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by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, August 18. Today’s biggest developments and headlines include the climate crisis (always at the top of these news highlights because it’s existential and should be a massive story every single day)…plus global bond sump driving borrowing costs to highest level in decades; long past time to quit Musk’s Nazi site; Trump at odds with reality, reporters, his own administration; “Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, endangering public health, education and more“; etc.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS (Climate crisis, Trump at war with reality and his own administration as his Iran quagmire continues; long past time to quite Musk’s Nazi site; global bond slump; etc.)
- Extreme heat more dangerous for people 60 and over than previously thought (“Study finds older adults could face harmful heat stress at just 1.5C of warming above preindustrial levels”)
- See How Europe’s Rivers Are Drying Up and Threatening Its Economy (“Intense heat and lack of rain have driven water levels across the continent to record lows”)
- Global Bond Slump Sends Long-Term Borrowing Costs to Highest in Decades
- It Is Past Time for You to Quit Elon Musk’s X (“Yes, I’m talking to you.”)
- Democracy v the machine: the birth of the digital age and the warnings that were ignored (“Many hoped that the march of technology would usher in an egalitarian utopia – but some foresaw the threat it would pose to liberal society. Why did nobody listen?” Nobody ever listens to those who speak against techno-optimism and techno-utopianism?)
- Russia warns UK will pay for supplying drones to Ukraine (“Russia accuses the UK after British-made drones were used in Ukrainian strikes, but the MoD says it stands against Russian aggression.”)
- Russia is shipping explosives to Iran to bolster its missile and drone arsenal in U.S. war (“The Russian shipments, which haven’t been previously reported, underscore the deepening strategic alliance between Moscow and Tehran.”)
- After Trump gave North Korea what it wants, a key senator accuses him of ‘appeasement’
- Trump’s move to gut South Korea alliance is ‘inane, haphazard decision’, lawmakers say (It’s “inane,” yes, but a much more accurate word for what Trump did is “insane.”)
- South Korea must brace for ‘worst-case scenario,’ President Lee says, as Trump cuts military drills
- Facing Quagmire in Iran, Trump Turns to a Familiar Face: North Korea’s Kim Jong-un (Evil and insane.)
- South Korea president calls for military independence in wake of Trump call to cut joint drills (Also, will South Korea go nuclear?)
- Trump’s slight of South Korea in favor of the North raises broader US security concerns
- Trump torches allies as Iran exposes limits of hard power
- Trump swings hard at Oman and South Korea, but his foreign policy misses are piling up
- Dems plan Oman war powers push after Trump threatens bombing
- 60 days after signing Iran deal, Trump is stuck in a quagmire as war drags on
- Trump contradicts Vance, says nukes, not oil prices, No. 1 priority in Iran (“Vance laid out a different order of priorities than Trump’s stated mission.”)
- Trump Is at Odds With His Own Administration—And With Reality (“As the war with Iran drags on, the president is in disagreement with the vice president, military leaders, and long-standing American allies.”)
- Trump dismisses USS Lincoln criticism and snaps at CNN reporter to ‘be quiet’ (“President says US carrier is ‘beautifully maintained’ and calls network ‘fake news’ over reports of poor conditions”)
- Netanyahu party campaign billboard likens Mamdani to leaders of Iran and Hezbollah (False and disgusting, as always, by Netanyahu.)
- Kushner and Netanyahu agree U.S. general should oversee Hamas ‘demilitarization,’ source says (“The agreement came during an hourslong meeting, which followed rare talks between the leader of Hamas, Kushner and other members of Trump’s Board of Peace.”)
- How Israel’s Financial Chokehold Is Stifling the West Bank Economy
- Iraq’s ghost villages: Islamic State drove people away – now a new enemy is preventing their return (“Nearly a decade after fighting ended in northern Iraq, the climate crisis has brought extreme heat and a water shortage, making life almost impossible”)
- Nayib Bukele’s Content Machine Is Reshaping Latin America (“How El Salvador’s authoritarian leader loomed over Colombia’s Presidential race.”)
- Canada Bets Big on Hydro and Wind Power (“The country touts plans for what could be North America’s largest-ever clean energy investment, while doubling down on oil.”)
- US, Canada hold last-minute talks to stop 50% U.S. tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods
NATIONAL NEWS (ICE out of control; Trump 2.0 has deleted important databases; bunch of primaries today; etc.)
