by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, March 12.
- Vladimir Putin Positions Himself to Become Russia’s Eternal Leader (A real president, one who’s not Putin’s puppet, would condemn this.)
- Global stocks plunge into bear market as Trump stuns with Europe travel ban
- Chinese expert predicts pandemic will be through the worst by June
- China’s coronavirus epidemic has ‘passed its peak,’ National Health Commission says
- Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Tanked Oil Markets. Here’s the Back Story. (“Mohammed bin Salman, one of the most powerful men in the Middle East, chose a weekend when the world was preoccupied with the novel coronavirus to assert his standing at home and abroad, clamping down on political rivals while throwing down the gauntlet with Russia over oil prices.”)
- Trump’s coronavirus speech, annotated
- Flu Comes Back Every Year. Will Coronavirus? (“…experts say we don’t yet know enough about coronavirus to tell whether it’s likely to be seasonal”)
- Italy’s government orders all shops, bars and restaurants to close (“Authorities in virus-hit country take extreme measures as Covid-19 takes hold in Europe”)
- Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson test positive for coronavirus in Australia
- Trump bans travel from all of Europe except UK — where he owns property
- Trump’s Error-Laden ‘Foreign Virus’ Speech Has Investors Spooked (As well it should; Trump is utterly, dangerously incompetent.)
- U.S. Travel Ban Fuels Global Stock Rout (“S&P 500 futures briefly hit daily trading limit as crude-oil prices drop and investors pour into U.S. government bonds on worries about cononavirus’s economic toll”)
- Global markets sink after travel ban announced (Investors, correctly, have zero confidence in Trump.)
- Embattled Trump Blames Europe for Coronavirus, Bans Travel
- Trump restricts travel from most of Europe for 30 days (“The president said his European travel restrictions will not include the United Kingdom and will include exceptions for Americans who have received ‘appropriate screenings.'” Trump has no clue.)
- The Worst Outcome (“If somebody other than Donald Trump were in the White House, the coronavirus crisis would not be unfolding this way.”)
- NBA suspends season after Utah Jazz player tests positive for coronavirus
- Trump’s Europe travel ban might not do much to stop the coronavirus’s spread in the US (“An extraordinary announcement in Trump’s Wednesday night Oval Office address.”)
- The Biggest Lie in Donald Trump’s Coronavirus Address (“The president said we’re ‘more prepared’ than any other country. We’re so not.”)
- Trump’s Speech Shows He Has No Idea What to Do About the Coronavirus
- The Night the Coronavirus Broke Through to the American Consciousness
- Pelosi ignores Trump taunts as she steers through another crisis (Thank goodness for Nancy Pelosi, a national treasure.)
- House Democrats unveil coronavirus economic response package (“House Democrats late Wednesday night introduced emergency legislation to help reduce the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak by providing financial backing to those most immediately affected, including an expansion of paid sick leave and unemployment benefits. A vote is expected Thursday, just before lawmakers leave Washington for a previously scheduled week-long recess. The bill is expected to pass easily through the House, though it remains unclear when – or if – the Republican-controlled Senate will take it up.”)
- Chaos After Colleges Tell Students to Stay Away (“U.S. colleges said that because of coronavirus fears, they were suspending classes and asking students to pack up.”)
- Dr. Anthony Fauci’s coronavirus testimony underscores how wrong Fox News’ chief medical correspondent has been (“Fox’s Dr. Marc Siegel repeatedly downplayed COVID-19 as no ‘more problematic or deadly’ than the flu — despite being 10 times more lethal. Today, it was declared a global pandemic.”)
- Don’t believe Fox News: Coronavirus is much more dangerous than the flu
- Biden’s Best Bleeping Week
- After another string of victories, Biden turns his focus from Sanders to Trump
- Joe Biden Has Been Dropping Hints About his VP Pick (Stacey Abrams definitely high on the list…as well she should be, IMHO, along with Kamala Harris and a few others – all women.)
- Democratic front-runner Biden to give speech on U.S. response to coronavirus outbreak
- Sanders doesn’t drop out — but it’s not full speed ahead, either (“Sen. Bernie Sanders conceded that he is losing the delegate battle to Joe Biden but declined to end his presidential bid and said he is looking forward to Sunday’s debate.”)
- Bernie Sanders shifts his tone, but will it last? (“It is crucial he and his supporters remember the real threat: President Trump.”)
- The No. 1 reason Biden is likely to beat Trump (“The Democratic primaries are dispelling every theory about how candidates win elections.”)
- ‘Black Americans are saving America from itself’ in the Democratic primaries
- No surprise: Bernie Sanders is still all about himself, never the party
- Joe Biden steps into the role of party leader (“The best speech of his career marks a turn to the general election.”)
