Thursday News: “The effort to phase out fossil fuels gains momentum at COP26”; “Republicans aim to repeat Youngkin’s schools tactic in 2022 elections”; “Republicans Are Going to Use Dog Whistles. Democrats Can’t Just Ignore Them.”; “An abnormal Republican Party was treated normally by voters”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, November 4.

• We’re Heading Straight for a Demi-Armageddon (“What happens when we do something—but not enough—to stop climate change?”)
• Why Financing the Multi-Trillion-Dollar Transition to Net Zero Isn’t That Hard
• Coal in the crosshairs as UN climate summit stirs clean energy pledges
• Global carbon emissions bounce back to nearly 2019 levels, study finds (“China’s pollution increase was mostly responsible for worldwide figures returning to 2019 levels, a study co-author said.”)
• What ‘transition’? Renewable energy is growing, but overall energy demand is growing faster (“The rise in the renewable energy that’s available is still lower than the rise in global energy demand overall.”)
• Greta Thunberg, other climate change activists in Glasgow slam ‘greenwashing’ and ‘false solutions’
• The Glasgow climate summit has already achieved success. But time is running short.
• The effort to phase out fossil fuels gains momentum at COP26
• Biggest users fail to sign up to ending coal (“More than 40 countries commit to a shift away from coal but critics complain of ‘major gaps’ in support.”)
• COP Deal to End Foreign Fossil Fuel Funding Has Key Holdouts (“Agreement continues shift away from oil, gas and coal”)
• US oil giants top list of lobby offenders holding back climate action
• What the U.S. can learn from the U.K. about wind power (“In the search for renewable sources of energy, the United Kingdom has embraced wind power. In 2020, the country generated as much as 24 percent of its electricity from wind power — enough to supply 18.5 million homes, according to government statistics.”)
• Climate misinformation on Facebook ‘increasing substantially’, study says (Appalling.)
• Botched drone strike that killed 10 civilians in Kabul was not a result of criminal negligence, Pentagon says
• Americans More Optimistic About Pandemic’s Trajectory
• Biden urges swift action on agenda as Democrats stumble
• After loss in Virginia, Democrats look to speed up their stalled $3 trillion spending agenda (“‘The American public gave us a majority of both houses for a reason,’ Sen. Tim Kaine says”)
• Biden hits the gas (“President Biden’s hitting the gas — not pumping the brakes — to pass his two massive spending bills ASAP, and doesn’t read his party’s poor electoral showing in Virginia as a rebuke of the massive costs, lawmakers and White House advisers tell Axios.”)
• Democrats Vow To Speed Legislative Agenda After Losses In Virginia And New Jersey (Should have done this months ago.)
• Reeling From Surprise Losses, Democrats Sound the Alarm for 2022 (“Party officials say the White House and Congress must do more to address the electorate’s deep malaise or risk watching voters lurch back toward the G.O.P. by default.”)
• Senate Republicans block debate on a third major voting rights bill
• Republicans Once Supported the Voting Rights Act. Today, They Voted Against Its Restoration. (“The Senate GOP has blocked yet another voting rights bill. Time is running out to reform the filibuster.”)
• Where Do the Democrats Go From Here? (“A stunning loss in Virginia and unexpectedly close race in New Jersey has quickly led to finger-pointing—and questions about how the party prevents a GOP takeover in next year’s midterms.”)
• Republicans Are Going to Use Dog Whistles. Democrats Can’t Just Ignore Them.
• Republicans aim to repeat Youngkin’s schools tactic in 2022 elections
• Parental say in schools, resonant in Va. governor’s race, bound for GOP national playbook
• Biden rejects blame for shock Virginia election defeat (“The president cites schools, jobs, petrol prices and ‘Trump voters’ as reasons for the defeat.”)
• Democrats Face Economic Gut-Check After Republicans Tap Voters’ Angst
• Democrats have only themselves to blame
• ‘Critical Race Theory’ Has Been a Winner For Decades
• The Memo: Trump dinged by Youngkin win
• The GOP Got Away With All of It
• Republicans Pounce on Schools as a Wedge Issue to Unite the Party
• Democrats Need to Face Up to Their Public School Problem (“Education should be helping Democrats, not hurting. What happened?”)
• The Democratic Unraveling Began With Schools (“Republican victories in Virginia show how COVID-19 has fundamentally changed American politics.”)
• Glenn Youngkin’s Victory Is a Warning for Democrats (“The gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey suggest that Republicans’ appeal to voters has strengthened without Trump.”)
• The Hillary Playbook Does Not Work (“While [Youngkin] whipped white suburbanites into a frenzy over parental choice in public schools, he kept Donald Trump at a distance. He figured out how to tap into racial grievance politics, as Trump did, while putting a more palatable public face on his right-wing politics. And McAuliffe had no effective response.”)
• The Democrats’ Loss in Virginia Is Merrick Garland’s Fault, Too (Agreed. I’m not impressed at all with Garland.)
• Were the Ultra-Conservative “Mama Bears” Youngkin’s Secret Weapon?
• You Can’t Win Elections by Telling Voters Their Concerns Are Imaginary (Maybe not, but you’ve got to push back against falsehoods.)
• ‘We’re Screwed’: Dems Worry the Anti-Trump Playbook May Be Useless (“After losing the governor’s race in Virginia and barely surviving in New Jersey, Democrats are rethinking their strategy of tying every Republican to Trump.”)
• Giuliani investigators home in on 2019 plan to advance Ukraine interests in US
• Donald Trump fever may be breaking (Not sure about that…)
• An abnormal Republican Party was treated normally by voters in New Jersey and Virginia
• At Least 8 Republicans Who Were At The Jan. 6 Rally Just Got Elected To Office (Several are in Virginia, sad to say.)
