Tuesday News: “Trump Had Role in Weighing Proposals to Seize Voting Machines”; “Media outlets should cover Trump as the threat to the American republic that he is”; “Forty years of moral panics in Virginia help explain Gov. Youngkin”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, February 1.

“The Post’s tag line is ‘democracy dies in darkness.’ No, it doesn’t. If there’s one thing Trump continues to demonstrate…it’s that democracy dies in plain sight. And with the assistance of really crappy headlines.”

My @MehdiHasanShow monologue tonight:pic.twitter.com/TZXhGnjJAI

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) February 1, 2022

• Beavers Are Flooding the Warming Alaskan Arctic, Threatening Fish, Water and Indigenous Traditions (“A thawing of permafrost in beaver-built wetlands can release vast stores of greenhouse gases to warm the climate, but Native peoples are already feeling the rodent’s impacts.”)
• Meet the next generation of climate influencers
• Life on Earth Can’t Handle the Chemical Industry’s Onslaught
• The science behind the omicron wave’s sharp peak and rapid decline
• The IOC and sponsors of the Beijing Games are complicit in China’s human rights abuses (“Why, in the midst of a genocide, has China again been honored with hosting the Games?” It’s really inexcusable.)
• The IOC stays silent on China human rights
• A Uyghur gets death sentence, as China bans once OK’d books
• As Putin heads to Beijing, Russia and China’s stronger ties are a headache for the U.S.
• Russia responds in writing to U.S. proposal on Ukraine crisis
• NATO Leaders Flock to Ukraine as Russia Masses Troops
• Moscow warns Ukraine may ‘destroy itself’ as Russia and US clash at UN
• Trump’s Mega-Fans in Moscow Declare They’re ‘Ready to Elect Him Again’
• US to target Putin’s inner circle with sanctions in event of Ukraine invasion
• Putin can still back down from war with Ukraine without looking weak — but will he?
• Bomb shelters, guerrilla war: Building Ukraine’s resistance
• Why should Americans care about Ukraine? The answer is simple (“If Russia succeeds here in Ukraine, that will send a clear message to everyone who wants to rewrite rules on which the world is based, that this is possible”)
• U.S. and Allies Close to Reviving Nuclear Deal With Iran, Officials Say (“A return to a 2015 accord is on the table, but the next decisions are up to the new government in Tehran, the Biden administration says.”)
• Exclusive: Qatar reaches deal with Taliban to resume evacuation flights
• The deadly battles that tipped Myanmar into civil war (“The intensity and extent of the violence – and the co-ordination of the opposition attacks – point to a change in the conflict from an uprising to a civil war.”)
• Sue Gray: Boris Johnson focused on saving his own skin, says Keir Starmer
• The circus music is winding down for BoJo the Clown
• Climate change may be supercharging Northeast snowstorms
• One Million Deaths: The Hole the Pandemic Made in U.S. Society (“Covid-19 has been directly responsible for most of the fatalities, but the disease is also unraveling families and communities in subtler ways”)
• Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for children under 5 could be available by the end of February, people with knowledge say
• The Power of Boosters — New C.D.C. data shows their effectiveness.
• Guns, Germs, Bitcoin and the Antisocial Right
• Trump never met a dictator he didn’t praise. Yet his fans dare to accuse Biden of appeasement.
• Trump’s 2024 campaign is about revenge. We should be very frightened. (“The revanchist version of Trump is even more malignant that the previous version.”)
• Democrats Rally to Save Biden’s Climate and Economic Agenda (“Progressives, moderates, and the White House are aligned in wanting to get something done with Build Back Better—but that doesn’t mean it will be quick or easy.”)
• Trump Makes It Clear He’d Be an Out and Out Dictator If Reelected in 2024 (“He’s now both casually and explicitly insisting Pence could have ‘overturned the election.'”)
• GOP leaders silent on Trump’s claims that VP could overturn elections (That entire party is the problem.)
• In a Single Weekend, Trump Hit for the Authoritarian Cycle (“The ex-president lied that the 2020 election was rigged, seemed to admit he didn’t really believe this, and dangled impunity for people who use force to carry his ambitions forward.”)
• January 6 committee uses Pence team to try to penetrate Trump’s West Wing (“The House committee probing the US Capitol insurrection has racked up one of its most significant wins yet”)
• Rep. Liz Cheney responds to Trump’s Jan. 6 comments: ‘He clearly would do this all again’
• Trump makes the coup-deniers look silly again
• Exclusive: Trump advisers drafted more than one executive order to seize voting machines, sources tell CNN
• Trump Had Role in Weighing Proposals to Seize Voting Machines
• Some records sent to Jan. 6 committee were torn up, taped back together — mirroring a well-known Trump habit
• Exclusive: Mike Pence’s former chief of staff testifies in House January 6 investigation
• Mike Pence, this is your moment to rebuke Donald Trump
• When it comes to Rudy Giuliani and other Trump allies, the Jan. 6 committee needs to back up its words with action
