by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, September 4.
- Fossil-Fueled Climate Heating Set the Stage for Devastating Fires in Spain and Portugal This Summer (“New research shows the links between human-caused warming and rising fire risks in Europe, and offers a path toward a more resilient future.”)
- Spain and Portugal wildfire weather made 40 times more likely by climate crisis, study finds (“Wildfires were 30% more intense than would have been expected without global heating, scientists say”)
- Donald Trump Has Destroyed American Foreign Policy (“He really wants the Nobel Peace Prize. He deserves the opposite.”)
- As U.S. Adversaries Bond in Beijing, Trump Grows Frustrated With Putin
- Kyiv’s Allies Fear Putin Is Readying New Assault in Ukraine (Time for Ukraine’s allies to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine? Send in their own militaries?)
- Allies ready to support Ukraine before and after peace deal, says UK
- Macron says ‘Coalition of the Willing’ will finalise ‘robust’ Ukrainian security guarantees
- Taiwan accuses China of breaching international law over drilling
- China spectacle shows dangers of Trump’s high-risk trade policy
- A parade and a summit in China underscore how European security will never be the same again (“The leaders who gathered in China may not agree on everything. Some of them may not even like each other very much. But they are seeing the opportunity of a lifetime to end Western dominance of the global stage. And Europe fears it could be in the firing line.”)
- Xi and Putin discuss organ transplants and immortality in hot mic moment (Just imagine f’ing Vladimir Putin living forever? Nightmare.)
- Chinese Cyberattack May Have Stolen Data From Almost Every American (“Information collected during the yearslong Salt Typhoon attack could allow Beijing to track targets from the U.S. and dozens of other countries.”)
- Israeli military database indicates only a quarter of Gaza detainees are fighters
- Trump Is Crossing a Line That Dates Back to the Revolution (“A missile strike in the Caribbean and National Guard deployments are pushing the armed forces beyond their traditional mission.”)
- Legal Issues Raised by a Lethal U.S. Military Attack in the Caribbean
- Trump Administration Says Boat Strike Is Start of Campaign Against Venezuelan Cartels (“The defense secretary and President Trump said a small boat was carrying drugs but offered little evidence and few details.” Of course, nobody should believe literally a single word Trump or Hegseth says on ANY topic!)
- Exclusive: Guatemalan document undercuts US claims on child deportations
- Trump appeals to the Supreme Court to preserve his sweeping tariffs
- Trump asks Supreme Court to quickly take up tariffs case and reverse ruling finding them illegal
- Trump Is Trying to Blackmail the Supreme Court (“The legal arguments for Trump’s tariffs are weak, so he’s arguing their rejection would bring ruin.”)
- Exclusive: RFK Jr. and the White House buried a major study on alcohol and cancer. Here’s what it shows.
- CDC Turmoil Intensifies Ahead of RFK Jr. Hearing (“Agency staffers are concerned about Kennedy’s vaccine policies, other changes; some fear a mass exodus”)
- Joint statement calling for Secretary Kennedy resignation
- RFK Jr.’s Victory Lap (“The health secretary is showing this week what he’s willing to do with his power.”)
- GOP unease with RFK Jr. builds ahead of high-profile hearing (Well then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT you cowards!)
- Inside Trump’s Unorthodox Climate Attacks in Courts Nationwide (Gotta love the adjectives the NY Times comes up with to describe fascism – in this case, “unorthodox”)
- Solar and Storage Industry Releases Policy Agenda to Strengthen America’s Electric Grid with Solar and Storage
- White House Orders Agencies to Escalate Fight Against Offshore Wind (This is completely insane.)
- Trump’s Department of Energy Gets Scienced (“International climate experts have extensively debunked the D.O.E.’s recent report, but will science win out?”)
- Cooking the Federal Reserve’s Credibility (“Did Wile E. Coyote just make a cameo appearance?”)