• Right-wing media promoted misinformation that helped GOP win in Virginia
• Professional conservatives find a path to victory with ginned-up outrage over critical race theory
• Newsmax, One America News sued by voting technology firm Smartmatic
• Murphy Narrowly Wins Re-election as New Jersey’s Governor (“The victory over Jack Ciattarelli, which ended Democrats’ 44-year re-election losing streak in the state, was far tighter than polls had predicted.”)
• After attacks on the 2020 election, secretary of state races take on new urgency
• Brad Raffensperger Refused Trump’s Attempt To Steal Georgia. Now He’s Doomed. (“Raffensperger’s primary campaign, against a promoter of Trump’s lies, offers a view of the GOP’s anti-democratic future.” We’re so screwed.)
• Steve Bannon’s erosion of American democracy: A year since the 2020 election (“Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and ViacomCBS’ Pluto TV are complicit in spreading Bannon’s lies and hateful rhetoric”)
• ‘Off the rails’: New Tucker Carlson project for Fox embraces conspiracy theories
• A New Anti-Trump Defamation Suit Shows One Way Forward Against the Big Lie
• The case of Ron DeSantis and the muzzled professors takes another dubious turn
• A Firestorm Over Silenced University Professors Grows in Florida
• Tucker Carlson Is Stirring Up Hatred of America
• Ahmaud Arbery: judge seats nearly all-white jury in Georgia murder trial
• Republicans aim to repeat Youngkin’s schools tactic in 2022 elections
• Sen. Kaine shares why he believes McAuliffe lost gubernatorial race
• ‘One Vote Away From Becoming Texas’: Youngkin’s Win And Virginia Abortion Rights
• Black voters in Virginia refuse to be blamed for a major Democratic defeat.
• Inside Virginia’s Latino vote mystery (“Did Glenn Youngkin really win among Latinos? Or did Terry McAuliffe crush him?”)
• How Glenn Youngkin Activated White Racial Anxiety and Won Over Voters
• McAuliffe ended up dancing to Youngkin’s choreography
• Key factor in McAuliffe’s loss was President Biden’s low ratings, says Larry Sabato
• Terry McAuliffe: “While last night we came up short, I am proud that we spent this campaign fighting for the values we so deeply believe in.”
• How Did the Polls and Prognosticators Do on the Virginia 2021 Election? (Some of the most accurate final forecasts on the *governor’s* race were Sabato’s Crystal Ball, Cnalysis, Harvard Political Review, Jack Kersting and PredictIt…)
• Fredericksburg Dems Chair Does a “Deep Dive on What Happened Yesterday and Where Does the Party Go From Here”
• How white women helped propel Republicans to victory in Virginia (“Democrats dismissed Glenn Youngkin’s emphasis on schools, but it may have helped cost them an election in a state they were favored to win.”)
• Flipping seven seats, Republicans appear to have won the House of Delegates
• Audio: Post-election analysis
• Amanda Chase plans to introduce legislation limiting the new voting methods enacted by Democrats
• ANALYSIS: With a clunky comment, McAuliffe teed up his defeat to Youngkin (Yep, that was really disastrous…and was never really “walked back” or “cleaned up.” Could that have cost Dems the election? Possibly.)
• McAuliffe concedes; Youngkin pledges new path as Virginia’s next governor
• McAuliffe concedes defeat to Youngkin
• Editorial: A red wave leaves Dems blue and Virginia purple—again
• GOP flips enough seats to tie Va. House of Delegates; some races remain too close to call
• Youngkin capitalizes on McAuliffe’s comment about parents (That’s for sure.)
• Republican Glenn Youngkin became Virginia governor by wooing both moderates and Trump supporters. So how Trumpy is he? (“We don’t know this guy. He could govern like a Larry Hogan, he could govern like a Ted Cruz”)
• Youngkin’s Dance With Trump Was Pivotal. But Is It Repeatable? (“Glenn Youngkin’s victory in Virginia may inspire Republican imitators vying to win over Trump supporters without embracing the former president outright.”)
• Who is Glenn Youngkin? What you need to know about Virginia’s next governor.
• Filler-Corn not conceding House majority, as GOP finds surprising path to victory
• Virginia Republicans win at least 50 House of Delegates seats
• Republican Del. Jason Miyares elected Virginia’s first Latino attorney general
• Black and Latino voters often pick Democrats. But Republicans of color just won 2 big ‘firsts’ in Virginia. (Yes, and they’re both hard right)
• Sears’ Win is Historic, But Tuesday Leaves the General Assembly with Fewer Black Members
• Radford police video: Hurst was driving on suspended license, said election sign incident was ‘hijinks’ (“The delegate was not charged with anything but wasn’t allowed to drive away since his license was suspended.”)
• In election contests around the Richmond region, incumbents were unseated; in Richmond proper, they remained.
• Voters’ rejection of Richmond casino means good things for Norfolk, Portsmouth, economists say
• Avula: Virginia to Receive Enough Vaccinations for More Than Half of 5-11 Population This Week
• Richmond’s Rejection of a Casino is a Second Recent Defeat of a Large-Scale Economic Proposal
• ‘The city lost’; Richmond leaders react to axed Urban One casino project
• Army of Fairfax County GOP poll watchers find no fraud, organizers say (Of course not.)
• GOP challenger Cordoza has narrow lead over Mugler in 91st district race
• Loudoun Co. sheriff’s colonel grilled about school sex assaults
• With bond boost, Loudoun Board set to OK design of road connecting two Metro stops
• GOP state House winners in Roanoke, New River valleys react to party gaining majority
• At issue in Chickahominy Pipeline hearing: Just what is a public utility?
• D.C.-area forecast: Cool but mainly sunny through the weekend as stormy weather stays offshore