by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, New Year’s Eve 2020. And yes, good riddance to what has been one of the worst years in U.S. history, other than voting out Trump…
FOX News walked up rolling live, and I appreciated the free air time!
Also, Kelly Loeffler campaigned with a klansman. pic.twitter.com/ZlmO0xoFvr
— Jon Ossoff (@ossoff) December 31, 2020
- Siberia permafrost yields well-preserved ice age woolly rhino (The bad news is why these carcasses are being unearthed now…hello climate crisis!)
- China Approves Its First Coronavirus Vaccine
- COVID-19 shook, rattled and rolled the global economy in 2020
- Amid 2020’s gloom, there are reasons to be hopeful about the climate in 2021 (“The concerted global response to the pandemic could be replicated for the fight against the climate crisis”)
- The Enigmatic ‘Climate Chancellor’ Pulls Off a Grand Finale (“A new EU climate target cements Angela Merkel’s global legacy, but many in Germany say she has often been an obstacle to progress.”)
- A German Initiative Seeks to Curb Global Emissions of a Climate Super-Pollutant (“The nitrous oxide emissions from hundreds of chemical plants globally, 300 times more warming than carbon dioxide, are the greenhouse equivalent of 45 million cars.”)
- Britain braces for not-so-special relationship with Biden
- Bracing for a possible Iranian-linked attack, U.S. officials warn ‘the threat streams are very real’
- Trump Could Still Start a Last-Ditch War With Iran
- US defense officials divided over potential for Iranian attack on eve of grim anniversary
- Scoop: Trump administration declassifies unconfirmed intel on Chinese bounties (Sounds sketchy.)
- Intel on China bounties called ‘less’ credible than Russia payments
- Trump’s parting gift to dictators solidifies his authoritarian legacy
- Putin Battles to Sell Russia’s Vaccine in New Rift With West
- ‘Erdogan should be very, very worried’: What the Biden presidency means for Turkey
- Discovery of Virus Variant in Colorado and California Alarms Scientists
- Shots are slow to reach arms as Trump administration leaves final steps of mass vaccination to beleaguered states
- Fauci sees U.S. gaining control over pandemic by next fall
- The Small Colorado Town Shrugged Off the Pandemic. Then Came the Coronavirus Variant.
- The vaccine rollout is flagging. It must be accelerated.
- What Biden’s speech on covid-19 tells us (“Everything is about to change.”)
- Yes, we should ‘politicize’ the pandemic
- America’s Vaccine Rollout Is Already a Disaster
- Sluggish Vaccine Campaign Raises Specter of U.S. Dysfunction
- US sets daily Covid-19 death record for the second day in a row (“More than 80,000 Americans could die of coronavirus over the next three weeks, a new CDC ensemble forecast projects”)
- U.S. Officials Say Covid-19 Vaccine Distribution Is Going Too Slowly
- Monsters of 2020: Trump’s Fascist Fist Pump (“Like much of Trump’s flirtation with autocracy, the gesture hides its darkest intentions behind plausible deniability.”)
- How Trump warped HHS long before Covid-19
- Misinformer of the Year: Fox News
- Timeline: Fox News misinformation in 2020
- Trump to return to Washington early ahead of Republican plan to disrupt certification of Biden’s win (Wildly irresponsible at best.)
- Trump is inciting chaos on Jan. 6, both in and outside the Capitol
- Trump Fears That His Influence Is Waning (“The president is plotting retribution. Not just because he’s mad about his election loss. But because he wants to keep folks in line.”)
- McConnell makes the best argument for electing Democrats in Georgia (“McConnell shows where GOP Senate leadership leads.”)
- First Thing: McConnell thwarts hopes of higher relief payments, as eyes turn to Georgiaj
- McConnell and GOP reject House’s $2,000 stimulus checks
- The GOP Just Let Democrats Have Their Stimulus and Campaign On It Too
- Senate won’t be ‘bullied’ on stimulus checks, McConnell says
- Republican ‘populism’ is a fraud
- Census Bureau to miss deadline, jeopardizing Trump plan
- Let Josh Hawley put Republicans to the uncomfortable test
- Hawley’s plan to contest electoral vote certification ensures drawn-out process (“The move all but ensures a delay in cementing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory when Congress convenes next week.”)
