Monday (3/23) News: “Earth being ‘pushed beyond its limits’ as energy imbalance reaches record high”; “‘Nobody else is responsible’: Trump to blame for Iran crisis, ex-CIA chief says”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, March 24.

• UN issues new climate warning as El Niño looms (What we NEED to do is get off of fossil fuels on an emergency basis. But despite rapid growth in clean power, we are still NOT doing that. Massive FAIL by humanity, and particularly by the fossil fuel industry of course, but also the insatiable demand by people for gas-guzzling cars, sprawl – ergo, car dependent – development, etc.)
• The Balance That Keeps Climate Stable Is Out of Whack, U.N. Report Finds (“The continued burning of fossil fuels is locking heat in Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and land — instead of allowing it to reflect back into space, a new report finds.”)
• Earth being ‘pushed beyond its limits’ as energy imbalance reaches record high (“State of the Climate report finds Earth’s energy has moved dangerously out of balance, with oceans absorbing vast majority of trapped heat”)
• Scientists See Converging Evidence of Antarctic Ice Retreat (“A sediment core spanning millions of years and new modeling studies point to significant ice retreat under temperatures similar to today.” Very, VERY bad!)
• Study links children’s social media use with anxiety and depression in teenage years
• When Hyperglobalization Meets Chaos (“Choke points are everywhere you look”)
• Bonds Lose $2.5 Trillion in Iran War Wipeout That Mirrors 2022
• Iran war energy crisis equal to 70s twin oil shocks and fallout from Ukraine war, says IEA chief (“Fatih Birol says effect on energy markets of Iran bombings and closure of Hormuz strait not initially understood by world leaders”)
• War’s Attacks on Energy Could Turn Economic Shock Into Long-Term Damage (“A new phase targeting oil and gas infrastructure in the Persian Gulf threatens to hurt customers around the world for months or even years.”)
• Oil up 1% as Iran threatens to hit Gulf power plants over Trump warning
• Why Iran’s threat to destroy water facilities could spell disaster for Gulf countries (“Desalination infrastructure is crucial in arid region with very little rainfall and few rivers or lakes”)
• Middle East crisis live: Iran threatens to lay mines across entire Gulf if coasts are attacked as Israel warns war could continue for weeks (“Iran is ramping up its rhetoric on how it would respond to a major attack on the Kharg island or a coastal attack”)
• Oil prices to rise further on Monday as Mideast war escalates
• Trump’s changing course on Strait of Hormuz strategy raises questions about US war preparation
• Iran Threatens to Mine Gulf as Israel Hits Tehran Again
• Trump sets a deadline over the Strait of Hormuz that expires today
• Starmer and Trump discuss need to open Hormuz strait as Israel warns ‘weeks’ of fighting to come
• ‘When will it end?’ The ‘elevator pitch’ oil executives and diplomats are making to the White House in Houston (“At the world’s largest energy industry gathering, there’s one question on top of everyone’s minds.”)
• Iranian Oil, Still Shipping (“And why that says America is losing”)
• Trump threats, U.S. troop build-up raise specter of battle for Hormuz (“Israelis said securing the strait for energy shipments could become the war’s main goal now that regime change and ending Iran’s ability to obtain a nuclear weapon seem out of reach.” So the war goal now is something that wasn’t mentioned at the beginning of Trump’s war of choice, and which could have been avoided if Trump hadn’t launched said war? Brilliant, huh???)
• Israel Thought It Could Spur Rebellion Inside Iran. That Hasn’t Happened. (“President Trump’s hopes that an Israeli plan to ignite an internal uprising against Iran’s theocratic government could bring the war to a swift end have so far been dashed.” So dumb.)
• America and Israel United to Fight Iran. Both Will Pay a Price.
• Treasury Secretary Insists Trump Is “Jiu-Jitsuing the Iranians” (Scott Bessent is seriously, seriously f’ed up.)
