Friday (7/3) News: Severe Heatwave “‘virtually impossible’ without climate crisis”; “Trump’s Huge Windfall Has Few Known Global Precedents”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise (economic, environmental, etc.) for Friday, July 3. Also, Jamelle Bouie really nails it – as usual – in his latest video, arguing against something (cruelty) that you’d think one wouldn’t have to argue against, but sadly these days very much does…because gratuituous cruelty – whether towards transgender people, immigrants, whoever – is, disgracefully, central to the entire MAGA movement.

INTERNATIONAL

• France records 2,025 excess deaths at peak of heatwave as Europe braces for more extreme weather
• Kill zones and drone nets: a journey through Ukraine’s fortress belt (“A strategic line of towns and cities is crucial to Ukraine’s defence – and where the war is at its most brutal”)
• As Ukraine War Escalates, Witkoff and Kushner Are Focused on Iran (“Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are pivotal players at a moment when the posts of U.S. ambassador to Moscow and Kyiv are both vacant.” Totally f’ed up.)
• Long Lines for Gas Shatter the Illusion of Normalcy in Wartime Russia
• Inside Taiwan’s nightmare scenario: Chinese blockade, earthquake, sabotage and invasion
• ‘Ridiculous’ for US to maintain current Nato support, Trump warns ahead of alliance summit (“President says Washington’s relationship with Nato is ‘not reciprocal’ and ‘they were not there for us’ in Iran war”)
• Hegseth Prepared a Bombshell Plan to Cut Troops in Europe. Then It Got Nixed. (Hegseth is a menace.)
• Inside Iran, the economic fallout from war takes a huge personal toll
• Ali Khamenei’s six-day funeral expected to draw millions in Iran
• Iran’s slain leader Khamenei laid in state in Tehran for week of mass funeral events
• The Race to Rescue 8,000 Sailors Still Stranded Behind Hormuz
• U.S. warned Iran about possible Israeli efforts to kill top negotiators in ceasefire talks
• U.S. Officials Believed Israel Was Plotting to Kill Iranian Negotiators (“Any Israeli attempt to kill Abbas Araghchi, the foreign minister, or Mohammad Ghalibaf, the Parliament speaker, would have derailed peace talks, American officials feared.”)
• In the West Bank, Israeli settlers take over Palestinian’s dream home (These settlers are a disaster – lawless, out of control, nasty, etc.)
• UN human rights chief sounds ‘red alert’ over violence around Sudan’s el-Obeid city (Sudan should be getting orders of magnitude more attention than it’s been getting.)
• Peter Thiel in Aspen: The pope is ‘working for the Chinese Communists’ (Unhinged by Thiel.)
• The Guardian view on xenophobic violence in South Africa: anti-migrant politics can’t fix domestic problems (“Foreigners are not to blame for unemployment, crime and the state of public services. Leaders should have the courage to say so more clearly”)
• Venezuela quake toll climbs to 2,595 as damage estimates mount after strongest tremor in a century
• ‘Scavenger’ dolphins increasingly rely on trawlers for food in overfished Adriatic, say scientists (“In one area 76% of fishing boats were followed, with baby dolphins learning the technique from their parents” UGH.)
• More than 100 passengers on US cruise ship sick from suspected norovirus (“Princess Cruises vessel is docked in San Francisco for disinfecting in third outbreak for company this year”)
• Tibetan man dies after setting himself on fire outside UN in New York, activists say (“Exiled Tibetans say the man’s self-immolation was an appeal for Tibetan independence from China”)

