by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, March 19.
- WMO report documents spiralling weather and climate impacts
- Climate change indicators hit record levels in 2024, UN study finds
- What state is the global climate really in? (“As the current US administration seeks to play down and even question human-caused climate change, new findings paint a very different picture.”)
- Rising Seas and Land-Based Salt Pollution Pose Dual Threats for Drinking Water
- What is EV maker BYD and can its batteries really charge in five minutes? (“The Chinese carmaker’s shares have jumped as investors speculated it could outdo Elon Musk’s Tesla”)
- U.S. could lose democracy status, says global watchdog (“Trump has escalated an authoritarian turn in last few days”)
- Trump’s handling of Ukraine and tariffs has NATO rethinking the U.S.-made F-35 fighter
- Putin Rejects the Trump Cease-Fire
- Exclusive: US suspends some efforts to counter Russian sabotage
- Trump is nearing a sharp fork in the road to Ukraine peace (“Putin’s maximalist stance might force the U.S. president’s hand.”)
- Putin Puts Ukraine Truce on Ice in Search for Trump Partnership
- Putin’s words ‘at odds with reality’, Zelensky says as he accuses Russia of hitting energy targets
- Analysis: Putin gives Trump just enough to claim progress on Ukraine peace
- I Don’t Believe a Single Word Trump and Putin Say About Ukraine
- Putin Trolls Trump with Power Station Strike After ‘Ceasefire’
- Trump, Putin discuss Ukraine ceasefire deal in lengthy call
- Trump Gets a Taste of Putin’s Tactics (“The Russian leader is offering few concessions in negotiations over Ukraine. How hard is Trump willing to push for the peace he promises?”)
- Putin just called Trump’s bluff on Ukraine, with the Russian art of the ‘no’ deal
- Ukrainian leader Zelenskyy to speak with Trump after US president’s ceasefire talks with Putin
- In Ukraine and Gaza, Trump finds out that ending wars is tougher than it looks
- Trump admin considers giving up NATO command that has been exclusively American since Eisenhower (Insane.)
- German man with green card ‘violently interrogated’ by US border officials (WTF is this???)
- Turkey detains Erdogan’s main rival in what opposition calls ‘coup’ (Any chance Trump condemns this? Nah!)
- Turkish Markets Nosedive After Erdogan’s Main Rival Detained
- Imamoglu, the detained Istanbul mayor seen as Erdogan’s key rival
- Israel hits Gaza with more strikes as Netanyahu says fighting to resume ‘in full force’
- Israeli Public Support for War in Gaza Wanes as Fighting Restarts
- The Last Days at Voice of America (“Covering the press freedom beat at VOA, I got a front-row seat to its demise.”)
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty sues Trump administration over canceled contract
- Trump to declare “illicit” fentanyl “Weapon of Mass Destruction,” per draft EO (“The source speculates the purpose is a combination of designating fentanyl cartels as terrorist organizations and creating justification for conducting military operations in Mexico and Canada. They also suspect that it will be used domestically as justification for rounding up homeless encampments and deporting drug users who are not citizens.” That’s totally f’ed up.)
- Trump aides prep new tariffs on imports worth trillions (That will cause the stock market to plunge, inflation to soar, unemployment to rise, etc.)
- No One Is Safe From America’s Abusive Immigration Authorities Anymore (“Even legal residents and tourists are being terrorized by Trump-emboldened officers at ICE and CBP.”)
- Inside Trump’s Supreme plot on immigration
- ‘I am a political prisoner’: Mahmoud Khalil says he’s being targeted for political beliefs (“Exclusive: Palestinian activist and green card holder speaks out from Louisiana immigration detention for first time”)
- Some Americans Have Already Been Caught in Trump’s Immigration Dragnet. More Will Be. (“Federal immigration authorities have a history of wrongfully detaining U.S. citizens. Advocates warn that the Trump administration’s immigration policies mean that more citizens will get caught up in raids and sweeps.”)
- Kennedy’s Alarming Prescription for Bird Flu on Poultry Farms (“The health secretary has suggested allowing the virus to spread, so as to identify birds that may be immune. Such an experiment would be disastrous, scientists say.” Nutjob.)
- Powell’s Remarks to Be Scrutinized as Fed Set to Hold Rates Steady
- Can NASA remain nonpartisan when basic spaceflight truths are shredded?
- NASA astronauts return after unexpected nine months in space
- Judge says dismantling of USAID was unconstitutional, orders Musk to restore access for employees
- EPA aims to cut pollution rules projected to save nearly 200,000 lives: ‘Real people will be hurt’ (Evil.)
- Former Top EPA Official Warns of Dire Consequences of Planned Purge at the Agency’s Science Office
- ‘Cataclysmic’: environmentalists fear effects of Trump cuts on Great Lakes (“Advocates warn firings and funding freezes already risk poisoning drinking water and decimating fish population”)
- Bondi Calls Tesla Vandalism ‘Domestic Terrorism,’ Promising Steep Consequences (Bondi is an authoritarian.)
- Chief justice pushes back against calls to impeach judges who rule against Trump
- A Constitutional Crisis Is Here
- The Trump Administration Nears Open Defiance of the Courts (“In its conflict with a federal judge, the Justice Department claims to be complying with his orders while provoking a constitutional crisis.”)
