by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise (economic, environmental, etc.) for Tuesday, June 30. Also, check out the videos by Paul Krugman and Jamelle Bouie about the DISASTROUS decision yesterday (“Today’s ruling is even more disastrous than people realize,” as Krugman says) by the U.S. Supreme Court. As Jamelle Bouie says, “John Roberts’ decision in Trump v. Slaughter, joined by the five other Republican justices, is a massive expansion of presidential power, a huge assault on the ability of Congress to govern the nation, and a stealth judicial power grab.”
INTERNATIONAL
- Europe heatwave shows need to reject climate denial ‘lies’, says EU green chief (“Teresa Ribera blames ‘ideologically driven’ falsehoods, driven by those with vested interests in fossil fuels, for attacks on green policy”)
- World Bank to abandon goal to devote 45% of lending resources to climate change projects (“The development lender, which had been under pressure from the Trump administration to abandon the climate lending target adopted during the Biden administration in 2023, said in a statement it would complete a shift to focusing on lending outcomes rather than input goals.”)
- Moscow Is Attacked by Dozens of Drones, Its Mayor Says
- Oil prices set for steep monthly drop as Trump, Iran issue mixed messages on talks in Qatar
- Iran is jealously competing with Oman as decision-maker over strait of Hormuz
- Trump claims Iran has agreed to hold peace talks in Doha after recent clashes
- Trump’s “Swiss Army” tools on Iran: Vance and Rubio (“There’s a more pro-Israel aspect of it, and that’s Rubio. And there’s a more Israel-skeptic aspect. That’s JD.”)
- Iran says this. The US says that. A look at the trickiest issues in the unresolved conflict
- Iran Ratchets Up Talk of Controlling Hormuz Before New Talks
- Israel-Lebanon deal may entrench stalemate rather than end war, analysts say
- Don Jr. and Eric Trump’s Sweet, Sweet Tungsten Deal (“Jon Ossoff called out the Trump sons’ Kazakhstan investment and threatened to probe the First Family’s deal-making abroad.”)
- Ireland is big tech’s lapdog – and that compromises its EU presidency (“The country is dependent on the global giants that call Dublin home. Irish ministers can’t be trusted to chair vital European digital sovereignty talks”)
- The smell of death lingers in Venezuela’s ruined streets as overwhelmed hospitals race to save lives
- Angry Venezuelans accuse government of negligence over earthquake response
- More than 100 Venezuelans who were deported from the US hours before the earthquakes are missing (Horrible.)
- Trump Pauses Duties on Moroccan Fertilizer to Aid Farm Economy
- Trump’s threats keep trillion-dollar trade deal in purgatory (“The U.S., Mexico and Canada have until July 1 to declare whether they want to renew their tariff-lowering trade agreement. But the Trump administration is holding out.”)
- Peru’s Keiko Fujimori wins presidential election, in latest victory for Latin American right (“The 51-year-old daughter of late president Alberto Fujimori secured the top office after authorities spent weeks reviewing contested ballots”)
NATIONAL
- ICE Won (“The ugliest immigration crackdown in recent history is becoming normal.”)
- Who is an American? The Supreme Court will decide
- Supreme Court Victory for Fed Still Leaves It Vulnerable to Trump
- The Supreme Court Wants to Make Trump a King (“John Roberts’ decision in Trump v. Slaughter, joined by the five other Republican justices, is a massive expansion of presidential power, a huge assault on the ability of Congress to govern the nation, and a stealth judicial power grab.”)
- The Supreme Court just made Trump the most powerful president in generations (“The Republican justices just won a four-decade war against “independent” federal agencies.”)
- The Court Sides With Dictatorship — and Chaos (“Today’s ruling is even more disastrous than people realize”)
- Trump Just Got the Supreme Court to Do Project 2025 for Him
- Supreme Court allows Trump to fire FTC commissioner and overturns major restraint on presidential power
- The Supreme Court Takes One More Big Step Toward Autocracy
- The President Is Dangerously Close to Gaining an Executive Power Not Seen in Almost 100 Years (“The Supreme Court just loves giving our loony overlord whatever he wants. Or so it seems.”)
