by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, December 30.
- AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid Vaccine Gains First Clearance With U.K. Nod (“Vaccinations to start in new year as cases rise across Britain”)
- AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine approved in the U.K.
- 2020 was meant to be the year of climate action. Instead, it crowned a wasted decade (We didn’t have a decade to waste.)
- ‘We cannot make it without science’: Greta Thunberg says climate experts are being ignored (“Climate specialists not being listened to despite Covid showing importance of following science, activist says”)
- The case for producing way more solar energy than we need
- Britain avoided a Brexit disaster. But divorce from Europe will still hurt.
- Mexico Set to Become World’s Largest Legal Cannabis Market
- China Has All It Needs to Vaccinate Millions, Except Any Approved Vaccines
- 25 Days That Changed the World: How Covid-19 Slipped China’s Grasp
- Hong Kong Protesters Who Fled by Boat Are Sentenced to Prison in China
- Biden sounds like he has made a choice on China (“Getting tough means getting help.”)
- Former US spy Jonathan Pollard arrives in Israel (“Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes ex-US navy analyst who served 30 years in jail for document leaks to Israel”)
- US approves sale of $290m in bombs to Saudi Arabia (“Arms deals with Middle East dictatorships are being rushed through by Trump, critics say, despite opposition over human rights records”)
- Argentina legalises abortion in landmark moment for women’s rights
- In 2020, Protests Spread Across The Globe With A Similar Message: Black Lives Matter
- Record shows US sold ambassador’s home in Israel for $67M
- Pompeo Weighs Plan to Place Cuba on U.S. Terrorism Sponsor List
- Kushner Cos. Plans to Raise $100 Million by Selling Bonds in Israel
- First case of highly infectious coronavirus variant detected in Colorado
- Frustration over vaccine rollout builds, as new variant reported in U.S. for first time
- U.S. confirms first case of the new Covid strain discovered in UK
- U.K.’s Mutated Coronavirus Found for First Time in U.S.
- Operation Warp Speed at a crawl: Adequately vaccinating Americans will take 10 years at current pace
- Coronavirus vaccinations are off to a very slow start. That should set off alarms.
- Where Year Two of the Pandemic Will Take Us (“As vaccines roll out, the U.S. will face a choice about what to learn and what to forget.”)
- U.S. Vaccinations at 200,000 a Day Run Far Short of ‘Warp Speed’ (“The nation won’t meet its goal of 20 million doses by year-end”)
- Biden picks 3 coordinators for Covid-19 response
- Trump turns on Republicans over $2,000 checks (“The President is now in league with Democrats, doing battle with Republican leaders and warning the political party he overtook and remade could soon be dead”)
- Drive for $2,000 Checks Bogs Down in Senate Despite Trump Push (“Republicans block House stimulus bill, focus on Pentagon…Defense veto override delayed, likely completed by Sunday”)
- McConnell blocks $2,000 stimulus checks, then ties them to unrelated Trump demands on tech and election
(“McConnell later introduced a bill that would boost the size of the checks, repeal Section 230 legal liability protections for internet platforms and create a commission to study election issues.”) - Trump put Senate Republicans in a real jam. But McConnell might have a way out.
- $2,000 Stimulus Checks Are Poorly Targeted and That’s Fine
- Here is why the stimulus check should be bigger
- McConnell moves to combine Trump asks in potential ‘poison pill’ for stimulus checks
- Mitch McConnell Just Engaged in a Monstrous Act of Casual Cruelty Against His Fellow Citizens in Need
- Even If It’s ‘Bonkers,’ Poll Finds Many Believe QAnon And Other Conspiracy Theories
- Trump Finally Gave QAnon What It Always Wanted: Respect (Appalling as always with this asshole.)
- Michael Flynn Is Now Selling QAnon Merch (It’s astounding and disturbing that Flynn ever held a position of authority in the U.S. government.)
- Feds decline charges against officers in Tamir Rice case (WTF???)
- Federal Judge Calls Trump a ‘Criminal’ During a Phone Call with the Associated Press
- Federal judge in Iowa ridicules Trump’s pardons
- Trump’s worst pardon is one you haven’t heard about (“Trump’s pardon of Stephanie Mohr sends a reckless message to law enforcement and emboldens bad officers.”)
