Thursday News: “Can humanity rise to the challenge in Glasgow?”; “Biden to announce Democratic agreement on social spending deal”; Your new Glenn Youngkin-approved AP English curriculum!”; Youngkin and Trump Election Lies

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, October 28.

Here we go with the Donald Trump election lies. This is Glenn Youngkin’s TOP surrogate, folks. https://t.co/2tT6yOLlFR

— Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) October 28, 2021

• China is addicted to dirty coal. Humanity’s future depends on it kicking the habit.
• First Thing: every sector failing to move fast enough on climate
• Climate change: Human activity makes forests emit carbon
• Climate change is not just a global threat. It’s also a local one.
• Column: Can humanity rise to the challenge in Glasgow and take some meaningful steps on climate change?
• Abandoning Nuclear Power Would Be Europe’s Biggest Climate Mistake (Germany completely f’ed up on this.)
• 5 things to watch for as Biden heads to Europe
• Pope Francis and President Biden: Their enemies bring them together
• Biden’s meeting with Pope Francis will be both official and deeply personal
• Taiwan’s President says the threat from China is increasing ‘every day’ and confirms presence of US military trainers on the island
• World Leaders Failed to Bend the Emissions Curve for 30 Years. Some Climate Experts Say Bottom-Up Change May Work Better (“A new study sees the lack of environmental justice considerations in climate negotiations as a root cause of the failure of international talks to slow climate change.”)
• World is failing to make changes needed to avoid climate breakdown, report finds (“Pace of emissions reductions must be increased significantly to keep global heating to 1.5C”)
• Cheap, generic anti-depressant may reduce severe Covid-19 disease, study finds (“A trial among about 1,500 patients in Brazil showed those who took the drug, known as fluvoxamine, were less likely to progress to severe disease and to require hospitalization.”)
• Why this Facebook scandal is bigger than any other (Facebook is a sociopathic organization.)
• Facebook in 2019 was told of ‘social civil war’ in Poland, triggered by negative posts
• France seizes British fishing boat in deepening post-Brexit row
• Specter of problematic crown prince looms over Biden’s Saudi Arabia policy
• We Knew Bolsonaro Was Guilty. Now We Have 1,288 Pages of Proof. (And Trump just endorsed him, along with his seven endorsements of Glenn Youngkin.)
• Bidenomics Is Working
• Biden Is Taking Forever to Get His Ambassadors Confirmed. You Can Thank Ted Cruz for That. (Cruz shouldn’t hold any elective office, let alone be in the US Senate.)
• Biden to announce Democratic agreement on social spending deal (“President Biden plans to announce Thursday that Democrats have agreed on a revised framework for his social spending plan that he expects will gain the support of all Democrats, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation”)
• Biden expected to attend House Democrats’ meeting, signaling a deal on spending bill is imminent
• White House hunkers down with Manchin and Sinema as Democrats insist deal is in reach
• Paid leave falls out of Democratic package in urgent scramble to secure Manchin’s support
• Who is killing the billionaires’ tax?
• Child Tax Credit Won’t Get ‘Work Requirement,’ Democrats Say
• Biden expected to attend House caucus meeting, press progressives on passing infrastructure bill
• Biden’s Tax Plan Gets Shredded Down in Battle to Raise Revenue
• Democrats try to back Manchin off killing paid family leave proposal
• Climate change: Major US oil companies to testify in Congress
• Oil companies face a ‘big tobacco’ moment in Congress over their climate policies (Oil companies have done FAR worse damage than Big Tobacco, and the latter did enormous damage…)
• Biden Officials Plan To Expand The List Of Places Where Immigration Agents Would Be Limited From Making Arrests
• The Republicans have dug up Jim Crow’s corpse — and now they’ve married it (“Everything about the GOP’s current assault on voting rights is a throwback to the worst years of white supremacy”)
• House Republicans with Ties to Fossil Fuel Industry Head to COP26 Climate Talks (“The group of House Republicans assert that their trip to the UN climate summit reflects a sincere interest in climate change, but together they’ve raised more than $2.5 million from the fossil fuel industry over their careers, raising doubts about the purpose of their trip.”)
