by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, January 23.
- Jailed Kremlin critic Navalny’s supporters to rally for his release despite warnings
- Protests in support of jailed opposition leader Navalny sweep across Russia
- Britain’s Covid daily death toll is one of the worst in the world. What went wrong? (“‘Allowing people to mix at Christmas was just… just madness really,’ one expert said.”)
- From the California Delta to Jakarta, the World’s Aquifers Are Collapsing (Another human-caused environmental disaster. Great job, humanity – not!)
- U.K. Covid-19 Variant Could Be More Deadly, British Officials Say (“Tentative conclusion that new variant boosts fatality risk by 30%-40%, though the data remains highly uncertain”)
- To Counter Climate Change, We Need to Stop Burning Things
- Kim Jong Un likes to provoke new U.S. presidents. Biden’s team should be prepared.
- Moderna And Pfizer Need To Nearly Double COVID-19 Vaccine Deliveries To Meet Goals
- Biden and Trudeau agree to cooperate on Covid and climate change
- Partly hidden by isolation, many of the nation’s schoolchildren struggle with mental health
- Yellen nomination sails through Senate panel; final vote set for Monday
- Biden says nothing can change the trajectory of the Covid pandemic over the next several months (Yep, Trump left us in a disastrous mess.)
- Lloyd Austin Confirmed As Defense Secretary, Becomes 1st Black Pentagon Chief
- Biden Takes a First Step to Raise the Minimum Wage (“The new administration is fighting for $15—with or without Congress.”)
- Former president, private citizen and, perhaps, criminal defendant
- Trump and Justice Dept. Lawyer Said to Have Plotted to Oust Acting Attorney General (This story is horrifying. There had better be legal accountability for those involved in this, to the full extent of the law!)
- Trump entertained plan to install an attorney general who would help him pursue baseless election fraud claims (Here we go with the lame word “baseless” again, instead of simply “false.”)
- Organizers of Trump Rally Had Been on Campaign’s Payroll (So, Trump’s definitely responsible then. Charge him.)
- Senate ends standoff, agrees to start Trump’s impeachment trial Feb. 9
- Senate Deal Delays Trump Trial, Clears Way for Biden Nominees (“While the agreement takes care of one nagging issue, senators left town Friday without any progress organizing much-needed rules to govern a 50-50 Senate.”)
- Miscommunication led to National Guard troops being pushed out of Capitol
- Biden apologizes after some National Guard troops were told to sleep in a parking garage. (It wasn’t in the slightest bit Biden’s fault, but he apologized anyway. That’s called “the buck stops here.”)
- More than 150 National Guard in Washington for inauguration test positive for coronavirus
- 10 Republicans Voted to Impeach Trump. The Backlash Has Been Swift.
- 11 things congressional Republicans say Biden can’t do if he wants ‘unity’
- Biden’s approach to covid-19: Flood the zone (“The new administration is not holding back from the public and media.”)
- Republicans Are Mad Joe Biden Isn’t Uniting The Nation Around The GOP Agenda (Republicans are nothing if not utterly shameless.)
- Biden administration weighs turning over Trump tax returns to House Democrats
- Judge orders Treasury to notify Trump before giving up tax returns
- Imperiling quick $1,400 checks, moderate Republicans push back on Biden’s economic plan
- “The President Threw Us Under the Bus”: Embedding With Pentagon Leadership in Trump’s Chaotic Last Week
- Biden’s LGBTQ rights executive order and the transphobic backlash, explained
- Why McConnell Dumped Trump (“After the Capitol assault—and after losing his perch as Majority Leader—the senator finally denounced the outgoing President. Was it a moral reckoning or yet another act of political self-interest?”)
- McConnell privately says he wants Trump gone as Republicans quietly lobby him to convict
- Prospects of convicting Trump erode as GOP grows vocal against Senate impeachment proceedings
- Republicans’ recalcitrance on the economy is risky (“Do-nothing Republicans will get blamed for a worse recession.”)
- Now that Democrats are back in power, conservatives are again pretending to care about debt and deficits (Yep, totally expected and in bad faith, as usual with these people; ignore them.)
- Kevin McCarthy: ‘Everybody Across This Country’ Is To Blame For Capitol Attack (No, not “everybody” was to blame. McCarthy just doesn’t want to say who was REALLY to blame, which was Trump, Trump supporters, right-wing extremists, his own party, etc.)
