by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, December 21.
- Russia Aims to Make Carbon-Tax System That EU Will Recognize
- Omicron transmission eye-wateringly high – scientist
- NSW lays out details of grand plan to lock in wind and solar, and exit coal
- Buying Influence: How China Manipulates Facebook and Twitter
- Chile’s election produces a victory for the left. Democracy was a winner, too.
- Global Retail’s Battle With Covid Actually Saved Its Stores (“Instead stores adapted, and shoppers came running.”)
- What NASA’s Perseverance Rover Has Learned After 10 Months on Mars (“In December NASA scientists confirmed that the Martian bedrock likely formed from red-hot magma.”)
- NASA’s cosmic time machine is ready. Here’s where it will go and what it will see.
- Omicron sweeps across nation, now 73% of US COVID-19 cases
- Omicron will not recognize state lines when it storms the US, expert says
- Biden raises automobile fuel-economy standards to fight climate change
- New Biden rule reducing climate emissions from cars and SUVs reverses major Trump rollback (“The Environmental Protection Agency regulation finalized Monday marks the president’s single biggest step to fight global warming. But Congress has stymied his most ambitious electric vehicle plans.”)
- Biden’s Economic Performance Has Proved Unbeatable
- Biden to Send 500 Million Free Tests, Filling Omicron Shortage
- Biden to announce plan for free at-home tests as he assures vaccinated Americans they don’t need to cancel holiday plans
- Biden to announce half a billion free home Covid tests to fight Omicron
- With omicron now dominant, depleted U.S. hospitals struggle to prepare for the worst
- Omicron and Manchin Nudge Economy Into “the Unknown”
- What We Lose if We Don’t Build Back Better
- Joe Manchin isn’t the only obstacle to Build Back Better (“Each of the 50 Senate Republicans is equally responsible for stymying President Biden’s agenda. Democrats should focus on what they are doing — not what they can’t do.”)
- Manchin’s private offer to Biden included pre-k, climate money, Obamacare — but excluded child benefit (Take the deal, then put the child tax credit up for its own vote.)
- Democratic leaders fire a new shot at Manchin as his isolation deepens
- No Christmas cheer for Joe Manchin. What did he expect?
- Democratic bitterness, rage follow Manchin’s ‘no’ on Biden bill
- Biden Should Take Manchin’s Deal Right Now (Agreed.)
- Biden and Manchin speak
- U.S. coal miners’ union asks Manchin to ‘revisit’ opposition to spending bill
- Democrats set to play hardball with Manchin
- Democrats face tough choices on Biden plan after Manchin setback
- West Virginians Ask Joe Manchin: Which Side Are You On? (“The senator’s blockade against programs that have helped his constituents escape poverty makes some question “who matters to Joe.””)
- ‘We have got a problem here’: Low morale and redistricting hand Democrats a growing retirement issue
- Republicans gear up for a torrent of Benghazi-style investigations (“If they take back the House, they’ll rerun the same play they’ve used before.”)
- As the GOP sheds its moderates, a whirlwind approaches
- Jan. 6 Committee Weighs Possibility of Criminal Referrals
- January 6 committee sends letter to GOP Rep. Scott Perry, asking to interview him
- Sickening Decisions (“A new congressional report shows how Donald Trump sabotaged the country’s early response to COVID.”)
- Sarah Palin’s anti-vax talk shows Republicans have become a death cult
- Trump met with boos after revealing he received Covid-19 booster
- Not even Donald Trump can make Trumpists embrace coronavirus vaccines
- Donald Trump Sues New York AG Tish James for Asking Too Many Questions
- Trump Sues New York A.G. in Attempt to Stop Inquiry Into His Business
- Logs show Trump flew more often on Epstein jets than was known
- Is Donald Trump an Anti-Semite? (No doubt.)
- Ten key moments from Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex abuse trial
- Ghislaine Maxwell trial jurors begin deliberations
- Fox tightens its vaccine rule, removing a test-out option for N.Y.C. office workers.
- Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan tests positive for Covid-19
- N.H.L. Is First League to Hit Pause Over Virus Surge
- Breitbart thrives on Facebook, in part because the platform rewards sensational photos and videos (“Breitbart’s Facebook page has earned over 1 billion interactions since 2012, benefiting from preferential treatment and an algorithm that amplifies angry and divisive content”)
- Steve Bannon tells his audience “when you’re in the room, the count’s accurate, and we win” (This guy’s a menace.)
- Bidens add to their family with new first puppy
- Kaine proposes bill to help underserved communities reach medical school
- Spanberger privately says she’s prepared to run in new Northern Virginia 7th District if map holds
- Goodwyn elected chief justice of Supreme Court of Virginia
- Editorial: An embarrassing display (“Take Virginia GOP Chairman Rich Anderson, for instance. In a statement released on Thursday, he accused Northam of trying to steal Youngkin’s ideas and undercut the credit he believes Republicans deserve. Never mind that Northam including these items in his budget increases the likelihood that Democratic lawmakers will find them more palatable during the General Assembly session. And who cares that they might help Virginians. For Anderson, political credit isn’t everything. It’s the only thing”)
- Public Comment Period on Proposed VA Redistricting Maps Closes at 11 am Today; NLS Says “the special masters seemed to go out of their way to really mess with the makeup of the Congressional delegation”
- Youngkin’s Minister of Propaganda – An Islamophobic, Big Lie-Promoting Trump Lackey
- Youngkin announces Aimee Rogstad Guidera as education secretary
- Gov.-elect Youngkin names school data consultant as Virginia education secretary
- Some state Democrats want a special session to protect abortion rights
- Electric vehicle advocates lobby state lawmakers
- Gold mining study begins as discoveries continue in Virginia
- Fairfax County middle school security officer arrested after alleged assault on student
- Masks still required in Virginia Beach public schools after board votes against making them optional
- ODU leaders failed to act on Blake Bailey sex misconduct allegations or help the women he harmed, new report finds
- D.C.-area forecast: Seasonably chilly before Christmas weekend warm-up
