Monday News: “Firenado” and Death Valley at 130 Degrees; “Pelosi calls House lawmakers back to vote on post office legislation”; Dem Convention 2020 Kicks Off…”The convention that could bend history”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, August 17.

• Lukashenko says he is ready to share power in Belarus as protests mount
• Belarus’ president remains defiant after largest protest in country’s history, NATO ‘closely monitoring’ situation
• Death Valley soars to 130 degrees, potentially Earth’s highest temperature since at least 1931 (We’ve got a HUGE crisis on our hands…time to ditch fossil fuels, on an emergency basis.)
• ‘Firenado’ Spotted Near Northern California Wildfire (Oh yeah, totally normal! Heh.)
• Germany Looks at Extra Aid; H.K. Extends Measures: Virus Update
• Japan’s economy shrinks at record rate, slammed by pandemic
• Southeast Asia faces more severe effects of climate change than the rest of the world, McKinsey says
• Power and utility deal activity is down significantly to start 2020, but renewables show strength (“A new report released by Ernst & Young shows that power and utility deals in the Americas saw huge drops in volume and value due to the Covid-19 pandemic, though commitment to renewable investment remains strong.”)
• 4 Ways Coal Might Advance the Energy Transition (“No, really”)
• Trump eyes new unproven coronavirus “cure”
• Pelosi calls House lawmakers back to vote on post office legislation
• Democrats set emergency hearing with top postal officials amid fear over delayed ballots
• State officials rush to shore up confidence in Nov. 3 election as voters express new fears about mail voting
• Pelosi to Recall House for Postal Service Vote as Democrats Press for DeJoy to Testify
• Vote-By-Mail Fight Opens New Front for Democrats Against Trump
• ‘A national crisis’: As coronavirus forces many schools online this fall, millions of disconnected students are being left behind
• Trump Declines to Refute False Kamala Harris Birther Smears (Trump has been, is and will be a virulent racist.)
• With Democrats at home, a conservative super PAC comes knocking (“Americans for Prosperity” is an Orwellian name, in that it’s really about enriching big corporations, the super-rich and polluters, while the rest of America gets totally screwed.)
• Biden rides high, but faces angst-filled party
• Democratic National Convention kicks off with speakers including Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders
• Biden Leads Trump, 50% to 41%, in Poll Ahead of Party Conventions (“President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden start their nominating conventions this month with Mr. Trump struggling to reach a level of job approval that would make re-election more likely and his challenger drawing soft support that could present turnout challenges, the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.”)
• Election advantage stays with Biden; enthusiasm deficit eases, but remains: POLL (“As the virtual Democratic National Convention opens, Biden holds a 12 percentage-point lead over Trump among registered voters, 53-41%, and a similar 10 points among likely voters, 54-44%, with two and a half consequential months to go.”)
• CNN Poll: Biden and Trump matchup tightens as enthusiasm hits new high (This poll seems outlier-ish.)
• ‘It will be different’: virtual Democratic convention kicks off with emphasis on unity
• As Democrats prepare to nominate Joe Biden, widespread fears about unfair election
• Kamala Harris has a message for voters who aren’t feeling her and Joe Biden
• Wall Street’s Big Money Is Betting On Biden And Democrats In 2020
• 5 Questions Ahead Of The Democratic National Convention (“Do the Democrats pull off the high-wire TV production act?…Will there be a convention bump?… Do Democrats maintain unity?”)
• The convention that could bend history
• Jared Kushner claims some people ‘play politics with the pandemic’ — but not Trump (Hahahahaha.)
• Trump is actively working to undermine the Postal Service — and every major U.S. institution
• From emergency to active threat: We have again switched settings in our coverage of Donald Trump
• The Most Tremendous Reelection Campaign in American History Ever (“Inside the chaotic, desperate, last-minute Trump 2020 reboot.”)
• Kamala Harris reminds the world why America is great
• Why Biden’s elevation of Kamala Harris puts a lump in my throat
• Biden’s climate fight is just beginning
• White House Staffers Pissed at a Top National Security Aide—for Wearing a Mask in Front of Them (“Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger has been way out front on the coronavirus. Too out front for some colleagues.”)
• If you can’t vote by mail, here’s how you can safely do it
• Voters in North Carolina have received absentee ballot request forms in the mail with Trump’s face on them (Hahahaha, now *THAT* is ironic!)
• A Murder, a Conspiracy Theory, and the Lies of Fox News
• QAnon is a menace. Ignoring it isn’t an option
• Juan Williams: Social media dodges blame for spreading hate (If/when Democrats take charge, they need to really go after Facebook, etc…regulating them heavily and probably even breaking up these harmful monopolies.)
• Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11): “This invite is not optional…we must use inherent contempt” if US Postmaster General DeJoy “won’t appear”
• High-pressure Assembly session on COVID-19, police reform kicks off Tuesday
• Important Information on Voting in Virginia From York County Registrar Walt Latham
• Opinion/Editorial: Legislature has responsibility to fix eviction crisis
• Virginia Democrats aiming to deliver police reform during special session
• Editorial: Parole Board missteps warrant greater scrutiny
• Sunday (8/16) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +937 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 106,687), +36 Hospitalizations (to 8,737), +ZERO Deaths (to 2,381) From Yesterday
• Virginia’s General Assembly Special Session Starting Tuesday Will Have to Make Painful Budget Cuts; Let’s Make Sure We Protect the Most Vulnerable, Such as Medicaid Patients
• Is It Time to Scrap School Resource Officers in Virginia Schools?
• Legislative priorities, new and deferred, face cold reality of a wrecked state budget (It’s not “wrecked,” as this headline hyperbolically claims, but it’s definitely hurting.)
• Dominion’s past-due power bills from pandemic hit $116 million (“The past due total for Dominion amounts to about 6% of its Virginia and North Carolina electric utility’s revenue for the three months ended June 30, according to the company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.”)
• Appalachian Power seeks rate bump decried by the Attorney General’s office as ‘unconscionable’
• Va. House Democrats want to make it easier for localities to take down Confederate statues
• More On the New, Hard-Right VA GOP Chair: “*Former* @DelRichAnderson is just a reminder of where Virginia used to be, not where we’re going”
• Pretext Stops to get Scrutiny in Special Session
• ‘This is our future’: Fairfax tests region’s first self-driving shuttle for public transit
• Chesterfield declares emergency water restrictions after recent flooding
• Richmond City Council to weigh new gun ban in public right-of-way during events in that city
• Storms could pop up late this afternoon but we may avoid 90 degrees this entire week