Saturday News: COVID-19 Spread “now ‘faster’ and ‘broader’ than ever”; “Biden’s victory widens as Trump’s efforts grow more frantic”; “Trump and Giuliani *are* the Republican Party” Lacking Any Substance, VA Republicans Fall Back To “politics of process”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, November 21.

• Another Feature of the Climate Crisis Is More—and More Severe—Disease (And environmental destruction more broadly. We need to stop/reverse all of it, starting immediately.)
• When “Creatives” Turn Destructive: Image-Makers and the Climate Crisis
• Biden will rejoin the Paris Climate Accord. Here’s what happens next (“Upon rejoining, the U.S. will likely be expected to provide an updated climate target since the Obama administration’s goal and a plan to reduce domestic emissions from the power and energy sector. Upon rejoining, the U.S. will likely be expected to provide an updated climate target since the Obama administration’s goal and a plan to reduce domestic emissions from the power and energy sector.”)
• As Trump Fights to Reverse Election, Business and World Leaders Move On (“Inside the White House, the 2020 election rages on, with President Trump angrily refusing to concede. But the rest of the world is pushing ahead. The vast machinery of diplomacy, business and lobbying is recalibrating for the Biden era. And President-elect Joe Biden is seizing the moment.”)
• Biggest African Economy Falls Into Recession as Oil Output Drops
• Exclusive: Mexico agreed with U.S. Attorney General Barr to arrest drug capo in deal for general – source
• With Trump sabotaging American democracy, the Russians don’t need to interfere
• Pfizer applies for emergency vaccine approval as U.S. cases reach new high
• CDC begs Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving as virus surges everywhere
• In All 50 States, Deaths Are Now Higher Than Normal
• Pfizer and BioNTech have applied for emergency approval for their Covid-19 vaccine (“The companies say their vaccine could begin distribution to high-risk people by mid-December.”)
• The US recorded 195,000 new Covid-19 cases in a day. An expert says spread is now ‘faster’ and ‘broader’ than ever
• 1,000 U.S. Hospitals Are ‘Critically’ Short On Staff — And More Expect To Be Soon
• Data Heroes of Covid Tracking Project Are Still Filling U.S. Government Void
• The economy needs help. Mnuchin’s response: Take money away.
• Steve Mnuchin Is Doing His Part to Sabotage the Biden Administration on His Way out the Door
• Five U.S. agencies have started telling employees they could get Covid vaccine shots in as little as 8 weeks
• Biden’s margin of victory over Trump surpasses 6 million votes
• Biden’s victory widens as Trump’s efforts grow more frantic (“Trump’s efforts to deny Biden are moving to state legislatures, but there are signs, even among Republicans, that his efforts need some evidence” And there is zero.)
• Trump Challenge to Election Results Hits Hardest at Black Voters (“Challenge,” aka “coup attempt.”)
• Health experts dispute conservatives’ claim that new study finds masks are ineffective
• Trump makes futile last stand to overturn results as Georgia certifies Biden win (“President met with Michigan’s Republican leaders at White House in desperate bid to subvert democracy” Trump should be prosecuted for all of this.)
• It’s time for Trump to concede and move on (By the far-right Washington Examiner editorial board. Wow.)
• Senior GOP lawmakers grow anxious over Trump’s effort to overturn election results (Oh, are they Susan Collins-level “concerned?” LOL)
• Republican leaders swore an oath to defend the Constitution. That means telling Trump it’s over. (They’re violating their oaths by not doing so immediately.)
• Most Republicans greet Trump’s push to overturn the election with a customary response: Silence (Cowards.)
• This Was Always the Plan (“President Trump telegraphed that he would try to steal the election if he didn’t win.” Yet the media didn’t make it a huge story at the time. Why not?)