- A historian from the future looks back: What will be most remembered of Trump’s presidency? (“Historians will remember Trump as an aspiring dictator who failed because he was too dumb to understand COVID-19”)
- Why Biden’s Inaugural Address Succeeded (“In 20 minutes, the president signaled how he will approach this job and this moment in history.”)
- Senate Democrats must investigate their insurrectionist colleagues (“Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley have plenty to answer for.”)
- Giuliani concedes that an associate did ask for $20,000 a day to help Trump post-election.
- Tensions running high after gun incident near House floor (Start fining and/or expelling people.)
- Trump COVID task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx says she “always” considered quitting (Yeah, riiiiight.)
- We Have to Make the Republican Party Less Dangerous
- Vice President Harris to stay at Blair House while official residence undergoes repairs
- Trump is gone, but Marjorie Taylor Greene is keeping up the cult
- A New Era of Far-Right Violence (“The imagery of the Capitol siege will have enduring resonance.”)
- Sen. Tom Cotton campaigned on his “experience as an Army Ranger” — but he didn’t have any
- Josh Hawley’s ludicrous clean-up act is in full swing
- Don’t Worry About Joe Manchin (“The West Virginia senator was cozy with Trump for political reasons. But he’s less of an obstacle to an ambitious agenda than an organized gang of Senate moderates.”)
- New York Times Called Out for Long Column All About Joe Biden’s Rolex Watch: ‘For the Times They Are A-Trollin’ (This is the media at its worst.)
- Is Accused Stalker and Kushner Family Friend Ken Kurson Donald Trump’s Most Disturbing Pardon? (“One reason his pardon stood out is because of the ongoing threat that some of the people he allegedly stalked and harassed fear that he may pose to them now.”)
- Trump ally Matt Schlapp got $750k in unsuccessful pardon push
- Nobody — And We Mean Nobody — Was Consistently Great Like Hank Aaron
- Video: Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA07) Says President Biden’s Unity Message Was NOT Intended For Those Who Would Rise Up in Insurrection (Spanberger: “we should be unified in our aggressive denouncement of white nationalism, far-right extremism”)
- A doctor wanted to make a difference. Now he’s a top Covid adviser to Biden (That’s Virginia’s own Cameron Webb, of course.)
- Virginia Senate Democrats Insure Women’s Futures
- AG Herring Confirms Authority of General Assembly to Discipline or Expel Members
- Video: VA Senators Respond to Sen. Amanda Chase (R), Who Faces Possible Censure For Her Actions on 1/6
- Censure move goes forward against GOP contender for Va. governor (“State Sen. Amanda Chase had struck a deal to avoid censure by explaining her comments on the Senate floor. But Sen. John Bell, who sponsored the censure measure, said her words didn’t go far enough.”)
- Sen. Amanda Chase tries to head off censure, but critics say apology fell short (Here we go with the classic media “critics say…” formulation, instead of listening to the speech themselves and characterizing it accurately.)
- Schapiro: Little bills with big meaning for ordinary Virginians
- Virginia Senate repeals ban on abortion coverage for plans offered through state exchange
- Virginia Senate Passes Legislation to Repeal Ban on Abortion Coverage on Health Exchange
- Gilbert proposes bill to mitigate group, gang violence throughout Virginia
- Audio: Just a Reminder That George Allen Is Wrong About Basically *EVERYTHING*
- Friday (1/22) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +4,147 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 463,571), +139 Hospitalizations (to 20,544), +62 Deaths (to 6,002)
- Vaccine update: Can supply meet demand in Virginia? (“State health department officials say they expect to receive only about 110,000 doses a week for about a month, and a large ramp-up of supplies may not happen until March or April, when other pharmaceutical companies’ vaccines are anticipated to be ready.”)
- ‘We have been in contact with Washington:’ Gov. Northam says VA needs more COVID vaccine
- Vigils across Virginia call for the death penalty to be abolished
- Doctors, state officials and advocates push to pass legislation declaring racism a public health crisis in Virginia
- Delegates Call for Utility Rate Reform
- Family Wants Justice for Xzavier Hill, Man Shot By State Police
- Vaccination Wait Due To Limit On Doses: Fairfax Supervisors
- ‘Something to celebrate’: 2,000 school employees vaccinated during Roanoke Valley’s largest COVID-19 vaccine clinic
- Thousands of Chesterfield residents push for delay of Feb. 1 return to schools after vaccine shortage
- EDITORIAL: Transit ridership drop may be permanent
- Cold this weekend with brisk winds today, then winter storm threats start early week
********************************************************
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
