by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, August 23.
- Climate Change Likely to Expand the Range of an Asian Bat and the Deadly Disease it Carries (“A vaccine in development may slow the spread of Nipah virus, which kills up to 75 percent of the people it sickens, but reducing the environmental disruptions that bring people, livestock and bats together could be more effective.”)
- How Climate Change Affects Hurricanes Like Erin (“Global warming is changing the way storms behave.”)
- Trump rolls back rules meant to keep politics out of climate research (Totally f’ed up.)
- Solar panels in space ‘could provide 80% of Europe’s renewable energy by 2050’
- Pakistan is tapping into solar power at an ‘unprecedented’ rate. Here’s why
- Trump frustrated after thinking he made headway on Russia-Ukraine talks only to see Putin balk (Trump doesn’t understand Putin at all.)
- Putin Tanks Trump’s Supposed Peace Effort (“But don’t expect actual tough measures to penalize the Russian dictator’s obstructionism.”)
- Trump again mulls Russia sanctions as Ukraine peace remains elusive one week after Alaska summit (Stop mulling and start DOING!)
- ‘These are Ukrainian lands’: people in Donetsk pour scorn on Putin’s territorial demands
- Peace talks in Budapest? Beware of Trump’s ulterior motive (“His preference for Hungary’s capital holds dark symbolism for Ukraine — and the US”)
- Trump nominates Sergio Gor to be next US ambassador to India
- Hegseth fires general whose agency’s intel assessment of damage from Iran strikes angered Trump
- In latest purge, Hegseth removes head of Pentagon intelligence agency, other senior officials
- The West Bank Is Sliding Toward a Crisis (“Unless it changes course, Israel is closer to triggering a second war with West Bank Palestinians than to ending the disastrous conflict in Gaza.”)
- After Gaza Famine Report, U.S. Is Mostly Silent and Israel Defiant
- DeSantis: ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ ruling won’t ‘deter’ Florida immigration enforcement
- Kilmar Abrego Garcia could be deported to Uganda, official says
- Kilmar Abrego Garcia free from Tennessee jail and returning home to Maryland, lawyer says
- Judge blocks Trump from cutting funding from 34 cities and counties over ‘sanctuary’ policies
- Covid Vaccine Opponent Tapped to Lead Federal Review Team (“Panel members have been given a broad mandate, despite pleas from C.D.C. employees asking Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to stop spreading misinformation.”)
- Powell says Fed may need to cut rates, will proceed carefully
- Wall Street Got the Rally Signals From Powell It Was Hoping For (“The S&P 500 Index rebounded from a five-day slide, rising 1.5% and closing just shy of a record high.”)
- Trump says he’ll fire Fed governor Cook if she doesn’t resign
- Corporate America’s Newest Activist Investor: Donald Trump
- Intel Agrees to Sell U.S. a 10% Stake in Its Business (“The deal is among the largest government interventions in a U.S. company since the rescue of the auto industry after the 2008 financial crisis.” Socialism?)
- Was the FBI Raid on John Bolton a Product of Presidential Rage? (“If a Republican authoritarian like him isn’t safe, then no one is.”)
- Trump’s Vendetta Campaign Targets John Bolton
- Trump’s FBI Raid of John Bolton’s Home Looks Like a “Five-Alarm Fire” (“Thus far, little is known about Friday’s law enforcement action against a top Trump critic. But we’re seeing an escalation of authoritarian power on many fronts that has grown unmistakable.”)
- The Bolton Raid Feels Like a Warning
- FBI raid targeting Bolton crosses a line in the Trump revenge campaign
- The Retribution Phase of Trump’s Presidency Has Begun
- Donald Trump Is Waging a Whole-of-Government Retribution Campaign (“The administration is full of enablers.”)
- About Courage (“I was up early this morning reporting on the FBI’s raid of John Bolton’s home. It’s a bad sign of where we stand as a country.”)
- Fox News panel expresses concern over FBI’s Bolton raid
- Air pollution from oil and gas causes 90,000 premature US deaths each year, says new study (“Study analyzed health impacts of fossil fuels from exploration to end use, and found communities of color bear brunt of harm” Trump et al want to make this MUCH worse!)
- Trump Administration Orders Work Halted on Wind Farm That Is Nearly Built (“The order to stop construction on Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island is part of a campaign against renewable energy. ” That’s completely illegal and insane.)
- Why power bills are rising — and why that’s not changing soon (“Ending support for renewables and keeping fossil fuel power plants are the wrong tactics for addressing skyrocketing electricity rates”)
- Trump: ‘Couldn’t care less’ if Epstein files released; so, what’s the holdup?
