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by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, September 18. Today’s biggest developments and headlines include the climate crisis (always at the top of these news highlights because it’s existential and should be a massive story every single day)…plus lots more…see below. Also, if you need more motivation to vote BLUE starting TODAY (Friday, 9/18), listen to the first minute or so of Trump’s batshit-crazy, WILD-LIE-filled “tele-rally” last night for MAGA Reps. Rob Wittman (R-VA01), Jen Kiggans (R-VA02) and John McGuire (R-VA05).
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
- The Guardian view on the Nepal-Tibet floods: a spur to action on climate (They should be, anyway!)
- The world’s rivers are at breaking point. Can we save them before it is too late?
- ‘Forcing a reckoning’: How Asia is preparing for a ‘supersized’ El Niño
- Al Gore Is Still Sounding the Alarm About Climate Change (“The former vice president will speak today on the topic, in advance of Climate Week and as President Trump lifts limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.”)
- Advertising Contracts with Big Oil Hit Record High as Profits Soar from War in Iran (Disgusting.)
- British people understand the climate crisis threat. Today I’m empowering them to tackle it (By British PM Andy Burnham)
- Hackers Used Anthropic’s Claude to Break Into OpenAI
- The U.S. and China Want AI Guardrails. But Their Ideas Couldn’t Be More Different. (“American dialogue has centered on protecting humanity, while Beijing is chiefly concerned with safeguarding the Communist Party.”)
- Russia’s Parliamentary Election Is Not Free, but It Begins Today (It’s not in any way/shape/form free or fair, therefore not a real election.)
- Trump Wants Putin to End the War. He May Offer Russia Business Deals First.
- Russians begin 3 days of voting in a parliamentary election set to cement the Kremlin’s power (HORRENDOUS headline by AP, which fails to state that these “elections” – in air quotes – are a complete SHAM!)
- Pentagon weighs pulling nearly a third of U.S. forces from Europe (“The potentially drastic drawdown of 25,000 or more U.S. troops comes amid warnings from NATO allies about a growing threat posed by Russia.” We should be building UP our forces, if anything, given the Russian threat!)
- String of daring Russian plots is testing Washington’s restraint (Bizarre headline – “Washington’s restraint?” WTF?)
- China Stockpiled Oil, and Now It Could Dominate the Energy Landscape (“The war with Iran revealed just how much influence the world’s biggest oil importer has over prices and other countries’ supplies of jet fuel, gasoline and diesel.”)
- Oil prices fall for third day on Saudi Arabia supply hopes; U.S. crude briefly dips below $100
- As Iran war grinds on, Trump to face skeptical world leaders at UN
- UN mission finds grounds to believe US committed war crimes in Iran, and Tehran crimes against humanity
- China presses Iran to help rein in Houthis after Saudi appeal
- Trump tells Axios he’s approaching major crossroads in Iran war (Axios continues to act as Trump’s stenographer, press secretary. Of course, they also acted as Glenn Youngkin’s uncritical stenographer – they also LIED for Youngkin – so this is simply what they do.)
- Fox News Poll: 71% think Trump administration lacks plan to end Iran war (“Support for Israelis drops to record low”)
- Senate Democrats press Hegseth for Iran war price tag (Hegseth’s going to lie, of course.)
- Iranians rally by the hundreds of thousands in biggest show of defiance since war began (“Iran’s government has sought to rally the people and stress national unity, even as the economy worsens under a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports and new U.S. sanctions meant to increase Tehran’s economic pain.”)
- South Korea will not send military to support US war on Iran, defying Trump pressure
- Trump Moves Ahead With F-35 Jet Sales to Saudi Arabia Despite Intelligence Concerns (What could go wrong?)
- ‘Run! Get away!’: witnesses recount Israeli ‘double tap’ strike that killed child and medic in Gaza (Wildly unacceptable.)
- US court sentences ex-Syrian official who ran notorious ‘punishment wing’ to 60 years (“Samir Ousman al-Sheikh, part of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, was in charge of Adra prison where prisoners were tortured” Evil incarnate.)
- Exclusive: US military moving drones to South America ahead of anticipated counternarcotics operations (What could possibly go wrong???)
- Canadians dream of Europe as Carney floats longshot plan for living and working in EU
- What the EU’s offer of ‘associate member’ to Canada might mean
NATIONAL NEWS
- White House pulls stalled ICE director nominee (“The Oklahoma state trooper had no experience leading a major law enforcement agency but was close to the Homeland Security secretary.”)
- Fear and loathing in Trump’s Miami backyard over immigration crackdown
- Fox News Poll: Majority says immigration enforcement has crossed the line (“The Republicans’ lead on handling immigration nearly evaporates”)
- Trump officials sending undocumented children to Texas sparks fears of mass deportation (“Nearly 90% of children in federal custody being directed to GOP-controlled state that has unlicensed facilities and low legal representation rates”)
- Former ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detainee says he was placed in phone booth-sized cage for 15 hours (“A Homeland Security watchdog confirmed the use of small cages at the now-shuttered immigrant detention center. Facility records say detainees were kept in them for under two hours.” We’re going to need a Nuremberg-style tribunal after Trump’s out of power.)
