Sunday News: “Time to Declare Climate Emergency”; “Vaccines are shipping out, but experts worry about ‘surge on top of a surge'”; “Trump’s coup is failing but American democracy is still on the critical list”; SNL “Cold Open”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, December 13.

• Time To Declare ‘Climate Emergency,’ Urges U.N. Chief
• The end of coal? Why investors aren’t buying the myth of the industry’s ‘renaissance’
• Johnson and EU Agree to Continue Negotiations: Brexit Update
• Inside the global fight to save capitalism
• I Have Hope on the Climate Crisis. America Must Lead. (By Al Gore)
• First doses of vaccine set to arrive Monday (“Key details about the shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine began to emerge as hospitals grappled with the ethical and logistical challenges of distributing it.”)
• Vaccines are shipping out, but experts worry about ‘surge on top of a surge’ (“More than 600 facilities are expected to receive vaccines this week in a massive rollout to stem the spread of coronavirus across the US”)
• Trump engages in self-sabotage ahead of historic vaccine rollout
• Pfizer Prepares Vaccines for Shipment Around U.S.
• From Factory to Front Line: A Supply Chain Takes Shape to Deliver Vaccine
• 2020 Was Especially Deadly. Covid Wasn’t the Only Culprit. (“More than a quarter of deaths above normal have been from other causes, including diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, high blood pressure and pneumonia”)
• Covid’s U.S. toll: Nearly 300,000 dead and a stalemate between fatalism and hope
• Fed’s Nightmare Year Isn’t Over Yet as U.S. Jobs Sour
• In contesting his election loss, Trump cements control of GOP (“Officials from all wings of the Republican Party are bending to the president’s will as he undermines the peaceful transfer of power with baseless election challenges.”)
• Trump’s coup is failing but American democracy is still on the critical list
• After the fact: the five ways Trump has tried to attack democracy post-election (“Republicans in 2020 have established what may be a new template for subverting the vote that could haunt elections for years”)
• Republicans faced a simple choice: For or against democracy.
• Trump Allies Eye Long-Shot Election Overturn in Congress, Testing Pence (Pence has failed every other test, why do we think he’d pass this one?)
• ‘The last wall’: How dozens of judges rejected Trump’s efforts to overturn election
• After Supreme Court Defeat, Trump’s Backers In Congress Are Quiet On What Comes Next
• Multiple people stabbed after thousands gather for pro-Trump protests in Washington
• 4 Stabbed and One Shot as Trump Supporters and Opponents Clash
• Biden’s attorney general search narrows
• Biden Faces Intense Pressure From All Sides as He Seeks Diverse Cabinet
• Trump raised firing Barr in White House meeting on Friday
• Trump unleashes an army of sore losers(“GOP candidates for House, legislative and gubernatorial races in more than half a dozen states are claiming voter fraud and still refusing to acknowledge defeat.”)
• Pro-Trump Protesters Chant “Destroy the GOP,” Boo Georgia Senate Candidates at Rally (The monster is turning on its creator.)
• Ivanka Trump Has Been Grifting Her Way Through Her Father’s Presidency. But It’s Hunter Biden We Want to Investigate? (No, “we” dont…the Trumpsters do. Why do people do this in headlines? Be precise!)
• Why the Democrats failed again: On the cosmological emptiness of liberalism (“Right-wingers have a theory of human nature and the universe. Without such a narrative, liberals will keep losing”)
• Newly Pardoned Michael Flynn Was a Crowd Favorite Among the Extremists at Trump’s Latest Rally (“The disgraced former national security adviser was among the headliners at the March for Trump.”)
• Another Trump-Appointed Judge Rejects Another of the President’s Meritless Post-Election Lawsuits
• Federal Judge in Wisconsin Deals Trump Another Court Defeat
• Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Tells Trump Attorney His Phony Lawsuit ‘Smacks of Racism’
• Twitter Tried to Stop Trump’s Latest Election Lies From Spreading. And Then It Gave Up—Again.
