Wednesday News: “Trump’s doubling of tariffs hits India, damages relationship with US”; “Trump says ‘a lot of people’ want him to be dictator: Where are you on that one?” Trump’s 3-Hour “groveling festival”; “Immigrants at NoVA ICE detention center lack clean drinking water, sufficient food”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, August 27.

• Deforestation has killed half a million people in past 20 years, study finds (“Localised rises in temperature caused by land clearance cause 28,330 heat-related deaths a year, researchers find”)
• Exclusive: Ad Giant IPG Accused of Breaking ‘Industry First’ Climate Policy With Work for World’s Biggest Oil Company
• Inside the USAID Fire Sale (“Around the world, defibrillators, motorbikes, and water towers are being donated, sold, or simply abandoned.” Insanity, vandalism, etc. on a huge scale. Illegal too.)
• Exxon Held Secret Talks With Rosneft About Going Back to Russia (Horrible company.)
• Trump tariffs are reshaping old alliances as the global south plots its own path (“Countries from Brazil to India are exploring collective resistance as Trump uses tariffs to assert political and economic power”)
• Trump’s doubling of tariffs hits India, damages relationship with US
• Trump imposes 50% tariff on India as punishment for buying Russian oil (“US president has argued New Delhi indirectly helping fund Ukraine war as experts say move is ‘own goal’ against ally”)
• Should the US be worried? India’s Modi set for rare China trip after Trump’s tariff sting
• US tariffs take effect on India, threatening $48.2B in exports
• Trump hits India with punishing 50% tariff, among the highest the US charges
• Europe’s ‘century of humiliation’ could be just beginning (“Donald Trump is using America’s military and technological superiority to force one-sided deals on Europe.”)
• EU to Propose Removing US Tariffs This Week to Meet Trump Demand
• Israeli military says strikes on Gaza hospital targeted a Hamas camera, without providing evidence
• Democrats’ Deep Divide on Gaza, Israel Boils Over at Party Meeting
• How Former Biden Officials Defend Their Gaza Policy (“The former President’s support for Israel abetted a humanitarian catastrophe. But Jacob Lew, who served as U.S. Ambassador to the country, still thinks that the Trump White House could learn from its predecessor.”)
• Donald Trump to chair meeting on Gaza as residents say Israeli forces have advanced into new area in Gaza City
• Myanmar’s election is a sham orchestrated by China
• Mexico’s Cartels Are Exporting Their Bloody Rivalry to Ecuador and Beyond
• Denmark summons US envoy over Greenland influence reports (“Denmark has summoned the US head of mission in Copenhagen over alleged covert US influence efforts in Greenland. US President Donald Trump had said he wanted the island — and even hinted at using force.”)
• Environmental Laws Waived to Build Border Wall in Texas Wildlife Refuge (“The Rio Grande Valley is home to ocelots and other endangered species. Now, the federal government will not have to follow the Endangered Species Act and more than two dozen other federal laws to build the border wall through a national wildlife refuge.” EVIL.)
• The Crazy Comes for Clean Energy (“Nothing is safe from the madness of King Donald”)
• Trump Again Escalates Power Grabs in Bid to Fire Fed Member (“President Trump claimed he has cause to remove a member of the independent board who has not obeyed his demands to vote for lower interest rates.”)
• The Senate Must Preserve Fed Independence
• Trump’s Fed Gamble Risks Pushing Key Bond Rates Even Higher
• The Lisa Cook Case Could Be the Whole Ball Game (“If the Supreme Court lets Trump replace Cook with a loyalist, he might soon achieve a full-blown takeover of the Federal Reserve.”)
• Trump’s Appointees Could Rule the Federal Reserve for Decades
• Trump Tests The Fed’s ‘Don’t Panic’ Strategy (“The ultra-calculating central bank tried to put off confrontation with Trump for as long as possible. Now, time’s running out.”)
• Fed responds to Trump effort to fire Lisa Cook, notes president needs ‘cause’
• Trump just did the one thing the Supreme Court said he can’t do (“Trump’s decision to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is a test of the Republican justices’ submissiveness.”)