• ‘Nobody else is responsible’: Trump to blame for Iran crisis, ex-CIA chief says (“Leon Panetta calls president ‘naive’ over strait of Hormuz closure and says ‘the chickens are coming home to roost’”)
• NATO leader says he expects Europe will come together on Iran (“Mark Rutte also expressed full support for the military campaign against Iran.” Alrighty…)
• The Iranian Prisons Where Bombs Are Threatening Dissidents and Americans (“Airstrikes have damaged complexes used to hold political detainees, according to a Wall Street Journal visual investigation—putting their lives in danger”)
• Israeli settlers target Palestinian villages in occupied West Bank, attacking people and properties (Outrageous and completely unacceptable; Israel’s government needs to crack down HARD on this crap! But of course they won’t, because it’s a far-right/extremist government.)
• Netanyahu hopes destroying Iranian ‘axis of evil’ will rehabilitate his image (“With a 7 October inquiry looming, the Israeli PM’s political career, legacy and personal freedom may all be on the line” Nothing should EVER rehabilitate this heinous, incompetent slimeball’s image.)
• Trump lauds Viktor Orbán as Europe’s far-right leaders gather in Budapest (Horrendous.)
• Merz’s conservatives win key state vote despite far-right surge (“The far-right Alternative for Germany was the biggest winner of the night in terms of vote share gained, deepening its foothold in the west of the country.” UGH.)
• The Billionaire Funding France’s Far Right (“Pierre-Édouard Stérin is financing projects to make France less Muslim, more Catholic and more capitalist. He says his program has trained thousands running for municipal office on Sunday.”)
• 
  Socialist Emmanuel Grégoire elected Paris mayor, as National Rally fails to take key cities
• France’s Socialists hold on to power in major cities in election boost for mainstream
• Jewish charity’s ambulances set on fire. UK police investigate it as an antisemitic attack (Appalling.)
• “Massive step:” State inks deals to deliver more than 1 GW of new wind power ahead of mass coal exodus
• Trump’s Eye Is Already on Cuba (“‘Regime change is lined up,’ awaiting the president’s signal, according to one administration official.”)
• Is Cuba Next? (“Trump’s campaign to topple foreign adversaries encounters a battered but defiant regime.”)
• ICE’s growing detention footprint, and the communities fighting back
• U.S. Flight Attendants Demand Pay for TSA to Keep Airports Secure, Not Create Havoc with ICE
• Immigration agents deploying to airports under border czar as TSA staffing falls short
• What Exactly Will ICE Do at Airports? No One Seems to Know. (“The partial government shutdown and spring break crowds have created a nightmare for travelers—and the GOP.”)
• Tom Homan says ICE agents will assist at crowded airport security points amid TSA staffing shortages (“The White House border czar said he didn’t believe agents would perform security screenings like monitoring X-ray machines.” Completely bonkers.)
• Pressure builds on Congress as DHS shutdown threatens to drag into April (“Long airport lines and a scheduled two-week break are weighing on lawmakers.”)
• GOP cracks in Senate begin to show in DHS shutdown fight
• Senate votes to advance Mullin’s nomination to lead DHS (Pathetic, including by Democrats John Fetterman and Martin Henrich)
• Supreme Court tackles dispute over mail-in ballots ahead of November elections (“Spurred on by Trump’s hostility to mail-in voting, the Republican National Committee says states can’t count ballots that are sent by Election Day but arrive later.”)
• Trump Destroyed the EV Industry, Just When We Need It Most (“Those gas guzzlers he loves sound a lot less appealing when filling them costs $4 a gallon.”)
• Trump’s Recklessness Will ‘Haunt Us for a Generation’
• The SAVE America Act could backfire bigly on MAGA (“It’s a half-baked attempt at election rigging.”)
• ‘A Mass Disaster Nonstop’: Inside the Turmoil at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s C.D.C.
• Doubts from key Republicans on surgeon general test MAHA’s political power (“Casey Means faces pushback from some Republicans over her refusal to forcefully recommend vaccines.”)
• CNN’s “100% MAGA Trump approval” segment omits key nuance for virality (“…that is the wrong place to look for movement. It is also the most misleading version of the story, and shows the downsides of poll journalism that is monetized based on attention instead of accuracy.”)
