by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, March 7.
- Revealed: 1,000 super-emitting methane leaks risk triggering climate tipping points
- Nearly everyone is exposed to unhealthy levels of tiny air pollutants, study says
- Why Climate Change Is the Greatest Threat to Human Progress (Environmental destruction in general.)
- The Rot Beneath Green Labels on Forestry Products
- Oil chief leading COP28 climate summit urges energy industry to ‘up its game’ to reduce emissions
- Sustainable Funds Dodged Outflows in 2022 Market Rout (“Bond funds that invest based on factors such as companies’ carbon footprints and workforce diversity led the gains.”)
- Russia advances in Bakhmut by sending waves of mercenaries to certain death (“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his top commanders insisted they would continue defending the eastern city despite heavy losses.”)
- Ukraine war: President Zelensky vows to find killers of unarmed soldier with cigarette
- China’s Xi Jinping Takes Rare Direct Aim at U.S. in Speech
- China foreign minister warns of potential for conflict with US and hails Russia ties (“In a bellicose first press conference, Qin Gang rebuked Washington over its Taiwan policy and the balloon incident, while praising Beijing’s relationship with Russia”)
- US sees China propaganda efforts becoming more like Russia’s
- China Warns US Risks Catastrophe With Moves to ‘Contain’ Beijing
- US speaker McCarthy plans to meet Taiwan president Tsai in US – reports
- Protests Over Netanyahu’s Judiciary Overhaul Spread to Israel’s Military (“The military leadership is concerned that anger over the government’s plan, with some pilots saying they will skip some training sessions and operations, could diminish military capabilities.”)
- Settlers attack Palestinian town again amid Israeli Purim celebrations
- Two Israels face off as justice overhaul deepens the divide (“The day before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right, religious government was sworn in on Dec. 29, a popular chat show host asked whether Israel might be better off dividing into a liberal secular state and a more nationalist theocracy.”)
- Biden administration urged to block extremist Israeli minister’s visit (“Several groups and individuals are rallying against Bezalel Smotrich’s visit over his comments to ‘wipe out’ a Palestinian town”)
- Exclusive: U.S. solar panel imports from China grow, alleviating gridlock, officials say
- Western Firms Certified as Socially Responsible Trade in Myanmar Teak Linked to the Military Regime (Appalling.)
- Unions Vow to Bring France to a ‘Standstill’ Over Macron’s Retirement Plan (“Strikes over President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to raise the retirement age to 64 from 62 disrupted travel, schools and services again.” In the U.S., the full Social Security retirement age is now 67, by the way.)
- Kim’s sister warns N. Korea ready to act against US, South (If they do that, they will be committing suicide.)
- 4 US citizens were kidnapped by gunmen in Mexico in case of mistaken identity, US official says
- Abducted Americans were in Mexico for tummy tuck
- U.S. transfers Border Patrol agents to northern border as migrant crossings from Canada into U.S. rise
- Plunge in border crossings could blunt GOP attack on Biden (Spoiler: Republicans will always dishonestly attack Democrats on this, regardless of the numbers, the facts, etc.)
- Increasingly Large and Intense Wildfires Hinder Western Forests’ Ability to Regenerate
- The Debt Ceiling Is the Risk Wall Street Doesn’t Want to Think About
- Debt Default Would Cripple U.S. Economy, New Analysis Warns
- US could see a huge shift in temperatures (“A cold snap could bring snow as far south as the southern Appalachians next week and bring snow into the mid-Atlantic”)
- Biden to unveil plan averting Medicare funding crisis, challenging GOP
- Biden is right about voting rights: They’re still under assault
- Too little, too late: Why the media goes missing when Republicans go on the offensive (“The media’s belated coverage of the GOP’s anti-democracy attacks will never catch up”)
- Timid media and GOP figures are again, dangerously, normalizing Trump
- ‘Slavery was wrong’ and 5 other things some educators won’t teach anymore (If you can’t teach that slavery was a bad thing, it makes a mockery of teaching history.)
- House Republicans’ “Marquee” Energy Plan Reheats Tired Ideas
- The House Is About To Have 435 Members. That’s Pretty Rare.
- Biden Leads Williamson by 73 Points Among Democratic Primary Voters (Amazing Williamson even gets 4% support.)
- House GOP Holds Field Trips to Avoid Real Work
- Tucker Carlson, with new video provided by Speaker McCarthy, falsely depicts Jan. 6 riot as a peaceful gathering
- Tucker Carlson, with help from Kevin McCarthy, tries to sanitize the very real violence of the January 6 attack (Carlson is evil incarnate, McCarthy is pretty much no better.)
- Hakeem Jeffries Sees No Sign Police Vetted Jan. 6 Footage McCarthy Gave Tucker Carlson
- Tucker Carlson Cherry-Picks Jan. 6 Footage To Deny There Was Any Insurrection (“The Fox News host says videos of people standing in Capitol hallways better represent the day’s events than videos of Trump supporters fighting police.”)
