by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, August 2.
- The Greenland ice sheet poured 197 billion tons of water into the North Atlantic in July alone (“Ongoing extreme melt event continues, with more than half the ice sheet experiencing melting on July 31.” This is a huge, huge problem.)
- China Pledges Countermeasures as Trump Escalates Trade War Again (“10% tariff to be imposed on $300 billion in goods on Sept. 1. Trump: U.S. to ‘tax the hell out of China’ until deal reached”)
- Trump imposes more tariffs on China, but he’s out of ideas. Now China holds the cards. (“Fed up with lack of progress in trade talks, Trump slap tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese imports.”)
- A month after G20, Trump’s Asia policy achievements appear to be unraveling
- U.S. Formally Withdraws From 1987 Nuclear Pact With Russia (“Trump’s administration says Moscow is in violation of the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty”)
- U.S. Ends Cold War Missile Treaty, With Aim of Countering China (“Trump administration officials say that the treaty tied their hands on China and that Russia was not complying with it, but its demise raised fears of a new arms race.”)
- In the Fight to Save the Planet, Its Defenders Are Being Killed (“Those who resist powerful industries that savage ecosystems and drive people off their land face death and fear.”)
- U.S. preparing to withdraw thousands of troops from Afghanistan in initial deal with Taliban (“The proposal is likely to be viewed skeptically by some U.S. and Afghan officials who question the Taliban’s honesty and wonder how the United States can verify whether Taliban leaders are following through.”)
- Charming but dishonest and duplicitous: Europe’s verdict on Boris Johnson
- Stocks Tumble as Trump Ignites Fresh Trade Fears: Markets Wrap
- Stocks Are Telling Trump He Made a Big Mistake
- Trump’s China Tariff Threat Roils Markets Around the World
- Trump’s policies are bringing instability to a fragile world economy
- Puerto Rico Legislature delays vote on Pedro Pierluisi, possible successor to governor (“The uncertainty on the island heightens less than a day before the embattled governor officially leaves office.”)
- Why Was Trumponomics a Flop? (“Neither tax cuts nor tariffs are working.”)
- Trump’s Tariff Threat to China Hits Global Markets (“Friday’s jobs report will offer a window into the resilience of the decadelong U.S. economic expansion at a time of trade tensions and slowing global growth”)
- Trump targets Democrats over state of US cities at Cincinnati rally
- ‘Lock her up’ chant breaks out at Trump rally (Of course.)
- Trump’s pick to lead U.S. intelligence claims he arrested 300 illegal immigrants in a single day. He didn’t. (This nutjob absolutely shouldn’t be confirmed. In fact, he absolutely shouldn’t have even been nominated.)
- The Democratic Debates Were Built to Fail
- The Battle Over Barack Obama’s Legacy at the Democratic Debates
- Time to Say Good-bye to Some 2020 Candidates
- Team Biden projects confidence post-debate
- How Elizabeth Warren won both nights of the Democratic debate
- Why go to the trouble of running for president to promote ideas that can’t work?
- CNN turned Democratic debates into fight nights — and we’re the losers (CNN sucks.)
- Democrats Are Having the Wrong Health Care Debate (“They should skip the argument over Medicare for All and find the best ways to tackle affordability.”)
- Worst Democratic Strategy Yet: Attack Obama’s Legacy (“Rather than effectively prosecute the easy case against the worst president ever, the Democrats went after one of the best.”)
- Former Mitch McConnell aides lobbied for sanctioned Russian company to build plant in Kentucky
- The stunning hypocrisy of the 23 Republican senators who just voted against the budget deal (“Now they say they care about the debt.”)
- Judge blocks New York from turning over Trump’s tax information to Democrats (“The limitation will be in place, Judge Carl Nichols wrote, while allowing New York to challenge whether Nichols’ courtroom in Washington is the proper place for this case, brought by Trump, to move forward, and in what form it could proceed.”)
- Texas Rep. Hurd, lone black Republican in House, won’t seek reelection (“Lone black Republican” says it all. And he’s outta there. Also note, “In Hurd’s district, 70 percent of residents are Hispanic.”)
