by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, February 22.
- UN: The world must make huge changes to save the planet
- Why Does the Pandemic Seem to Be Hitting Some Countries Harder Than Others?
- Myanmar junta warns of lethal force as crowds gather for ‘five twos revolution’ (“Protesters compare date – 22.2.2021 – to 8 August 1988, when military cracked down on pro-democracy rallies”)
- Myanmar gripped by strike as anti-coup protests build
- Iran Curbs Nuclear Inspectors, but Appears to Leave Space for a Deal (“The new limits appeared to be lighter than the country had threatened, giving Western nations three months to see if they can revive the 2015 nuclear agreement.”)
- Biden’s move on Iran: No breakthrough but worth trying
- Iran, U.N. Regulators Agree On Reduced — But Continued — Nuclear Verification
- A U.S.-Iran deal is ultimately possible because Iran needs money, analyst says (“Washington and Tehran will ultimately be able to strike a nuclear agreement because Iran needs relief from economic sanctions, according to Richard Goldberg of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.”)
- Trump Reportedly Made A Bonkers Air Force One Offer To Kim Jong Un (“Trump’s aides were ‘stunned’ by the offer to the North Korean dictator.” Gotta love how Trump aides were always “stunned” that batsh*t Trump kept doing batsh*t things! LOL)
- Biden Aiming For Bigger Vaccine Numbers Beyond 100 Million In 100 Day Goal (“The president has expressed confidence the U.S. is on course to reach and surpass that target for COVID-19 vaccinations.”)
- What it’s like to die from Covid-19 (“‘I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy’: Doctors describe what their sickest coronavirus patients endure”)
- US to reach unfathomable Covid-19 death toll at pivotal moment (“ANALYSIS America will soon reach the 500,000th death from Covid, almost equivalent to the combined US losses in two world wars”)
- Biden to mark upcoming 500,000 Covid deaths with candle lighting ceremony
- Burden on U.S. Hospitals Eases as Covid-19 Cases Decline
- Blue-Collar Jobs Boom as Covid-19 Boosts Housing, E-Commerce Demand
- Analysis: Fed’s Powell set table for Biden economy, but will he stay for dessert?
- On the Post-Pandemic Horizon, Could That Be … a Boom? (“Signs of economic life are picking up, and mounds of cash are waiting to be spent as the virus loosens its grip.”)
- Biden readies changes to PPP to prioritize small, minority-owned businesses
- Biden’s Agenda To Come Into Sharper Focus, Even As Trump Plots His Comeback
- Biden’s $1.9 Trillion Stimulus Plan Enters Three-Week Congress Dash
- Biden passes one-month mark with less than half a Cabinet (“‘It’s time to move,’ said one former Biden aide who is in touch with the White House. ‘Impeachment is behind us and these are nominees that need to be in place. From a health secretary amidst a pandemic to a host of others that are needed to help our country recover and help our country function.'”)
- Merrick Garland’s 2-day confirmation hearing to be Biden’s attorney general starts Monday morning
- Garland expected to face tough questions during confirmation hearing to be Biden’s attorney general
- Climate Threats Could Mean Big Jumps in Insurance Costs This Year
- Why Impeachment Doesn’t Work (“Long before Donald Trump arrived, there was reason to be skeptical of impeachment’s power.”)
- Pundits are wrong. We don’t need a functional GOP. (“A party based on bad ideas doesn’t help democracy.”)
- Biden is president, but Trump’s election lies are still being amplified by his media allies
- United takes 24 Boeing 777s out of service as the FAA orders inspections following engine failure
- Juan Williams: The GOP is a party without ideas (Authoritarianism and voter suppression are “ideas” of a sort.)
- Oath Keeper claims she was VIP security at Trump rally before riot and says she met with Secret Service agents
- The Lost Hours: How Confusion and Inaction at the Capitol Delayed a Troop Deployment
- Democrats Should Stand Back and Let Donald and Mitch Tear Apart the GOP (“So long as Trump remains the leader and face of the GOP, he will remind swing voters of the sewer of extremism the party has become.”)
