by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, February 15.
- The Case Against Methane Emissions Keeps Getting Stronger
- Criticism of corporate climate pledges ramps up
- New North Sea oil and gas licences ‘incompatible with UK climate goals’
- Banks haven’t quit coal. Study says commercial lenders have channeled $1.5 trillion to the industry since 2019 (Appalling and 100% unacceptable.)
- Apple broke Facebook’s ad machine. Who’s going to fix it?
- Tesla says new gas generators “no longer rational”, batteries are smarter and cheaper (Agreed – new natural gas power plants make no sense, with existing ones increasingly dubious as well…)
- The Science Behind Long Covid (“New studies offer clues about who may be more susceptible to long Covid, a term for lingering Covid-19 symptoms. WSJ breaks down the science of long Covid and the state of treatment.”)
- Putin could turn off Europe’s gas tap. This is the solution (“Modeling carried out by the Climate Action Network Europe and the European Environmental Bureau shows that the use of fossil gas could virtually be phased out by 2035. That would require accelerating deep renovations of Europe’s buildings, ramping up the deployment of renewable electricity technologies and the electrification of heating and transportation — all measures that are entirely realistic.”)
- Trudeau vows to freeze anti-mandate protesters’ bank accounts
- When ‘Freedom’ Means the Right to Destroy (“Recent events have confirmed what many suspected: The right is perfectly fine, indeed enthusiastic, about illegal actions and disorder as long as they serve right-wing ends.”)
- Baffled by the Chaos in Canada? So Are Canadians. (“The protests seem to challenge the cherished image that Canadians are moderate, rule-following and just plain nice. But was that really a myth all along?”)
- Mounties Seize Weapons Cache, Arrest 11 In Anti-Vaccine Mandate Truckers Blockade
- Fox News boasts of its role in pushing the illegal and unpopular Canadian truck convoys
- [Canadian] Federal government invokes Emergencies Act for first time ever in response to protests
- Protesters, police face off near U.S.-Canada border crossings as Trudeau invokes Emergencies Act
- We’ll believe Russian withdrawal when we see it – Ukraine
- Tone of Ukraine Crisis Shifts as Russia Signals Openness to Talk More
- Russia Says Pullback Begins; Putin Meets Scholz: Ukraine Update
- Russia says some troops are leaving Ukraine’s border (“The announcement came amid signs from Russian President Vladimir Putin that he remains open to a diplomatic resolution to the crisis. However, other major military maneuvers were continuing near the border.”)
- Inside the White House preparations for a Russian invasion
- Russian units near Ukraine moved into “attack positions,” official says
- First Thing: Russia says it will withdraw some of troops from Ukraine border (“Move could be sign of de-escalation amid fears of invasion but size of withdrawal is unclear.”)
- Enough with the Ukraine war predictions (“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s revealing joke about a February 16 invasion, explained.”)
- Russia Offers Mixed Messages on Ukraine Troop Pullback (“Russia said it had pulled back some troops from near Ukraine while noting that large-scale military maneuvers were continuing and Western officials warned that combat units were moving into forward positions.”)
- A world on edge awaits Putin’s critical move (“There is a palpable sense that Russia and the West have reached a historic fork in the road”)
- The crisis over Ukraine is far from over. Some lessons are clear already. (“Alliances still matter — and so does hard power.”)
- Alexei Navalny faces 10 more years in prison as focus shifts to Ukraine
- Does Putin want a diplomatic solution in Ukraine? It’s not looking that way.
- The shocking decision to allow Kamila Valieva to skate at the Olympics, explained (Disgraceful.)
- U.S. seeks extradition of former Honduras president on drug charges, senior Honduran officials say
- Assad regime’s grip on aid agencies in Syria must be addressed, says report (“Resurgent Syria government forces control distribution and one militia has contract to rebuild city it destroyed, claims thinktank”)
- Afghans say they feel safer but less hopeful under Taliban rule
- Southwest drought is the most extreme in 1,200 years, study finds (“The long-running drought in the Southwest, which has persisted since 2000, can now be considered the driest 22-year period of the past 1,200 years, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change.”)
- ‘Biggest oil barons’: the US private equity firms funding dirty energy projects (“A report, shared exclusively with the Guardian, provides a snapshot of industry’s involvement in some of the country’s most controversial fossil fuel investments”)
- U.S. States Are Ending Mask Mandates, but It’s a Patchwork
- Why Democrats can’t get a fair shake in the Supreme Court, in one chart (“Republicans get their dream nominees, while Democrats struggle to confirm moderates.” Asymmetrical as usual.)