- A DHS email raises new questions about the Trump administration’s election plans (“An internal Department of Homeland Security email raises new questions about the agency’s efforts to hunt for non-U.S. citizens who may be on state voter rolls or have cast ballots in the past.”)
- Congress has failed to regulate AI for years – and there’s little sign that’s changing (Disgraceful. They also WILDLY failed to regulate social media, with predictably disastrous results.)
- ‘Godfather of AI’ warns Congress has ‘maybe a year’ left to regulate AI (“There appeared to be a lot of talk about artificial intelligence and little progress on Capitol Hill this week. But members remain hopeful that Congress can act.”)
- How Warsh Raised Rates Without Drawing Trump’s Ire (“No name-calling, no insults. New Fed chairman’s close relationship with president gave him room to move without triggering White House backlash”)
- Gas and diesel prices are soaring. Right-wing media figures promised that wouldn’t happen. (“Right-wing media knew that soaring gas prices would be trouble for the midterms — and assured their audiences repeatedly that they’d come back down”)
- Iran War Will Make Winter More Expensive for Some Americans (“The cost of heating oil, which is similar to diesel and used extensively in Northeastern states, has climbed sharply because of the war in Iran”)
- Weeks Before the Midterms, Almost Everything Is Getting More Expensive (“The price of eating out, filling a gas tank and buying a house keeps rising, while higher interest rates add to borrowing costs”)
- Violence toward journalists is a symptom of a terminally ill U.S. democracy
- Kennedy Assures Vaccine Skeptics That They Have a ‘Friend at the White House’ (Anti-vaxxers like RFK Jr. are batshit crazy, also dangerous, because they could lead to the resurgence of dangerous diseases – measles, polio, etc. – in this country.)
- RFK Jr. signals vaccine skepticism will continue (Why call it “skepticism?” Very telling word choice by abysmal Axios.)
- Postal Service chief says work stopped on computer system key to Trump effort to limit mail voting
- Blanche’s Political Campaigning Breaks an Ethical Norm Going Back to Watergate (Blanche is the worst Attorney General in US history?)
- Trump Is Considering More Data Centers on Public Lands Than Previously Known
- Pentagon issues new guidance for testosterone testing after rescinding previous one (Batshit crazy.)
- Economic nerves emerge as House Republicans call it quits till Election Day
- Why Democrats are starting to feel bullish about a midterm wave (“Why Democrats are starting to feel bullish about a midterm wave “)
- Republican ‘cavalry’ arrives with a Trump-backed $150 million ad blitz in key races
- The DNC Gets a Fundraising Boost After Months of Struggle (“The Democratic National Committee had a big summer with grassroots donors, taking some of the edge off a difficult year.”)
- Inside House Democrats’ behind-the-scenes food fight
- Inside House Democrats’ Push to Kick Old People Out of Leadership (“Some newer members say they don’t want to wait decades before they get to lead major committees.” “Rep. Jahana Hayes of Connecticut announced she’d challenge Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia for the top job on the House Education and Workforce Committee. Scott ascended to that position in 2015.”)
- Massie and Khanna Have Enough Signatures for a Second Epstein Files Discharge Petition (“The chamber, however, won’t be able to vote on the bill until after November’s midterm elections.”)
- Blame Biden? Voters not buying it. (How stupid do you have to be to blame Biden for shit that’s like 100% Trump’s/Republicans’ fault???)
- Buttigieg: Democrats Need to Get Serious About Amending the Constitution
- Red and Blue America Have Found Something to Agree On: Flock Cameras Must Go (“A national backlash against AI-enabled license-plate readers is uniting Trump country and progressive strongholds alike. ‘Nobody wants to be surveilled…doesn’t matter what your political leaning is.’”)
- Warren Buffett Steps Down as Berkshire Chairman, Names Son to Replace Him
- Bad news this week for Trump – but Fox viewers might have missed it (“The network continues to cater to its presidential ‘audience of one’, downplaying his supreme court loss and more”)
- How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning Them Into Zombie Content Farms That They Say Get 50 Million Page Views per Month (“Brown Brothers Media is the biggest media company you’ve never heard of — powered by AI, fake writers, and plagiarism. When we started asking questions, it started deleting massive amounts of content.”)
- Josh Shapiro Calls for Federal Government to Place ‘Strict Guardrails’ on AI (“The governor and potential 2028 Democratic candidate sought a middle ground between being hands-off and seeking a moratorium on AI development.”)
- Appeals court considers reviving Missouri redistricting fight, citing murky Supreme Court orders
- Montana Ban Would Strike at Political Spending, and the Supreme Court (“A measure aimed at stemming the tide of corporate money in politics will be on the November ballot. Opponents say it violates a high court ruling.”)
