Wednesday News: “The Pandemic Is Heading Toward a Strange In-Between Time”; “Democrats Speed Ahead on Economic Aid Package”; “Trump powers GOP schism over Taylor Greene and Cheney”; “GQP”; “Bezos to Cede Chief Executive Officer Role”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, February 3.

• Britain scrambles to contain Covid mutations, spread of variant from South Africa
• AstraZeneca vaccine can slow the spread of Covid and delayed second dose works, Oxford data shows (“Researchers at the University of Oxford found that the Covid-19 vaccine was 76% effective at preventing symptomatic infection for three months after a single dose, and in fact that the efficacy rate rose with a longer interval before the first and second doses.”)
• The AstraZeneca vaccine is shown to drastically cut transmission of the virus.
• Myanmar coup: China blocks UN condemnation as protest grows
• Myanmar coup: Aung San Suu Kyi charged as civil disobedience grows (“Ousted leader accused of breaches of import-export law as military to investigate election fraud”)
• A culture war is brewing in North Korea. It shows Kim Jong Un’s deepest fear.
• ‘Their goal is to destroy everyone’: Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape
• Navalny’s fiery indictment of the ‘small man in a bunker’ could rattle Putin’s autocracy
• Aleksei Navalny Is Resisting Putin, and Winning (“The opposition leader was sentenced to prison, but he has mobilized a vast movement that’s not done growing.”)
• Alexei Navalny is going to prison. Can his movement to depose Vladimir Putin survive?
• Study: China’s New Coal Power Plant Capacity in 2020 More Than 3 Times Rest of World’s (That’s a huge problem.)
• Belarus Signals Lukashenko Won’t Cede Any Real Power at Congress
• UK asks EU for Brexit grace period extension to 2023, BBC reports (“Brexit” remains a monumentally stupid, self-inflicted wound.)
• Coronavirus is in the air — there’s too much focus on surfaces
• President Biden Has the Most Ambitious Climate Change Plan in US History. Will It Be Enough to Save the Planet? (That’s a silly way to “frame” it.)
• Biden team in talks with utilities, car companies about emissions: climate adviser
• The Pandemic Is Heading Toward a Strange In-Between Time (“Americans can plan for the pandemic’s end in the fall. What happens between now and then?”)
• 70% to 85% of Americans need to be fully vaccinated for a return to normal, Fauci says. So far it’s less than 2% (“Fauci said he’s hopeful the country can get to that high level of vaccinations by the end of the summer to the beginning of fall.”)
• With 28 Executive Orders Signed, President Biden Is Off To A Record Start (“Biden signed three executive orders on immigration Tuesday, setting himself up to close in on a record set by Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.”)
• As GameStop stock crumbles, newbie traders reckon with heavy losses
• GOP courts Biden, who signals he might move without them
• Coronavirus relief poses early test of Democratic unity
• Democrats Speed Ahead on Economic Aid Package (“As Republicans pressed President Biden to scale back his $1.9 trillion plan, Democrats initiated a Senate process to allow for quick passage. The party-line vote of 50 to 49 set the stage to advance Mr. Biden’s plan through budget reconciliation, bypassing the need for Republican support.”)
• Biden is smart to pursue more than one path on a relief package
• Trump’s Senate impeachment trial won’t be a waste of time
• In choosing to acquit Trump, Republicans will convict themselves
• Democrats should force Republicans to defend their worst (“Either they embrace the crazies, or they marginalize them.”)
• Impeachment Managers Argue Trump Is ‘Singularly Responsible’ For Capitol Attack (Zero doubt about it.)
• Impeachment trial: Trump lawyers claim ‘fight like hell’ speech didn’t incite riot (Yeah, they definitely DID incite the riot.)
• White House open to narrowing who qualifies for stimulus checks but keeping payments at $1,400 per person
• Gulf grows between GOP’s McConnell, McCarthy
• The GOP is having a reckoning, and McConnell seems to be on the right side
• Has Mitch McConnell been struck by a Jewish space laser? (LOL)
• GOP Discord Once Again Has Trump At Its Center
• Trump Lost Twitter and the Presidency. Guess Which One Hurts More? (“Sure, he liked riding Air Force One and destroying the Constitution as much as the next guy. But what he really loved was heaping abuse on people.”)
