Sunday News: “Mad King” Donald Trump’s “Politics of Fear”/”Us” vs. “Them”; “Senate heads home with no deal to speed confirmations as irate Trump tells Schumer to ‘go to hell’”; “Senate Confirms Election Denying Fox Host as DC US Attorney”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, August 3.

• The Guardian view on the green transition: renewables are the future – but countries’ actions must catch up with their promises (“To counter attacks on net zero, challenges including the need for grid upgrades will have to be grasped”)
• Sweden, an Early Climate Leader, Is Retreating From Its Environmental Commitments, Part of an EU Trend (“As the U.S. abandons international climate agreements, the EU is hesitating to lead. A once-admired Nordic nation’s backtracking on its climate goals offers clues as to why.”)
• OPEC+ agrees in principle to another large oil output hike, sources say
• Senate leaving Russia sanctions power fully in Trump’s hands (The US Senate at this point, with Republicans in charge, is a very bad joke.)
• Ukraine drone attack sparks fire at Sochi oil depot, Russian authorities say
• Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies uncover drone procurement graft scheme
• India Will Buy Russian Oil Despite Trump’s Threats, Officials Say (“There is a growing sense in India that its leaders should not allow American policymaking to shape its choices on vital energy supplies.”)
• Trump’s Warm Embrace of India Turns Cold (“Trade disputes and ties with Russia rankle the president, threatening to sink the U.S.-India relationship”)
• Trump hits Brazilian products with 50% tariffs over Bolsonaro (“The president typically ties his tariffs to trade policy, but he hit Brazilian products with the highest rate of any country’s goods largely due to politics.”)
• U.S. envoy tells Israeli families of plan to bring all the hostages home (“Special envoy Steve Witkoff says the U.S. has a plan to bring home all the remaining hostages held by Hamas and that an end to the war is near.”)
• Israel Must Open Its Eyes
• Tens of thousands of Israelis rally after Gaza militants release videos showing emaciated captives
• Israel closes 88% of cases of alleged war crimes or abuse without charges – report
• Growing number of Jewish American groups speak out over Gaza famine (“Prominent groups, including traditional defenders of Israel, urge action on aid as Gaza humanitarian crisis worsens”)
• How much aid has made it into Gaza since Israel said it was easing restrictions? (“While more aid has begun to trickle into Gaza, humanitarian agencies say it is not enough to prevent ‘a full-blown famine where the numbers of deaths go way, way up.'”)
• Israel’s Ben-Gvir says he prayed at Al-Aqsa mosque compound (“Under a delicate decades-old arrangement with Muslim authorities, Jews can visit but may not pray at the compound, which is one of the most sensitive points in the Middle East.”)
• Pro Soccer Player Sent To El Salvador Over Tattoo Details ‘Hell On Earth’ At CECOT (“‘Both the physical and mental abuse doled out by the officers made me think sometimes that I would never leave that place,’ Jerce Reyes Barrios said.”)
• Editorial: Rescinding EPA rule would deal massive blow to climate progress (“The Trump administration wants to rescind the basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions, which would deal a hammer blow to efforts aimed at curbing climate change.” And the US Representative for the Hampton Roads area, Jen Kiggans, doesn’t GAF.)
• Inside the ‘Radical Transformation’ of America’s Environmental Role
• Trump Will Slow, but May Not Stop, the Rise of Electric Vehicles
• Offshore wind leasing is officially dead under Trump (“Over 3.5 million acres of federal waters are no longer eligible for offshore wind development following an order from the Interior Department.” Bonkers.)
• EPA moves to defang its own regulatory power (“Federal efforts to curb pollution from power plants, cars, and fossil fuel operations could all be undone if the Trump administration’s push succeeds.” Evil.)
• Until Trump Fired Her, She Was an Economist With Bipartisan Support (“Erika McEntarfer led the agency that produced key data on jobs and inflation. Then July’s report showed a weakening economy, and President Trump accused her of ‘rigging’ the numbers.” She was confirmed by the US Senate 86-8, btw…)
• Firing the statistician won’t change the job numbers
• Trump’s Efforts to Control Information Echo an Authoritarian Playbook
• We’re Officially in Donald Trump’s Mad King Era (“All the books that are fit to cook.”)
• Republicans Might Regret Putting Emil Bove on the Bench (“Even conservative judges might delay retirement rather than give Donald Trump more chances to appoint transparently partisan replacements.”)
