by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, October 21. Just two weeks until election day.
- Mosquitoes found in Iceland for first time as climate crisis warms country (“Three specimens discovered in what was previously one of the only places in the world without the insects”)
- Massive Amazon cloud outage has been resolved after disrupting internet use worldwide
- EU closes in on deal to use Russian frozen assets to fund Ukraine (“Belgium will give the nod for the Commission to put forward a legal proposal outlining the €140 billion Ukraine loan.” It’s about time!)
- Ukraine allies to Trump: Yes to freezing the line, no to changing borders (“Joint statement from U.K., Germany, France, Italy and the EU comes after U.S. president holds tense meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.”)
- Trump’s hope for quick second summit with Putin may be stalled as pre-meeting tabled for now (There’s absolutely ZERO justification to hold a summit with war criminal Putin…certainly not now, probably not ever.)
- Trump keeps getting played by Putin. Will Budapest be different? (Nope.)
- Japan elects first female leader, a hawk who promotes ‘Japan First’ (“After some last-minute political maneuvering, Sanae Takaichi became Japan’s prime minister just days before President Donald Trump arrives in the country.”)
- U.S. Banks Are Hunting for Collateral to Back $20 Billion Argentina Bailout
- French ex-president Sarkozy goes to jail for campaign finance conspiracy (Trump committed MUCH worse crimes than Sarkozy, but not only didn’t go to jail, he was allowed to run for president again and WON! WTF???)
- Can a U.S.-Australia Partnership Shake China’s Grip on Rare Earths?
- ‘I don’t like you either’: diplomats hold their breath as Trump chides Rudd over previous comments (“President’s comments were greeted with laughter as diplomatic pressure valve finally released”)
- Ecuador says it has no evidence that survivor of US strike in Caribbean committed any crime (“He was released by authorities in the South American nation.” So the Trump administration is now just murdering innocent people.)
- Erdogan turns Trump’s Gaza deal into a power play for Turkey
- White House Scrambles to Preserve Gaza Deal Amid Concerns About Netanyahu
- Vance Heads to Israel as U.S. Tries to Shore Up Gaza Truce (Vance is a bad joke.)
- Hamas, diminished but not destroyed, reasserts itself in Gaza (“The group still commands thousands of fighters, but the war has taken a toll on its weapons supplies and its political future is uncertain.”)
- Nations Hesitate to Send Troops to Gaza, Fearing Clashes With Hamas (Hamas has to go for the cease fire to hold, let alone for massive reconstruction aid to start flowing in.)
- 9th Circuit Rules for Trump, Potentially Allowing National Guard to Deploy to Portland (“The decision was a 2-1 split, with the two Trump appointees overturning the district court’s conclusion that the conditions on the ground did not fulfill the statutory requirements to deploy the Guard. A judge on the 9th Circuit requested a vote for a full court rehearing of the case shortly after the ruling was published.”)
- Appeals Court Ruling Allows Trump to Deploy National Guard Troops to Portland
- US appeals court lets Trump send troops to Portland
- ICE’s ‘Athletically Allergic’ Recruits (“Push-ups, sit-ups, and a brisk jog pose a threat to Trump’s deportation campaign.”)
- Money, muscles and anxiety: why the manosphere clicked with young men – a visual deep dive
- Exclusive: Wide-ranging group of US officials pursues Trump’s fight against ‘Deep State’ (“Source says focus on retribution for J6 and Trump prosecutions, Russia probe — Documents show nearly 40 people involved from across government” Horrific.)
- GOP leaders map out potential Obamacare extension as hard-liners warm to health talks
- Government Shutdown With No Clear End Poses New Economic Threat
- GOP senators balk at Trump targeting blue states
- Shutdown impacts are escalating with no end in sight
- Senate to vote on immediately paying feds working during shutdown as funding deal remains elusive
- Some Republican Senators Entertain Nuking the Filibuster to End the Shutdown
- Republicans broach a longer stopgap bill as shutdown enters fourth week
- Trump nominee says MLK Jr. holiday belongs in ‘hell’ and that he has ‘Nazi streak,’ according to texts (“Paul Ingrassia’s bid to lead a whistleblower agency is set for a Senate confirmation hearing Thursday.” Pure evil.)
- Republicans set to reject Trump nominee Ingrassia after offensive texts
- Rick Scott will oppose embattled Trump nom Ingrassia (“The nominee to lead the White House Office of Special Counsel is under scrutiny for sexual harassment and antisemitic and racist remarks.”)
- Exclusive: Trump judicial nominee “indefinitely” stalled by criminal probe (Only the scummiest, most extreme, f’ed-up people would want to work for the second Trump administration?)
- MAGA Beauty Queen Prosecutor’s Disastrous Signal Texts Revealed (“Lindsey Halligan tried to argue that everything she wrote was off the record—after the fact.”)
