Saturday News: “How to break the stalemate in Ukraine”; “Fox News is worse than you thought”; “Tucker Carlson Called Trump a ‘Demonic Force'”; Youngkin Suppressing “discussion of race in the classroom is the epitome of white supremacy”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, February 18.

• What’s a Climate ‘Doom Loop?’ These Researchers Fear We’re Heading Into One (“As governments put more resources into coping with the increasingly destructive impacts of climate change, is it distracting them from reducing emissions?” Yes!)
• Bird Flu Leaves the World With an Existential Choice (“To prepare for future outbreaks, we’ll have to decide which is the greater danger: nature or ourselves.” We need to stop f***ing with nature.)
• Russia’s War in Ukraine Revives the West—for Now
• Zelenskyy predicts Russian loss and warns Belarus against attack
• ‘Ukraine is not going to militarily retake Crimea,’ top Democrat says
• McConnell stresses GOP support for Ukraine to reassure European allies
• Democrats, Republicans join up to urge Biden to send F-16s to Ukraine
• Ukraine ‘weeks away’ from full IMF support program, says fund chief
• Over 30,000 Wagner Group fighters killed or injured in Ukraine, U.S. says
• How to break the stalemate in Ukraine (“To thwart Russia and safeguard Ukraine’s sovereignty, the United States and its European allies have little choice but to intensify their military, economic and diplomatic support for Kyiv. That means equipping Ukrainian forces with more decisive weapons and in greater numbers, imposing more aggressive sanctions on Moscow and galvanizing a more muscular international coalition to isolate and ostracize Russia.”)
• Ukraine invasion reshaped global alliances, renewed fears
• Sunak to call for long-term support for Ukraine
• Outgunned Ukrainian pilots take the fight to Russia
• Bipartisan Senate duo presses Treasury, Commerce to get tougher on China (“Intelligence committee leadership — Democrat Mark R. Warner and GOP’s Marco Rubio — want more sanctions, export controls related to Xinjiang”)
• Top Chinese diplomat: U.S. response to balloon “absurd and hysterical”
• What’s Behind the Chinese Spy Balloon (“President Xi Jinping has modernized and expanded his military, but the balloon incident may indicate the challenges he faces in consolidating its power.”)
• U.S. and China diplomats communicating – but not militaries, White House says (This headline should read, “U.S. and China diplomats – but not militaries – communicating, White House says” Why is this so difficult?)
• North Korea fires missile as US, S. Korea prepare for drills
• Earthquake death toll passes 45,000; many still missing in flattened apartments
• Inside the Taliban campaign to forge a religious emirate (What theocratic/right-wing Republicans want to do in the United States as well.)
• Three men convicted of far-right plot to stab Emmanuel Macron
• Why America’s outdated energy grid is a climate problem
• The climate change real estate bubble risks billions
• With Two Key Picks, Biden Weaves Climate Into Economy and Regulations
• Over 25 GW of solar is actively being constructed in the U.S. (“The capacity joins the existing 107 GW of solar on the U.S. grid, signaling that the energy transition is well underway.” Crank it up!)
• At Least 102 Kids Were Working In U.S. Meatpacking Plants, Labor Investigation Finds (Disgusting.)
• Scott Drops Social Security From Plan as G.O.P. Retreats From Entitlement Cuts (At most it’s a temporary “retreat”)
• Republicans to adopt loyalty pledge for debate participants
• Kamala Harris: Biden is not too old for presidency and I intend to run with him
• GOP Operative Sentenced to 18 Months for Funneling Russian Money to Trump Campaign
• What Did We Learn About the Georgia Grand Jury’s Findings? (“It’s possible that all of the jurors’ votes recommended against indictment, but it isn’t sounding like it.”)
• We Can Stop Pretending Fox News is a Reputable Outlet Now (“Any organization would be justified in revoking their media credentials after this.”)
• Fox News feared losing viewers by airing truth about election, documents show
• Fox News is worse than you thought
• Tucker Carlson Called Trump a “Demonic Force” (“Donald Trump has been called a lot of things by a lot of people. Still, no one expected the ex-president to be described in anything less than glowing terms by the gang over at Fox News.”)
• They knew it was a lie: The behind-the-scenes happenings at Fox while the network pushed false claims about Dominion
• Five top revelations from Dominion’s explosive court filing in Fox News lawsuit
• What Fox News Says When You’re Not Listening
• Fox News has been exposed as a dishonest organization terrified of its own audience
• I Never Truly Understood Fox News Until Now (“New court filings reveal what the network’s leaders really think of its viewers.”)
