Sunday (7/5) News: Trump’s Bizarre July 4 – Crowd Chaos, Rants About Supposed “Communists,” Cringe-Inducing Comments About Civil War, etc.

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise (economic, environmental, etc.) for Sunday, July 5. Also, I’ll listen to the superb Brandi Carlile singing America the Beautiful a million times before I watch one minute of the Trump rally in DC last night.

INTERNATIONAL

• Massive marine heat wave may fuel serious storms and severe temperatures (“It covers an area eight times the size of the United States and could have profound ripple effects for weather events around the globe in the coming weeks and months.”)
• Oil’s Supply Wave, Tumbling Prices Rekindle Fears of Global Glut
• Ukraine reportedly strikes Crimea substations, leaving occupied peninsula without power
• Ukraine nearly doubles successful strikes more than 50 kilometers behind Russian lines
• Ukraine war briefing: Trump repositions himself as peacemaker in long call with Putin (“Ahead of Nato summit in Turkey, Zelenskyy also tells Trump ‘there is a real prospect to end this war’. What we know on day 1,593”)
• How Xi Jinping Steamrolls Dissent With Tactics From Stalin and Mao (“China’s leader draws from autocrats’ playbook to expand power, oust potential rivals and lay groundwork to rule indefinitely.”)
• NATO chief faces challenge at summit as Trump demands ‘loyalty’ and not just burden-sharing
• AI security questions loom over NATO summit
• How Iran’s new regime is very different to what came before
• Three of Khamenei’s sons join mass mourning in Tehran, but not his successor (The phrase “but not his successor” should be after “Three of Khamenei’s sons,” not after “in Tehran.” It’s amazing what poor writers so many in the “journalism” industry are.)
• Exclusive: Trump says Netanyahu “knows who the boss is” ahead of possible WH visit
• Israel Is Not Invincible (“Israel is not only not invincible; it must seriously consider changing its strategy. There is not a military solution to every problem. The zero-sum understanding of what it means to be pro-Israel has gone so far that it is now alienating Israel’s staunchest supporters. Israel’s embrace of total war and permanent military force, without an achievable endgame, is backfiring, undermining its very effectiveness and utility.” Agreed 100%.)
• Turkey’s status in NATO rises, thanks to its weapons factories and Trump
• German riot police clash with protesters hoping to block far-right AfD conference (“Thousands of police deployed to Erfurt in central Germany as party holds conference on key Nazi date”)
• Celtic nations begin to plan for breakup of UK in event of Reform election win (“Politicians brace for constitutional turmoil if Nigel Farage’s party end up in government – or even as a strong opposition”)
• Nigel Farage did not declare gifts from crypto entrepreneur convicted of fraud
• Moment of destiny for France’s Le Pen in verdict to decide her future in presidential race (“France is in a state of nervous excitement as it awaits Tuesday’s court verdict that will determine whether nationalist frontrunner Marine Le Pen can stand in next year’s presidential election. Rarely in a judicial decision in France have the political stakes been higher.”)
• Pope Leo’s July 4 Message to America Was Unmistakable (“By spending the semiquincentennial mourning the plight of migrants, Leo sent a clear challenge to his native country.”)
• The immorality of world leaders is contagious. Thank heavens for the pope (“In a political wasteland dominated by billionaires, war criminals and mega-corporations, the head of the Catholic church is a rare figure of moral leadership”)
• ‘Attack on civil society’: why Viktor Orbán’s favourite thinktank is in crisis (“MCC Brussels received lavish funding from Budapest, but Hungary’s new PM is launching an investigation”)
• Venezuelans Warned That Public Housing Towers Might Crumble in a Quake (“Residents, construction experts and seismologists said for years that Venezuela’s public housing would be vulnerable in a natural disaster.”)
• Mexico’s kidnapping crisis: ‘How can they hold a World Cup?’ (“As England prepares to take on Mexico in the Fifa World Cup, another battle is playing out just beyond the Azteca Stadium. More than 130,000 people have been forcibly disappeared in Mexico as cartel violence surges, leaving thousands of families searching for answers. They say the authorities have failed them and are demanding justice. The Guardian follows two families as they confront the police and challenge the government, determined to use football’s biggest tournament to expose Mexico’s disappearance crisis.”)
• Cuba’s Vast Surveillance Network Preserves the Communist Party’s Grip on Power