- The Next Big Challenge: Trump-Proofing the Presidency
- How Biden Could Become One of the Greats, and How He Could Fail (“Having a president who sounds like one again is a good start, but he’ll be up against Trump, Fox, and the rest of them pulling for the worst once the body count is on Biden.”)
- Biden’s Incoming National Security Adviser Faults Pentagon’s ‘Obstruction’
- Trump asks U.S. Supreme Court to set aside Wisconsin’s election (Sedition.)
- Pence’s very limited options to challenge Biden’s win
- Will Pence Do the Right Thing? (“On Jan. 6, the vice president will preside as Congress counts the Electoral College’s votes. Let’s hope that he doesn’t do the unthinkable — and unconstitutional.”)
- Pence refused to sign on to plan to overturn election, lawyers say
- Trump allies mount final push to overturn results ahead of congressional vote to confirm Biden win (Anti-democratic coup attempt.)
- The Deep Story of Trumpism (“Thinking about the Republican Party like a political psychiatrist”)
- N.Y. prosecutor hires forensic accounting experts as Trump criminal probe escalates
- The Trümperdämmerung Is a Fitting End to 2020
- 7 surprise moments from a tumultuous year in politics
- Monsters of 2020: Roger Ailes and Fred Trump
- Trump angered by Mar-a-Lago renovations, sources say
- Girlfriend warned Nashville police Anthony Warner was building bomb a year ago, report shows
- Louisiana congressman-elect dies of Covid
- Congressman-elect Luke Letlow, 41, dies from coronavirus complications; ‘we’re all in disbelief’
- Louisville Officer Who Shot Breonna Taylor Will Be Fired
- Louisville police move to fire two more officers involved in raid that killed Breonna Taylor
- Nikki Haley’s mind-numbing inanity
- GBI finishes signature audit in Cobb County, finds only two mismatches
- What The Early Vote In Georgia Can — And Can’t — Tell Us
- Stimulus check, veto override debates weigh on Georgia Senate runoffs
- Strong early-vote turnout gives Dems hope in Georgia runoffs (“Democrats are encouraged by stats that show their voters are overperforming with early voting set to conclude later this week.”)
- Jennifer McClellan Campaign “Internal” Poll Results on the 2021 Virginia Dem Gubernatorial Primary; Conversation with McClellan’s Pollster Pete Brodnitz (Candidate preference results: Undecided 38%, McAuliffe 32%, Fairfax 16%, McClellan 8%, Carroll Foy 5%)
- Virginia Made Progress on Clean Electricity in 2020; For 2021, We Should Take the Next Step and Adopt “Advanced Clean Car Standards” (Opposition to these standards, which would massively benefit Virginians, is coming from oil interests and auto dealers like climate denialist Geoffrey Pohanka)
- Tuesday (12/29) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +4,122 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 340,297), +177 Hospitalizations (to 17,782), +59 Deaths (to 4,920) (COVID-related hospitalizations hit record high)
- Sister of Black man killed by police announces run for Virginia governor (“Princess Blanding, whose brother Marcus-David Peters was shot by Richmond police during a mental health crisis in 2018, is running under the newly formed Liberation Party.”)
- Princess Blanding, sister of Marcus-David Peters, announces run for governor
- Editorial: Rise in drug deaths sounds the alarm in Virginia (“Virginia is poised to record its most-ever drug deaths this year, which represents a preventable disaster for the commonwealth.”)
- Advocates Who Mistakenly Believed Amendment 1 Was a Path to “Fair Districts” Should Take a Strong Look at This!
- Virginia’s Democratic donor division is apparent in House special election
- Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano “Takes Aim at Mass Incarceration with the Announcement of Groundbreaking Sentencing Reforms” (“Enough is enough. Virginia should lead the way in fighting the scourge of mass incarceration”)
- Dominion donates $50,000 to Stoney’s One Richmond PAC (In Virginia, the more things change, the more they stay the same?)
- Gov. Northam announces industrial hemp company to arrive in Rockingham County
- Man handcuffed, wrongfully detained by Virginia Beach police at a mall tests positive for coronavirus
- Increasing clouds with seasonable temperatures today and tomorrow
