by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, November 13.
- Big oil firms knew of dire effects of fossil fuels as early as 1950s, memos show (“Newly unearthed documents contain warning from head of Air Pollution Foundation, founded in 1953 by oil interests”)
- Business Lobby Reaches Record High at UN Biodiversity Talks
- We Study Climate Change. We Can’t Explain What We’re Seeing.
- ‘No sign’ of promised fossil fuel transition as emissions hit new high (“Despite nations’ pledges at Cop28 a year ago, the burning of coal, oil and gas continued to rise in 2024”)
- The Guardian view on Cop29: 1.5C has been passed – so speed up the green transition
- Meat, oil and pesticide industry lobbyists turned out in record numbers at Cop16
- ‘Fossil Fuels Are Still Winning’: Global Emissions Head for a Record (UGH.)
- Putin Isn’t Fighting for Land in Ukraine (“And Biden has mere weeks to give the Ukrainians the resources they need to fight.”)
- Putin Aide Issues Ominous Warning About Trump’s New “Obligations”
- Vladimir Putin Is Already Manipulating Trump
- ‘It flew right into her room’: Ukrainian girl killed by Russian drone as attacks surge
- Trump’s MAGA advisers are setting him up for failure in Ukraine
- Mike Huckabee, Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel, has long called himself a Zionist (Trump’s picks so far indicate a diehard pro-right-wing-Israel, anti-Palestinian orientation.)
- They Turned Against Kamala Harris in Decisive Numbers. They’re About to Find Out if It Was Worth It. (“Dearborn, Michigan, turned against Kamala Harris decisively. Now the city is about to find out if Trump was worth it.” Quite the contrary, it’s going to be an unmitigated disaster for everything they care about. And yes, that was 100% predictable and predited.)
- Trump’s Middle East envoy has a big asset: a direct line to the president
- US says Israel hasn’t breached its law against blocking aid in Gaza (Hmmm…)
- Aid Deliveries to Gaza Remain Low Despite U.S. Warning to Israel
- As China mourns, some question delay in release of information about deadly car attack (“It took authorities more than a day to release details of the incident, in which a man drove his car into a crowd, killing 35 people”)
- Federal judge blocks Louisiana law that requires classrooms to display Ten Commandments
- Oil Industry Asks Trump to Repeal Major Climate Policies
- Lee Zeldin, Trump’s EPA Pick, Brings a Moderate Face to a Radical Game Plan
- Trump seeks loyal attorney general to back mass deportations, pardons
- Incoming Trump admin is eyeing new immigrant detention centers near major U.S. cities
- Trump’s Proposed Border Czar, Tom Homan, Is a Little Too Psyched About Mass Deportation
- Lighthizer and his allies lay groundwork for Trump’s massive new tariffs (This will be an economic disaster.)
- Was America Ever All That Great? (“Trump’s re-election reveals us to be a people who, for all our star-spangled self-regard, share the world’s damnable wish for kings and strongmen.”)
- What I Got Wrong in 2024 (“The election results spoke to Donald Trump’s unmatched celebrity and unique strengths, which defy the normal rules of politics—while also pointing to the limits of the GOP’s appeal.”)
- Trump rewards lawmakers who backed him during impeachment
- Trump rolls out his most MAGA picks for new White House term (“Tuesday’s flurry of activity suggests the coming Washington storm could be as extreme as some fear”)
- Trump’s ‘January Seventh Test’ of loyalty (“Donald Trump is building his new administration. Downplaying the insurrection will be a litmus test.”)
- The Loyalists Are Collecting Their Rewards in Trump’s Cabinet
- ‘Who the f—k is this guy?’: Defense world reacts to Trump’s surprise Pentagon pick
- Trump picks Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as secretary of defense (Bonkers.)
- Pete Hegseth’s book includes complaints about “Muslims’ birth rates,” praise for “crusaders who pushed back the Muslim hordes”
- Trump’s defense choice stuns the Pentagon and raises questions about the Fox News host’s experience
- Trump says he will nominate anti-‘woke’ Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary
- Trump makes a victor’s return to Washington to meet with Biden and GOP lawmakers (No clue why Biden is even doing this.)
- Trump Draft Executive Order Would Create Board to Purge Generals (That’s also VERY bad.)
- Trump’s First Executive Order May Be a Military Purge (Politicizing the military is a horrendous thing to do.)
- Trump’s First Picks Are War Hawks (“Trump’s choices for key national security roles are not the ones made by a “candidate of peace,” and quickly dashed hopes he will oppose the usual neoconservative line on war.”)
- Donald Trump names former intelligence chief John Ratcliffe to CIA director (“Democrats accused Ratcliffe of politicizing his intelligence post by contradicting career civil servants about Russian election interference on Trump’s behalf. But he had assured senators at his confirmation hearing he wouldn’t “shade” intelligence assessments to fit the president’s views or policies.”)
- Trump picks Musk to advise on how to ‘dismantle’ bureaucracy
- Trump Picks Musk, Ramaswamy for Government Efficiency Effort (Horendous idea.)
