Friday News: “A Ukraine Crackup in the G.O.P.”; “The GOP Can’t Remember Why It Took the Debt Ceiling Hostage”; Another Horrible Ruling by a Trump Judge; Attention Glenn Youngkin, “It’s not American history without Black history”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, February 3.

• Palm oil is actually not that bad (anymore) (“Palm oil once destroyed orangutan-filled rainforests in Southeast Asia. Now, the industry is cleaning up its act.”)
• The radical plan to build world’s biggest green electrolyser and hydrogen power plant
• Ukraine Hopes New Bombs From U.S. Will Help It Push Back Russia
• Along Ukraine-Belarus border, a war of nerves — and drones
• CIA Director William Burns: Next 6 months will be “critical” in Ukraine war
• Fox News Poll: Bipartisan support for sending funding, weapons to Ukraine
• Symbolic Support Is Likely as Zelensky Meets With E.U. Leaders
• A Ukraine Crackup in the G.O.P. (“Republicans aren’t united with one another, never mind with Joe Biden.”)
• The number of Russian troops killed and wounded in Ukraine is approaching 200,000, according to Western officials.
• Soaring Death Toll Gives Grim Insight Into Russian Tactics
• Balloon drama is the worst possible lead up to expected Blinken visit to China
• What to make of the US military’s movements in the Pacific and a general’s wild warning about war
• China says it’s looking into report of spy balloon over US
• Japan must do more, and faster, to avert war over Taiwan
• Suspected Chinese spy balloon found over northern U.S.
• Adani’s $108 Billion Crisis Shakes Investors’ Faith in India
• Modi Government Officials Opt for Silence Over Adani Stock Rout
• Close to 1,000 migrant children separated by Trump yet to be reunited with parents
• This Southeast Asian nation is one of the world’s worst human rights disasters (Mynamar.)
• EU Warns Elon Musk That Twitter Must Comply With Law Against Hate Speech, Misinformation
• Welcome to Broken Britain 2023 and a new ‘Winter of Discontent’
• There’s a remedy for Britain’s problems: Rejoin the E.U. (Is it too late?)
• Brazil’s police carry out fresh raids as part of Jan. 8 riots probe
• We are liberal American Zionists. We stand with Israel’s protesters.
• Blinken’s Israel visit is an exercise in damage control (“Netanyahu’s government poses a major challenge for Biden.” Yep, huge problem.)
• The man in charge of how the US spends $400bn to shift away from fossil fuels (“The Department of Energy’s loan programs office was ‘essentially dormant’, says Jigar Shah, its head – but now it’s ready to bankroll clean energy projects”)
• U.S. Jobs Report Expected to Show Pace of Hiring Is Solid but Slowing (That – along with falling inflation – is pretty much the definition of a “soft landing,” which is exactly what we want.)
• The GOP Can’t Remember Why It Took the Debt Ceiling Hostage (“Republicans are fighting Biden for the sake of fighting”)
• House GOP struggles over budget ideas
• Why Are So Many Americans Dying Right Now?
• When the Police Are the Government
• Confidence in police drops after fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, Post-ABC poll finds
• It’s not American history without Black history
• Biden’s new chief of staff to set a course for ’24
• McCarthy’s Horse-Trading Nightmare
• Sorry, Joe Biden, Kevin McCarthy is not a “decent man”: Today’s GOP are fascists, not your friends (“Hate to break the news to President Biden, but this isn’t your father’s Republican Party” Presumably Biden knows that…)
• Law barring people with domestic violence restraining orders from having guns is unconstitutional, court rules (Trump judges are an ongoing menace to America, and unfortunately will be for years to come.)
• It’s now legal for domestic abusers to own a gun in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi (“We’re starting to see the fallout from the Supreme Court’s most recent Second Amendment decision.”)
• Trump campaign staff on 2020 election lies: ‘fan the flame’
• Trump Won’t Commit to Backing the G.O.P. Nominee in 2024
• Do They Not Know He’ll Betray Them? — Expect Donald Trump to blame his own party
• Former President Donald Trump On Nikki Haley’s Announcement, Taiwan, Ukraine And More
• Trump Claims Ron DeSantis Shed Actual Tears While Begging for His Endorsement
• Why prosecutors might get Trump – and not Biden – for classified documents
• It’s Difficult to Sink to New Depths When You’re as Shallow as the House GOP, But Somehow…
• McCarthy breaks with Greene on death of Ashli Babbitt
• House Ousts Ilhan Omar From Foreign Affairs Panel as G.O.P. Exacts Revenge
• AOC decries vote to remove Omar from House Foreign Affairs Committee
• House votes to remove Omar from Foreign Affairs panel as Democrats cry hypocrisy and ‘racism’ (Obviously it’s hypocrisy and racism, no need to say “Democrats cry”)
• In rare move, U.S. releases ‘high-value’ Guantánamo Bay prisoner
• Former Trump Executive, Already Jailed, Could Face More Fraud Charges
• FBI to Search Mike Pence’s Home for Additional Classified Materials
• Columbia Journalism Review’s Big Fail: It Published 24,000 Words on Russiagate and Missed the Point
• Leaked Audio And Staff Dispute Show Chaos Inside George Santos’ Office
• Sen. Kyrsten Sinema pulls in cash from Wall Street, real estate titans as she mulls reelection bid
• Groups file ethics complaint over Sinema’s alleged use of staff
• Kari Lake meets with NRSC officials
• The State Where the GOP Would Rather Lose Than Change (“Faith in elections has risen for most Republicans since 2020. Not in Arizona.”)
