Saturday News: “After half a century in politics, Joe Biden finally has perfect timing”; “Fauci Has 1-Word Response To Question About ‘What Changed’ Around Jan. 20”; “The Walls Are Closing in on Cuomo, Fast”; “Gov. Northam considers speeding up legalization of marijuana”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, March 13.

• Biden’s meeting with “the Quad,” a new alliance to counter China, explained
• Myanmar coup: six protesters killed as world leaders vow to restore democracy (“Deaths come as US, India, Australia and Japan vow to work together to address crisis in Myanmar”)
• U.S. trying to contact Aung San Suu Kyi, detainees after civilian officials die in Myanmar military custody
• BioNTech CEO Says Vaccine Production Needs to Get Even Faster
• China Aims to Vaccinate 70-80% of Population By Mid-2022
• Biden readying new sanctions on Russia over Nord Stream 2 pipeline
• Europe Struggles to Defend Itself Against a Weaponized Dollar
• The Market’s Message to Global Central Banks: ‘You’re Wrong’
• Russia detains around 150 people, including leading opposition figures, at Moscow meeting
• Bitcoin Hits Another Record as Largest Token Extends 2021 Rally
• Biden Takes First Tentative Steps to Address Global Vaccine Shortage
• U.S. appears poised to postpone troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
• Despite Encouraging Downward Trend, U.S. Covid Deaths Remain High (“Nearly 1,500 people are dying of Covid-19 every day in the United States, a number that is lower than the peaks but exceeds the highest rate in July.”)
• Fauci Has 1-Word Response To Question About ‘What Changed’ Around Jan. 20 (“The nation’s top infectious disease expert set ‘Late Show’ host Stephen Colbert off laughing with his succinct answer.”)
• Abandoning masks now is a terrible idea. The 1918 pandemic shows why.
• 17 Reasons to Let the Economic Optimism Begin (“A reporter who has tracked decades of gloomy trends sees things lining up for roaring growth.”)
• Refugee Flights Canceled as Biden Fails to Lift Trump Cutback
• Kerry to Wall Street: Put your money behind your climate PR (“Kerry is leveraging personal relationships with Wall Street players as well as banks’ public promises to help fund climate efforts.”)
• How Biden’s Plan Could Help Reshape The Finances Of American Families
• On Politics: Will Republicans Pay a Price for Opposing the Stimulus?
• Republicans Are Out of Touch With Their Voters on COVID Relief
• How Joe Biden—in Less Than Two Months—Turned Ronald Reagan’s Decades-Old Conventional Wisdom on Its Head (“Reagan told people the idea of government helping was terrifying. Biden is telling them the opposite. It’s working—but the Democrats can hardly stop here.”)
• The GOP strategy for crippling Biden and retaking power is hiding in plain sight (“With Democrats on the cusp of transformative victories, don’t lose sight of the GOP’s radicalization.”)
• Biden is doing better than expected (“Despite the mammoth challenges, the latest polling shows he is on the right track.”)
• After half a century in politics, Joe Biden finally has perfect timing (“He’s looking more and more like the right president at the right moment.”)
• The House is about to start piecemeal immigration reform
• USDA conservation program seen as way to help battle climate change (“Incentives are seen as critical to increasing participation in a program that could help the Biden administration reach climate goals.”)
• Exclusive: Biden directing $2.5B to address mental health and addiction crisis
• The state of the filibuster, explained (“Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema sound resolute. But the drama over the 60-vote threshold hasn’t yet been played out.”)
• Ron Klain’s Record: How Biden’s Chief Of Staff Is Keeping The Trains Running
• Oil and Gas Firms Are Saddling States with Billions in Cleanup Costs
• DOJ Says At Least 100 More People Could Be Charged Over Capitol Attack
• Rachel Maddow Ridicules Republicans With Their Safe Word For Donald Trump (“I mean this is some masochistic stuff right here”)
• Fundraising spat points to Trump-GOP fissures
• Certain People Are Going to Wish They’d Let Merrick Garland Onto the Supreme Court After All
• Minneapolis Reaches $27M Settlement With Family Of George Floyd
• Breonna Taylor Was Slain One Year Ago Today. The Tragic Police Raids Continue. (“Hastily executed warrants lead to countless broken homes and bodies—most Black and brown.”)
• Everybody Is Going to End Up Paying for Texas’ Climate Crisis
• Rubio Endorses Labor Unions (As a Punishment for ‘Woke’ Companies) (Rubio is just bizarre.)
• A survey of Republicans shows 5 factions have emerged after Trump’s presidency.
• Rep. Paul Gosar’s siblings say he’s a white supremacist — but his GOP colleagues stay silent
• Army reviewing investigation into Michael Flynn’s dealings with Russia, foreign firm
• U.S. Sens. Schumer and Gillibrand call on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign (He needs to do so, immediately.)