- Sanders’s secret is out: He has no movement (“The media missed the shallowness of his support.”)
- On coronavirus, Biden and Sanders act more presidential than Trump (“It is the best and most immediate evidence of his utter unfitness for the job.”)
- Sanders Offers Biden A Path To Win Over His Movement (“Sanders listed off issues central to his campaign, which he says are very important to younger progressives: health care costs, climate change, income inequality, student debt, racial disparities in criminal justice, immigration and housing affordability.” I agree that Joe Biden should make many of these – first and foremost the climate crisis, since that’s existential – top priorities.)
- Biden’s delicate dance to win over the ‘Bernie Brothers’
- Florida poised to stamp out Sanders campaign (“The Vermont senator is unpopular across the board, but especially among the state’s Hispanics.”)
- Florida poll shows Biden with staggering 44-point lead over Sanders
- 12 Steps to Tackle the Coronavirus (“President Trump and other health officials need to act immediately, while there is time.”)
- Trump’s Reelection Chances Suddenly Look Shakier (“Weeks ago, his advisers were counting on a strong economy and a Democratic opponent easily portrayed as too far left. But the political landscape has sharply shifted.”)
- Weinstein gets 23 years in sentence hailed by accusers (Good.)
- Mandatory Paid Sick Leave Vital, Says Kaine (“Sen. Tim Kaine says he is ‘uncomfortable’ that the federal government is not prepared to move into a telework mode if the virus strikes Washington and has asked his staff members to work from home as a ‘drill’ tomorrow.”)
- Sen. Warner Calls on VP Pence to Combat Online Coronavirus Misinformation, Correct the Record on Mixed Trump Administration Messages
- Dem Senators Send Letter To Trump, Call for Coronavirus Economic Response Focused on Helping Workers and Families Most Harmed
- Graphics Show What Happened to the 3,001 Bills Introduced in the 2020 Virginia General Assembly
- Gov. Ralph Northam: “In Virginia, we’ve taken steps to prepare for and protect Virginians from #COVID19…Here’s what we are doing”
- Editorial: Time to revisit how Va. makes laws (“Given yet another legislative session in which lawmakers couldn’t complete their work on time, the leadership should order a study to see if another approach would better serve our modern commonwealth.” We need comprehensive campaign finance reform, ethics reform, and professionalization of the 17th/18th-century-style legislature. This editorial doesn’t get at any of that, really.)
- ‘A real and legitimate threat’: For all our sakes, take coronavirus seriously
- Lee Ware column: Dominion Energy will get a ‘blank check’ from the Virginia Clean Economy Act (There are legitimate questions about whether Dominion is constrained sufficiently, or that there’s enough competition, etc., but to say that Dominion gets a “blank check” is an overstatement.)
- Virginia Charts A Path To A $15 Minimum Wage
- Virginia Minimum Wage Could More Than Double by 2026
- After standoff, House and Senate to seal deal to stem college tuition costs
- Thursday Is Basically Budget Day in Virginia. Here’s Some Analysis.
- Virginia lawmakers set to pass new state budget
- Gun legislation: Here’s what the Virginia General Assembly passed
- “Shall the Bill Pass?” On Dominion’s Electric School Bus Bill, Regrettably the Answer Is NO
- Will Virginia’s Universities Be Coronavirus “Petri Dishes”? [BREAKING: UVA suspends in-person classes]
- With limited coronavirus testing, Virginia encourages residents to turn to private labs
- The latest government smokescreen in the Bijan Ghaisar case
- PR consultants linked to social media campaign opposing Northern Va. slots won’t say who’s behind it (“The secretive nature of the advocacy campaign and the fingerprints of the PR firms that seem to be carrying it out have fueled questions on social media and around the Capitol about who’s actually behind it.”)
- Virginia releases details of Beltway toll lane extension plans near Legion Bridge
- Coronavirus planning: Schools close, change schedules, extend breaks
- UVa moving online and canceling in-person classes ‘for the foreseeable future’
- Longwood University Student is 10th COVID-19 Case in Virginia; Classes Canceled
- ODU, NSU, W&M among at least 8 Virginia universities canceling on-campus classes to limit spread of coronavirus
- UPDATED: In first Richmond-area case, Hanover teenager tests positive for coronavirus; Longwood student tests positive
- Virginia church’s efficiency retrofit poised to be state’s first PACE project (“The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax wants to finance upgrades to its sprawling, 1960s-era HVAC system.”)
- Near 60 today and up to 70 Friday, before cooling down Saturday through Monday
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