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by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, January 28.
- Australian PM pledges $700M for climate change-threatened Great Barrier reef
- John Kerry, U.S. Climate Envoy, Tells Top Polluters ‘We Must All Move Faster’ (“The United States hosted a virtual meeting of big polluting countries on Thursday as nations struggle to meet their climate change goals.”)
- Wind, solar and water chase coal and gas out of grid, and reshape price and demand (Fossil fuel tools like Andrew Wheeler understand none of this.)
- Covid-19 Vaccine Booster Shot Cuts Omicron Death Risk by 95%, Study Shows
- Africa may have reached the pandemic’s holy grail (“New findings from Malawi suggest the country has entered something akin to the endemic stage of the pandemic — along with many other African nations.”)
- In Standoff With Putin, Biden Makes Sure to Include European Allies
- US and Germany step up pipeline warnings to Russia as UN meeting called
- Russia Sees ‘Rational Elements’ in U.S. Proposal: Ukraine Update
- Ukraine crisis: Putin’s geopolitical jigsaw (“Invasion or fear strategy: the Russian leader keeps everyone guessing on his real plans for Ukraine.”)
- Ukraine crisis: Biden warns Russia may invade next month
- Russia Sends Medical Units to Ukrainian Front
- The Battle for the Future of the West (“The real prize in Ukraine is the end of American influence in Europe”)
- New discord between Ukraine and US plays right into Putin’s hands
- Europe could live with less Russian gas. A complete shutdown would be ‘catastrophic’
- War With Russia Has Pushed Ukrainians Toward The West
- Republicans splinter over Russia (“Some Republicans have taken to staunch isolationism while others have stressed the need for military aid” What a bizarre party.)
- Harris bets on new Honduran president to revive Central America policy
- Normalizing Assad Is Dangerous Not Just for Syrians
- As Hunger Spreads in Afghanistan, Hospitals Fill With Premature, Dying Babies
- Biden is right to say yes to the Afghan people — and no to the Taliban
- Biden plans rapid Supreme Court push to replace Breyer
- Biden to nominate first Black woman to sit on supreme court by end of February
- Remarks by President Biden on the Retirement of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer
- New Justice Will Have Little Power to Thwart Supreme Court’s Rightward Lurch (Nobody ever thought they would.)
- Senate GOP sets high bar to support Biden’s Supreme Court pick (Shocker, eh?)
- Conservatives Are Pre-Mad at Biden’s SCOTUS Pick
- Schumer finds unity moment in Supreme Court fight
- A Who’s Who Of Some Possible SCOTUS Contenders (“Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement gives Biden a chance to make good on a pledge made during his presidential campaign.”)
- New Georgetown Law Exec Deletes ‘Appalling’ Tweets About Biden SCOTUS Picks
- Right-wing commentators spread hate — and hypocrisy — on Biden’s upcoming Supreme Court pick
- Justice Breyer’s retirement highlights what’s wrong with the Supreme Court
- Democrats Are Playing Catch-up on Supreme Court Nominations (“Republicans have appointed the lion’s share of justices in recent decades. Biden needs to make the most of his rare opportunity.”)
- The Willful Naïveté of Stephen Breyer (Agreed, he’s really cringe-inducing.)
- What Conservatives Really Mean When They Say Biden’s Potential SCOTUS Nominees Are “Unqualified” (“…they have opted to prejudge any Black woman, and indeed all Black women nominees, as inherently inferior and underqualified.”)
- The carping over Biden’s Supreme Court pledge is historically inaccurate and racially tinged (It’s a lot more than “tinged”; it’s outright racist.)
- Federal Court Revokes Oil and Gas Leases, Citing Climate Change
- Strong economic growth wrecks the GOP’s gloom-and-doom spin
- Exclusive: White House mulls extension of Trump-era solar tariffs, with tweaks
- Democracy’s defenders can’t just win elections. They must also campaign to save democracy. (“The Justice Department is stepping forward. Pro-democracy advocates are, too.”)
