Thursday News: “Europe Thinks Putin Is Planning Something Even Worse Than War”; “Why Democrats Keep Losing Culture Wars”; “Black History Is American History”; “As Virginia GOP targets clean energy, advocates hope Senate wall holds”; “Virginia AG Rattles Higher Ed”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, February 3.

WATCH: This is what I will stay focused on during Black History Month. https://t.co/s5NZQEXGAE

— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) February 3, 2022

• COVID vaccine misinformation violates human rights, says Pope Francis
• Putin heads to China to bolster ties amid Ukraine tensions
• Russia Blasts Troop Moves; Macron Engages Putin: Ukraine Update
• US carrier bolsters NATO to counter Russia as tensions reach fever pitch
• Europe Thinks Putin Is Planning Something Even Worse Than War (“The answer is surprising, even paradoxical. Europeans and Ukrainians are skeptical of a major Russian invasion in Ukraine not because they have a more benign view of Mr. Putin than their American counterparts. On the contrary, it’s because they see him as more malicious. War, they reason, is not the Kremlin’s game. Instead, it’s an extensive suite of tactics designed to destabilize the West. For Europe, the threat of war could turn out to be more destructive than war itself.”)
• Putin claims Ukraine crisis is over Russia’s future, but that rings with Cold War brinkmanship
• Putin, Facing Sanction Threats, Has Been Saving for This Day
• Belarusian leader’s ties to Putin could sway Russia’s calculus on Ukraine
• A Moment of Excruciating Anticipation in Kyiv (“As the possibility of further war with Russia looms, people in Ukraine’s capital make plans to fight or flee.”)
• Erdoğan offers to mediate between Ukraine and Russia (“Turkish president faces delicate balancing act in supporting Ukraine while maintaining Moscow relations”)
• Don’t panic: why Ukraine doesn’t like western talk of imminent attack (“Analysis: While Putin’s intentions remain unclear, Kyiv would rather it didn’t get classed as the next Kabul”)
• Johnson tells Putin invading Ukraine would be ‘tragic miscalculation’ (“UK prime minister and Russian president agreed in phone call that ‘aggravation was in no one’s interest’, says No 10”)
• Olympic athletes are getting ready to boycott the opening ceremony in Beijing (Is anyone looking forward to these Olympics?)
• Putin, Xi Will Put Partnership Against U.S. on Display at Olympics
• As the Olympics open, China seeks the limelight, but warns against criticism
• UN accused of colluding with China to delay Xinjiang human rights report until after Beijing Winter Olympics
• President Xi Jinping, China’s ‘chairman of everything (In other words, it’s a dictatorship.)
• New Zealand announces plans to reopen to the world
• U.S. special forces conduct ‘counterterrorism mission’ in Syria
• U.S. Special Forces Raid Syrian Site in Search of Terrorist Leader
• Reports of Civilian Casualties as U.S. Raid in Syria Appears to Target Qaeda Leader
• Facebook’s meta complicity in the Rohingya genocide
• Sweden Lifts Covid Restrictions With Pandemic in ‘New Phase’
• All-American Hell Is Breaking Out in Canada
• Havana Syndrome may be caused by ‘directed energy’
• COVID deaths are rising even as Omicron dies down (Deaths generally lag cases and hospitalizations by a few weeks.)
• Biden deserves a lot more credit on covid-19 than he’s getting
• U.S. job market faces reshuffling as workers quit at near record rates
• Democrats, GOP inching toward deal to avert shutdown
• Facebook is shrinking for the first time (“The decline of its total user base puts more pressure on its big metaverse bet.”)
• Facebook Owner Meta Set for $200 Billion Wipeout, Among Worst in Market History (Good.)
• The Worst Day of Mark Zuckerberg’s Reign (“Facebook lost nearly $200 billion in value because while his head was in the metaverse, his company was being eaten alive in the real world.”)
• Biden officials push to hold up $11.3 billion USPS truck contract, citing climate damage (Why is DeJoy still there?)
• For both politics and the economy, this is our fork in the road (“Exploring the very different paths America could take from here.”)
• How a free society can respond to right-wing disinformation (“We must stand up to the right’s attempt to ban books, rewrite history and tarnish objective reality.”)
• Democrats need to challenge the GOP’s politics of evasion on Trump
• Memos Show Roots of Trump’s Focus on Jan. 6 and Alternate Electors
• Trump’s race-war fantasies continue to escalate — while the media pretends not to notice
• Republicans say they have open minds on the Supreme Court. Don’t believe it.
• As Trump rages, a new plan to prevent a 2024 coup quietly advances
• Democrats hit limits with Luján’s absence
• Labor groups wary of potential Supreme Court pick backed by top House Democrat
• Senate moves to confirm new D.C. judges amid vacancy crisis
• Why Democrats Keep Losing Culture Wars (“Republicans often build entire campaigns around false or misleading information as a way to energize their base.”)
• How Larry Hogan can run for president and save the GOP
• FBI identifies 6 juveniles as persons of interest in bomb threats at Black colleges
• Students protest book bans by distributing ‘Maus,’ ‘Beloved’
• A ‘Master Class’ in Gerrymandering, This Time Led by N.Y. Democrats
• The Pa. Supreme Court took over a redistricting case and will decide the state’s new congressional map