NATIONAL

• Supreme Court’s dramatic moves will reshape elections — and give the GOP a midterm boost (“Legal experts said the justices’ interventions amid an election cycle and the pace at which the court moved to implement changes that largely benefit one party is all but unprecedented in recent years.”)
• Trans families reel after SCOTUS ruling
• Americans declared independence from a tyrant once. And we must do that again
• The US celebrated the end of a ‘long national nightmare’ as it turned 200. What about now? (“A decade in the making, the 1976 bicentennial had a cathartic impact on the wounded national polity”)
• Trump warns of communist ‘cancer’ at campaign-style July 4 speech
• When It Comes to Anniversaries, Trump Is No Gerald Ford
• Trump Hosts a Celebration and Derides His Foes (“A centerpiece address for the nation’s anniversary devoted time to American history, but had all the hallmarks of a Trump rally.” The media is SO bad at covering Trump, it’s truly mind boggling.)
• ‘All men are created equal’: America has lost its values. It’s time to go back to the founding text (“As the US celebrates 250 years, the Declaration of Independence has been curiously absent. Yet its language on the consent of the governed is more relevant than ever”)
• Trump’s God, guns and anticommunist Fourth of July
• Trump, 80, Goes Off Script With Bizarre D-Day Analogy (“The president drew an extraordinary comparison between delivering a weather-delayed July Fourth speech and the Allied invasion of Normandy.”)
• ‘Communist menace in our land’: Trump’s July 4 rallying cry to America (“Ahead of his planned speech on the National Mall, the president framed the upcoming midterm elections as a battle against communism.”)
• Trump’s July 4 Speech A MAGA-Tinged Tour Through America’s History
• Celebrating America Doesn’t Have to Mean Erasing Our History (Of course it doesn’t HAVE to, but Trump/MAGA *want* to and are working feverishly to do so.)
• Trump Administration Rolls Back Dozens of Gun Regulations (‘Critics say the administration is weakening public safety. Proponents say regulations would be where they were before President Joseph R. Biden took office.”)
• Overcrowded and underfunded: Trump’s cuts to national parks threaten the US’s ‘best idea’
• At Trump’s Direction, Federal Agencies Are Abandoning Discrimination Cases (“President Trump has tried to scale back anti-discrimination regulations that date back decades. Federal agencies have heeded his call.”)
• Conservatives rage over re-funding of Planned Parenthood
• DOGE self-deletes on July 4th. The grand experiment fell apart long before that (“Tech mogul Elon Musk’s band of Silicon Valley disruptors have already moved on as DOGE’s charter is scheduled to expire.”)
• Wins by the far-left set up challenge for Hakeem Jeffries
• A Zombie Congress Is Threatening the GOP Agenda
• What J. D. Vance Once Knew (“Ten years ago, the vice president wrote that one day, voters would realize the truth about Donald Trump. That day has now arrived.”)
• Eight people shot in Coney Island, including four children, NYPD says (“A 6-year-old boy was shot in the stomach and a 7-year-old boy was shot in both legs, the NYPD says. A 21-year-old woman remains in critical condition after being shot in the chest.”)
• Neo-fascist group Patriot Front parades Confederate flag in Washington DC on Fourth of July (“Hundreds of masked members of the white supremacist organization marched and chanted in the US capital”)
• Masked men with Confederate flags seen chanting, marching, riding Metro in DC
• Demonstrators in white supremacist attire protest on Capitol Hill (“Demonstrators donning the logo and insignia of Patriot Front, a white supremacist group, were seen protesting in the Eastern Market neighborhood and on Capitol Hill on the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.”)
• Crowds Evacuated as Storms Menace Washington Ahead of Trump Speech (“Thousands of people stood in security lines for hours in severe heat to reach the National Mall, only to be ordered to leave as events were set to start. Some refused.”)

VIRGINIA

• Video: Gov. Abigail Spanberger Delivers Keynote Remarks at Monticello Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony (“Loving our country…[is] choosing to believe in our founding ideals”)
• Virginia leaders reflect on America’s 250th birthday during Independence Day celebration in Colonial Williamsburg
• Virginia just legalized the sale of recreational cannabis. Here’s what to know.
• Thousands brave the high heat for Fourth of July at Colonial Williamsburg
• DC-area forecast: Summer sizzle continues today with more storms possible late