Friday News: House Rs “led ‘reconnaissance tours’ of Capitol before attack, evidence suggests”; “Cult or a conspiracy? The GOP sure isn’t a normal political party.”; “Battle over books in Virginia Beach now targets Barnes & Noble, Amazon.”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, May 20.

• The Ukraine war has upended the energy transition — and it’s not good news for the planet
• Why monkeypox isn’t like Covid-19 (“Experts are cautiously concerned, but this is a fundamentally different outbreak.”)
• EU States Eye Supply Deal Shakeup as Covid Vaccine Demand Wanes
• ‘I can’t see the light’: War fuels surging prices in Europe
• Struggling in Ukraine, Russia paves way to sign up over-40s for army
• US accuses Russia of weaponising food in Ukraine crisis and holding global supplies ‘hostage’ (“Blinken calls on Moscow to end blockade of Ukraine ports as Medvedev says Russia is ready to allow the flow of food when sanctions lift” Time for NATO to start escorting ships?)
• Russia-Ukraine war: Donbas region turned into ‘hell’, says Zelenskiy; pro-Russian hackers accused of attack in Italy – live
• Millions rushed to leave Ukraine. Now the queue to return home stretches for miles
• Ukrainian Families Risk Their Lives to Escape Russian Occupation
• Putin’s War Remade Washington (“From a revitalization of nato to the return of superpower nuclear anxiety, it’s been a breathtaking three months.”)
• Russia Appears to Shake Up Its Military Command (“As Russia fortified control over parts of Ukraine, British intelligence suggested that the Kremlin suspended commanders for failing to capture more land.”)
• In a Ukrainian Town, a Collaborator Who Worked With the Russians Now Faces Justice
• Exclusive: U.S. aims to arm Ukraine with advanced anti-ship missiles to fight Russian blockade
• New Evidence Shows How Russian Soldiers Executed Men in Bucha (All of them should be charged with war crimes, prosecuted, and hopefully locked up for the rest of their disgraceful lives.)
• Dancing with Putin: Has Europe finally had enough of politicians making big money from Russia?
• Britain: Russian troops likely to redeploy from Mariupol
• After delay, U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approves $40 billion in Ukraine aid
• Russia troops advancing in Luhansk as east Ukraine under fire
• Ukraine war: US fully backs Sweden and Finland Nato bids, Biden says
• Biden starts Asia trip with global issues and tech on agenda
• Biden seeks a new opening in a rattled Asia
• North Korea could launch a missile or nuclear test to ‘overshadow’ Biden’s first Asia trip
• China Unexpectedly Cuts Key Rate as Growth Crumbles
• Why Biden hasn’t killed Trump’s China tariffs to make imports cheaper (“Advisers are split, and economists see little immediate gain for consumers.”)
• Economy, China, climate dominate as Australia set for polls (“Recent opinion polls have put Labor narrowly ahead of the coalition. But the pollsters’ credibility has yet to recover since their spectacular failure in the 2019 election.”)
• Australia’s Prime Minister Ignored the Climate. Voters Could Make Him Pay.
• Afghan Taliban Order Female News Anchors To Cover Their Faces On Air
• ‘We are going to die’: Food shortages add to Sri Lanka’s woes
• CPAC Hungary, Day 1: Conservatives embrace plan for “vast right-wing conspiracy” (“Global right opens Budapest gathering, vilifies media and vows left will be ‘exposed, demonized and crushed'” Charming.)
• CDC signs off on Pfizer Covid booster for kids 5-11
• U.S. Surpasses 1 Million Covid Deaths, World’s Highest Known Total
• Cracks in US Economy Start to Show as Recession Warnings Mount
• Better Housing Policy Might Be the Best Climate Policy for the US
• A wild new court decision would blow up much of the government’s ability to operate (Are we going to just allow these batshit-crazy courts to destroy the country?)
• The baby formula battle shows a stark imbalance between the parties (“The government is trying to solve the formula shortage while Republicans continue to blame Biden.”)
• Nearly 200 Republicans vote against bill to ease baby formula shortage
• Psst: Republicans don’t have a plan to fight inflation, either
• Democrats, the Midterm Jinx Is Not Inevitable
• Fetus-powered street lamps? Republicans ramp up outrageous anti-abortion lies ahead of Roe’s demise
• The Supreme Court’s Next Targets
• The Real Dividing Line On Abortion (“If you dig into the polling and research, it becomes clear that the divide is less about people’s individual genders than the way they think about gender. People who believe in traditional gender roles — and perceive that those roles are increasingly being blurred to men’s disadvantage — are much likelier to oppose abortion than people who don’t hold those beliefs.”)