• The Memo: It’s Trump vs. McConnell in battle for GOP’s soul
• What’s gotten into Mitch McConnell? (“I think it’s two things: freedom from the shackles of the Trump presidency, and his astute political calculation that he has a now-or-never opportunity to lead the GOP away from the toxicity of Trump and QAnon crazies like Greene.”)
• Trump powers GOP schism over Taylor Greene and Cheney
• 4 million teachers demand Greene be removed from House education committee
• McCarthy Meets With Rep. Greene While GOP Faces Cheney Decision
• Senate Republicans move against ‘nutty’ House member in widening GOP rift
• Marjorie Taylor Greene mocked Parkland survivor in unearthed video: An ‘idiot’ who’s trained ‘like a dog’ (Greene is an utterly heinous individual.)
• House Dems move to yoke GOP to QAnon
• GOP senators distance themselves from Marjorie Taylor Greene but no decision yet on removing her from committees
• GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville says he doesn’t know anything about Marjorie Taylor Greene because bad weather has prevented him from reading the news (The Senate’s stupidest member…and that’s saying something!)
• Shrinking the GOP, one state at a time
• Majority Leader Schumer Announces Senate Democratic Committee Memberships For The 117th Congress
• The QAnon Delusion Has Not Loosened Its Grip
• Bidens pay their respects to Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick as officer lies in honor at Capitol
• Investigators struggle to build murder case in death of US Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick
• Why do 70 million Americans — and many members of Congress — still follow Trump? (“Trump’s mass of followers is a huge problem for America — but they’re not all the same. This taxonomy should help”)
• New filing suggests Mark Meadows under investigation for campaign finance violations (“Former Trump chief in jeopardy: Watchdog group filed complaint against Meadows in October, based on Salon’s report”)
• Capitol riot suspect asks court’s permission to vacation in Mexico – and gets it (No, a Black person would NOT be treated like this. Totally f’ed up.)
• State Republican Leaders Are Rushing to Exploit Trump’s Big Lie (Congress and the courts need to override this crap.)
• Lawmakers aim to dissolve ‘draconian’ law that placed heavy financial burden on Postal Service
• Austin ousts Pentagon advisory board members as he roots out Trump appointees
• House votes to impose fines of up to $10,000 on lawmakers who flout security screening
• The second act of Jeff Bezos could be as big as his first (“Jeff Bezos isn’t getting less powerful. His power is just getting less obvious.”)
• Amazon’s Bezos to Cede Chief Executive Officer Role to Jassy
• Jeff Bezos Walks Through a One-Way Door, Opening a New Age for Amazon
• Amazon’s Incoming CEO Andy Jassy Ushered in Cloud Computing Boom
• Scoop: Schiff lobbying Newsom to be California’s next AG
• How neo-Nazis used the internet to instigate a right-wing extremist crisis (“The number of active hate groups in the US is falling as they find new places to hide online.”)
• The Capitol Rioters Aren’t Like Other Extremists (“We analyzed 193 people arrested in connection with the January 6 riot—and found a new kind of American radicalism.”)
• The Extremist Allure for People of Color (“Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio has tried to sell the group as welcoming to people of color. Those who’ve bought the message are fixated on proximity to power at any cost.”
• Manhattan district attorney considering prosecuting Stephen Bannon following his pardon by Trump in federal fraud case
• Right-wing media fuel audience anger, then try to dodge accountability when it results in violence
• Fox News Ratings Free Fall Is a ‘Self-Inflicted Wound,’ Insiders Say (Fox is scum.)
• Fox News Ripped For Skipping Coverage Of Memorial For Slain Capitol Police Officer (Did I mention that Fox is scum? Oh yes, I did, lol.)
• Newsmax host walks off-screen after MyPillow CEO touts election fraud claims (This is hilarious, in a warped sorta way.)