- Get a grip, Democrats. Follow Pelosi’s example on messaging.
- The MAGA fixation with chaos overrides ‘America First’ (“‘Law and order’ no more. The GOP is pro-chaos.”)
- Why conservatives want to use trucks as a protest tool (“Want to create a backlash? Start shutting down traffic across the country.”)
- Stop indulging the fantasy of a sane GOP majority (“There is Larry Hogan’s idealized GOP. Then there is the real one.” Hogan really does seem delusional.)
- Republicans Are Trying to Prevent Trump 2024 (“A group of lawmakers led by Mitch McConnell is reportedly trying to cut Trump off at the knees.”)
- Trump vs. McConnell: Latest round between GOP heavyweights has the highest stakes yet
- Accounting Firm Cuts Ties With Trump and Retracts Financial Statements
- Trump’s Longtime Accountants Just Threw Him Under the Bus (“Mazars USA not only terminated its relationship with the Trump Organization, it also will no longer vouch for the previous financial statements it prepared for the company.”)
- Trump Org’s accountant says 10 years of financial statements are unreliable
- Memo to Democrats: ‘Kitchen table issues’ won’t save you (“Trying to drain the emotion out of politics is a one-way train to defeat.”)
- Republicans still back Trump but don’t want GOP to punish disloyalty – CBS News poll
- A staunch conservative’s urgent warning to the GOP about Trump and 2024
- No ‘mass exodus,’ but GOP sees Trump grip loosening
- The Durham Report Is Vague Enough to Be Useful (“It’s complicated and opaque, enabling Donald Trump to call it ‘worse than Watergate.'”)
- Joe Walsh on what lies ahead: Trump is “sowing a race war” — and his followers love it (“He helped elect a ‘bigoted, authoritarian traitor,’ Walsh says. Now he works to save ‘members of the Trump cult'”)
- Why We Are Not Facing the Prospect of a Second Civil War (“Whatever our current challenges, whatever our current divisions, I do not think the United States is where it was it in 1860. We have enough problems ahead of us already without having to worry about war breaking out here.”)
- Is the Tide Turning on the Big Lie? (“Rep. Adam Schiff explains why he thinks so.”)
- The Sarah Palin–NYT Case Was Headed Toward a Dramatic Finale. Then the Judge Dropped a Bomb.
- Sarah Palin judge will dismiss her libel case, finding no malice by New York Times
- Sarah Palin needed a smoking gun. She had boring emails.
- 2020 Election Denier Will Run for Top Elections Position in Colorado (Very, very dangerous.)
- Luria, Scott, local leaders discuss Bipartisan Infrastructure Law investments in Coastal Virginia
- Interactive map shows how Virginia’s coast will change as sea levels rise
- Va. Gov. Youngkin promises quick action on bill to make masks optional in schools
- Bill banning school mask mandates reaches Youngkin; could be law within a week (Why not continue to let local school boards make this decision?)
- Governor Youngkin Puts The Progress Of The Commonwealth On Hold, Rejecting 11 Highly Qualified Civil Servants
- Virginia lawmakers reject efforts to tie football stadium deal to Commanders probe
- Video: Del. Danica Roem, Del. Mike Mullin Argue for Marriage Equality, Ex-Felon Voting Rights Constitutional Amendment Resolutions (Del. Roem: “Your vote for this doesn’t make anyone gay…it just allows them to know that their governing officials have their back”)
- Effort to remove ban on same-sex marriage in Virginia Constitution clears Senate
- Video: Del. Alfonso Lopez Rips the Idea of Stifling the Teaching of “Divisive” Concepts, America’s FULL History – the “Great,” “Wonderful,” “Awful” and “Ugly”
- VA Senate Passes Bipartisan School Construction Bills
- 10-Day New COVID-19 Cases Down 81% Compared to 1/19; Hospitalizations Continue Declining; Deaths Remain High
- Virginia’s COVID-19 case rates are plummeting. But experts still can’t predict what’s next.
- Virginia public school advocates call for more funding amid myriad of challenges (The question is which new revenue sources Youngkin et al would support. So far, the answer appears to be NONE.)
- The woeful inadequacy and neglect of sex ed in Virginia
- Chickahominy Pipeline developer pauses development plans after federal ruling
- Chickahominy Pipeline will ‘press pause’ on project crossing five Central Va. counties
- Emissions from three plants in Virginia identified as cancer-causing hotspots
- Charlottesville community members call on others to commit to masking
- D.C.-area forecast: Warming trend starts today and lasts until a cold front passes Thursday night
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