by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, March 18.
- Oil firms knew decades ago fossil fuels posed grave health risks, files reveal (Any legal consequences for what should be massive crimes?)
- Vaccine Nationalism Threatens WHO’s 2021 Goal of 2 Billion Doses
- Mars rover sends back grinding, squealing sounds of driving
- How the WHO’s Hunt for Covid’s Origins Stumbled in China
- As Biden and Xi Begin a Careful Dance, a New American Policy Takes Shape (“Top administration officials will meet with their Chinese counterparts for the first time on Thursday as the United States shifts to a more competitive posture with Beijing.”)
- China Plans to Ask U.S. to Roll Back Trump Policies in Alaska Meeting
- North Korea says U.S. attempt to initiate contact is ‘cheap trick’: KCNA
- UK vaccine supplies could be shaken in the coming weeks, threatening to slow rollout
- Covid-19 Live Updates: E.U. Drug Regulator Will Give Verdict on AstraZeneca Vaccine
- Europe’s AstraZeneca vaccine pause may deepen doubts. Leaders must ease them.
- ‘More than words’: Democrats, Republicans hope Biden will take a harder line on China as summit begins
- Russia wants an apology from U.S. after Biden called Putin a killer, says Kremlin ally (F*** off.)
- John Magufuli: Tanzania’s president dies aged 61 after Covid rumours
- One Of Biden’s Biggest Climate Change Challenges? The Oceans
- Biden to Reach 100 Million Vaccinations Goal Six Weeks Early
- US could be on the cusp of Covid-19 infection surge officials have been dreading, expert warns
- IRS pushes filing deadline to May 17 as agency grapples with backlog of returns
- The GOP is accelerating its descent into authoritarianism
- Border surge scrambles Senate immigration debate
- What Republicans really mean when they blast the ‘border crisis’ (“Republicans have a very different view of what “success” at the border would really entail.”)
- H.R. 1 and H.R. 4 would reform our democracy. They’d also help our economy.
- Rampage amplifies fears among Asian Americans
- Racist extremists pose most deadly terrorist threat to US, intelligence report warns
- US intelligence report says election fraud claims ‘will almost certainly’ spur more violence by domestic extremists (The headline should say “FALSE election fraud.” Why is this so, so hard for the media to do?)
- New Report Warns of Rising Threat of Domestic Terrorism
- Joe Biden Wants to Kill the Filibuster Without Killing the Filibuster
- Biden is planning for a Great Society 2.0
- Is the US at Risk of a Roman Republic-Style Collapse? This Historian Says Yes.
- The Biden Agenda Doesn’t Run Through Washington (“How the president can partner directly with America’s biggest cities and suburbs—even in the reddest states”)
- Biden Endorses Reforming The Senate Filibuster — Here’s What That Means
- Democrats seize on Biden’s embrace of changing the filibuster
- Goodbye and good riddance to the filibuster
- Want to fix the filibuster? All it takes is guts.
- McConnell’s filibuster threats are already backfiring: Biden signals support for major Senate reform
- Republicans: End the Filibuster, and We’ll Punish America By Enacting Our Agenda
- Republicans Warn: Stop Us Before We Govern Again (“Mitch McConnell’s strangest defense of the filibuster.”)
- Postal Service finds no evidence of mail ballot fraud in Pa. case cited by top Republicans
- Republicans might regret attacking Biden’s rescue plan (“Biden is fortunate to have such inept opponents.”)
- ‘Behave like grown-ups’: Conservative rebellion boils over in House
- 12 Republicans opposed Congressional Gold Medals for police who protected them on Jan. 6 (One of them was seditionist/extremist Rep. Bob Good of VA05.)
- Robert Menendez called out Ron Johnson’s racism. The full Senate should follow suit.
- Republicans launch yet another racist smear campaign against a female nominee (“The attacks on Kristen Clarke may be the Republicans’ lamest to date.”)
- House GOP votes in secret to bring back earmarks after calling them ‘corrupt’
- How a new government report strongly implicates Giuliani in a Russian interference effort
- Women of Asian Descent Were 6 of the 8 Victims in Atlanta Shootings
- Georgia Killings Deepen Fears of Rising Anti-Asian Hate in U.S.
- Could the Atlanta Spa Shootings Break Congress’s Gun Control Impasse? (“The killings add fresh urgency to two gun bills that just passed in the House.”)
- How the Supreme Court limits our national debate — and action — on gun violence
- Joe Biden Calls Attacks On Asians ‘Un-American’ After Georgia Massage Spa Shootings (Sad to say, but gun violence and bigotry have been common in this country forever.)
