Thursday News: “Coronavirus lays bare all the pathologies of the Trump administration”; “Trump has no clue what to do in a disaster”; “Early Voting for [Virginia] Presidential Primary On Pace to Break Recent Record”; “Democrats open the flood gates in Richmond”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, February 27.

• Foreign markets continue slide; Japan asks schools to close for weeks
• Stocks Fall as Virus Fears Show No Signs of Easing
• Better Late Than Never? Big Companies Scramble To Make Lofty Climate Promises (“Companies are promising faster action, too. Instead of setting goals 25 years in the future – a distant target that makes accountability difficult – the average time horizon is now just eight years away, ENGIE Impact found.”)
• Climate Change is Pushing Giant Ocean Currents Poleward (“A new study identifies fundamental changes in ocean circulation, with potentially dire effects on food supplies, sea level and weather in densely populated areas.”)
• Global energy storage market to surge to 15 GW by 2024
• Syria’s carnage nears a horrific climax
• Italy’s economy was scary enough. Then came coronavirus.
• Russia and China are taking dangerous approaches to coronavirus
• Death toll rises to 27 in Delhi violence as Modi issues plea for calm
• 20 countries confirm new coronavirus cases as outbreak surges outside China
• Most Coronavirus Cases Are Mild. That’s Good and Bad News. (“More than 80 percent of confirmed coronavirus cases are not severe, according to a large Chinese study. But mild symptoms could also make the epidemic harder to contain.”)
• At least seven dead including shooter in rampage at Molson Coors
• First person in U.S. tests positive for coronavirus with no known link to foreign travel
• Coronavirus lays bare all the pathologies of the Trump administration
• Trump’s not worried about coronavirus. But his scientists are. (“Analysis: The president is telling Americans there’s nothing to worry about, even as federal officials say they’re preparing for more cases.”)
• C.D.C. Confirms First Possible Community Transmission of Coronavirus in U.S.
• Trump has no clue what to do in a disaster
• Trump downplays risk, places Pence in charge of virus outbreak response (Mike DENSE? Yeah, now *that* is reassuring! LOL)
• Donald Trump Takes Coronavirus So Seriously He Just Put Mike Pence in Charge
• Trump keeps his coronavirus news conference focused on one high-risk patient: Himself (“The president repeatedly sought to pat himself and his administration on the back, even as the scope and severity of the outbreak is still coming into focus.”)
• Coronavirus gets a Trumpian response (“He cracked wise, told a story with a stand-up comedian’s patter, waved around colorful graphs and listed facts he had just learned.”)
• Let’s Revisit Coronavirus Czar Mike Pence’s History on Public Health Initiatives (“Mike Pence has argued that sending kids to daycare stunts their emotional development, specifically their affection for their mothers.”)
• Trump campaign sues The New York Times for libel over Russia opinion article (Trump continues his assault on the free press.)
• “Catastrophic”: Trump Is Fighting With Advisers Over Pardoning Roger Stone
• GOP, Democrats hash out 2020 strategy at dueling retreats
• Democratic Leaders Willing to Risk Party Damage to Stop Bernie Sanders (“Interviews with dozens of Democratic Party officials, including 93 superdelegates, found overwhelming opposition to handing Mr. Sanders the nomination if he fell short of a majority of delegates.”)
• Democratic megadonor urges Pelosi and Schumer to pick a candidate in a bid to stop Bernie Sanders
• Pelosi urges Democratic unity amid Sanders’ campaign surge
• Pelosi faces a challenge to House majority beyond her control: Bernie Sanders
• Joe Biden meets his make-or-break moment in South Carolina
• Bloomberg goes from savior to goat in a week
• Obama demands South Carolina TV stations pull misleading ad attacking Biden
• Ugly pro-Trump ad weaponizes audio of Obama, showing what’s coming
• Cops called on Bernie backers after bullhorn protests at officials’ homes
• Bloomberg is not doing what he promised (“He is enabling Bernie Sanders.”)
