Wednesday News: “Tiny Company With China Ties Announces Big Purchase of Trump Cryptocurrency”; “How Qatar Bought America”; “The End of Rule of Law in America”; “House Republicans Are About to Deal a Massive Blow to the Working Class Folks Trump Swore to Protect”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, May 14.

• Car use and meat consumption drive emissions gender gap, research suggests (“The French study of 15,000 people shows men emit 26% more pollution due to eating red meat and driving more”)
• European firms ramping up lobbying for climate action, report finds (“Research shows companies ‘aligned’ with strategies to meet climate goals have risen from 3% in 2019 to 23% in 2025” Good, but needs to be 100%)
• ‘Go back to Ukraine’: War refugees complain of abuse in Poland (Not cool at all.)
• In High-Stakes Negotiations, Trump’s Opponents Are Learning His Patterns (“President Trump often takes maximalist positions, only to back down and declare a win. His opponents are catching on.”)
• Trump’s maximalist agenda finds its limits (“The president’s domestic and foreign policy agenda has run headlong into immovable objects, triggering market reactions and harsh responses that have forced him to recalibrate.”)
• Beyond Tariff Truce, China Readies for a Rocky Time With the U.S.
• China Truce Eases Tariffs but Does Little to Resolve Future Uncertainty (“A 90-day pause on punishing tariffs could restart trade between the world’s largest economies. But it is not enough to resolve uncertainty about the economy.”)
• GOP heavyweights join bipartisan bashing of Trump Qatar jet deal
• How Qatar Bought America (“The tiny Gulf nation has spent almost $100 billion to establish its influence in Congress, universities, newsrooms, think tanks, and corporations. What does it want in return?”)
• Israeli strikes in northern Gaza kill at least 48, hospital says (Horrible.)
• In Private, Some Israeli Officers Admit That Gaza Is on the Brink of Starvation (“Israel’s government has publicly dismissed warnings of extreme food shortages after it blocked aid deliveries, but an internal analysis concluded that a crisis looms if food supplies are not restored.”)
• Trump tells Gulf leaders Iran must cease support of proxy groups as part of any nuclear deal
• Trump’s Middle East visit comes as his family deepens its business, crypto ties in the region
• On Middle East tour, Trump touts US tech to power post-oil future
• Trump urges Syrian president to normalise Israel relations and deport ‘foreign terrorists’
• Live updates: Trump meets Syria’s new president in a major turn of events for the country
• Tiny Company With China Ties Announces Big Purchase of Trump Cryptocurrency (As always, just imagine the reaction if this happened during an Obama, Biden or Harris administration!)
• Exclusive: HIV patient testing falls in South Africa after US aid cuts, data shows
• America Is the Land of Opportunity—For White South Africans (“Trump has frozen refugee admissions and cut off resettlement funding, but he has made an exception for white South Africans, who he says are victims of racial discrimination.” Trump is a white supremacist for sure.)
• Jair Bolsonaro’s Son Has an Idea for Trump: Send Immigrants From Brazil to Prison in El Salvador (Horrible family.)
• Federal judge OKs use of Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans who are labeled gang members (“Haines, a Trump appointee, also said the administration hasn’t been giving enough notice to people facing removal under the AEA. She ordered the administration to provide at least 21 days notice — far longer than the 12 hours that some deportees have been given.”)
• Wisconsin Judge Indicted on Charges That She Helped Immigrant Evade Agents (“Judge Hannah C. Dugan was accused of helping an undocumented immigrant elude federal agents who were waiting to arrest him outside her courtroom.”)
• Trump Administration Reportedly Told Court About Its Efforts To Return Kilmar Abrego Garcia
• Why are ICE agents such cowardly wusses?
• 12-year-old boy left alone on sidewalk after ICE raid in Massachusetts (EVIL.)
• 20 states sue Trump admin over immigration enforcement funding threats (We need to elect a Democrat as AG so Virginia joins lawsuits like these!)
• Mild April Inflation Captures Early Stages of Tariff Effects (“CPI was up 0.2% over the month, while annual inflation was 2.3%”)
• EPA plans to weaken rule curbing forever chemicals in drinking water (That’s insane.)
• Trump Officials Balk at RFK Jr.’s Attack on Pesticides
• 
  Critic of Covid boosters set to enact tough agenda as top US vaccines official (“Vinay Prasad, outspoken critic of pharmaceutical industry and of his peers in public health, to take over CBER”)
• FDA targets prescription fluoride tablets for children (“The agency wants manufacturers to remove them from the market, contending they harm the gut microbiome, could cause thyroid dysfunction and lower IQ. Two states have banned the mineral in drinking water.”)
• Trump’s Habeas Corpus Threat (“No president, even Lincoln, has ever suspended the writ without Congress.”)
• Resisting Trump’s Authoritarian Creep (“As the administration pushes its ‘invasion’ fantasy, the courts are providing a real-world check on presidential power.”)
• The first federal court hearing on Trump’s tariffs did not go so well for Trump
• The End of Rule of Law in America (“The 47th president seems to wish he were king—and he is willing to destroy what is precious about this country to get what he wants.”)
• Chief Justice Roberts Sure Doesn’t Sound Like He’s Ready and Able to Defend the Constitution (“The alarm bells are ringing, and this guy is the snooze button.”)
• The Wild West of Presidential Pardons in Trump’s Second Term (“Trump has upended a sober legal process, setting off a scramble among those seeking clemency to use lobbyists and personal connections to the president”)
• Trump officials take steps toward a radically different NSF
• A Free People Need a Free Press
• Gabbard fires top National Intelligence Council officials (Gabbard is a nightmare.)