- White supremacy and hate are haunting Asian Americans (“It’s immaterial whether the accused killer in the Atlanta spa shootings admits to a racist motivation. Asian Americans have been living in fear for months.”)
- Why This Wave of Anti-Asian Racism Feels Different (“The author Cathy Park Hong sees the recent upsurge in violence as a turning point for Asian Americans.”)
- The Atlanta shootings can be both an anti-Asian hate crime and a sexist one
- The Atlanta shootings cannot be dismissed as someone having a ‘bad day’
- Asian Americans see shooting as a culmination of a year of racism
- Fetishized, sexualized and marginalized, Asian women are uniquely vulnerable to violence
- Beyond the pandemic, Asian American leaders fear U.S. conflict with China will fan racist backlash
- The Cop Who Said The Spa Shooter Had “A Bad Day” Previously Posted A Racist Shirt Blaming China For The Pandemic (Fire him.)
- Enough Sympathizing With Men Like the Massage Parlor Murderer
- It’s Good to Be White When You’re Doing Crimes
- Georgia officer condemned for saying Atlanta shooter was ‘having a bad day’ (“Capt Jay Baker also reportedly posted images on Facebook of T-shirts with racist slogan on China and coronavirus”)
- Proud Boys Leaders in Four States Are Charged in Capitol Riot
- Capitol Police officer’s widow presses Congress for 1/6 Commission
- House GOP holdouts muddle Trump vaccine message
- 9 Of The 10 House Republicans Who Voted For Impeachment Already Have Primary Challengers (Demonstrates how extremist the GOP/GQP has gotten.)
- Man wanted by police arrested near residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, gun and ammo found in car
- DC police say Texas man arrested at VP’s mansion had rifle, large capacity clip
- Women Reporters Faced Cuomo’s Creepy Behavior, Too (Yuuuuck.)
- Cuomo Keeps Grip During Scandal That Few Corporate Boards Would Allow
- Rep. Spanberger Says Asia Tour is Central to Biden Foreign Policy
- ICYMI: How Virginia Benefits Under the American Rescue Plan (“More than 7 million people in Virginia are set to receive $9.32 billion in direct payments”)
- Joint Statement from Virginia Congresswomen Ahead of House Vote to Remove ERA Ratification Deadline (“Our three votes on this legislation are dedicated to the Virginians who organized, marched, and advocated for progress.”)
- D.C.‘s Metro system skirts disaster, but will suburban commuters return in the same numbers?
- Governor Northam Announces Draft Plan for Safe In-Person Graduations and Commencements
- Outdoor graduations in Virginia can have up to 5,000 people attend this spring, Northam announces
- AG Mark Herring Condemns Anti-Asian Hate and Violence (“The attacks that happened in Atlanta last night against members of the Asian American community were nothing short of hate crimes, fueled by the divisive rhetoric that has plagued our country over the past year”)
- Asian Americans in Virginia react with sorrow, calls for change after Atlanta shootings
- Video: Straw Poll Results, Speeches From Rep. Gerry Connolly’s 2021 St. Patrick’s Day Party
- Connolly’s Straw Poll Highlights Shifts in Virginia Governor’s Race (Uh, no, you definitely can NOT compare a straw poll to a real, scientific poll like by Wason Center and draw any conclusions about the races from that.)
- Va. candidate’s COVID charity shrouded key information (“Virginia gubernatorial candidate Pete Snyder boasted about a cash haul for his COVID-19 relief nonprofit last year that was more than five times what it had estimated raising in a sworn statement to the IRS, Axios has learned.”)
- A staffer associated with a gubernatorial campaign resigns after video surfaces Wednesday
- Wednesday (3/17) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +1,327 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 598,468), +78 Hospitalizations (to 25,517), +50 Deaths (to 10,154)
- Virginia Signals Expansion Of Vaccine Eligibility For Some Localities, But Northern Virginia Hangs Back
- Pharmacies in Virginia will start vaccinating more people, officials say
- Williams: Black and Latino students are locked out of governor’s schools. That must change.
- The diversity failures at the nation’s best public high school led officials to make changes. More are needed.
- Virginia has $43 million in carbon market revenues. How is it going to spend it?
- Editorial: Beach council backs police oversight in name only
- Republican gubernatorial candidate Kirk Cox stops in Danville
- Progressive Mary Barthelson Announces Primary Challenge to Delegate Kenneth Plum
- The pandemic year: How the virus changed life in the Roanoke and New River valleys
- D.C.-area forecast: Wet today and stormy tonight, then very blustery on Friday
********************************************************