by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, January 14.
- The Floods This Time: In the Mediterranean, Climate Change Is Already Here
- Annual 2024 Global Climate Report
- ‘It’s ironic’: how climate crisis is driving Trump push on Greenland and Panama (“What the president-elect calls a ‘giant hoax’ is changing the strategic calculus in the Arctic and for the Panama canal”)
- Putin’s Plan for Peace Is No Peace at All
- Biden Aides Warned Putin as Russia’s Shadow War Threatened Air Disaster
- A Wider War Has Already Started in Europe (“Putin’s not-so-quiet sabotage campaign against European democracies”)
- NATO announces a new mission to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea region
- China Discusses Sale of TikTok US to Musk as One Possible Option
- Hamas has accepted a draft agreement for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages, officials say
- Israel-Gaza war live: Ceasefire deal in ‘final stages’, Qatar’s foreign ministry says, but people should not get ‘over-excited’ (“Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson says ‘It is very important not to raise expectations’ despite significant progress”)
- At least 100 illegal miners have died while trapped in a South African mine for months, group says
- Greenland to Trump: We’re Not for Sale but Let’s Talk Business
- Trump’s Reckless Greenland Comments Are Not a Joke
- House GOP crafts bill to let Trump purchase Greenland
- Canadians Are Quietly Freaking out About Trump’s Territorial Trolling (“Political leaders across the Great White North have tried to put on a brave face in response to the president-elect’s annexation threats, but they aren’t convincing anyone.”)
- Yellen Leaves Legacy of Alliances That Trump Is Threatening to Torch
- Dollar Falls on Report Trump Team Is Mulling Gradual Tariffs
- Trump Team Studies Gradual Tariff Hikes Under Emergency Powers
- Biden Trump-proofs $74bn in climate funding but $20bn remains vulnerable (“Allocation of funds from Inflation Reduction Act makes it harder for president-elect to halt green initiatives”)
- Biden’s parting gift: Student loan debt relief
- Biden’s Push to Cancel Student Debt Surpasses 5 Million Borrowers
- Supreme Court denies oil industry plea to block climate lawsuits filed by California, other blue states
- Maybe It Was Never About the Factory Jobs (“The theory that populist economic policies can win back the working class for Democrats has been tried, and it has failed.” Yes, it failed, in the context of a wildly polluted/right-wing-slanted media environment.)
- Report-of-Special-Counsel-Smith-Volume-1-January-2025
- Justice Dept. releases Trump special counsel report on Jan. 6 case
- Special Counsel Report Says Trump Would Have Been Convicted in Election Case
- Special counsel who investigated Trump says his team ‘stood up for the rule of law’ (Correct.)
- Trump would have been convicted if not elected, DoJ report says
- Five takeaways from Smith’s report on Trump’s 2020 election case (“Trump encouraged violence, says Smith”)
- Bombshell Jack Smith Report Says Trump Would Have Been Convicted
- Special counsel report found Trump engaged in ‘criminal effort’ to overturn 2020 election
- Johnson confirms ‘discussions’ on tying wildfire aid to debt limit (Mike Johnson is a disgrace.)
- Mike Johnson Vows to Hold Aid to California Hostage After Deadly Fires (Just imagine the reaction if he did this for a “red” state like Florida or Texas!)
- “There will be no rebuilding”: Bracing America for the implementation of Project 2025
- Trump flies US flag at full height before end of 30-day mourning period following Carter’s death
- Public health experts, scientists warn senators on confirming RFK Jr
- Here’s who is performing at Trump’s inauguration
- Pete Hegseth’s FBI background check does not include interviews with key women from his past
- Scoop: Trump team sets red line on Hegseth’s FBI background check
- The Anger and Resentment That Forged Pete Hegseth
- The Pressure Campaign to Get Pete Hegseth Confirmed as Defense Secretary
- FBI did not interview Hegseth accuser ahead of hearing, people familiar say
- Sexual Assault Survivors in the Military Have Some Questions for Pete Hegseth (“It’s disheartening to see the mechanisms of power appear indifferent to these serious accusations.”)
- Pete Hegseth Is a Test (“Inside the Senate’s torturous debates over Donald Trump’s worst Cabinet nominee.”)
- Scoop: Hegseth opening statement pledges Pentagon “warrior ethos”
- Democrats’ hopes of derailing Trump nominees fading fast (What a f’ing disaster.)