• Old Power Gear Is Slowing Use of Clean Energy and Electric Cars
• Conservatives embrace safe spaces and trigger warnings
• Democrats’ biggest problem isn’t in Congress. It’s in your state capitol. (“While Democrats slept, Republicans created a system of corruption beyond the reach of democratic accountability.”)
• The January 6 Committee Is Finally Getting Trump Allies to Spill (“Steve Bannon is an exception, but things have largely changed now the former president is out of office.”)
• Trump Is Still Desperate to Keep His Tax Returns Out of Congress’s Hands for Some Reason
• The Supreme Court case that could gut America’s gun laws, explained (This Supreme Court is a menace.)
• The Second Amendment Didn’t Protect Your Right To Own A Gun Until 2008
• Elon Musk reveals exactly why we need the Democrats’ new tax on billionaires
• Michigan GOP is Installing Conspiracy Nuts in Critical Swing-State Election Posts (This is really, really bad.)
• This Went on for Four Hours in the United States Senate (Republicans are an embarrassment.)
• Wall Street Journal Under Fire For Publishing Lie-Filled Letter From Trump
• The 14 things you need to know about Trump’s letter in the Wall Street Journal (“The Wall Street Journal should not have published it without assessing the claims and demonstrating where they were wrong, misleading or unimportant…The main thing you need to know about the letter, of course, is that Donald Trump is still railing against his election loss 358 days after it occurred. And that prominent institutions are still enabling his dangerous misinformation more than 358 days after they should have known better.” Absolutely appalling by the Wall Street Journal.)
• Wall Street Journal publishes letter from Trump claiming ‘rigged’ election (“The publication of the letter, citing baseless and debunked claims, was criticized for pushing the traditional boundaries of a letters-to-the-editor page ” Disgraceful.)
• Florida judge rules Trump can’t skirt Twitter’s terms just because he was president in latest legal setback
• Fox anchor Neil Cavuto urged viewers to get vaccinated. Then came the death threats
• Eagles, Beavers, Sea Turtles: Why N.Y.C. Is Humming With Wildlife
• Three Trials in America Are Demonstrating the Limits of Our Justice System
• Men shot by Kyle Rittenhouse cannot be called ‘victims’ in court, judge rules (“But defense attorneys may call them ‘arsonists’ or ‘looters’ judge says ahead of contentious trial over fatal shooting of two men” Automatic mistrial?)
• Coronavirus infections at U.S. meat plants far higher than previous estimates -House subcommittee
• We’re a Doomed Society If Some Parents Opt Their Kids Out of Learning Social and Emotional Skills
• Critical race theory critics want students to be ignorant about race, history
• Marjorie Taylor Greene invested as much as $50,000 in the Trump SPAC before its stock plunged
• The NFL is using secrecy to manage a scandal instead of holding people accountable
• Gun Guy Mark McCloskey Wants to Ban Abortions for Victims of Incestuous Rape (“The GOP Senate hopeful who pointed guns at protestors wants to run wild with abortion policy in Missouri, the home of Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin.”)
• David Perdue is considering a primary challenge against Brian Kemp
• Facebook’s hiring crisis: Engineers are turning down offers, internal docs show
• Don’t Primary Joe Manchin. Elect More Democrats. (Agreed.)
• Facebook tells employees to preserve all communications for legal reasons.
• Nicholas Kristof, former New York Times columnist, announces run for Oregon governor (Why?)