• 4 takeaways from the bombshell Fox News legal filing
• Sidney Powell cited woman who claimed to be headless, time-traveling entity in email pushing election conspiracy theories
• Fox has pushed anti-Black narratives every single day of Black History Month so far
• The New York Times rejects calls for accountability after letters suggest anti-trans bias at the paper of record (The NY Times is badly, badly broken and it starts at the top, with its owner, publisher and editors.)
• Don Lemon Disappears After Making Sexist Comments On-Air (“The anchor was conspicuously absent 24 hours after saying ‘a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.'”)
• George Santos Isn’t the Only Congressional Rookie With a Slippery Backstory
• The suspect accused of shooting 2 Jewish men in LA has been charged with hate crimes
• Elon Musk Had an Extremely Hardcore Week (“Things happened at all of his businesses. Most of them were not good.”)
• Russia’s emerging new offensive in Ukraine, explained by an expert
• I Watched Elon Musk Kill Twitter’s Culture From the Inside (“This bizarre episode in social-media history proves that it’s well past time for meaningful tech oversight.” Many years past time.)
• Twitter to charge users to secure accounts via text message
• Fox News Pundits Seem Hell-Bent on Punishing John Fetterman for Having Depression
• The Bravery of Senator John Fetterman
• John Fetterman and the Performance of Wellness (“The particular challenge of enduring depression as a public figure”)
• Depression risk rises after a stroke. What that means for John Fetterman
• I Serve With Sen. John Fetterman. I Struggled With Depression, Too
• Ann Coulter tells Nikki Haley to ‘go back to your own country’ in racist rant against new GOP presidential candidate
• Haley says DeSantis didn’t go ‘far enough’ with ‘Don’t Say Gay’
• Donald Trump May Actually Need Nikki Haley in the Race
• Biden Slams Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Relentless Push To Dumb Down Florida Education
• Norfolk Southern’s Profits and Accident Rates Rose in Recent Years
• Christopher Rufo Claims a Degree from “Harvard.” Umm … Not Quite
• 6 fatally shot in small Mississippi town, suspect in custody
• Kaine pushing to formally end the Gulf and Iraq wars
• 4th District election: McClellan looks to ‘graduation,’ Benjamin says he offers option (Yes, Benjamin offers an option – an absolutely awful one.)
• Rep. Abigail Spanberger named to House Intelligence Committee
• Biden Administration Slams Youngkin for Attacking Right to Privacy (“Governor Youngkin’s decision attacks the principles of freedom and a woman’s fundamental right to privacy in the United States of America.”)
• White House pounces on Youngkin over menstrual tracking bill
• Williams: The ‘real ‘political manual’ in operation is on the whitewashing of public education (“Look, this is a twofer: Youngkin can attack a teachers union and BLM. But this attempt to control or suppress the discussion of race in the classroom is the epitome of white supremacy…In Virginia, the governor whose first official action was to protect the feelings of white students seems to have little empathy for Black students, other students of color or LGBTQ students. If you’re OK with a curriculum shaped by the Fordham Institute, Hillsdale College and the Heritage Foundation—but draw a line at discussing BLM in the classroom—you’re the one pushing a political agenda, not the educators.”)
• Samantha Bee “Would love nothing more than to take [Youngkin] through my menstrual history in the most vivid detail” (VA Sen. Barbara Favola: “It’s simple, this is personal information and nobody should have access to it but the woman herself”)
• Schapiro: The solution on taxes both sides choose not to see? (In which Jeff Schapiro uses the favorite phrase of the mainstream media, “both sides,” repeatedly for absolutely no good reason.)
• Sen. Adam Ebbin: VA House Republicans “made it clear – they believe Obergfell will be overturned. Their goal is to ban current, lawful, legitimate marriages of lgbt Virginians” (Far from being the party of “individual liberty,” Republicans want to stamp it out wherever they can.)
• Virginia GOP panel kills proposed amendment on gay marriage
• GOP-Controlled VA House Subcommittee Fails To Advance Constitutional Amendment For Reproductive Freedom
• A city-country political alliance starts to gain traction in Va. legislature (“After years of trying, state Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, whose Southside district includes some of the poorest counties in the state, and state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, have co-sponsored a school construction bill that’s headed to the governor’s desk.”)
• Miyares seeks change to solitary confinement; critics vow to draw ‘line in the sand’
• Should kratom products sold in Virginia come with a warning label?
• RVAGreen2050 climate plan celebrated at Broad Rock (“City Council agreed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions 45% by 2030, but funding must still be committed.”)
• Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office investigates school threats claiming ‘hit list’
• D.C.-area forecast: Seasonable today before another warm-up gets underway