by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, October 18.
- World’s oceans losing their greenness through global heating, study finds (“Researchers say decline in phytoplankton suggests weakened planetary capacity to absorb carbon dioxide” Dead oceans = Dead humanity)
- Shipping emissions levy shelved as countries bow to US pressure (“Long-planned charge on greenhouse gas emissions postponed as Trump officials accused of intimidation tactics” APPALLING!)
- Exciting results from blood test for 50 cancers (Humans can be simultaneously smart enough to figure out stuff like this, but stupid enough to trash the planet, elect the worst among us like Trump, etc. Bizarre.)
- Ukraine Braces for New Talks Without the Leverage of New Missiles (“President Trump decided against selling Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv, opting instead for talks with Russia. Still, Ukraine’s negotiating position has strengthened.”)
- Zelenskyy holds out hope Trump will still provide Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles
- Trump rejects Zelensky on Tomahawk missiles in “tough” meeting (What is it with Trump and his insane love for war criminal Putin???)
- Backing Off Tomahawk Suggestion, Trump Again Defers to Putin
- With a phone call, Putin appears to change Trump’s mind on Ukraine. Again.
- Trump urges armistice at current battle lines in Ukraine after Zelensky meeting
- Trump To Hold Putin Summit In Budapest – Where Russia Promised Not To Invade Ukraine (Appalling on every level.)
- ‘Let Them Both Claim Victory’ (“The president has boasted that the Ukraine war would be easy to solve. It didn’t look that way today.”)
- White House Gives Wild Response To A Simple Question Asked By HuffPost Reporter (“A simple query about Trump’s choice of location for his upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin set off the president’s spokespeople.”)
- US-China Talks Planned Next Week as Trump Plays Down Tariffs
- ‘We feel betrayed’: Israeli families still seeking return of deceased hostages
- ‘It’s like a nuclear bomb has hit’: shocked Palestinians return home to desolation
- Trump and Maduro are both amassing military forces as tensions build in the Caribbean
- US has seized survivors after strike on suspected drug-carrying vessel in Caribbean, AP sources say
- Prince Andrew gives up his Duke of York title as Epstein allegations refuse to fade
- Trump signs proclamation imposing tariffs on truck and bus imports (Illegal/unconstitutional/stupid – the Trump trifecta.)
- Trump Begs Supreme Court to Let Him Go to War With Chicago
- Trump’s Secret Police Shot a Citizen. Then Damning New Info Emerged. (“As President Donald Trump’s consolidation of authoritarian power escalates, he and his allies have been employing undisguised state-sponsored propaganda to a degree unmatched by any president in modern times.”)
- Supreme Court gets first chance to weigh Trump’s bid to deploy National Guard
- Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow deployment of National Guard in Chicago area
- Supreme Court to run out of funding due to shutdown
- Judges don’t trust DOJ anymore
- Voting Rights Act faces a near-death experience at US Supreme Court (Illegitimate/extremist Supreme Court.)
- The Voting Rights Act Is in Brett Kavanaugh’s Hands. God Help Us
- Public Health Professor Warns Trump’s ‘Eugenics’ Policy Echoes Nazism (“Eminent ER doctor says Trump’s shutdown push defies the law.”)
- Higher Obamacare Prices Become Public in a Dozen States
- Trump Is Exploiting the Shutdown to Set Up Something Truly Terrifying
- Trump admin cancels more than $11 billion in mostly blue state projects (Illegal/unconstitutional/stupid)
- Food Stamp Benefits May Run Out in November, Officials Warn
- The Shutdown is Stretching On. Trump Doesn’t Seem to Mind.
- There Are Lessons From the Nixon Era in Trump’s Attempts to Freeze Spending (“Half a century ago, Congress protected its power of the purse, and conservatives balked at letting presidents disobey lawmakers’ instructions.”)
- Barack Obama tries to rally Americans to defend their democracy
- They’re Teachers, Nurses, Mennonites, and Marines. The Trump Administration Calls Them Antifa. (“The No King protests represent a broad popular front. That’s exactly why the president’s allies are demonizing the organizers.”)
- Defiant Democrats embrace ‘No Kings’ rallies: ‘As American as motherhood, baseball and apple pie’ (Correct!)
- Millions expected across all 50 US states to march in No Kings protests against Trump (“Events scheduled in more than 2,700 locations, from small towns to large cities, aligning behind message that the US is sliding into authoritarianism”)
- Biggest US labor unions fuel No Kings protests against Trump: ‘You need a voice to have freedom’
- Maga is painting Saturday’s protests as violent treason. Prove them wrong (“Trump allies would love an excuse to step up their crackdown. Nonviolence, both disciplined and open-hearted, must define the day”)
- Ex-Trump adviser John Bolton pleads not guilty to sharing classified information
- White House Hires ‘Stop the Steal’ Lawyer to Investigate 2020 Election Claims (Insanity.)
- With shutdown cuts, Trump moves closer to eliminating Education Department (Illegal, unconstitutional, harmful and insane. Pretty much sums up this heinous administration.)