- Chief Justice John Roberts is wary of entering political fray, his top adviser says (Yeah, sure, ok dude.)
- In rare interviews, federal judges criticize Supreme Court’s handling of Trump cases (“Ten judges tell NBC News the Supreme Court needs to explain its rulings better, with some urging Chief Justice John Roberts to do more to defend the judiciary against external criticism.”)
- Democrats Can’t Afford to Ignore Trump’s Creeping Fascism (“Their approach implicitly legitimizes Trump’s lawlessness as relatively unimportant.” Yep, Democrats are completely f’ing up.)
- Harvard wins landmark victory over Trump administration (“Federal judge said Trump used antisemitism as a ‘smokescreen’ to attack the university and freeze over $2 billion in federal funding”)
- Judge Hands Victory to Harvard in Funding Lawsuit, Ruling Trump Administration’s Freeze Unconstitutional
- Judge rules Trump administration cannot withhold funding from Harvard
- Judge Rules Trump Administration Illegally Canceled Harvard Funding
- FIRE statement on ruling that Trump’s funding freeze for Harvard was unlawful
- Epstein Survivor Nukes Trump in Emotional Speech as WH Quietly Panics (“As pressure mounts on Trump and the GOP to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, a senior House Democrat explains why Republicans will have a very hard time maintaining the cover-up for much longer.”)
- Epstein Survivors Begged Trump to Release Their Files. He Called It a “Hoax.”
- Donald Trump killed the Jeffrey Epstein story on the right (“MAGA propagandists care about Trump, not principles or victims”)
- The Epstein Files Belong to the Victims, Too. It’s Time to Release Everything.
- Trump, Who Campaigned On Releasing Epstein Files, Gets Roasted For Calling Them A ‘Democrat Hoax’
- Epstein Survivors Are Compiling a List of His Associates: ‘We Know the Names’
- Jeffrey Epstein survivors put pressure on MAGA, Trump to release files
- Nancy Mace Turns Back on Epstein Survivors to Defend Trump (Anyone in the media who ever claimed Mace was some sort of reasonable “moderate” needs to resign or be fired, immediately.)
- Call Me Crazy, but I for One Still Want to Know if the President Committed Depraved Sex Crimes (“It’s in the public’s interest to find out one way or another, IMO.”)
- The MAGA Influencers Rehabilitating Hitler (“A growing constituency on the right wants America to unlearn the lessons of World War II.”)
- Smithsonian Responds to Trump’s Demand for a Review of Its Exhibits
- Why Donald Trump Death Rumors and Health Conspiracies Will Keep Going Viral
- Trump to host tech CEOs for first event in newly renovated Rose Garden
- Trump administration trolls former White House officials on LinkedIn
- Navy reverses demotion of Rep. Ronny Jackson, former White House doctor (This guy is heinous.)
- The Bari Market (“With Paramount securely in his pocket, David Ellison is on the verge of acquiring Bari Weiss’s The Free Press and tossing her the keys to CBS News. The deal is on the 1-yard line, I’m told.” So much for CBS…Walter Cronkite must be violently tossing around in his grave.)
- House fails to censure LaMonica McIver in shock vote
- Trump’s DOJ seeks voting equipment in Missouri ahead of 2026 election (“The unusual request for equipment used by two Republican counties in the 2020 election comes soon after Trump said he would lead a movement to get rid of voting machines.”)
- Colorado issues orders allowing people to get a COVID vaccination this year without a prescription (Virginia should do the same, as soon as Spanberger becomes governor!)
- Florida plans to become first state to eliminate all childhood vaccine mandates
- The National Guard Soldier Pissed About Trump’s DC Takeover (“This is an encroachment on everything we signed up for and it feels like a violation.” Correct!)
- DC National Guard troops have orders extended through December, official says
- House GOP weighing bills to remove elected D.C. AG, overhaul justice policies
- Trump Advisers Have Discussed a Job for Adams if He Quits Mayor’s Race (“The conversations have also involved finding a place for Curtis Sliwa with the goal of giving Andrew Cuomo a better chance of defeating Zohran Mamdani in November.”)
