Thursday News: “As Russian Strikes Mount, Ukraine Works to Keep the Lights On”; “House of Horrors: The Marjorie Taylor Greene Congress Is Upon Us”; “GOP civil war spreads to Georgia runoff”; “U-Va. shooter fired at football player as he slept, prosecutor says”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, November 17.

• Cop27: call to rewrite draft of key climate agreement as fossil fuel phase-down missing – live
• Scientists try to bolster Great Barrier Reef in warmer world
• Expectations Run High as an Exuberant Lula Speaks at Climate Summit (“On Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s first trip abroad after winning last month’s election, he pledged to protect the Amazon rainforest and said Brazil was ‘leaving its cocoon.'”)
• ‘Brazil is back’: At COP27, Lula vows to be a global climate leader
• The crucial need for energy storage is key to the future of clean energy
• The collapse of a crypto empire demands a reckoning
• 8 Charged in Scheme to Smuggle Endangered Monkeys From Asia, U.S. Says (Appalling.)
• As Russian Strikes Mount, Ukraine Works to Keep the Lights On
• ‘That’s not the evidence’: Ukraine clashes with allies over Poland missile in rare public split
• What Really Caused the Missile Explosion in Poland
• Ukraine tells allies it may not be able to recover from more Russian attacks on energy systems
• Russia launches new Ukraine barrage as grain deal extended
• Analysis: Have China and India shifted stance on Russia war?
• Russia launches more missile strikes, fighting rages in east Ukraine
• Russia Agrees to Renew Ukraine Grain Deal, U.N. Says
• China’s Xi Set for Japan Summit as He Mends Ties With US Allies
• Unmasked and in charge, China’s Xi puts personal diplomacy back in play
• Xi Looks Away From Putin Toward West in World Stage Return
• North Korea fires ballistic missile after warning to U.S.
• G20: Xi accuses Trudeau of leaks to media about China-Canada relations
• First Dutch Transgender Lawmaker Quits Twitter After Hate Speech
• Iran protests: young boy among at least a dozen shot dead on night of turmoil
• With GOP House win, Biden’s foreign policy faces new challenges
• Weather disasters hit 90% of US counties in last 11 years, report finds
• Tiny Soot Particles from Fossil Fuel Combustion Kill Thousands Annually. Activists Now Want Biden to Impose Tougher Standards
• Enel to Build Massive Solar Panel Factory in U.S.
• Democrats push to fix debt ceiling during lame duck
• At least 32 trans people killed in the U.S. in 2022: report
• Senate votes to advance same-sex marriage bill
• The Senate’s victory on same-sex marriage should terrify the GOP
• The significance of the Senate’s historic vote on same-sex marriage
• These 37 Republicans Voted Against a Bill to Protect Same-Sex Marriage
• How Biden is handling a new Trump White House bid
• Republican woes are about a lot more than Trump
• What Joe Biden Knows About America(“He intuited that voters would rise above their economic self-interest to prevent election deniers from seizing power.” And mostly it worked.)
• Republicans narrowly win House, ending full Democratic control of Congress (Huge mistake by voters.)
• House of Horrors: The Marjorie Taylor Greene Congress Is Upon Us (“Democrats beat midterms expectations, but still fell short of keeping the House. The chamber under Kevin McCarthy, and with an emboldened right flank, may ‘exist exclusively as a vessel state of MAGA nation,’ Rep. Eric Swalwell tells Vanity Fair.”)
• Republicans Will End the January 6 Committee. They May Also Investigate It. (“Big Lie backers want revenge.” Two years of wasted time and energy.)
• The GOP captures the House — and is ready for revenge (“Get ready for more oversight, investigations, and maybe even impeachment.”)
• Analysis: Republicans have control of the House. But can they govern? (Nope, absolutely not.)
• Q&A: what does a split Congress mean for US politics? (“With Republicans in control of the House and Democrats holding the Senate, expect a legislative logjam” In fact, unified Democratic control of Congress and the White House was working superbly.)
• GOP wins slim House majority, complicating ambitious agenda
• Republicans scrape back control of US House after midterms flop
• 3 major tasks Democrats must tackle before 2024 (“First, they must seek a breakthrough on voting reform…Second, while Democrats should resist the urge to “meddle” in GOP primaries, they should speak out to educate Republican voters that election denial is a losing proposition…Lastly, Democrats cannot ignore House losses in New York and lost opportunities in California.”)
• McConnell re-elected as Senate GOP leader
• Investigating the investigators: Dem strategists to launch counterpunch to House GOP
• McConnell seeks to unite a divided GOP
• Rick Scott’s Paul Ryanist fantasies are a big loser for the GOP
• Schiff passes on Dem leadership bid as Pelosi’s future stays murky
• Pelosi to announce whether she will run to stay House Democratic leader
• Pelosi to announce “future plans” on Thursday
• GOP Authoritarianism Isn’t Going Anywhere After the Midterms
• Key Allies Are Inching Away From Trump
• Trump’s early 2024 launch fails to rally GOP around him
• The Memo: GOP at crossroads over Trump
• “Let’s Get the Popcorn Out”: Democrats Cautiously Delight at a Republican Implosion
• Trump bills himself as only option but Republicans split on 2024 run
• Trump’s Moment Has Passed
• Trump’s Candidacy Is in Motion, but His Campaign Is a Work in Progress
• At long last, Trump gives his concession speech (“It was rambling. It was vain. At times, it was weird. What’s with that tale he keeps telling about giving Chancellor Angela Merkel a “white flag” to symbolize German surrender to dependence on Russian energy?” Trump is completely unhinged.)
