by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, April 25. Also, check out the video by the Lincoln Project, “Republicans F*cked Around And Found Out: Dems Win BIG In Virginia Redistricting.” Among other things, they talk about how f’ed up the Bezos Post is: ” They go out of their way these days to not play it up the middle, but to play it into the right pocket. and they desperately don’t want to piss off the White House. Why? Because Jeff Bezos wants to get licenses for his rockets and for his satellite constellation. Yes, Elon wants those too, but Jeff’s as well. And to not have any Federal Trade Commission investigations into Amazon’s pricing practices and to be able to build data centers and all that garbage. So, the Post is going to do all that garbage. And and it’s such a shame my because it’s like it’s a paper I grew up…”
- What is a ‘super El Niño’ and what might it mean for the global climate? (“In this week’s newsletter: Experts are predicting a stronger version of the weather pattern this year, which could supercharge extreme events and see temperature rises breach 1.5C” DISASTROUS.)
- Soundtrack of the sea: divers use underwater speakers to help dying coral reefs
- As the UN Global Climate Talks Lose Momentum, a Smaller Coalition Eyes a Fossil Fuel Exit (“More than 50 countries will gather in Colombia to try to develop real-world timetables to phase out oil and gas amid global energy shocks and petrostate stalling.”)
- GOP Lawmakers Are Pushing “Alarming” Bills to Shield Big Oil From Climate Liability (““They’re saying it out front: ‘You can’t hold us accountable.’’””)
- The AI Industry Is Discovering That the Public Hates It
- French PR Executive Behind Facebook Network Spreading Heat Pump Hate (Why does Meta/Zuckerberg allow this crap???)
- Trump intends to invite Putin to G-20 summit in Miami, officials say (Putin needs to be ARRESTED, actually, if he steps foot in the U.S. – or any other country that isn’t a Putin puppet state!)
- World’s Top Producer of Condoms Raises Prices as Iran War Rattles Supply Chains (“The Malaysian company Karex, which produces about five billion condoms a year, said it was raising prices by 30 percent because of higher raw material prices and global shipping disruptions.”)
- How the Iran War Is Morphing Into a Volatile Standoff in the Strait of Hormuz (“The conflict has morphed into a volatile standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, as the economic costs mount and President Trump faces a political backlash at home.”)
- Trump is facing an increasingly patient Iran (“The war may have benefitted Iran’s regime politically, at least for the moment, despite the assassinations of senior figures and heavy U.S.-Israeli bombing, sources tell NBC News.” So FAR from “regime change,” as Trump had promised, he’s managed to ENTRENCH this horrible regime even further! What a f’ing moron.)
- Third U.S. aircraft carrier arrives in waters near Iran
- Iran deploys more mines in the Strait of Hormuz, sources say
- Trump and the Iran Deal That Wasn’t (“It’s tough to reach an agreement with a President whose word is not his bond.”)
- Analysis: The US protected ships from Iran in the Strait of Hormuz in the ‘80s. Could it again?
- What does Trump mean when he warns, ‘Don’t rush me’ in Iran?
- Trump Talks Up Iran Blockade as Israel-Lebanon Truce Extended
- Israel-Lebanon ceasefire extended by 3 weeks, Trump says (“Global oil prices were above $100 a barrel for a third day as the president again refused to give a timeline for resolving the war with Iran.”)
- Trump news at a glance: a tale of two blockades as US and Iran spin their control over strait of Hormuz (“US report warns it could take six months to clear strait of mines as Trump declares ‘total control’ over key waterway – key US politics stories from Thursday 23 April at a glance”)
- Nato says ‘no provision’ to expel members after report US could seek to suspend Spain
- Exclusive: Pentagon email floats suspending Spain from NATO, other steps over Iran rift, source says
- Iran War Has Drained U.S. Supplies of Critical, Costly Weapons (“The Pentagon’s rush to rearm its Mideast forces makes it less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China, administration and congressional officials say.” CRAZY!)
- Iran War Complicates Contingency Plans to Defend Taiwan, Some U.S. Officials Say (“Fully replacing stockpiles of weapons fired in the Middle East could take up to six years”)
- China to Curb US Investment in Tech Companies After Meta Deal
- Netanyahu may finally be in trouble (“The Israeli leader faces an uphill battle in this year’s elections.”)