• Trump team announces $122 million war chest
• The question for the GOP: Trump or American democracy? (Republicans have already made that choice, and it’s the wrong one.)
• Trump Incoherently Attacks Electoral Count Act Reform
• Is the U.S. on a path to civil war? This political scientist thinks so.
• Trump ally pushes Republican Party to expel Cheney, Kinzinger
• Media outlets should cover Trump as the threat to the American republic that he is
• Trump escalates racist rhetoric, plays on white grievance at recent rallies
• Let’s Bring the Supreme Court Back Down to Earth
• Cruz calls Biden’s promise to nominate first Black woman to Supreme Court ‘offensive’ and ‘insulting’ (Cruz is pure evil.)
• Biden’s critics are clueless about his pledge to put a Black woman on the Supreme Court
• A GOP proposal targeting ‘negative’ U.S. history is cause for renewed alarm (“How a repugnant bill in New Hampshire could be a model for future GOP censorship.”)
• Banned: Books on race and sexuality are disappearing from Texas schools in record numbers
• New rules are limiting how teachers can teach Black History Month
• Democrats are gerrymandering ruthlessly. Good for them. (“If it helps them keep the House, they could end partisan gerrymandering forever.” Exactly – do NOT unilaterally disarm, but do this nationally via Congress!)
• School Boards Have Long Been a Tool of White Supremacy (“Our history of letting white Americans veto racial progress in schools.”)
• Kyrsten Sinema courted Republican fossil fuel donors with filibuster stance (She’s a disgrace.)
• New Financial Disclosures Show Kyrsten Sinema Is Raking in Cash from Big GOP Donors
• DeSantis’s failure to condemn Nazis gives cover for hate
• Georgetown Suspends Lecturer Who Criticized Vow to Put Black Woman on Court (This is the guy who ran for Falls Church School Board last year…and lost, thankfully.)
• Plea deal in Ahmaud Arbery case is rejected after his parents spoke out against it
• Whoopi Goldberg apologises for saying Holocaust ‘isn’t about race’ (In fact, the Nazis falsely called themselves the “Master Race,” and categorized other groups into supposedly subservient/inferior races. So yes, it was VERY much about race!)
• Fact check: Quote tweeted by GOP congressman came from neo-Nazi convicted for child porn, not Voltaire
• The New York Times Buys Wordle (What’s the NY Times going to do, “both sides” Wordle? LOL)
• Leaked messages reveal New York Times’ aggressive anti-union strategy
• Critics slam Spotify for using ‘Facebook playbook’ on Joe Rogan controversy
• Spotify releases content policies prohibiting COVID misinformation, but Joe Rogan has long bragged the platform lets him do what he wants
• He’s declining a coronavirus vaccine at the expense of a lifesaving transplant: ‘I was born free, I’ll die free’ (You can get “more stupider” than this guy.)
• Fox News wanted viewers to hear an anti-vax trooper’s story – until he died of COVID (Fox “News” is killing people – lots of them. How is this First Amendment protected speech?)
• Metrorail is a mess. What’s going to happen when more commuters return?
• Parent protester against Loudoun County School Board springboards from viral video into House run (Oh greeeeaaaat…)
• Full Disclosure Briefing: Alden Global Capital’s attempted takeover of Lee Enterprises
• Video: Del. Sally Hudson, Who Has a PhD in Labor Economics from MIT, Demolishes Right-Wing Republican’s Argument That the Minimum Wage Supposedly Hurts Workers (“Bio 101 isn’t enough to make a doctor, and you can’t build a bridge with Physics 101 alone. So too with economics.”)
• Republicans seek to halt Virginia’s minimum wage increase
• Environmentalists bristle at early Youngkin moves
• Forty years of moral panics in Virginia help explain Gov. Youngkin
• Virginia Republicans Kill Legislation to Protect Sexual Assault Victims (Del. Dan Helmer: “Actions speak louder than words — and this morning’s vote shows exactly where the GOP’s priorities are.”)
• Video: Del. Karrie Delaney Says “while we hear [the Youngkin] administration is going to listen to parents, it does seem like a lot of parents are not feeling heard”
• Video: Powerful Speech by Del. Danica Roem on Outliving Her Dad, a Veteran Who Died of Suicide in 1987, and the Need For Mental Health Care Resources
• Divided General Assembly agrees on one thing: Gas cars parked in EV spots should get tickets
• Virginia COVID-19 Cases Up 93,923 Over the Past 10 Days; Hospitalizations Falling…Omicron Wave Appears to Be Receding
• Norfolk delegate’s bill banning police from using fake documents voted down
• State lawmakers are working to regulate predatory small business loans
• On Virginia’s college campuses, COVID cases are going up, and vaccine mandates are going away
• 2 Virginia universities end student vaccine mandate after state attorney general’s legal opinion
• Smith: Limit solitary confinement in Virginia
• Video: Democrat Phil Hernandez Announces Candidacy for Norfolk-Based House of Delegates District 94 (“Hernandez Announces 17 Endorsements from Local Leaders for New Norfolk-Based District”)
• ‘Normal as possible;’ Hanover optional mask policy started Monday
• Virginia Beach City Council member wants defunct gay marriage ban gone from state constitution
• D.C.-area forecast: Becoming milder before weekend Arctic chill