- Ghislaine Maxwell, who wants a pardon, says she never saw Trump ‘in any inappropriate setting’ (The headline could also note that Maxwell is a criminal, pathological LIAR.)
- Epstein co-conspirator: “I do not believe he died by suicide”
- Maxwell Interview (“Redactions of victim names and other identifying information have been applied.” Yeah, what are all those “redactions” about?)
- GHISLAINE’S AUDITION FOR AMNESTY
- In Trump’s Second Term, Far-Right Agenda Enters the Mainstream (“President Trump has embraced an array of far-right views and talking points in ways that have delighted many activists who have long supported those ideas.”)
- That New York Fraud Ruling Was Not Nearly the Trump Victory It’s Being Billed As
- Texas lawmakers give final approval to redrawn congressional map favoring GOP
- 9/11 conspiracy theorist Richard Gage says Ron Johnson will keynote his conference (“On far-right podcast, Gage also says that the Wisconsin GOP senator will meet with ‘several stakeholders in the 9/11 truth movement'” – Ron Johnson is completely insane and should never have been elected, let alone reelected. It’s a really, really sad commentary on the people who voted for him…and on the media.)
- The ‘woke’ words Democrats should cut from their vocabulary (In general, Democrats should speak like normal human beings – don’t use offputting lingo or acronyms where 99% of people don’t know what they mean, etc.)
- JD Vance Is Working Overtime to Make Himself the Most Unlikable Person in Politics (“During a recent trip to Georgia, he punched down on the most vulnerable people in America.” Vance is utterly repulsive.)
- Will Museums Fight Back Against Trump? (“The president’s attacks on the Smithsonian Institution and other museums have become an effort to redefine why such places exist.”)
- The Useful Idiots in the Media Abetting Trump’s D.C. Takeover (“Imagine if the president’s radical claims about reducing crime were actually scrutinized?”)
- The Resistance is Active in DC—You’re Just Not Looking Closely Enough (“It’s not massive protests on Pennsylvania Avenue, but happenstance hecklers and Nextdoor posts.”)
- Resign or be fired: Why Todd Gilbert quit as US attorney in Roanoke
- Virginia unemployment rate rises again in July as Trump job cuts continue (“An estimated 10,500 federal jobs remain at risk of being cut, according to the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.”)
- Reactions, Thoughts on Last Night’s Arlington School Board Meeting (at Which Winsome Earle-Sears and Many Others Spoke), the Offensive Sign by a Random Activist at the Rally Before the Meeting, etc. (Also, check out the video of all the public comments, the vast majority of which supported trans students and Arlington public schools.)
- ‘Judicial fiat’: Republicans join appeal of ruling on Youngkin appointees
- With Earle-Sears retooling, some in GOP pin hopes on Virginia AG race (“A national GOP group is urging donors to support Virginia’s Republican attorney general for reelection, casting him as a chance to uphold party priorities if it loses the governor’s race.”)
- Flip and Defend-a-District 2025 Volume 12: Del. Shelly Simonds (HD70), Jessica Anderson (HD71), Rodney Nickens (HD90), Liz Richardson (HD100)
- The man who broke the news of FCPS allegations has familial ties to Youngkin, Earle-Sears and Miyares (“His father, Walter Curt Sr., is a big donor to Youngkin and Earle-Sears. He has given Youngkin $225,000, Earle-Sears $86,000, and Miyares $20,000. In 2022, Youngkin appointed Curt Sr. to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Shortly after Curt Jr. posted on his blog, the WC Dispatch — which is based in Ohio — about these allegations against FCPS, Youngkin directed the Virginia State Police to investigate the accusations.”)
- New Poll: Virginians Say Housing Costs are the State’s #1 Problem — and Want Bold Action (Other top issues: inflation, health care, taxes, jobs, immigration, education, etc. (e.g., not what Virginia Rs are mostly focused on))
- Housing is top issue for Virginia voters this election year, poll shows
- In a House race, it’s face-to-face campaigning that matters
- Federal goverment finds GMU violated Civil Rights Act in hiring and promotion practices (The problem with this headline is it doesn’t point out that the “federal government” means the Trump administration, and that the Trump administration is NOT acting in good faith or in accordance with the law, etc.)
- Virginia Beach schools special meeting to address lawsuit over rising health care costs
- Here’s how – and why – Dominion Energy plans to raise your electric bill
- On one of America’s most diverse streets, documenting life for decades (“Columbia Pike has been called a ‘world in a Zip code’ because residents come from more than 125 countries”)
- CWG Live updates: Mostly sunny today and a chance of showers Sunday, then nice next week
