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by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, June 17.
- The ocean has shielded us from the worst of climate change. Now it is running a fever (“Nearly every indicator of climate change is flashing red. But we still hold the tools available to bring the planet back into balance”)
- “Pouring oil on climate fire:” Global fossil fuel use must halve by 2035 to avoid catastrophic climate damage (“Global fossil fuel use must halve by 2035 and be phased out entirely by 2070 at the latest if the world is to keep global warming below 1.5°C by the end of the century, according to a new analysis published on Wednesday.”)
- More Coral Reefs May Survive Climate Change Than Scientists Once Thought (“A new global analysis maps reefs with the greatest potential to withstand warmer temperatures, strengthening calls for their protection.”)
- ‘Sponge Cities’ Are Catching On. But Can They Handle Supercharged Storms? (“Pairing engineered stormwater infrastructure with green spaces can reduce flooding in cities. But wetter storms are pushing these systems to the brink, experts say.”)
- Trump news at a glance: G7 leaders wrestle Ukraine back on to president’s agenda
- G7 promises to support Ukraine and sanction Russia in joint declaration (“U.S. President Donald Trump signed the common statement after leaders in Evian unexpectedly converged on backing Kyiv.”)
- Everyone Lost the War With Iran (“Months of fighting revealed that multiple countries can impose costs, but none can impose order.”)
- Iran Is a Bigger Defeat Than Vietnam (“A war of choice has turned into a strategic disaster for Washington.”)
- Trump Does Not Understand the War He Lost (“The president’s comments at the G7 summit revealed that he doesn’t understand the war he started—or the words that come out of his own mouth.”)
- US officials downplay text of the Iran agreement, saying it doesn’t account for back-channel commitments
- Iran Found Trump’s Bone Spur
- Copy of U.S.-Iran deal leaked: Looks like the Iranians won this one, y’all (BIG TIME!)
- Breaking down the billions Iran could receive under Trump’s deal
- The Trump-Iran Deal Allows Tehran to Immediately Sell Oil (“The agreement also waives banking and transport sanctions to facilitate transactions, an early financial benefit”)
- Iran to Gain Major Financial Relief Under Interim Deal With US
- Obama’s Nuclear Deal Looms Over Trump’s Iran Negotiations (“President Trump is under pressure to significantly improve upon the Obama-era deal in order to justify the huge human and economic cost of taking the United States to war.” Stupid headline; in fact, Trump’s deal is obviously far, FAR weaker/worse than what President Obama’s team negotiated, and only after a disastrous war.)
- Read the 14-Point Draft Memorandum Between the US and Iran
- Republicans Again Block War Powers Measure in the Senate (“Four G.O.P. senators crossed party lines to back the resolution to direct President Trump to halt the war in Iran and seek authorization from Congress, but their support was not enough.”)
- How Trump sidelined national security experts ahead of his war with Iran
- In MOU debate, top MAGA figures fail test of independent thought
- Vice President JD Vance accuses Mark Levin and Marc Thiessen of promoting Iranian propaganda about the MOU (Vance is nuts.)
- Iran Is Returning to Nuclear Talks No Longer Afraid of America (“Tehran has learned it can survive the worst Washington can throw at it, but it still needs sanctions relief to stave off economic calamity.”)
- Why Trump’s secret and vague MOU is stirring a political storm
- Exclusive: Iran deal includes $300 billion fund, more than half of which already committed, source says
- ‘VIP pass’: Trump administration mulling how to coax more oil tankers through Hormuz
- Declaring the Strait of Hormuz open is easy. Restarting shipping traffic is not.
- MAGA hawk mutiny deepens Trump’s isolation on Iran
- UAE Moves to Cut Dependency on Strait of Hormuz to ‘Zero’
- Three Iranian tankers exit U.S. blockade for first time in months as shipowners eye Hormuz in ‘wary disbelief’
- ‘Everyone is angry for different reasons’: scepticism in Iran as peace deal nears
- Middle East crisis live: leaders at G7 issue joint statement calling for ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Lebanon to secure US-Iran deal
- Trump goes after Netanyahu as he pursues deal with Iran, putting their friendship to the test (“Friendship?” AP seriously thinks that’s what it is? LOL)
- Israel launches fresh strikes on Lebanon despite Trump criticism
- Status quo at Jerusalem’s holiest site under threat as Israeli nationalists flout rules (Wildly unacceptable – crack down on these fanatics!)