NATIONAL

• Right-wing media target pregnant and female travelers following SCOTUS birthright citizenship ruling (Sick, evil people.)
• An ICE detainee sought treatment for mental illness. He died in a struggle with guards.
• What in the World Did Brett Kavanaugh Write on Birthright Citizenship? (“His 10-page opinion is strangely adrift from rhyme or reason, and it ends up reinforcing a far more extreme position than any of his colleagues’.” Kavanaugh is COMPLETELY f’ed up.)
• Transgender rights advocates’ hope in Gorsuch fades after athlete ban ruling
• Trump Allies Double Down on Efforts to Reshape Federal Reserve
• US heatwave threatens 250th anniversary events and World Cup (“Weekend’s high temperatures and humidity ‘virtually impossible’ without climate crisis, researchers say”)
• Extreme heat wave threatens U.S. power grids and July 4 travel
• This heat wave would be ‘virtually impossible’ if not for fossil fuel pollution, study says
• Fossil Fuels Are Heating America’s 250th Birthday
• Supreme Court Allows Reporter to Be Fined for Failing to Disclose Source (“Catherine Herridge, a former Fox News reporter, was held in civil contempt by a lower court after she refused to reveal her sources for articles she wrote about a scientist who was investigated by the F.B.I.”)
• Trump administration can remove history and climate info from US parks, court says (“In latest legal twist, appeals panel rules US does not have to reinstate signage on climate, immigration and slavery” UGH!)
• Are MAGA and MAHA Heading for Divorce? (“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised ambitious plans to make Americans healthier. But insiders say as soon as he was named health secretary, the problems between the coalitions began”)
• The plot to subvert the midterms is getting stranger and more dangerous (“Right-wing media figures including Steve Bannon, John Solomon, and Cleta Mitchell appear to be weaving together a narrative about interference by China in US elections to justify a national emergency to curtail voting rights”)
• I’m in no mood to ‘celebrate’ America. Our country is broken and needs repair
• The America-turns-250 column Donald Trump doesn’t want me to write (“Americans have been showing our best selves as the nation turns 250, but grifter Trump sees this as a distraction to steal.”)
• Heat adds to strains on areas with data centers, raising the temperature on AI debates
• Trump administration moves to gut energy efficiency rules for home appliances (“The Energy Department wants to permanently restrict longstanding efficiency mandates, calling them a ‘scam.'” INSANE!)
• US moves to eliminate long-time radiation safety principle for nuclear power (“…critics say that eliminating ALARA means getting rid of a key incentive for energy companies to keep radiation levels as low as possible — and could mean more cancer cases.” Gotta love when the “mainstream media” hides behind the “critics say” formulation, instead of just SAYING IT THEMSELVES. Pathetic as always.)
• Trump’s Huge Windfall Has Few Known Global Precedents
• Trump Insists ‘There’s Nothing Wrong’ With His Big Crypto Gains (Yeah, except there’s a TON wrong with it – massive corruption, for starters. Also note that if a Democrat – Obama, Biden, etc. – had done this, Trump would be calling for their heads!)
• Trump discloses 21,000 securities trades during first year in office (Just imagine this headline with “Biden” instead of “Trump,” and think about how Republicans and the media would be reacting.)
• Trump discloses 327 unreported stock trades made a day before his first tariff pause (Sure sounds massively corrupt.)
• MAGA Base Stays Quiet After Trump Reports Billions in Personal Gains (“A new mandatory disclosure revealed that the president has earned $2.2 billion during the first year back in the White House.” They’d be going APESHIT if this were Obama, Clinton, Biden, Harris, etc.)
• JD Vance and Melania Trump Also Had Sharp Earnings Increases in 2025 (“But the revenue brought in by the vice president and the first lady paled in comparison to that of President Trump.”)
• Trump Says He Wants AI Guardrails, But ‘As Little as Possible’
• Former Top General Warns the Military Is Being Politicized (“CQ Brown, who was fired as Trump’s top general, questioned the president’s handling of the armed forces”)
• DOGE official’s move to Trump’s NSC stalls following Loomer campaign (My god…)
• F.B.I. Assigns Scores of Analysts to Examine Election Records in Georgia (Thuggish, authoritarian, 100% unacceptable behavior – these “analysts” should refuse to do it, resign if necessary, absolutely NOT participate in this!)
• As Trump commands 250th stage, Democrats offer their vision of patriotism
• 5 takeaways from President Donald Trump’s interview with CNBC (“The president defended his family’s business and said he feels bad that the presidency creates a conflict of interest in any of his children’s investments, while also saying his son Eric Trump handles his money. Trump still wants to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook, and also wouldn’t say whether he would sign a long-awaited housing affordability bill.”)
• ‘Doctor’ Trump Posts Bonkers AI Slop Video Mocking His ‘So Far Gone’ Celebrity Critics (“The president posted an AI video of himself treating ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.'” The one who’s “deranged” is Trump himself, of course.)
• Trumpism Is Destroying America’s Civic Morality (“Cruelty, corruption, and spectacle have become defining features of American public life. Rebuilding democracy will require restoring the expectation that power must answer to decency.”)
• Plan to ease rules on mailing guns could help company Trump Jr. has stake in (“President Donald Trump’s eldest son is a key player in GrabAGun, a company that hopes to dominate internet firearms sales.”)
• Trump Expects Musk Will Donate SpaceX Stock to Trump Accounts
• The Cabinet Secretary Who Doubles as Trump’s Personal Project Manager (“Interior Secretary Doug Burgum oversees everything from the reflecting pool to the renovation of aging golf courses” Burgum really doesn’t reflect well on the voters of North Dakota…same state which has voted for Trump three times, by the way.)
• Former Olympic canoeist indicted for allegedly damaging Reflecting Pool (See, this is where the “mainstream media” fails horrendously; reporting this in any way/shape/form as legitimate is completely f’ed up, given that Trump’s allegations are COMPLETELY unsubstantiated and INSANE, also that the one who “vandalized” the Reflecting Pool was…yep, TRUMP!)
• Judge Jeanine Melts Down After Charging Olympian Over Pool (“The U.S. attorney was triggered by a reporter’s simple question.”)
• The Great American State Fair’s Main Exhibit Is Trump Corruption
• A very Trump July 4 (“How Trump took over America’s 250th, briefly explained.”)
• How Bezos Learned to Love Trump—and Win More Contracts for Blue Origin (Scum.)
• Outrage over ‘cruel’ Florida move to ban undocumented students from college (Never forget that Glenn Youngkin touted Ron DeSantis as a model governor. And yet the “mainstream” political media treated Youngkin as some sort of “moderate” or whatever, because…yep, the “mainstream” political media is COMPLETELY broken.)
• Two Maine Polls Just Dropped. Is It Time to Fret About Graham Platner? (It was time to “fret” about Platner months ago. Also, sounds like more bad stuff could be coming about him…Republicans presumably waiting to release it until after the withdrawal deadline of July 13.)
• Texas Politicians Found a Slimy New Way to Inject Christian Nationalism into Public Schools (Should say “Texas REPUBLICAN Politicians,” not “Politicians” generically.)
• Mamdani mocked by GOP for telling New Yorkers to set thermostats to 78 (This is standard advice during a severe heat wave, to protect the power grid from overloading; nothing to do with “communism” or “socialism” or whatever bullshit Republicans are spewing out.)
• Unearthed Video Exposes Nasty Drama Inside Michael Flynn’s Nonprofit (“You met your match, bitch!”)
• Watch: Trump’s Dystopia Takes Over the National Mall (“A week of absurdity at the reflecting pool and the Great American State Fair.”)
• The Capital Is a Mess (“Chain-link fences, construction cranes, armed guards, and portable toilets everywhere” Trump trashed it.)

