Thursday (5/21) News: Trump Turns US Into a Rogue Nation on Historic UN Climate Crisis Ruling; “There Has Never Been an Example of Presidential Corruption Like This”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, May 21. But first, check out Bruce Springsteen on Stephen Colbert’s show last night: “I am here in support tonight for Stephen, because you are the first guy in America who’s lost his show because we’ve got a president who can’t take a joke.  And because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want. So these are… Anyway, Stephen, these are small-minded people, they got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about. This is for you.”

• U.N. General Assembly Embraces Court Opinion That Says Nations Have a Legal Obligation to Take Climate Action (“The U.S. was among eight countries that voted against endorsing the nonbinding ruling that said all nations must take steps to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.” The U.S. under Trump is a rogue nation.)
• UN backs historic climate crisis ruling, despite US attempts to stop resolution (“The US, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia – some of the highest oil-producing nations and major greenhouse gas emitters – opposed the measure”)
• Top Climate Scientists Accuse the Livestock Industry of Pushing Fuzzy Math to Downplay its Climate Warming Emissions (“An alternative emissions-calculating methodology underpins revised, less ambitious methane-reduction targets.” This entire industry is heinous; nobody should buy anything from it – ever.)
• Plastic food and drink packaging ‘world’s most common coastal litter’ (“Global study finds wrappers, bottles and lids on shorelines of 93% of countries analysed as UN talks to tackle issue in turmoil” Disgusting.)
• Efforts to Contain Ebola May Have Been Hindered by Lack of U.S. Involvement
• US is ‘simply choosing not to stop’ Ebola outbreak after massive public health cuts, experts say (“Hundreds of cases reported in the DRC after USAID has been dismantled and key scientific research canceled”)
• Ebola outbreak raises alarms about Trump’s global health moves
• Trump says he will speak to Taiwan’s president in break from protocol (“US President Donald Trump says he will talk to Taiwanese leader Lai Ching-te about a possible arms sale, in what would be a sharp departure from diplomatic tradition.”)
• Iran-U.S. diplomacy intensifies as Trump seeks ‘right answers,’ Tehran signals gaps ‘reduced’ (“A visit by Pakistan’s army chief Thursday was aimed at ‘reaching the point of officially announcing acceptance of the memorandum of understanding,’ Iran’s semiofficial ISNA news agency reported.”)
• Trump bleeds votes in Congress to keep Iran war going
• New Iran peace proposal triggers tense Trump-Netanyahu call (“Two Israeli sources said the two leaders were in disagreement about the way forward, while the U.S. source briefed on the call said ‘Bibi’s hair was on fire after the call.'”)
• Iran Says the US’s Latest Proposal Has ‘Narrowed the Gaps’
• Iran reviews U.S. peace proposal as Trump says he’s willing to wait ‘a few days’
• Iran rebuilding military industrial base faster than expected, already producing drones, according to US intel
• Military Fraternity Running Iran Has Long History of Hard-Line Positions
• Protests planned at new consulate after Trump envoy says time for US ‘to put its footprint back’ on Greenland (“Prime minister expected to boycott opening as local people organise protest to show US ‘no means no’”)
• Far-right Israeli minister condemned for taunting handcuffed Gaza flotilla activists (These sociopaths – like Ben Gvir, who is evil incarnate, pretty much – have no business being in government at all; the fact that they are actually in power shows how far Israel has plummeted over the past few decades. Disastrous.)
• Inside Israel’s High-Tech Campaign to Kill or Capture Every Oct. 7 Attacker (“One by one, militants who videotaped their exploits that day have been identified and killed, in a measure of Israel’s surveillance acumen and desire for retribution”)
• US Democrats push to rein in Trump on Cuba as White House steps up pressure
• US aircraft carrier arrives in Caribbean amid tensions with Cuba
• U.S. intel community analyzing how Cuba might respond to military action
• US charges Cuba’s Raúl Castro with murder over 1996 downing of two planes
• News of U.S. Indictment Is Slow to Reach Cubans Waiting for a Breakthrough
• Inside the unraveling of US diplomacy under Trump
• What Ebola and hantavirus are revealing about America’s public health system (“Public health experts say neither virus poses an immediate threat to most Americans. But the trust deficit the viruses are exposing could be catastrophic when crisis arrives.”)
• RFK Jr. fires leaders of group that determines what insurers must cover (RFK Jr. continues to be a disaster.)
