Tuesday News: “Guess Which Company Ranks Worst for Environmental Racism?”; “Time to say it: We’re done with the vaccine refusers”; “The Nine Democrats Making Nancy Pelosi’s Life Harder Are Making a Big Mistake”; Conservative-But-Anti-Trump Bill Kristol Endorses Terry McAuliffe for Governor

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, August 24.

• Germany’s deadly floods were up to 9 times more likely because of climate change, study estimates
• Climate change: Europe’s extreme rains made more likely by humans
• WRI lays out options for large energy users to decarbonize beyond renewables procurement
• Guess Which Company Ranks Worst for Environmental Racism? (“ExxonMobil isn’t exactly known for being an environmental justice champion. But according to a scorecard published last week, the oil major is dead last among the S&P 500 companies when it comes to racial equity and environmental racism.”)
• Delta blow knocks wind out of Asia’s economic recovery
• Ultra-Vaxxed Israel’s Crisis Is a Dire Warning to America
• Israel’s COVID-19 vaccine boosters show signs of taming Delta
• Any Report on Afghanistan That Doesn’t Include These Facts Is Not Worth Your Time
• CIA Director William Burns held secret meeting in Kabul with Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar
• Stop Blaming Biden for Afghanistan. He’s Cleaning Up Trump’s Mess
• Biden faces pressure to extend Afghanistan evacuation mission as Taliban warns against doing so
• The Latest: 16 US citizens retrieved outside Kabul airport
• U.S. Races to Vet Afghans for Security Risks as Evacuations Rise
• Extension of U.S. Troop Deadline ‘Unlikely’: Afghanistan Update
• A Top U.S. Military Officer Finally Admits He Was Wrong About Afghanistan
• World leaders prepare for emergency G-7 meeting on Afghanistan as U.S. withdrawal deadline nears
• The Afghanistan War Was Lost Before Biden Ended It
• How Afghanistan rattled Asia and emboldened China
• Harris Set for Singapore Departure After Unspecified Delay
• Time to say it: We’re done with the vaccine refusers
• FDA Approves First COVID-19 Vaccine
• Many Older Americans Aren’t Vaccinated, Making the Delta Wave Deadlier
• Why Fauci’s prediction for the pandemic’s end is daunting for Democrats
• The US could enter spring of 2022 with Covid-19 under control if enough people get vaccinated, Fauci says (Time for mandates.)
• Why Pfizer’s FDA Approval Matters And What It Means For Vaccine Mandates
• The Memo: Boos for Trump show scale of vaccine challenge
• Vaccine Mandates Start Rolling Out After FDA Gives Pfizer Shot Full Approval (“Governments, school districts and businesses are all proceeding with new vaccine requirements.”)
• FDA approval of a vaccine is a welcome step. There’s still much to do to end the pandemic.
• Pelosi sets up risky House vote to deem $3.5T budget approved
• The reconciliation bill is really about health care. And 2022. (“Selling health care might save Democrats in 2022.”)
• How Pelosi can give the rebels a way out of the hostage crisis they created
• Pelosi, Moderates Struggle to Reach Deal to Advance Biden Agenda (They’re not “moderates,” they’re just jerks.)
• The Nine Democrats Making Nancy Pelosi’s Life Harder Are Making a Big Mistake
• Here’s How Democrats Get Their Domestic Agenda Through — And It’s Not Easy
• House committee plans to seek phone records in probe of January 6, including from members of Congress
• Tennessee floods show a pressing climate danger across America: ‘Walls of water’
• Can Democrats Move Forward A Voting Rights Bill By Making A Moral Case For It?
• Why so many people find Biden an easy target (“Deflecting blame is a Washington obsession.”)
• Why Facebook Is Suddenly Afraid of the F.T.C. (“The agency is trying, again, to convince a judge that the social-media giant needs to be broken up.”)
• The CEO Trying to Build a White, Christian, Secessionist Tech Industry (“Andrew Torba, CEO of Gab, represents the new, even more right-wing alternative to Silicon Valley.”)
• Why Some Socially Liberal Gen-Z Voters Aren’t Leaving The GOP (Ridiculous.)
