Friday News: “Putin nods to Trump plans to seize Greenland”; RFK Jr. Making “A Sicker America”; “A Clarifying Moment for Democracy”; Trump Targets “Improper Ideology” at Smithsonian; Stefanik Nomination Withdrawal a “Warning Sign for the President”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, March 28.

• UK climate protest group Just Stop Oil says it will stop direct action
• Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’
• Global anti-Elon Musk protests planned at nearly 200 Tesla showroom locations
• Europeans back strong Ukraine army, differ on future ‘reassurance force’
• Putin suggests putting Ukraine under U.N.-sponsored external governance, boasts battlefield gains
• Ukraine says mineral deal not final; summary shows US demands more income
• Moscow advances in Kursk but fights Ukrainians in another part of Russia, war bloggers say
• Rosenberg: Putin nods to Trump plans to seize Greenland
• Putin says US push for Greenland rooted in history, vows to uphold Russian interest in the Arctic (WTF???)
• Russia’s Putin says it would be a ‘profound mistake’ to dismiss Trump’s push for Greenland
• Putin is on the wrong side of history. And lately, so is the U.S.
• Trump says US will ‘go as far as we have to’ to get control of Greenland
• Greenland braced for JD Vance visit after Trump’s claim US will inevitably take over island (“US vice president will visit Pituffik space base in Greenland later today”)
• As protections expire, Ukrainians who escaped war face an uncertain future (“A U.S. immigration program allowed hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to escape war. As Trump decides whether or not to renew it, recipients fear being deported.”)
• Greenlanders prepare for uncomfortable visit from US vice-president
• Israel Supplied Intelligence in Airstrike Discussed in Signal Chat, Officials say
• Why Benjamin Netanyahu Is Going Back to War (“The public’s fears for the fate of the ceasefire and the hostages have become a struggle over the rule of law.”)
• I’ve never seen such clampdowns in Istanbul. Turkey’s democracy is fighting for its life
• Turkey detains lawyer of jailed Istanbul mayor, main opposition party says
• Xi Woos Global Business Leaders as Trump Intensifies Trade War
• Thailand and Myanmar earthquake death toll rises as Bangkok declared disaster area with dozens trapped under skyscraper (“United States Geological Survey said the quake was shallow, at a depth of just 10km (six miles) with the epicentre near the central city of Mandalay”)
• Massive Myanmar earthquake causes widespread destruction with dozens trapped in collapsed Bangkok building
• Three prominent Yale professors depart for Canadian university, citing Trump fears
• ‘Maximize Their Pain’: Top Canadian Official Vows Brutal Tariff Response Against Americans (“I feel terrible for the Americans, but it’s one person, it’s President Trump, that’s creating this chaos”)
• Canada PM Mark Carney says old relationship with US ‘is over’
• Human rights groups rebuke Kristi Noem’s visit to El Salvador prison: ‘political theater’
• Real Housewives of Gitmo (“Kristi Noem makes a propaganda visit to a foreign prison”)
• How Kristi Noem’s $50,000 Rolex in a Salvadoran prison became a political flashpoint
• US car buyers face higher prices, less choice under Trump’s tariffs
• Trump Warned U.S. Automakers Not to Raise Prices in Response to Tariffs
• Trump takes aim at foreign-born college students, with 300 visas revoked (“Some students have been picked up off the street by immigration agents and held in detention centers, sometimes a thousand miles away from their homes, with little warning”)
• Rubio boasts of canceling more than 300 visas over pro-Palestine protests (“Secretary of state called those with revoked visas ‘lunatics’ as video shows masked immigration officers sweeping people off streets” Do we want to live in a country where the president, Secretary of State, etc. get to arbitrarily decide which political viewpoints they despise, who they consider to be “lunatics,” etc., and take action against them – with no due process???)
• Russian scientist from Harvard Medical School detained in U.S., faces deportation and likely arrest upon return due to anti-war stance (That’s insane on multiple levels!)
• The disappearing of Rumeysa Ozturk is something I never thought I’d see in America (“You’ve probably seen something like this before — but only in a movie, and only in a film that was seeking to capture the horrors of daily life under Joseph Stalin at the peak of his 1930s purges across the USSR “)
• ICE Makes Another Student Disappear—and No One Knows Why
• A clarifying moment for democracy (“The shocking arrest near Boston shows how Trump’s immigration policy has become an assault on freedom.”)
• Ambush arrest of Tufts student sparks new concerns about immigration crackdown
• Bird flu reinfections at US poultry farms highlight need for vaccines, experts say (“Aggressive prevention including wider changes to poultry raising needed after at least 56 US farms doubly infected”)
• Fossil fuel companies get direct email line to Trump for exemption requests (“EPA sets up email address where ‘regulated community’ can request exemption to evade air pollution rules” Insane.)
• How Donald Trump Throttled Big Law (“The President has two goals: to seek revenge and to intimidate lawyers challenging his agenda. Is a top firm’s deal with him a necessary act of survival or a damaging blow to the entire profession?”)
• Skadden, a Top Law Firm, Is in Talks to Avert an Executive Order
• Trump Targets WilmerHale, Citing Law Firm’s Connection to Robert Mueller
• Internal White House document details layoff plans across U.S. agencies
• Hillary Clinton: How Much Dumber Will This Get?
• Internal White House document shows agencies preparing to cut between 8% and 50% of staff (Illegal/unconstitutional, right?)
