Inauguration Day News: “Joe Biden to be sworn in as 46th president amid turmoil and loss”; “Trump Presidency Ends With 400,000 COVID Deaths” and Disgraceful Pardons; “Kamala Harris’s inauguration is historic milestone”; “Biden will return joy to the White House”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, Inauguration Day 2021. FINALLY! 🙂

• After Alarmism The war on climate denial has been won. And that’s not the only good news.
• Climate change will be sudden and cataclysmic. We need to act fast (Among other things, we shouldn’t build a single additional fossil fuel project of any kind. Ever.)
• It All Began With Russia: Donald Trump’s 4 Great Betrayals of the Nation (“The scandal set the stage for the horrors that followed.”)
• Iran’s Rouhani Says ‘Ball In U.S. Court’ Over Nuclear Dispute
• Putin’s arrest of Navalny reveals his true colors
• U.S. surpasses 400,000 deaths as Biden invites the country to mourn together
• Exactly one year after ‘Patient One’ came to U.S. hospital, Biden inherits chaotic vaccine rollout
• Biden opens inaugural proceedings by memorializing 400,000 Americans lost to covid
• How to Vaccinate 100 Million Americans in 100 Days (“The United States needs a vaccination plan that treats the coronavirus less like the seasonal flu and more like an act of bioterrorism.”)
• On Day 1, Biden Moves to Undo Trump’s Legacy
• We’re Lucky the Trump Presidency Wasn’t Worse
• A ‘Nerve Center’ for Climate in the Biden White House (“Joseph R. Biden Jr. will bring with him the largest team of climate change experts ever assembled in the White House, and action on global warming is expected quickly.”)
• Joe Biden’s Chance at Greatness (“The oldest president has an opportunity to secure the nation’s future.”)
• Biden’s key national security picks had their confirmation hearings. Here’s what to know. (“Avril Haines, Alejandro Mayorkas, Antony Blinken, and Lloyd Austin made their cases to serve in Biden’s administration.”)17
• The Trump Presidency Ends With 400,000 COVID Deaths (“I don’t take responsibility at all.”)
• Biden Prepares to Be Sworn In as 46th President of the United States
• US coronavirus death toll passes 400,000 amid grim forecast over winter (“Thousands more deaths expected this season as more transmissible strain spreads and vaccinations move slowly”)
• Biden Unveils Sweeping Climate Plan, Moves to Rejoin Paris Pact
• On Day One, Biden will move to rejoin Paris Climate Agreement
• Biden to Mend World Health Organization Ties, Ask Fauci to Speak
• Biden prepares ambitious agenda even as he cleans up Trump’s mess (“Analysis: The new administration faces no shortage of obstacles to progress – but Biden is setting his sights high nonetheless”)
• Celebrate, despite everything
• President Donald J. Trump: The End (“This terrible experiment is over.”)
• Joe Biden to be sworn in as 46th president amid turmoil and loss in US
• Biden Has to Clean Up the Trump Catastrophe—Then Get to Work (“’Trump almost brought the ship down,’ a former Biden aide said. ‘But the Biden administration’s entire legacy can’t just be charting a course that wouldn’t have hit the iceberg.’”)
• Biden prepares to conjure hope and bear pain for a grieving nation
• The inauguration of Joe Biden
• FACT SHEET: President-Elect Biden’s Day One Executive Actions Deliver Relief for Families Across America Amid Converging Crises (“Reverse the Muslim Ban”; “Stop Border Wall Construction”; “Rejoin the Paris Agreement on Climate Change”; “100 Days Masking Challenge”; “Extend Eviction and Foreclosure Moratoriums”; etc.)
• Biden Plans Sweeping Executive Orders to Unwind Trump Legacy on Day One
• Joe Biden Is About to Find Out What’s Left of America (“Have Trump and Trumpism made the United States ungovernable?”)