- Josh Hawley Is Going All-In on Polite Sedition
- Hawley’s plan to contest electoral college vote certification ensures drawn-out process
- Josh Hawley Is Madison Cawthorn Is Marjorie Taylor Greene
- The real reason you need to worry about Hawley’s objection to Biden victory (“…it should make everyone concerned about the long-term health of our democracy.”)
- Biden’s Incoming Press Secretary: Briefings Won’t Be A Platform For Right-Wing Spin
- 2020 Shatters the Myth of American Exceptionalism
- Secret Service to make changes to presidential detail to bring on agents who worked with Biden
- Biden frustration grows over lack of Trump cooperation in transition (“Make no mistake, this lack of cooperation has real world consequences, most concerningly as it relates to national security”)
- COVID-19 mitigation efforts result in the lowest U.S. petroleum consumption in decades
- Biden’s Team Tells Senate Democrats To Send Him Judicial Nominees ASAP (“The president-elect wants recommendations for all existing district court vacancies by Jan. 19, says his incoming White House counsel.”)
- Nashville bomber’s girlfriend warned police he was making explosives (And what prevented police from doing something?)
- Feds probing if Nashville bomber believed in lizard people conspiracy
- GOP Gov Cancels Inaugural Ceremony Over Armed Protesters Outside His Home (“New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) on Wednesday announced that he is canceling his outdoor inauguration ceremony next month, citing ‘ongoing public safety concerns’ over armed protesters who have gathered outside his home in recent weeks following a mask order he issued last month.”)
- Parker: Trumpism has become a cult
- Sen. Perdue became wealthy outsourcing work to China. Now he stands with Trump, who wants to ‘end our reliance on China.’
- Ossoff shuts down Loeffler criticism of Warnock: She’s ‘been campaigning with a Klansman’
- Youth voter turnout in Georgia runoffs shows signs of sustained enthusiasm post-November
- Dr. Drew reveals COVID-19 diagnosis months after apologizing for downplaying coronavirus
- Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann on ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ dies of Covid-19 at 82 (“The actor also appeared in ’77 Sunset Strip,’ ‘Maverick,’ ‘Bonanza,’ ‘The Joey Bishop Show’ and ‘Hawaiian Eye.'”)
- Is Substack the Media Future We Want? (“The newsletter service is a software company that, by mimicking some of the functions of newsrooms, has made itself difficult to categorize.”)
- Video: Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05) Calls Effort by Hawley, Gohmert, etc. to Overturn Election “Nuts,” a “Grift,” “Complete Crap”; Predicts Pence Won’t Go Along “With Any of This” (Riggleman asks, “When does a scam become a coup?”)
- Lawmakers want fees waived if stimulus is paid via debit cards
- Late surge pushes citizen applications for redistricting panel to 1,200; pool lacks state’s diversity
- Final Applicants to Virginia Redistricting Commission: 62% Male, 76% White, 60% >$101k/year; 46% >61 years old
- Wednesday (12/30) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +4,048 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 344,345), +128 Hospitalizations (to 17,910), +64 Deaths (to 4,984) (Hospitalizations hit another record high.)
- What’s The Holdup? Virginia Lags Behind Federal Vaccination Targets
- Virginia plans for arrival of 100,000 vaccine doses a week
- When Will Virginia’s Long-Term Care Facilities Get Vaccinated?
- In Virginia, slow vaccine rollout frustrates health care providers
- Northam adds $20M to Covid relief grant program for small businesses
- Virginia Health Department looking to get more efficient with vaccine distribution
- Jennifer McClellan’s Campaign Argues That Experience *Really* Matters in Democratic Primaries. Looking Back to 2005, Has That Been the Case in Virginia? (The short answer is…YES!)
- Revving the Engine for Electric Cars (“We want a pro-EV policy in Virginia, and the 2021 General Assembly is the time to do it”)
- An Autistic teen found a forever family because of a persistent aunt. But too few children in Virginia get that chance, a report finds.
- Want to be a lawyer, but don’t want to go to law school? Virginia is one of four states that allows it.
- Hundreds of Fairfax County health care workers receive COVID-19 vaccine
- Northam orders state flags to be flown at half-staff in memory of former Va. Delegate Robert S. Bloxom, Sr.
- A few showers today, a cold rain Friday and then a warm up Saturday
********************************************************
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
