Monday News: “There’s no time to waste in order to heal the oceans”; “Biden faces Senate showdown on key domestic agenda issues”; “Why so many Republicans talk about nonsense”; Glenn Youngkin and Amanda Chase “Two peas in a pod”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, June 21.

• A ‘virgin plastics’ tax could help save the oceans
• For the Butterflies — and the Rest of Us (“At least 75 percent of flowering plants require the intercession of pollinators — bees and butterflies and moths, yes, but also bats and birds, wasps and beetles — to produce fruit and seeds. Pollinators are responsible for roughly one out of every three bites of food that human beings eat…Above all, stop using pesticides, in your butterfly garden and everywhere else, because many trees and shrubs are important host plants for pollinators.”)
• Opinion: There’s no time to waste in order to heal the oceans (“The science is clear: We’ve pushed the ocean beyond its limits. The planet is now in crisis mode and we have to act, writes National Aquarium Chief Mission Officer Jennifer Driban in a guest column.”)
• Europe Watches With Worry As Delta Variant Spreads Fast In The U.K. And Lisbon
• Taliban Enter Key Cities in Afghanistan’s North After Swift Offensive
• AP Interview: Former president says US failed in Afghanistan
• U.S. Preparing More Sanctions Against Russia, Sullivan Says
• How meeting with Biden put Putin on top of the world
• Iran’s New Hard-Line President Poised for Pivotal Role in Nuclear Talks
• Diplomats: Progress Made In Vienna At Iran Nuclear Talks
• Three Countries Ask Israel for COVID Vaccines if Palestinians Nix Deal, Source Says
• Trump dashed dreams of reform in Iran. The country’s new hardline president is living proof
• Pope’s Silence Speaks Volumes on Controversial Communion Vote by U.S. Bishops
• Bitcoin Falls to Two-Week Low as China Cracks Down on Mining
• China passes 1 billion vaccinations amid tightened curbs, questions on shots’ efficacy
• France regional election: Macron and Le Pen fail to make ground – exit poll
• French far right falls short of expectations in elections but could still win a key region
• Tokyo 2020: Up to 10,000 Japanese fans will be permitted at Olympic venues
• “Clearly unacceptable:” Morrison government blocks massive Pilbara renewable hydrogen hub
• Coal-Loving Australia Rejects Green Hub on Environment Risks
• The US’s greatest danger isn’t China. It’s much closer to home
• Former FDA Chief Says COVID-19 Variant May Cause Surge In States With Low Vaccination
• As Lumber Prices Fall, the Threat of Inflation Loses Its Bite (Wait, you mean right wingers were full of it yet again?)
• Tight Labor Market Returns the Upper Hand to American Workers
• The economy isn’t going back to February 2020. Fundamental shifts have occurred. (“A new era has arrived of greater worker power, higher housing costs and very different ways of doing business”)
• The real reason Republicans are blocking voting rights legislation (“Claims of vast voter fraud in 2020 — which Republicans say justifies restrictive voting bills from Florida to Texas and Arizona to Michigan — are false. And past statements from GOP leaders, including Trump, that allowing more people to vote will make it harder for Republicans to ever win power reveals a more genuine rationale for GOP opposition.”)
• Will Joe Manchin Be a Voting Rights Hero? (“All eyes are on the West Virginia senator amid a struggle as old as American democracy.”)
• The Man Who Controls the Senate (“Will Joe Manchin’s search for common ground wreck the Democrats’ agenda?”)
• Joe Manchin, at apex of his power, finds few allies in his quest for bipartisanship
• Biden’s Agenda Depends on Navigating Congressional Thicket
• Democrats’ domestic agenda faces setbacks by Republican obstructionism (“Key issues such as election reform and voting rights, and efforts to curb gun control have seen Republican push back”)
• First Thing: Biden faces Senate showdown on key domestic agenda issues
• Infrastructure Bill Talks Collide With Democrats’ Goal to Tax the Rich
• Biden risks break with progressives on infrastructure (“Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a leading proponent of including bold climate-change provisions in a broader infrastructure package that Democrats hope to move through the Senate with a simple majority under budget reconciliation, says he doesn’t exactly know how leaders can guarantee that a scaled-down bipartisan bill and a big, bold reconciliation package can both pass.”)