• CNN Data Guru Is Stunned at Trump’s Economic Approval (“A majority of Americans say that Trump’s policies have left them worse off financially.”)
• Trump’s Civil Service Cuts Are Now Putting Americans in Danger (“The hollowing out of the federal workforce could make it much harder to manage the conflict in Iran, as well as future crises.”)
• Two brutal developments for the journalism that serves democracy (“Plus: Poor judgment in NYT’s wording about Trump’s crude Pearl Harbor ‘joke'”)
• Pete Hegseth is promoting a nihilist cult of death
• New crypto regulations likely to be big favor to the Trump family, industry insiders say (“Regulators narrow securities definitions – a shift that could benefit Trump family’s crypto projects”)
• How Iran emasculated JD Vance (“The vice president’s alignment with Trump risks harming the persona he’s built with manosphere voters ahead of 2028”)
• The design legacy of Trump: Broken vistas, grandiosity and incoherence (“The president’s garish, piecemeal changes to Washington’s urban design and architecture are poised to destroy symbolism upheld for centuries.”)
• Trump installs Christopher Columbus statue on White House grounds (That’s bonkers; Columbus was a major historical figure, of course, but among other things, he “has been criticized both for his brutality and for initiating the depopulation of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, whether by imported diseases or intentional violence…responsible for creating a cycle of ‘murder, violence, and slavery’ to maximize exploitation of the Caribbean islands’ resources, and that Native deaths on the scale at which they occurred would not have been caused by new diseases alone. “
• Republicans fear this Democrat in Georgia Senate race: ‘This guy’s no slouch’ (“Behind closed doors, Republicans have tamped down their hopes of unseating Jon Ossoff, a 39-year-old powerhouse fundraiser, as he seeks another term. “)
• California sheriff running for governor seizes more than a half million ballots from 2025 election (WTF???)
• “A California sheriff seized 650,000 ballots. Election experts say it’s a big deal” (“The real danger is if this becomes some kind of norm or some kind of trend”)
• LaGuardia closed after deadly collision
• Pilot and copilot killed in collision between jet and fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport
• Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA02) Talks Clean Energy — Then Votes Against It (“Another great reason to vote out this Trump cheerleader, and instead elect a Democrat who actually cares about the citizens of VA02”)
• Video: Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) Says Trump “shouldn’t be holding our TSA agents hostage…Republicans continue to block [Democrats’ legislation to pay them]” (Trump “is going to start to feel a lot of pressure as we head into that spring break travel season”)
• General Assembly sends slate of immigration bills to Spanberger’s desk
• Trump’s Plan to Cripple Public Education Faces a Quiet Revolution (“Teachers and state education agencies in Virginia are developing ‘community school’ models that combine academics with community services”)
• Democrat from Lee County: Virginia voters should protect our voice in Washington and vote ‘yes’ (“President Donald Trump and MAGA Republican leaders have openly urged states like Texas, North Carolina and soon Florida to change the rules ahead of the 2026 midterms in order to lock in more Republican seats before voters even cast their ballots. It’s an effort to tilt the playing field in Washington before the election ever begins and to give Virginia voters less of a say in what happens next.”)
• ODU shooting case renews debate over Virginia’s inactive background check law (“Federal charges against gun seller highlight gap left after court ruling halted private-sale checks.”)
• Report says 35% of the jobs in Virginia may be at risk to artificial intelligence. Southside the least impacted, Northern Virginia the most.
• Virginia’s cannabis sales start date: The line between competition and exclusion
• No Kings: Local events, locations, times for March 28 anti-Trump regime protests
• Another year of cuts expected to city projects and programs as Roanoke city manager presents proposed budget Monday
• ‘The real deal’: Hundreds gather at ODU for funeral of Lt. Col. Brandon Shah
• Lego’s $1.5 billion Chesterfield plant takes shape as global hub
• That’s a wrap: Magical UVA Basketball season ends, unfortunately, too soon
• CWG Live: Turning much cooler today before a midweek warmup (“It cools back down by the weekend as temperatures bounce around this week.”)