- Kevin McCarthy wanted Jan. 6 propaganda from Tucker Carlson, and that’s what he’ll get
- 2 Capitol riot defendants sought by FBI after disappearing
- Justice Dept. arrests hit 1,000 in connection with Jan. 6, and new accusations surface in latest prosecutions
- Never Trumpers rally in D.C., trying to find hope and a plan amid despair
- 3 more Republican states announce they’re leaving a key voting data partnership (This is really bonkers.)
- Donald Trump’s Relationship With Fox News Is Hanging by a Thread
- Donald Trump’s Recipe for Electoral Failure
- Mike Pence asks judge to block subpoena for Jan. 6 testimony
- Trump fighting to bar use of White House lawyers’ grand jury testimony in special counsel probe: Sources
- Florida Takes Aim at the First Amendment
- Presidential Historian Michael Beschloss Torches ‘Local Mussolini’ Ron DeSantis
- The Dominion filings show that for Fox News’ election lies, the buck stops with the Murdochs
- Q: Who’s unsurprised by shocking Fox News revelations? A: Ex-Fox journalists
- Anti-trans rhetoric takes center stage at CPAC amid hostile Republican efforts
- MAGA sinks GOP trolling to genocidal lows (“Republicans are competing for attention by ratcheting up anti-LGBTQ speech. The inevitable result is violence”)
- If You’re Filled With Hate, Then Arnold Schwarzenegger’s New Video Is Just For You
- Meta Plans Thousands More Layoffs as Soon as This Week
- Musk’s Twitter is getting worse
- At Elon Musk’s ‘brittle’ Twitter, tweaks trigger massive outages (“‘Every mistake in code and operations is now deadly,’ a former engineer said last year. That dire prediction appears to be coming true.”)
- Bodyguards Follow Elon Musk Everywhere at Twitter HQ, Even to Restroom, Says Engineer
- How a single engineer brought down Twitter on Monday (“The high cost of cutting expenses — Twitter’s website is breaking in novel new ways — and while the company managed to recover from its latest outage within a couple hours, the story behind how it broke suggests there are likely to be similar problems in the near future.”)
- Hope Hicks Meets With Manhattan Prosecutors as Trump Inquiry Intensifies (Never-ending investigations, but never any actual indictments, arrests, convictions, etc.)
- Trump’s Next Election Boost: Criminal Charges…? (“The ex-president believes indictments would “enhance” his odds of winning back the White House. Charges may in fact be coming.”)
- There isn’t a ‘blue collar’ or ‘working class’ vote
- ‘Dilbert’ Creator Digs Deeper Hole With Wild New Claim About ‘Black America’
- California to not do business with Walgreens over abortion pills issue, Governor says
- Rosendale calls neo-Nazi photo op a mistake (Riiiiight.)
- New York Republicans go to all-out war against Santos (“And the embattled fabulist is going to the mattresses himself as his colleagues try to push him out”)
- Jim Jordan scrambles amid claims “weaponization” probe is a dud
- Five Women Sue Texas Over the State’s Abortion Ban
- Vivek Ramaswamy says he received an offer to buy his way into the CPAC straw poll
- D.C. Council withdraws crime bill Congress set to block, but Senate says vote will proceed
- Keeping much of McEachin’s staff, McClellan looks to ‘hit the ground running’ (“Out of 16 staff in McClellan’s congressional office, 11 worked for McEachin, including his chief of staff, Tara Rountree, whom the congresswoman-elect has chosen for the same role…Abbi Easter, a longtime adviser to McEachin, will serve as senior adviser to McClellan.”)
- New Poll Finds DeSantis Narrowly Leads Trump Among Virginia GOP Likely Primary Voters, Youngkin Only at 6%; Sears Leads Miyares 48%-17% for 2025 VA GOP Governor’s Primary
- Farewell and adieu: Possible pitfalls and historical context of pending legislative retirements (“Another consequence of losing so much collective experience, particularly in the Senate, is an indirect shift of power away from elected lawmakers…Lobbyists and legislative staff in Virginia already enjoy outsized importance and input by virtue of one of the most abbreviated annual legislative calendars in America.”)
- From Abortion To Education, Key Wins And Losses From Virginia’s Legislative Session
- Schapiro: Little-noticed Big Brother bill is surprise casualty
- Virginians aren’t as educated as new report makes them sound (“A national study found that 59.3% of Virginians have some kind of education past high school. That’s true, but just 10 localities are above the state average, most of them in Northern Virginia.”)
- General Assembly took some steps toward backing small nuclear reactor, didn’t take others
- Column: Virginia’s solitary confinement bill won’t change anything
- Virginia, West Va. Kroger employees allege computer-generated wage theft
- Virginia regulators approve bill increase for Appalachian Power’s fuel costs
- Dranesville District (Fairfax County) Supervisor John Foust Endorses Jimmy Bierman for Dranesville Supervisor (That should be game/set/match for this one…)
- Stoney’s proposed $3 billion budget calls for hike in utility rates
- Portsmouth council members no longer allowed to livestream meetings from the dais
- D.C.-area forecast: Sunny and seasonable through tomorrow with a gusty breeze