• These 14 states had significant miscounts in the 2020 census
• FBI failing to address white supremacist violence, warns former special agent (Why is Christopher Wray still FBI Director?)
• It’s Trump’s Party, and He’ll Lie if He Wants To
• Murder Is Downstream From Misinformation and Hate, and Everybody Knows It
• Former Attorney General William Barr tentatively agrees to give sworn testimony to January 6 committee
• Group Chat Linked to Roger Stone Shows Ties Among Jan. 6 Figures
• Jan. 6 panel requests interview with GOP lawmaker who it says gave Capitol tour on Jan. 5
• Congress members led ‘reconnaissance tours’ of Capitol before attack, evidence suggests
• Jan. 6 panel just dropped a big hint. They’d better have the goods. (“Did Republican members lead ‘tours’ of the Capitol for insurrectionists?”)
• Jan. 6 committee evidence includes official White House photos from day of Capitol riot (Gotta love how the media keeps referring to what happened on 1/6/21 as a “riot,” when it fact it was a violent insurrection/coup attempt.)
• When Online Spaces Enable Mass Shooters
• Buffalo shooting suspect learned to modify his gun on YouTube. The videos are still online.
• Tucker Carlson Says Buffalo Shooting Suspect Not Motivated by ‘Hateful Right-Wing Rhetoric,’ But ‘Mental Illness’ (Tucker Carlson is very evil and very dangerous. Is this really the type of speech the first amendment was designed to protect?)
• A look at the time Tucker Carlson asked Hunter Biden for a favor
• Vengeful Madison Cawthorn Vows ‘Dark MAGA’ Takeover (“The time for gentile politics as usual has come to an end” That’s right, “gentile.” LOL)
• CPAC Head Promotes Abortion Ban to Stave Off ‘Great Replacement’
• How our system of primary elections could destroy democracy
• Trump’s alarming GOP primary wins demand a serious response (“The true nature of the threat is coming into sharper view. Will we act?”)
• Cult or a conspiracy? The GOP sure isn’t a normal political party.
• Georgetown Univ. Visiting Prof. Thomas Zimmer: “The End of Roe Is Just the Beginning. A multi-level reactionary counter-mobilization is underway.” (“Long-standing anti-democratic tendencies notwithstanding, the Right has been radicalizing significantly in recent years. Why now?”)
• Michigan election chief: Trump suggested I be arrested for treason and executed
• Mitch McConnell Dings ‘Isolationist’ Rand Paul: ‘Tiny Percentage of the Senate Republican Conference’
• Elon Musk says he doesn’t plan to donate to GOP super PACs in upcoming elections — despite feud with Biden (The “feud” with Biden is over the fact that: a) Biden won’t kiss his crazy ass; b) Biden supports increased taxes on gazillionaire douchebags like Musk.)
• Elon Musk, Chaos Monkey
• A SpaceX flight attendant said Elon Musk exposed himself and propositioned her for sex, documents show. The company paid $250,000 for her silence.
• Musk denies ‘wild accusations’ against him in an apparent reference to harassment report
• Pentagon spokesman Kirby moving to White House in senior communications role
• Oklahoma lawmakers pass bill banning abortions after ‘fertilization’ (American Taliban.)
• The messy, Democrat-on-Democrat fight over New York’s congressional map, explained
• PA Senate GOP primary could be headed for Fox-fueled election theft allegation chaos
• GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano shared piece claiming US should be “fearful” of “Muslims being elected to Congress”
• Eco-fascism is on the rise – and its anti-immigrant beliefs have a bullhorn on Fox News
• Kellyanne Conway Uses Memoir to Further Trash Her Husband for Speaking Out Against Trump (What an utterly bizarre marriage.)
• Oz, McCormick unleash army of lawyers in Pa. Senate race
• As Trump falsely assails another election, Pa. officials gird for November
• Stefanik’s echo of ‘great replacement’ rhetoric offers clues to her national ambitions — and her changing district
• Trump washes hands of Perdue in Georgia as his campaign limps into final stretch
• Minnesota GOP chair Hann apologizes for antisemitic image
• Just before Buffalo shooting, 15 users signed into suspect’s chatroom, says person familiar with review
• Meet the Muslim Mom Who Has Mobilized Asian American Parents in the War on Public Schools (“We will win not just for our children, not just for the state of Virginia, but for America.”)
