Saturday News: “The planes of the Revolutionary War”; “7.1 magnitude aftershock rattles southern California”; Cooch Makes No Sense on the Census; “Got a new idea on guns, get a ton of angry calls, Yancey finds”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, July 6.

• Global warming led to scorching heat in Europe. Leaders must take it seriously.
• Sudan’s military and civilian opposition have reached a power-sharing deal (“But the question still remains: Will the agreement fulfill the democratic promises of the Sudan uprising, especially if the military retains control?”)
• Trump and Barr are crossing another line (“From his very first day in office, President Trump has had a strange and, at times, strained relationship with the U.S. intelligence community. The president and his political aides have often challenged the honesty and integrity of the community, damaging morale, undercutting its mission and making the already difficult challenge of uncovering threats to our nation even harder.”)
• 7.1 magnitude aftershock rattles southern California
• The Census Case Just Took an Even Stranger Twist (“In the real world, the fact that the executive branch plans to offer ‘a new rationale’ is proof it has been lying. In the legal world, however, this maneuver might yet succeed.”)
• The Justice Department Hasn’t Found a New Reason for the Census Citizenship Question—but Trump Has
• Trump Considering an Executive Order to Allow Citizenship Question on Census
• Trump rages over his latest failure to corrupt our democracy
• Trump just admitted something he probably shouldn’t have about the census citizenship question (“Take note of that first one. Not only was a redistricting rationale not mentioned by the administration in its failed legal defense of the question, but it was actually something the other side argued was the administration’s true motivation. The plaintiffs in the case — and many who oppose the citizenship question — have argued that this is a thinly veiled attempt by Republicans to gain a potential game-changing tool in redistricting.”)
• Trump says immigration raids coming ‘fairly soon’
• Trump: U.S. Military Will Get ‘Big Spike’ in Recruitment Thanks to July 4th Event (LOL)
• Donald Trump’s “Inoffensive” War on Reality (“In less than three years, as our senses were dulled by the crudeness of the tweets, the speed of the news cycle, the blatant quality of the lies, and the brutality of official rhetoric, Trump has reframed America, stripping it of its ideals, dumbing it down, and reducing it to a nation at war against people who want to join it. These days, that is what passes for ‘inoffensive,’ ‘tame,’ and ‘standard.'”)
• CBP officials knew about derogatory Facebook group and have investigated posts (“Even though some in U.S. Customs and Border Protection have known about the group since 2016, officials do not conduct regular monitoring of private pages.”)
• Kamala Harris raises nearly $12 million in second quarter (“Kamala Harris raised nearly $12 million in the second quarter of the year, her campaign said Friday — lagging behind several other top-tier contenders in the money race even as she surges in public opinion polls.”)
• Trump Is Falling Almost 1 Million Jobs Short Vs. Obama
• The latest jobs report is great news for Wall Street. Not so much for workers.
• The planes of the Revolutionary War (“The Continental Army suffered a bitter winter at Valley Forge, found glory across the waters of the Delaware and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown. Our Army manned the air, it ran the ramparts, it took over the airports, it did everything it had to do.”)
• Trump blames rain and teleprompter for his July 4 speech gaffe (Hahaha, riiiiight.)
• Trump Begins Long Golf Weekend, Bringing Taxpayers’ Tab To $108 Million (“The candidate who used to hammer Barack Obama for golfing too much is on track to play two and a half times as much as his predecessor and at three times the cost to taxpayers.”)
• How Fox News conquered Facebook (“The channel attracts an ageing, angry crowd on its page, resulting in a high number of reactions, comments and shares – and that’s good for Trump”)
• Far-right rally falling apart as GOP candidate accuses ex-girlfriend of coked-up sexcapades with the Proud Boys: report
• Mad magazine’s demise is part of the ending of a world
• Top USCIS official suggests census citizenship question could help with ‘burden’ of illegal immigration (“It’s unclear exactly what Cuccinelli meant. The Trump administration’s stated reason for wanting to ask about a person’s citizenship on the 2020 questionnaire has been to get a better sense of the voting population, not to gauge legal status. But Cuccinelli, appearing on Fox News Business, suggested otherwise.”)
• The Virginia General Assembly is returning for a special session on guns. Don’t count on a breakthrough
• Protect our coast (“Offshore drilling, and the coastal industrialization it would require, is incompatible with Virginia’s clean coast economy, an economy fueled by tourism, recreation and fisheries that supports 86,000 jobs and $4.8 billion in GDP each year.”)
• Editorial: An anniversary Virginia should celebrate, but doesn’t (“On July 6, 1869, voters ratified the state Constitution that led to Virginia being readmitted to the Union after the Civil War…That description, though, doesn’t do justice to what happened that day. Virginians approved a Constitution that was shockingly progressive for its day — so shocking that the state’s conservative political establishment eventually repealed it and taught succeeding generations (including our own) that it was an abomination. That’s because Virginia’s official history textbooks — ones that were still in circulation into the 1970s — taught propaganda and, in some cases, outright lies. Generations of Virginians were brainwashed by the state as effectively as any Soviet indoctrination.”)
• Will VA State Senator Glen Sturtevant (R-SD10) Help Stop Gun Violence? We’ll Be Watching.
• Virginia “Flip-A-District Friday: Volume II” – Democratic House of Delegates Candidates Starla Kiser, Eric Stamps, Mavis Taintor, Gayle Johnson
• VA Delegates VanValkenburg, Mullin, Bourne: Gun Violence Prevention Bills Deserve Up-or-Down Vote On the Floor During 7/9 Special Session
• Please, Virginia Republicans, vote for public safety. We’ll all be watching.
• STILL Confused Why Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines Must Be Stopped? New Paper Explains Why We Need to Cancel All New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure. Immediately.
• Virginia Republican: Women who get raped are ‘naive and unprepared’ because they weren’t carrying guns
• Got a new idea on guns, get a ton of angry calls, Yancey finds (“Guns, to be sure, are one of those issues that stir the passions — strong enough that Del. David Yancey’s proposal to give police and prosecutors another tool to investigate gun thefts has prompted angry phone calls accusing the life-long Republican of being a Democrat.”)
• After more than a decade of battles over cliffs, for one would-be developer the end is bittersweet
• Asylum seeker living in Charlottesville church facing $214K ICE fine
• Growing list of motions in statues lawsuit to be tackled at upcoming hearing
• Hot, humid, and stormy this weekend, then slightly less hot early in the work week