Saturday News: “Slovakia’s Election Could Echo in Ukraine”; “Republicans ‘still can’t get their s*** together’ – this week proves it”; Gen. Milley Correctly Calls Trump, Who Just Gave Completely Unhinged Speech, “wannabe dictator”; #GOPShutdown “could cost the GOP in Virginia”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, September 30.

• UAE’s president-designate for UN COP28 offers full-throated defense of nation hosting climate talks (Alrighty…)
• With Climate Change, Smaller Storms Are Growing More Fearsome, More Often
• Alien life in Universe: Scientists say finding it is ‘only a matter of time’
• ‘No turning back’: how the Ukraine war has profoundly changed the EU (“Russia’s invasion has had a major impact on the bloc’s security and energy policies – and even its very raison d’être”)
• In Poland’s ‘J-Town,’ Soldiers Move Arms to Ukraine as Russian Spies Try to Stop Them
• Slovakia election: Anti-Ukraine populist Fico faces ex-journalist Simecka
• Slovakia election: polls open in knife-edge vote with Ukraine high on agenda (“Election could decide whether country sticks with liberal, pro-western line or begins to lean more towards Russia.”)
• Slovakia’s Election Could Echo in Ukraine. Here’s What to Expect.
• Survivors Reveal War Crimes as Putin’s Men Stood Aside (“In interviews with The Daily Beast, soldiers recounted horror stories from the Nagorno-Karabakh onslaught after their Russian allies failed to intervene.”)
• South Korea’s Worrying Democratic Erosion (“In recent months, authorities have raided offices of press outlets publishing critical reports on President Yoon Suk-yeol.”)
• Elon Musk attacked German support for migrants and promoted a call to support a far-right extremist political party (Musk is a fascist.)
• China Blocks Executive at U.S. Firm Kroll From Leaving the Mainland
• Migrants are being raped at Mexico border as they await entry to US
• Are High Interest Rates the New Normal?
• UAW strike: Union orders 7,000 more workers to walk off job
• More young, healthy people should be getting Paxlovid when they get Covid
• Biden administration announces next steps for student debt relief
• Biden Creates the American Climate Corps, 90 Years After FDR Put 3 Million to Work in National Parks (“The new workers will remove wildfire fuel in forests, install EV chargers in cities, retrofit thermostats in low-income homes and, it is hoped, move on to union jobs in the clean energy economy.”)
• GOP waging a “coordinated national effort to undermine American elections,” says leading official (“New report highlights a nationwide onslaught of threats and harassment that’s driving election officials to quit”)
• A GOP minority threatens to shut down government — and governance
• Right Wing Tanks Stopgap Bill in House, Pushing Toward a Shutdown
• Republicans ‘still can’t get their s*** together’ – this week proves it (“Republicans – from Kevin McCarthy, to James Comer to presidential donors – are all living in a fantasy world and are unable to figure out how to clean up their mess”)
• What would a government shutdown mean for me? SNAP, student loans and travel impacts, explained
• White House estimates 3.5M federal workers will go without pay in government shutdown
• With Shutdown Looming, Biden Calls Out Speaker McCarthy for a “Terrible Bargain” With MAGA Republicans
• Government shutdown nears: U.S. House GOP fails to pass one-month spending plan
• In a shift, McCarthy floats a clean stopgap without Ukraine aid (What a @#$#!@ – leave the Ukraine aid in there, it’s crucial.)
