by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, December 17.
- A guilty verdict in Berlin shows once again the global reach of Russia’s hit squads (“Transnational repression sends the message that no one is truly safe from the long arm of dictatorship.”)
- South Africa Hospitalization Rate Plunges in Omicron Wave
- Soaring COVID-19 Infections Rattle Europe, Fuel Dread About Holidays (“The U.K. recorded the highest number of confirmed new COVID-19 infections Wednesday since the pandemic began.”)
- The scientist in Botswana who identified omicron was saddened by the world’s reaction
- And Now For the Good News About Omicron
- Lib Dems deliver shock by-election win in blow to PM
- North Shropshire by-election: Has Boris Johnson lost his winning touch?
- Kim Jong Un’s crackdowns leave North Korea defectors with little hope
- Why Are Republicans Siding With Russia? (“Because Putinism is catnip to a new breed of American losers.”)
- Omicron battle brings delicate questions for a weary nation
- A Covid-19 ‘viral blizzard’ is about to hit the US, expert says
- Biden warns of ‘winter of severe illness and death’ for those unvaccinated against Covid
- CDC recommends Pfizer and Moderna vaccines over Johnson & Johnson
- Omicron outbreak inducing whiplash for many Americans
- Why 1,320 Therapists Are Worried About Mental Health in America Right Now
- 5 dead, 21 tornadoes confirmed after record-setting winds lash central U.S.
- Power of one: Manchin is singularly halting Biden’s agenda
- Manchin’s objections to Build Back Better make no political or policy sense
- Manchin and Sinema Are Blocking Everything (“Voting rights, child care, and climate legislation are all in grave peril.”)
- Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin mull whether democracy is worth saving
- Manchin’s Hard Line Has Democrats Scrapping to Save Biden Agenda
- ‘A 50-50 Senate sucks’: Dejected Democrats fret over agenda failure amid grim 2022 outlook
- It’s Time for Democrats to Buck Up and Give Joe Manchin What He Wants
- WSJ News Exclusive | Senate Parliamentarian Rejects Democrats’ Immigration Proposal in $2 Trillion Bill
- Biden signals Build Back Better bill may be delayed until next year
- If Democrats wait to pass BBB, it will only get harder (“The ticking clock is their enemy, and the outcome could be substantive and political disaster.”)
- The US isn’t ready for what’s coming next from the Supreme Court
- Jan. 6 Panel Subpoenas Retired Colonel Who Shared Plan to Overturn Election
- Select Committee Subpoenas James P. “Phil” Waldron
- A theory: How Trump’s Jan. 6 coup plan worked, how close it came, why it failed
- The Line From Fox News to Trump’s Big Lie Is Short and Direct
- Freedom’s Just Another Word for … What Exactly? (“It is a fight, for some, to be free (or at least, more free) of domination and hierarchy and a fight, for others, to be free to dominate on the basis of those hierarchies.”)
- Judge Overturns Purdue Pharma’s Opioid Settlement
- A new survey provides little comfort about democracy’s future (“Despite lofty generalizations, Republicans have become frightfully anti-democratic.”)
- Kamala’s Conundrum: She’s Doing a Great Job But Her Story’s Not Getting Out
- Despite excessively gloomy coverage, Biden’s accomplishments are significant (“Biden’s polling numbers and successes aren’t reflected in media coverage.”)
- FDA eliminates key restriction on abortion pill as Supreme Court weighs case that challenges Roe v. Wade
- F.D.A. Will Permanently Allow Abortion Pills by Mail
- Why the media should have a pro-democracy bias
- GOP agrees to pay up to $1.6 million of Trump’s legal bills in N.Y. probes (Totally normal, huh?)
- With the death of bell hooks, a generation of feminists lost a foundational figure
- Wisconsin’s 2020 Election ‘Examination’ Farce Has Cracked the State’s Political Brain In Half (“Biden won the election and carried Wisconsin in doing so. That’s not going to change.”)
- Dominion Voting wins key decision in lawsuit against Fox News
- ‘The Court Can Infer That Fox Intended to Avoid the Truth’: Judge Refuses to Dismiss Dominion Lawsuit Against Fox News Over 2020 Election Coverage
- Fox News deletes antisemitic cartoon about George Soros — then continues spreading conspiracy theories about him on-air (Appalling.)
- A Fox News defector gets it right on Laura Ingraham — and on MAGA (“What many Republicans and Fox News personalities will not say about Trump and Jan. 6.”)
- Tucker Carlson’s latest Fox Nation documentary produced by the same team as “Patriot Purge”
- Vulture capitalists are circling my old newspaper. Here’s why we need to fight them off.
- Eugene Goodman should be Time’s Person of the Year
- A Person of the Year: Jamie Raskin (“How one politician devoted his fight for democracy to his lost son.”)
- Washington Post Grasps for New Direction as Trump-Era Boom Fades
- Kanye West’s ‘Independent’ Campaign Was Secretly Run by GOP Elites (“The campaign took steps, experts say, to mask its connections to GOP operatives. That could violate federal election laws.”)
- Top Dem Elections Attorney, Marc Elias, Rips Proposed VA Redistricting Map As Harming Minorities, Not Respecting “Communities of Interest,” and Overall “fail[ing] to comply with the law” (Elias strongly urges adoption of an alternative map…)
- VA House, Senate Dems Write to VA Supreme Court, Urge Changes to Proposed Redistricting Maps (“…a map that effectively expels at least one of these historic African American figures and civil rights icons from the Virginia Senate will not help move the Commonwealth forward”)
- Public Comments on Redistricting of VA02 Stress That “Norfolk and Virginia Beach are inextricable communities of interest,” Charge That New Lines Would “disenfranchise the military and veteran families of Norfolk”
- Editorial: The next COVID wave (“Virginia must respond to the coming COVID wave with determination, compassion and empathy as we continue to fight this virus and save lives.”)
- With Record Economic Success, Governor Northam Proposes Budget with Unprecedented Investments in Working Virginians
- Northam presents final budget, flush with cash, to lawmakers
- Five points of agreement and one brewing fight in Northam’s new budget
- Hypocrisy emerges in Gov.-elect Youngkin’s vow to withdraw from the regional climate compact
- Realtors could get health insurance coverage if one state senator gets their way
- State opens up applications for millions in grants to improve math and literacy teaching resources
- Del. Jay Jones (D-HD89) Announces He’ll Step Down From VA House of Delegates at End of 2021; Says His “Work Is Not Done” and That “may well mean a run for Attorney General in 2025”
- Jay Jones is stepping down from the House of Delegates
- Virginia co-op’s fixed fee increase gets support, pushback before regulators (“Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative wants to increase a monthly fee on its customers to cover growing expenses, but solar and efficiency advocates say it will punish lower income and judicious energy users.”)
- Richmond police organization votes no confidence for chief Gerald Smith and asks for his resignation
- Richmond City Council to vote on redistricting timeline, criteria Tuesday
- After delay, Henrico County Supervisors approve alternate redistricting plan
- Fairfax parents file recall petition against second school board member
- Hanover NAACP asks for temporary halt to Wegmans distribution center work
- Newport News shipyard workers rally, seeking better contract: ‘We have just begun to fight.’
- A ‘bawdy, fertile, redheaded matriarch’: Hilariously blunt obituary for mom with ties to Hampton, Outer Banks goes viral
- D.C.-area forecast: Above-average warmth lasts through Saturday as clouds build
