by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, February 2. And no, it’s not your imagination – things really ARE spiraling downhill and out of control rapidly, and the Republican-controlled Congress is doing nothing to stop it (while Democrats have essentially no levers of power and the media keeps “normalizing” this totally abnormal situation). Bottom line: we really needed to win the November 2024 election…and we didn’t. As a direct result, now we’re in deep trouble.
- The Global Climate Order Teeters Under Second Assault by Trump (People were warned a gazillion times during the 2024 election – a second Trump term would be an utter DISASTER. They didn’t listen.)
- Trump aid spending freeze halts leading malaria vaccine programme (“Global collaboration with US researchers likely to be set back by years, including on spread of drug-resistant HIV” Wildly irresponsible.)
- AP Interview: Zelenskyy says excluding Ukraine from US-Russia talks about war is ‘very dangerous’ (Wildly unacceptable.)
- Ukraine and Russia blame each other as missile kills at least four in Kursk school (“Ukraine armed forces say 84 people were rescued or had medical help after strike in Russian territory that Kyiv holds”)
- China to file lawsuit at WTO over Trump’s trade tariffs
- Canada, Mexico Hit Back at Trump Tariffs, China Vows Action
- Trump puts tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, spurring trade war as North American allies respond
- Mexico, Canada announce retaliatory measures following Trump tariffs
- ‘Make them pay’: Canada puts Trump’s ‘first friend’ Elon Musk’s Tesla in the crosshairs of tariff war
- Mexican president orders retaliatory tariffs against U.S.
- Tariffs Are Here. The Price Hikes Coming for These Items May Surprise You.
- U.S. Chamber: Tariffs Are Not the Answer (“… the imposition of tariffs under IEEPA is unprecedented, won’t solve these problems, and will only raise prices for American families and upend supply chains.”)
- ‘Complete Betrayal’: Canada Reels as Trump Tariff Rattles Major Trading Relationship
- Canada Poised to Retaliate Against Trump Tariffs, Rethink US Reliance (No other country can count on the US anymore, as long as Trump’s in charge here.)
- Trump stretches trade law boundaries with Canada, Mexico, China tariffs (“Experts say the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act is untested for imposing import tariffs and Trump’s action will likely face swift court challenges that could set important precedents.”)
- Canada, Mexico Want America to Feel the Pain of Tariffs Too (“The two countries are planning precision strikes against U.S. exports in response to Trump’s unilateral tariffs.”)
- The Price America Will Pay for Trump’s Tariffs (“Alienating allies and partners that the U.S. desperately needs means that ‘America First’ will be ‘America Alone.'”)
- Trudeau Tells Trump: Your Tariff War Will Shut American Factories
- Israel’s Netanyahu heads to US to discuss ‘victory over Hamas’ with Trump
- Israel’s female spotters are free – now their families want to know why warnings were ignored (“Mix of chauvinism and complacency led senior officers not to heed young women who saw Hamas preparing attack”)
- U.S. conducts strikes against ISIS operatives in Somalia
- At least 770 killed in Goma, east DRC, in fighting with Rwanda-backed M23
- Trump to send Venezuelans back to Maduro’s repressive state (That’s cruel, vicious, etc.)
- How the Trump administration is building out its immigration enforcement machine
- Musk aides gain access to sensitive Treasury Department payment system (WILDLY unacceptable and illegal.)
- Elon Musk’s Team Now Has Access to Treasury’s Payments System
- Elon Musk Inside the Treasury Department Payment System (“What will he do now that he has access to trillions of dollars worth of federal money?”)
- End Appears Near for U.S. Aid Agency, Democratic Lawmakers Say
- Can the President Dissolve USAID by Executive Order?
- Did you hear about the Friday coup? (“Elon Musk is in control.”)
- DOGE is ripping out the guts of government (“Just as happened with Twitter, we are seeing a Silicon Valley power fantasy playing out in real life.”)
- Elon Musk spent more than $290 million on the 2024 election, year-end FEC filings show (So Musk bought control of our country???)
- Elon Musk May Have Your Social Security Number (“The world’s richest man may now have access to the confidential personal information of every taxpayer in the United States. According to the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday granted Elon Musk and his minions at the faux-agency DOGE full access to the Treasury’s massive federal payment system. As with the rest of Musk’s wide-reaching project within the U.S. government under Donald Trump, it’s not at all clear what he plans to do with this unprecedented access.”)
