What it should say is that Kevin Hassett flat-out LIED, because that’s 100% clear, and stop obfuscating/burying the lede!)
- To Live Inside a Lie (“Firing the top labor statistics official for doing the normal monthly jobs report is only the latest attempt to force everyone else to abandon reality too” Now THIS is a good headline/subheader!)
- The Bureau of Labor Denial
- Big Tech’s hefty AI spending is reshaping the slowing economy (“AI investments could grow the economy by as much as 0.7 percent in 2025, according to one economist, a figure that would represent half of the 1.4 percent growth projection for the U.S. economy this year from the Federal Reserve.”)
- ‘He has trouble completing a thought’: bizarre public appearances again cast doubt on Trump’s mental acuity
- Trump Is Very Mad at Charlamagne Tha God for Talking About Epstein (“‘I think this Epstein thing is going to be a way for traditional conservatives to take their party back,’ the radio host said on Lara Trump’s Fox News show”)
- You know who loves the Epstein scandal? President-in-waiting JD Vance. (“So is it that hard to believe Vance is watching Trump digging his Epstein hole deeper and deeper and thanking his lucky stars for the president’s incompetence and history of loutish behavior?”)
- Now Trump Is Gushing Over ‘Republican’ Sydney Sweeney’s Ad (“The president thinks her jeans ad is ‘fantastic’ for one reason.”)
- When Did Republican Women Get to Be So Vile as These Four? (“Pam Bondi, Tulsi Gabbard, Linda McMahon, and Kristi Noem are the new model of right-wing womanhood. God help us.” The absolute worst women in America?)
- The Mothership Vortex: An Investigation Into the Firm at the Heart of the Democratic Spam Machine (“How a single consulting firm extracted $282 million from a network of spam PACs while delivering just $11 million to actual campaigns.
- Exclusive: Tesla’s brand loyalty collapsed after Musk backed Trump, data shows
- DNC chair says Democrats ‘absolutely’ ready to fight back against GOP redistricting
- Texas Democrats decamp to Illinois to deny Republicans a quorum on redistricting (“In response, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to try to remove the Democrats from the state Legislature and said some of them may even be ‘felons.'” Abbott is a THUG.)
- Texas House Democrats flee the state in bid to block GOP’s proposed congressional map (“The lawmakers’ absence means the lower chamber won’t have enough members present to function, stalling passage of a draft map Democrats have condemned as a political power grab.”)
- Pritzker says Texas Democrats who fled state will be protected amid arrest threats
- Texas Democrats plan on staying in Illinois for 2 weeks to halt redistricting
- How a Christian college ministry glorified a sex offender and enabled him to keep abusing students (“Daniel Savala urged generations of Chi Alpha members to get naked in his Houston sauna. Why did Assemblies of God pastors keep bringing teenagers to his home?”)
- Video: Sen. Tim Kaine Says Hamas Is “Diabolical” and There Should Be a “Vigorous War” Against Them, But “innocent Palestinians…should not be suffering because of Hamas’ atrocities” (Sen. Kaine also argues for “establishing conditions that, when they are met, Palestine will be recognized.”)
- Virginia congressman spearheads bipartisan efforts to boost U.S. housing supply (Mark Warner is a US Senator, not a “Congressman” – a word which is almost always used for US Representatives.)
- Trump signals he will back Earle-Sears’ campaign
- Trump signals he would endorse Winsome Earle-Sears in Virginia governor’s race
- Trump indicates he could possibly endorse Earle-Sears
- A Few Thoughts on This Morning’s Richmond Times-Dispatch Article, “Miyares stands out on GOP ticket amid talk of split-ticket potential.” (In short, given increased “polarization” and a decline in ticket splitting, it’s hard to see Miyares hanging on, as long as Spanberger wins by more than 5-7 points or so…)
- Virginia House in the balance: 5 key races to watch this fall
- Are nuclear reactors a good fit for Southwest Virginia – or a solution in search of a problem? (“If the plan to bring nuclear to Wise County sounds a little sketchy, that’s because SMRs remain a little sketchy. They haven’t been proven to attain safe, 24/7 carbon-free power at a competitive cost, writes columnist Ivy Main.” In short, SMRs are super expensive, speculative technologically, etc.)
- Governor announces $40 million to prepare business sites across Virginia
- Chesapeake spent over $110,000 in recent years to litigate lawsuits against council members
- Jury finds 4 men guilty in massive pot operation run from Newport News car dealership
- Advocates for the homeless make a case for a year-round shelter in Martinsville
- Harvard President Garber Tells Faculty He Is Not Considering a $500 Million Deal With Trump
- ‘Queen Reid’: Embattled Virginia schools boss demands personal bodyguard on top of lavish salary, perks (“Virginia school superintendent earning $424K annually seeks personal bodyguard for $143K” Keep in mind, this is a Fox “News” story, so treat it with massive skepticism.)
- CWG Live updates: Heat mostly holds off this week but humidity rises
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