Saturday News: “Iran Elects Hardline President With Nuclear Deal in Balance”; “Biden marks milestone of 300 million coronavirus vaccination shots in 150 days”; “Juneteenth Reminds Us Just How Far We Have to Go”; “Why conservatives keep creating imaginary enemies to fight”

by Lowell

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

• The Deep Sea Is Filled with Treasure, but It Has a Price (“We’ve barely explored the darkest realm of the ocean. With rare-metal mining on the rise, we’re already destroying it.”)
• Iran Elects Hardline President With Nuclear Deal in Balance (The election was a complete sham.)
• Elections to Push Nuclear Talks Well Into Summer: Iran Snapshot
• Iran’s Gamble on Hardline President Narrows Nuclear-Deal Window
• Ebrahim Raisi, ultra-conservative judiciary chief, set to win Iran’s presidential election
• U.S. Military to Withdraw Hundreds of Troops, Aircraft, Antimissile Batteries From Middle East (“Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Saudi crown prince of drawdown in June 2 call, officials say”)
• United Nations condemns coup in Myanmar and calls for arms embargo
• Statement by Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Ukraine Security Assistance
• White House freezes Ukraine military package that includes lethal weapons
• The World Relies on One Chip Maker in Taiwan, Leaving Everyone Vulnerable (“Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. makes almost all of the world’s most sophisticated chips, and many of the simpler ones, too. Its dominance poses risks to the global economy, amid geopolitical tensions and a major chip shortage.”)
• Scientists Can Now Turn Used Soda Bottles Into Vanilla Flavoring (“Yes, it’s weird—but possible with mutant enzymes and genetically engineered bacteria.”)
• Lake Mead’s decline points to scary water future in West
• With Vaccination Goal in Doubt, Biden Warns of Variant’s Threat
• The Delta Variant Could Create “Two Americas” Of COVID, Experts Warn (“If you are fully vaccinated, you are most likely to be safe. But in parts of the US where few people have gotten COVID vaccine shots, the Delta variant could trigger renewed deadly surges.”)
• High Hopes for Johnson & Johnson’s Covid Vaccine Have Fizzled in the U.S.
• Expect the Unexpected From the Delta Variant
• Democrats are assembling their own big economic bill to go with a bipartisan infrastructure plan. It faces steep challenges.
• Biden marks milestone of 300 million coronavirus vaccination shots in 150 days
• Juneteenth Reminds Us Just How Far We Have to Go (“Abolishing slavery was only one step on a winding journey.”)
• How Democrats are hoping to unmask the latest Trump-DOJ scandal
• America’s largest evangelical denomination is at war with itself (“Why the Southern Baptist Convention is in turmoil — and why you should care.”)
• Peter Wehner: Will Christian America Withstand the Pull of QAnon? (“The Southern Baptist Convention appeared more concerned with combating critical race theory than conspiracy theories.”)
• Targeting Biden, Catholic Bishops Advance Controversial Communion Plan (If they want to be political, then they shouldn’t be tax exempt?)
• Biden, deeply Catholic president, finds himself at odds with many U.S. bishops
• The Strange Elegance of Joe Manchin’s Voter-ID Deal
• The administrators of U.S. democracy are under attack
• The Supreme Court’s Newest Justices Produce Some Unexpected Results
• Why conservatives keep creating imaginary enemies to fight (“They can’t stop broad societal change, but they can ban an academic theory from being taught in classrooms where it never appeared anyway.”)
• New Videos Underscore The Violence Against Police At The Jan. 6 Capitol Riot (“In response to a motion filed by NPR and other media organizations, the Justice Department released new videos which prosecutors say show assaults on police officers at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.”)
• GOP increasingly balks at calling Jan. 6 an insurrection (The Republican Party is increasingly unhinged.)
• FBI asks Jan. 6 suspect about ties to Congress, extremists groups
• The slow-building conservative effort to turn Ashli Babbitt into a martyr (Appalling as always by the right wing.)
• The plans need work, but it’s good Congress is finally bringing substance to the Big Tech debate