• Clarence Thomas Against Progressivism—and Progressives (“In a recent speech, the Justice made clear that he views the movement, past and present, as anti-American.” Thomas has no business being on ANY court, let alone the US Supreme Court.)
• Judge orders White House staff to comply with Presidential Records Act after DOJ calls it ‘unconstitutional’ (“President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are among several White House officials excluded from the ruling.”)
• Shame and the Supreme Court (“The Hypocrisy of the Purcell Principle”)
• How Democrats can fight new GOP gerrymanders—while still respecting the VRA (“Democrats could target more than 20 Republican districts before 2028”)
• Trump Has Been Investing in Companies and Then Pumping Them in His Speeches (“Yet another extraordinary example of a president milking his office for personal profit.”)
• There’s more to Trump’s corruption than stealing money (“It’s transforming the US government at a cellular level.”)
• There Has Never Been an Example of Presidential Corruption Like This
• Trump’s Government Moves to Spare an Unhappy Taxpayer Named Trump (“No president has ever used the federal government to advance his own personal interests and those of his family and allies as expansively and openly as Mr. Trump has.”)
• Democrats move to shut down Trump’s $1.8B “weaponization” fund
• How the $1.8 Billion Trump Fund May Violate Past Practice and Policy (“May”???)
• ‘This is long overdue’: Jan. 6 rioters and election deniers celebrate Trump’s $1.8 billion compensation fund (COMPLETELY INSANE!)
• Blanche insists violent conduct will be weighed when applying for new anti-weaponization fund payouts (Blanche is heinous…should make us all, well, blanche!)
• Trump’s January 6 Slush Fund Is a Criminal Enterprise (“The president has long been operating under the assumption that he is immune from prosecution. His latest scheme, however, may be a step too far.”)
• The President Who Sued Himself
• Trump Gets His Payback, but It Comes at a Cost in Congress (“Republican senators are angry the president is working to unseat their colleagues. But he is also creating more free agents in his own party in Congress willing to defy him.”)
• Republicans squirm as Trump pursues legacy, control and revenge (“GOP lawmakers fear a self-interested president is needlessly risking their party’s majorities.”)
• Trump’s priorities are in deep trouble after his revenge tour
• Dems try to twist knife in Trump-GOP tensions
• Republicans expected to abandon $1B security proposal for White House and Trump’s ballroom
• The White House Ballroom Is Going to Be an Unholy Cross Between Versailles and the Death Star (“You’d think Trump was building a bunker to hide out in if he chooses not to leave in 2029.”)
• Trump’s Handling Of Economy Hits All-Time Low, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Voters Prefer Dems To Win Control Of House But Give Them Poor Marks For Current Job (“When it comes to the way President Trump is handling his job overall, 34 percent of voters approve of the way he is handling his job as president, while 58 percent disapprove.” Still far too high – should be ZERO approval and 100% disapproval!)
• Behold the New U.S. Agency for Corruption (“Donald Trump has been thinking a lot about his place in history. That’s one of the reasons, according to recent reporting by The Atlantic and The Times, why he’s paying so little attention to his plummeting popularity and so much attention to remodeling Washington in his own image.”)
• MAGA Has Been Reduced to a Tiny Universe of Angry Cranks (“Though Trump-aligned Republicans were able to win primaries on Tuesday, they’re by no means the front-runners in November.”)
• Trump’s allies in danger of scraping false hope from Maga victory in Kentucky primary (“US president, like a cult leader whose commune keeps getting smaller, commands fierce loyalty from a shrinking base”)
• Scoop: Palantir fights Pentagon over key intelligence contract
• The Real Reason Thomas Massie Lost (“That the current Republican Party is defined by allegiance to a person rather than any principle is not a new development.”)
• Why Thomas Massie Thought He Was Different (Massie’s a total nut.)
• ‘Good Looking Men,’ the Iran War and Déjà Vu at Trump’s Coast Guard Speech (The NY Times sanewashes/whitewashes Trump YET AGAIN. Seriously, why the f*** do they do this???)
• Donald Trump Is Finally Cracking Up for Real (“His recent tirades confirmed what more than half of America now believes: The president is mentally unfit. How will we survive two and a half more years of this? And what’s he got in store for us?”)
• Trump officials say they can build 250-foot arch without Congress’s approval (IF they end up building this monstrosity, the next president and Congress need to tear the damn thing down IMMEDIATELY!)
• Democrats scramble to contain their Maureen Galindo problem (“Maureen’s insane, antisemitic views — including putting Americans in concentration camps — have no place in our Party or country,”)
• Colorado Democrats censure Gov. Jared Polis for commuting election denier’s sentence (“Polis reduced Tina Peters’ nine-year sentence Friday, saying her term was disproportionate to the crime.”)
