Tuesday News: “Putin Isn’t as Strong as He Looks”; “U.S. Hits Pandemic Milestone With More Vaccinated Than Cases”; The GOP Is “Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Party Now”; “Trumpism is American fascism”; “Please, Joe Manchin, use your powers for good!”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, February 2.

• The Brazil Variant Is Exposing the World’s Vulnerability (“Somehow the coronavirus is rampaging through a city that was supposedly immune.”)
• Myanmar coup tests Biden’s ability to work with allies in Asia, where China’s influence is growing
• Myanmar coup: military tightens grip amid calls for Aung San Suu Kyi to be freed
• Myanmar coup: who are the military figures running the country? (“Army stalwarts take over Myanmar leadership after coup that removed Aung San Suu Kyi and her allies from government”)
• Suu Kyi’s party demands her release as Myanmar generals tighten grip on power
• Biden threatens sanctions, weighs ‘coup’ label for Myanmar military’s takeover
• Chinese government reports of 120 gigawatts of wind and solar installed last year have confounded industry analysts. (“What Is Going on With China’s Crazy Clean Energy Installation Figures?”)
• Next three years will be huge for big wind and solar projects in Australia
• Putin Isn’t as Strong as He Looks
• Biden to Free Up Billions in Delayed Puerto Rico Storm Aid
• Economics’ failure over destruction of nature presents ‘extreme risks’ (“New measures of success needed to avoid catastrophic breakdown, landmark review finds”)
• France Says Europe’s Vaccine Strategy Is Safer Than the U.K.’s
• Russia is trying to set the rules for the Internet. The U.N. saw through the ruse.
• Biden Overrules Trump on UAE Tariff, Keeping Aluminum Duties
• How to spot the tricks Big Oil uses to subvert action on climate change
• Covid-19 Live Updates: Moderna Could Boost Vaccine Supply by Adding Doses to Vials
• Virus Variants Continue to Evolve, Sometimes in Dangerous Ways
• The Sputnik V Vaccine and Russia’s Race to Immunity
• Those who had Covid-19 could get reinfected if the variants become dominant, Fauci says
• Moderna Increases COVID-19 Vaccine Shipments While Pfizer Lags Behind
  
• U.S. Hits Pandemic Milestone With More Vaccinated Than Cases
• Covid Wears on, Essential Workers Carry on: ‘Everybody Forgets That You’re Still on the Front Line’
• Biden Plans to Roll Back Trump’s Refugee and Asylum Crackdowns
• Reddit Trades Crumble as GameStop, AMC and Silver Plunge
• Biden needs to steel US morale for the next stage of the Covid battle
• Biden Stimulus May Be Democrat-Only Despite Cordial GOP Meeting
• An estimated 29 million people would lose out on stimulus payments under GOP proposal
• Check Out the Cheap-Ass Republican Relief Plan
• Why There Probably Won’t Be a Bipartisan COVID Bill (“And how Republicans will try to use reconciliation to make Democrats miserable.”)
• Americans want Covid-19 relief done fast — even if it takes budget reconciliation
• What the Republican counteroffer to Biden’s stimulus plan means (“Can Biden make a deal?”)
• Judge throws out Trump rule limiting what science EPA can use
• An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2020 Election
• Why A Biden Blowout Didn’t Happen (And Why A 2024 Blowout Is Unlikely, Too)
• The Economy Does Much Better Under Democrats. Why? (“G.D.P., jobs and other indicators have all risen more slowly under Republicans for nearly the past century.”)
• Trump and the Republican Party Spent Donations on Spreading the Rigged Election Lie
• Prosecuting Trump is more essential than ever
• Are Democrats really worried about a Trump trial? Here’s an answer. (“Democrats can pursue the full accounting of the assault on the Capitol that the country deserves.”)
• Lindsey Graham Warns Democrats Against Calling Witnesses To Trump Impeachment Trial (The general rule should be that if Lindsey Graham says something, do the exact opposite.)
• Watchdogs Appointed by Trump Pose Dilemma for Biden
• Impossible Foods cuts faux meat prices by 20% at grocery stores (“Impossible Foods said on Tuesday it would cut the prices of its faux meat patties by 20% at U.S. grocery stores as the plant-based protein maker ramps up production with a larger plan to eventually undercut ground beef prices.”)
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ‘I’m a Survivor of Sexual Assault’
• New GOP group raises money to smear Stacey Abrams — and she’s not running for anything (Disgusting.)
• ‘This path is untenable’: can the Republican party split with Trumpism?
• President Biden is right to give bipartisanship a chance. Republicans must follow. (Is the WaPo clueless or willfully naive or what?)
• The latest attempt to normalize the Republican Party (“The fringe of the GOP is the mainstream.”)
• The GOP once knew what to do about problems like Marjorie Taylor Greene
• Why Giving Marjorie Taylor Greene the Steve King Treatment Might Not Work (“Greene’s appeal is based solely on extremism, unlike Iowa’s ousted agrarian rep.”)
• Rob Portman has done more damage to America than Marjorie Taylor Greene
• House Democrats move swiftly to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of committee assignments
• As House GOP faces decision on its future, McConnell defends Cheney, rebukes Greene in rare set of statements
• It’s Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Party Now
• Trumpism is American fascism (This is by conservative Michael Gerson.)