• ‘I’m a Republican. I’m not sure what that means anymore.’ (“Chuck Hagel, who served as a GOP senator from Nebraska and as the secretary of defense in the Obama administration, discusses the current state of the GOP.”)
• Conservative Christians jeer ‘traitor’ Pence for refusing to overturn election (“Former vice-president heckled at conference in Florida; Pence makes only passing reference to deadly Capitol attack”)
• Trump’s influence on Republicans faces key test in Michigan (“Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s pandemic leadership remains under scrutiny, but Republicans who hope she loses in 2022 are still fighting 2020 battles.”)
• Man surrenders after video shows vandal in truck with Trump flag damaging Pride mural
• Georgia removes 100,000 names from voter registration rolls
• One America News is the face of the GOP-led Arizona election audit. Its reporter is also helping pay for it.
• ‘Democracy is under siege’: Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs (“Arizona’s top elections official presses the Senate to pass the For the People Act, even if it requires fellow Democrat Kyrsten Sinema to change her position on the filibuster.”)
• Bill seeks U.S. apology for ‘hundreds of thousands’ of fired LGBTQ government workers (“The bill, introduced Thursday by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., says the federal government “discriminated against and terminated hundreds of thousands” of LGBTQ people who served in the armed forces, the foreign Ssrvice and the federal civil service for decades, ‘causing untold harm to those individuals professionally, financially, socially, and medically, among other harms.'”)
• Senator Tim Kaine visits Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at UVA
• Governor Northam Commemorates Juneteenth in Virginia
• Celebrating the power of Juneteenth on the spot in Virginia where enslaved Africans arrived in 1619
• At Juneteenth event, a push for understanding of Black history in Virginia
• Williams: Juneteenth celebrates the freedom of Black people in America. We need to make its promise real.
• Glenn Youngkin’s Team of Republican Extremists
• NEW AD: Glenn Youngkin Praises Terry’s Success Building the New Virginia Economy (“New Terry for Virginia Digital Ad Slams Youngkin’s Flip Flop From Reason to Trumpism After Once Praising Terry’s Economic Success”)
• Who will be Virginia’s climate governor? (This alone should disqualify Glenn Youngkin: “Youngkin has pledged to ‘change direction from the clean energy plan that was passed.’ Believing that a renewable energy boom is not ‘doable,’ Youngkin seems to welcome a long-term reliance on fossil fuels. But such a reversal embraces a head-in-sand approach that fails on two fronts.”)
• Glenn Youngkin’s Disastrous Week in Review: Hypocrisy, Extremism, and Cowardice
• Here’s Some Background – and Some Responses – For the Next Time You Hear Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Sears, Jason Miyares, etc. Ranting About “Critical Race Theory”
• State of the Race: McAuliffe v. Youngkin
• Virginia marijuana legalization timetable has many confused
• Virginia mask ban returns July 1, Governor Northam expects residents won’t face charges
• Friday (6/18) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Hospitalizations, New COVID Cases Near Lowest Points Since Start of Pandemic
• Virginia hospitals experiencing severe blood shortage: ‘the worst I’ve ever seen’
• Powerful New Video: Pittsylvania NAACP, Indigenous and Community Leaders Continue the Fight Against Mountain Valley Pipeline
• As COVID cases slow in Virginia, some immigrants grapple with having family in countries facing a surge
• Video: Speakers at Fairfax County “Support Our Schools” Rally Stress Need to Support School Board and Its Members Against Attacks From “Open FCPS,” etc.
• Schapiro: They forgot more about Va. than most of us learned (“Memorable first names, notwithstanding, Reno Harp and Oscar Mabry were two of the most influential — unelected — officials whom most Virginians never heard of. Career state government guys at a time when most people in state government were guys, Harp was a lawyer who policed the judiciary and Mabry was an engineer who built highways. Harp, 89, died this past Wednesday. Mabry, 82, died June 6. Between the two, they worked for Virginia for nearly 80 years.”)
• Officials investigating hate fliers targeting Fairfax County School Board members
• D.C.-area forecast: Hot with afternoon storm chances through the weekend