- “Anna, Lindsey Halligan Here.” (“My Signal exchange with the interim U.S. attorney about the Letitia James grand jury.” Bizarre.)
- Donald Trump’s “No Kings” sewage video is no joke (“The president’s scatological video shows his contempt for democracy”)
- Trump Posted a Video of Himself Dumping Excrement on Our Cities. It’s a Glimpse of His Deepest Drives.
- Why Trump Turned to the Sewer (“The president’s disturbing, excremental propaganda campaign”)
- Why the ‘No Kings’ Protests Matter (“Huge demonstrations won’t translate into immediate political results, but there’s a reason the president is so bothered by them.”)
- Everyone Laughs at Poop-Smeared Mike Johnson in AI Vengeance Video
- All but 2 Universities Decline a Trump Offer of Preferential Funding (“One of the two, Vanderbilt University, signaled it had reservations”)
- University of Arizona becomes seventh US college to reject Trump’s ‘compact’
- Donald Trump Mansplains To Female Journalist: ‘If You Knew Anything…’ (How any woman could support misogynist Trump is just mind boggling.)
- White House’s East Wing partially demolished as work begins on Trump’s $250m ballroom (“Ex-congressman calls major renovation ‘utter desecration’ as demolition in East Wing reportedly under way”)
- Trump Goons Rage at Backlash to White House Demolition Job
- White House begins demolishing East Wing facade to build Trump’s ballroom
- Treasury Tells Employees Not to Share Photos of White House Ballroom Construction
- The White House starts demolishing part of the East Wing to build Trump’s ballroom
- The White House starts demolishing part of the East Wing to build Trump’s ballroom
- The leaked Young Republican group chat points toward a bigger problem (“Leading right-wing figures are debating: Has blatant antisemitism become worryingly normalized among the young right?” Heinous people.)
- Comey Moves To Dismiss
- Comey seeks to have indictment tossed for vindictive prosecution, questions about prosecutor’s appointment
- Joe Biden completes round of radiation therapy for prostate cancer (“Daughter Ashley calls father, 82, ‘so damn brave’ after treatment at UPenn clinic for aggressive cancer form”)
- The New York Times Argues “Moving to the Center Is the Way to Win.” But the Data Shows the Strategy Is Tapped Out.
- Maine Democrat running to unseat Susan Collins to stay in race after discovery of Reddit postings
- Dem Senate candidate embraced “antifa supersoldier” label
- Georgia’s Sweeping Anti-Voting Law Suppressed Black Votes, New Data Shows
- Newsom says Trump ‘endangering people’s lives’ as shutdown hits food benefits
- Virginia’s GDP growth drops from 6.2% to 1.7%. Three new economic reports issue warnings about why and what comes next. (“The reports also suggest the state may be losing high-wage jobs but gaining lower-wage jobs.”)
- Weldon Cooper Center forecast sees higher unemployment in Virginia
- A measure of Virginia unemployment claims from federal employees is rising
- Virginia hospitals, clinics brace for federal health care changes (“In Part Two of The Mercury’s Pulse Check series, we explore how hospitals, clinics and nonprofits are grappling with various federal funding cuts to public health”)
- Video: On Air Force One, Unhinged Trump Calls Jay Jones an “Animal” Who Should “Be Put in Prison”; Says Winsome Earle-Sears “Should Win” and Laughably Claims If She Does, “your energy is going to be coming down by 70%, 80%” WTF???
- Trump on Jay Jones: ‘Animal,’ ‘third-rate intellect,’ should be ‘in prison’ (“Black folks, to Trump, are animals, third-rate intellects, and they need to be in prison.”)
- NEW: Spanberger Announces 11-Day “Virginia Votes Bus Tour” on Road to Victory (“From October 25 Until Election Day, Spanberger Will Make Stops in All 11 of Virginia’s Congressional Districts as Part of 40-Plus-Stop Tour”)
- Commentary: Abigail Spanberger shows how to get things done for our communities
- As election looms, work begins for inauguration, transition
- Video: New Ad by Jay Jones Campaign Says (Accurately) That “Jason Miyares Is Trump’s Attorney, Not Ours” (The bottom line, as Chris Graham of the Augusta Free Press puts it: “four more years of Jason Miyares as AG means four more years of wasting our taxpayer dollars on frivolous pro-Trump lawsuits”)
- Analysis: Can John Reid survive a ‘Nazi Porn Scandal’ and become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor?
- More than 900 furloughed federal workers filed for Virginia unemployment
- Merck to invest $3 billion in Elkton expansion, adding up to 500 jobs in Shenandoah Valley
- Data centers dominate House District 21 race between Thomas and Gorham
- Judge approves near-$1M settlement against Roanoke County police
- ‘Slapping us in the face:’ Roanokers, local officials speak against casino
- CWG Live updates: Mild and breezy today with a shower possible late, then cooler (“Highs could reach 70 today before below-normal temperatures the rest of the week.”)