• The Sixty Trillion Dollar Man (“The price of Bernie Sanders’s agenda could be his biggest general-election weakness. But his rivals haven’t yet forced him to explain how he’d cover the full cost”)
• Could Joe Biden Be In Trouble In South Carolina? (“The state will be the first big test of black voters’ preferences in the Democratic primary.”)
• What The Race Looks Like If Biden Wins — Or Doesn’t Win — South Carolina
• Joe Biden’s Struggling Campaign Gets a Lift in South Carolina
• Republicans’ ‘Operation Chaos’ seeks to undermine South Carolina’s Democratic primary
• The Primaries Are Just Dumb (“There’s a better way to do democracy.”)
• Buttigieg Executed His Strategy But He Still Isn’t Winning (“Early successes have failed to catapult him to front-runner status.”)
• 5 takeaways from CNN’s town halls in South Carolina
• Rudy Giuliani complains he only has ‘five friends left’ after forgetting to hang up on Daily News reporter
• Pro-Trump media claim CDC is overhyping coronavirus threat because a top official is related to Rod Rosenstein (“Dr. Nancy Messonnier is more than qualified, but Trump is reportedly furious at her” Demented as always.)
• NBC’s dark history of sexual misconduct puts Chris Matthews’ grilling of Elizabeth Warren over Bloomberg’s NDAs in context
• ABC’s David Wright told the truth about network news and Trump — and paid the price (“…commercial pressures have skewed corporate media’s political-news values — not toward making things up, but toward turning it all into shallow, value-neutral entertainment.”)
• ABC News hands James O’Keefe a victory
• Mark Warner protests lack of information from Interior Dept. in Bijan Ghaisar killing (“The senator votes against confirming a top Interior pick, says he may place a hold on future nominations”)
• National Journal: How Much Trouble is Denver Riggleman in?
• Early Voting for Presidential Primary On Pace to Break Recent Record (“Virginians are voting in record numbers ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary, according to data from the Department of Elections.”)
• AG Mark Herring Reaches $1.6 Billion Global Settlement with Opioid Manufacturer
• Virginia General Assembly Passes Legislation to Join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
• Virginia Values Act Advances to Gov. Northam’s Desk
• Virginians Rallied in Protest of Trump’s Proposed NEPA Overhaul
• Video: Del. Lashrecse Aird (D-HD63) Argues That, 66 Years After Brown v Board of Education, de facto School Segregation Remains in Virginia
• Editorial: Democrats open the flood gates in Richmond (“The first wave of bills signed into law by Gov. Ralph Northam are a prelude to a flood of Democratic legislative now that the Republican dam is broken.”)
• Bills on lost or stolen firearms, trigger activators advance in General Assembly
• Video: Discussion/Debate, Including Some Weird Moments, and Vote to “Carry Over” National Popular Vote
• Senate bill would force Virginia to reveal sources of lethal injection drugs
• On RGGI, Democrats resist cost carveouts for some power producers while greenlighting others (“Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration has vigorously opposed any dilution of the revenues the state is set to receive under RGGI.” Agreed.)
• Senate committee keeps two options alive on redistricting reform; House Democrats’ plan remains unclear
• Supreme Court to Decide Fate of $8 Billion Pipeline That Could Devastate Black Communities
• Bipartisan Effort to End Financial Exploitation of Seniors Headed to Northam’s Desk
• Distasso and Krawitz: Virginia should consider military veterans as we start down the road of cannabis policy reform
• Virginia Senate rejects House version of casino bill
• Two New Potential Cases Of Coronavirus Surface In Virginia. What You Need To Know About The Disease
• Virginia health officials await coronavirus test results for two patients (“No one has tested positive in the state”)
• Ex-leader of white supremacist group linked to ODU bomb threat
• C-PACE Comes to Fairfax County (“Commercial property owners can make energy and resiliency improvements to their buildings and sites with little or no up-front cost in Fairfax County.”)
• Hanover supervisors transfer $75,000 for defense against NAACP suit over Confederate school names (“Without any more insurance money to fend off a federal lawsuit by the NAACP over the Confederate-related names of two schools, Hanover County will draw $75,000 from a contingency fund to continue fighting the case.”)
• Feeling like winter into the weekend, before the next warm-up