• Joe Biden ‘Will Be Removed One Way or Another,’ Alex Jones Tells Pro-Trump March (Alex Jones is an extremist nutjob, obviously.)
• A Wall Street Journal op-ed about Jill Biden pairs virulent sexism with academic elitism (That editorial page is a reeking cesspool.)
• Senate’s octogenarians face the age question and whether it’s time to exit
• Veterans groups call for VA secretary’s dismissal after watchdog audit
• Trump made big in-roads in Hispanic areas across the nation
• The High Stakes of Georgia’s Loeffler-Warnock Senate Race (“The debate between the two candidates showed how Republicans are approaching close races in a state where they’ve grown accustomed to winning with ease.”)
• ‘I won’t vote next time’: could Georgia Republicans’ doubts cost them the runoffs?
• Charley Pride, first major Black star in country music, dies at 86 of covid-19 (R.I.P.)
• DeSantis refused to disclose White House coronavirus report that contradicts him
• SNL’s Dr. Fauci and Deborah Birx Torch Trump’s COVID Failure
• Virginia opting for a nominating convention could be a blow to Trumpism (What a bizarre headline and moronic editorial by the WaPo; it’s not “Virginia opting for a nominating convention,” it’s the Virginia GOP. Also moronic: 1) Kirk Cox is not a “moderate”; 2) the last time Virginia Republicans held a convention, back in 2013, they chose far-right nutjobs Ken Cuccinelli, EW Jackson and Mark Obenshain; etc.)
• Video: Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05) Predicts That Supreme Court Decision Will Actually Lead to an “Explosion of Activity” by Trump Supporters
• For Signing on to Seditionist TX Lawsuit, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA09) Rightly Ripped on His FB Page as “TRAITOR. COWARD. DOUCHEBAG”; “Spineless Jellyfish,” a “Disgrace to the Office,” etc.
• Opinion: Virginians should have faith in the election (by Senator Mark Warner)
• Professor Larry Sabato: “Great job, voters in VA-5. You elected a real loony toon.” (Congressman-elect Bob Good (R): “This looks like a group of people that gets it. This is a phony pandemic”)
• GOP Congressman-Elect Praises Maskless Trump Supporters: ‘This Is A Phony Pandemic’ (“Bob Good, who is slated to represent Virginia’s 5th Congressional District, praised a crowd of maskless pro-Trump rally-goers as a ‘group of people that gets it.'”)
• Editorial: As case numbers rise, a plea for cooperation
• Drug overdose deaths in Virginia skyrocketed during the pandemic. It’s now the state’s worst year on record.
• Editorial: Northern Virginia’s rise is good for rural Virginia — maybe (“The state of Virginia provides most of our school funding – up to 65% of the costs in Scott County, up to 64% in Buena Vista, still somewhere north of 50% in others. The single biggest source of Virginia’s revenues is Northern Virginia. Ergo, Northern Virginia basically subsidizes schools in Southwest Virginia…That’s why rural Virginia should be rooting for Northern Virginia – the better its economy does, the more tax revenues there will be, and perhaps a smidge more will come our way”)
• Carrico: Cox will stand for law enforcement
• Opinion: A familiar face enters Virginia’s gubernatorial race (“About Fairfax, let’s just say McClellan and Foy are both impressive and sound. Though between the three of them, they may divide the Black vote in the primary and thus free Mr. Experience to waltz away with the nomination.”)
• Northam: Va. to receive COVID-19 vaccine in 24 to 48 hours
• Saturday (12/12) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Hospitalizations, 10-Day (+36,135) New Cases Hit Record Highs
• Virginia made it easier to build solar facilities. With one being planned in rural Hanover County, residents are pushing back.
• Hotel implosion to change Rosslyn skyline, close roads
• Sunny and warm Sunday makes it hard to believe snow could be on the way