• Trump bid nets tough reaction from some former media friends
• How news outlets handled Trump’s 2020 coup attempt in their reports on his 2024 run (The worst were, not surprisingly, Fox “News,” Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal and…CBS News.)
• Trump’s Confession (“The former president’s campaign announcement included an inadvertent admission that he has a big problem.”)
• Pence says ‘I think we’ll have better choices’ than Trump in 2024 (“Former Vice President Mike Pence said he is considering whether he should run for president and sharply criticized Trump over his actions on Jan. 6.”)
• The caging of America’s Kraken
• Trump’s Presidential Run Faces Legal Challenges Over His Role in Jan. 6 ‘Insurrection’
• Ex-Trump defense chief: ‘He’s unfit for office,’ shouldn’t run
• Desperate conservatives rally around an absurd talking point: Trump pivots to being presidential! (“Trump’s announcement was whiny and vindictive, but Republicans pretended to hear a noble elder statesman”)
• Sad! Why Donald Trump’s 2024 Debut Fell Flat (“The former president delivered a rambling, low-energy speech that few people, including himself, seemed to be jazzed about.”)
• Trump ally, billionaire GOP megadonor Ronald Lauder won’t back Trump’s 2024 run for president
• DeSantis Tells Republicans Eager for a Battle With Trump to ‘Chill Out a Little Bit’
• A Trump Judge Just Opened Up a Portal to Conservative Legal Wonderland (“This lawsuit provides us with an extended trailer for what the Republican House will be all about starting in January.”)
• Far-right extremist guided ‘army’ of rioters to Pelosi’s office on Jan. 6 , prosecutors tell jury
• Ex-intel officer downplays Jan. 6 violence as Oath Keepers defendants testify (Wuuut?)
• Karen Bass elected mayor, becoming first woman to lead L.A.
• Arizona Turns Down Measure For Stricter Voter ID Requirements (“The measure would have required mail-in voters to add more information to the simple signature and date they place on the return envelope.”)
• Vegan canapes and fat donations: How Sam Bankman-Fried won Washington before he lost everything
• Mark Zuckerberg’s Big Bet on the Metaverse Is Backfiring
• How the Senate GOP’s Infighting Could Hurt Herschel Walker
• GOP civil war spreads to Georgia runoff
• Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., encourages University of Virginia and state officials to work together on an inquiry into the fatal shooting.
• Virginia’s new redistricting system flipped a congressional district to Republicans, giving them a House majority (Brilliant, huh?)
• Elaine Luria, Out Of Congress, May Have New Start As Navy Secretary
• Most Youngkin endorsees lost in the midterms
• Virginia joins brief supporting challenge of vehicle emissions rule (F’ing Miyares.)
• Schapiro: ’24 may be Youngkin’s first, best and last chance for president (“Voters beyond Virginia’s borders will learn what those here are finally figuring out: That Youngkin campaigned as the friendly next-door neighbor but he governs like a prep-school bully.”)
• Missing context, political bias: Some of critics’ objections to Virginia’s new history standards (“Virginia Board of Education expected to review history standards Nov. 17.”)
• Former VA Sec. Education Atif Qarni Says Board of Education Has a Choice on Youngkin’s “whitewashed, false and inaccurate” History Education Standards; “Their reputations are on the line” (The Board “can either side with the truth and facts or…side with the racists.”)
• Teachers, advocacy groups angered by Virginia’s proposed changes to history education
• VA Legislative Black Caucus Sends Letter to the Board of Education Rejecting the Revisionist Standards of Learning Proposed by Gov. Youngkin’s Administration (“These revisionist standards prevent Virginia’s students from learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks until 6th grade.”)
• Audio: Former, Two-Term VA LG Bill Bolling (R) Says Glenn Youngkin Should Pledge to Serve Out His 4-Year Term; “one-term VA governors focusing on national campaigns a year into their term, that is never helpful”
• “Virginia Republicans joining their colleagues nationwide in wanting the state to investigate your child’s genitals” (Are Virginia Republicans “trying to mandate genital inspections for sports?”)
• Virginia Beach delegate’s bill would ban trans student-athletes from teams matching gender identity
• Va. lawmaker introduces bill to ban trans athletes from school sports teams (“State Del. Karen Greenhalgh introduced HB 1387 on Tuesday”)
• Va. bill would bar trans student-athletes from teams matching gender identities
• Aging in prison: elderly population may triple in 20 years
• Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia Endorses Lashrecse Aird for Virginia State Senate (“In contrast, Senator Joe Morrissey’s voting record and public statements demonstrate his career-long mission to undermine abortion rights.”)
• In a rare move, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia gets involved in a primary by endorsing Aird
• Virginia has two special elections on the horizon (Special elections for the House of Delegates seat held by Democratic Del. Mark Keam and the State Senate seat held by Republican Jen Kiggans.)
• Dulles Toll Road users will pay more next year to fund Silver Line
• U-Va. shooter fired at football player as he slept, prosecutor says (Evil.)
• Williams: College campuses are no cocoon from the violence afflicting our communities
• Opinion/Editorial: Gun allegations demand deeper investigations
• Accused UVa gunman legally purchased guns 5 months apart from Colonial Heights store
• UVa to conduct external review of flawed investigation of alleged shooter
• Prosecutor: Witness told police UVA shooting suspect specifically targeted victims
• ‘Very disruptive:’ Prince William Co. police chief details who’s behind most school threats
• D.C.-area forecast: Sunny and unseasonably cold through the weekend