• Democrats face filibuster stress test on key voting bill. It’s not just Manchin and Sinema. (“The worst-kept secret in Washington is that those two moderate senators aren’t in alone in opposing nuking the 60-vote threshold.”)
• Stop Hoping the G.O.P. Will Play Ball (“Democrats: Republicans don’t want you to win. It’s that simple. They want no successes on your watch, and they certainly don’t want to participate in said victories. And yet the reports keep pouring in of Democrats bending over backward and gutting their bills in a desperate effort to win Republican support.”)
• Republicans pulled a bait-and-switch on voting rights. Democrats can’t let them do it on infrastructure.
• Sanders says no to gas taxes, electric vehicle fees to fund infrastructure deal
• Why so many Republicans talk about nonsense (“They have failed voters, so they make them furious instead.”)
• The rogue department: how the Trump DoJ trashed legal and political norms (And the consequences for the people who did that are…???)
• The Memo: The center strikes back
• Juan Williams: Trump’s GOP descends into farce
• Record-Setting Month Helps Democrats Beat GOP in Fundraising
• Taking on racism and crime should be the same fight (“We must fight racism and fight crime at the same time. We must reform policing and make policing more effective. And we must battle any demagoguery that casts demands for justice as concessions to criminality.”)
• Few Cops We Found Using Force on George Floyd Protesters are Known to Have Faced Discipline (“ProPublica compiled 68 videos that seemed to show officers using disproportionate force on protesters. A year later, police have disclosed discipline for a total of 10 officers.” Again, no consequences for bad behavior, at least for powerful people…seems to be a common theme in this country.)
• Conservative Conference 2024 Straw Poll Winner: Donald Tr — No Wait, Ron DeSantis!
• The Race to Replace Liz Cheney Is a Trump Sideshow (“The Wyoming congresswoman faces a GOP primary field that is, uh, interesting.”)
• Chaotic N.C. Senate primary tests Trump’s sway over the GOP (“Three Republicans are already turning on each other in the race, where the sitting senator and the former president disagree over who can win.”)
• Democrat Chris Jones enters Arkansas governor race with dramatic, viral video
• The 5 Political Boroughs Of New York City
• New York City Has Ambitious Climate Goals. The Next Mayor Will Determine Whether the City Follows Through (“Among the Democratic candidates, Kathryn Garcia and Scott Stringer have the most developed plans, but climate change is not likely to be a deciding factor for voters in the June 22 primary.”)
• Republican statewide candidates campaign in Chester
• McAuliffe is clearer than Youngkin on Virginia schools funding, but Maryland bests both of them
• Northam signs proclamation to observe World Refugee Day in Va.
• Video: On CNN, Del. Danica Roem Has a Message For Those Who Don’t Like Politics – “When you are an LGBTQ person, you have to care”
• Katie Register column: Virginia’s plastic pollution challenge
• She’s been out of prison for 11 years. In Virginia, she still has a lifetime employment ban from many professions.
• Sunday (6/20) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Hospitalizations, New COVID Cases At Lowest Points Since March 2020
• A quarter of Virginia’s waste continues to come from out of state
• Chesterfield School Board joins growing backlash to critical race theory, denounces framework a year after condemning racism (“…the all-white, predominantly Republican body presiding over a school system comprising mostly students of color joined a nationwide conservative backlash to teaching about systemic racism, issuing a formal statement at a board meeting denouncing critical race theory.” So, so stupid.)
• In the midst of the pandemic, an epidemic of violence has gripped Hampton Roads and beyond
• D.C.-area forecast: Hot and humid today, rainy Tuesday, but delightful Wednesday through Friday