Friday News: “Earth’s climate has entered uncharted territory”; “Biden’s ‘Big Build’”; “The Rich Are Crazier Than You and Me”; “John Roberts and Clarence Thomas Have the ‘Colorblind’ Constitution All Wrong”; “On ranked-choice voting, Arlington sets a new standard”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, July 7.

• Recent events that indicate Earth’s climate has entered uncharted territory
• The Arctic Is Farting ‘Ancient’ Methane and It’s Scary as Hell
• Record-breaking global temperature, raging wildfires highlight effects of climate change
• UN says climate change ‘out of control’ after likely hottest week on record
• Heat Records Are Broken Around the Globe as Earth Warms, Fast (And yet we’re STILL burning fossil fuels.)
• The Melting Glaciers of Svalbard Offer an Ominous Glimpse of More Warming to Come
• Revolutionary’ solar power cell innovations break key energy threshold (“Next generation cells surpass limits of today’s cells and will accelerate rollout of cheaper, more efficient solar power”)
• U.S. Oil Boom Blunts OPEC’s Pricing Power (“U.S. petroleum production is on pace for a record-breaking year, helping to keep energy prices stable despite the efforts of Saudi Arabia and other major oil exporters to drive them higher.”)
• Treasury Rout Sends Global Yields to 15-Year High on Strong US Job Market
• Prigozhin’s fate remains unclear and it signals more trouble in Russia
• The three ways Ukraine’s counter-offensive can go
• Why the US is willing to send Ukraine cluster munitions now
• Biden approves cluster munition supply to Ukraine
• Ukraine wants and expects an invitation to join NATO. Allies are not sure.
• How Did We Get Putin So Wrong? (“The world assumed the Russian leader was a cunning and formidable adversary. Then he launched a disastrous war that has devastated his own country.”)
• The leader of Belarus has gained new prominence in Russia’s politics.
• No one came out of Russia mutiny a hero – Lukashenko
• An Uneasy Quiet at NATO’s Newest Border With Russia (“Finland’s membership in the Western military alliance has increased NATO’s borders with Russia by 830 miles — and angered Moscow.”)
• Ukrainian refugees: how will the economy recover with a diminished population?
• Amazon deforestation down by a third in 2023, says Brazilian government
• Yellen appeals to China to revive talks and not let technology tensions disrupt ties
• U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen meets Chinese Premier Li Qiang
• Washington Raises Pressure on China to Combat U.S.’s Fentanyl Crisis
• Yellen criticizes China’s ‘punitive’ actions against US companies, urges market reforms
• Yellen Says U.S. Doesn’t Seek ‘Winner Take All’ Fight With China
• US Intel executive ‘actively responsible’ for driving anti-LGBTQ+ agenda in Africa, say campaigners (“Greg Slater is co-founder with his wife Sharon of Family Watch International, a US group accused of financing propaganda about sexual and gender diversity”)
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seize commercial ship in Gulf – U.S. Navy
• US must urgently treat men tortured at Guantánamo, UN investigator says
• US to triple solar manufacturing jobs to 120,000 by 2033
• U.S. truckmakers reach deal to phase out polluting diesel big rigs
• FDA Converts Novel Alzheimer’s Disease Treatment to Traditional Approval
• US jobs report likely to show a solid gain, potentially complicating Fed’s drive to cool inflation
• Strong labor market growth is pushing aside recession fears (Those fears were stoked heavily by the Washington Post and others in the “mainstream media”)
• Here’s the inside story of how Congress failed to rein in Big Tech (Massive failure)
• Biden’s ‘Big Build’ (“The president’s investment agenda is already generating a huge economic impact. Will political benefits follow?”)
• The bizarre contradiction in the GOP’s view of America (“On one hand, they tell voters that America’s deepest problems have been solved and that we bask in the light of the Almighty’s favor. On the other, they insist that our country is a nightmare of moral depravity and suffering.”)