- Inside Pete Hegseth’s “Soviet-Style” War on the Press (“The secretary of defense is alienating key allies amid his war against the press.”)
- Fact check: Trump falsely claims no other president has ever ended a war
- The Depth of MAGA’s Moral Collapse (“How we got to ‘I love Hitler.'”)
- Isn’t It Time to End the “Good People” Rhetoric? (“Whatever is left in this Republican Party is entirely obeisant to their authoritarian, kleptocratic overlord. This is the world we now live in, and the sooner we learn how to operate in this new world, the better our chances of survival.”)
- Who Knew That a Fracking Executive Was a Bad Choice for Secretary of Energy? (This guy is EVIL INCARNATE, totally destroying the Energy Department, all American credibility on the climate crisis, etc.)
- New York State Young Republicans disbanded after racist group chat
- New York Republicans suspend Young Republicans group after release of offensive group chat
- Trump Selfie Snub Triggered MAGA Civil War That Leaked Racist Young Republican Chat
- Trump commutes sentence of former US Rep. George Santos in federal fraud case (That’s completely corrupt and f’ed up.)
- Trump orders disgraced former congressman George Santos released from prison
- Fox News employees expressed concerns network was intentionally aiding Trump, legal filings reveal
- Epstein had dinners with a top Florida prosecutor on his case, docs show
- White House joins Bluesky and immediately trolls Trump opponents
- Bernie-backed Maine Senate candidate melts down (In general, if Bernie Sanders endorses somebody, it’s often a red flag.)
- The Politics Hour: Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks on the local impact of the shutdown
- Prosecutor Who Rejected Trump’s Pressure to Charge James Is Fired (“Ms. Yusi, who oversaw major criminal cases in the Norfolk office of the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, had pushed back against Mr. Trump’s public calls for Ms. James to be indicted, telling colleagues that she had not found probable cause to file charges, the people familiar with the matter said. It was not immediately clear why her deputy, Kristin G. Bird, had also been fired.”)
- Trump-appointed prosecutor ousts 2 more top attorneys from Virginia office: Sources (“Earlier this month, two other prosecutors in the office were fired.”)
- Pete Barlow to Sixth District Democrats: Let’s be the big tent party
- Spanberger Statement on New Report Highlighting Virginia’s Weak Economic Growth, Projected Highest Unemployment Rate Since 2020 (“My opponent has cheered on these cuts, minimized these job losses, and brushed off the uncertainty facing Virginians that’s clearly reflected in this new report.”)
- Prosecutor Who Rejected Trump’s Pressure to Charge James Is Fired
- Youngkin activates National Guard ahead of ‘No Kings’ rallies, but not to protect protestors (FU Youngkin.)
- Taking the temperature of the Jay Jones-Jason Miyares AG race: It’s pretty much Sophie’s choice (“Meanwhile, we have Jason Miyares, whose more tangible sins include using taxpayer funds to pick on trans swimmers, hosting Trump/Epstein apologist Pam Bondi at a human-trafficking forum, helping the Trumpers dismantle DEI offices at our state-run colleges and universities, bulling hospitals to suspend gender-affirming care for trans teens, taking the right to vote away from thousands of Virginians, and I’m leaving a lot out here.”)
- Reid says Hashmi win in 2025 election will lead to ‘abortion tourism’ in Virginia
- Commentary: Make it easier, not harder, to protect Virginia’s public lands
- BREAKING: University of Virginia Rejects Trump’s “Compact”; Says It Would “undermine the integrity of vital…research” and “further erode confidence in American higher education”
- UVA says no to Trump compact, asserts funding should be based solely on merit
- ‘We are not a dog’: UVa refuses to sign Trump compact
- University of Virginia Won’t Join White House’s Compact for Colleges
- UVA joins MIT, UPenn, Brown and USC in refusing to sign Trump administration deal
- ‘We reject the compact’: UVA community speaks out at National Day of Action
- University of Virginia declines Trump deal for priority federal funding
- ‘Shame on UVA’: Student producer fired for asking hard questions of interim president
- Gas Plant That’s Part of PJM’s Fast-Tracked Process Is Getting Pushback in Virginia
- Fairfax County Public Schools’ Interim Findings: “2021 allegations [of a teacher allegedly encouraging/facilitating “student abortions without parental knowledge or consent”] are likely untrue” (Also: “Evidence discussed herein suggests that Attorney General Miyares’s Office may have known of these allegations a year or more ago and declined (possibly for jurisdictional reasons) to investigate”)
- Fairfax report says school-assisted abortion allegations are likely untrue (If you read the report, clearly the “allegations” are not even untrue, they are completely fabricated, unhinged, etc. And the fact that some in the media, plus Youngkin/Miyares/etc, just ran with this crap shows everyone EXACTLY who and what they are.)
- Fairfax County Public Schools lawyers’ internal probe refutes school-assisted abortion allegations (“A state police investigation is still underway following allegations reported by a conservative blogger that Centreville High School staff helped students obtain abortions without parental consent.”)
- CWG Live updates: Quite nice today and warm on Sunday before showers late