• How the courts became the biggest roadblock to Trump’s plans (“Judges issued about 35 nationwide injunctions blocking various Trump orders before the supreme court stepped in, according to independent analysis from the Guardian”)
• Economic fears of investors are here — and fed by Trump’s reaction
• Unemployed Americans Endure Longer Job Searches in a Cooling Market
• The Politics of Fear (“As a Presidential candidate, Donald Trump made his world view plain: there was ‘us’ and there was ‘them.’ Once he was in the White House, the fear factor would prevail.”)
• Trump and his allies mount a pressure campaign against US elections ahead of the midterms (We are in deep, deep trouble.)
• US officials open investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith (Authoritarianism.)
• Senate Confirms Election Denying Fox Host as DC US Attorney
• Senate confirms former Fox News host Pirro as top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital
• Senate confirms Jeanine Pirro as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia (Total insanity.)
• Senate heads home with no deal to speed confirmations as irate Trump tells Schumer to ‘go to hell’
  
• “Nuclear option” lingers over Senate as members leave for August recess
• Senators leave Washington without Trump nominees deal (“Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer discussed the path forward on the floor before it was formalized, a person granted anonymity to disclose the private conversation said.”)
• Senate GOP eyes recess appointments as stalemate drags on
• Playbook: The new master of the Senate (That would be Donald Trump.)
• White House has no plan to mandate IVF care, despite campaign pledge
• The simple way Democrats should talk about Trump and Epstein (“The scandal has haunted the president in part because of a truth voters already feel: Republicans protect elites”)
• Prince Andrew and Donald Trump’s Sick ‘P***y’ Conversations Revealed
• Lutnick Disbanded Statistical Task Force Working to Improve Survey Response Rates (These people are all vandals…and nuts.)
• New Photos Reveal Iconic White House Rose Garden Paved Over After Trump Makeover (“‘Dear God,’ one person wrote after seeing President Donald Trump’s drastic overhaul of the once-green space.”)
• Democratic governors throw support behind Newsom, back partisan redistricting (Reminder: Virginia Democrats – some of them, anyway – unilaterally disarmed by supporting the fatally flawed, disastrous redistricting amendment in 2020.)
• Texas Pushes Redistricting Into an Era of ‘Maximum Warfare’
• The Banal Provocation of Sydney Sweeney’s Jeans (“The American Eagle campaign, with its presentation of Americana as a zombie slop of mustangs, denim, and good genes, is lowest-common-denominator stuff.”)
• MAGA is working itself into a lather over Sydney Sweeney, ‘great jeans’ (These people are really obsessed.)
• Unmasked: the man behind one of the fastest growing far-right YouTube channels (“Chris Booth’s channel – rife with neo-Nazi ideology, antisemitism and racism – garnered 2.3m views and likely thousands of dollars from YouTube in about two months”)
• Meet Tara Durant: The NRCC’s Newest Recruitment Failure, This Time in VA07 (This is the same individual who “instigated a confrontation,” then “tried to hit [peaceful protesters] with her car as they stood in a crosswalk”)
• Virginia’s Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Embraces Renewables, Natural Gas and Community Planning for Data Centers (“Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger strikes a different tone than the current Republican administration and wants to expand energy possibilities.”)
• Opinion: On Youngkin, Spanberger and ‘wacky Winsome,’ Wilder shows his teeth
• Miyares stands out on GOP ticket amid talk of split-ticket potential (The media really wants to make fetch happen on this…)
• Flip and Defend-a-District 2025 Volume 9: Nicole Cole, Forrest Miller, Eric Klotz, Del. Candi King
• Conservation group targeting nine MAGA lawmakers with digital ad campaign (“The campaign is being targeted at Ian Lovejoy (HD 22), Geary Higgins (HD 30), Chris Obenshain (HD 41), David Owen (HD 57), Amanda Batten (HD 71), Mark Earley (HD 73), Carrie Coyner (HD 75), Kimberly Taylor (HD 82) and AC Cordoza (HD 86).”)
• Virginia city Councilman Lee Vogler faces ‘long, painful and uncertain recovery’ after being set on fire in sadistic attack
• ‘I have a responsibility’: First female postmaster of Virginia Beach sworn in
• Williams: As Gilpin Court goes, so goes Richmond
• CWG Live updates: Superb sunshine and low humidity today; shower chances return midweek