- Slavery Was a Terror Beyond Measure
- This Is Parents and Legislators Under the Sway of a Media Industrial Complex (“The same right-wing media ecosystem that has faceplanted on the pandemic”)
- The Right Has Mastered Cancel Culture (“Glenn Youngkin’s anti-CRT hotline exemplifies an illiberal trend.”)
- Tucker Carlson’s pro-Russia rants give Republicans exactly what they deserve (“How Carlson’s support for Vladimir Putin is bedeviling GOP primary candidates.”)
- School Board in Tennessee Bans Teaching of Holocaust Novel ‘Maus’ (Absolutely disgraceful.)
- The real reason some people are so afraid of ‘Maus’
- Ted Cruz Is Fundraising Off a Debunked 1/6 Conspiracy Theory (Glenn Youngkin’s BFF.)
- Stephanie Ruhle set to take ‘The 11th Hour’ slot, while ‘Morning Joe’ expanding
- Father of slain TV reporter announces bid for US House in Virginia
- Andy Parker Announces Run for Congress in Virginia’s 5th District
- UPDATE: Lateef, Guzman won’t seek Democratic nomination in 7th, further clearing the field for Spanberger
- Under the Guise of “School Choice Week,” Gov. Youngkin Wages War Against Public Schools (“Since being inaugurated, Governor Youngkin has continually attacked Virginia’s public schools”)
- Video: VA Del. Wendy Gooditis on Andrew Wheeler’s “Parallel Universe,” In Which He Supposedly “Made Great Strides” in Protecting the Environment (In our universe, of course, “Wheeler’s acts…did damage in so many areas of environmental conservation”)
- 2021 Falls Church School Board Right-Wing Candidate’s “Lesser Black Woman” Comments “Objectively the worst tweet I’ve seen today”
- Virginia COVID-19 Cases Up 117,707 Over the Past 10 Days…Has the Omicron Wave Finally Started to Recede?
- Youngkin summons higher education leaders to help promote his plan for ‘lab school’ partnerships (Super-spreader event.)
- USDA Citations of Envigo Prompt Bipartisan Legislative Effort, Launch of Virginia Coalition for Beagle Protection
- The Virginia Department Of Education Is Getting Flooded With Memes After Creating A Tip Line To Report Schools Teaching About Racism
- Va. bill to regulate explicit books in school libraries killed
- Virginia educators share their disappointment with Gov. Youngkin’s tip line
- Youngkin’s education secretary pick gives insight into the administration’s priorities
- Youngkin’s plan to punish cities that defund police would mostly hit small towns (“‘I don’t know of any localities — nobody has done what I’d call a ‘defunding,’” said Dana Schrad, the executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police. ‘Some may have reduced agency budgets — not in a punitive way, but because they were resource challenged.'” Exactly – nobody is “defunding the police”; that’s another bullshit, right-wing talking point.)
- Virginia House Republicans try hardball to save Youngkin Cabinet pick (“Virginia House Republicans are trying to muscle Andrew Wheeler into governor Glenn Youngkin’s Cabinet by holding up the reappointment Angela L. Navarro to the of State Corporation Commission.”)
- 6 reasons why conditions on I-95 deteriorated during the Jan.3 snowstorm
- Senate bill that would require Parole Board votes to be made public under FOIA clears first hurdle in General Assembly
- Hampton Roads lawmakers have dueling visions for education in Virginia
- Virginia’s former secretary of public safety registers as marijuana lobbyist (Brian Moran goes from lobbying for the for-profit “education” industry to two terms as Secretary of Public Safety to lobbying for the marijuana industry. Interesting career arc, lol.)
- Levar M. Stoney and Sarah Steely column: Collective action to end childhood hunger
- Judge reverses decision: Teen convicted of Loudoun Co. high school sexual assaults will not go on sex offender registry
- Roanoke County School Board votes to lift mask mandate Feb. 14
- Snowfall predictions drop in Hampton Roads; state of emergency declared as nor’easter bears down
- D.C.-area forecast: Light snow gets started today before accumulating this evening into tonight