- A Few Thoughts on Messages and Morale (“I guess what I’m saying here is that people need a road map that is frank about how bad this is and has at least the outline of a plan to battle back. The whole point of this kind of shock and awe, slash and burn is to disorient and demoralize people. And people need a lifeline to get through that.”)
- Wrecking ball: Trump’s war on ‘woke’ marks US society’s plunge into ‘dark times’
- The coup rolls on, but we will prevail. (“The plan is transparent to even the most naïve and gullible among us—and should be mincemeat in the hands of seasoned NYTimes’ political reporters. But they do not mention the elephant in the room. Why? Because they are afraid. Because they are obeying in advance. Because they do not want to provoke the wrath of Trump.”)
- Democracy DEFCON (“Donald Trump famously declared that he would be a dictator on day one. History, alas, teaches us that dictators are rarely able to confine such ambitions to a single day. In these first two weeks he has mounted a sustained assault upon every dimension of American rule of law—to a degree never before seen at such a pace.”)
- Trump Plans To Nullify New Federal Union Contracts (“The president said agreements reached late in Joe Biden’s presidency were meant to ‘harm my Administration.'”)
- Senior FBI official forcefully resisted Trump administration firings (” Brian Driscoll pushed back so aggressively that some feared he would be dismissed. Driscoll has so far not handed over the names of thousands of FBI agents fwho worked on Jan. 6th cases.”)
- Trump is waging war against his own government (“One federal employee who spoke with NBC News said that the government workforce feels like they’re being attacked regularly with ‘psychological warfare.'”)
- Trump’s DEI purge targets federal workers who did not work in DEI
- Education Department employees placed on leave for attending diversity training (For ATTENDING???)
- DOGE Staff Had Questions About the ‘Resign’ Email. Their New HR Chief Dodged Them
- DOJ’s deletion of Jan. 6 records triggers legal challenge
- CDC advisers push agency to explain data removal, say when info will be restored
- Trump fires the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
- Why Snowden – not Russia or Syria – could tank Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination (In fact, ALL of those things should automatically sink Gabbard’s nomination!)
- Tulsi Gabbard faces growing concern about her nomination after a tough confirmation hearing (In a sane world, Gabbard would get zero votes, as would RFK Jr, Pete Hegseth, Kash Patel, etc.)
- Kash Patel Is a Warning Shot
- Red states love Trump—and mooching off the federal funds he wants to cut
- The Substack invasion: When the tech bros came for journalism, everything changed (“How did crusading journalists Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi become right-wing trolls? Let Eoin Higgins explain”)
- F.A.A.’s Main Warning System for Pilots Is Down, U.S. Official Says
- NTSB forces reporters to get plane crash updates on X (“The agency says it will no longer notify reporters about plane crash press briefings via email.” WTF???)
- Elon Musk’s X sues Lego, Nestlé and more brands, accusing them of advertising boycott (Musk wants to FORCE companies to advertise on his site???)
- Editorial: Trump administration’s response to D.C. air crash is cause for alarm (“Wednesday’s deadly plane crash is an early test of the Trump administration’s commitment to air safety, and the White House response should have the nation demanding better.”)
- ‘We Have No Coherent Message’: Democrats Struggle to Oppose Trump (“More than 50 interviews with Democratic leaders revealed a party struggling to decide what to prioritize and how to confront an aggressive administration.”)
- Who Is Ken Martin, the New Leader of the D.N.C.? (Good question; he seems to mostly be an inside player, as many Democratic political activists don’t seem to be familiar with him.)
- Virginia lawmakers react to President Trump’s tariffs
- Former VA Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Trump-Supporting Republican, Agrees: “Tariffs Are Great – If You Like Raising Prices, Undermining Jobs, and Inhibiting Innovation” (Bolling: “no one who believes in free trade should embrace the idea that tariffs are the answer”)
- Editorial: Whatever happens, keep ICE out of our schools
- Advocates try again, with more hope, for probation reform in Virginia
- Roanoke, New River attracting new residents, but outpaced by aging population
- White nationalist group recruiting at Orange County High School
- Amid rising costs, Virginia Beach may scale back projects to avert tax hike
- CWG Live updates: Colder with increasing clouds today, much warmer Monday, Tuesday (“Temperatures suddenly surge warmer tomorrow and Tuesday. Wednesday turns quite a bit colder again, with a chance that rain showers could mix with sleet.”)
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