by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, February 21.
- Climate change is shrinking glaciers faster than ever, with 7 trillion tons lost since 2000 (Disastrous.)
- Scoop: U.S. to pull delegation from UN climate science meeting (The U.S. is now a rogue nation.)
- U.S. Objects to Calling Russia ‘Aggressor’ in G7 Statement on Invasion (Insane.)
- Russia Closes In on Another Ukrainian Region, Even as Peace Talks Pick Up (“Russian troops are just three miles from Dnipropetrovsk. If they cross into it, it would deal a morale blow to Ukraine and complicate possible negotiations.” UGH.)
- Stop criticising Trump and sign $500bn mineral deal, US official advises Kyiv (Hell no.)
- The Ultimate Betrayal (“America just switched sides in the Ukraine war.”)
- Ukrainians rally around their president after Trump seeks to denigrate him
- Macron’s message to Trump: ‘You can’t be weak in the face of Putin’ (Trump actually LIKES and ADMIRES Putin.)
- The Ukraine minerals deal is a perfect metaphor for Trump’s foreign policy
- Trump is surrendering much more than Ukraine to Putin (“A hasty peace deal will see the U.S. forfeit principles and norms built over decades.”)
- Right-wing media are divided after Trump pushed Russian propaganda to attack Ukraine
- Politico’s owner praises JD Vance for his ‘inspiring message’ in Munich (So…the owner of Politico is a fascist. Keep that in mind if and when you read Politico.)
- Germany Is in Big Trouble, and Nobody Knows What to Do About It
- Netanyahu decries release of wrong body as a ceasefire violation, as Hamas pledges to investigate
- No injuries from Israeli bus explosions in suspected militant attack, police say
- Fate of Bibas Family Recalls Trauma of Oct. 7, Renewing Fears for Gaza Truce
- Trump Administration Abruptly Clears Out Migrants It Sent to Guantánamo (“A transfer operation on Thursday repatriated 177 Venezuelans via a handoff in Honduras, while one migrant was brought back to U.S. soil.”)
- Judge warns Trump administration not to dodge court order unfreezing foreign aid
- Judge rules Trump admin violated order to unfreeze foreign aid but declines to hold officials in contempt
- Andrew Tate’s alliance with Trump has been in the making for a long time (“Trump’s attempts to intervene in Tate’s rape and human trafficking cases in Romania might seem strange, but their worlds are intimately linked” That says it all!)
- Trump’s Putinization of America
- Month One of Donald Trump’s “Golden Age” (“Pennies, plane crashes, and constitutional crises as Washington enters its Dark MAGA era.”)
- Trump’s America Is in a Free Fall—Not a Slippery Slope—to Tyranny (“He is instilling fear not just among lawmakers but every sector of society that dares to criticize him or hold him accountable”)
- Trump again raises idea of running for an unconstitutional third term
- Steve Bannon: “We’ve got to maybe work the Constitution” so Trump can have a third term
- Critics say Trump’s executive orders to reshape the NIH ‘will kill’ Americans (“Executive orders’ impact on premier medical research agency has resulted in delayed projects and frozen funding”)
- HHS orders CDC to halt some vaccine ads, saying RFK Jr. wants message focused on ‘informed consent’
- RFK Jr. prepares shake-up of vaccine advisers (RFK Jr. is bonkers.)
- Treasury agrees to block DOGE’s access to personal taxpayer data at IRS
- Military families rocked by Trump’s federal government cuts
- This Is What Happens When the DOGE Guys Take Over (“Inside the federal agencies where Elon Musk’s people have seized control, fear and uncertainty reign.”)
- Trump and Musk Keep Spouting Bogus Numbers to Hide Their Real Agenda (“Their phony ‘statistics’ aren’t just an attempt to justify DOGE’s destruction of the government. Trump and Musk’s goal is even more duplicitous and shady.”)
- Elon Musk waves ‘bureaucracy chainsaw’ gifted by Argentina (Musk is completely out of control.)
- Trump administration’s mass firings could leave federal government with ‘monumental’ bill, say experts (“Lawyer says ‘astounding’ purge will cost government, after workers with positive reviews cut due to ‘poor performance’”)
- Senate Republicans approve budget framework, pushing past Democratic objections after all-night vote
- Senate budget blueprint sets up clash with House Republicans
- Senate Confirms Election Denier Kash Patel to be FBI Director
- Trump loyalist Kash Patel is confirmed as FBI director by the Senate despite deep Democratic doubts
- Senate confirms Kash Patel, fierce critic of FBI, to head the bureau
- A Half Century of Failure to Reform the FBI Has Gifted Patel With Alarming Power
- Critics Worry Kash Patel Will Purge the FBI. Would He Even Need To?
- Republicans Put Kash Patel, MAGA Conspiracy Theorist, in Charge of FBI (“Kash Patel is now a very powerful man”)
- Kash Patel Has Been Confirmed as FBI Director and the MAGAfication of Federal Law Enforcement Is Complete (“Patel is independent if, by independent, you mean ‘independent of reality’ or ‘independent of Constitutional prerogatives.'”)
- Justice Department broadens Trump’s Jan. 6 clemency as it moves to drop gun cases
- Trump administration backtracks on eliminating thousands of national parks employees
- Trump Job Cuts Threaten Safety at National Parks, Workers Say (“An axed custodian warns that the condition of the parks is ‘not going to be pretty.'”)