• The Enormous Stakes of Trump’s Effort to Fire the Fed Governor Lisa Cook (“The President’s authoritarian power grabs are undermining the institutional foundations of the American economy.”)
• Furious Trump’s Firing of Fed’s Lisa Cook May Be About to Backfire (“The fired Fed governor has filed suit against Trump—and the discovery process may allow her celebrated lawyer to find out if the White House ordered a Trump loyalist to move against her.”)
• Trump’s firing of Lisa Cook will bring higher costs and more crises
• Get Ready for the End of Fed Independence (Markets are completely delusional, btw.)
• Trump Suggests People Might Want A Dictator For The Second Day In A Row (Grammar check: this headline should say, “For the Second Day in a Row, Trump Suggests…”)
• Trump’s Cabinet Meeting Was Stuffed With Flattery for Dear Leader (“The televised groveling festival lasted over three hours”)
• What, Exactly, Was That Cabinet Meeting? (“As hours ticked by, President Trump played reality television host — ‘This has never been done before!’ — as his cabinet members offered praise. It was a glimpse of how he runs his presidency.” North Korea-style freak show.)
• America’s leading physician groups are now openly defying RFK Jr. (RFK Jr. is pure scum. Totally insane as well – and evil.)
• Whistleblower says Trump officials copied millions of Social Security numbers
• DOGE accused of copying entire Social Security database to insecure cloud system
• DOGE uploaded live copy of Social Security database to ‘vulnerable’ cloud server, says whistleblower
• Trump Has Forced Out Nearly 10% Of The Federal Workforce (“We’re seeing the arson of our government”)
• Republican Mike Collins caught on hot mic saying Trump is ‘in’ the Epstein files
• Ghislaine Maxwell serves Trump like she served Jeffrey Epstein (She’s just evil.)
• Trump’s hand bruise renews attention to his health — and his heart
• Deploy National Guard to Chicago? Trump Says He Has ‘The Right to Do Anything I Want to Do.’ (That’s dictator talk.)
• Trump says ‘a lot of people’ want him to be dictator: Where are you on that one?
• The growing list of military ousters under Trump 2.0 (This is very much part of Trump’s moves towards establishing a dictatorship.)
• Trump knee-caps America’s institutions
• With Trump’s Military Occupations of U.S. Cities, We Now Live in a Country of Reichstags (“Illinois governor JB Pritzker is making statements like those of a political prisoner.”)
• Trump boasts that Democrats are headed into ‘a trap’ on crime
• She Pushed to Overturn Trump’s Loss in the 2020 Election. Now She’ll Help Oversee U.S. Election Security. (“Heather Honey has been appointed to a senior position in the Department of Homeland Security. State election officials and voting experts are concerned.” Horrific. Anyone who voted for Trump – or stayed home, voted for Jill Stein, etc. – is responsible for this.)
• Researcher who has distorted voter data appointed to Homeland Security election integrity role
• A notorious Pennsylvania election denier now holds a top Homeland Security post for ‘elections integrity’
• When Mamdani says it, it’s socialism. When Trump does it, it’s genius.
• FEMA employees put on leave after criticizing Trump administration in open letter
• Meet the Trump appointee apparently maintaining ‘unheard of’ ties to Tesla (This administration is WILDLY corrupt – literally any one of these situations, if it happened in a normal administration, would be a major scandal.)
• What if Democrats Simply Said That an Unpopular President Deploying the Military Against His Own Citizens Is Quite Troubling?
• The Democrats’ Self-Destructive Fear of the Swing Voter (“The party is responding to Trump’s authoritarian abuses with timid messaging that sounds as if it’s been poll-tested to death—because it probably has been.”)
• Utah redistricting: what to know about the order to redraw congressional maps (“A court sent the maps back to the legislature before the 2026 midterms, and new boundaries could favor Democrats”)
• Trump privately presses top Indiana Republicans to redistrict during White House meeting
• NAACP asks court to block new Texas congressional map (“The nation’s largest civil rights organization argues the newly redrawn boundary lines, which the Texas state legislature voted to adopt last week, are ‘racially motivated.'”)
