by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, April 21.
- Our climate progress is not doomed (“We’ve reached a hopeful inflection point where the economics and technology of clean energy have gathered enough momentum that not even the politics of 2025 can halt it.”)
- Al Gore’s Real-Time Climate Data Just Went Live—Here’s Why It Matters
- Indigenous river campaigner from Peru wins prestigious Goldman prize (“Mari Luz Canaquiri Murayari led a successful legal battle to protect the Marañon River in the Peruvian Amazon”)
- Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff who ministered with a charming, humble style, dies at 88
- Francis changed church policy on the death penalty and nuclear weapons but upheld it on abortion
- Pope Francis reached out to migrants and the LGBTQ+ community, but also drew unusual opposition
- Pope Francis prayed for Gaza, Ukraine in his final Easter sermon
- Pope Francis, Promoter of More Compassionate Church, Dies at 88
- Pope Francis Dies at 88 the Day After Meeting JD Vance
- Pope Francis brought an outsider’s eye to the papacy – with a focus on justice, ecology and humanity (“He will be remembered as one of the great communicators of Christian faith – but healing the church’s divisions was beyond him”)
- Russia resumes fighting after ‘ceasefire’ Ukraine says Moscow breached nearly 3,000 times (“Russian military confirms ‘Easter truce’ is over and fighting has begun again as Ukrainian says Moscow launched 96 drones and three missiles overnight”)
- Kyiv Is On the Clock to Respond to Trump Plan to End Ukraine Conflict (Ridiculous. In fact, it’s 100% up to RUSSIA to stop this war – which they started, for absolutely no good reason.)
- Ukraine war briefing: Prove intentions with 30-day civilian ceasefire, Zelenskyy tells Kremlin (“Russia violated Vladimir Putin’s self-declared truce thousands of times, says Ukrainian president, as air raids resume on Easter Monday. What we know on day 1,153”)
- Pope Francis Dies, Triggering Succession Process (“Pontiff succumbs after a struggle with severe lung infection, ending a reign that changed the Catholic Church”)
- China Warns Countries Not to Team Up With U.S. Against It on Trade
- Netanyahu’s overextension of Israel’s military is an unwise gamble (“Deploying troops in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria is eroding public confidence and wearing out troops.”)
- Saudi businesses turn to solar power as kingdom cuts energy subsidies
- Four House Dems travel to El Salvador despite GOP refusal (“Reps. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) and Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.) arrived in San Salvador, the country’s capital, on Monday morning, their offices said.”)
- Van Hollen: If You Won’t Fight for the Constitution, You Don’t Deserve to Lead
- Van Hollen: ‘I am not defending the man, I am defending the rights of this man to due process’
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen argues Trump administration’s actions in Abrego Garcia case ‘threaten everybody’s rights’
- After Meeting Wrongly Deported Man, Van Hollen Accuses Trump of Defying Courts
- Homan: Trump administration ‘did the right thing’ deporting Abrego Garcia (This Homan guy is really something else…and NOT in a good way!)
- Is Donald Trump Breaking the Law? Seven Experts Weigh In. (Obviously – he’s breaking the law in an untold number of ways.)
- Amy Klobuchar calls on supreme court to hold Trump officials in contempt
- GOP senator says Trump shouldn’t send Americans to foreign prisons: ‘We have our own laws’
- ‘Bonkers crazypants’: American diplomats shaken by reports of possible cuts (Rubio is himself “bonkers crazypants,” which again raises the question, why did not a single US Senator vote against his confirmation?)
- Rubio denies that Trump will politicize the Foreign Service and slash embassies
- As bird flu hits cattle herds in U.S., scientists say these H5N1 factors worry them most
- RFK’s statements prove autistic people and their families everywhere should fear Trump and his allies (“Kennedy’s pronouncements are not only about what causes autism; they also reflect an age-old perception of autism as an aberration, and many autistic people as “ineducable” and beyond help. This surely blurs into populists’ loathing of modern ideas about human difference: once you have declared war on diversity, an attack on the idea of neurodiversity will not be far away. It also chimes with one of the new right’s most pernicious elements: its constant insistence that everything is actually much simpler than it looks.”)
- Trump Skips Church to Go on Unhinged Easter Posting Spree
- Trump’s ‘Happy Easter’ Message Filled With Vengeance and Vitriol (“Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics [and] WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials”)
- As Trump and courts battle over his policies, Americans back judicial authority (“Only 16% of respondents, for example, said a president should be able to ignore court decisions he believes intrude on his constitutional authority, including 27% of Republicans. On the question of whether a president should have the right to enact policies without Congress voting on them, 20% of respondents agreed, including a third of Republicans.”)