• Old Bay melee: Maryland Dems circle as Cardin weighs reelection
• Texas ice storm leaves hundreds of thousands without power
• Right-wing accounts recently reinstated by Twitter CEO Elon Musk are unleashing misinformation in Twitter Spaces
• Some popular accounts likely to disappear from Twitter as Elon Musk ends free access to API
• The New York Times is failing in its coverage of DeSantis’ radical attacks on public education (The phrase, “The New York Times is failing in it coverage,” can be used for most of its political coverage.)
• Why Is CNN Platforming Notorious Anti-Vaxxer Bill Maher? (CNN sucks.)
• NHL’s commitment to diversity, inclusion under microscope again at All-Star game
• As Mississippi Hospitals Fail, Leaders Kill Medicaid Expansion Efforts Again (White people who REALLY don’t want Black people – and poor Whites – to have access to health care.)
• Metro riders, colleagues remember mechanic slain in Wednesday shooting as ‘hero’
• Wittman, Spanberger in ‘select’ company; Good gains budget, workforce posts
• Audio: Donald Trump Explains “what disappoints me about Youngkin,” Who Trump Says “got elected because of me” (Trump claims Youngkin’s campaign manager “said [Youngkin] did it without Trump…and I didn’t like that.”)
• VPAP Analysis of “Dominion Only” vs. “Clean Virginia Only” General Assembly Members: Since 2018, 130/140 Have Taken From One or the Other…Not Both (Clean Virginia money has gone almost exclusively to Democrats, while Dominion Energy gives to both parties…)
• Video: VA Senate Republican Leader Tommy Norment Says There’s NO Appetite for Youngkin’s Corporate Tax Cut
• Three interesting bills of the week: implicit bias training, geriatric parole and furloughed feds
• Energy & Environment — Youngkin’s move to block EV plant stirs controversy
• Virginia Democrats poised to block more Youngkin nominees
• VA House MAGA Republicans Kill Nearly Every Gun Violence Prevention Bill (“House Democrats Filed Nearly Twenty Gun Reform Bills, All But One of Which Have Been Killed By House Republican”)
• Legislation to regulate Va. data centers faltering
• House panel slashes key part of Dominion bill, sets more negotiations
• Republicans Try, Once Again, to Privatize Public Education in Virginia
• Board of Education moves forward on Youngkin’s history standards
• Board of Ed advances draft history standards
• Despite public pushback, Board of Ed accepts draft history standards for first review
• Pope & Schapiro: Education miscalculation, crossover day and utility regulation
• Sen. Joe Morrissey’s Petersburg casino bill fails
• Judge found no child abuse in Morrissey case, says family of estranged wife (“Myrna Morrissey, now 26 years old, was 17 and working as an assistant in Morrissey’s Henrico County law firm when they began a sexual relationship that led him to accept an Alford plea to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 2015.”)
• Six reasons why people are moving out of Northern Virginia
• Vice-Chair of Norfolk Planning Commission, Kim Sudderth, Launches Campaign for 92nd House of Delegates District (Norfolk/Chesapeake)
• After fresh bribery allegations raised in a new Portsmouth lawsuit, ex-city manager calls them ‘emphatically false’
• Supreme Court of Va. rules Hanover residents can sue over Wegmans warehouse
• Town of Pound emerges from death sentence in Virginia Assembly
• Arlington high school placed on lockdown due to suspected trespasser
• Charlottesville mayor personally trims list of candidates for empty council seat
• Before a 6-Year-Old Shot His Teacher, the School District Failed on Threat Assessment
• Virginia coach, 22, posed as 13-year-old and played in high school hoops game
• ‘Say his name, Sergio Flores’ | Student who reportedly overdosed at Wakefield High School dies
• D.C.-area forecast: Arctic blast is here, with numbing wind chills through tonight