• House GOP hardliners block a spending stopgap with the shutdown looming
• How the far right could remove McCarthy and why his fate could be in Democrats’ hands
• How the Shutdown Holdouts Have Antagonized McCarthy Before
• The House GOP’s funding patch fails, teeing up shutdown
• Republicans reject own funding bill, US government shutdown imminent
• Kevin McCarthy and the Peak of Ungovernability
• House Republicans cancel planned recess as government shutdown appears more likely
• Far-right Republicans kill GOP bill to keep government running in ‘embarrassing failure’ for McCarthy: report
• White House warns that GOP shutdown would cut off key disaster relief funds
• Biden to convene his Cabinet early next week to discuss continuity of government
• GOP Has Lots of Ideas to Halt a Shutdown But Can’t Agree on One
• Ousting McCarthy as Speaker Is Easier Said Than Done
• On the brink of a government shutdown, the Senate tries to approve funding but it’s almost too late
• Matt Gaetz is reaching out to Dems about a McCarthy ouster
• How Trump Is Complicating McCarthy’s Attempts to Avoid a Shutdown
• Biden honors outgoing Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley
• Milley says the military doesn’t swear oath to a ‘wannabe dictator’ in apparent swipe at Trump (“Apparent?” LOL)
• Donald Trump, Stochastic Terrorist (“He demonizes his foes—and that makes them possible targets of violence.”)
• Trump vows to shoot thieves and wet forest floors in dark speech to California GOP (“Many stood and cheered Trump’s more vicious comments, including his insincere line inquiring about the health of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, who was badly injured last year by a hammer-wielding assailant in the couple’s San Francisco home.” Really, really sick/psychotic; both Trump and those who cheer him.)
• DOJ special counsel cites Trump’s targeting of Milley in push for gag order
• BREAKING: First Trump RICO defendant takes plea agreement
• Judge denies Jeffrey Clark’s attempt to move Georgia case to federal court
• Fulton County prosecutors signal plea deals may be offered to Trump co-defendants
• Right-wing media defense of Trump’s fraud is to wildly inflate the value of Mar-a-Lago
• IRS consultant charged in leak of tax returns for Trump, wealthy Americans
• Cable news mentioned Biden’s age or health nearly 4 times as often as Trump’s (“In a four-day period, Biden’s age or health were mentioned 193 times while Trump’s were mentioned just 56 times” Even though they’re roughly the same age, while Trump’s in much worse physical and mental condition than Biden. Our political media is FUBAR.)
• ‘No enemies to the right’: DeSantis ally hosts debate hedging white nationalism (“Christopher Rufo’s Twitter space discussed conservatives cooperating with extremists ‘to destroy the power of the left’”)
• Dianne Feinstein Death Gives Gavin Newsom Power To Appoint A Placeholder (“It’s not clear yet which Democrat Newsom might pick, but he’s pledged to elevate a Black woman to temporarily fill Feinstein’s seat.”)
• Dianne Feinstein, 90, Dies; Oldest Sitting Senator and Fixture of California Politics
• GOP senators say they won’t stop Democrats from replacing Feinstein on Judiciary Committee
• Feinstein’s Death Intensifies Fight for a Coveted California Senate Seat
• EXCLUSIVE: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Planning to Announce Independent Run (RFK, Jr. is a far-right, conspiracy-addled nutjob/extremist.)
• Appeals court upholds Tennessee, Kentucky bans on transgender care for minors
• Flash floods foreshadow a threatening reality in New York City
• Metro to inspect oldest cars after derailment near Reagan National (“No injuries were reported among the 43 passengers onboard the train during the derailment.”)
• Metro is dangling from a fiscal cliff. Regional leaders can’t sit by.
• A federal government shutdown could upend Virginia’s elections
• Government shutdown: If Washington closes, it could cost the GOP in Virginia
• Cope springs eternal: The anti-Trump right grabs at Glenn Youngkin
• Top Republican Donors Have a Hail Mary for 2024: Glenn Youngkin (“The party’s elite are reportedly expected to urge him into the fold next month. But with still no presidential momentum to speak of, the governor has about a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Trump.”)
• Poll: 42% of Virginia voters want the governor to have less power over local schools
• For Virginia survivors, the scars of human trafficking may include a criminal record they can’t erase
• From parkway closure to farm loans, federal government shutdown would touch Southwest and Southside in multiple ways
• Youngkin appoints Byron, Roth to workforce posts
• State health officials advise on ways to prevent the spread of rabies
• Richmond activist Jimmie Lee Jarvis arrested over bomb threat, his lawyer calls it satire (“If charged and convicted, Jarvis could face up to 15 years in prison. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 6.”)
• D.C.-area forecast: Variably cloudy today ahead of a warm and sunny Sunday