- Jair Bolsonaro’s son sentenced to four years in jail for seeking US interference in father’s Brazil coup trial (That entire family is f’ed, just like the Trump family.)
- The Supreme Court Will Decide Whether ICE Can Hold People Indefinitely. We Should All Be Worried.
- Fifteen people charged over alleged interference in Minnesota immigration crackdown (“Prosecutors claim defendants were part of Minneapolis-based ‘antifa’ groups that ‘violently oppose’ law enforcement”)
- Claiming an Antifa Plot, U.S. Charges 15 in Minneapolis With Conspiracy (“The 94-page conspiracy indictment was filed as federal prosecutors in Minnesota had trouble sustaining many criminal cases filed against Immigration and Customs Enforcement protesters.” Insane.)
- US Attorney for Minnesota charges 15 anti-ICE protesters, alleging ties to antifa groups
- MN U.S. Attorney Won’t Say Whether Officers Were Harmed As He Charges ICE Protesters with Felonies (“The new indictment includes felony charges of assault on a federal officer and conspiracy to do so.”)
- Trump Picked Warsh to Cut Rates. His Committee Is Talking About Hikes.
- Good Luck, Kevin Warsh. You’ll Need It.
- Warsh Faces First Big Test as Fed Chair (“Warsh contends with rising inflation eroding households’ purchasing power while Trump continues to press for lower borrowing costs.”)
- RFK Jr. Will Oversee Disability Education Policy (“The dismantling of the Department of Education continues apace.”)
- Trump Breaks Up Education Dept., Prompting Worries Over Civil Rights (“Special education programs and the civil rights office will be moved out of the Education Department, the most aggressive move yet by the Trump administration to dismantle the agency.”)
- White House’s Anthropic move jolts Congress back into the AI debate
- Republicans Confirm Another One Of Trump’s Personal Attorneys To A Federal Court Seat (“Justin Smith, who has been representing the president in his E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse case, also refused to say Joe Biden won the 2020 election.” Absolutely appalling.)
- The Real Reason Trump Never Stops Talking About Voter Fraud
- January 6 defendants pursue millions in claims through obscure federal process (“Federal Tort Claims Act, over which DoJ has total discretion, provides workaround to Trump’s $1.8bn slush fund” States need to tax any money from this at 100%. That includes Virginia – put it in the budget!)
- Most Americans see freedoms under threat but core to nation’s identity, AP-NORC poll finds
- Why July 4 Turned Into a Trump Rally (“The president has never accepted that the head of state and the leader of the Republican Party are separate roles.”)
- Why Fox Spent $22 Billion on Roku (“Is this deal the streaming power-up Lachlan Murdoch hopes it is?”)
- Congressional staff visit prison facility where Ghislaine Maxwell is held
- Leak Exposes Members of Peter Thiel’s Secretive ‘Dialog’ Society (“More than 200 of the world’s elites registered for a retreat whose agenda runs from panels on cult-building and sex to prepping for World War III. An associated app offers matchmaking.”)
- Report: Trump was bald-faced lying about the ballroom from the jump
- You’re paying for Trump’s ballroom
- Trump Responds To Foiled White House Attack Plot By… Praising UFC Fighters?!? (“The president weirdly made light of a reporter’s question about the FBI thwarting an alleged plan to attack the big fight night at the White House.”)
- Kash Patel ‘jumped the gun’ with announcement of UFC plot arrests, sources say (“Secret Service officials are angered by the FBI director’s early morning social media post that was shared before some suspects were arrested.”)
- Algae thwart Trump’s $14.2m attempt to turn reflecting pool ‘American flag blue’ (“Green algae have proliferated amid warm weather after Lincoln Memorial pool renovation turning water green”)
- Why the Reflecting Pool Is Full of Algae After Trump’s Renovation (“Warm weather has fueled a bloom that US National Park Service workers are trying to kill using everything from hydrogen peroxide to nanobubbles ahead of July 4 celebrations.”)