• Jonah Goldberg Goes Off on Trump Team’s ‘Unpatriotic Lie’: Trying to Steal Election With an ‘Insane Bat Guano Conspiracy Theory’
• Once Out Of Office, Trump Faces Significant Legal Jeopardy (Maybe he shouldn’t have committed so many crimes, ya know?)
• Shame the Random, Unknown Government Officials Aiding Trump’s Coup Attempt (In other words, “make them famous!”)
• How far Republican presidents have fallen
• Trump’s lawsuits challenging the election have turned into a clown show (“Republican officials aren’t just losing. They are embarrassing themselves.”)
• A destructive legacy: Trump bids for final hack at environmental protections (Evil motherf***ers.)
• Making the Most of the Coming Biden Boom (“The economic outlook is probably brighter than you think.”)
• Trump suffers twin defeats in effort to reverse Biden’s victory in key states
• Which States Have Certified Presidential Vote Totals
• Republicans Supporting Trump, Remember: Lies Have a Long Half-Life (“The president’s actions are disgraceful and damaging to our democracy.”)
• Anger builds in Black community over Trump’s unsupported claims of voter fraud in big cities (And for damn good reason!)
• Trump bid to overturn vote crashes into wall of deadlines (“President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the election results is about to smash into reality: a gauntlet of battleground state deadlines that are poised to extinguish his increasingly desperate attempts to hold onto the presidency.” In other words, despite Trump’s coup attempt.)
• Biden aims to deflect fights over first Cabinet picks
• Christopher Krebs showed officials can protect the country — if they show some backbone
• The Republican Party’s future: Being terrorized by its unhinged base
• Why Joe Biden’s low-key approach may pay off (“The president-elect is building support rather than fighting with Trump.”)
• There Was a Second Pro-Trump Conspiracy Hearing Thursday We Didn’t Even Notice
• The only predictable thing about Trump’s supporters is their devotion to the president (Remember Jonestown? That’s what we’re talking about here…a death cult.)
• Tearful Caller Tells Rush Limbaugh He’s Willing to Die for Trump: He’s ‘Given More to This Country Than Anybody’ (Yep, death cult.)
• Mitt Romney’s inspirations for bucking his party: his dad and his Black grandson
• Merrick Garland on list to be Biden’s attorney general: report
• No, Trump’s sister did not publicly back him. He was duped by a fake account.
• Donald Trump Is Leaving Behind Blueprints to End Democracy (“And I fear there’s no going back.”)
• The Desperate Final Gasps of Team Trump’s Flailing ‘Mini-Coup’
• Trump’s Legal Team Sets a Precedent for Lowering the Bar (They all should be disbarred.)
• Team Trump Leaders, Including Campaign Manager Bill Stepien, Have No Faith in Rudy
• Robert De Niro says Giuliani is now ‘representing a mob family’
• Donald Trump Jr. tests positive for coronavirus (Presented without comment…other than “res ipsa loquitur.”)
• Ben Carson Says He Was ‘Desperately Ill’ With The Coronavirus
• Twitter will hand @POTUS to Biden on Inauguration Day, even if Trump doesn’t concede (Twitter also needs to ban @realdonaldtrump immediately.)
• Here’s All the Transition Help Trump Is Denying Biden
• GSA Administrator Emily Murphy Alive, Mad We Emailed Her
• AJC Interview: Why Kemp formalized Georgia’s election despite Trump’s pushback
• Why Trump Will Fail in Michigan (“His only success will be in ruining what should be the celebration of a successful election under highly challenging circumstances.” Exactly; other than Trump’s ranting, raving and coup attempts, this election actually was incredibly successful in the midst of a deadly pandemic.)
• After a jaw-dropping abuse scandal, should the Boy Scouts survive? (“…the Boy Scouts effectively enabled ongoing abuse. It is notable that the alleged abuse spans the better part of a century: One claim was filed by an 8-year-old boy; another by a 93-year-old man. Most of the claims arose from cases alleged to have occurred decades ago.”)
