by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, December 11.
- The state of the Arctic: High temperatures, melting ice, fires and unprecedented emissions (Disastrous.)
- This critical ecosystem helped keep climate change in check. Now it’s making things worse. (“Wildfires have turned the Arctic into a net carbon emitter. That’s bad news.”)
- Arctic Tundra Shifts to Source of Climate Pollution, According to New Report Card
- ‘A Valuable And Generous Ally’: How Exxon and Atlas Network Worked to Block Global Climate Action
- As Efforts on a Global Treaty Stall, Cities and States Are on the Front Lines of the Battle Over Plastic Pollution
- Global food production at increased risk from excess salt in soil, UN report warns (“Scientists say climate crisis and poor agricultural practices to blame with serious implications for crop yields”)
- Donald Trump is returning to the world stage. So is his trolling (Awful.)
- US loans Ukraine $20B from seized Russian assets
- Syrian rebels had help from Ukraine in humiliating Russia
- Russia Pushed Assad to Flee Syria After Concluding He’d Lost War
- Israel Says It Destroyed Syria’s Navy, Part of Wave of Post-Assad Attacks
- ‘I want justice’: Victims of Syria chemical attacks speak freely for first time
- Iran’s supreme leader says US, Israel and Turkey behind fall of Assad; Syria’s interim PM urges calm
- Trump is dedicated to isolationism – but is Syria’s future too important to ignore?
- Israel strikes hundreds of military targets in Syria (“Turkey accuses Israel of displaying occupier mentality and UN envoy says airstrikes must cease”)
- In Aleppo, Rebels Give a Sense of What May Come in Syria (“Rebel fighters who took control of Aleppo about two weeks ago have promised security. Prices have skyrocketed, but residents express some hope for the future.”)
- A Search in Syria for the Disappeared
- Interim Syrian leader vows to rebuild but faces cash crunch
- Inside Assad’s Ransacked Palace: Anxiety Pills, Graffiti and Shredded Posters
- Syria’s Assad is in Russia, Putin’s deputy foreign minister confirms to NBC News
- Syria’s celebrations muted by evidence of torture in Assad’s notorious prisons
- South Korea police raid President Yoon’s office over martial law declaration (This is the type of thing that should have happened, within days, over 1/6/21.)
- South Korea’s Martial-Law Chaos Deepens, With a Suicide Attempt and Raids
- ‘Making Argentina great again’? What a year under a climate-change denying president has done for the country (“Javier Milei’s push for extraction and cuts to land protections have left people fearing for their way of life – and environmentalists concerned about the future” Heinous.)
- Monarch butterflies to be listed as a threatened species in US
- How Trump could try to deport immigrants to countries other than their own
- Why Democrats Got the Politics of Immigration So Wrong for So Long (“They spent more than a decade tacking left on the issue to win Latino votes. It may have cost them the White House—twice.”)
- Recent Immigration Surge Has Been Largest in U.S. History (“Under President Biden, more than two million immigrants per year have entered the country, government data shows.”)
- Trump ready to ‘seal’ border from immigrants on Day 1
- Trump can’t ditch birthright citizenship. And he shouldn’t want to.
- 9 states, including Virginia, poised to end coverage for millions if Trump cuts Medicaid funding
- US Inflation Data to Show Fourth Consecutive Month of Firm Gains
- The CPI report Wednesday is expected to show that progress on inflation has hit a wall
- Biden — addressing critics, voters and history — defends his economy
- Joe Biden Calls Himself ‘Stupid’ For Not Doing 1 Donald Trump Thing (Yes, Democrats need to market their accomplishments, not just assume people will know about them! It’s amazing Democrats don’t understand this.)
- President Biden says it was ‘stupid’ not to put name on COVID checks like Trump did
- Biden: Trump’s tax and tariffs plans are a ‘major mistake’
- Cable news is barely covering Trump and GOP plans to slash Medicaid (“Cable news” is mostly and oxymoron.)
- Trump allies race to snuff out GOP dissent in the Senate
- Trump’s Nominees Are Testing the GOP’s Guardrails
- The GOP’s top priority for 2025: Repeal the laws of arithmetic
- Top Republicans split over strategy to move Trump’s 2025 agenda
- Trump’s Defense Pick Is Now Denying Things He Said on Tape
- Trump’s DOJ secretly obtained phone and text message logs of 43 congressional staffers and 2 members of Congress
- Trump’s DOJ secretly obtained records of his FBI pick Kash Patel, lawmakers, staffers and media in leak investigation
- Trump Aims to Remake Federal Trade Commission With Two Picks
- Trump names Andrew Ferguson as next chair of Federal Trade Commission
- Kash Patel Doesn’t Belong at the FBI
- Donald Trump’s Toxic Agenda Risks Tanking “Strong” and “Healthy” Growth Under Biden-Harris Economy (“Trump and his billionaire Cabinet…will rig the economy for the ultra-rich, create an ‘inflation bomb'”)
- Trump’s Cabinet Picks Answer Any Lingering Questions
- Trump announces 2 picks for OMB positions
- Head down, burrow in: How federal workers beat Trump’s cuts
- Scoop: RFK Jr. pushes his daughter-in-law for CIA deputy director (This administration is shaping up to be by FAR the worst in US history.)