• This Florida teacher married a woman. Now she’s not a teacher anymore.
• Metro’s plan to return 7000-series rail cars to service gets green light (“Amid a leadership shakeup at Metro, the transit agency says its plan to restore its long-sidelined 7000-series rail cars by late this summer remains on track.”)
• Video: Senators Mark Warner, Tim Kaine Comment on Passage of $40 Billion Aid Package to Ukraine
• Audio – “IN THEIR OWN WORDS: VA-07 Republican Candidates are United in January 6 Denialism, Extremism “ (One of the VA07 GOP candidates says “”I resent it being called an insurrection because it was not” (fact check: it absolutely WAS an insurrection!)
• Democrats nominate DeVaughan to challenge Griffith in 9th (“She has a background in environmental issues.” Dems now have nominees in all of Virginia’s Congressional districts.)
• Pope & Schapiro: New Congressional candidates and signs of movement on the state budget
• Rep. Luria’s bill aiming to help veterans who survived sexual assault unanimously passes House
• GOP to select 10th District nominee Saturday
• VA Senate Dems Rip Youngkin Education Report as a “joke,” “dog-whistle talking points”; “outright lie, supported by cherry-picked data and warped perspective” (“This report shows once again that Governor Youngkin wants to take us back to the days of Jim Crow”)
• Audio: Gov. Northam’s Secretary of Education, Atif Qarni, Rips Youngkin Education Report as “Weird,” “Unethical,” “Political Stunt” Using “Cherry-Picked,” “Manufactured” Data (Qarni: Youngkin “want[s] to segregate schools; privatization generally leads to segregation…this administration…needs to be stopped”)
• New report suggests Virginia schools are falling behind (This is just one example of how NOT to report on something that is clearly in bad faith, is filled with erroneous and cherry-picked arguments, etc, etc. Inform readers as to what’s going on clearly and directly IN THE HEADLINE.)
• Gov. Youngkin released a report criticizing past decisions on education policy in Virginia (Yes, Youngkin criticized Democrats, but were those criticisms justified? Were the criticisms supported with serious evidence? Nope and nope.)
• At Dominion wind hearings, continued disputes over ratepayer protections
• Appointment of 4 Toadies Makes Youngkin a Fossil Fuel Stooge (“Of the four appointees that Youngkin’s office announced last week, two have immediately joined the Air Board, followed by two more at the start of July. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first two seated are the most ill-suited to serve. One was a lead attorney for polluters’ previous doomed attempt to destroy RGGI, in a flimsy lawsuit from climate polluter front group – the Virginia Manufacturing Association – that was summarily tossed out of circuit court. Youngkin’s appointment of a pro-pollution lawyer is perversely appropriate, as this gives that appointee a second attempt to attack bedrock Virginia air pollution law. “)
• Virginia 10-Day New COVID-19 Cases Down 85% Compared to 1/19, But Creeping Up Steadily; Hospitalizations Down to 412 From ~4,000 in January, But Also Increasing
• Battle over books in Virginia Beach now targets Barnes & Noble, Amazon. And it’s making its way through circuit court. (“The Virginia Beach Circuit Court finds two books ‘obscene’ after local House of Representatives candidate Tommy Altman files a petition against them. Now, he’s asking that distributers like Barnes & Noble and Amazon restrict access to them.”)
• State employee concerns mount over Youngkin telework policy
• 45 Human Rights, Progressive, Faith, and Government Transparency Organizations Urge Justice Department to Reconsider Case Against U.S. Park Police Officers Who Killed Bijan Ghaisar
• Editorial: Another identity crisis for the Region That Has No Name (“Hampton Roads. Tidewater. Southeast Virginia. The 757. Now, the 948? Oh no. Not again.”)
• Graphic video showing killing of Hampton Papa John’s employee startles courtroom, sparks emotional outburst (“Jaylin Avery is facing second-degree murder and gun charges in the July 2021 slaying of DeShawn Powell. Powell was working as a Papa John’s pizza driver when he noticed a man was assaulting a female co-worker in the parking lot. Powell tried to intervene and was fatally shot.”)
• D.C.-area forecast: Heat arrives today, and it may set records Saturday