Thursday (5/11) News: So Much for Trump’s “Ceasefire” with Iran; “Musk under fire for stoking anti-immigrant riots in Belfast”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, May 11. Also, check out Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) asking the worst Energy Secretary in US history (by far!) questions about oil flows from the Strait of Hormuz, gasoline prices, data centers and power rates, etc.  As you can see, Wright is full of crap – just like the rest of the Trump regime’s corrupt, incompetent buffoons – on pretty much everything.

• Record winter temperatures in Antarctic raise fears over speed of climate breakdown (“Temperatures above 15C ‘very strange’ say scientists, as snow melts and rain falls on glaciers in usually frozen region”)
• Four days of extreme rain in Indonesia killed 7% of world’s rarest great apes, study finds (“Critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan population falls after heavy rain and landslides, fuelled by climate crisis, in North Sumatra” F******ck.)
• AI absolutism is breaking our brains. The apocalyptic future we’re being sold isn’t inevitable (“Nor is the dreamy promise that this tech will unlock boundless potential and productivity”)
• The War in Ukraine Is Now Longer Than World War I (We’ll see iff the end of this war is like the end of WW1…including the collapse of Russia’s regime.)
• ‘Highway of death’: the Ukrainian drone campaign menacing Russian logistics (“Remote aircraft targeting supply traffic on route connecting occupied regions to Russia”)
• Trump’s Iran war has propelled China’s cleantech industry (“Disruption to global energy supplies sparks surge in demand for alternatives”)
• China Is Propping Up the World Economy by Importing a Lot Less Oil (“Beijing plugs a three-million-barrel hole with little visible disruption, but analysts aren’t sure how long it can keep going”)
• US and Iranian attacks dent ceasefire, Iranian sources say talks intensify
• Analysis of Satellite Image and Videos Suggest Precision U.S. Strikes on Iranian Water Facility (“It is unclear if the U.S. intentionally struck the facility or knew what it was. Deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure could constitute a war crime.”)
• Trump boils over after Tehran kept him waiting
• The US-Iran ceasefire is breaking down (“What happened to Trump’s ‘very, very good deal’ with Iran?”)
• Iran responds to a second day of US strikes by firing at Gulf states and Jordan
• Three Indian sailors killed by US missile near Oman, as US and Iran exchange strikes (“India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Jason Meeks, the US Embassy’s deputy chief of mission in New Delhi, to lodge a ‘strong protest’.”)
• Trump Vows More Strikes on Iran Thursday If It Holds Out on Deal
• Iran targets U.S. bases for a second night, raising fears of return to all-out war
• Kuwait closes airspace, Israel warns of launches from Lebanon after U.S strikes in Iran
• Why a frustrated Trump is turning again to bombs to force Iran’s hand
• Trump the unreliable narrator fails to force reality to match his story on Iran (“A cycle of threat, detente and deadlock repeats itself wearisomely as the president’s war in Iran drags on”)
• Elon Musk under fire for stoking anti-immigrant riots in Belfast (“A government minister denounced racist thuggery” after a second night of unrest on the streets of the Northern Irish capital saw masked men torch houses and vehicles. The violence erupted after a brutal stabbing that was caught on video.”)
• Elon Musk’s age of impunity
• A new wave of anti-immigrant violence hits U.K. as riots convulse Belfast (“Attackers torched neighborhoods across Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, after a Sudanese asylum seeker was arrested and accused of stabbing a man.”)
• How did Mexico’s president become the world’s most popular leftwing leader?
• Mamdani was to meet with Colombia’s leader until Trump administration stepped in (“New York’s mayor had planned to meet with leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro while he was in town for U.N. events, but the State Department nixed it.”)
• Donald Trump suggests he may not renew trade deal with Mexico and Canada
• Can the World Cup Transcend Donald Trump?
• Trump on World Cup visa disputes: ‘We’re working … to make sure the right people’ come in (And by “the right people,” Trump means “the WHITE people”)
• Florida immigration arrests have quietly surged, with state and local agencies at the forefront
• Women Who Fled Iran Are to Be Deported to Central African Republic, Lawyers Say
• Trump’s most tone-deaf comments on Iran and the economy, ranked
• Inflation Heated Up to 4.2% in May, as Energy Costs Continued to Bite
• ‘The die has been cast’: Trump allies fear it’s too late to reverse economic woes
• Trump says ‘I love the inflation’ after consumer price index hits 3-year high
• Oil executives warn White House that gas prices will get worse
• Key Trump economic win disappears: Wage gains wiped out
• Fox News buries the worst inflation report in three years
• Trump’s new Fed chief may soon have to raise interest rates
• The rightwing campaign to control how US judges view the climate crisis (“US energy secretary Chris Wright featured in seminars to judges when he was a fracking executive” It’s hard to even express how evil Chris Wright is.)
• Trump’s Following Every Last Climate-Destroying Detail of Project 2025 (“Does the president realize that if he keeps dismantling infrastructure meant to prevent climate change, then there won’t be a country left for him to ruin?”)
• Solar generates more energy in US than coal for first time (“Solar supplied 12.8% of US electricity in May even as Trump boosts coal over clean energy”)
• Scoop: Pulte sought Gabbard’s early removal as intel czar
• House will vote Thursday on expected-to-fail surveillance patch
• The DOJ Prosecutors Who Think They’re Trump’s Personal Lawyers (If you work for DoJ, quit ASAP!)f
• Judge warns DOJ not to ‘play possum’ with ‘anti-weaponization’ fund it says is dead (“The Trump administration has said the fund isn’t moving forward, but the president has said he’d like to pay purported victims “the kind of money that they deserve.”” What all these violent criminals and insurrectionists deserve is to be in prison for a looong time.)