- Lawyer Says ICE Detainee Suffered Brain Bleed After Violent Apprehension, Was Guarded by Agents Instead of Given Private Medical Care
- San Diego Padres minor-league catching coordinator detained by ICE in Texas (“Oswaldo Pirela is a Venezuelan former pro who works for the San Diego Padres. Relatives say he is in the United States legally and demand his release.”)
- ICE pitches legal insurance to help shield local officers who make immigration arrests
- States Seek $200 Billion From Meta Over Child Social Media Addiction Claims
- Supreme Court asked to review Texas law requiring the Ten Commandments in public schools
- How the Supreme Court remade religious liberty in the Christian right’s image (“In a Court eager to move fast and break things, the justices are moving fastest in religion cases.”)
- Lake Powell Hits Lowest Level On Record As Water Crisis Continues (Climate crisis!)
- A National Blackout Would Devastate America. It’s More Likely Than You Think. (“The power grid relies on thousands of aging, hand-built transformers. If enough fail, the blackout could last years.” YEARS???)
- Trump administration briefly pauses contentious border project in Texas’ Big Bend National Park (Absolutely appalling.)
- NOAA’s New Priorities Put Profits Ahead of Marine Protections (“The agency directed the nation’s regional fisheries councils to scrap certain marine protected areas, remove species from conservation lists and expand commercial fishing operations.”)
- 30-year Treasury yield tops 5.31%, the highest in 19 years (This is a huge problem, and it’s overwhelmingly Republicans’ fault for cranking up the debt.)
- U.S. debt set to hit $40 trillion months earlier than expected
- Even College Students Have Stopped Hanging Out (“The loneliness crisis comes to campus.” So bad.)
- Kindergarten vaccine exemptions jump to another record high (If you don’t get vaccinated, you shouldn’t be allowed to attend public schools.)
- MAGA Christianity and the Return of Religious Coercion (“The right is increasingly embracing an anti-social version of the Christian faith that embraces restrictive control with none of the underlying moral obligations.” The worst of all worlds, in other words.)
- Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets, endangering public health, education and more
- Trump Administration Moves to Restore Felons’ Gun Rights (This is heinous. Also, anyhone who actually believes that the Trump Republican Party is about “law and order” is an imbecile.)
- ‘One person kind of controls our fate’: Republicans confront growing midterm peril due to Iran war
- Trump approval falls to 33%, lowest of his presidency, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds (Moving in the right direction, but still 33 points too high.)
- What Trump Officials Mean by “Never” (“The claim that the president could not possibly do something unethical marks a new frontier of impunity by the administration.”)
- James Talarico Poaches Cornyn Staffer (“Cross-party hires are rare, but the move could show the Senate Democratic campaign is hoping to reach out to Republicans in reliably red Texas.”)
- Voters weigh a DeSantis successor and other key races to watch in Florida, Alaska and Wyoming
- Abdul El-Sayed is a problem for Democrats. Republicans appear to have more problems
- Backlash in Michigan complicates Democrats’ road to retaking the Senate
- Top Democrats tussle in Florida primary but progressive liberalism not on menu
- Dems bank on Ossoff’s message discipline
- Inside Ossoff’s meticulously viral campaign
- White House Takes the Bait as Ossoff Targets Trump Aide Natalie Harp
- White House launches personal attack on CNN reporter over question to Trump (And the pathetic cowards/losers in the White House press corps completely fail to stand up for their colleague and for themselves. Because that’s how these people are.)
- ‘What The Actual F**k…’: White House’s ‘Vindictive’ Attack On CNN Journalist Sparks Fury
- Donald Trump Attacks CNN’s Kristen Holmes for Asking if He Spoke to North Korean Dictator: ‘You’re a Loud, Boisterous Person. Be Quiet!’
- Trump Votes by Mail Again in Florida
- Jeanine Pirro pushes hard to keep alleged memorial vandal in jail (“The chief prosecutor for D.C. is taking an aggressive tack against a woman accused of spray-painting the World War II memorial.”)
- Rep. Cory Mills’s GOP primary offers the latest test of running under an ethical cloud
- One of Congress’ Most Scandal-Plagued Republicans May Be About to Lose His Primary (“Florida Rep. Cory Mills has been accused of stolen valor, was subject to a restraining order, and is reportedly under investigation by the Justice Department. He also has Trump’s “Complete and Total Endorsement.””)
