New Year’s Day 2023 News: “Ukraine Rings In New Year With Hope of Russia Defeat”; Kevin McCarthy “will have to make a bargain with more than one devil”; “The Invention of Elise Stefanik”; George Santos’ “unraveling web of deception”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, New Year’s Day 2023.

• Meet the renewable energy source poised for growth with the help of the oil industry (“Companies already normally associated with oil and gas drilling in the United States have started delving more deeply into geothermal projects” It’s an essentially unlimited, 24/7/365 source of energy.)
• Hungry and on the march as the climate heats up: Termites in Australia
• Countries celebrate New Year with post-Covid crowds (The only problem is, COVID is very much still with us.)
• Benedict leaves German homeland with complicated legacy (And by “complicated,” they mean mostly bad.)
• World welcomes 2023 and leaves a stormy year behind
• What the Wars and Crises of 2022 Foreshadow for 2023 (“Tyrants and thugocrats have tightened their hold amid challenges to democracies, but they face problems, too.”)
• Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy vows to keep up fight amid new wave of Russian missile attacks (“President says his only wish for 2023 is victory for Ukraine, while Vladimir Putin says Russia will ‘never give in’ to the west”)
• Europe’s big question: What a diminished Russia will do next
• Ukraine war: Zelensky tells Russians – Putin is destroying you
• Russian missiles hammer Kyiv on New Year’s Eve
• Scoop: Netanyahu asked for Ukraine’s support at UN — and Zelensky asked for military aid
• Ukraine Latest: New Year’s Strikes Hit Kindergarten, Homes
• In Bucha, a Final Rampage Served as a Coda to a Month of Atrocities (“Hours before Russian troops began withdrawing from the suburban Ukrainian town, a Russian soldier left a trail of blood in a last paroxysm of violence.”)
• Bombardment, air raid sirens mark Ukraine’s start to 2023
• Ukraine Rings In New Year With Hope of Russia Defeat (“Optimism is tempered by worsening economic pain as President Volodymyr Zelensky pays tribute to sacrifices made.”)
• Israel’s Illiberal Rightward Turn Is a Warning (” Netanyahu’s new government is the most right-wing in Israeli history, a coalition of Likud, the conservative power center, and a variety of far-right and ultra-Orthodox factions. There is no moderating presence, no illusion of an opposition. For American liberals, it’s the equivalent of the Republicans governing with more than 60 senators and an enormous House majority, many of them either Trumpian or hardline Evangelicals.”)
• NKorea’s Kim orders ‘exponential’ expansion of nuke arsenal
• Brazil Vice President Criticizes Bolsonaro Supporters Over Chaos (Just like Trump supporters.)
• Analysis: Jail time hardened Lula’s resolve to tackle poverty over profit
• Lula returns to office in a troubled, divided Brazil
• Xi Offers Rare Acknowledgment of Covid-19 Policies’ Toll
• A highly immune-evasive omicron variant is quickly becoming dominant in U.S. as it doubles weekly
• US Jobs Report Likely to Show Still-Tight Labor Market
• Treasuries Post Biggest Annual Loss Ever as Inflation Takes Toll
• Biden Set an Ambitious Goal for Nature. It’s Time He Went After It.
• U.S. Offshore-Wind Plans Face Threat From Rising Costs
• The Shift to EVs Triggers Biggest Auto-Factory Building Boom in Decades
• Oops! The Worst Political Predictions of 2022 (“The red wave never arrived, nor did the Russian victory over Ukraine. And that’s just the start of an incredible year in bad prognostication.”)
• Democracy won 2022. Can it keep winning?
• Chief justice thanks Congress, court personnel for ensuring judges’ physical safety in annual report
• The left’s 5 biggest unknowns for 2023
• Trump Called Supporters Storming Capitol ‘Trashy’ But Good ‘Fighters’: Jan. 6 Testimony
• Trump’s Taxes Are the Best Case Yet for Putting Him in Prison
• GOP Rankings: The Republicans most likely to be the party’s 2024 presidential nominee (Youngkin clocks in at #6, behind Mike Pompeo and just ahead of Mike Pence.)
• The ‘Red Wave’ Washout: How Skewed Polls Fed a False Election Narrative (The NY Times, of course, heavily pushed the false “red wave” narrative…)
• Democrats controlled Congress for two years. What did they achieve? (“From same-sex marriage protections to veterans’ aid, Joe Biden’s party used its thin majority to deliver many campaign promises”)
• Kevin McCarthy’s Ambitions Are Going to Take Him to Some Dark Places (“In order to secure enough votes to become speaker, he will have to make a bargain with more than one devil.”)
• When the House needed two months and 133 votes to elect a speaker
• The talented Mr. Santos: A congressman-elect’s unraveling web of deception (Pretty much every word this MAGA extremist has ever said publicly is a wild lie.)
• The Invention of Elise Stefanik (Stefanik has no moral compass, no principles, just a lust for power. The absolute worst in politics right there.)
• Elon Musk Becomes First Person Ever to Lose $200 Billion (It’s a decent start; keep going!)
• Tesla Stock Had the Worst Year Ever. That Doesn’t Make It Cheap
• Farewell To The Senate’s Biggest Climate Denier (Inhofe is a disgrace and a complete clown.)
• Column: Virginia must reverse course on Clean Cars law (Written by a right-wingnut delegate, completely moronic as you’d expect.)
• Order in the court: Women judges in Virginia on the rise (“Hampton’s General District Court is all women, and some local lawyers say that fact has had a tangible impact on the way the system operates.”)
• Gun violence in Roanoke remains at steady, high level, with city’s focus on long-term solutions
• Opinion/Editorial: Look for new ways to solve old problems in the coming year
• Abortion and casino battles, Diamond District and Lego: What’s next in 2023
• Editorial: What we will be watching in 2023 — Elections
• The country moved on from covid. This homeless shelter is stuck in it. (“At Arlington, Va.’s largest homeless shelter, the year is ending much like it began: with an outbreak of disease pushing an already burned-out staff to its limit.”)
• D.C.-area forecast: Dry and mild for New Year’s Day, warming up through midweek