by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, April 30. Yesterday was a very dark day in U.S. history…ugh.
- Carbon pollution is making food less nutritious (“Surging concentrations of carbon in the atmosphere have produced potent changes in the way plants grow, draining the nutrients from food.”)
- ‘Immense irony’ as Iran war fuels ‘boom’ in renewable power – UN climate chief (“Oil and gas prices have soared as the conflict in Iran chokes off about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies and spreads misery.”)
- ‘Historic breakthrough’: Colombia climate talks end with hopes raised for fossil fuel phaseout (“Nearly 60 countries back voluntary roadmaps to wean world off coal, oil and gas, at conference prompted by frustration with UN climate summits”)
- As Hormuz Traffic Stalls, U.S. Pitches New Coalition to Get Ships Moving Again
- Trump Is Weighing Two Options for Iran. They’re Both Horrific. (“The president might resume military strikes or maintain a blockade for months—or do both.”)
- Oil price tops $126 a barrel after Trump warns Iran blockade could last ‘months’
- Brent crude surges over $120 a barrel on Iran war worries, while world stocks are mixed
- US and Iran Stuck in Standoff as Oil Prices Soar to Wartime High
- Iran warns Trump’s blockade is ‘doomed to fail’ as energy prices soar to 4-year high
- Scoop: Commanders to brief Trump on new Iran military options Thursday (“The briefing signals that Trump is seriously considering resuming major combat operations either to try to break the logjam in negotiations or to deliver a final blow before ending the war.”)
- Trump says Iran has to ‘cry uncle’ to end Strait of Hormuz standoff
- Exclusive: Trump rejects Iran’s offer, says blockade stays until nuclear deal
- USS Ford aircraft carrier will be heading home after record-breaking deployment
- Hegseth Accuses Troops of Lying as He’s Faced With Facts on Iran War (“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth couldn’t explain why his version of events doesn’t line up with that of troops in the Middle East.”)
- The Iran war now has a price tag ($25 billion), but still no end date
- The U.S. Military Was Losing Its Edge. After Iran, Everyone Knows It.
- Ukraine war briefing: Enough of our homegrown weapons to go around, says Zelenskyy (“Surplus 50% means co-operation ‘already under way’ with other countries and standing offer to US; SBU hits oil station 1,500km inside Russia. What we know on day 1,527”)
- Another Russian oil facility burns as Zelenskyy touts Ukraine’s drone reach
- European Union plans ‘pre-entry’ perks for Ukraine as fast-track membership hopes dim
- Trump, Putin talk about each other’s wars in Wednesday phone call (That’s f’ed up.)
- Trump threatens Germany with US troop reduction after Merz’s Iran war criticism (“US president’s statement follows comments by German chancellor that the US was being ‘humiliated’ in conflict”)
- Attacks on Jewish Targets in Europe Suggest Hybrid Warfare
- Trump tells Netanyahu only “surgical” Lebanon strikes as ceasefire falters
- Trump claims Netanyahu pardon would make Israeli president “national hero” (Most definitely NOT; in fact, he’d go down in infamy.)
- Syrian commission prepares war crimes case against notorious Assad official
- North Korea conducts engine test for missile capable of targeting US mainland (The world never should have allowed North Korea to get nuclear weapons.)
- The U.A.E.’s OPEC Bombshell Signals a New Middle East Order (“After bearing the brunt of Iran’s counterattack, the financial powerhouse is strengthening security cooperation with Israel and widening a rift with Saudi Arabia”)
- Saudi Arabia Pulls Funding From LIV Golf. Its Star Players Face a Painful Road Back. (“LIV plans to tell players and staff by Thursday that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund would end its funding for the upstart league. But the PGA Tour isn’t yet ready to welcome back those who jumped ship.”)
- Hungary’s Opposition Used Social Media to Topple the Authoritarian-in-Chief (“Politically neutral platforms are a better way than censorship to fight propaganda and disinformation”)
- North American trade deal at risk as U.S., Canada exchange barbs
- Donald Trump’s Disturbing Welcome for King Charles (“At the White House, the president embraced the idea that the nation is an Anglo-Saxon one.”)
- The Voting Rights Act is all but dead. Prepare for maximum gerrymandering. (“The Republican justices just abolished 40 years worth of law protecting against rigged maps.”)
- Supreme Court paves the way for largest-ever drop in Black representation in Congress
- Supreme Court Deals a Death Blow to the Voting Rights Act (“The ‘now-completed demolition’ of the law could take us back to the Jim Crow era.”)
- Supreme Court guts the Voting Rights Act in “Jim Crow 2.0” ruling (“Justices kept the law on the books but drained it of the power to actually protect voters”)
- With supreme court ruling, Republicans can marginalize Black political power
- Black lawmakers decry supreme court voting decision: ‘We’re going backwards’
- The Supreme Court’s Conservatives Just Issued the Worst Ruling in a Century (“This evisceration of the Voting Rights Act requires us to take SCOTUS reform more seriously.”)
- SCOTUS Drops The Other Shoe on the Voting Rights Act (“The Supreme Court’s Decision in Louisiana v. Callais Completes the Decimation of the Voting Rights Act” This Court is corrupt, extremist, lawless, pure evil…and 100% needs to be completely overhauled. FUCK THEM.)
- Voters Can Be Disenfranchised Now (“Just say it’s because they’re Democrats.”)
- In major Voting Rights Act case, Supreme Court strikes down redistricting map challenged as racially discriminatory
- The Supreme Court Has Completed Its Quest to Kill the Voting Rights Act (“In its 6–3 decision, the court gutted the legislation that ended apartheid in this country—and once again gave white people the ability to suppress Black political power.”)