• EXCLUSIVE: Attorney Lin Wood under investigation over whether he voted illegally in November, officials say (Of course…”projection” yet again.)
• Turnout dip among Georgia Republicans flipped U.S. Senate
• Sen. Tim Kaine Drops Censure Effort, Says Rs “don’t want to bar Trump from running,” and For Ds “it’s impeachment or nothing”
• Video: Nearly Three Months After Election Day, Nick Freitas (R) Finally Concedes That He Lost to Rep. Abigail Spanberger (R-VA07)
• Six Virginia Democratic Candidates and Lawmakers File Lawsuit to Allow Petitions to Be Signed Digitally During Pandemic
• Amanda Chase Leads the Virginia GOP’s Reckless Bolt to the Right (“Virginia Republicans ‘don’t know where they’re going,’ but all roads lead to Trumpism”)
• Tuesday (2/2) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +2,740 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 510,380), +72 Hospitalizations (to 21,516), +43 Deaths (to 6,517)
• CVS to begin COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Virginia next week
• VA Teenage Rs Sign Letter Condemning QAnon, Declaring “conspiracy theories and violence do not belong in the GOP”; Do the *Adults* in the VA GOP Agree — or Not?!?
• Jennifer Carroll Foy Proposes Ban on Corporate Contributions and Unlimited Personal Donations; New Lobbying Restrictions
• No Exceptions: Virginia House Unanimously Supports Campaign Finance Bill (A very, very minor bill.)
• Marijuana legalization advances in Virginia, but lawmakers push start date to 2024 (“That would give the state time to establish an independent agency to oversee marijuana businesses, an idea lawmakers said they favored over Northam’s proposal to delegate the responsibility to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority, which, in addition to running the state’s liquor stores, also functions as a law enforcement agency.”)
• Virginia Senate passes legislation that would require school districts to offer in-person learning option (This bill is NOT helpful.)
• Virginia State Senate Votes 26-13 For Bill That “[r]equires each local school division to make in-person learning”
• Va. House committee advances bill giving FOIA exemption to new Northam cabinet officials
• School Building Fund Legislation Advances
• The Legislative Effort to Make Environmental Justice Part of Virginia’s Code
• Spurred on by Pandemic, Lawmakers Seek to Address Hunger, Nutrition
• Jennifer Carroll Foy Proposes Ban on Corporate Contributions and Unlimited Personal Donations; New Lobbying Restrictions
• When Is It Going To Be the “Right Time” and What Is It Going to Take to Repeal So-Called “Right-to-Work” Anti-Union, Anti-Worker Law in Virginia?
• Bicycling safety bill passes Virginia House, rolls on to Senate
• Virginia Senate unanimously passes McClellan measure for stronger foreclosure protections
• Virginia must prevent wrongful executions
• Bill to abolish death penalty in Virginia survived amendment attempts and is set for debate by full Senate on Wednesday
• Will the Mountain Valley Pipeline Get the Keystone XL Treatment? (Just like Keystone XL, the Mountain Valley Pipeline has serious negative climate implications and, in general, “disserves the U.S. national interest”)
• Dennis H. Treacy and Michael Rao column: Investing in higher education benefits all Virginians
• Video: Sean Perryman Releases First Campaign Ad, “Path Forward”, Reflecting on Career of Activism and Progressive Integrity
• Virginia set to pass historic bill giving students time off to protest — because teen Republicans and Democrats teamed up to demand it
• Fairfax, Montgomery say data shows inequities in distribution of coronavirus vaccine
• Former Rocky Mount Cops Plead Not Guilty to Federal Charges
• Norfolk Southern faces environmental violations in train derailment, coal spill in Roanoke County
• Amazon unveils Helix building as heart of campus in Arlington (“Architects said their inspiration for the double helix comes from nature’s fondness for the form in everything from DNA to the Milky Way”)
• Makeshift masks won’t cut it anymore on Hampton Roads public transit, officials say
• Liberty University president apologizes after students ignore COVID-19 rules at snowball fight
• Editorial: Norfolk’s silence over development effort won’t work
• A few more snow showers possible this morning. Another weekend winter storm?