- Florida GOP seeks unity after ‘rough and tumble’ primary season
- Florida Race to Replace Byron Donalds Features Candidates Who Have Already Run for Congress
- Trump administration can’t scrap plan to move FBI headquarters to Md., judge rules (“The administration sought to keep the agency’s headquarters in Washington.”)
VIRGINIA NEWS (Sen. Warner calls out Trump for siding with North Korea; Kiggans lies through her teeth, the media -Virginia Mercury, for instance – won’t say that up front; VA05 a tossup?; etc.)
- Sen. Mark Warner on Donald Trump Siding with “Rogue State” North Korea, Betraying Our Ally South Korea, and Cozying Up to His “new bestie, Kim Jong-un” (Not a peep so far from Mizusawa, Kiggans, Wittman, McGuire, etc.)
- Trump threatens Oman, South Korea: Warner asks – whose side is Trump on?
- Fmr. Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA02) Slams “corrupt Jen Kiggans [R-VA02] and Mike Johnson” for “meet[ing] with wealthy donors today” in Hampton Roads (“Kiggans and Johnson refuse to stand up to Donald Trump, and Hampton Roads is paying the price.”)
- Alongside Kiggans, US House Speaker says Va.’s 2nd District ‘will determine the fate of the country’ (The Virginia Mercury goes for the neutral headline, which does NOT point out that Kiggans lied like crazy. You see what the “mainstream” political media always does??? They sanitize and whitewash these MAGA scumbags.)
- NEW POLL: Tom Perriello Moves Virginia’s 5th District Into a “Toss-Up” Race (“New Survey Shows Race Within Margin of Error; Voters Give Perriello a Wide Lead After Hearing McGuire’s Track-Record”)
- VA06 Democratic Nominee Beth Macy Challenges MAGA Rep. Ben Cline (R) to Three Debates (“Public debates are a cornerstone of democratic elections”)
- Sixth District race: Beth Macy challenges Ben Cline to three candidate debates (“Prediction: Cline doesn’t even respond, much less dignify the request with a no, thanks. Ben Cline doesn’t appear in public in situations that aren’t carefully scripted to make his subservience to Donald Trump look like anything but muscular patriotism.”)
- NEW: Gov. Abigail Spanberger Formally Intervenes in Proposed NextEra-Dominion Merger, Outlines Focus on Energy Affordability (“As Governor, I remain skeptical of the benefits this merger would deliver to Virginia”)
- New poll shows Spanberger approval rating has rebounded. Is it right? (“…we find Spanberger pretty much smack in the middle of America’s governors. She ranks as the 22nd most approved-of governor, meaning she’s a little closer to the top than she is the bottom “)
- Winsome Earle-Sears’ Virginia “Life and Marriage Tour” Map Is About as Successful as Her Candidacy for Governor in 2025 – LOL (Rocky Mount, for instance, is like 150-200 miles too far east…)
- Are data centers becoming a political liability in Virginia? Tax breaks, energy costs and voter backlash
- Virginia secures $17 million to upgrade rail service and improve transportation infrastructure (That’s nothing, basically.)
- Virginia attorney general launches unit to protect workers from wage theft, abuse (“The new unit in the Virginia attorney general’s office will focus on wage theft and employee misclassification.”)
- What will you need to legally sell weed in Virginia?
- As Flock surveillance spreads, Virginia communities push back
- Feds launch investigation of William & Mary, alleging discrimination in scholarships, aid (Yes, it’s the “Feds,” but much more accurate would be to say it’s the Trump regime.)
- What’s changed in Richmond’s third draft of Code Refresh? (“We’ve heard people say that they want density that makes sense, and we totally agree. This version does that by encouraging increased density in nodes and along major transit corridors throughout the city”)
- 2 Richmond schools score top spots in U.S. News & World Report’s best high schools ranking (“RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras said: ‘We’re thrilled to see the excellent education that RPS provides recognized nationally.'”)
- Community gathering to mark century anniversary of Wytheville lynching turns ‘tragedy … into triumph’ (“Raymond Byrd was pulled from the Wytheville jail and killed by a mob in August 1926. His murder was one of the last lynchings in the state.”)
- Charlottesville Police K-9 Blue found dead in police vehicle in Greene County
- Virginia teacher and firefighters feud over whether a python started schoolhouse fire
- DC-area forecast: Blue skies with cooler highs