• McConnell says Taylor Greene’s embrace of conspiracy theories a ‘cancer’ to GOP, country
• First on CNN: Liz Cheney gets boost from McConnell amid divisive intraparty battle over Trump’s impeachment
• Dems deliver GOP ultimatum over Marjorie Taylor Greene
• Marjorie Taylor Greene: I’m meeting with Trump ‘soon’
• McCarthy seeks shift from party’s civil war (Haha, good luck with THAT!)
• Scoop: Fees — not just strategy — blew up Trump’s legal team
• Trump pollster’s campaign autopsy paints damning picture of defeat
• Poor handling of virus cost Trump his reelection, campaign report finds (“The 27-page document shows that voters in 10 key states rated the pandemic as their top voting issue, and that President Biden won higher marks on the topic.”)
• Republican State Legislatures Are Radicalizing Against Democracy
• A Pennsylvania Mother’s Path to Insurrection
• Facebook and Twitter can do something about deceptive news. So why don’t they?
• Anti-vaccine protest at Dodger Stadium was organized on Facebook, including promotion of banned ‘Plandemic’ video (Facebook continues to suck; Congress needs to act.)
• Democrats will expand their Senate majority in 2022
• Tim Ryan, a Top Democrat in Ohio, Is Said to Plan Senate Bid
• Trump Official’s Last-Day Deal With ICE Union Ties Biden’s Hands (F’ing Ken Cuccinelli again…)
• Trump Official Cut Deal to Keep ICE Policies Going Under Biden: Report (“According to a whistle-blower complaint revealed by the New York Times on Monday, that effort included an agreement between DHS official Ken Cuccinelli and the union that represents Immigration and Customs Enforcement — an agreement that would give ICE something like veto power over any policy changes.”)
• Here Are The Immigration Actions President Biden Plans To Sign
• Trump’s Sleight of Hand: Shouting Fraud, Pocketing Donors’ Cash for Future
• Pressure builds on Manchin to back Biden relief bill
• West Virginia governor urges Congress to ‘go big’ on COVID-19 relief
• Please, Joe Manchin, use your powers for good!
• Officer Who Shot Capitol Rioter Ashli Babbitt Shouldn’t Be Charged, Investigators Advise
• Ga. bills would end no-excuse absentee voting, automatic registration (Disgusting. Congress needs to pass national voting rights legislation.)
• Senators Warner, Kaine Press U.S. Postmaster General on Continued Widespread Mail Service Delays for Virginians
• Editorial: Why Kaine’s censure resolution might be better than impeachment (Nah.)
• Virginia’s 1st Congressional Democratic Committee Pushes for Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA01) to Resign
• 2021 VA GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Pete Snyder Endorsed by Rabid Xenophobe Ken Cuccinelli, Right Wingnut Mark Obenshain, etc.
• VA State Sen. Amanda Chase (R) Files Lawsuit in Federal Court Alleging Her Censure Constitutes a “Civil Rights Violation”
• Legislator censured after praising Capitol rioters files suit against Virginia Senate
• Virginia Republicans Sprint to the Right, Fight to Prove Support for Donald Trump (“From the deadly attack on our Capitol to the horrific, inhumane family separation policy — Virginia Republicans must take a stand on the key elements of the Donald Trump agenda”)
• Environmental justice advocates push Virginia to act on regional transportation pact (“The recently revamped Virginia Council on Environmental Justice is among groups that want the state to commit to the Transportation and Climate Initiative.”)
• Senate moves to make ballot drop-off boxes permanent, publicize individual parole board votes, move primary elections (There’s no good reason to move the primary elections, but other than that…good.)
• Virginia lawmakers unanimously pass legislation to expand the state’s pool of COVID-19 vaccinators
• Monday (2/1) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +2,861 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 507,640), +35 Hospitalizations (to 21,444), +10 Deaths (to 6,474)
• Virginia has sped up its vaccine distribution and pulled ahead of most states. But equity concerns remain high.
• Virginia health officials say COVID-19 vaccines aren’t being wasted. But they won’t release data backing it up.
• Virginia may be first in south to abolish death penalty and abandon ‘legalized lynching’
• Voting Rights Act of Virginia Passes House of Delegates
• New Wason Center Poll: Virginians “support pot legalization, paid sick leave; most would repeal death penalty, minimum sentencing; health care, schools favored most for budget increases”
• Virginia lawmakers split on criminal penalties as they work to legalize marijuana
• Video: Delegates Schuyler VanValkenburg, Charniele Herring, Elizabeth Guzman Rip Del. Glenn Davis (R)’s False Claim That Governor’s School Bill Somehow Lowers the “Admissions Bar” (Del. Guzman: “That phrase is an offensive dog whistle” Del. Herring: “Not only is [what Del. Davis said] shortsighted, it’s very offensive”)
• Conservation Groups File Request for Emergency Stay of FERC Approvals on Mountain Valley Pipeline
• Bills to lift veil from Virginia Parole Board receiving bipartisan support in General Assembly
• Richmond Electoral Board votes to remove city’s top election official after tense public hearing
• VMI committed to honor code but will review procedural aspects to justice system
• Councilperson Mike Jones Announces Campaign for 69th Virginia House of Delegates District (Jones charges that incumbent Del. Betsy Carr has “failed to apply voice or energy to the system that holds so many of us back”)
• Anthony J. Romanello column: Henrico, state poised to become international leader in renewable energy
• Fairfax supervisors laud departing police chief, appoint interim replacement
• Blustery snow showers today with sunshine by Wednesday