- Trump falls short in Georgia governor’s race: 5 takeaways from Tuesday’s primariesf
- Trump’s endorsement fails to save MAGA candidate as billionaire advances in key governor race (“Jackson, who grew up in foster care, will face former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in the general election”)
- Trump-endorsed Collins beats Kemp’s pick to take on Ossoff for Georgia Senate
- Trump-endorsed Rep. Barry Moore wins GOP primary runoff in Alabama Senate race (“NBC News projects Moore defeated former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson to advance to the general election to succeed Sen. Tommy Tuberville.”)
- The Crypto Industry Makes Its Biggest Midterm Bet Yet (“The industry’s main super PAC has spent $9.8 million on ads to help the Senate bid of Representative Barry Moore of Alabama, a Republican seen as pro-cryptocurrency.”)
- Hillary Clinton Says Biden’s Re-election Bid Was a ‘Terrible Mistake’ (“If the former president had “passed the torch” and allowed a competitive Democratic primary in 2024, she said in a new interview, the winner ‘would have beaten Donald Trump.'”)
- The Shocking Arrest of a MAGA Pit Bull and His Fake Secret Service Pal (“Ryan Fournier and his friend were arrested on Friday. Strip clubs, counterfeit badges, and made-up claims of Trump world access contributed to their fall.”)
- Mississippi Police Officer Shoots and Kills 1-Year-Old Child in Response to Senatobia Shoplifting Call (WTF???)
- Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George opens up lead in Washington, D.C., mayoral primary
- MLB critical of Giants players who wrote Bible verses on Pride Night caps
- Video: Sen. Tim Kaine Tells Trump’s Nominee for Deputy OMB Director He’s Either a “conspiracy theorist” or “afraid of making an insecure president mad by acknowledging that [Biden won the 2024 election]”
- Video: VA Senate Finance and Appropriations Chair Louise Lucas Says “Virginia will have a budget by June 30th and we are still working to get this right for Virginians” (“On Friday, I released information on a potential compromise in the interest of having a budget prior to the start of the new fiscal year.”)
- Speaker Scott says Sen. Lucas has sparked ‘civil war’ among Democrats over budget
- State Senate drops tax exemptions in budget fight, introduces ‘impact fees’ for data centers (“The state Senate had insisted on ending data center tax exemptions in 2027, eight years earlier than their scheduled expiration. That issue had become a sticking point between the state Senate and the House of Delegates in biennial budget talks.”)
- Data center tax break impasse at the heart of a Virginia Democrat civil war
- Sen. Louise Lucas gets an earful on data centers in Manassas
- Data center debate spills over into Spanberger bill signing (“Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation tell Virginia Scope that state Sens. Mike Jones, D-Chesterfield, and Russet Perry, D-Fairfax, left a ceremonial bill signing with Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday afternoon. Spanberger was conducting a ceremonial signing of gun-violence-prevention legislation. According to multiple sources, a member of Spanberger’s staff approached Perry and Jones, who were seated in seats with their name placards, and asked to speak with them in the hallway. Once in the hallway, the Spanberger staffer told Jones and Perry that the governor removed their bills from the ceremonial bill signing because they had participated in the “data center listening tour” that Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, is currently conducting across Virginia.”)
- Video: Gov. Abigail Spanberger, VA Sen. Lashrecse Aird, Del. Paul Krizek Announce Creation of “safe, legal, and well-regulated cannabis market” Starting 7/1/27 (“…if our goal is to move consumers away from the illicit market, then the legal market has to be able to compete”)
- Spanberger announces compromise on retail weed, eyes 2027 rollout
- Lawmakers find path forward on retail cannabis legalization
- Spanberger, legislators roll out retail weed plan, set to launch in July 2027 (“State sales tax on retail weed will be 6% to start and rise to 8% in 2029, while retail locations to be capped at 350 statewide”)
- Spanberger, legislators announce agreement on legal cannabis sales
- Virginia’s marijuana market compromise leaves advocates “extremely pleased”
- Lynchburg Republicans allowed online voting in their nullified ‘firehouse primary.’ It was just a single vote. (“The report presented to the Republican State Central Committee said the local party had allowed voting by email. Here’s the rest of the story, including the places that are experimenting with online voting.”)
- A year-old report highlighted concerns inside the ACPD: Why is this being presented as breaking news? (Gotta love when the media acts like just because THEY just learned about something means it JUST HAPPENED, even if it actually happened and/or was reported on a while ago.)
- Natural Bridge Zoo giraffe calves found after disappearing last year
- DC-area forecast: Warmer today; hot tomorrow as storm chances return