• California Republican leader calls for a ‘two state solution’ amid redistricting battle (Secessionist.)
• Dems Celebrate Breaking MAGA Stranglehold in Deep Red State
• Iowa Democrats win massive upset to break GOP supermajority
• Democrat Catelin Drey wins Iowa Senate special election, breaking Republican supermajority
• Trump wants expanded death penalty, longer control over police in D.C. (As Lisa Desjardins reported on the NewsHour last night, there is ZERO evidence that capital punishment is – as Trump falsely claims – a serious deterrent to crime.)
• National Guard members activated for DC federal takeover seen picking-up trash (That’s not the job of the National Guard.)
• Trump’s law enforcement surge is alienating DC residents, senior officers say
• White House allegedly pressured Gilbert to resign as U.S. attorney in dispute over personnel. Is that normal? (“The power to appoint a new U.S. attorney belongs to the president of the United States, pending confirmation by the Senate. It’s unclear if President Donald Trump will break with that precedent or nominate Virginia’s two Democratic senators’ other pick for the seat.”)
• Sen. Mark Warner, Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08) Rip Trump’s “Blatantly Illegal” “outrageous and unprecedented attempt to fire a member of the independent Federal Reserve” (America continues its rapid descent into lawlessness, authoritarianism, etc. – wake up, everybody!)
• Virginia voter guide: Upcoming special election to fill late Rep. Connolly’s seat
• PHOTOS AND REELS: Congresswoman McClellan and Senator Hashmi Join Advocates in Discussing Impact of SNAP Cuts on State Budget and on the Health of Virginia Families (“Republicans have passed the most substantial cut to SNAP in history because they care more about billionaire tax handouts than they do about hardworking families”)
• Big Ugly Bill puts hundreds of thousands of Virginia families at risk of losing SNAP benefits
• Virginia faces significant infrastructure upgrades to deal with federal Medicaid eligibility requirements (“According to a state study, Virginia’s decentralized Medicaid processing system is already outdated and lacks a way to handle paperwork tied to new work requirements.”)
• NEW TV AD: Winsome Earle-Sears Praises GOP Tax Law That Raises Costs on Virginia Families (Ad features a clip from Earle-Sears’ unhinged, bizarre 2024 Buena Vista Labor Day speech)
• Dispatches from the campaign trail: Earle-Sears answers call with faith, determination (I’m including this just to say, what the hell is the RTD even doing over there? Is this some sort of bad joke?)
• Spanberger, Earle-Sears contrast messaging in ads as race for Virginia governor nears (Typically moronic, lazy, both-sides headline and subhead – and framing overall – by the corporate media. They just suck.)
• Spanberger vows to scrap Youngkin’s immigration order if elected governor (Good!)
• Miyares campaign tries, fails to kick press out of Charlottesville campaign stop
• Where do Virginia candidates stand on in vitro fertilization? (“Reproductive rights, including IVF, are at stake across the commonwealth in November.”)
• Cleo E. Powell elected chief justice of Virginia Supreme Court
• NoVa lawmakers urge SCC to find new options for transmission lines that would cut Ashburn community
• Editorial: Virginia should defend against attacks on our election system (“As President Trump issued his latest broadside against mail-in voting, Virginia election officials again emphasized that our voting system is accurate, reliable and secure”)
• Roanoke City Dems back Rasoul despite former Virginia Speaker’s criticism
• Immigrants at NoVA ICE detention center lack clean drinking water, sufficient food
• Feds claim GMU’s hiring practices violated civil rights law; president’s attorney pushes back
• Wise County voters asked to consider new electric authority
• Northern Va. students launch website to encourage discussion about controversial topics
• CWG Live updates: Spectacular weather on repeat through the holiday weekend (They keep saying the weather’s amazing, except that we need rain pretty badly.)