Saturday News: “US is ’rounding the corner into a calamity,’ expert says, with Covid-19 deaths projected to double soon”; “Legal defeats pile up as GOP worries over Trump’s Georgia comments”; “Democracy Should Not Be Taken for Granted”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, November 28.

• Climate ‘apocalypse’ fears stopping people having children – study (“Survey of 600 people finds some parents regret having offspring for same reason”)
• Iran scientist’s assassination appears intended to undermine nuclear deal
• Killing of suspected Iranian nuclear mastermind risks confrontation as Trump exits
• Iran’s supreme leader calls for ‘definitive punishment’ of scientist’s killers (“Ayatollah threatens retaliation after president blames Israel for assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh”)
• Oxford, WHO scientists say more data needed on AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine trials
• ‘Democracy Should Not Be Taken for Granted’ (“Readers around the world tell us about the global ripple effect of the U.S. election.”)
• Charting the Global Economy: Recession Recovery Is Wildly Uneven (“Manufacturing looks solid, labor market is a major weak point; But vaccine could help the staying power of the 2021 rebound”)
• Bargain Frenzy Give $1.7 Trillion Lift to Europe’s Stock Market
• World’s largest offshore wind farm seals financing deal worth $8 billion (“Once completed, the Dogger Bank Wind Farm in Britain — a 50:50 joint venture between the two firms — will have a total capacity of 3.6 gigawatts…the wind farm as a whole will have the ability to power as many as 4.5 million homes in the U.K. annually.”)
• Ethiopian forces begin offensive on Tigray capital, say a diplomat and Tigray forces leader
• The United States has closed at least 10 bases around Afghanistan. But drawdown details remain murky.
• The Virus Won’t Stop Evolving When the Vaccine Arrives
• Secret Meeting in Desert Between Israeli, Saudi Leaders Failed to Reach Normalization Agreement
• ‘Their Goal Is to Make You Feel Helpless’: In Xi’s China, Little Room for Dissent (That’s what authoritarian leaders, like Trump, always work to do.)
• Covid Overload: U.S. Hospitals Are Running Out of Beds for Patients
• In nine states, at least 1 in 1,000 people have died of coronavirus-linked causes
• US is ’rounding the corner into a calamity,’ expert says, with Covid-19 deaths projected to double soon
• Federal appeals court slams Trump campaign efforts to turn tide in Pennsylvania ruling, saying ‘claims have no merit’
• In a scathing opinion, appeals court rejects Trump request to block Pa. certification (“The Trump campaign said it would take the case to the Supreme Court, where legal experts have said it has little chance of success.”)
• Legal defeats pile up as GOP worries over Trump’s Georgia comments (“The President’s baseless attacks on voting could hurt Republican turnout in a runoff election that will determine control of the Senate”)
• Supreme Court’s scientifically illiterate decision will cost lives (These people have absolutely no business being on any court, let alone the Supreme Court.)
• Trump Weighs Staging a 2024 Event During Biden Inauguration (“He’s not yet conceded 2020 but is already looking at keeping Republicans in line and making Biden’s life miserable.” Charming.)
• What we should know about Biden’s appointment of Kerry as climate czar (“Of all the messes President-elect Joe Biden is tasked with cleaning up, the climate crisis is the most high stakes. If aggressive decarbonization doesn’t begin soon, climate scientists see little chance of preventing permanent ecological catastrophe.”)
• The Memo: GOP mulls its future after Trump (“Two big questions dominate. Firstly, what kind of role will Trump himself seek? Secondly, is the more populist and nationalist direction he has pursued the right one for the future?”)
• Scoop: Biden weighs retired General Lloyd Austin for Pentagon chief —
• Milwaukee County presidential recount wraps up with Biden adding to his margin over Trump (That’s right, the Trump campaign paid $3 million to add 132 votes – so far – to BIDEN! LOL)
• Republicans lob accusations of elitism at ‘Middle Class Joe’ — a sign of the upended politics of populism (Absurd.)
• We know how to prevent up to 40 million people from being evicted. It’s up to Congress to do it. (“Millions of Americans face eviction in a ‘completely predictable and entirely preventable’ crisis as the CDC’s moratorium is set to expire on New Year’s Eve.”)
• Biden Aims to Appoint Liberal Judges After Trump’s Conservative Push (“President-elect will seek nominees who see robust role for judiciary in addressing national problems, protecting individual rights”)
• Trump moves to strip job protections from White House budget analysts as he races to transform civil service (Appalling and unacceptable.)
• Republicans ready to become deficit hawks again under a President Biden (And the media will fall for it – again!)
• When he leaves office, can ex-President Trump be trusted with America’s national security secrets? (“Ex-presidents are entitled to classified briefings. Some ex-intel officials think Trump shouldn’t get access to any national secrets when he leaves office.”)
• In 2020, Obamacare proves it’s a survivor during a time of need
• E.P.A.’s Final Deregulatory Rush Runs Into Open Staff Resistance
• I am thankful that Trump will be out of office. But dark days still lie ahead.
• If Facebook wants to be ‘good for the world,’ here’s what it needs to do
• McKinsey Proposed Paying Pharmacy Companies Rebates for OxyContin Overdoses
• The inexorable rise of Jake Sullivan
• Progressives praise Yellen but could soon clash with Biden’s Treasury pick
• Why did Democrats bleed House seats? A top analyst offers surprising answers.
• Democrats’ Real Liability in the House (“Joe Biden’s walloping victory in the popular vote didn’t translate down-ballot.”)
• How Democrats Suffered Crushing Down-Ballot Losses Across America (“Suburban voters’ disgust with President Trump failed to translate into a rebuke of other Republicans, ensuring the party’s grip on partisan mapmaking.”)
• Why did the Florida Latino community swing to Trump? It’s complicated.
• Kelly Loeffler’s husband dumped his own stock this spring, breaking years-long pattern (“Jeffrey Sprecher’s unusual trades suggest couple made significant changes to third-party broker arrangement”)
• Graphs: The Virginia Counties, Cities Furthest From and Closest To the Statewide 2020 Election Results (Biden +10.1 points)
• Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08) Warns: “Trump likely hopes to replace swathes of the career federal workforce with loyalists.”
• Group Led by VA GOP’s General Counsel, George W. Bush’s Former Roommate Who’s a Climate Science Denier and Fossil Fuel Fan, Pushes to Get Rid of Virginia Clean Economy Act
• VA Activists Pushing to Support Women Candidates Running for Governor
• Virginia’s new redistricting commission prepares to take applications from the public
• Williams: Barbara Johns deserves a statue in the U.S. Capitol.
• For Chesapeake Bay watershed, new app can reveal where land is helping — or hurting — water quality
• “We need to learn from this:’ Black residents in Richmond have five times the COVID hospitalization rate of white patients
• Catholic Diocese of Richmond undertaking solar energy projects at schools and churches
• Few arrests made after stop-and-frisks in Charlottesville
• HRT plans to reintroduce discussions of bus rapid transit in Newport News and Hampton
• Radford University makes carbon commitment
• EVMS receives $15 million to create first-of-its-kind neurodegenerative disease institute in Hampton Roads
• D.C.-area forecast: Lots of sunshine today and Sunday, then a storm moves into the area