• Top Senate Republican Protests Trump Bid to Withhold Spending
• “A Sicker America”: RFK Jr.’s HHS Will Lay Off 10,000 Staff
• RFK Jr.’s massive cuts stun staff, leave senior employees scrambling (“The cuts sent shockwaves through the department’s sprawling workforce, prompting a scramble among senior agency officials to figure out which employees and policy priorities were affected.”)
• Will Trump’s Gulf of America Power Trip Break the White House Press Corps? (“The Associated Press had its day in court on Thursday, but free speech in this Presidency is already a big loser.”)
• Concerns about Hegseth’s judgment come roaring back after group chat scandal
• Bondi Indicates Signal Chat Episode Will Not Be Criminally Investigated (Just imagine the reaction if something like this had happened in the Biden administration, and AG Merrick Garland refused to investigate it???)
• Why Trump Won’t ‘Produce a Scalp’ After the Signal Debacle
• A Disregard for the Rules Trickles Down From Trump to His Aides
• Judge Moves to Prevent Hegseth, Waltz and Others From Deleting Houthi Texts
• Signal Chat Leak Angers U.S. Military Pilots
• Trump allies are starting to notice Hegseth’s growing pile of mistakes
• Trump Takes Government Secrecy Seriously. But Only When It Suits Him.
• Audio: Re: Signal Debacle, Fmr. Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05) Says “they broke so many protocols in this one incident…how many other screw-ups have they done or they’re going to do?” (These are “people who have no business being in positions of power, who don’t have the expertise, the acumen, or the judgment”)
• A DHS staffer faces serious punishment for accidentally adding a reporter to a group email (“The episode, which has not been previously reported, raises questions about unequal punishment for inadvertent leakers in the Trump administration.”)
• Even More Venmo Accounts Tied to Trump Officials in Signal Group Chat Left Data Public
• The Signal fiasco is a political gift to Democrats but their power is limited
• Trump executive order on Smithsonian targets funding for programs with ‘improper ideology’
• Trump issues executive order to eliminate ‘anti-American ideology’ from Smithsonian (Name a single instance of “anti-American ideology” at the Smithsonian.)
• American Universities Need Wartime Leaders
• Trump administration moves to end union rights for many federal workers (Sounds illegal.)
• Stefanik’s withdrawal suggests Republicans are sweating their thin margins (“Some Republican strategists said it’s not worth taking the risk of losing Stefanik’s sprawling northern New York seat, which Trump won by 20 points in 2024.”)
• A warning sign flares as the Trump White House refuses to moderate its shock politics
• Fallout coming for House GOP over Trump’s rug pull on Stefanik
• Analysis | Stefanik’s pulled nomination points to GOP electoral fear
• Trump Pulls Stefanik’s UN Nomination to Protect GOP Majority
• Republicans grow concerned about Trump’s handpicked candidate in Florida special election
• ADL Shutters Flagship Anti-Bias Program (What happened to this once-great organization???)
• Trump urges support for Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate in unusual intervention
• Elon Musk Is Racheting Up His Efforts to Distort the Democratic Process in Wisconsin
• Tim Kaine: Why I’m forcing a vote on Trump’s Canada tariffs
• Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08): “RFK Jr. Making ‘Dangerous Purge’ Of Health Workers While ‘Bringing In A Team Of Kooks, Loons, And Weirdos’” (RFK Jr. “bragging about decimating the world’s best public heatlh agency” – Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11))
• Commentary: An America without a Department of Education leaves children behind (by Rep. Jennifer McClellan)
• Gov. Youngkin says Biden turned US into a ‘sanctuary country’ (Not that he was ever a “moderate,” but Youngkin has gone hard right for sure.)
• In Amendment, Governor Youngkin Quietly Attempts to Transform Commonsense Gun Safety Bill Into Anti-Trans Legislation (“Unfortunately for him, we live in a representative democracy, and Governor Youngkin is not King Youngkin”)
• New “Internal” Poll by Shannon Taylor for AG Campaign Finds Taylor Leading Jay Jones 25%-15%, with 60% Undecided (“”After giving voters balanced, positive profiles of both candidates,” Taylor leads Jones 41%-38%)
• Military veterans launch Democratic runs for Va. House in GOP strongholds (“Former service members challenge Republicans, driven by concerns about Trump’s erosion of democratic ideals and national security.”)
• Pope & Schapiro: Lots of vetoes and a shakeup at the University of Virginia
• Youngkin amends “junk fees” bill, but the legislature is already saying no
• Va. to become first state to make speeding impossible for some drivers
• Gov. Glenn Youngkin Appoints Ken Cuccinelli, Who Conducted a “Climate Science Denial Witch Hunt” Against UVA (and Former UVA Climate Professor Michael Mann), to the UVA Board of Visitors
• Nick Freitas announces retirement from House of Delegates (“Freitas is endorsing Karen Hamilton for the Republican nomination. She is married to former VA-07 Republican candidate Cameron Hamilton.”)
• What parts of Virginia are most in favor of increasing access to child care? Rural areas.
• I drove 300 miles in rural Virginia, then asked police to send me their public surveillance footage of my car. Here’s what I learned.
• Youngkin and federal officials say MS-13 leader arrested in Virginia
• Avula’s first budget calls for utility rate increase, projects higher real estate assessments
• Richmond utility bills could rise by $13 a month under proposed budget
• Chesapeake School Board member resigns due to family’s relocation (“Dr. Brittany Walker is stepping down from her seat on the Chesapeake School Board effective May 2.”)
• After federal money for refugee resettlement is halted, a Roanoke agency turns to the community for support
• CWG Live updates: A couple showers around today before a big weekend warm-up