• “It’s Like the Ending of Reservoir Dogs”: Insiders See the Hand of Cuomo Behind Jeff Zucker’s Abrupt Departure From CNN. (“People inside CNN are “shell-shocked.” The channel now finds itself in unprecedented turmoil, months out from the expected close of the WarnerMedia–Discovery merger. “Why would you want to hand Discovery a scandal-ridden CNN?””)
• CNN President Jeff Zucker Resigns, Citing Relationship With Colleague (Good riddance.)
• The Mystery Behind the Zucker Shocker
• Misbehaving media men finally prove they aren’t invincible
• Unmasking Of Rudy Giuliani On Fox’s ‘The Masked Singer’ Prompts Judges Ken Jeong & Robin Thicke To Walk Off In Protest (Completely deranged shit.)
• Fox host says he’s “unsympathetic to the movement of ‘science’” (WTF???)
• On Spotify, Joe Rogan’s podcast is rife with anti-vaccine talking points and COVID-19 misinformation
• National Butterfly Center on Texas border closing indefinitely after attacks from right-wing conspiracy theorists (Completely unhinged.)
• Alex Jones and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene paint a future of congressional investigations into conspiracy theories
• He’s Head of a Georgia Election Board—and Fixated on QAnon (Also completely unhinged.)
• Sen. Tim Kaine urges state of Virginia to continue aiding resettlement efforts for Afghan refugees
• Video: Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA02) Says Trump “is telling us what he did; he’s been telling us all along what he did” (Rep. Luria also says that Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon are “outliers…their obstruction is obviously not in line with their constitutional duty to appear for a subpoena”)
• Inundated by Emails From People Extolling Their Teachers and Mocking His Authoritarian “Snitch Line,” Youngkin Laughably Claims “Working Papers” FOIA Exemption (This guy gets more Trump-like every day.)
• Virginia AG Rattles Higher Ed (“Legal experts say Jason Miyares’s decision to dismiss two university counsels so soon after his inauguration is unusual. What does it mean for the future of the state’s higher ed institutions?”)
• No decision yet on lawsuit against Youngkin’s school masking choice
• Lawsuit against Youngkin’s mask order set to be heard in Northern Virginia
• Virginia judge declines to act immediately on school boards’ suit seeking to halt Youngkin’s mask-optional order
• CASEY: Readers react to Youngkin’s tattle-on-teachers tip line
• Members of GOP-Controlled VA House Finance Committee Pass Bill To Cut $1B In Yearly State Funds, Hurting Our Ability to Fund Our Schools (Instead, the General Assembly should “strengthen the Earned Income Tax Credit and directly benefit low-income families and help them make ends meet.”)
• Dominion-Backed Committees Block Campaign Finance, Rate Reform Bills (“Dominion Energy has contributed over $1 million to members of three powerful committees”)
• Video: Actually, Sen. Spruill, YOU Are the One with the “Real Hard-On for Dominion,” as You Crudely Put It to Sen. Petersen (Dominion Energy is by far Sen. Spruill’s top donor of the years, clocking in at a cool $277,569…purely out of the goodness of its corporate heart, we’re all sure! LOL)
• If it won’t help, the legislature should get out of the way on school construction (The problem is, it takes lots of money, and Youngkin et al sure as hell aren’t going to raise taxes to pay for it.)
• Virginia 1-Day New COVID Cases Up 6,678; Hospitalizations Continue Downward Decline (to 2,787); Deaths at 16,412
• As Virginia GOP targets clean energy, advocates hope Senate wall holds (“Conservatives took back the governor’s office and House of Delegates last November. Environmental advocates hope Democrat’s slim majority in the Senate is enough to protect the state’s landmark clean energy policies.”)
• House panel shows little appetite for hunting law changes (“Snare and steel-jawed trap bans among six bills rejected” Good that they were rejected; appalling that anyone proposed this cruelty.)
• Bill allowing students to access their transcripts despite unpaid debt clears state Senate
• Marijuana is still illegal to sell in Va., but that’s not stopping retailers (including a senator)
• Bill removing protections for transgender students progressing in the House of Delegates (“LGBTQ advocacy groups are disappointed that a bill that would remove protections for transgender students passed an education subcommittee in the House of Delegates.”)
• Brad Haywood column: We can’t go back to ‘broken taillight’ policing
• Jones: What’s next for the Mountain Valley Pipeline? (Hopefully, that it’s killed.)
• Youngkin, Miyares, and the state superintendent join lawsuit with Loudoun County parents (Of course they do…)
• Virginia’s law for recalling elected officials needs reform (“The state’s system for holding officials accountable instead allows them to be bullied and intimidated.”)
• ‘It is about mental illness,’ says mother of Hanover man charged in killings at Bridgewater College
• ‘I could not prevent it’: Mother says ex-Bridgewater student charged with killing 2 campus officers is mentally ill
• Editorial: The margins of the law (“Using forged documents to secure confessions from criminal suspects operates in a gray area that could harm the relationship between police and the public they serve.”)
• The Commanders name lands ‘with a thud’ for some Washington fans
• Some Native Americans want more than a name change from the Washington Commanders
• D.C.-area forecast: Rain today and Friday, maybe ending as a wintry mix