Sunday News: “Trump stays out of sight as nation prepares for transfer of power”; “America is broken – can Biden and Harris put it back together?”; “How Joe Biden was Donald Trump’s kryptonite”; “Big Tech ‘cashing in from evil’”; “Trump’s legacy in Virginia”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, January 17. And yes, the seemingly interminable period between 11/3/20 and 1/20/21 is *FINALLY* getting close to coming to an end…

• Global Efforts to Adapt to the Impacts of Climate Are Lagging as Much as Efforts to Slow Emissions
• Russian opposition leader Navalny again tests Kremlin: Supporters await return while officials threaten arrest
• France says Iran is building nuclear weapons capacity, urgent to revive 2015 deal
• Pompeo’s last-minute actions will complicate Biden’s plans
• Post-Covid Recovery Divides Rich Nations From Poor (“The economic repercussions of the pandemic, on top of existing vulnerabilities, will make it hard for developing countries to bounce back quickly”)
• Uganda’s president has become what he once fought against
• FBI probing if foreign governments, groups funded extremists who helped execute Capitol attack
• Democratic governors accuse Trump administration of misleading them about vaccine stockpile
• Some states are easing Covid-19 restrictions, while others are reaching tragic records
• The Next President Actually Has a Covid Plan
• Why are new coronavirus variants emerging in the U.S.?
• The Trial of Donald Trump Must Tell the Full Story of the Capitol Insurrection
• Troops at Inauguration Pre-Screened for Extremism, Says DC Guard Commander
• Selfies, social media posts making it easier for FBI to track down Capitol riot suspects
• 41 minutes of fear: A video timeline from inside the Capitol siege
• Timeline: How law enforcement and government officials failed to head off the U.S. Capitol attack
• Acting defense secretary orders NSA director to immediately install former GOP operative as the agency’s top lawyer (Absolutely unacceptable.)
• A Reporter’s Footage from Inside the Capitol Siege
• How Joe Biden was Donald Trump’s kryptonite (“Biden proved to be Trump’s kryptonite and helped himself tremendously by doing something very simple: allowing Trump to be Trump. The President hogged the spotlight as he worried about Biden potentially defeating him.”)
• How Republicans Are Warping Reality Around the Capitol Attack (“Loyalists to President Trump are increasingly relying on conspiracy theories and misinformation, drawing false equivalence with last summer’s racial protests and blaming outside agitators.”)
• Prospect of Pardons in Final Days Fuels Market to Buy Access to Trump (“The president’s allies have collected tens of thousands of dollars — and potentially much more — from people seeking pardons.”)
• Trump stays out of sight as nation prepares for transfer of power
• A List of the Lawmakers Who Joined Pro-Trump Crowds on the Day of the Capitol Riot (State Sen. Amanda Chase and Del. Dave LaRock from Virginia.)
• Could Mitch McConnell Get to Yes? (“Why the Republican leader should be tempted by the Senate’s opportunity to bar Trump from running for president again.”)
• Ben Sasse: QAnon Is Destroying the GOP From Within
• ‘Trump said to do so’: Accounts of rioters who say the president spurred them to rush the Capitol could be pivotal testimony
• America’s Second-Worst Scenario (“So far, cumulative acts of civic virtue have saved the republic. But the constitutional order is still in danger.”)
• How BidenWorld Is Scrambling to Prepare for January 21
• The insurrectionist next door: A new source of suburban unease
• The Trump-fueled riot shocked America. To some, it was a long time coming. (“Analysis: The attack on the Capitol wasn’t a matter of ‘if,’ to those who warned about violence under Trump. It was ‘when.'” So why have those warnings been ignored?!?)
• The House and Senate GOP are operating in different political universes
• America is broken – can Biden and Harris put it back together?
• A First for an American President, and a First for Donald Trump (“In the final moments of his presidency, Mr. Trump is confronting an unfamiliar fate: He is being held to account as never before for things he has said.”)
• Trumpists on top? President exits having cleaved the Republican party in two
• The selective restraint of American police on display at the Capitol riot amazed me (“We ran from police, even when we were innocent. White people freely walk towards cops even while committing crimes” For anyone who’s paid the slightest attention, this isn’t surprising at all. Horrifying and unacceptable, yes, but not surprising, unless you’re completely oblivious and/or in denial)
• Misinformation dropped dramatically the week after Twitter banned Trump (Clearly, we have part of our answer here regarding dangerous, false information on social media…ban the accounts that push the toxic sludge out!)
• Parler’s de-platforming shows the exceptional power of cloud providers like Amazon
• AP Exclusive: Selena Gomez: Big Tech ‘cashing in from evil’
• Social media can’t ‘silence’ a president. Trump did that to himself.
• Editorial: History shows that insurrection necessitates stern response
• Trump’s Shambolic Empire Faces Long Odds for One More Comeback
• Can The Forces Unleashed By Trump’s Big Election Lie Be Undone? (Wow, NPR actually used the word “lie” in one of its headlines, after four pathetic years of using every weak euphemism in the book.)
• Threats transform capital into military zone ahead of inauguration
• New York Prosecutors Interview Michael Cohen About Trump’s Finances
• Trump Job Approval Plunging As He Leaves Office and Faces Trial (It’s crazy that it took all this, and it’s crazy it’s still not at zero.)