• A Democratic Governor Just Failed Our Democracy in the Worst Possible Way
• Bezos defends billionaires, hypes AI, talks taxes and praises Trump in CNBC interview (Bezos is completely deranged.)
• Kari Lake Earned Tens of Thousands of Dollars From Media Side Hustles (Scum.)
• Chesapeake Bay sees increase in juvenile blue crabs, drop in adult females (“Researchers search for what caused multi-year decline and urge continued vigilance”)
• Video: Sen. Mark Warner on Some of Trump’s $1.8B Slush Fund Going to 1/6/21 Rioters – “Is there no line that goes too far?” (Also: “This is 2026 in America. We’re not in Russia or China where they don’t have free elections.”)
• Video: Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) Pledges “strong efforts [by Democrats] to block a single dollar of funds at Treasury from going into [Trump’s ‘absolutely outrageous’ $1.8B] slush fund” (In fact, “everyone who was prosecuted with respect to January 6th had their day in court.”)
• Mitchell drops out; Macy’s path to Democratic nomination just got easier (Macy already had this locked up, pretty much, which is presumably why Mitchell dropped out.)
• Ken Mitchell ends Sixth District congressional campaign, clearing the way for Beth Macy
• Ben Cline mum on $1.7B Trump slush fund, as other MAGAs speak out (Cline is a disgrace.)
• Democrats’ primary plans crumble after redistricting loss
• Medicaid cuts likely to be front and center in Virginia midterm elections (“The people who made these decisions, they need to be held accountable,” [Don] Scott says. “Jen Kiggans, [John] McGuire, they need to be held accountable for every hospital that closes, every family that loses coverage, and every Virginian forced to pay the price for their recklessness.”)
• Gov. Abigail Spanberger Signs Bills Prohibiting Law Enforcement from Wearing Facial Coverings; Executive Order with Guidance, Restrictions on Federal Immigration Enforcement in Virginia (Spanberger also vetoes bills prohibiting certain federal civil immigration enforcement activities at courthouses)
• Video: VA Speaker Scott Says Dems Shouldn’t Get Into “Tit-for-Tat,” Should Focus on the “Donut, Not the Hole,” Including Gov. Spanberger Signing “1,132 Bills” This Session (“There is nothing that she has done that I can say I’m surprised by…there are a couple that I’m disappointed by, but I’m not…despondent”)
• Ahead of veto deadline, Spanberger delivers mixed bag to immigration advocates
• Spanberger’s ICE actions deepen divide with Virginia Democrats (“Governor vetoes some immigration enforcement limits while signing other protections and issuing new executive order.”)
• Governor DeVeto: Abigail Spanberger is clearly just not good at the job
• Spanberger showed bravado in vetoing Democratic bills. What if some return to her in the budget? (“You can’t run as a centrist with strong support from moderates and liberals and then satisfy both when your actions determine policy, columnist Bob Lewis writes.”)
• Virginia tries to balance regulating AI and avoiding Trump blowback
• Williams: From where I sit, Virginia is still in the South
• Editorial: Spanberger’s veto delays legal cannabis market for another year (“While it’s critical that Virginia get creation of a cannabis market right, it’s astounding the governor couldn’t find common ground with her fellow Democrats.”)
• Bill to bar out-of-state transfers to Red Onion vetoed, lawsuit on living conditions set for trial
• Martinsville needs less drama, but voters will ultimately decide whether the city lowers the political temperature (The media badly misuses vague/anodyne words like “controversy” and “drama” instead of accurately describing what’s going on.)
• Group plants 10,000 trees across Southwest Virginia (“The saplings are all native species, like elderberry, sourwood, magnolia and serviceberry, and form what’s known as riparian buffers. The trees help absorb water and can reduce flooding during heavy rain events, explained Lisa Stansell-Galitz with the New River Conservancy.”)
• Jury in Newport News hears Richneck adminstrator’s 2023 interview about day 6-year-old shot his teacher
• How Virginia Beach police solved a 40-year-old rape, killing cold case (“Scientific advancements in genealogical testing helped Virginia Beach police connect Charles Berry, a 66-year-old Connecticut man and former Navy man, with a 40-year-old cold case – the 1986 rape and murder of Roberta Walls, 22.”)
• CWG Live updates: Much cooler, with frequent showers the next few days (“Record heat gives way to some needed rainfall.”)