- Democrats’ grief is Donald Trump’s best tool of distraction (“While the recriminations continue, Trump carries on undeterred”)
- We Can’t Just Tune Out Donald Trump (“Exhaustion is understandable after a bitter election, but ignoring what’s happening won’t make it go away.”)
- Manhattan DA urges judge not to toss out guilty verdict in Trump hush money case
- Bragg says Trump’s crimes and ‘history of malicious conduct’ are too serious for his hush-money case to be dismissed
- New York AG Says No F–king Way to Trump’s Request to Drop $480 Million Fraud Case
- Eric Trump Promises the ‘Most Pro-Crypto President’ in History
- Amid Rumors of a Breakup, Kimberly Guilfoyle Is Appointed Ambassador to Greece
- The nasty things RFK Jr. and Gabbard said about Republicans — and vice versa
- Trump lawyers and aide hit with 10 additional felony charges in Wisconsin over 2020 fake electors
- Federal Judge Blocks $25 Billion Kroger-Albertsons Grocery Merger
- McConnell falls and sprains wrist after GOP luncheon, colleague says he is ‘fine’
- Musk’s politics hadn’t seeped into Tesla. Then he axed its eco car of the future.
- From X to Bluesky: why are people fleeing Elon Musk’s ‘digital town square’? (“Musk’s platform has lost 2.7 million active US users in two months, while its rival has gained 2.5 million”)
- Rupert Murdoch’s Succession Fiasco
- Bankruptcy judge rejects The Onion’s bid to buy Alex Jones’ Infowars (“U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez said after a two-day hearing that The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, had not submitted the best bid and was wrongly named the winner of an auction last month by a court-appointed trustee. “)
- This Theory Could Explain the Reaction to the UnitedHealthcare Killer (“What happened in New York was no folk tale; it was stone-cold murder. The shooter isn’t a hero; he’s a killer. But much about the killer’s performative flair is reminiscent of the social bandits of old”)
- How suspected CEO killer was recognized and finally captured
- With Trump presidency looming, state, federal leaders renew commitment to Bay cleanup
- Sen. Mark Warner Announces $275 Million Manufacturing Investment for Virginia Thanks to CHIPS Law He Wrote (“Federal funding to expand Micron facility in Manassas could create nearly 950 construction jobs, over 400 manufacturing jobs”)
- Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says Fall of Syrian Dictator Bashar Assad Gives Us “an opportunity right now for a realignment in that region”; Has Questions for Tulsi Gabbard (Sen. Warner says “we’d all welcome a settlement of the Ukraine war, but not one where Putin dictates the terms”)
- Sen. Mark Warner ‘open’ to nixing terror designation from HTS group in Syria
- $2 billion surplus pushes Virginia’s Democratic leadership closer to tax relief, increased education spending
- Youngkin to propose $290M for school construction
- Youngkin seeks additional $290 million boost for school construction
- Could state lawmakers give themselves a raise next month? (They should give themselves a BIG raise, preferably as part of a package enacting strong ethics and campaign reform.)
- Electric demand may triple, but resistance to power generation is growing, too. The two are on a collision course.
- Editorial: Improving special education should be a Virginia priority
- Loudoun County special election to determine balance of power in state senate (Early voting starts TODAY)
- McQuinn, facing a primary challenge, announces bid for reelection (“McQuinn is facing a challenge for the Democratic nomination from Henrico School Board Chair Alicia Atkins – who announced she is running last month with a ‘laser focus on education, empowerment, and the environment'”)
- Del. McQuinn announces reelection bid, faces primary challenge
- Portsmouth councilman arrested after assaulting wife in front of police, records show (“De’Andre Barnes is accused of forcefully pushing his estranged wife into a storm door in front of police. The incident occurred after Barnes called 911 to report an armed man trying to break into his house.”)
- Caesars Virginia has made a big impact on Danville, even before opening its doors. Now the city is ready for the grand opening.
- Virginia Union University to remain on probation as financial problems continue
- Roanoke School Board member Saunders-Cotton resigns
- Friends and colleagues remember poet Nikki Giovanni as a beloved mentor and fierce advocate for justice
- D.C.-area forecast and updates: Heavy rain at times today, gusty and much colder by evening (“Many locations could pick up 1 to 2 inches of rain or a bit more.”)
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