• Michigan lawmakers say they will follow ‘normal process’ following Trump meeting
• Michigan GOP leaders say COVID-19 assistance, not election, focus of White House meeting (That’s *very* hard to believe.)
• Here’s What We Know About Trump’s Meeting With Michigan Lawmakers
• Detroit asks judge to sanction Trump campaign for spreading ‘disinformation’
• Michigan attorney general ponders criminal probes of state and local officials who bend to Trump’s will on overturning election results (Absolutely – either we enforce the rule of law or we don’t have rule of law.)
• Trump administration revives talk of action on birthright citizenship
• Trump and Giuliani are the Republican Party
• Clarence Page column: How ‘Defund the police’ sabotaged Democrats on Election Day
• Tucker Carlson Dared Question a Trump Lawyer. The Backlash Was Quick.
• State Legislatures Don’t Have the Power to Subvert the Election for Trump (“Trump’s new strategy to undermine the will of the voters is illegal and doomed to fail.”)
• Trump’s coup depends on the right-wing information bubble
• Kenosha murder suspect Kyle Rittenhouse posts $2 million bond, no longer in custody (Crazy.)
• MyPillow CEO, Ricky Schroder Helped Pay Kyle Rittenhouse’s $2M Bond: Attorney (Obviously, noone should ever by a “MyPillow” product.)
• The ‘Racist Rule’ That Georgia Dems Must Beat to Win Runoffs (“Georgia’s last liberal Democratic senator, who narrowly lost a runoff in 1992, explains why things may be different this time.”)
• Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11): “We have been incredibly patient, @GSAEmily, but we can wait no longer. “
• Video: Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05) Says “This election’s over…it’s time for members of Congress…to help in the transition”
• Profiles in Dishonesty: Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA01) Cites 13 Bills That Passed House as Evidence “Republicans Have Led the Way” – Except NINE Were Sponsored by *Democrats*!
• Rep. Abigail Spanberger pushes for COVID-19 economic relief with Congress
• Feds cut extended unemployment benefits in Virginia as state’s economy improves
• Friday (11/20) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +2,544 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 213,331), +99 Hospitalizations (to 13,914), +16 Deaths (to 3,912)
• UVA COVID-19 Model Pre-Thanksgiving Update: “1 in 10 gatherings of 10 people will include at least one person with COVID-19…2 in 10 for gatherings of 20 people”
• Virginia Democrats see ways around GOP plan to shrink legislative session (30 days is absurdly short and the polar opposite of having a professionalized legislature or good government; that needs to be changed. Meanwhile, “Democrats could get around the limit, most easily if Northam called a special session, which would not be subject to constitutional limits.” Also, “Democrats could also cram more legislating into the 30 days — they’re counted by calendar day, not work day — by meeting on weekends…And, in a real hardball move, Democrats could cite the time constraints as reason not to take up any GOP bills.”)
• Schapiro: Va. Republicans and the politics of process (“As the trial attorneys say, if the law is against you, argue the facts — and if the facts are against you, argue the law. In this instance, because the politics might be against them, Republicans are arguing process.”)
• COVID-19 cases spike in Virginia: ‘The fact that it is happening before Thanksgiving is terrifying’
• Video: 2013 VA GOP Lt. Gov. Nominee E.W. Jackson Declared Back in March That He Would NOT Get COVID-19 Because ” I’ve talked to God about it”; Fast Forward Eight Months, and…
• Del. Danica Roem: “For the first time today, Virginia officially recognizes Nov. 20 as Transgender Day of Remembrance.”
• Anderson: New Virginia law stifles artistic freedom for photographer, other artists (That’s right, people should feel free to discriminate, according to this op-ed in the Roanoke Times!)
• Records Suggest Sentara Pushing EVMS Funding Onto Virginia Taxpayers To Ease $11.5B Merger (Seems pretty sketchy, no?)
• D.C.-area forecast: 60s again today, but cool and damp air is inbound for Sunday