• Video: Sen,. Warner “much more optimistic today than I was 10 days ago that Terry’s going to be successful” (On “Build Back Better,” Sen. Warner says the Senate is “very close to closing out a deal,” but notes that “in a 50/50 Senate, everybody can be king or queen for a day”)
• Spanberger, Kaine call for human rights protections in arms exports
• Tuesday Was “biggest day of early voting so far” with 53k In-Person Votes Cast; Currently 789k Have Voted Early; Dems “banking early-vote lead”
• Wason Center Poll Shows McAuliffe, Ayala, Herring Each Up Statistically Insignificant 1 Point; Enthusiasm (or Lack Thereof) Is Key
• Terry McAuliffe Statement on Donald Trump’s Confirmation That He Will be Coming to Virginia to Campaign for Glenn Youngkin (“Virginians will not be deceived — they will reject Donald Trump and his extreme agenda for the third time next Tuesday”)
• Your new Glenn Youngkin-approved AP English curriculum!
• In tight Virginia governor’s race, policy takes backseat to culture wars (Terry McAuliffe actually has TONS of policy detail on his website, and has talked about it a lot. It’s taken a “backseat to culture wars” because Republicans have started those “culture wars,” but of course the media headline doesn’t say that, because…???)
• Glenn Youngkin vs. Toni Morrison
• Donald Trump teases a visit to Virginia
• G.O.P. Attack Involving Toni Morrison Novel Inflames Virginia Contest (“A Republican ad featured a mother who had tried to have ‘Beloved’ banned from her son’s curriculum. Democrats saw a coded racist message.”)
• Terry for Virginia Releases New Digital Ad “Wrong” Highlighting Glenn Youngkin’s Divisive Closing Message of Embracing Book Banning
• Video: “Oh, Donald, it’s happening again. You made Glenn Youngkin…He used you. He thinks you’re a loser and you’ll make him one too.” (Of course, Youngkin fully embraces TrumpISM – lies, racism, demagoguery, fear mongering, etc.)
• Trump hints at potential Arlington visit for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin
• Virginia’s prison population fell by thousands during the pandemic. Will it stay down?
• This Election Is a Fight for the Soul of Virginia; Let’s Win It!
• ‘Our work is not done’: A Q&A with Attorney General Mark Herring
• Poll workers prepare for another pandemic Election Day
• Governor Northam Announces Virginia Achieves Top 10 Performance in the Country for COVID-19 Vaccinations (Democrats continue to move Virginia FORWARD; let’s keep it going for another four years!)
• For Hala Ayala, Va.’s lieutenant governor seat would be a chance ‘to continue that service’
• Wednesday (10/27) Virginia Data on COVID-19: 1-Day New Cases +1,631; 10-Day New Cases +18,692; Hospitalizations at 1,175 (Lowest Since Late August)
• Editorial: Virginia makes COVID progress (“Virginia is in a much better place than a year ago, but COVID will continue to be a problem — especially in communities where vaccination levels are low.”)
• Del. Dawn Adams faces GOP challenger Mark Earley Jr. in Richmond-area district
• Youngkin pushes early voting in Roanoke County campaign stop
• Youngkin goes all-in on ‘critical race theory’ in campaign’s final week
• GOP deploys an army of volunteer poll watchers in Va. (What is the point of this?)
• Fox promotes Virginia candidate who warned government, ‘We have guns for a reason’
• New River Valley Republican House candidate calls out party loyalty in YouTube clip (Wait, the media actually covered something? Took them a few days, but better late than never… LOL)
• The anti-Trump resistance helped these Northern Va. Democrats get elected. Now they’re playing defense. (“Officially, nothing in Northern Virginia’s most competitive races for the House of Delegates is about Donald Trump — and yet in practice, almost everything is.”)
• Liberty U president says on tape that ‘getting people elected’ is his goal
• Why Jury Selection Is Moving Slowly In Charlottesville Rally Lawsuit
• Candidates in 88th House District race debate during virtual forum
• Amid coverup claims, Loudoun Supt. Ziegler says he’s never received notice of juvenile arrests
• Suffolk student who died of COVID-19 did not walk sick classmates to nurse, spokeswoman says
• D.C.-area forecast: Calm today but stormy tomorrow, with heavy downpours and strong winds