Saturday News: Climate Crisis – “The U.S. Is on the Path to Destruction”; RIP RBG; “Can Mitch McConnell Be Stopped?”; “Trump [laughably] predicts victory in Virginia, slams ‘crazy’ Northam” as “Virginia’s era as a swing state appears to be over”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, September 19.

• As wildfires rage, climate experts warn: The future we were worried about is here (“Wildfires in the U.S., Australia and Siberia have driven home how climate change is already threatening to destroy ecosystems in various parts of the world.”)
• Saudi Royal Family Divides Over Potential Embrace of Israel
• China, Russia are ahead in the global vaccine race, bending long-standing rules as they go
• U.S. bans WeChat, TikTok as China becomes major focus of U.S. election
• The U.S. Is on the Path to Destruction (“Climate change is killing Americans and destroying the country’s physical infrastructure.” Agreed.)
• Trump suggests he’d consider removing FBI director over unfavorable testimony (“FBI Director Christopher A. Wray testified in Congress about Russian interference in the 2020 election and antifa protesters. He gave answers Trump didn’t like.” Because Wray’s answers were truthful and accurate, both qualities Trump HATES.)
• White House, Congressional leaders reach agreement on short-term spending bill to avert October shutdown
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies at 87 (“Second woman to serve on the high court was a role model for female lawyers”)
• Ginsburg’s death jolts chaotic presidential race as both sides prepare for Supreme Court battle (“Top Republicans signal push to vote on new justice nominated by Trump, while Biden and other Democrats say the decision should be delayed until after Inauguration Day.”)
• McConnell vows Trump’s Supreme Court nominee will get a Senate vote (“The Senate leader, who blocked former president Barack Obama’s nominee for much of 2016, is pressing ahead within weeks of the Nov. 3 election.”)
• Ginsburg’s death sets off political battle over her replacement, Supreme Court’s future
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg had a vision for America. Her colleagues thwarted it.
• Grant Ruth Bader Ginsburg her final wish
• The one thing Democrats can do to stop Trump from replacing Justice Ginsburg (“Court-packing may be the only solution.”)
• Why Mitch McConnell Will Try to Fill RBG’s Court Seat
• Can Mitch McConnell Be Stopped? (“If Republicans give Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat to some Federalist Society fanatic, Democrats should pack the court.” But that’s only if Dems take the White House AND Senate, so make sure you VOTE!)
• What we know about a possible Senate vote to replace Justice Ginsburg
• What Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Death Could Mean For 2020 And The Supreme Court (“Filling a seat this close to the election is unheard of…It’s not clear if a confirmation process could finish before the election…The future of the Court is now an even bigger electoral issue”)
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s legacy, and the future of the Supreme Court, explained (“Ginsburg’s death places her entire legacy in danger.”)
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death is a tragedy. The Supreme Court’s rules made it a political crisis. (“How to lower the stakes on Supreme Court vacancies.”)
• Trump’s shortlist of potential Supreme Court nominees, explained
• How the Battle to Fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s SCOTUS Seat Could Provoke a Constitutional Crisis (“Assuming McConnell holds the remainder of his caucus together to jam through a nominee under those circumstances, it would cause a constitutional crisis. The appointment of a Supreme Court justice under these circumstances would transform ending the filibuster and expanding the size of the Supreme Court from a niche issue on the left to a fundamental litmus test.”)
• Ginsburg’s death throws a chaotic presidential election year into greater turmoil
• Here’s what happened when Senate Republicans refused to vote on Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination
• What a SCOTUS vacancy means for Obamacare (“Is the Affordable Care Act doomed without Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Not quite.”)
• Amy Coney Barrett Emerges as Front-Runner for Trump Court Pick
• Amid mourning for Ginsburg, fierce battle over U.S. Supreme Court looms
• Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion Of Gender Equality, Dies At 87
• Barack Obama: My Statement on the Passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (“A basic principle of the law — and of everyday fairness — is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what’s convenient or advantageous in the moment. The rule of law, the legitimacy of our courts, the fundamental workings of our democracy all depend on that basic principle. As votes are already being cast in this election, Republican Senators are now called to apply that standard.”)
• Donald Trump to put forth nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in coming days: Sources
• 3 Big Ways RBG’s Death Could Have An Immediate SCOTUS Impact
• Schumer: Senate must not fill Ginsburg vacancy ‘until we have a new president’
• There’ll Be Hell to Pay as Republican Hypocrites Race to Replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg (“This will be a final power grab by a minority party that knows its grip on power is slackening.”)
• What Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Death Means for America (“The Supreme Court vacancy will surely inflame an already angry nation.”)
• Abortion opponents immediately celebrate opportunity for Trump to replace Justice Ginsburg
• “Let’s go for it.” Right-wing media immediately urge SCOTUS appointment during election (“Forget about holding a Supreme Court seat open like in 2016 — because Republicans are in charge now”)
• To Honor Ginsburg, Democrats Have One Choice: Go Nuclear (“They will have to bring a bazooka to the GOP’s gun fight.”)
• Biden: The Winner of Election Should Nominate Ginsburg’s Replacement (“The voters should pick the president, and the president should pick the justice.”)
• Democrats Warn GOP: Fill Ginsburg’s Supreme Court Seat And We’ll Nix The Filibuster (“Some even threatened to expand the nine-member high court if Democrats win control of the Senate and White House.”)
