by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, May 6.
- Aviation industry is ‘failing dramatically’ on climate, insiders say (“Professionals call for a fundamental transition including controlling flight numbers”)
- World’s Researchers Say They Will Resist Attacks on Science and Support Beleaguered U.S. Colleagues
- Invisible Deaths: As Climate Disasters Kill in Pakistan, the True Scale Is Unknown
- How ‘out of touch’ Tony Blair became a serious threat to climate action (“Even before his call for a net zero ‘reset’, there had been criticism of ex-PM’s lucrative links with fossil fuel nations”)
- Russia carries out deadly attacks in Sumy and Odesa as Ukraine launches drones at Moscow
- Mike Pence rebukes Trump over tariffs and ‘wavering’ support for Ukraine
- The world is now reversing course to reject Trumpism (“The West was moving to the right — and then Donald Trump got elected again”)
- Exclusive: Order by Hegseth to cancel Ukraine weapons caught White House off guard (“Roughly a week after Donald Trump started his second term as president, the U.S. military issued an order to three freight airlines operating out of Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and a U.S. base in the United Arab Emirates: Stop 11 flights loaded with artillery shells and other weaponry and bound for Ukraine.” Hegseth is a DISASTER.)
- Kremlin says Russia still plans to cease fire in Ukraine from May 8-10 but will respond if attacked
- India Sees a Future Making Solar Panels for Itself, and Maybe the World
- Israel plans to occupy and flatten all of Gaza if no deal by Trump’s trip (Wildly unacceptable. Also, for everyone who actually argued, insanely, that Trump would be BETTER than Biden or Harris for the people of Gaza, just WTF??? It was delusional then, it’s even more obviously delusional now.)
- Hamas says ‘no point’ to truce talks as Israel plans to capture all of Gaza
- ‘There is no life here’: Palestinians fear Israel is imposing its Gaza endgame
- Germany in Political Chaos After Merz Loses Chancellor Vote (“The shock setback pitches Europe’s biggest economy into uncharted territory.”)
- Friedrich Merz’s bid to become Germany’s chancellor fails in parliament in a stunning defeat (“Merz needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes. He only received 310 votes — well short of the 328 seats held by his coalition. Because the vote was held by secret ballot, it was not immediately clear — and might never be known — who had defected from Merz’s camp.”)
- What Canada’s Mark Carney can expect when he meets Trump
- Alberta’s premier proposes referendum on separation from Canada (So stupid.)
- Trump has said Canada should be the 51st state. Today, he meets its prime minister
- Declassified Spy Memo Contradicts Trump on Venezuela Gang Ties
- Trump news at a glance: immigrants offered money to leave US and White House walks back film tariff plan
- Read: U.S. intel agencies don’t believe Maduro regime directs Venezuelan gang
- Does Nayib Bukele’s campaign against democracy give a blueprint for Trump?
- He was protected from deportation by a legal settlement. Trump deported him anyway. (Extreme lawlessness by Trump.)
- DHS Is Touting High Deportation Numbers — But Won’t Say How It’s Counting (Definitely can’t believe a word these people say.)
- US appeals court rejects Trump bid to revoke 400,000 migrants’ legal status
- Airport Detentions Have Travelers ‘Freaked Out’ (“Fears of being detained are in overdrive, even if the Trump administration insists that they’re overblown.”)
- Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Arguments at the Supreme Court Are Epically Bad
- White House urges patience on tariffs as anxiety over prices escalates (“Port officials say they’ve yet to hear from the administration as their shipping volumes plunge.”)
Barbie maker raises prices due to Trump tariffs as Ford warns of $1.5bn cost (“Toy company Mattel says it will reduce imports into the US from China to below 15% by 2026”)- How Republicans in Congress Enable Trump’s Tyranny (“GOP lawmakers in Washington have stumbled onto one neat trick to abet the president’s lawlessness—dismantle their own power.”)
- Trump’s Justice Department Is Squandering Its Biggest Asset (“Federal judges throughout the country are losing patience with the administration. Will it be an issue for the Supreme Court?”)
- Donald Trump’s Excuses Are Falling Flat (“He’s blaming Biden, droning on about dolls, and failing to say he’ll uphold the Constitution. Such head-scratching spin is unlikely to improve his sinking polls.”)
- Trump’s Justice Department Just Sided With Biden On Abortion Pill Case
- National Institutes of Health lays off hundreds more staff, including at cancer research institute (Completely insane.)
- Mehmet Oz Questions Federal Funding for Medicaid Expansion
- G.O.P. Targets a Medicaid Loophole Used by 49 States to Grab Federal Money (“States have used taxes on hospitals and nursing homes to increase federal matching funds. If Republicans end the tactic, red states could feel the most pain.”)
- Trump is trying to pay his way into a US baby boom. Experts say it won’t work (Moronic as usual by Trump.)
- Critics question Trump baby bonus proposal: ‘It’s just completely bananas’
- Hegseth Orders 20 Percent Cut in Four-Star Officers (Very VERY suspicious.)
- Hegseth orders cuts to Pentagon’s stable of generals and admirals
- Hegseth Used Multiple Signal Chats for Official Pentagon Business
- TeleMessage suspends services after hackers claim to have stolen files
- TeleMessage app used by Mike Waltz suspends service over suspected hack
- Former official targeted by Trump says the president is trying to silence critics
- Trump Crypto Deals Provoke Senate Backlash and Calls for Investigation
- Pence rebuffs Trump on tariffs, Russia and January 6 pardons in CNN interview
- This Is Fascism: MAGA, Ashli Babbitt, and Derek Chauvin (“The Trump cult loves police violence—except for when it doesn’t.”)