- We ignore the civil liberties boomerang at our peril (“The pressure on Columbia and the arrest of a graduate student should alarm all Americans.”)
- Roberts issues rare public pushback after Trump calls for judge’s impeachment
- What John Roberts’s Rebuke of Trump Left Out (“In pushing back against Trump’s attack on a federal judge, the chief justice neglected to mention the substantive dispute of the case.”)
- John Roberts has enabled Trump. Now he hopes to restrain him
- Trump’s efforts to intimidate the legal profession cannot stand
- Defiance and Threats in Deportation Case Renew Fear of Constitutional Crisis (“Legal scholars say the U.S. has reached a tipping point and that the question is not whether there is a crisis, but rather how much damage it will cause.”)
- House GOP moves swiftly to impeach judge targeted by Trump (Not only are we getting no defense of democracy by House Republicans, they are very much participating in the ASSAULT on democracy, rule of law, checks and balances, etc. And yes, Virginia’s Republicans – Jen Kiggans, Rob Wittman, etc. – are very much part of that assault.)
- DOGE Rampage May Have ‘Immediate,’ ‘Long-term’ Effects For Courts, Judicial Branch Warns
- Judge blocks Trump administration from terminating $14 billion in ‘green bank’ grants
- Federal judge indefinitely blocks Trump’s ban on transgender service members, saying it’s ‘soaked in animus’ (100%. There is literally ZERO evidence that allowing transgender people to serve in the military is a problem.)
- Social Security Administration to require in-person identity checks for new and existing recipients (“Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency’s ‘my Social Security’ online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.”)
- Judge Slams Trump For Putting Fired Probationary Workers On Paid Leave
- Exclusive: Trump fires both Democratic commissioners at FTC, sources say (“President Donald Trump fired the two Democratic commissioners at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the situation said, in another major test of the independence of regulatory agencies.” Really, really bad.)
- Trump Moves to Settle the Fascism Debate (“President Donald Trump took another step in an openly fascist direction over the weekend when he skirted a federal court order to cancel or turn back deportation flights carrying alleged gang members who had not received any due process to El Salvador, where they were imprisoned at a high-security facility designed to house terrorists.”)
- Pelosi shivs Schumer: ‘Don’t give away anything for nothing’
- At Angry Town Hall, Democratic Rep Calls For Chuck Schumer’s Ouster
- Scoop: Dems target GOP “cowards” for avoiding town halls
- Trump releases classified files on JFK assassination. Here’s what they say. (“So far, nothing in the documents has changed the long-held findings that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963 while the then-president rode in a motorcade in Dallas.”)
- GOP leaders call on Sen. Eichorn to resign after arrest for allegedly soliciting a minor
- Eric Adams’s Fund-Raising in Last Two Months Plummets to $19,000
- Value of Elon Musk’s X ‘rebounds to $44bn purchase price’ (“Dramatic reversal of fortune for platform since billionaire owner became key ally of Donald Trump”)
- Mark Warner encourages IRS to look into Richmond Taxpayer Advocate office issues
- House Majority Forward Announces New Billboard Campaign Featuring Elon Musk, Targeting Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA01), Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA02), etc. (“Voted to Cut Medicaid to Give Billionaires Like Him Tax Cuts”)
- Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) Demands Postmaster General DeJoy Immediately Turn Over Information About His Backroom Deal with DOGE (“The actions of employees operating under the ‘DOGE’ moniker have thus far been shielded from transparency and accountability, but this cannot continue.”)
- ‘Not on our watch’: McClellan stresses congressional fight to defend Medicaid from potential cuts
- New Virginia claims for unemployment benefits jump
- March shows a big jump in Virginia unemployment claims (And Youngkin doesn’t care.)
- Audio: Winsome Earle-Sears Says “The President & I have met, so there it is & I’m going to leave it at that…we talked about some things…I can’t say any more about that.”
- Schapiro: Time for Spanberger to start acting like a leader (“Conditions demand that Democratic politicians in Virginia, especially those whose pet programs and federal employees are being eviscerated by Trump, scramble and scream. Spanberger isn’t there yet — and that may discourage the grassroots. One can only imagine, though, the barnyard epithets Spanberger is spewing in private. Maybe it’s time she go public.”)
- The communities most at risk to retaliatory tariffs are rural areas, especially those in Republican districts.
- Judge considers malicious prosecution lawsuit against Virginia Attorney General’s Office
- Plug pulled: Federal funding halt leaves Virginia’s EV future in limbo
- Virginia leads the country in tech talent. One AI bill on Youngkin’s desk could throw it all away.
- General Assembly awaits Youngkin’s action on surveillance technology bills
- Protesters say Tesla showroom ‘not welcome’ in Charlottesville. Landlord says otherwise.
- George Mason caught up in Trump assault on diversity efforts
- By-Right Data Centers Eliminated in Loudoun, Existing Applications Grandfathered
- Henrico about to build long-planned, $10 million drug treatment hospital
- Facing budget shortfall, Fairfax Co. considers cutting high school crossing guards
- CWG Live updates: Mostly sunny and delightful today; showers arrive Thursday afternoon
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