- A Republican ‘Minivan-Driving Mom’ Swerves Away From the Trump Brand (“Representative Ashley Hinson of Iowa is locked in a tight race against Josh Turek, a Democratic state representative, that could be crucial for Senate control.”)
- Democrat leads Marshall in tight Kansas Senate race: Poll (“A new The Hill/Emerson College Polling survey found Hamilton ahead by 2 percentage points, with 45 percent to Marshall’s 43 percent. Another 4 percent chose Libertarian candidate David Graham, and 8 percent were undecided.”)
- Roy Cooper’s lead grows to 15 points in NC Senate race
- “The Axios Show”: Hasan Piker wants to campaign for AOC in 2028 (That would be an automatic disqualifer for me.)
- Bo French Sent a Tweet So Racist, His Own Party Finally Took Notice. It’s Just the Tip of the Iceberg. (“How a regulatory agency you’ve never heard of became a test case for Republican extremism.”)
- Many of the “Michigan Jewish Dems” Backing Mike Rogers Are Actually Already Republican Supporters, Analysis Finds (Seriously, f*** these people.)
- Democrat blocks fast-track passage for data center ratepayer bill
- Judge orders Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes
- Former Institute of Peace Workers Warn Trump May Push to Engrave Name on Building
- Urgent motion filed to stop carving of Trump’s name into US Institute of Peace building
- US Institute of Peace files emergency motion to block carving of Trump’s name into facade of its headquarters
VIRGINIA NEWS
- ‘I’m not a doomer’: US Senator Mark Warner makes the case for acting fast on AI guardrails (I honestly have no clue what Sen. Warner’s saying here – he’s not a “doomer,” whatever that is, but then he lays out some REALLY disturbing, scary scenarios – hospitals being shut down, water systems being compromised, etc. – that are possible in the next few years with AI.)
- Warner to cast his ballot in Alexandria Friday as early voting opens, and says DHS improperly accessed Virginia voter files (“The senator told reporters Thursday that federal agents obtained Virginians’ personal information from voter records, which he said state law permits only the voter to access.”)
- NEW: DCCC Launches First Ad in Six-Figure Digital Ad Campaign Targeting Black Voters in VA-02 (“‘Playing’ reminds voters that Kiggans is solely focused on doing Trump’s bidding by voting with him 100% of the time”)
- Video: Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) Says He’s Warned the Data Center Industry, “if we do nothing I think that [a national] moratorium will win” (Subramanyam also demolishes the (really dumb) ideas of SMRs and “bring their own power”)
- Video: Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) Warns “the red lights are flashing right now” on AI; Need Strong Federal Regulations on Data Centers (Also: “Had Speaker Johnson allowed a vote on that impeachment of Pete Hegseth, I would have voted for it.”)
- Gov. Spanberger rallies for Tom Perriello as early voting begins
- TOMORROW: Early Voting Begins as Virginia Democrats Go on Offense Against Trump Republicans for Driving Up Costs(“Virginians don’t have to wait until November to hold Trump’s Republicans accountable.”)
- Early voting begins today. Here’s what’s at stake across Virginia. (“Virginia has a low-key Senate race, 11 different congressional races (some more competitive than others), referendums on three important constitutional amendments, a few local referendums here or there, and lots of local offices.”)
- Early voting begins in Virginia, as Trump mail-ballot restrictions remain blocked (“Voters will choose a U.S. senator, members of Congress and the fate of three proposed constitutional amendments beginning Friday.” The Virginia Mercury’s image for this story, btw, is of a MAGA rally. Hmmm…)
- Pope & Schapiro: Early voting in this year’s midterm elections gets underway
- Spanberger encourages new citizens to vote ahead of early voting
- Attorney General Jay Jones using new state law to take aim at firearms industry
- Virginia confronts $1.7 billion shortfall in highway maintenance funding (“Funding for transportation projects through the Smart Scale program could drop temporarily by around 51% and construction awards to localities could be impacted.”)
- Editorial: Flock camera abuse asks hard questions of local officials (“Despite hopes that lawmakers and the ALPR industry would take substantive steps to ease privacy concerns, too little has been done.”)
- Arlington, Fairfax counties vote to end use of Flock cameras and related technology
- In chamber forum, Roanoke council candidates talk how they would measure success if elected
- Changes to state disaster relief fund will streamline claims process, increase spending caps for Southwest Virginia flood victims, governor’s office says
- Roanoke-area healthcare workforce effort aims to solve employee shortages
- Richmond officials say Squirrels aren’t negotiating to share ballpark with VCU
- Deceased dog whose microchip wasn’t checked by highway crew raises questions about Virginia policies, laws (“‘No family should live with ‘pretty sure,’ says owner of Scooby, who may have been hit on Interstate 81.”)
- Former Portsmouth officer and police chief sued over 2019 on-duty sexual assault of 17-year-old
- DC-area forecast: Warm and a bit breezy today; cooler, wetter pattern on the horizon
