| Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... |
by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, December 28.
- ‘We need dramatic social and technological changes’: is societal collapse inevitable? (“Academic Danilo Brozović says studies of failed civilisations all point in one direction – today’s society needs radical transformation to survive”)
- David Miliband on emergency watchlist of countries at greatest humanitarian risk in 2025
- CDC says H5N1 bird flu sample shows mutations that may help the virus bind to cells in the upper airways of people (Not good at all.)
- Has Russia’s Shadow Fleet, Built to Evade Sanctions, Engaged in Sabotage?
- Russia-Ukraine war live: Moscow says Kyiv plot to kill high-ranking officer with music speaker bomb foiled
- US to send $1.25 billion in weapons to Ukraine, pushing to get aid out before Biden leaves office
- How Putin Tapped a Well of Ethnic Hatred in Russia (“Radical nationalists have infiltrated the country’s police and politics.” Putin is truly heinous.)
- Bloodied Ukrainian troops risk losing more hard-won land in Kursk to Russia
- Ukraine war briefing: ‘Human wave’ of North Korean troops being sent to their deaths, says US
- Russia may be responsible for downed Azerbaijani plane, says US (Sounds highly likely.)
- Azerbaijan Airlines Says Deadly Crash Caused by ‘External Interference’ (“The statement is the closest officials have come to confirming mounting suspicions that the plane was downed by a Russian air-defense system.”)
- Exclusive: Survivors on Azerbaijani plane say they heard bangs before it went down
- Russia has a history of downing passenger planes — and covering it up
- As Hopes Rise for Gaza Cease-Fire, Conditions There Have Only Worsened (“Israel says that it tries to limit the loss of civilian life. But the dire humanitarian situation has prompted condemnation from human rights organizations.”)
- Israel detains director of one of last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, Palestinians say (This horrible war seems to be never-ending.)
- For Survivors of a Ravaged Kibbutz, the Journey Home Is Only Just Beginning
- New leaders in Damascus call for cordial Syria ties with a resistant Israel (“…the overture is noteworthy considering Syria’s historic opposition to Israel’s existence, and reflects the pragmatism of Syria’s new leadership: it must rehabilitate the country and cannot afford a war with Israel.”)
- In Trump’s Mind, Greenland Is Just Real Estate
- Tormentors Change, but Not the Torment (“Persecuted for years by the military in Myanmar, the Rohingya ethnic minority has become the target of one of the junta’s rivals in the country’s civil war.”)
- Canadian Ministers Meet Trump Aides at Mar-a-Lago to Discuss Border, and Tariffs
- Janet Yellen tells Congress US could hit debt limit in mid-January
- US homelessness up 18% as affordable housing remains out of reach for many people
- Trump urges Supreme Court to hit pause on a law that could ban TikTok in the U.S. next month
- Trump Asks Supreme Court to Pause Law Threatening TikTok Ban
- 2024 Set the Stage for Clean Energy on Public Lands
- Hail the broligarchy: why 2024 was the year of the bro (Yuck.)
- Trump’s Jan. 6 Pardon Promise Would Put Police-Assaulters Back On The Streets (“A HuffPost analysis of Jan. 6 cases finds that 83% of those given a year or more in prison committed acts of violence.”)
- The key state and local elections to watch in early 2025 (#1 is “Virginia legislative special elections”)
- Attention DOGE: Here’s how the federal government spends Americans’ tax dollars (“Much of the money supports mandatory programs, which must be funded in accordance with existing laws. These include Social Security and Medicare benefits and interest on the federal debt. Less than one-third of the federal budget in fiscal year 2024 consisted of discretionary spending, which Congress approves annually. Nearly half of discretionary spending goes toward defense programs, which are a sacred cow for many lawmakers.”)
- MAGA Civil Warriors: Free Speech Guy Elon Is Silencing Us (“Dozens of pro-Trump X accounts have reported losing their verification badges after criticizing Musk.”)
- Musk calls some Trump supporters ‘contemptible fools,’ escalating tension with MAGA hardliners
- Musk calls MAGA element “contemptible fools” as virtual civil war brews (“The schism may force Trump to ultimately take sides between the largely white, working-class supporters who first made MAGA succeed, and the techno-libertarian billionaires like Musk who are at the center of his new administration.”)
- Elon Musk accused of censoring conservatives on X who disagree with him about immigration
- Maga v Musk: Trump camp divided in bitter fight over immigration policy
- Steve Bannon Joins War Against Elon Musk as MAGA Implodes
- Trump Ally Laura Loomer Says Elon Musk Is ‘Silencing’ Her Amid Immigration Spat
- A MAGA ‘Civil War’ on X between Musk and the far right over H-1B visas (Very weird headline; in fact, Musk is very much part of the far right, as are Laura Loomer, Stephen Bannon and others in this “MAGA civil war”)
- Who Got Duped? MAGA Activists Worry That Nativism And Tech Oligarchy May Not Go Hand In Hand (Duhhh…)
- Trump says Bill Gates asked to meet in apparent message to Musk
- The Future of the Democratic Party Lies Far From Washington (“To restore the party’s fortunes, organizers should look to down-ticket races to build pressure against Trump—and create a new generation of leaders.”)
- The Memo: Democrats brace for a new Trump presidency (“Trump is viewed by many Democrats as an actual threat to the American Republic. And the voters have put him back into power handily. That is both a dispiriting and worrying reality for many in the opposition party.”)
- ‘He’s Not Going to Please Everyone.’ John Thune’s Delicate Task Under Trump (“The small-town South Dakotan rose to the Senate’s top post by deftly navigating spending fights and the ascent of MAGA”)
- NPR and PBS Stations Brace for Funding Battle Under Trump (NPR and PBS both have been trying desperately, for years, not to piss off the right. We’ll see if that groveling pays off or not.)
- Judge signals that contempt hearing for Rudy Giuliani over his assets might not go well for him
- Bodycam Video Shows New York Correctional Officers Pummeling Handcuffed Man In Fatal Beating (“Thirteen correctional officers and a nurse implicated in the attack will face termination, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.” Fire them all, charge them with crimes.)
- Virginia Democrats ‘asking the wrong question’ amid outrage over DOGE federal workforce cuts, GOP leader says (Ryan McDougle, of course, is badly wrong about this; Speaker Don Scott is right.)
- Ivy Main Correctly Argues That Virginia’s “Data Center Crisis Is Now Official,” and That “Betting on Bright, Shiny [and Extremely Expensive] Objects Like SMRs, Fusion,” etc. Is Highly Unlikely to Solve the Problem
- Virginia Attorney General Miyares asks SCOTUS to uphold ‘divest or ban’ law against TikTok (What’s the Republican cult leader’s – Trump’s – current position on this?)
- Here are Stoney’s takeaways from his 8 years as Richmond mayor
- Richmond’s Mayor Stoney leaves office in a city forever changed by protests
- With a newborn pygmy hippo, Virginia gets its own ‘Moo Deng’
- Powhatan School Board sues special ed advocate Kandise Lucas, local father
- Radio host suing Virginia Tech for wrongful termination
- D.C.-area forecast and updates: Waves of rain Saturday, then gusty downpours late Sunday (“Rain today is of the steady soaking type. Sunday could be drier until a front whips up showers and storms later in the day.”)