• Republicans Slip Nonprofit Killer Bill Into Budget Plan (“The ‘nonprofit killer bill’ is hidden at the very end of Republicans’ massive 389-page budget package.”)
• GOP makes biggest bet yet pairing Trump tax rates with Medicaid cuts
• Republicans Could Reach SALT Compromise Wednesday, Johnson Says
• How Do We Know Congress’s Work Requirements in Medicaid Will Fail? They Already Have.
• House Republicans Are About to Deal a Massive Blow to the Working Class Folks Trump Swore to Protect
• The Republican plan to bury Medicaid recipients in paperwork (“Proposed work requirements for aid won’t create jobs, but they will kick the working poor off health care.”)
• Chasing Tax Cuts, Trump and Republicans Want to Make States Pay (“G.O.P. leaders are exploring cuts to federal aid, leaving some states fearful that their budgets cannot absorb billions of dollars in new costs.”)
• Elon Musk’s apparent power play at the Copyright Office completely backfired
• DOGE Removes Dozens of Resurrected Contracts From Its List of Savings
• Dems privately rage over “utterly selfish” Trump impeachment vote (“‘This is the dumbest f***ing thing. Utterly selfish behavior,’ said a third House Democrat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about a colleague.”)
• Ron Johnson is threatening to tank the GOP megabill. He’s been here before. (“The frequently cantankerous Wisconsin senator is pushing his fellow Republicans to deliver huge spending cuts.”)
• DOJ ‘weaponization’ group will shame individuals it can’t charge with crimes, new head says (Appalling and unAmerican.)
• Multiple Trump White House officials have ties to antisemitic extremists (Imagine the uproard in a Democratic administration if there were even ONE of these anti-Semites???)
• One of Congress’ Wealthiest Members Made Stock Trades Worth Millions After Trump Announced Tariffs
• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Changed His Wife’s Flight to Avoid Newark Airport
• Buttigieg, eyeing a presidential run, says ‘maybe’ Biden hurt Democrats (“The former Biden administration official was in Iowa, where he warned in his highest-profile public appearance since leaving government not to ‘hang back’ against President Donald Trump.”)
• Harvard Expands Lawsuit Against US as Funding Feud Deepens
• Trump Administration Cuts Additional $450 Million in Grants to Harvard
• 2 more Fetterman aides leave embattled senator’s office (“The departures are the latest in a string of staff exits over the past year and a half.”)
• Ben Shapiro is cracking under the pressure to shill for Trump (“Pointless trade wars and $400 million jet bribes make it hard for Trump sycophants to cape for the MAGA messiah”)
• Despite missteps, Andrew Cuomo maintains commanding lead in New York mayor’s race
• Democrats just flipped Nebraska’s biggest city (“Democrat John Ewing unseated Republican Mayor Jean Stothert in Tuesday’s officially nonpartisan election to lead Omaha, a victory that ends the GOP’s 12-year hold on Nebraska’s largest city…Ewing, who will be Omaha’s first Black mayor, overcame a large fundraising disadvantage in his campaign to deny Stothert what would have been an unprecedented fourth term.”)
• Pete Rose, ‘Shoeless’ Joe Jackson among players reinstated by MLB (Huge mistake with Pete Rose – and a total capitulation to Trump by Major League Baseball.)
• Robert De Niro attacks Trump in Cannes speech: ‘This isn’t just America’s problem’
• California judge resentences Menendez brothers to be eligible for parole (“Erik and Lyle Menendez given 50 years to life, making them eligible for parole and giving them chance at freedom”)
• Editorial: Fall election will help determine the fate of constitutional amendments (“Proposed constitutional amendments won’t appear on the ballot this fall, but elections for seats in the state House will likely determine their fate.”)
• Video: Abigail Spanberger Says “job number one of the governor is to stand up for Virginia” – and It’s “outrageous to me” That Winsome Earle-Sears Isn’t Doing That (Spanberger says Earle-Sears showing “a lack of seriousness or even a lack of focus on the things that matter to Virginians”)
• UVA forecasts paint a bleak picture for jobs in Virginia this year
• Youngkin vetoes clean energy bills supported by Dominion, environmental groups
• Video: Elected, Reproductive Rights Leaders Call Out Winsome Earle-Sears for Being “Morally Opposed” to Protecting Reproductive Freedom (“We deserve a leader like Abigail Spanberger who will fight to protect our right to contraception and reproductive care.”)
• Video: Shannon Taylor Launches TV Ad, Says “To protect our families, their lawlessness has to be stopped…I’m running for Attorney General to beat back Musk and Trump.” (“I took on the NRA, went after Neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan”)
• What the six Democratic candidates for Virginia lieutenant governor say on the issues (This is very helpful; good job by Margaret Barthel of WAMU)
• Poll: Amid rising costs, Republican and Democratic voters value Va.’s colleges and universities
• Video: In Acceptance Speech for Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award, Del. Adele McClure Talks About Giving Birth to Her Daughter, Says “If I can endure that kinda pain to bring her into this world, I can endure any battle to make it better.” (“And this year, that battle is in Virginia.”)
• Federal property will go to ROTC instead of preschool, Ed. Department says (“The Trump administration reversed a decision to give the Federal Executive Institute property to Charlottesville schools, instead awarding it to the University of Virginia.”)
• Richmond among the most climate-anxious cities in U.S.
• These non-traditional candidates say they represent the evolving politics of Virginia
• County leaders plan to end police ‘Section 7’ interactions with ICE
• Pulaski company’s $1.3 million poultry poop proposition
• Former Del. Barnie Day, known as ‘Virginia’s Mark Twain,’ dies (R.I.P.)
• CWG Live updates: Warm and humid with shower chances through Saturday