by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, December 9.
- New abnormal: Climate disaster damage ‘down’ to $268 billion
- How Seychelles ocean plants could help tackle climate change
- The Money Rush Into Climate Startups Isn’t Dominated by VCs Any More
- Behavioral Scientists’ Appeal To Climate Researchers: Study The Bias (“Longstanding social inequities may hold clues to the adverse health effects of climate change, behavioral scientists are telling their peers.”)
- Ukraine Says Western Allies Shouldn’t Fear Russia Falling Apart (“Ukraine’s foreign minister defended Kyiv’s right to strike targets on Russian soil and vowed that Ukraine would never accept a peace settlement that leaves occupied lands, including Crimea, under Moscow’s control.”)
- Russia shells eastern front, Ukraine says, as war aims appear to shift
- Pope Francis breaks down in tears while discussing the Ukraine war at a public prayer
- Helping Ukraine is ‘self-preservation,’ finance chief says
- War has tamed Ukraine’s oligarchs, creating space for democratic change
- Russian disinformation is demonizing Ukrainian refugees
- US Readies Sanctions Against Russia, China Over Human Rights
- Biden had a ‘painful’ decision to make to secure Griner’s release. He made it.
- The GOP Is Refusing To Celebrate Brittney Griner’s Release (“The WNBA star ‘openly hates our Country,’ Donald Trump said in one of many Republican swipes at her participation in the 2020 racial justice protests.”)
- Brittney Griner arrives in US after prisoner exchange with Russia
- Griner release is cause for relief but Viktor Bout transfer tough to stomach
- Why Viktor Bout’s return to Russia is so important for Vladimir Putin
- Freed Brittney Griner lands in US (“The WNBA star was detained in Russia for 10 months before being released in a high-profile prisoner swap”)
- White House responds to criticism of Griner prisoner deal (The criticism is mostly in bad faith by the usual suspects.)
- Donald Trump, who ignored Paul Whelan for two years, says deal to return Brittney Griner to US was ‘stupid’ (Trump would have left Brittney Griner in a Russian penal colony for years on end, apparently.)
- Brittney Griner back home in US after Russian prisoner swap
- Trading Brittney Griner for the “Merchant of Death” Was Worth It
- The MAGA faithful who refuse to celebrate Brittney Griner’s release (“Conservatives are obsessed with a patriotism litmus test rigged against Black Americans.”)
- Analysis: In Brittney Griner Deal, Putin Used Pain, a Familiar Lever
- Trading Brittney Griner for an arms dealer was a good deal (“The “Merchant of Death” had served 10 years. Even the judge in his case thinks that was fair relative to what he was actually convicted of.”)
- Peru’s Castillo faces criminal charges as new president Boluarte takes helm (That’s what SHOULD have happened in the US – after 1/6/21, Trump should have been arrested and quickly replaced by Pence.)
- Peru’s impeached former president asks Mexico for asylum
- Peru’s democracy proves resilient against a president’s coup
- Markets optimistic as China eases Covid rules, but experts warn of danger ahead
- China’s Xi at Saudi palace to meet royals on Mideast trip
- UAE’s Diplomatic Might Grows With Russian Release of WNBA Star
- Rollback of covid vaccine mandate met with furor at Pentagon
- Biden notches political, policy and diplomacy wins to cap year
- Excited about falling gas prices? Careful what you wish for.
- Peak US Oil Production Looms as the Domestic Shale Boom Ends (“After a decade of losing hundreds of billions of dollars, the shale oil industry is finally making money — and running out of oil.”)
- The Supreme Court Seems Less Inclined to End Democracy Than Before
- Advocate tells lawmakers of ‘stealth’ efforts to influence Supreme Court
- Critics Call It Theocratic and Authoritarian. Young Conservatives Call It an Exciting New Legal Theory. (“‘Common good constitutionalism’ has emerged as a leading contender to replace originalism as the dominant legal theory on the right.”)
- House Passes Respect For Marriage Act, Sends Historic Bill To Biden (“The legislation, which passed 258 to 169, codifies protections for same-sex and interracial marriages.” Virginia’s Republican US House members voted NO.)
- ‘The clock ticks’: Congress races to resolve high-stakes spending tug-of-war
- Republicans need to learn why the public keeps rejecting them
- How Kevin McCarthy Could Lose The Election For Speaker Of The House
- First on CNN: January 6 committee considers criminal referrals for at least 4 others besides Trump
- Justice Department asks judge to hold Trump team in contempt over Mar-a-Lago case
- Trump does not plan to appeal dismissal of Mar-a-Lago special master to Supreme Court
- The Media Still Doesn’t Know How to Cover Trump’s Extremism (It’s really astounding how pathetically incompetent the US political media is.)
- Trump’s 2024 Campaign So Far Is an Epic Act of Self-Sabotage (“But is this really the end of an error?”)