• Kamala Harris’s inauguration is historic milestone
• Trump leaves office with little to show of his major promises, and a legacy of violent divisiveness (“Analysis: Donald Trump promised to end ‘American carnage’ and ‘Make America Great Again.’ Four years later, he leaves with those goals far from reach.”)
• Blinken appears to be sailing to confirmation as Biden’s secretary of state
• Incoming White House plans extraordinary steps to protect Biden from COVID-19
• Biden will offer ‘unity’ and healing. But first we need the truth.
• Oh, Holy God, He Gave a Farewell Address (Yep, and it was basically lie after lie after lie after…)
• The Latest: 3 new Dem senators to be sworn in after Biden
• The Worst President in History
• Donald Trump Is Out. Are We Ready to Talk About How He Got In? (“‘The First White President,’ revisited”)
• Biden will issue executive order to rescind Keystone XL pipeline permit (Good. Any way to rescind the permits for other pipelines, such as the Mountain Valley Pipeline fracked-gas monstrosity?)
• Obituary for a Failed Presidency (I wouldn’t even say “failed”; I’d say “disastrous”)
• Trump grants clemency to 143 people in late-night pardon blast (Disgusting, corrupt, etc.)
• With hours left in office, Trump pardons Bannon. (Appalling.)
• Trump talked out of pardoning kids and Republican lawmakers
• The Complete List of Trump’s Twitter Insults (2015-2021)
• GOP leaders skip Trump send-off in favor of church with Biden
• Trump’s final day: A diminished and aggrieved president stays out of public view before exit
• 12 Army National Guard members removed from inauguration duty
• Mitch McConnell just stuck a knife in Trump. But he left something out. (“But let’s get real. While McConnell’s words have the aura of blunt truth-telling, what he just offered is, at bottom, an effort to distance the GOP from any culpability for the mob attack. It’s not a remotely serious effort to accept or own what really happened, let alone to learn from it or to address the pathologies that made it possible.”)
• McConnell, weighing impeachment vote, says mob that assaulted the Capitol was ‘provoked by the president.’ (Yes, provoked by Trump, but ALSO provoked by members of McConnell’s own caucus – Cruz, Hawley, etc. – and by the right-wing media echo chamber, among others.)
• Pelosi says Trump could be accessory to murder after Capitol riot (Absolutely.)
• The false choice between unity and accountability (“Once in office, President-elect Joe Biden can unite the pro-democracy majority.”)
• Trump is the worst outgoing president. Biden is among the best incoming.
• The Financial Minefield Awaiting an Ex-President Trump
• Josh Hawley will delay swift confirmation of Biden’s DHS pick (Expel this seditionist, ASAP!)
• Trump Has Discussed Starting a New Party
• Trump Ends Where He Began, Fighting Release of His Tax Returns
• The Final Two Months of Trump’s Presidency Were The Most Important Ones
• Never Forget: Mitch McConnell Underwrote Trump’s Big Lie
• Trump’s administration fell far short of its own vaccine promises
• America is fragile this Inauguration Day. Our power rests in the ability to pick ourselves up. (“We need to acknowledge that our foundation was never as strong as we believed.”)
• Joe Biden’s fundamental challenge is to root out the domestic insurgency
• Uncertainty reigns in Senate as Schumer pushes fast agenda and McConnell calls out Trump
• Increasingly militant ‘Parler refugees’ and anxious QAnon adherents prep for doomsday
• Some Trump supporters think he’s about to declare martial law — and they’re excited.
• Biden will return joy to the White House
• Biden Picks Trans Doctor Rachel Levine as Assistant Health Secretary
• Justice Dept. Ends Stock Trade Inquiry Into Richard Burr Without Charges (Very, very suspicious timing there.)
• THE “1776 REPORT” IS TRUMP’S LAST GASP OF STATE-SPONSORED HATE (“The report, a profane screed that’s likely to become a blueprint for millions of red state and Christian academy children, is a striking example of the kind of bad-faith historical interpretation that runs rampant on the right.”)
• A big chunk of Trump’s 1776 report appears lifted from an author’s prior work (Unhinged, white supremacist trash.)