- Harris declines to invite Vance for courtesy visit to vice president’s residence before inauguration
- Democrats Will Regret Helping to Pass the Laken Riley Act
- Elon Musk Exposed Over Right-Wing Lie on L.A. Fires
- Elon Musk Is Expected to Use Office Space in the White House Complex (Oligarchy)
- The Great MAGA Schism of 2025 is only getting uglier
- Trump Secretly Loves Steve Bannon and Elon Musk’s MAGA Civil War
- The MAGA-verse’s Clash of Titans (“Steve Bannon’s attack on Elon Musk exposes one of the biggest fault lines running through Donald Trump’s second term.”)
- Peter Thiel’s Twisted Vision for the Trump Presidency
- Meta goes mask-off
- Meta Is Blocking Links to Decentralized Instagram Competitor Pixelfed
Why I have finally quit Facebook (it’s not just about fact-checking) (“The manipulative algorithms, the spread of misinformation, the generation of weird hostilities, the amplification of divisive narratives – it was all right there, but on top of that Facebook was already very boring.”)- Zuckerberg Debuts ‘Real Mark’ in Push to Woo Trump (Zuckerberg is a HORRIBLE person.)
- Gavin Newsom and California Democrats reach $50M deal to Trump-proof the state
- Trump Planning to Visit California as Soon as Next Week
- LA Is Burning, and the Right Is Furious—About Sign Language Interpreters (“Life-saving ASL interpretation is the latest woke scourge.” What is WRONG with these right wingers???)
- The ‘convoy of incredible people’ saving animals from California’s infernal fires (“As fires licked the Los Angeles landscape, a network of volunteers plunged into action to rescue pets and livestock”)
- The Blood Is in the Water for Karen Bass
- DeSantis calls special session to implement Trump’s immigration policies
- North Carolina Judge Denies Republicans’ Request To Toss 60,000 Ballots
- Trump Gets Insane Show of Support From Washington Post Editorial Board
- Star Washington Post Columnist Torches Paper on Her Way Out the Door
- I Have Resigned from The Washington Post, effective today (“I cannot justify remaining at The Post. Jeff Bezos and his fellow billionaires accommodate and enable the most acute threat to American democracy—Donald Trump—at a time when a vibrant free press is more essential than ever to our democracy’s survival and capacity to thrive.”)
- There Is No Safe Word (“How the best-selling fantasy author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades.” Great writer, but what a scumbag.)
- Rep. Bobby Scott hasn’t ruled out run for Virginia governor
- Legislation to Watch in the 2025 Virginia General Assembly Session (After a delay due to the Richmond water crisis, the action finally gets going today.)
- Video: Responding to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Final State of the Commonweath Address, VA Sen. Lashrecse Aird Says Youngkin Wants To “keep a selective few winning and those who need it the most losing” (“On their face. the Governor’s proposals may sound appealing, but when given a closer look…leave far too many behind.”)
- Youngkin: Land-use rights regarding data centers, solar should remain with localities
- Pope & Schapiro: Analyzing Youngkin’s State of the Commonwealth address
- Youngkin’s State of the Commonwealth speech draws mixed reactions
- Virginia lawmakers comment on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s speech
- Youngkin calls for tax cuts, end of green law as Assembly gets going (The WaPo is now calling the Virginia Clean Economy Act a “green law?” OK.)
- Youngkin’s opposition to hiking Va.’s minimum wage goes against 30 years of economic research (Right-wing ideologues like Youngkin obviously don’t care about facts, empirical evidence, etc.)
- Virginia faces a policy train wreck over conflicting goals for data centers, energy and land use
- Commentary: Youngkin stands idly by as Virginia smokes
- Commentary: This session, don’t let the Guard down – again
- Editorial: Virginia’s work helps secure millions to fight the opioid crisis
- Democrats question Youngkin’s motives on maternal health
- The 2025 VA General Assembly Should Pass HB 2025 to Enhance Road Safety for Wildlife and Motorists (“…just one underpass + fencing can reduce crashes in a hotspot segment by 96%!”)
- Virginia Democrats, Youngkin and Trump interested in Virginia’s drone problem
- A Virginia law to protect pedestrians has almost never been used
- CASEY: Legislation would legalize bombs in Virginia liquor stores
- Sturtevant wants to cut out big investors from Virginia’s housing market
- Virginia launches probe into Richmond water crisis as legislature begins work
- Avula pledges independent probe into water outage, announces donation to relief fund
- After water outage, Richmond delays due dates for bills
- D.C.-area forecast: Freezing temperatures and bitter winds through Wednesday (“Temperatures moderate by the weekend before another Arctic blast early next week.”)
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