Sunday News: “The Ice Is Leaving”; Kabul Suicide Bomber; Trump Denounces ANTI-Fascists in Portland; “Cuccinelli now the face of Trump’s immigration policies”; “Can’t ignore Byrd machine”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, August 18.

• Biggest Hong Kong Protest in Weeks Sends Peaceful Message for Change (“Hundreds of thousands attended a nonviolent rally that followed recent clashes with police”)
• Iceland’s Prime Minister: ‘The Ice Is Leaving’ (“Climate change is melting glaciers worldwide. Only we can stop it.”)
• Suicide Bomber Kills 63, Injures 182 At Wedding Reception In Kabul (Horrible.)
• U.S.-Mexico Tomato Trade War Faces Crucial Deadline on Monday
• Saudi Arabia’s Oil Price Promise Just Doesn’t Add Up (“If you’re waiting for a big production cut from the kingdom to rescue the crude market – don’t.”)
• ‘May God ruin Trump’, Tlaib’s grandmother says
• Plunging peso, grinding poverty: Argentina hears echoes of 2001 crisis
• American consumers are holding up the global economy. But for how long?
• Trump has one playbook, and very few plays left in it (“He’s mastered tweeting from the bleachers but still struggles with the complexities of governing.’)
• The water is so hot in Alaska it’s killing large numbers of salmon (This is the climate crisis.)
• Workers had 3 options: Attend Trump’s speech, use paid time off or receive no pay
• How Does One Man Have So Much Power Without Being President? (“In today’s Senate, McConnell can decide virtually by himself what the chamber will do — and even what it will consider doing.” Ah, democracy!)
• Portland rally: Proud Boys vow to march each month after biggest protest of Trump era (“Oregon city sees sporadic violence and a dozen arrests as Donald Trump and Proud Boys chairman denounce anti-fascists” Yep, Trump denounced the ANTI-fascists!)
• Far-Right And Anti-Fascist Protesters Face Each Other In Portland Demonstrations
• Joe Kennedy-for-Senate backers mount drive to drum out Ed Markey (Markey’s excellent, not sure what reason there is to challenge him.)
• The Failure to See What Jeffrey Epstein Was Doing (“Money offers one explanation for why people seemed to ignore the obvious. But money, here, is really shorthand for a range of ways to exert influence.”)
• 2020 hopeful Beto O’Rourke visited an Arkansas gun show to talk about gun control
• How Stephen Miller Seized the Moment to Battle Immigration (“Behind Mr. Miller’s singular grip on the Trump anti-immigrant agenda are forces far bigger than his own hostility toward the foreign-born.”)
• The Adviser Who Scripts Trump’s Immigration Policy (“With unswerving loyalty, Stephen Miller has singular control of an issue central to the presidency”)
• Court rejects Planned Parenthood bid to freeze Trump’s family planning rule
• Biden: ‘There’s an awful lot of really good Republicans out there’
• Does anyone understand the 2020 race? This scholar nailed the blue wave — here’s her forecast (“Rachel Bitecofer predicted last year’s midterms with incredible accuracy. Her 2020 forecast is … not too bad”)
• Warner: A bipartisan proposal to boost rural America
• Editorial: Cuccinelli now the face of Trump’s immigration policies
• The Video Is Clear: Ken Cuccinelli’s Been Cuckoo and Extreme Forever, Basically (Denying climate science, pushing racist “birtherism,” arguing about “Black Lives Matter,” ranting about an “invasion,” worrying about the government “tracking” his kid via a Social Security number, talking to his toy elephant “Ron,” etc.)
• Spanberger talks rural broadband access, reliability at Louisa summit
• Video, Photos: Earth Rise Indivisible Launches, Stresses Action on Environmental Justice, Climate Solutions, the Problem of Dominion Energy (Talks by Ivy Main and Emily Satterwhite)
• Letter: Can’t ignore Byrd machine (Excellent letter to the editor by Jeff Thomas regarding Virginian-Pilot columnist Gordon Morse’s 8/11 op-ed, “The ever-changing definition of the ‘Virginia way’.” As Thomas writes: Morse “inexcusably writes that ‘no one imposed racial segregation from on-high’ in Virginia. So there was no Byrd Machine? African Americans chose to disenfranchise themselves and attend inferior, segregated schools voluntarily?…Morse should apologize for his comments on segregation and stick to the facts.”)
• Arlington man sentenced for threats to Arab American Institute workers (“The U.S. Department of Justice says in a news release that 61-year-old William Patrick Syring of Arlington sent more than 700 emails to institute workers between 2012 and 2017, leading to five death threats. Prosecutors say he threatened AAI employees because of their efforts to encourage Arab Americans to participate in political and civic life in the U.S.”)
• Eric H. Holder, Jr. Endorses 17 Candidates for Virginia State Legislature and NDRC Invests $250,000 Ahead of the November Elections
• Gordon C. Morse: Rumormongering exacts a costly toll
• A woman is dead and three others have been shot, including a Newport News police officer (“A woman is dead and three people, including a Newport News police officer and a suspect in the woman’s homicide, were in the hospital after being shot Saturday evening.”)
• Two More Neo-Confederate School Names Challenged in Virginia
• Arlington close on court program to address mental illness (“Participants could avoid the possibility of a jail sentence if they commit to a treatment plan and to regular court and clinical appearances. A plan is expected to be sent to the Virginia Supreme Court for approval this fall.”)
• 56 years after merging with Chesapeake, South Norfolk’s urban hub is re-emerging
• Faith leaders at Roanoke event: Don’t let history repeat itself
• Thousands lose power after storms in northern Fairfax County
• Dozens of dogs, cats find new homes during Clear the Shelters event
• Brutal heat and humidity with only isolated storm chances until mid-week (“Temperatures heading for the mid-90s means heat indexes approach and surpass 100.”)