• Cuomo Never Let Me Forget I Was a Woman
• The Walls Are Closing in on Cuomo, Fast
• “I Started to Think, This Is a Bad Guy”: Andrew Cuomo’s Biographer on the Governor’s Brutish History
• Abuse and Power Andrew Cuomo’s governorship has been defined by cruelty that disguised chronic mismanagement. Why was that celebrated for so long?
• For Some Women, Working for Cuomo Is the ‘Worst Place to Be’
• Cuomo Says He Won’t Bow to ‘Cancel Culture’ and Rejects Calls to Resign (Then impeach him.)
• A defiant Cuomo stands increasingly alone
• Trump showed off photos of naked women at a shiva, report says (Yep, that’s Donald Trump for ya.)
• They’re worried their mom is becoming a conspiracy theorist. She thinks they’re the ones living in a fantasy world. (If you read the story, she isn’t *becoming* a conspiracy theorist, she’s been one for a long time, in large part due to consuming right-wing media.)
• Top Democratic Election Lawyer Sanctioned in Suit Against Texas
• WATCH: NBC News’ Peter Alexander Literally Wrote a Statement for Biden to Credit Trump on Vaccines, Read it Aloud at Briefing (“Journalists” like these shouldn’t be journalists.)
• Fox’s meltdown over Biden’s speech shows that it has nothing left but propaganda
• Blame the Murdochs for Tucker Carlson (“If you want to stop the Fox host, focus on the money behind him”)
• Brian Kilmeade complains about Joe Biden’s address: “We don’t need to go over the 500,000 dead”
• Man Charged With Attacking Cop At Capitol Riot Buried Police Badge In Backyard
• Ron Johnson says Capitol attackers ‘love this country’ but he would have felt unsafe if Black Lives Matter stormed building instead (Ron Johnson says the quiet part out loud. Also, he’s a virulent racist who should hold no position of public authority.)
• Hundreds of covid cases reported at Tesla plant following Musk’s defiant reopening, county data shows
• Polarization Is Good For America, Actually, Says Facebook Executive
• How Congress can support middle-class Americans: A conversation with Senator Mark Warner
• WATCH NOW: Sen. Tim Kaine talks COVID relief with Fredericksburg business owners
• Rep. Luria, Rep. Wittman oppose cuts to aircraft carriers
• COVID-19 relief: Where is the money going in Va., Md. and DC?
• Northam signs 80 bills, including abortion coverage and shifting of local elections to fall
• Governor Northam Signs 80 Bills into Law (“Newly-approved measures include housing protections, financial aid for undocumented students”)
• Northam Signs Law Removing GOP Abortion Restriction
• Friday (3/12) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +1,589 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 592,214), +155 Hospitalizations (to 25,215), +59 Deaths (to 9,961)
• Virginia vaccine coordinator says state should ‘easily meet’ Biden’s goals
• Gov. Northam considers speeding up legalization of marijuana in Virginia
• If Virginia is going to legalize weed, it should do it right
• Video: VA GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Pete Snyder Derogatorily Describes “Mayor of Virginia” [sic] Levar Stoney as “Terry McAuliffe’s Former Bag Boy”
• Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate calls Black mayor a ‘bag boy’
• The Republican Party of Virginia Is Hopelessly Mired in Chaos and Extremism
• Video: “Kirk Cox, Amanda Chase, Glenn Youngkin, and Pete Snyder need to explain why they put loyalty to Donald Trump above getting desperately-needed aid to Virginians.”
• With Early Voting Starting in Six Weeks, and With the VA GOP Still Trying to Figure Out Its Method of Nomination, Former LG Bill Bolling (R) Shares His Thoughts on the Virginia Governor’s Race
• 7 Things To Know About RPV’s May 8 Convention (1) “Date of convention: Saturday, May 8, 2021; 2) Hours to vote: 9:00am – 4:00pm 3) Where to vote: Almost 40 voting locations throughout the state. 4) Rank choice voting will be used: Voters will mark their #1 and #2 choices”)
• After months of fighting, Va. Republicans appear to have finalized nomination process
• Republican Party of Virginia finalizes nomination details
• UVA’s Bennett: ‘We are exhausting all options to participate in the NCAA tournament’ after team member tests positive for COVID
• Kansas and Virginia Pull Out of Conference Tournaments Because of Virus
• ‘He was a passionate advocate and visionary’: Longtime advocate for Virginians with disabilities, Jim Rothrock died Wednesday
• City Mourns 224 Richmonders Who Died from COVID-19
• Norfolk, Chesapeake sheriffs plan to pull all their inmates from Hampton Roads Regional Jail
• D.C.-area forecast: Seasonable with lots of sunshine this weekend