Friday News: “Airstrike Hits Turkish Forces in Syria”; Media’s Appallingly Bad Climate Coverage; “When a Pandemic Meets a Personality Cult”; “Republicans growing nervous about 2020 economy”; “Voters Narrow Their Choices as Virginia Primary Approaches”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, February 28.

• Coronavirus pummels financial markets; Japanese island declares state of emergency
• Coronavirus spreads in three continents; $5 trillion wiped off markets
• When a Pandemic Meets a Personality Cult (“The Trump team confirms all of our worst fears.”)
• China can’t fight coronavirus and the truth at the same time
• Fear Grips Global Markets as U.S. Futures Extend Decline
• Investment Advisors Worry U.S. Response To Coronavirus Is Too Little Too Late
• Whistleblower: Workers ‘not properly trained or equipped’ to help coronavirus patients
• Broadcast news’ coronavirus coverage has ignored Trump’s 2018 firings of pandemic response leadership
• How broadcast TV networks covered climate change in 2019 (“The volume of climate change coverage on the corporate broadcast nightly and Sunday morning news shows increased 68% from 2018 to 2019. Despite this increase, climate coverage as a whole still made up only 0.7% of overall corporate broadcast nightly and Sunday morning news shows in 2019. The news shows aired 238 minutes of climate change coverage this past year, up from 142 minutes of coverage in 2018. Much of this increase was driven by CBS, which gave more time to and aired more segments about climate change than ABC and NBC combined.” Appallingly bad.)
• Syrian airstrike kills at least 29 Turkish soldiers in Idlib, Turkish official says
• Airstrike Hits Turkish Forces in Syria, Raising Fears of Escalation
• Refugees head for EU as Turkey opens borders over Syria crisis (“Move appears designed to put pressure on Europe to support Turkish Idlib operation”)
• Republicans growing nervous about 2020 economy
• Trump stumbles in first efforts to control virus response as fear spreads and markets fall
• U.S. workers without protective gear assisted coronavirus evacuees, HHS whistleblower says
• Trump says he can bring in virus experts quickly. The experts say it’s not so simple.
• Trump’s mixed messages are sowing coronavirus confusion
• Pence Will Control All Coronavirus Messaging From Health Officials
• Trump just pushed one of his worst conspiracy theories yet (“President Trump is now fully embracing the conspiracy theory that his assorted enemies are deliberately hyping the coronavirus threat, all to damage him politically.”)
• William Barr preaches against progressives, but Trump is the one sinning against democracy (Barr needs to go.)
• The Head Of Trump’s CDC Believes AIDS Was God Judgement Against Homosexuals
• Trump Spends 45 Minutes With ‘Deep State’ Play Actors Amid Coronavirus Mayhem
• The Only Villain Bigger Than Socialism at CPAC Is Mitt Romney (“Attendees of the annual conservative confab have just as much, if not more, rage for Republicans deemed disloyal to Trump as they do for Democrats.” Extremist freak show.)
• Election Update: Biden Surges In South Carolina
• Joe Biden’s campaign isn’t dead yet
• Warren puts at least one Sanders supporter in his place (“She exposed aggressive dishonesty.”)
• Surging Sanders shows few signs of making nice with fellow Democrats
• In South Carolina, a referendum on Trump
• Biden pulls it together just when he needed to
• Most Democrats Think Obama Has Endorsed a Democrat for President. (He Hasn’t.) (Wow.)
• AP decides not to declare Iowa caucus winner after recount
• Buttigieg still leads Sanders after Iowa caucus recount
• Elizabeth Warren Gets Giant Lift From Persist PAC
• Bloomberg says he will run ‘right to the bitter end,’ to convention if nomination not locked up
• Bernie Sanders’s Scandinavian fantasy
• Warren at risk of losing her home state (“Sanders senses opportunity to deal a serious blow to his progressive rival.”)
• Sanders zeroes-in on Super Tuesday states
• The Sanders Tax (“If Democrats nominated Bernie Sanders, they would, initially, start off with somewhat of a penalty in our Electoral College ratings.”)
• Bernie Sanders Can Beat Trump. Here’s the Math. (“Most available evidence points in the direction of a popular vote and Electoral College victory.”)
• Bloomberg, the Mayor Who Menaced Blackness (“He presents a rosy picture of his time as New York’s mayor. But for black people, it was a horror.”)