- Supreme Court lets Trump fire agency heads, a dramatic expansion of presidential power
- One big win and three defeats for Trump in dramatic day at Supreme Court
- The supreme court has again undermined the power of Congress (“The Trump v Slaughter decision allows the president further influence over agencies Congress itself created”)
- The Roberts Court Just Put Trump in Charge of Independent Agencies, Vastly Expanding His Powers (“Today, the majority reshapes our Government.”)
- How the Supreme Court became a power that is reshaping America (VERY much for the worse!)
- Trump’s Supreme Court wins hit one wall: the economy
- The Supreme Court Rejected a Bonkers Idea About Voting by a 5–4 Margin. Next Time We Won’t Be So Lucky.
- A fringe attack on voting rights just got four votes on the Supreme Court (“Watson v. RNC is the easiest election law case to reach the justices in years. It should not have been 5-4.”)
- Supreme Court rejects Trump’s challenge to counting late mail-in ballots
- In a Rare Blow to Trump, the Supreme Court Just Saved Mail-In Voting—For Now (“The surprise victory is unlikely to slow down the administration’s assault on voting rights.”)
- Supreme Court Mail Ballot Ruling Deals New Blow to Trump’s Election Plans
- Supreme Court rules constitutional privacy protections apply to cellphone users’ location history
- Supreme Court rejects Trump’s push to toss $5 million verdict in E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse case
- Trump news at a glance: Trump tried to appeal E Jean Carroll verdict all the way to the supreme court. They passed
- I’m a Little Worried That Trump Might Soon Have Another Police Force at His Disposal (“Surely there’s no way the president can use the Supreme Court’s growing army of personal officers to his advantage—right?”)
- Trump says housing bill he tanked last week is a ‘big yawn’ (Trump himself asked for this bill in his State of the Union speech, right???)
- Johnson-backed plan to combine Pentagon and election bills advances to floor (“The House Rules Committee advanced a procedural measure aimed at breaking an intra-Republican deadlock Monday night. But GOP leaders are still facing a major battle Tuesday to regain control of the House floor.”)
- Grieving America’s 250th birthday
- Hegseth, Rubio, and Caine Had an Auto-Deleting Signal Chat (“New records reveal that officials kept using the app, even after the president suggested they stop.”)
- U.S. murder rate approaches a record low (And let me guess, the majority of Americans will STILL falsely believe that crime is high and rising? Because they ALWAYS do, no matter what the actual numbers tell us.)
- New top intelligence official Christina Norton was praised in election conspiracy theory discussions on Steve Bannon’s podcast (“Norton, the new chief of staff at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, participated in a so-called election integrity call with Steve Stern, a figure who promotes election denial narratives on Steve Bannon’s War Room”)
- Alleged Epstein victim and Trump accuser living in fear of retaliation, relative says (“Trump administration faces an escalating controversy over handling of ‘Jane Doe 4’ documents in Epstein files. White House has called her allegations ‘completely baseless’”)
- The White House Considers Granting 250 Pardons for the Nation’s Birthday (“The idea has set off a frenzy of appeals for clemency.”)
- Trump said gas prices would fall after the war, defying the experts. So far, he’s right.
- A Watergate Every Week (“J. D. Vance contends that the scandal would be ‘a 12-hour news story’ today. He’s probably correct, but the lesson isn’t what he claims.”)
- RFK Jr. says Cassidy accusing him of breaking promises ‘not true’ (Everything RFK Jr. says is a lie and/or insane, so…)
- Dozens of states sue Trump administration over ‘frail’ Medicaid work requirement exemption
- Kash Patel draws flak for posting FBI case details on social media ‘to make himself look good’ (“FBI veterans believe director may have flouted legal rules by prematurely divulging details of UFC attack plot inquiry”)
- Trump is using a $500M no-bid contract to build his ballroom (“The contract was routed through a White House office that is exempt from competitive bidding requirements. Half of the project’s cost is expected to come from taxpayers.” MASSIVE corruption!)
- Former Trump adviser Jason Miller eyed to join White House in midterms shake-up
- A Tied Senate Race Gives Democrats a Shot in Deep Red Texas, Poll Finds (“Overall, Mr. Talarico and Mr. Paxton each garnered 47 percent of the vote in the poll.” It’s completely insane that 47% of Texans are willing to vote for an absolute scumbag like Paxton.)