• Trump demands $350B Pentagon infusion, elections overhaul in next party-line GOP bill
• Trump’s claims about California vote-rigging are a grim preview of November (The headline should say “Trump’s FALSE claims”
• How Senate Democrats are planning to push back on potential election interference
• The right enters a post-proof era of election denial
• Postal Service won’t deliver mail ballots for states that don’t hand over voter lists, under plan for Trump directive (That’s complete crap, illegal and unconstitutional for sure.)
• Hakeem Jeffries says Democrats will prioritize affordability. Not all of his members agree. (“Even as inflation rises, some insist the Democratic agenda should put other fundamentals front and center.”)
• What’s Going On in Donald Trump’s Brain as He’s Turning 80? He’s Given Us Some Clues. (“The cultural references he makes at the strangest times are oddly revealing.”)
• Why MAGA can’t hear the Trump boos (“Once you understand the MAGA reaction to the NBA Finals boos, everything else snaps into focus”)
• Bill Gates testifies about his ties to Epstein, calls meeting him a ‘grave error in judgment’
• Bill Gates Says Epstein Tried to Blackmail Him (“The tech billionaire told the House Oversight Committee that Epstein leveraged information about Gates’ affairs to pressure him into a friendship.”)
• Trump sees 22 medical specialists, appearing to set new bar for presidents
• ‘A Crock Of S**t’: Grand Jury Transcripts Reveal Juror Skepticism Of Trump DOJ Case Against Protesters
• The Curious Disappearance of Daniel Dale
• The “Middle” Men of the New York Times (“Oh look, another dude wants Democrats to compromise on abortion”)
• Administration plans intensive, year-round construction schedule for Trump’s triumphal arch
• Some Senate Dems still won’t commit to Graham Platner
• Is he Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump? Protest vote complicates Graham Platner’s victory (“Democrats have rolled the dice in Maine as they pursue a post-Trump future. Will it work?”)
• House Dems threaten to target WinRed as GOP probes ActBlue
• Wall Street buckles up for SpaceX liftoff, hoping for a glitch-free ride
• Video: Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) Says “we want to understand whether the public statements that Mr. Gates has made about his relationship with Epstein are fully truthful and accurate” (That includes “Epstein’s clear attempt to leverage or perhaps even blackmail Gates over his relationship with one of the Russian women”)
• It’s the end of Social Security as we know it: And Ben Cline feels fine
• Trump’s Medicaid Restrictions Will Start Hitting Virginia Families This Fall (“It is particularly galling that Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA02), who is a nurse practitioner, supported measures that will result in thousands of Virginians being deprived of the health care they need “)
• Video: Public Utility Law Expert Tells VA Energy Commission That Dominion Is “selling control of [its] monopoly role to an outsider [NextEra]” (He also says there’s “no way that a full hearing” of this complex transaction “can occur in a six-month proceeding – that’s not possible”)
• Virginia legislators grill Dominion head on NextEra merger
• Study: In 14 years, over 1 million medical debt lawsuits filed by Virginia hospitals
• Va. Supreme Court appoints panel to decide if gun ban lawsuits should consolidate
• The exemption Virginia can’t price and won’t stop (“Virginia built an incentive its own auditors say returns less to the state than it costs, watched it grow into a near-billion-dollar annual line, and has not decided whether it has the will to change course, guest columnist Tommy Turner writes.”)
• Virginia Supreme Court appoints panel to weigh consolidation of assault weapon ban lawsuits
• No way out: How Virginia law fails vulnerable renters (“Floods, roaches, rats, mold — these are just a few of the issues in Charlottesville Tomorrow’s investigation into how Virginia law often fails to protect vulnerable renters.”)
• Rocovich sues Gov. Spanberger after his ouster as Virginia Tech rector (“John Rocovich is asking for the court to find the governor’s actions out of compliance with state code and the constitution and is seeking for the court to order that he be reinstated on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.”)
• Some Virginians with past felonies can apply to seal their records, starting next month (“Advocates and lawmakers say record sealing will help people overcome housing and employment barriers.”)
• As part of pollution punishment, Richmond to remove 17 tons of driftwood at T. Pott Bridge
• Long-missing mussels returned to South Anna River
• Va. superintendent reaffirms to Congress Loudoun’s commitment to student needs, parental cooperation (“U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce ranking member Bobby Scott, a Virginia Democrat, said Republicans are prioritizing “culture-war” issues instead of real student needs”)
• Martinsville mayor, ex-city manager file federal lawsuits (“Mayor L.C. Jones has sued the law firm Sands Anderson and council member Aaron Rawls on counts including defamation. Aretha Ferrell-Benavides’ suit against the city of Martinsville, Sands Anderson and Rawls includes allegations of discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation by the city, and defamation against Rawls and Sands Anderson.”)
• Rockingham County: Effort ongoing to reintroduce the American chestnut to the Valley
• ‘He is devastated,’ says lawyer for bus driver in I-95 crash that killed 5 (“Jing S. Dong, charged with five felony counts of involuntary manslaughter in the Virginia crash that also injured dozens, appeared in court with a Mandarin interpreter.”)
• DC-area forecast: Scorching today and Friday, with strong storms possible