• ‘This means everything’: Trump finds new rallying cry with Ginsburg seat (“Just over six weeks from Election Day, the president’s team is mobilizing to quickly announce a nominee to replace late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”)
• Can Mitch McConnell Get the Votes to Seize Ginsburg’s Seat? (“The Senate majority leader only cares about winning, but will his members sacrifice themselves to the cause?”)
• This new pro-Trump talking point is one of their most cynical lies yet (“Because Mitch McConnell is one of the most cynical and dishonest figures in American public life, he has dreamed up a new way to spin away Russian electoral interference that may be even more absurd than anything President Trump has conjured up.”)
• A White House Aide Just Warned Us That Donald Trump Is a Sociopath (Ya think?)
• Trump at Minnesota rally: Biden will turn state into a ‘refugee camp’ (Trump massively fearmongering and demagogue-ing.)
• CDC reverses controversial coronavirus guidelines for testing people without symptoms
• Trump’s appointees sought to censor what government scientists said about coronavirus, emails show
• 2020 Election Live Updates: In Minnesota, Biden Paints Trump as ‘Looking Down’ at the Middle Class
• Postal Service feared Trump’s rhetoric could cost it billions in Amazon business, documents reveal
• Drip, drip, drip: The bad news washes away Trump delusions
• Facebook Has Been a Disaster for the World (“How much longer are we going to allow its platform to foment hatred and undermine democracy?” The world would be a much better place without Facebook, that’s for sure. What a disaster.)
• Trump announces aid package for Puerto Rico in a campaign-year reversal Democrats call brazenly political
• Trump announces aid for Puerto Rico, infusing politics in an apparent play for Florida voters
• Don’t waste your breath trying to change Trumpists’ minds. Just vote. (“Get up, get out, get a mail-in ballot and cast it ASAP.”)
• How does the US retire 236 GW of coal and 1,000 gas peaker plants? (“Victory in the economic realm (increasingly the case with solar, solar-plus-storage and wind) is no guarantee of market victory if the regulations are stacked against renewables.”)
• Police resignations are up — and morale is down — amid declining public trust (“Police departments have reported a spate of retirements and say recruitment is increasingly difficult. Officers were further shaken by the Sept. 12 ambush shooting of two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies as they sat in a police car. “)
• Mark Kelly could be sworn into the U.S. Senate early if he wins race, experts say
• The Falwells, the pool attendant and the double life that brought them all down
• President Trump bashes ‘crazy’ Gov. Northam, teases big Virginia rally, endorses Bob Good
• Trump predicts victory in Virginia, slams ‘crazy’ Northam
• Sen. Tim Kaine Says He “will do everything he can to ensure that this Supreme Court seat is not filled until [after the next inauguration]”
• BREAKING: Cook Political Report Shifts VA05 From “Leans Republican” to “Toss Up,” Calls Cameron Webb “Perhaps Dems’ Best House Candidate Anywhere In the Country” (“In VA05, Dems may have found their own ‘unicorn’,” while GOP “divided” over “Biblical” candidate)
• Video: Nick Freitas Says It’s “Absolutely Correct” That He Wants To Repeal the ACA
• Defend-a-District Friday: VA02, VA07, VA10
• Photos: Virginia Voters Start the Process of Turning Our Country Around From the Trump Disaster
• Governor Northam Casts Vote in November General Election on First Day of Early Voting in Virginia
• Virginians come out in force to cast ballots on the first day of early voting
• No TV ads, no presidential visits: Virginia’s era as a swing state appears to be over (“A state that was a critical battleground for the past three cycles gets less love in 2020.”)
• As Schools Face Outbreaks on Campus, Va’s Community Colleges Will be Virtual All Spring
• Baldwin: Amanda Chase … Republican? (“Amanda Chase has rejected the Republican Party and is NO LONGER a Republican, yet she claims to be one when she thinks it will benefit her.”)
• MRAPs Have Become a Sticking Point in Military Equipment Use Debate
• Friday (9/18) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +1,242 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 138,702), +55 Hospitalizations (to 10,520), +29 Deaths (to 2,949) From Yesterday
• Wexton, Randall Address COVID-19 Concerns, Path Forward
• Hispanic adults are more than 4 times as likely to have COVID-19 antibodies than average Virginia adult, VDH study says
• Del. Chris Hurst’s bill to open up past police investigative files comes to a halt (“The Democratic-controlled Senate General Laws and Technology Committee voted 14-0 Friday to block House Bill 5090 and send it to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act Council.”)
• Video: Fairfax Dems Chair Gives the Best 1-Minute Explanation To Date For Why to Vote NO On Redistricting Amendment (“It doesn’t actually change anything, the legislators are still in control of the process”)
• Across Hampton Roads, crowds turn out for first day of early voting
• AG Mark Herring Supports Charlottesville’s Ability to Remove Confederate Statues
• Babur Lateef on the Loss of Saba Shami, a “Powerful Force in Virginia Politics” and “Builder of the Broader Arab-American Community”, Who Passed Away Last Night (As Shami would say, “Yalla Vote!”)
• Reckoning in a small town: Civil War meets civil rights in the ‘Last Capital of the Confederacy’ (“Economic struggles have pushed Danville, Va., to confront its history.”)
• At least 30 Richmond-area restaurants have closed for good during the pandemic
• VCU board of visitors votes to remove names of Confederate supporters from its campus
• Pleasantly cool into early next week