Wednesday (5/13) News: “Trump says he ‘doesn’t think about Americans’ financial situation’ as he heads to China for talks with Xi Jinping”; “The Iran War Worsens America’s Democratic Erosion”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, May 13. Also, check out Jamelle Bouie’s latest, on how “the Republican Party is desperately trying to gerrymander itself into a majority because it sees the writing on the wall and needs to act now” (in part because Trump is “catastrophically unpopular”).

• 20 Years After ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ Al Gore Grapples With the (Big) Wrinkle of Artificial Intelligence (“The former vice president sat down with Inside Climate News to discuss data centers, Trump, China and the future of American democracy.”)
• Chinese EVs take the world by storm — except in the United States
• Trump and Xi tête-à-tête: five key issues on the table in China (“It is nearly 10 years since the US president made a state visit to China, and Iran, Taiwan, trade, AI and drugs look set to dominate”)
• Trump says he ‘doesn’t think about Americans’ financial situation’ as he heads to China for talks with Xi Jinping
• Trade, Taiwan and Iran cast shadows on Trump’s China summit with Xi (“The two leaders will discuss a U.S.-China trade board and agreements on aerospace, agriculture and energy, though aides say no comprehensive deal is on the table.”)
• Trump faces pressure to win China’s release of Jimmy Lai, other political prisoners
• Trump’s Shrinking Ambitions on China (“The president came into office planning harsher trade moves on China than on the rest of the world. Here’s why he’s had to scale them back.”)
• A decade on, Trump returns to a stronger and more assertive China (“Beijing is arguably the most powerful competitor the US has confronted in its history, one analyst says.”)
• A war-weary globe watches closely as rivals Trump and Xi prepare for Beijing face-off (“Iran war overshadows talks as leaders of the world’s two largest economies try to reframe their trade relationship”)
• Top Democrats press Trump to approve arms sale to Taiwan ahead of Xi meeting
• Trump’s China policy is nearly the exact opposite of what everyone expected (“As Trump heads to China, attention and resources are being shifted from Asia to yet another war in the Middle East.”)
• U.S. Intelligence Shows Iran Retains Substantial Missile Capabilities (“Secret new assessments say Iran has operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that its military remains far stronger than President Trump has asserted.”)
• Pentagon considering renaming Iran war ‘Sledgehammer’ if ceasefire collapses (Well that would totally do the trick! LOL)
• Europe Tries a Trumpian Tactic With Trump: No Apologies (“Stuck with the fallout from America’s war in Iran, European leaders have criticized the president publicly. When he’s been angered, they haven’t backed down.”)
• The Iran War Worsens America’s Democratic Erosion
• NATO, Please Help. Trump Has No Strategy for Iran.
• Exclusive: Saudi Arabia launched covert attacks on Iran as regional war widened, sources say
• Why Spain Is Standing Up to Donald Trump (“Pedro Sánchez, the Socialist Prime Minister, has led the European opposition to the Iran war from the start.”)
• Britain’s embattled prime minister is still in office. No one knows how long that will last.
• Israeli Report Examines Sexual Violence During and After Hamas-Led Attack (“A two-year investigation by a team of researchers in Israel concluded that sexual violence by Hamas and its allies was widespread during and after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack.”)
• First on CNN: New report details ‘systematic’ rape and sexual violence during Hamas’ Oct 7 attack on Israel
• Israel steps up attacks on Gaza since Iran truce, as military says Hamas rearming
• Exclusive: CIA escalates secret war on cartels with deadly operations inside Mexico
• What Did Jamaica Do to Deserve This? (“Kari Lake, Trump’s pick for ambassador, has a disastrous record.”)
• Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ Missile Defense Plan Could Cost $1.2 Trillion (Trump really wants to bankrupt and destroy America.)
• Trump’s proposed ‘Golden Dome’ estimated to cost $1.2 trillion, far more than he initially said (Beyond moronic. Also super corrupt.)
• Trump administration elevates former private prison company exec to lead ICE (HORRIBLE!)
• 10,000 rulings: The courts’ overwhelming rebuke of Trump’s ICE policies (“A POLITICO analysis reveals judges have ruled against ICE detention practices in roughly 90 percent of cases since the agency mandated that millions of immigrants must be locked up while they face deportation proceedings.”)
• In Approving Alabama Gerrymander, the Roberts Court Shows Its Naked Political Bias (“The justices tossed precedents to allow Republicans to dismantle yet another majority-Black district”)
• He’s the Supreme Court’s Anonymous “Nice Guy” Conservative. The Reality Is Way More Disturbing.
• Wall Street Is Getting More Anxious About Long-Term Inflation
• Why the Iran war is hurting the economy
• Trump’s five-alarm economy
• Amid war, Trump says he doesn’t ‘think about Americans’ financial situation’
• US grocery prices rose in April, but gas spikes weren’t the only reason
• What’s with the Administration’s Weirdly Sudden Interest in Fertility? (“I never want to hear RFK Jr. talk about sperm count again.”)
• Inside Marty Makary’s Downfall at the FDA
• Makary’s time atop FDA over, Diamantas named acting commissioner (“The gastrointestinal surgeon’s tenure was marked by mass layoffs, persistent churn among senior leaders and policy fights.”)
• FEMA’s acting administrator is out, for the third time under Trump
• Trump’s rollback of toxic gas rules limits EPA’s authority to protect public health, analysis says (“Ethylene oxide (EtO) is about 60 times more carcinogenic than believed in 2006, research finds”)
• Justice Dept. Officials Consider Settling Trump Suit Against I.R.S. (“One of the settlement terms under review is for the I.R.S. to drop any audits of the president, his family members and businesses.” BULLSHIT.)