• Far-right extremists in United States applaud Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan (They are “American Taliban”)
• Infowars host in custody to face charges in Jan. 6 riot
• Proud Boys’ ‘Summer of Love’ Rally Ended in Blood, Beatings, and Gunfire
• Even Amid a Crackdown, the Proud Boys Are Still Agitating
• Proud Boys leader Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio sentenced to five months in jail
• Anti-mask New York Post requires all of its employees to wear masks in latest sign of Murdoch media hypocrisy
• New York State’s First Female Governor Sworn Into Office in Dead of Night
• Kathy Hochul Sworn in as N.Y.’s First Female Governor as Cuomo Resigns
• Hochul Appoints 2 Women to Key Posts in Her Cabinet
• Mark Sanford calls Graham ‘a canary in the coalmine’ on GOP’s relationship with Trump
• Herschel Walker registers to vote in Georgia as he weighs Senate run
• Why Dems Have to Win the CA Recall
• Giuliani associate Igor Fruman expected to plead guilty on Wednesday
• Rep. Elise Stefanik is partnering with QAnon conspiracy theorist Scott Presler
• Alex Jones on Trump recommending vaccines: “Maybe Trump’s actually a dumbass”
• Arizona’s sham election ‘audit’ report delayed after Cyber Ninjas CEO and others test positive for Covid-19
• Sen. Warner visits Charlottesville Post Office to address mail delays
• Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia Repatriate Historic African American Gravestones
• Detailed Maps Let Us “Explore the demographic makeup of Virginia’s 1,900 Census tracts”
• Conservative Bill Kristol endorses McAuliffe in race for Virginia governor (“The longtime commentator and Trump critic calls Republican Glenn Youngkin too ‘Trumpy.'”)
• Terry McAuliffe Calls On All Virginia Employers to Require COVID-19 Vaccination on Heels of FDA Approval of Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccine
• How common are breakthrough infections in Virginia? It depends how you crunch the numbers.
• Opinion: PRO Act will bring equity to Virginia’s immigrants
• Virginia Professional Fire Fighters Endorse Terry McAuliffe for Governor
• Youngkin invests $1 million in down-ballot races
• Cheesy Westerns, bongs and labor shortages: understanding Va.’s hectic pandemic job market
• Editorial: Honoring more Virginians (“Virginia is right to make an effort to tell the stories of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who made a difference to the commonwealth and the nation.”)
• Jason Miyares Campaigned with Right-Wing Extremist, Trump Appointee Ken Cuccinelli Just Days Before Cuccinelli Headlined Virginia “Big Lie” Event
• Video, Highlights: Dramatic Morning as VA Redistricting Commission Citizens REVOLT, Force Map Drawers to Start From Scratch, Not From Preexisting/Gerrymandered-For-Incumbent-Protection Maps! (Also, Del. Marcus Simon (D) correctly calls the Republican map drawer a “gerrymandering mastermind”; Citizen Commissioner Hutchins says, “We have one shot at this, and I want us to make it count!”)
• Bobby Vassar and Wyatt Durrette column: Virginia redistricting won’t work without compromise
• Redistricting commission will scrap Virginia’s current political maps and start from scratch (“Republicans picked John Morgan, a Republican who helped GOP lawmakers draw House of Delegates districts in 2011. Morgan’s previous work was challenged in the courts, leading him to defend one ‘toilet-bowl’ shaped district. In a separate suit in 2019, a federal appeals court ruled that eleven of the House districts unconstitutionally packed Black voters together and ordered them redrawn.”)
• A Blank Slate and Familiar Face as Virginia Redistricting Begins New Maps
• Want Comprehensive Campaign Finance Reform in Virginia? Committee Meets at 1 pm TODAY; Submit Your Comment *Now*
• Monday (8/23) Virginia Data on COVID-19: With Delta Now Dominant, Hospitalizations (1,364) at Highest Level Since Early March, 10-Day New Cases (+23,333) Highest Since Late February(!)
• Virginia regulators reject request for WVa plant upgrades (“An electric utility will evaluate its next steps after regulators in Virginia rejected a rate increase request aimed at extending the life of some coal-fired generating plants in West Virginia, a company spokesman said.”)
• Appalachian Power allowed to raise rates to cover improvements to coal-fired plants (“The State Corporation Commission approved a request that will boost the monthly bill of an average home account by $2.17.”)
• Park Police Officers Seek Immunity From Manslaughter Charge (“Prosecutors are not entitled to second-guess the judgments of two U.S. Park Police officers who fatally shot a motorist, their lawyers said.” Bullshit.)
• CASEY: A pro-vaccine message most of Roanoke missed
• Newport News adds social workers to police department ease burden on child and adult protective services
• Richmond Christian School board ‘deeply disturbed’ by sex allegations against ex-volleyball coaches
• D.C.-area forecast: A series of hot sunny days; storm chances return this weekend