- Trump selects William McGinley for White House general counsel
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Reveals Plans to Fire 600 Federal Health Workers (Reckless/insane.)
- Williams: With Trump’s win, Black voters battle isolation and alienation
- Senate Republicans to choose new leader as Mitch McConnell steps down (“Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., is running as the MAGA candidate, while longtime McConnell deputies John Cornyn, R-Texas, and John Thune, R-S.D., tout their own ties to Donald Trump.”)
- Freedom Caucus backs off plan to push a challenger to Johnson
- Johnson: Trump not expected to pick more admin members from House GOP
- ‘Your Body, My Choice’ Posts Are Spreading Post-Election. Anyone Who Says This Should Be Fired—Immediately
- Scoop: Senate Democrats are stressed about Dick Durbin (“Democrats tell Axios they’re nervous about whether Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), 79, has the fire to fight Trump nominees as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.”)
- Durbin: Replacing Sotomayor before new Congress not ‘realistic’
- Mike Pence Comes Out Against Trump’s Plan to Pardon January 6 Rioters: ‘Literally Praying’ Trump and Vance Uphold Their Oaths (Pence’s prayers are useless.)
- Scoop: Alina Habba Emerges as Front-Runner For Trump Press Secretary (This is going to be a looooong four years – if we even survive it as a nation, which is questionable.)
- Trump’s Cabinet moves hand Ron DeSantis a gift — but possibly with strings attached
‘Go to hell’: Project 2025 chief kicks Guardian reporter out of book event- So How Did the Pollsters Do in the 2024 Elections in Virginia? (AtlasIntel, Research Co. and the WaPo/GMU Schar School nailed it for president; CNU’s Wason Center and Chism Strategies were way off for both president and US Senate; Ragnar was quite accurate in VA07)
- Democratic performance down in Virginia, even for reelected candidates
- Scoop: Warner likely to remain atop Senate Intel Committee (In the minority, though, which SUCKS.)
- What Would It Take for Virginia to Copy Wisconsin Democrats’ Year-Round Organizing Strategy? (Inspirational leadership, increased staffing, empowered volunteers organized into teams, fundraising – and ambition!)
- Virginia NOW: Crucial Constitutional Amendments on House of Delegates P&E Committee’s Agenda TOMORROW (Wednesday) (The amendments are: HJ1 – Fundamental right to reproductive freedom; HJ2 – Right to vote – restoration of rights; HJ9 – Marriage equality)
- Former Governor McAuliffe offers election postmortem (“Our party way overestimated the Dobbs decision and the power that that was to motivate people to go to vote”; “I didn’t really think that was the smartest thing ever for a closing argument to have Liz Cheney”)
- Virginia environmental regulators make info on data center operations more publicly accessible
- More Virginia localities consider voting system changes
- Former Del. Jay Jones Launches Campaign for Attorney General on a Promise to Fight for Virginia Families (“President-elect Trump will find an eager accomplice in Virginia Attorney General Miyares. Jason Miyares has used his office to advance his own radical, ideological agenda, not protect Virginians”)
- Former Del. Jay Jones (D) of Norfolk ramps up bid for Virginia AG (“Former Del. Jay Jones (D-Norfolk) launches bid for Virginia AG, with Henrico prosecutor Shannon Taylor also running. GOP incumbent Jason Miyares hasn’t declared yet.”)
- Jay Jones announces run for attorney general
- Democrat Kimberly Pope Adams Announces Candidacy for HD-82 (This was an extremely close race in 2023, with Adams losing by just 0.3 percentage points. Let’s win it this time!)
- Back for seconds: Democrat Adams will run again for area House of Delegates seat
- Special election set for Virginia state Sen. Subramanyam’s seat (“The state will also soon hold an election for the seat being vacated by state Sen. John J. McGuire III, though no date is set.”)
- Field of 10th Senate District hopefuls grows to 5, debate scheduled (“The solidly Republican district has drawn GOP candidates Jean Gannon, the chair of the Powhatan County Republican Committee; Shayne Snavely, a U.S. Army veteran; Amanda Chase, a former state senator; Duane Adams, the chair of the Louisa County Board of Supervisors; and Luther Cifers, the owner of YakAttack, into the race so far. More candidates could still enter the fray, but as of Tuesday, the race appeared to be between Republicans. No Democrats have publicly announced their candidacy, so far. “)
- Miyares responds to Democrats running for attorney general
- Youngkin appoints member of his staff to lead rail agency
- City Council votes against Trammell’s 4-cent tax cut, instead choosing Stoney’s counter proposal
- Richmond council votes to hold real estate tax rate steady
- Radford Arsenal is looking to use recycled acid, but some environmental groups have concerns
- Park Police officers who shot unarmed man in 2017 did not violate use of force, OIG report finds
- Ammunition plant didn’t notify the public of toxic chemicals released into the New River for over a month, residents say
- This piece of tech has helped Fairfax Co. police in 800 cases
- Virginia Beach mayor threatens to cancel Something in the Water if festival contract not signed by Friday
- D.C.-area forecast: A few cool days with showers tomorrow. Sunny and warmer this weekend.