- Colorado high court tosses redistricting ballot measures
- Colorado primary tests reach, staying power of Democrats’ socialist surge
- Backlash from centrist Democrats as democratic socialist candidates sweep primaries
- Will Left-Wing Energy Keep Rising? What to Watch in Colorado’s Primaries. (“Primaries on Tuesday will be the latest test of Democrats’ anti-establishment mood.”)
- Scoop: Gallego faces federal probe over campaign spending
- Colorado progressives are putting congressional Democrats to a major test
- In Michigan, the Most Moderate Candidate May Not Be the Most Electable (“The three-way Democratic Senate primary in Michigan is a remarkably precise microcosm of the divides within the Democratic Party.”)
- Gallego spokesperson says Trump is ‘targeting’ the Democratic senator with DOJ investigation
- Senate Ethics Committee dismisses misconduct complaint against Ruben Gallego (“In a letter obtained by NBC News, the Ethics Committee said it dismissed the complaint after it “did not find evidence” that he violated rules or standards of conduct.”)
- Two Dan Sullivans to Appear on Alaska Senate Ballot, State High Court Rules (“Republicans had sought the removal of a little-known candidate with the same name as the incumbent senator, arguing that he was not a ‘good faith’ candidate.”)
- Judge Permanently Blocks Trump From Withholding Hudson Tunnel Funding (“Transportation Department unlawfully froze money slated for the $16 billion project, judge rules”)
- Kean Set to Speak at the Capitol After Mysterious Absence (Bizarre in every way.)
VIRGINIA
- Sen. Tim Kaine Says US Supreme Court Decision “Destroying Agency Independence” Will Have “grave consequences for America’s dedicated civil servants, as well as our economy, health, and safety” (“…if President Trump sees that an agency is standing in the way of his corrupt self-dealing or lawlessness, he can simply fire its leadership and either replace them with political hacks or leave the agency decapitated.”)
- Virginia Democrats criticize Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s firing authority (Rep. Bobby Scott: “Once again, the Roberts-led majority in the Supreme Court has abandoned decades of precedent and weakened Congress’ authority to create independent agencies that are accountable to the American people, including America’s workforce”)
- VA Speaker Don Scott on House Passage of Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s Budget Amendments: “Virginia has shown what responsible leadership looks like”
- Virginia General Assembly approves Spanberger’s budget amendments, ending monthslong impasse (“Democrats defend final spending plan while Republicans criticize drawn-out negotiations and late-session policy making.”)
- Virginia legislators approve Spanberger’s amendments, completing 2026 budget work
- Virginia’s next budget is now law, as General Assembly approves final changes
- Clean Virginia: Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s 14 Budget Amendments “Leave Virginians Exposed on NextEra’s Dominion Acquisition and Data Centers” (“Under current Virginia law, the SCC has as little as 60 days to review the merger”)
- Virginia has a new two-year budget. Here’s what lawmakers now require of data centers. (“A first-ever tax on the industry’s energy use and regulations for cooling systems, noise levels will be phased in.”)
- Now that Virginia has a budget, 5 questions about what happens next (“Is the debate about data center taxation over or is this just a temporary truce?…What will happen with data centers more generally?…Is the Spanberger-Lucas fight over?…Who won the Spanberger-Lucas showdown?…What damage, if any, did the long budget impasse do?”)
- Peace in the valley as lawmakers approve governor’s amendments to conclude long budget process (That’s a question, actually, whether there’s “peace in the valley” at this point, or what.)
- Report: 13 of Virginia’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure
- Virginia colleges face global competition as more students consider studying abroad (“Counseling Association says students ‘should be in the driver’s seat’”)
- Virginians on PrEP to gain protections from life insurance discrimination
- New Va. open carry law delayed for 1 year due to ‘unintended consequences’
- Sen. Surovell discusses amendment on Oak Hill Farm
- Proposed ICE office would require City Council approval, Suffolk says
- Wildlife Conservancy Finds High Bacteria Levels in Loudoun Creeks
- A decade ago, Roanoke leaders took a chance on a new way of helping people with addiction. Today, the Hope Initiative serves nearly 1,000 people a year. (“The Hope Initiative focuses on addiction as a health crisis instead of a police matter. It helps connect people in active drug addiction to treatment resources nearby.”)
- DC-area forecast: Typical summer day today. Blast furnace arrives tomorrow. (“The heat should scale back to more typical summer levels early next week with highs mostly in the 80s to low 90s, moderate humidity, and more storm chances.”)