VIRGINIA

• Virginia’s reproductive rights amendment faces legal challenges over procedural step, language (“Bedford and Tazewell counties cases could test whether lawmakers properly advanced the ballot measure — and one suit could potentially affect two other pending constitutional amendments. ” My god…)
• As Virginia builds more data centers, water planning can’t be an afterthought
• Virginia passed a historic record-sealing law. Now it must make it work.
• Virginians with marijuana charges– and more– can now get that criminal history sealed
• Not all of Virginia’s independence story was made by men in white wigs. Here’s what we’ve learned about our history.
• Virginia braces for dangerous heat wave ahead of Fourth of July weekend (“Spanberger urges residents to stay hydrated and check on neighbors as heat index values could reach 115 degrees and drought conditions worsen across parts of the state.”)
• Advocates brave heat to protest Spanberger vetoes (“A small crowd gathered to protest the governor’s vetoes of legislation related to collective bargaining and criminal justice reform.”)
• Pope & Schapiro: New laws, legal challenges, and birthright citizenship
• DEQ suspends MVP compressor station permit (“Virginia regulators have put the brakes on efforts by Mountain Valley Pipeline to build a natural gas compressor station in Montgomery County.”)
• Could an Arlington aerial gondola solve Northern Virginia’s traffic woes?
• Augusta County: Ways our citizens can hold our law-breaking sheriff accountable (“Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith needs to be made to understand that he doesn’t get to choose what laws he enforces, and what laws he doesn’t want to enforce.”)
• Density, housing zoning changes back on Roanoke council’s agenda
• DC-area forecast: Dangerous heat today, Independence Day, and Sunday