- NYC Mayor Eric Adams faces a decision: A Trump administration post to drop his reelection campaign (“The embattled New York City mayor was offered a HUD post, a person familiar with the talks tells POLITICO.”)
- Former Rep. Madison Cawthorn plots return to Congress
- Florida to end vaccine mandates for children as state’s surgeon general likens them to ‘slavery’ (So…Florida’s Surgeon General is completely insane. Great.)
- Malcolm Gladwell Speaks Out Against Trans Athletes, Reversing Past Statements: “I’m Ashamed” (Apparently Gladwell reached his own personal “Tipping Point” LOL)
- Classified intelligence meeting blocked after far-right activist criticism, US Democrat says
- Mark Warner says spy agency visit canceled over posts by Laura Loomer
- Sen. Mark Warner: Laura Loomer interfered in my day job
- Video: Sen. Mark Warner Asks, “if you’ve got to pass the Laura Loomer litmus test to go visit a a federal facility that’s in your home state, what in hell have we come to?” (“…if that’s where this…is headed…this is a brave new world and it’s not a good new world.”)
- Sen. Mark Warner Rips Laura Loomer as “a figure with a long history of extreme and outlandish fringe views, including 9/11 denialism, anti-Muslim harassment campaigns, and associations with white supremacists.”
- Williams: This meteorologist wants to make America safe for science again
- Virginia consumer sentiment edges up, but expectations go down
- As Dept. of Ed prepares for new academic benchmarks, education leaders call for more transparency (“Board of Ed President says cut score approval expected no later than October”)
- Video: As 350,000 Virginians Face Medicaid Cuts, Winsome Earle-Sears Outright Lies, Claims “there are no Virginians who are going to lose Medicaid coverage in Virginia unless that’s something that they choose” (WTF???)
- Spanberger: “The Trump Administration’s sledgehammer approach to governing is hurting Virginia,” This Time with the Withdrawal of More Than $39 MIllion for Norfolk Wind Project (“Virginia Deserves a Governor Whose Focus Is on Delivering for Our Communities — Not Kowtowing to a President Who Is Willfully Unraveling Our Commonwealth’s Economy”)
- Democrats launch tour to hold Earle-Sears accountable for downplaying Trump’s job cuts
- Editorial: Virginia faces a worsening crunch as housing prices soar (A lot of this is due to “NIMBYs” who oppose transit-oriented, high-density smart growth.)
- Federal ‘Yes In God’s Backyard’ bill could help Va. faith-based groups build affordable housing
- Virginia legislators take first look at possible AI laws ahead of 2026 session
- New data shows Virginia continues to lag behind national average on teacher pay
- Virginia’s data center boom tests clean energy law (“Exploding electricity needs are pushing Virginia’s largest utility to seek new gas plants — despite a state mandate to eliminate fossil fuels by 2045.”)
- Buena Vista has become a political symbol in Virginia. Here’s why it’s both a challenge and an opportunity for Democrats.
- What really happened in Buena Vista: A Democratic perspective (“The story of Labor Day in Buena Vista wasn’t about ‘heckling.’ It was about people who are ‘tired of being told to sit down, be quiet, and wait their turn while little ever changes.'”)
- Rooftop solar rules remain mostly unchanged for future Appalachian Power customers
- Getting to know Elizabeth Guzman | Can she flip the competitive 22nd District seat?
- Loudoun schools superintendent stands behind DEI programs. Here’s a look at one for girls
- Fairfax County awaits guidance on potential fallout of reduced federal support for Medicaid
- Fairfax Co. holds off on considering potential changes to trash pickup to address misinformation
- Trump administration pulls $39M from Norfolk wind energy project
- CWG Live updates: Heating up into the weekend with storm chances late today and Saturday (“It turns cooler again Sunday into next week.”)