- India voices anger after Trump shares comments calling it a ‘hellhole’ (“Foreign ministry says remarks of conservative podcast host Michael Savage that were shared by US president were ‘obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste’”)
- Conservative super PAC threatens to unseat Republicans over immigration bill (“House Republicans are facing a fresh challenge in the 2026 midterms: the Homeland Political Action Committee, a new conservative super PAC targeting Republican members of Congress who support immigration reform legislation.”)
- GOP senators ratchet up pressure on Speaker Johnson to quickly end DHS shutdown
- Senate Republicans Have a Plan to Suspend Congressional Oversight of ICE for Trump’s Whole Term
- Justice Dept. Targets Hundreds of Citizens in New Push for Denaturalization (WTF???)
- ICE detention center expansion sparks national protest (“The push to block ICE’s plans to expand detention centers is fueling a coordinated national day of protests on Saturday.”)
- Kristi Noem Has Continued Using a Waterfront Coast Guard House Since Ouster (Get her the hell outta there ASAP!)
- RFK Jr.’s rejection of germ theory debunked in Senate hearing (“Kennedy falsely argues that vaccines did little to lower childhood deaths.” RFK Jr. is unhinged.)
- The ‘Make America Healthy Again’ Movement Is Cooling on Trump and Republicans (“Vaccine skeptics, ‘organic moms’ and anti-pesticide activists came together to elect President Trump. But some voters are disillusioned and might not turn out again.”)
- ‘Two ways of calculating’: Trump defends his mathematically impossible calculations on drug prices
- The Surprising Reason Thom Tillis Is Ready to Block Trump A.G. Nominee (“the principle here is that anybody who didn’t back the blue on January 6th is disqualified from consideration for me in the Judiciary Committee.”)
- Todd Blanche Targets Trump’s Enemies Amid Jockeying to Lead Justice Dept. (Blanche is heinous.)
- A Bill to Gut Endangered Species Protections Faced a Major Setback This Week (“The U.S. House of Representatives unexpectedly canceled a vote on a bill that would defang the Endangered Species Act.”)
- Disapproval of Trump Hits Highest Level of His Second Term
- White House eases mandatory requirements for preserving presidential records (How can they legally “ease” MANDATORY requirements???)
- Inside the Navy Secretary’s Last-Ditch Bid to Save His Job (“John Phelan refused to accept his dismissal until he heard from the president”)
- Trump’s Dreams for a Battleship Led to His Navy Secretary’s Ouster (“The Navy secretary, John Phelan, was supposed to deliver the first of the president’s ships by 2028. The timeline was nearly impossible.”)
- “So, the guy [Hung Cao] who thinks that witches have taken over California is now the acting Secretary of the Navy? Super.” (Election denier, climate denier, far-right extremist, called multiple African nations “nasty countries,” said the US doesn’t need NATO, etc, etc.)
- New Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao didn’t let witchcraft happen to Virginia, at least
- US gambling addiction is ‘out of control’ as betting markets boom, policy expert warns (“The gambling crisis ‘demands a public health response’ and should be regulated like alcohol or tobacco, expert says”)
- DOJ arrests soldier who made $400,000 betting on Maduro’s removal (“Gannon Ken Van Dyke, who allegedly placed the bet, helped with Maduro’s capture.”)
- U.S. Soldier Charged With Using Classified Information to Bet on Maduro’s Ouster
- Pentagon fires ombudsman overseeing military newspaper after calling it ‘woke’
- The Pentagon is trying to silence me
- A Flailing President Seeks a Hellhole Airline (“Donald Trump wants to buy Spirit Airlines. Honestly, they deserve each other.”)
- A Dispiriting Airline Bailout (“There’s no economic justification for the government to save Spirit Airlines.”)
- Trump Faces Conservative Mutiny Over Potential $500M Spirit Airlines Bailout (“Republican Sen. Ted Cruz called it a ‘TERRIBLE idea.'”)