- Education Department “Lifting the Pause” on Some Civil Rights Probes, but Not for Race or Gender Cases
- ‘Cowardliness at the top’: Science agency staff revolt over cuts
- DOGE’s Millions: As Musk and Trump Gut Government, Their Ax-Cutting Agency Gets Cash Infusion
- The private GOP panic over the slash-and-burn DOGE firings
- Elon Musk’s private security detail gets deputized by US Marshals Service
- Acting U.S. attorney opens inquiries into Democrats alleging possible threats to DOGE, Supreme Court justices (Authoritarian crap.)
- Editorial: By punishing the AP, the White House assaults the First Amendment (“Punishing media outlets that don’t knuckle under to White House is precisely what the First Amendment intends to guard against.”)
- Half of Trump’s first month in office saw him visiting Trump properties (Reminder: Republicans attacked Joe Biden for staying at his home in Delaware.)
- Sen. Mitch McConnell won’t seek reelection in 2026, ending long tenure as Republican power broker (Mitch McConnell did more damage to America than arguably anyone else in post-Civil-War US history.)
- Scramble for McConnell’s Senate seat underway with signs of a bruising GOP primary ahead
- Trump expected to take control of USPS, fire postal board, officials say (“The president is expected to issue an order that would place the agency under the control of the Commerce Department, according to people familiar with the plans. Experts call the move legally questionable.”)
- Justice Department deletes database tracking federal police misconduct (“Trump executive order ends National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, which Trump proposed creating in 2020”)
- Just Another Example of Trump’s Reckless, Punitive, and Narcissistic actions (“The Kennedy Center is not–and was never intended to be–an agent of the executive branch”)
- The National Institute of Standards and Technology Braces for Mass Firings
- X Hinted at Possible Deal Trouble in Talks With Ad Giant to Increase Spending
- Paramount Is Starting to Fight Back Against Trump in ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit
- Georgia Republican faces town hall backlash over DOGE’s ‘chainsaw approach’ to government cuts
- Gov. Hochul says she won’t remove NYC Mayor Adams from office (“Instead of removal, the governor said she will unveil new state and city bills that would increase oversight of the mayor’s office.”)
- Trump backs Rep. Byron Donalds in his likely run for Florida governor in 2026
- ‘Looks like that’s that.’ Trump may have just ended the Florida governor’s race.
- Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says Trump “pulling the rug out from underneath our Ukrainian allies,” Vance Meeting “with the farthest right Neo-Nazi party” “does enormous damage to us” (Sen. Warner also files “21 amendments to the GOP budget proposal to address the needs of working Americans and taking aim at the Trump administration’s lawlessness”)
- Audio: Sen. Tim Kaine Talks to Blue Virginia About His “Five-Point Plan” to Fight Trump’s Orban-Like Assault on US Democracy; Civil Disobedience a la MLK Jr.; Trump’s Bogus “Energy Emergency”; the Crucial Importance of the 2025 VA Elections; etc.
- Video: On the Rachel Maddow Show, VA Speaker Don Scott Says “not one Republican – not one in Virginia! – will step up and say what the President of the United States is doing is wrong!” (“We have an election here in November 2025. I’m hoping that every single Democrat in this country will come to our aid”)
- Virginia League of Conservation Voters’ Endorsement of Abigail Spanberger is the Earliest in a Gubernatorial General Election in the VA LCV’s 26-Year History (Winsome Sears, in stark contrast, is literally in a party that DENIES the climate crisis; that alone should disqualify her.)
- General Assembly reaches tentative fiscal 2026 budget compromise (“Lawmakers can vote on the proposal before adjourning on Saturday.”)
- Pope & Schapiro: As session ends, the attention now turns to Youngkin
- Budget deal doubles funding for Helene relief (“One-time bonuses in; skill games out. Other proposals maintained include a one-time rebate for all tax-paying Virginians. Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s effort to do away with the much-maligned car tax was not resurrected, however.”)
- Will the governor sign legislation cracking down on junk fees in Virginia?
- FOIA reform bill stalls in Virginia House, keeping high public records fees intact
- Military suicide data bill scrapped in Virginia Senate (“Lawmakers are eyeing state budget funding for the bipartisan effort.”)
- Virginia Republican blames, attacks fired federal contractors as ‘not very smart’ (“Take Virginia Sen. Tammy Brankley Mulchi of Southside Virginia who, as she put it on the Senate floor on Thursday, was raised not to depend on ‘anybody for anything, and you’ve got to survive on your own.’ She accused fired federal independent contractors in need of relief of ‘piss-poor planning.'” Lovely.)
- Second-year lawmakers learning the ways of the General Assembly
- 3 interesting bills: baby mammals, forced labor and accessible playgrounds
- Youngkin has a second chance to do right by those in prison for cannabis crimes
- Va. lawmakers reject gift of last Founding Father home in private hands (“The aging owners of James Monroe’s Loudoun County estate have turned down offers from developers of more than $55 million because they want the state to have it as a park.”)
- General Assembly budget proposes millions for technology and life sciences in Southwest Virginia
- Commentary: DOGE just slashed funding for teacher training at VCU. But why?
- Senators raise concerns about federal Creeper Trail funding
- CWG Live updates: Less cold but still gusty today; milder weekend into next week