- QAnon’s corrosive impact on the U.S.
- Financial author William Cohan on how Trump can make billions — and save himself one more time (“Wall Street expert says Trump can soak his cultists all over again — and no, GameStop didn’t stick it to the man”)
- ‘The former guy’: Biden and his aides work to ignore Trump — but it won’t be easy
- Republicans failing to toe the Trumpist line feel wrath of their state parties (“Analysis: Members of Senate and House are targets but some doubt wisdom of enforcing fealty to the one-term president”)
- Anti-Trumpers are done with the GOP. Where do they go now?
- “Mark Changed The Rules”: How Facebook Went Easy On Alex Jones And Other Right-Wing Figures
- Impeachment is over. But other efforts to reckon with Trump’s post-election chaos have just begun.
- Exclusive: Defeated and impeached, Trump still commands the loyalty of the GOP’s voters
- Interior Pick Haaland Draws GOP Ire Over Opposition to Fracking (Opposition to fracking is, in fact, a good thing.)
- The collapse of its energy grid may make Texas the next solar hot spot
- Why Texas Republicans Fear the Green New Deal (“Small government is no match for a crisis born of the state’s twin addictions to market fixes and fossil fuels.”)
- Days Before Blackouts, One Texas Power Giant Sounded the Alarm
- ‘Where is Greg Abbott?’ Anger grows at Texas governor in deadly storm’s wake
- Texas Power Grid Run by ERCOT Set Up the State for Disaster
- Texas GOP congressman knocks Cruz for Cancun trip and says when a crisis hits, ‘I’m not going to go on some vacation’
- Opinion: Rush Limbaugh died as he lived — dividing America (“Rush Limbaugh was a divisive, mean-spirited figure who made American politics worse, columnist Mary McNamara writes.”)
- Paleologos on the Poll: Move over Fox News, Trump voters are shifting toward Newsmax, OANN
- Poll: Almost Half of Republicans Would Drop GOP, Join Trump Party
- Police Misconduct Costs Cities Millions Every Year. But That’s Where The Accountability Ends.
- Nine Lessons I Learned About Political Reporting While Covering Trump
- Health officials consider changes to Virginia’s vaccine distribution strategy amid concerns over equity
- Positive coronavirus tests fall back to pre-Christmas levels in Virginia
- Sunday (2/21) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +2,303 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 564,115), +45 Hospitalizations (to 23,481), +134 Deaths (to 7,331)
- Google Trends Graphs For Virginia Gubernatorial Candidates Show Amanda Chase Clearly in the Lead
- Democrats usher in election reforms, from anti-discrimination protections to earlier ballot counting
- Amanda Chase Responds to “Joking Jimmy” Kimmel After He Calls Her “Dumb” For Not Wearing a Mask, Being Forced to Sit in a “Plexiglass Box”
- Graphs: Twitter, Facebook Followers For All Virginia 2021 Gubernatorial, LG and AG Candidates
- Disinformation Fuels A White Evangelical Movement. It Led 1 Virginia Pastor To Quit
- Virginia Council of Muslim Organizations Urges Reconsideration, Approval of Governor’s Schools Legislation
- Another Election, Another Phony Rural vs. NOVA Educational Fight (Paul Goldman: “We cannot fix education with a racist Educational Clause in the Constitution.”)
- State NAACP seeks investigation of Senate committee process that did not reappoint Chesterfield judge
- Virginia Moves Closer to Ban Plastic Foam Containers
- Virginia Tech breached confidentiality with cadet lawsuit statement, lawyers say
- This Virginia coal-mining equipment supplier sees a future in clean energy (“Employees at Lawrence Brothers Inc. in Tazewell County, Virginia, use lasers to create steel battery trays for a range of industries. Laser technology has helped the business diversify beyond coal.”)
- Arlington Co. Board votes no on property tax increase
- Pakistani woman says Northern Virginia housekeeping job was labor trafficking
- A brief wintry mix today before a February thaw
********************************************************