- Will Hurd Is the Latest House Republican to Sprint for the Exits (“The House’s only black Republican says he’s not seeking re-election, and the announcement comes as a slew of other GOP members said they will step down.”)
- The FBI calls QAnon a domestic terror threat. Trump has amplified QAnon supporters on Twitter more than 20 times.
- FBI warns that conspiracy theories like QAnon pose a domestic terror threat (“It’s first time the Feds have waded into the swamp of the pro-Trump conspiracy theory.”)
- A majority of House Democrats now support an impeachment inquiry against President Trump (“Nancy Pelosi has yet to provide an indication that she’d reconsider her firm opposition to launching proceedings”)
- Democrats near an impeachment milestone Nancy Pelosi can’t ignore
- Why Impeachment Is Back From the Dead (“It was supposed to be a dead letter after Mueller Time. Instead, it’s getting closer.”)
- Just how big a problem is voter suppression? (“The progressive Brennan Center for Justice is out with an alarming new report documenting the widespread use of voting roll purges…If nothing else, the 2020 election needs to be about reestablishing functional democracy. And that can happen only when everyone who wants to can vote and every vote counts.”)
- US immigration official suggests refugee admissions will remain low (“Acting US Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli suggested Thursday that the number of refugees the US will take in next year would remain low, given the backlog of asylum claims.”)
- Death is the latest in a long list of tragedies for the Kennedy family (“Saoirse Kennedy Hill died Thursday at the family home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. Her mother, Courtney Kennedy Hill, was one of the 11 children of the late presidential candidate and his human rights activist wife, Ethel Kennedy.”)
- Senator Mark Warner of Virginia appears to be heading for a third term (“The Democrat’s role on the intelligence committee allows him to flaunt his partisan credentials while remaining a moderate”)
- The Virginia Way, Part 2 – New Threats to Old Powers (“Virginia’s political class is facing the greatest upheaval since the days of Henry Howell, Jr.—and perhaps since Reconstruction.”)
- Audio: Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox (R) Lists Top 9 House of Delegates Seats He’s Focused On for November 5 (2016 Virginia Trump chair predicts that if the GOP loses the House of Delegates, State Senate in November, Virginia “comes off the table” for the Trump campaign)
- FWIW Virginia: What Went Down at Jamestown
- Sen. Chap Petersen Pens Rambling, Out-of-Touch Defense of His Attendance at Jamestown (“Chap’s framing of this issue furthers the idea that the voices and actions by leaders of color don’t matter”)
- Editorial: How Cummings’ district compares to some of ours. You’ll be surprised.
- Shy of going to court, Republican Del. Nick Freitas is nearly out of options for getting on the state House ballot (“Should he not make the ballot and be forced to run a write-in campaign, Democrats said they have chances of winning the seat in the fall, when they’re making a push to overturn the narrow GOP majority in the House.”)
- Mountain Valley Pipeline Contractor Has a History of Killing its Own Workers (“Who will be Precision Pipeline’s next victim?”)
- Groups petition Gov. Northam to return money donated by Mountain Valley Pipeline
- UPDATE: Stoney to introduce now-$1.5 billion Richmond Coliseum redevelopment plan Monday (“His announcement came 274 days after the mayor pledged support for the project at a news conference last fall, where he endorsed what could be the biggest economic development project in Richmond history”)
- Editorial: Public will finally be able to see Coliseum-area redevelopment plans on Monday
- Northern Virginia could qualify for federal aid after July flash flooding
- Far-Right Fairfax County School Board Member Outraged at Providing Feminine Hygiene Products to Elementary School Girls (Elizabeth Schultz get an “F” grade)
- Editorial: Congratulations to Chief Smith (“We extend our heartiest congratulations to Richmond’s newest top cop. Col. William C. Smith was officially sworn in Wednesday as the Richmond Police Department’s 19th police chief.”)
- ODU executive tabbed as Norfolk city manager
- This woman quit her job to paint deceased pets. Now, there’s a six-month wait for her works.
- Thunderstorms may be numerous today, but probably less widespread this weekend
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