- Kash Patel’s futile quest for validation (“The FBI director tries to force his popularity on the American public and media — and it backfires”)
- How Elon Musk Used SpaceX to Benefit Himself and His Businesses
- Elon Musk’s near-daily online posts about race are turning off some fans (“Elon Musk posted almost daily about race on X in recent months, a Washington Post analysis found, at times sharing views experts said echoed white supremacy.” Gotta love the Bezos Post hiding behind “experts said” language, instead of just saying flat-out that Musk is – obviously, clearly, etc. – a white supremacist. Pathetic “mainstream” media as always.)
- A New Worry for Republicans: Latino Catholics Offended by Trump (“In 2024, the president made significant inroads with Hispanics. But in a competitive Arizona congressional district, voters now express dismay at his feud with the pope.”)
- Trump says he’ll renovate ‘filthy’ reflecting pool on National Mall (“At an Oval Office event, the president said he’s planning to pour a new surface for the 2,000-foot reflecting pool, giving it an “American flag blue” hue.”)
- What to know about the missing scientists alarming Congress (“Despite allegations from online sleuths and some media reports, several of the deaths don’t appear to have any connection to their careers.”)
- Mamdani Has Mightily Pissed Off One of NYC’s Richest People (Good!)
- New York Republicans dig in against Trump’s preferred Stefanik successor
- Trump’s redistricting revenge tour in Indiana isn’t going so well
- Will Virginia be the final mid-decade redistricting battle? (“As it stands, the 2026 mid-decade redistricting battles may have resulted in as many as nine new Republican seats and 10 new Democratic seats.” “Perhaps the last hope for Republicans is Florida”)
- White House exasperated with GOP over Virginia election faceplant (“Democrats’ win in Virginia reignited GOP frustrations over the mid-decade redistricting war”)
- DeSantis plots end run of Florida law to create more GOP House seats
- Republican proposes giving Democratic-leaning part of Virginia back to DC after redistricting vote
- Rep. Vindman slams call to pardon US soldier charged over Maduro bet
- Based on What We Know Now, Who’s Running in the NEW Virginia U.S. House Districts? (Also, some thoughts on who the favorites are….)
- Here are Virginia’s new congressional districts and who is running (“Some House races are newly competitive, and four Republican incumbents are now endangered”)
- Video: VA Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell Responds to Trump’s False Claims of a “RIGGED” Election – “The only rigging of any election has come from that man across the river” (Meanwhile, far-right-extremist VA Sen. Mark Obenshain warns darkly, “if this stands, there will be a price that will be paid here in…Virginia”)
- The Politics Hour: Virginia voters approved redistricting. So, what’s next?
- Referendum results show again just how big a problem Northern Virginia is for Virginia Republicans (“They also show how important rural voters are to Republicans. The catch is, there are just not enough of them.”)
- Virginia Senate candidate placed a wager on his own race
- Spanberger’s amendments, and the budget
- General Assembly rejects Spanberger’s amendments to two ICE bills
- ‘No white smoke.’ Virginia lawmakers go home again without a budget deal
- On Earth Day (4/22), Gov. Abigail Spanberger Announced Virginia’s Entry Into the U.S. Climate Alliance (“Virginians’ access to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is under threat from climate change”)
- Virginia legislators give final approval to paid leave, wage theft, and equal pay laws (“Lawmakers agreed to most of Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s proposed amendments, allowing dozens of bills to become law.”)
- Court issues injunction blocking all-ages curfew on Virginia Beach Oceanfront
- Judge stops enforcement of Virginia Beach Oceanfront curfew (“A Virginia Beach judge halted the city from enforcing its Oceanfront curfew, which had been set to resume Friday night.”)
- 10 Republican candidates will seek their party’s nomination to run for 3 open Lynchburg City Council seats (“A firehouse primary on May 30 will determine who will be on the ballot in November.”)
- Whit Babcock announces ‘retirement’ as AD at Virginia Tech
- Whit Babcock out as Virginia Tech athletic director
- Rob Schilling is paid by WINA to hate the ‘Democratic Socialist Republic of Charlottesville’ (Pathetic.)
- CWG Live: Temperatures near 80 today. Afternoon rain chance, better odds Saturday. (“Rain chances are highest from late Saturday into very early Sunday, which helps keep the weekend cool.”)
