Friday News: “Trump obsesses over Pelosi as sting of impeachment spoils his holiday break”; “A Year at the 5th Circuit Shows Trump’s Devastating Impact on the Courts; “Advocates see best opportunity to enact liberal criminal justice reform in Va. in a generation”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, December 27.

• The Growing Climate Risks Scientists Uncovered in the 2010s
• Trump Thinks of Saving ‘Innocent Civilians’ in Syria Only After Removing U.S. Forces
• Israel: leadership win gives Netanyahu boost before tough election (“Prime minister to enter March election campaign while under indictments for corruption”)
• Philippines bans two U.S. senators, mulls new visa rules for Americans
• Kazakhstan flight with almost 100 onboard crashes, killing at least 12 people
• Trump’s Dream Is to Become America’s Viktor Orbán
• Survey: Germans say Trump is more dangerous than Putin, Kim or Xi (That’s about right.)
• George Conway Says Foreign Leaders See Donald Trump as a ‘Deranged Idiot’ (So do most Americans.)
• ‘Home Alone 2’ TV version was edited years before Trump’s election, CBC says after right-wing outrage (Moronic story.)
• Trump Won’t Say Whether Putin Influenced His View on Ukrainian Interference in 2016 Election
• Assad and Putin are responsible for Syria’s latest wave of suffering
• Trump obsesses over Pelosi as sting of impeachment spoils his holiday break
• Exclusive: FBI investigates Briton, others for Epstein links – sources
• Trump is already searching for his next secretary of state
• Trump Pushes Out Tweet Naming Alleged Whistleblower (That alone should be impeachable.)
• Reflections on the Last 10 Years in Energy and Cleantech (Very interesting.)
• Top 10 Utility Regulation Trends of 2019 (Most of these are the antithesis of the way Dominion has done business.)
• Democracy Is Not for Cowards. We Used to Know That.
• Former GOP congressman says Trump should be removed from office (“Former Michigan Rep. Dave Trott, who retired in 2018, says Trump is putting the United States at risk.”)
• Big Money and America’s Lost Decade (“Yes, the rich have too much political influence.”)
• The Christmas Eve Confessions of Chuck Todd (“That disinformation was going to overtake Republican politics was discoverable years before he says he discovered it.”)
• A Year at the 5th Circuit Shows Trump’s Devastating Impact on the Courts
• Trump’s New Legal Adviser Is an Anti-LGBT Bomb Thrower
• Chelsea Clinton thanks GOP congressman for tweet depicting her father’s ‘quick reflexes’
• New York Police Department investigating four alleged anti-Semitic incidents in two days
• Democrats brace for ‘bloody’ primary season
• With so much promise, why is Cory Booker’s campaign falling flat?
• “Alt-Right” “Pizzagate” Conspiracy Guy Encourages People to “Follow @NickForVA” Freitas
• Bottom Line: Virginia Could Get to Around 70% Clean Power by 2030, 100% by Mid-2030s, Without Working Up Much of a Sweat (In contrast, the Virginia Clean Economy Act calls for just 60% non-carbon electricity (about half of which would be nuclear) by 2036.)
• Virginia latest place to make single family zoning ban a political fight
• Reaction to Del. Ibraheem Samirah’s “Exclusionary Single-Family Zoning”/”Middle Housing” Bill Is *Very* Revealing…and Not in a Good Way
• Editorial: Virginia needs a statewide ban on using handheld cellphones while driving
• Virginia advocates and lawmakers push paid family leave. Business groups are opposed.
• Editorial: What should Virginia name after Baliles?
• Did Virginia Governor Say He Would Cut Power, ‘Have You Killed’ for Not Turning Over Guns? (“False”)
• Advocates see best opportunity to enact liberal criminal justice reform in Va. in a generation
• Another Virginia County Says It Won’t Abide By New Gun Laws. Can It Do That?
• Major money needed to make room for student growth in Fairfax Co.
• One of the nation’s biggest school systems will let students take time off to protest. The conservative backlash has already begun. (“Starting Jan. 27, Fairfax County schools, in Northern Virginia, will permit students in seventh through 12th grades one excused absence each school year for loosely defined ‘civic engagement activities,’ such as marches, sit-ins and lobbying trips to the state capital.”)
• 8 shot, 3 dead in under 30 hours during violent holiday in the City of Richmond
• New York police locate additional teen suspect in Tessa Majors slaying
• Two customers shot, one fatally, in robbery at a Denny’s restaurant in Manassas
• Coach and his wife accused of embezzling more than $50,000 from Virginia soccer club
• Fairly cloudy today, with more sunshine likely tomorrow