Sunday News: “G7 warns Russia of ‘massive consequences’ if Ukraine attacked”; “18 steps to a democratic breakdown”; “Kate McKinnon Returns to ‘S.N.L.’ as Dr. Anthony Fauci”; “Grim future for climate action” Under Glenn Youngkin

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, December 12.

• Coal Powered the Industrial Revolution. It Left Behind an ‘Absolutely Massive’ Environmental Catastrophe
• Omicron could become dominant variant by next week in some European countries, officials predict
• Pfizer Course Has 23% Efficacy Vs. Omicron in S. African Study (“A two-shot course of Pfizer Inc.’s vaccine has just 22.5% efficacy against symptomatic infection with the omicron variant, but can thwart severe disease, according to laboratory experiments in South Africa.”)
• EXCLUSIVE G7 warns Russia of ‘massive consequences’ if Ukraine attacked
• G-7 to Issue Warning to Russia Over Troop Build Up Near Ukraine
• Six ways Russia views Ukraine — and why each should worry the West (“For the Kremlin, Ukraine represents the ultimate battle between Moscow and its Western rivals.”)
• Gulf Arab states that opposed the Iran nuclear deal are now courting Tehran
• Britain Tells Its Big Game Hunters to Piss Off (“Bringing banned animal trophies home could result in a five-year prison sentence.”)
• Boris Johnson Faces Another Damaging 2020 Christmas Revelation
• Iran Bases Next Year’s Budget on $60-a-Barrel Oil, Fars Says
• Omicron won’t keep us from ending the pandemic. We’re doing that ourselves. (“We already know what works, no matter how the virus mutates”)
• 18 steps to a democratic breakdown
• Jan. 6 crossed a line. We need to say so before it’s too late for democracy. (“History shows that Congress can’t afford to let the attack go unrebuked”)
• I Have a Handle on History. The Future Is a Different Story. (“I do not know how we get from the current morass to a healthy, robust democracy. But whatever force or event that brings us there, I do not think we’ll be able to see it in advance.”)
• I monitor Trump’s die-hard base. They’re still plotting out in the open. (“The same activists behind Jan. 6 are moving into local, grass-roots organizing now”)
• New Political Maps Will Kill Swing Districts From Coast to Coast
• Anti-Democracy PowerPoint Circulator Says He Met with Meadows, Briefed Lawmakers: Reports
• An Election Conspiracy Theorist Responsible for Circulating Batshit Coup PowerPoint Spoke Several Times with Meadows and the Trump White House: Report
• Election denier who circulated Jan. 6 PowerPoint says he met with Meadows at White House
• What Mark Meadows Is Learning the Hard Way (“Trump is still king.”)
• Biden says he will visit area impacted by storms: ‘We’re going to get through this together’
• Biden says his administration will do ‘whatever is needed’ to help states reeling from tornadoes
• President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Kentucky Emergency Declaration
• Live Updates: Tornadoes Leave Trail of Devastation Across Six States, With Scores Dead
• EXPLAINER: Was tornado outbreak related to climate change?
• Ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro refuses to provide documents subpoenaed in House Covid-19 probe (“Failing to comply with a subpoena can put a potential witness in contempt of Congress, which can lead to escalating financial penalties and the possibility of jail time.”)
• Former Trump Trade Aide Navarro Gets Subpoena Warning From Panel
• Donald Trump Defies Belief With New Spin On ‘We Fight Like Hell’ Speech From Jan. 6 (“The transcript of the former president’s inflammatory address before the U.S. Capitol riot shows otherwise.”)
• Newsom to use Texas abortion law tactics to go after assault rifle, ghost gun makers
• The Supreme Court’s Texas abortion ruling reveals the conservative majority’s radicalism (“The worst part – truly, the most shocking part – is what these justices are doing to the court’s own authority.”)
• The nation needed a strong defense of constitutional rights. The Supreme Court did this instead.
• Hundreds of people are fired, online learning set to return amid vaccine resistance at nation’s second-largest school district
• CNN mess over Cuomo shows dangers of news-as-entertainment
• Anne Rice, author of Interview with the Vampire, dies aged 80 (R.I.P.)
• Editorial: Grim future for climate action (“Gov. Ralph Northam outlined a plan to advance resilience in coastal communities. Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin would rather we retreat.”)
• Transforming State Democratic Parties Into Participatory Membership Organizations (“In the long run, for the Democrats to win — and better live up to our name — we must move from centralized management to broad-based membership”)
• Jenkins and Sponsler: Accelerate Virginia’s efforts on workforce development and equity
• Friday Night Update from the ER in Arlington, VA: “Trying to wrap our heads around Omicron,” Even as “Delta is still 99% of the sequenced positives” in the US (“The Coronavirus is not done with us yet”)
• Editorial: How to repair Virginia’s social services system
• A pipeline runs through it: Stream crossings by the Mountain Valley Pipeline
• Rev. William Barber joins activists in Richmond challenging Mountain Valley Pipeline (“Civil rights leader the Rev. William J. Barber II preached to a crowd of several hundred in Richmond on Saturday against the Mountain Valley Pipeline, calling projects like the proposed natural gas line ‘an abusive sin’ that would harm the poor.”)
• State acquires last bit of Army land on Fort Monroe — under The Chamberlin, owned by Roanoke firm
• Richmond to miss redistricting deadline with adoption of new local voting maps slated for next year
• Protesters transformed Richmond’s Robert E. Lee memorial. Now they mourn the loss of their most powerful icon of resistance.
• Strong winds leave thousands without power in DC region after record-breaking highs
• D.C.-area forecast: Sunnier and calmer today as December temperatures return