- Trump cash haul spiked after 2024 launch — but not as high as in the past
- Op-Ed: Democrats should use their Senate majority to expose Republican corruption
- Sinema leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent (Sinema continues to be a jerk.)
- Top Bernie Sanders adviser believes Sanders will give 2024 “a hard look” if Biden doesn’t run (Hard pass.)
- Midterms should push both parties to rethink voting reform
- Just What Did the Times Walkout Change?
- Two top Times reporters are skipping the walkout (“Chief White House reporter Peter Baker and Pulitzer Prize-winning White House correspondent Michael Shear told colleagues before the walkout that they would not be participating in the one day work stoppage, three people told Semafor.” Of course they’re not.)
- Indicted sponsor of Florida’s ‘don’t say gay’ bill resigns from Legislature (“One day after being indicted on charges of money laundering and wire fraud, state Republican Rep. Joe Harding of Ocala announced his resignation from Florida’s House of Representatives.”)
- Swing voters in Senate runoff boost Georgia’s standing as a 2024 battleground
- Abrams’ aide says Democrat had ‘nearly impossible’ chance to beat Kemp
- Inside the turbulent, doomed campaign of Herschel Walker
- 5 reasons Trump might never return to Twitter
- Musk Twitter Leak Raises Concern About Outside Data Access
- Women sue Twitter, claiming Musk layoffs unfairly targeted female staff (“The proposed class-action lawsuit alleges that after the takeover, 57% of women were laid off compared with 47% of men”)
- Tesla’s Troubles Are Piling Up While Elon Musk Is Distracted With Twitter
- Elon Musk’s tunnels to nowhere (“The billionaire dug himself into a hole with the Boring Company.”)
- Maxwell Frost, future Gen Z congressman, denied D.C. apartment over bad credit
- Senators Warner, Kaine Celebrate House Passes of “Respect for Marriage Act,” Urge Virginia to Repeal Its Ban on Same-Sex Marriages
- Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says There Are “security issues” Around “Musk’s absolute dependence on the Communist Party of China”(“You know, all those Teslas, which is the vast majority of his fortune, they get all their batteries from China…”)
- U.S. Senate committee backs Ballou for federal judgeship in Western Virginia
- Pope & Schapiro: Antisemitism report, COVID changes & Spanberger’s new clout
- Democrats find the right person to champion battleground districts (“Abigail Spanberger is well-positioned to lend her party a hand.”)
- Jennifer McClellan and Lamont Bagby likely contenders for vacant U.S. House seat (“There is speculation that the governor could set the election for some time in February, in part to accommodate Virginia’s new requirement that 45 days be set aside for early voting…Expectations are that the party would hold a so-called ‘firehouse’ primary for party members to choose the winner”)
- Editorial: Antisemitism is on the rise and Virginia needs to confront it
- Virginia taking steps to pull out of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (Completely unacceptable.)
- Analysis | Youngkin inches closer to pulling Virginia from regional climate program
- Poll: Slight majority of Virginians approve of Gov. Youngkin, but disapproval ticks up
- Virginia has a data center problem (“To drive through Data Center Alley is to witness suburban sprawl on steroids, with its attendant deforestation, loss of farmland and loss of wildlife habitat. The environmental destruction doesn’t stop at a facility’s property line; a single building covers acres of land, causing massive rainwater runoff problems that can impact streams and drinking water resources miles downstream…Moreover, data centers require astonishing amounts of energy to power their operations and cool their servers. “)
- Virginia State Police won’t release job records of ex-trooper who killed 3 in California (“Asked if the agency could explain that choice given the significant public interest in the murders Edwards committed and his background as a police officer in Virginia, Geller said the state’s transparency laws don’t require the agency to comment further.”)
- Virginia State Police requests funds for nearly 250 new staff, pay raises
- VA Reproductive Equity Alliance: Far-Right Del. Marie March’s “Personhood” Bill “puts the lives of pregnant people at risk and strips them of control over their bodies” (“This bill also bans access to critical forms of contraception, such as IUDs.”)
- March vs. Williams is just one of the nomination battles shaping up (“The nomination fight between two rookie Republican Virginia legislators with a tangled history is getting people’s attention. But there are other interesting nomination battles shaping up west of Richmond. Here are a few to watch.”)
- Virginia U.S. attorney says she is ‘taking illegal guns off the streets’
- Editorial: Del. Marie March’s two-front war a losing battle so far
- Special counsels named to probe events leading to U-Va. shooting
- Suspect in UVa shooting faces judge in first preliminary hearing
- Loudoun Co. school board appoints Daniel Smith as interim superintendent
- Leaders in Bristol take up the abortion debate
- A House report cites Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder’s role in ‘toxic’ culture
- D.C.-area forecast: Sunny with seasonable chill today, then cooler this weekend