- The supreme court’s voting rights decision is a death knell for American democracy (“The US was not a true democracy before the Voting Rights Act. Wednesday’s decision has essentially destroyed the law”)
- John Roberts’ legacy of removing race protections sees defining moment
- The Supreme Court Has Stripped Our Voting Rights Back to the Pre-Civil Rights Era (“Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr. and Viola Liuzzo did not die just for the conservative majority to commit this heartless act of political vandalism.”)
- The Supreme Court’s Death Blow Against Voting Rights Is the Culmination of John Roberts’s 50-Year Crusade (“Beginning with his first job in the Reagan Justice Department, the chief justice has been hell-bent on dismantling the Voting Rights Act.” So we were all lied to by the media, which relentlessly claimed for years that Roberts was an “institutionalist,” a reasonable conservative, blah blah blah.)
- Supreme Court ruling will reshape American politics. The only question is when
- The Black Caucus is the ‘conscience of Congress.’ Supreme Court ruling has it bracing for a big hit
- Two justices, one quest: push to gut Voting Rights Act reaches final act (“Latest ruling is culmination of Justices Roberts and Alito’s campaign to slowly but surely strangle efforts to protect democratic rights of Black and other minority Americans” EVIL.)
- Republicans unlock filibuster-skirting power to pump billions of dollars to ICE (“An unrelated revolt over the farm bill almost tanked a White House-backed, two-step plan to end the 10-week-old DHS shutdown.”)
- G.O.P. Congress Struggles to Do the Basics Amid Party Infighting
- On chaotic day, Johnson navigates multiple internal revolts in House
- Powell Won’t Leave. The Fed Won’t Cut. Warsh Will Have to Deal With Both.
- Fed holds rates steady but with highest level of dissent since 1992
- Bessent Says Powell Staying On Is ‘Violation’ of All Fed Norms (Bessent is a broken, corrupt, bizarre, f’ed-up person.)
- Demand destruction: How the Iran war could rattle or break the US economy (“Historical oil supply shock could permanently change spending habits with dire consequences”)
- As a Ukrainian journalist, I’ve covered the US for 20 years. I find it increasingly shocking (“My country has been under occupation, dogged by corruption and war. Yet even I’ve been bewildered by the way the US seems to be fracturing”)
- As Comey is indicted, Trump is said to be happy with acting Attorney General Blanche
- Exclusive: New records show paper trail of DOGE voter data pact with election deniers
- What Does the Correspondents Dinner Have to Do With Trump’s Ballroom Project? (None.)
- Trump’s Latest Ballroom Push Is His Nero Moment (“The president’s decision to commandeer the DOJ to argue that his ballroom is a security necessity is the ultimate sign that this country is in decline.”)
- Louisiana governor prepares to suspend House primaries after court ruling
- ‘It’s a mess’: With no Trump endorsement in Texas Senate race, Cornyn and Paxton are locked in an expensive brawl
- ‘Your questions are designed to trick me’: combative Musk grilled over battle with Sam Altman (“Lawyers for world’s richest person try to paint him as humanitarian as judge cuts off his long-winded replies”)
- A bolder Mikie Sherrill tests a new playbook in Trenton
- “Today, SCOTUS dealt a devastating blow to one of America’s most hard-won civil rights achievements” (Ruling “will make it extremely difficult to challenge racially discriminatory congressional maps”)
- Va. Democrats denounce voting rights ruling by U.S. Supreme Court (Note how the Richmond Times-Dispatch goes with the innocuous-sounding “voting rights ruling” instead of “ruling gutting voting rights” or whatever? That’s intentional; they do it ALL THE TIME.)
- Column: Warner helps move health care reform in the right direction
- Video: Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07) Tells Pete Hegseth “It sounds like you’re blaming daddy for the mess we’re in, and I don’t think he’s going to be particularly happy with you.” (“Is it about the soldiers or is it about the president looking bad?”)
- New Poll of *Existing* VA01, by GOP Firm, Has Rep. Rob Wittman with a Slim (4 -Point) Lead Over Democrat Shannon Taylor (If new district lines kick in, Taylor has said she’ll run in the new VA05, and who knows what Wittman will do…)
- Election shows rural voters enraged over redistricting. They have little, if any, recourse. (But they’re NOT enraged over the reason this redistricting had to take place, which is Trump’s attempts to rig the US House in his favor.)
- Youngkin as a scapegoat for voters’ approval of redistricting is Trump’s aversion to reality (“Blaming the former governor for the referendum’s passage may salve the president’s ego, but Virginians know the real fault lies with Trump alone, columnist Bob Lewis writes.”)
- Legal experts say certification deadline for special election is not a big concern
- New state law mandates review of Dominion’s load forecasting, as data centers raise concerns
- Marsden: Delivering a budget that meets Virginia’s needs (“We cannot afford to have our state’s consistently top-tier reputation for business investment tarnished by breaking existing commitments or overreaching in our efforts to raise revenue from the data center industry.”)
- I Went to Duke With Justin Fairfax and Cerina Fairfax. Decades Later, He Killed Her (“Former Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax killed his wife, Cerina, months after she filed for divorce. The news about my old friend evokes the patterns that emerge in stories that end this way—with women violated, abused, and murdered.”)
- Why doesn’t Virginia have universal preschool?
- Bigger water bills coming in rural Virginia under SCC settlement
- Bilingual telehealth service launches in Virginia and West Virginia
- Despite guilty verdict, jury lets Virginia town leader stay in office for now (“Purcellville residents launched a recall campaign against Vice Mayor Carl “Ben” Nett over charges that included conflict of interest, part of a political feud that has split the community.”)
- CWG Live: Mostly sunny and pleasant today ahead of a weekend cooldown