• The Rich Are Crazier Than You and Me
• Extremist-Related Mass Killings Have Been On The Rise (“Most of these extremist-linked attacks are from far-right extremists, and the vast majority of deaths are caused by shootings. Yet when we talk about gun violence in the U.S., far-right extremism is rarely the primary focus of discussion, with mental illness and gun control dominating the conversation.”)
• John Roberts and Clarence Thomas Have the ‘Colorblind’ Constitution All Wrong
• Key Democrat attacks US supreme court chief justice over ethics scandal (“Dick Durbin, chair of Senate judiciary committee, condemns John Roberts for failure to reform court as donor controversy swirls”)
• John Roberts’ Last Word Is Not the Final Say
• No ‘tiny voice’: Ketanji Brown Jackson’s outspoken first term
• The Supreme Court Had A Few Surprises This Year. That Doesn’t Make It Moderate.
• Key gun control measure in the crosshairs at US Supreme Court
• SCOTUS Is Really Considering If Domestic Abusers Should Be Allowed Guns (Totally bonkers.)
• Conservatives are claiming that the Supreme Court just struck down racial “quotas” — which already happened 45 years ago
• Biden administration argues social media ruling could cause ‘grave harm’
• Biden reverses Trump-era limits on short-term health plans
• Guy Arrested With a Bunch of Weapons In Obama’s Neighborhood Got His Itinerary From Trump (“Why isn’t this a bigger story?”)
• Trump Is Apparently Unconcerned About the Prospect of His Online Ravings Getting Someone Killed (Again)
• ‘No Regard For Anyone’: Christie Slams Trump After Man Is Arrested Near Obama Home
• First GOP debate next month faces threats of boycott as lower-polling candidates scramble to qualify
• Exclusive: Special counsel prosecutors question witnesses about chaotic Oval Office meeting after Trump lost the 2020 election
• Prosecutors in Trump classified documents case are facing threats
• 4 revelations from the latest unsealed records in the Trump classified documents case (“Security footage, unwitting lawyers, and more details in the Mar-a-Lago search warrant affidavit reveal how prosecutors built their case against Trump.”)
• Trump aide Walt Nauta pleads not guilty to charges of mishandling classified documents
• Judge rules Trump can be deposed in lawsuit from ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok
• McCarthy declines to endorse Trump — looking to avoid a GOP civil war
• Club for Growth-linked group launches effort to attack Trump
• Republicans Have Staked Their Claim on Education. Democrats Can Take It Back (“While President Biden and his allies rally around affirmative action and student loan forgiveness, they should also think about how to support education more broadly.”)
• Democrats see hope in House, gloom in Senate
• The most capable Trump primary opponent isn’t in the race
• United Methodists lose one-fifth of US churches in schism driven by growing defiance of LGBTQ bans
• Marianne Williamson keeps bleeding staff. Six more depart in internal feud.
• L. Lin Wood, Lawyer Who Tried to Overturn Trump’s 2020 Loss, Gives Up License
• Mike Pence’s Big Lie campaign trail torture: He’s reaping the disinformation he sowed (“GOP voters torture Mike Pence with the Big Lie — too bad he was an avid disinfo fan for decades”)
• Solar, wind energy keeping Texas power grids running amid weeks-long heat wave
• Ørsted gets federal approval for construction and operation of 1.1-GW New Jersey offshore wind farm
• Newsom calls on DOJ to investigate Florida over migrant transports
• Democrats on comeback trail in Florida after years of decline
• DeSantis targets a significant primary demographic: Insecure men
• What the F*ck Is the Deal With That Ronald DeSantis Campaign Ad?
• Ron DeSantis Doubles Down on Homophobic Video as “Totally Fair Game”
• Republicans sound alarm over DeSantis’s sagging campaign
• Freedom Caucus members voted to oust Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. It’s unclear if it worked.