• The wizards behind Bloomberg’s half-billion dollar makeover (“Two men were handed the biggest ad budget in the history of politics, and one job: Sell Mike to America. But can the candidate live up to their commercials?”)
• Joe Biden’s Campaign Is On The Line In South Carolina
• Democrats in Trump districts cast a nervous eye at a surging Sanders
• The Fox-Trump feedback loop is channeling Trump’s coronavirus attacks on journalists, Democrats
• GOP scramble is on to succeed Donald Trump in 2024
• Rep. McEachin and Chair Grijalva Unveil Landmark Environmental Justice Legislation Following Year-Long Collaborative Effort
• Video: Statement of Sen. Mark Warner on the Coronavirus Outbreak
• Service Employees International Union Announces $150 Million National Investment in 2020 Cycle, with Virginia as One of Eight Top Targeted States
• Bernie Sanders rallies supporters in Richmond ahead of Super Tuesday (“Democratic presidential candidates to hold rallies in Virginia ahead of the March 3 primary.”)
• Bernie Sanders, in Richmond, touts ‘vibrant’ campaign, agenda ‘that speaks to the working class’
• College Students Look to Leave Mark on Virginia Primaries
• I Supported Bernie Sanders in 2016. In 2020, Joe Biden Has My Support for the Virginia Democratic Presidential Primary
• Seeking a Sanders alternative but lukewarm on Super Tuesday choices (“Suburban Virginians were key to recent Democratic victories, but these voters are at a loss over whom to support.”)
• Voters Narrow Their Choices as Virginia Primary Approaches
• Video: Sen. Scott Surovell Speaks in Support of Driver’s Licenses for All
• Excellent Poetry by Sen. Ghazala Hashmi – and LOTS of Midnight Drama (VIDEO). But…Seriously, It’s Long Past Time to Professionalize the Virginia Legislature
• Bill Would Dial Up Solar Energy in Virginia (“More than 10,000 homes in Virginia have solar panels, according to the Department of Mines Minerals and Energy. Proponents of renewable energy say those numbers could be higher and Virginia law is partially to blame.”)
• Packed house cheers Sanders as telltale Virginia Democratic primary looms
• Virginia finally recognizes that children jailed for life deserve at least a chance for parole
• On one powerful Senate committee, elections definitely have consequences (“And while the Clean Economy Act has lots of merits, there’s also a bi-partisan, complementary bill (the Fair Energy Bills Act) remaining that would go a long way toward resetting the base line for Virginia’s electric utility customers, making the necessary burden of shifting the state to carbon-free generation over the next several decades more bearable for ratepayers. With the clock running out on the session, however, Saslaw hasn’t yet put it on the docket for the Commerce and Labor Committee, which he took over from another Dominion MVP, former Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach…despite all the sound and fury over our dominant utility’s role in Virginia politics and governance, all the pledges and rejection of its campaign cash and the seismic elections that ushered in new Democratic majorities, Dominion, while facing a shifting political landscape and perhaps more uphill sledding, still has a powerful ace in the hole to help keep the odds ever in its favor.”)
• Driver’s license suspensions, no-excuse absentee voting among bills headed to governor
• Fairfax breaks tie to pass ‘red flag’ bill; Senate also backs one-gun-a-month (So weird that Spruill voted no on this after having voted yes several times previously. Mistake?)
• A little ‘horse sense’ could go a long way in gambling debate (“We need to scrutinize a casino in Northern Virginia with the same standard that we’ve analyzed all the other casinos proposed around the state. After all, those facilities will likely take years to be fully built, but putting a slot casino in Northern Virginia would be felt by residents very quickly. We shouldn’t be forcing this through without Virginians, who will be affected by it, being able to voice their concerns about the real impact if will have on their lives.” Agreed.)
• Northam considers issuing new proposal, calling special session to break deadlock on redistricting (Seems like a really bad idea.)
• Segregationist Laws Will Soon Be Tossed Out of Virginia Code For Good (Finally!)
• What Collective Bargaining Would Mean For Virginia’s Public Sector Employees
• Henrico School Board adopts budget plan with uncertainty over raises, $19 million revenue gap
• Senator pulls bill to give carbon allowances to Charles City plants (That one was slimy, even by slimy Lionell Spruill “standards”)
• Legislation Expands Use of Traffic Ticket Cameras
• Chilly and breezy, with possible sprinkles or flurries through tonight