• Conspiracy Theorists Target Comet Ping Pong on Trump’s Last Night in Office
• Capitol rioter arrested after sending ‘selfie’ to girlfriend’s brother – a federal agent
• Court Strikes Down Dirty Power Scheme
• AG Mark Herring Part of Lawsuit That Just Blocked Trump’s “Dirty Power” Rule That Violated the Clean Air Act
• Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Facebook in 2018: Parkland school shooting was a false flag planned event (She’s completely insane.)
• Senator Ron Johnson calls editorial about him ‘unhinged and uninformed.’ The Editorial Board responds. (In fact, Johnson is completely unhinged.)
• ‘Kraken’ back on its leash: Georgia election lawsuit withdrawn (Haha, great headline!)
• Fox News Launches ‘Purge’ to ‘Get Rid of Real Journalists,’ Insiders Say (And there aren’t many of them at this toxic sludge of a “news” network.)
• Never forget Fox News’s promotion of the ‘Big Lie’
• Fox News Fires a Key Player in Its Election Night Coverage (“The politics editor who defended the network’s accurate projection that Biden had won Arizona is out after a backlash from viewers, including President Trump.” Yes, it’s possible for Fox to get even WORSE.)
• Top Fox News managers depart amid Murdoch’s concerns over controversial Arizona election night projection
• The end of the Trump-Fox feedback loop
• Fox & Friends host praises Trump’s work ethic: “He watches every show” (Beyond parody…SNL material!)
• Sen. Kaine on when we could see an impeachment trial begin
• Sen. Mark Warner: “Ms. Haines, it will be your task to ensure that the [Intelligence Community] recovers from this dark chapter.”
• Tuesday (1/19) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +4,526 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 451,076), +84 Hospitalizations (to 20,066), +59 Deaths (to 5,798)
• VDH launches dashboard for COVID-19 outbreaks at Virginia colleges, universities
• Virginia House Democrats Crush Republicans In Fundraising To Start The 2021 Election Year
• Va. lawmakers begin taking up dozens of election bills amid swirl of conspiracies (Those conspiracy theorists, of course, are ALL Republicans, and they’re all bonkers.)
• Legislation aims to reduce barriers for energy storage projects
• Virginia Senate Votes 37-1 to Strip Sen. Amanda Chase – Who Spoke at the 1/6 Pro-Trump Rally in D.C. – of Her Last Committee Assignment
• Video: VA Senate Privileges & Elections Committee Votes 9-6, Along Party Lines, For Censure Resolution Against Sen. Amanda Chase (R)
• Virginia GOP senator who praised rioters stripped of her committee as lawmakers wrestle with fallout from Trump
• Senate panel advances censure of Sen. Amanda Chase; Senate strips her last committee
• Senate Committee advances censure resolution against Amanda Chase
• BREAKING: Senate Committee Votes Down Public Utility Money Ban (“Senators vote again to allow contributions from the utilities they are elected to regulate”)
• Bill by Sen. Lionell Spruill to Move Virginia’s Low-Turnout May Local Elections to November Reported Out of the Virginia Senate’s Local Government Committee
• Holding local elections in the fall is the right move
• In a rare rebuke, FERC fails to approve Mountain Valley Pipeline’s proposal
• Chesapeake, Hampton set coronavirus case records as Virginia continues to grapple with holiday surge
• Police seize firearms from Black men at Virginia rally for gun rights (“In a day with racial tensions on display, Black protesters denounced what they called a double standard in a state where people are free to openly carry firearms.”)
• One of Virginia’s First Political Bloggers Appears to Be Frontrunner for Republican Nomination in SD38 (Chad Dotson was, an presumably still is, VERY conservative.)
• Blindsided by Vaccine Shortage, Chesterfield Maintains In-Person Learning Plans
• Loudoun Co. board votes in favor of calling for resignation of Del. Dave LaRock
• Blustery chill for Biden’s inauguration; warmer tomorrow but cold again this weekend