• Big Brother Is ReTruthing You (“Donald Trump is a victim of propaganda as much as he is a manipulator of it.”)
• How the Trump administration has undermined the fight against public corruption (To the contrary, they’re committing massive acts of public corruption!)
• Senate GOP balks at $1B in security for White House ballroom, despite Secret Service pitch
• Key House GOP moderate dismisses ballroom funding request (Again, the media keeps calling conservative Republicans “moderate,” which is just 100% false, disinformation, etc.)
• Takeaways from FBI Director Kash Patel’s defensive Hill testimony
• Patel agrees to take alcohol test after heated exchange with Van Hollen
• FBI Created ‘Payback Squad’ to Handle Political Cases, Sources Say (Absolutely outrageous; no FBI agent or employee should have agreed to participate in this!)
• FBI interviewing CIA officers in Brennan investigation (Again, no FBI employee should participate in this!)
• Why Trump’s Spiritual Adviser Dedicated a Golden Statue to the President (“Mark Burns, an evangelical pastor, explains that Trump’s supporters don’t think of him as a godlike figure, even as the President posts pictures of himself as Jesus.” Utterly deranged behavior.)
• Bruce Springsteen’s Tour Is an American Revival That Succeeds Where Democrats Fail (“Springsteen and the E Street Band’s first stop at New York’s Madison Square Garden is a furious reminder of the power of his catalog — and his rhetoric, too”)
• House Oversight Dems hear from Epstein victims in Palm Beach meeting
• Epstein survivors give tearful testimony in House field hearing in Palm Beach (“Oversight panel Democrats hold event at ‘the scene of the crime’ in Florida and ask Trump to not pardon Maxwell”)
• South Carolina Republicans decline to consider redistricting in blow to Trump
• South Carolina Republicans tank redistricting, for now
• Obama meets with Talarico, aiming to boost Democrat’s bid for US Senate in Texas
• Michigan Senate hopeful El-Sayed calls himself a ‘physician’ but has little history treating patients (Also note that polling shows this guy would likely lose the election in November. In short, it’s batshit crazy to support him.)
• Nebraska Democratic Senate primary winner says she’ll drop out to support independent in general election (“Cindy Burbank, who bested an alleged Republican plant, says she’ll step aside for Dan Osborn in general election”)
• Most TN House Democrats stripped of their committee assignments (“Speaker of the TN House Cameron Sexton just removed me and every Democrat — and therefore every Black elected official in the state legislature from any committee we served on”)
• Gov. Kemp signs law making many metro Atlanta races nonpartisan (“The measure could complicate reelection bids for Fani Willis and other Democratic prosecutors while setting off a constitutional fight.”)
• Reflecting Pool Repairs Appear Uneven and Behind Schedule, Officials Say (“Work on the iconic National Mall basin appears behind schedule. President Trump initially said he had picked the contractor, then said he did not know it.”)
• Fmr. Rep. Elaine Luria Calls on Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA02) to Publicly Apologize for Racist Remarks Targeting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (“In interview, Kiggans agrees with racist ‘get your cotton-picking hands off of Virginia’ comment”)
• Kiggans faces criticism after radio show host made racist remarks
• Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08): As Inflation Rises, “Trump is alternating between bloviating to his lackeys about his ballroom and yelling at clouds in manic late night social media tantrums.”
• Video: Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11), Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) at Field Hearing in Palm Beach County” – “ground zero…where Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s massive child sex trafficking ring started” (“I hope Pam Bondi will feel some shame”)
• Audio: Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA04) Says She’s “sure [Virginia Dems] are looking at at the possibility” of Another Constitutional Redistricting Amendment for 2028 (Also: “we can pick up at least two, if not three, if not four…seats…even with these current maps”)
• Podcast: Debut of the Insane Cline Posse edition of ‘Street Knowledge’
• Rob Tracinski confirms that he will be a candidate for Fifth District Democratic nomination (“Tom Perriello is going to be the Democratic Party nominee in the Fifth District, but he’s still going to have to win the nomination in a primary.”)
• After years of UVA advocacy, governor signs campus gun bill on Grounds (“While University rules have long prohibited firearms in dorms, prior to this legislation, police were unable to open investigations or execute search warrants for reports of firearms in University buildings because there was no law prohibiting gun possession on college campuses.”)
• Spanberger signs nothingburger gun bill at UVA, invoking Nov. 13 shootings for politics (“The bills – SB 272, patroned by State Sen. Creigh Deeds, and HB 626, patroned by Del. Katrina Callsen – merely delineate that only law enforcement officers, ROTC cadets, and U.S. military personnel are permitted to carry firearms at public institutions of higher education in Virginia. Seriously, that’s it…A better move by Sen. Deeds, Del. Callsen and then Gov. Spanberger would have been a bill that would mandate that UVA release the 2023 report wholly unredacted.”)
• Dominion builds its clean energy future, in part, on mounds of trash
• Starting next year, public bathrooms in new Va. buildings must have diaper-changing stations
• Central Virginia nonprofit granted 60 acres in Henrico where BIPOC farmers can live and work
• Pilot escorted off plane in Charlottesville leaving passengers stranded for hours
• Richmond School Board votes to surplus Southside property marked for development
• Comcast, Appalachian Power continue wrangling over broadband expansion (“Comcast claims that Appalachian Power is not abiding by an FCC ruling about how much it can charge to replace power poles necessary for broadband deployment. The utility says that Comcast’s cost proposal will hurt electric customers.”)
• Editorial: Public’s input needed to help shape Fort Monroe’s future (“Fort Monroe boasts a rich history and extraordinary cultural significance, but it’s been challenging to develop a vision that maximizes its potential.”)
• CWG Live updates: Showers and a thunderstorm late today; heating up this weekend