• Marjorie Taylor Greene booted from House Freedom Caucus
• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his group are fans of a fringe streamer who claimed that “Hitler was a Rothschild” and that he was “utterly set up”
• Meet Moms for Liberty, the extremist group that wants to decide what your children read
• ‘That isn’t true’: Michele Bachmann says slavery was not ‘sinful’ at America’s inception
• Kari Lake Basically Moved Into Mar-a-Lago to Be Trump’s VP and Now He’s Just Not That Into Her: Report (“Trump apparently thinks Lake is too much of an attention hog, which, yes, is rich.”)
• Meta’s Threads App Sees Early Success, Draws Twitter’s Ire
• Twitter is threatening to sue Meta over Threads
• Instagram Threads: More Boring Than Twitter, Only Slightly Better Than Instagram Itself (“So far, Mark Zuckerberg’s new app is mostly a self-own.”)
• Zuck’s Threads halo
• Zombie Twitter Has Arrived
• Ads from major companies appeared on Rumble videos with extreme anti-LGBTQ rhetoric
• The organization central to stoking panic against trans athletes is now driving targeted threats against high schoolers (“A group of anti-trans sports figures with connections to right-wing organizations, the Independent Council on Women’s Sports — with the help of right-wing media — has escalated its targeting of trans athletes and is now identifying individual high schoolers for its supporters to stalk and harass. “)
• Editorial: Twitter’s slow collapse poses challenges for public institutions (“Local institutions that depend on Twitter to distribute information need to explore alternatives as the social media platform is increasingly unreliable.” Yep, Musk has trashed Twitter.)
• What it takes to rupture Fox News’s wall of silence
• Shootings in New York Drop by a Quarter as Surge of Violence Eases (“Murders and rapes were also down, part of a nationwide trend after a post-pandemic spike”)
• Law that fast-tracks Mountain Valley Pipeline challenged
• Youngkin says Va. revenue strong for tax cuts, responds to Md.’s Moore
• Youngkin defends decision to send troops to border, Democrats call it a ‘waste of money’ (Correct answer: complete waste of money.)
• Youngkin administration removes webpage on LGBTQ resources for youth
• “[Youngkin] is so desperate to appease his rabid anti-LGBTQ base, he scrubbed suicide prevention from a state website” (Youngkin “cruelly targeting Virginians despite concerns from public health officials”)
• Youngkin officials pulled online LGBTQ resources after inquiry from conservative outlet: report
• Youngkin officials quietly pull LGBTQ+ youth resources offline (“Youngkin’s administration has at least three times in the past year and a half removed information from the website without consulting its own subject matter experts.”)
• Youngkin ‘not interested’ in legalizing recreational marijuana sales (Of course he’s not.)
• FOIA Friday: What Virginia officials withheld or disclosed, June 30–July 7, 2023
• Noncompete Clauses Trap Virginia Workers. Could They Soon Be Banned?
• Graphics, Highlights: Turnout for the 6/20 VA Senate, House of Delegates Primaries “as a percentage of ballots cast for the party’s candidate in the November 2022 congressional midterms”
• Running List of Virginia Elected Officials, Candidates, Politicos Who Are on Meta’s Possible “Twitter Killer,” “Threads” (Also, a great explanation for why Twitter mattered…and may be impossible to replace.)
• Governor Youngkin donates blood, urges community to do the same during blood shortage in summer
• Virginia’s first primary with ranked-choice voting garners mixed reviews
• Commentary: On ranked-choice voting, Arlington sets a new standard
• Incarcerated military veteran denied his earned sentence credits, Virginia Supreme Court rules. He’s set to be released.
• See what it’s like to dig a tunnel 100 feet below a city (“Deep beneath Alexandria, Va., a massive drill is digging a tunnel that will keep millions of gallons of raw sewage from seeping into the Potomac River.”)
• D.C.-area forecast: Storms to dodge, plus heat and humidity