- Wave of Earth Day protests as Americans mobilize against Trump
- Sensitive documents, including White House floor plans, improperly shared with thousands
- Hegseth Also Shared Military Details In Second, Personal Signal Chat: Report
- Hegseth Faces Heat After New Signal Chat Emerges and Claim of Pentagon ‘Chaos’
- Former Pentagon official warns department’s dysfunction could topple Hegseth
- Hegseth’s Pentagon in ‘Full-Blown Meltdown,’ Ex-Spokesman Says
- Former Top Pentagon Spokesperson Details ‘Month From Hell’ Inside the Agency
- Hegseth Said to Have Shared Attack Details in Second Signal Chat
- Zeldin says he can ‘absolutely’ assure public EPA deregulation efforts won’t harm environment (The press, in this case “The Hill,” acting as stenographer for the Trump administration’s WILD LIES. Why doesn’t the headline say that Zeldin is LYING???)
- Trump’s Surgeon General Pick Distorted Key Parts of Her Résumé (Trump picks only the “best people,” huh?)
- Who Were Those Gullible People Who Believed Donald Trump’s Bullsh*t? (“His campaign promises, from peace in Ukraine to “beautiful” tariffs, were truly unbelievable. And yet, somehow many people believed him.” If you believed Trump then, or believe him now, you’ve got a badly broken brain.)
- How Trump Worship Took Hold in Washington (“The President is at the center of a brazenly transactional ecosystem that rewards flattery and lockstep loyalty.” Speaking of badly broken brains…)
- Trump Administration Irate at Harvard, Plans to Pull Additional $1 Billion in Funding
- The 7 Thirstiest Members of Congress (“Our third annual list of representatives and senators who just can’t get enough attention from us.” Sen. Mark Warner makes the list.)
- Anti-Trump resistance sees another leader in Van Hollen as Democrats’ leadership carousel turns
- Nancy Mace Films Herself Having Wild Meltdown On ‘Unhinged Lunatic’ Voter Over Hosting Town Halls (The supposed “unhinged lunatic” was simply a constituent asking her, perfectly nicely – until SHE started attacking him – when she was going to hold a town hall meeting.)
- ‘F-ck You’: Nancy Mace Loses It in Public Argument With Constituent (Remember, the political media kept trying to lie to us by claiming Mace was some sort of “moderate.” Don’t ever trust the political press in this country.)
- Inside Elon Musk’s Grievance-Fueled MAGA-morphosis: “What the F–k Is Wrong With Your Boss?” (“In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, Hubris Maximus, Faiz Siddiqui chronicles how the billionaire was radicalized by everything from the “woke mind virus” to the COVID shutdown and plain old government oversight. “He just basically has a complete disdain for any authority—period,” says one investor.”)
- Elon Musk’s baby mama drama matters (“MAGA masculinity is getting weirder — and making men lonelier” This is completely deranged shit.)
- Six men charged after forcibly removing woman from North Idaho town hall
- Video: At Rally in Leesburg Saturday, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) Nearly Assaulted by “Trump 2028” Sign-Carrying Guy “pardoned by Trump for illegally entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection” (Rep. Subramanyam: “we’re gonna keep fighting back.”; “We will not be bullied or silenced”)
- Hampton Roads legislators take different approaches to town halls (“Democrats have been holding in-person town halls across Hampton Roads to hear from constituents, while Republicans have opted for virtual options like telephone town halls.”)
- Dem AG primary could be proxy fight between two big donors (“Now the latest campaign-finance disclosures show these groups are donating to rival candidates in the Democratic primary for attorney general— Dominion to Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor and Clean Virginia to former Delegate Jay Jones.”)
- Virginia’s 2025 governor race is set. What to know about the high stakes election. (This article by USA Today has NOTHING on the candidates’ positions on the issues, including the fact that Earle-Sears is 100% anti-reproductive freedom and 100% pro-gun; ergo, it’s a ridiculous/whitewashing/garbage article.)
- Virginia companies rolling the dice on expansions in face of Trump tariffs
- State releases six-year, $7 billion funding plan for capital improvement projects
- Ad blitz emphasizes Va.’s ongoing effort to enshrine reproductive rights in the state’s constitution
- ‘A day of action’: Thousands protest Trump in Central Virginia, Shenandoah Valley
- Virginia transportation department publishes Shenandoah Valley Railroad Corridor use assessment
- CWG Live updates: Pleasant today, chance of showers tonight and then nice midweek (“Shower chances return Friday and Saturday.”)
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