Wednesday News: White House Prepares to Punish Russia for Hacking Our Election; RIP Carrie Fisher

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, December 28.

• White House prepares covert action, sanctions to punish Russia for election hacking (Good.)
• Japan PM Shinzo Abe offers Pearl Harbor condolences
• Galaxy grows dimmer with Carrie Fisher’s death
• These climate change truths are much worse than inconvenient (“Scientists are getting better at determining the links between extreme weather and climate change.”)
• As Trump prepares his kissy face for Putin, a glimpse into the dictator’s soul
• I watched a populist leader rise in my country. That’s why I’m genuinely worried for America.
• Kerry to Outline a Vision of Mideast Peace, in Final Plea
• Sell the Business, Not the Presidency (“Half-measures can’t protect the White House from accusations of corruption.”)
• How Trump’s Health Secretary Pick Endangers Women
• Experts: Ryan’s livestream crackdown may be unconstitutional (“The GOP response to Democrats’ gun-control ‘sit-in’ triggers concerns about the power to punish elected officials.”)
• The Worst Political Predictions of 2016 (“It was another rocky year for the political sages.” Which is why they shouldn’t be called “sages.”)
• Advocacy From the Edge (“Carrie Fisher spent decades advocating for mental health treatment and against stigma. Here’s how we should honor her.”)
• Misinformer Of The Year: The Ecosystem Of Fake News And The “Alt-Right”
• The Trump Penalty (“Five ways many Americans’ finances will take a hit under the Trump administration.”)
• White supremacist Christmas! Right-wing media spent the holiday snuggling up to overt racism (“Fox News and Breitbart spent the holiday weekend sliding outrageous white supremacist ideas into the mainstream”)
• The Trump Foundation must go — but not on Donald Trump’s ridiculous terms (“Don’t believe Trump’s self-serving explanations about why he wants to shutter his sleazoid pseudo-charity”)
• Here Is the Worst Anti-Science BS of 2016 (“Donald Trump wasn’t the only politician who lied about science this year.”)
• Virginia’s governor race could be a referendum on Donald Trump’s politics
• When ‘fraud’ is just another word for disenfranchisement (“In North Carolina, Pat McCrory used ‘fraud’ as a rallying cry to suppress voting rights, but he failed.” What’s amazing is that there are actually Republicans who believe the “voter fraud” myth perpetrated by their party. Apparently, they will believe anything they are told.)
• Editorial: Our FOIA, simplified
• Diversion from jail for mental health starting earlier
• Caring for Virginia’s mentally ill inmates: An expensive problem complicated by a bitter partisan debate
• Editorial: Virginia played a role in the decline of the death penalty
• Petersburg’s mayoral contest heats up: Meme mocks process as embattled Myers seeks another term (“Menhaden don’t exist in a single-species ecosystem, so there’s no reason to manage them as if they do.”)
• Editorial: Let scientists manage menhaden approach
• Virginia Beach’s biggest stories in 2016, and 3 things to watch next year
• Much cooler today; rain late tonight may start as a wintry mix north and west