- Trump announced Alcatraz reopening just hours after ‘Escape from Alcatraz’ aired on a South Florida PBS station (Beyond bizarre.)
- Newsom Asks Trump to Work With Him on $7.5 Billion Tax Credit for Hollywood
- From prosperity to austerity: Trump’s tone shifts ahead of tariff impacts
- Trump ally Laura Loomer uses Nazi slogan to call for replacing Indian American congressperson (“It’d be nice to have an American there, like a real blood and soil American” Yep, she’s a Nazi for sure.)
- White House Says Trump’s Proposal to Rename Veterans Day Has Been Scrapped (“The White House has backed off President Donald Trump’s stunning social media proposal to change the name of Veterans Day to ‘Victory Day for World War I’ and will settle for keeping the name while adding a proclamation hailing American victory in World War I.” Bizarre.)
- VIDEO: How billionaires created the DEI panic
- Stephen Miller’s Former Colleague Reveals Why He Is a ‘Horrible Human Being’
- Scoop: Senate Democrats to host Ezra Klein as retreat special guest (“Senate Democrats have invited New York Times columnist Ezra Klein and Democratic data guru David Shor to talk to senators at their annual one-day issues retreat on Wednesday, sources tell Axios.” Dumb.)
- AOC won’t seek top Oversight Committee post (“She cited the caucus’ preference for seniority.”)
- A militarized conspiracy theorist group believes radars are ‘weather weapons’ and is trying to destroy them (WTF???)
- Judge Orders Elections Board to Certify Democrat’s Victory in Contested N.C. Race (“The federal ruling on Monday was the most significant legal victory yet for Justice Allison Riggs, the Democratic incumbent in a State Supreme Court race.”)
- Kemp will not run for U.S. Senate, igniting a GOP scramble in Georgia race
- Top Republican Waves the White Flag Amid Wipeout Fears (“Brian Kemp was considered a top recruit for the Republicans to take on Democrat Jon Ossoff.”)
- Trump’s Onslaught Hits Staffers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Totally illegal.)
- Trump Administration Disqualifies Harvard From Future Research Grants (Presumably this is illegal.)
- Illinois Democrat Schakowsky won’t seek Congress reelection in 2026 after 14 terms
- Newark air traffic controllers couldn’t see or talk to planes, leading to airport meltdown
- Air traffic controllers lost communication with Newark planes – leading to widespread delays after they took leave for trauma
- The future of Metro is the bus (“Local officials are planning a dramatic expansion of the local bus network, saying new rail lines are to expensive and take too long to build.” Yep, there’s no way in hell that new rail lines are going to be built for many, many years to come – if ever.)
- Loudoun Chamber: Survey says NoVA business leaders are nervous about regional economy
- Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08) Urges ICE To Improve Treatment Of Detained Scholar Badar Khan Suri (“Suri is a legally admitted visiting scholar with no prior criminal record…and the obscure immigration provision with which he has been charged is not a ground for mandatory detention.”)
- Youngkin, who’s backed Trump’s agenda, sets aside $900 million as cushion for economic pain it could unleash (Youngkin is at best incoherent and internally illogical.)
- Youngkin vetoes bill to require site assessments for data centers
- Can Anyone Even Imagine Virginia Republicans Breaking Ranks Like Montana’s “Nasty Nine” Republican State Senators? (In Montana, “nine Republican state senators began breaking with their caucus,” resulting in “a 27-person majority that has all but locked Republican leaders out of power.”)
- Video: NBC4 Reports on Winsome Earle-Sears’ Anti-Same Sex Marriage Note on Bill (Del. Rozia Henson: “She knows I’m an openly gay Black state representative, so the fact that she wrote something personal on my bill…was somewhat disheartening.”)
- Mark Rozell: For Democrats, a chance to reboot (Including this for completeness, but as soon as I see this guy’s name on the byline, I’m like…uh oh.)
- Jones is going on TV with the first ad of the attorney general race
- Right-to-contraception bills highlight key reproductive health care debate in this year’s elections
- After another veto, Virginia Democrats vow to return next year with contraceptive protections (We need to elect a Democratic “trifecta” and get this signed into law!)
- ‘It’s in a chaotic state’: Virginia food banks feel the effects of federal funding cuts
- Trump’s AmeriCorps cuts end Virginia community service grants
- Tariffs could add $500 million in costs to Virginia offshore wind project (This was reported days ago by Utility Dive, Bloomberg, etc. Kinda weird that the Virginia media’s just realizing it.)
- Republican House of Delegates primary in Danville draws more opening day voters than any other GOP races in the state (“Based on the opening day numbers, the one drawing the most voter interest is the one in the Danville area, where Madison Whittle and Vanessa Scearce are competing for the party’s nomination for the seat being vacated by Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, who is retiring for health reasons.”)
- Jobless workers in Emporia are paying the price for nation’s inability to deal with high housing costs
- After ousting first Black superintendent, VMI appoints interim as search continues for new leader
- VMI’s Board of Visitors selects new leadership, as Wins’ tenure closes
- Over 550 employees jobless after Georgia-Pacific announces closure of Virginia plant
- CWG Live updates: A mix of sun and clouds with a few afternoon showers and storms
********************************************************
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