• Democrats seize on GOP donor fallout
• Some In The GOP Parrot Far-Right Talk Of A Coming Civil War (“War-like imagery is spreading in Republican circles post-Capitol riot. Democrats believe isn’t an accident.”)
• Major NRA donor to challenge gun group’s bankruptcy over alleged fraud
• When Biden Becomes … Rooseveltian!
• Harris to be sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor at inauguration
• Biden minimum wage proposal could lift more than 1 million workers out of poverty
• Biden Seeks Quick Start With Executive Actions and Aggressive Legislation
• Biden to sign executive orders rejoining Paris climate accord and rescinding travel ban on first day
• Biden plans a flurry of executive orders, new legislation for first days as president
• Giuliani says he’s working on Trump’s impeachment defense, would argue voter fraud claims
• Trump leaves behind a GOP both broken and still in his grip
• Trump’s ‘Law and Order’: One More Deceptive Tactic Is Exposed
• The far right embraces violence because it has no real political program (“Theatrical brutality makes people believe they have power, even if they don’t.”)
• Trump retreats from his job, and Pence fills the void as ‘acting’ president
• Trump to flee Washington and seek rehabilitation in a MAGA oasis: Florida
• We led a 50-50 Senate. Sharing power is so much harder now. (By Tom Daschle and Trent Lott)
• Katie Porter is off the House Financial Services Committee. We’re all worse off for it.
• After White House Meeting with Trump, Mike Lindell Calls for Military Coup on Facebook (Why has Lindell not been arrested yet?)
• Fox News Can Barely Admit the Capitol Riot Is a Story (Fox is toxic/highly dangerous to our democracy; lawmakers should do whatever they can, within the bounds of First Amendment free speech protections, to rein it in.)
• Scoop: Comms director for gun-toting congresswoman quits
• What Madison Cawthorn Saw at the Insurrection The youngest member of Congress is invigorated by the mob he helped incite. (This guy’s a disaster.)
• A man with a gun arrested by Capitol Police at a security checkpoint calls it an ‘honest mistake.’ (Riiiiight.)
• Front Royal man arrested with fake inaugural credentials, loaded gun and 500 rounds of ammo
• Front Royal Man Arrested After Trying to Get Through DC Checkpoint
• Far-right activist ‘Baked Alaska’ is among the latest Capitol rioters to be arrested.
• Dating apps are using images from the siege to ban rioters’ accounts
• Obenshain: Cline and Griffith betray constitution (“Obenshain is a retired attorney in Botetourt County. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for state Senate in 2003.”)
• McAuliffe’s fundraising for Virginia governor’s race beats all rivals — combined (“The former governor had $5.5 million on hand heading into the new year.”)
• McAuliffe dominates gubernatorial fundraising, reporting more cash than all opponents combined
• Schapiro: Matchmaker, matchmaker make Democrats a match
• [UPDATED 1/16] Fundraising Numbers for 2021 Virginia Statewide, House of Delegates Candidates Are Now In
• Video: Senator Surovell Explains Why It’s Highly Likely House of Delegates Will Have to Run Three Years In a Row – 2021 (Under Current Lines), 2022 and 2023 (Under New Lines)
• Video: AG Mark Herring Says “we have to hold those elected officials who are fanning the flames, repeating the lies, accountable” (“You MUST take these threats from white supremacist extremists very seriously and we are”)
• As nomination battle for Va. governor revs up, some worry the GOP is stuck in neutral (“Republicans are on shaky ground in this increasingly blue state, where the outgoing president is deeply unpopular but still has a grip on the GOP base. And the terrain has shifted unpredictably just in the past six weeks, since the committee narrowly decided a convention was the way to go, with fears about Chase’s candidacy seeming to tip the balance.”)
• Opinion: Virginia should seize this moment to abolish the death penalty
• Editorial: Trump’s legacy in Virginia (“The Trump years saw realignment accelerate in Virginia as suburban voters recoiled from Trump and his party. In those 2017 elections, Democrats gained far more seats in the House of Delegates than they had expected. Two years later, they won full control of the General Assembly — and keep in mind they were running in House districts that Republicans had gerrymandered against them. That would not have happened without Trump. Ironically, everything that Republicans despise — such as the state’s new gun laws, the power localities now have to take down Confederate statues, new restrictions on police — have happened because suburban voters reacted so negatively to the Republican president.”)
• Opinion: G3 program would remove financial obstacles to college study
• Debate over how to pick GOP nominee for Virginia governor cut short (“The perennial convention-primary debate is especially heated and scrambled this year.” This party’s a mess.)
• McClellan, Boysko, Favola and Hope: Roe v. Wade isn’t enough in 2021
• Volatility from federal government stunts Virginia’s plans to expand vaccine access, supply needed may not come for months
• Saturday (1/16) Virginia Data on COVID-19: Record-High 1-Day (+6,757), 2-Day (+11,552), 3-Day (+16,846), 10-Day (+52,091) New Cases
• If teachers get raise, state employees ask ‘why not us?’ (Agreed; there’s no good reason why not.)
• As demand for vaccines far outstrips supply, health districts try to maximize available doses
• As more vaccine clinics are held, officials remind people the shots don’t provide instant immunity
• Virginia bet on games of skill to bring in COVID-19 relief money, and now lawmakers want to allow machines to continue
• Lawmaker looks to rein in law enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology
• Bridges from Virginia into D.C. will be closed 48 hours for inauguration; Amtrak to halt some routes
• Seasonable with decent sunshine through Inauguration Day