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by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, November 14.
- Dark forces are preventing us fighting the climate crisis – by taking knowledge hostage
- China and Saudi Arabia among nations receiving climate loans, analysis reveals (“Investigation by Guardian and Carbon Brief finds just a fifth of funds to fight global heating went to poorest 44 countries” Insanity.)
- Once a global leader on climate action, the EU has given in to the right’s green-bashing
- Major US broadcasters sit out Cop30 climate talks: ‘They’re missing a lot’ (“Figures show none of US ‘big four’ – CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox – appear to have sent teams to cover summit in Belém”)
- Zelenskyy condemns Russia’s ‘wicked’ overnight attack on Ukraine
- Russian drone slams into block of flats in deadly wave of strikes across Kyiv
- China’s new aircraft supercarrier challenges U.S. dominance in Pacific
- China Registers Worst Investment Decline in Years as Slowdown Continues
- Germany agrees new military service plan to boost troop numbers
- US designates four European anti-fascist groups as terrorist threats (“State department claims groups in Germany, Italy and Greece ‘conspiring to undermine foundations of western civilization’”)
- BBC apologises to Trump over Panorama edit but refuses to pay compensation
- Donald Trump pardons UK billionaire and former Tottenham owner Joe Lewis
- Canadian boycott of US travel shows no sign of slowing
White House agrees to lower tariffs on some goods from Latin America — including Argentinian beef (“The U.S. announced new trade agreements with Argentina, Guatemala, El Salvador and Ecuador.”)- No, Venezuela Is Not a ‘Small Latin American Country’ (“And talk of a quick invasion and easy ‘regime change’ is dangerously misleading.”)
- Hegseth announces operation ‘Southern Spear’ to quash ‘narco-terrorists’
- Memo Blessing Boat Strikes Is Said to Rely on Trump’s Claims About Cartels
- Family of Fisherman Killed in U.S. Military Strike Says It Wants Justice
- Three young immigrants ordered freed as Virginia lawsuit tests ICE detention policy (“Federal rulings say SIJS-eligible youths were unlawfully denied bond hearings; advocates say the case could reshape detention practices nationwide.”)
- “They Dragged Her Out in Front of the Kids”: Inside Chicago’s ICE Raid at a Bilingual Daycare (“When armed agents stormed Rayito de Sol, a Spanish-immersion daycare, parents like Maria Guzman say their children witnessed terror—not justice.”)
- WH claims ‘inflation tamed,’ per DoorDash stats. Company says that’s not in its report. (“It comes the same week we learned the WH would likely not release key economic reports for October.”)
- Senate GOP deeply divided over next steps on rising health care costs
- Federal workers question whether the longest government shutdown was worth their sacrifice
- John Thune’s Shady Shutdown Provision Has the GOP Turning on Itself
- Top Fannie Mae officials ousted after sounding alarm on sharing confidential housing data
- Senators distance themselves from controversial payout provision
- America First? Some Trump Supporters Worry That’s No Longer the Case.
- Trump faces heat from MAGA base on ‘America First’ agenda, Epstein (“MAGA leaders erupted over the president’s assertion that the U.S. needs foreign workers. That rift and others have raised GOP concerns about enthusiasm ahead of the midterms.”)
- The political danger of the Epstein files for Trump
- Johnson shifts strategy on Epstein files vote – as GOP leaders brace for mass defections
- The Epstein Scandal Is Now a Chronic Disease of the Trump Presidency (“Read the e-mails—this isn’t going away anytime soon.”)
- Epstein Returns at the Worst Time for Trump (“The president is desperate to make the questions go away, but there is no sign they will.”)
- The Dumb Truth at the Heart of the Epstein Scandal (“When QAnon meets Veep”)
- Steve Bannon is all over the newly released Jeffrey Epstein emails, raising questions about the 15 hours of Epstein interviews he has promised to release
- Email Cache Reveals How Former Harvard President Larry Summers Stayed in Jeffrey Epstein’s Orbit (Disgusting.)
- Epstein emails reveal enduring ties with influential figures even after his sex crime conviction
- Trump taps Ingrassia for new role after texting scandal (“Paul Ingrassia, who withdrew his nomination to lead the Office of Special Counsel last month, says in a farewell email that he’s moving to the GSA.” That says it all about the Trump administration.)
- Justice Department sues to block California US House map in clash that could tip control of Congress (Are they suing Texas as well? If not then they’re FULL OF CRAP.)
- Judge appears skeptical of Lindsey Halligan’s appointment as interim US attorney (“A ruling against Halligan could threaten the cases she brought against James Comey and Letitia James.”)
- Trump administration repealing protections for key swaths of Alaska petroleum reserve
- In Matt Gaetz Scandal, Circumstances Left Teen Vulnerable to Exploitation (“A 17-year-old with a homeless parent wanted money for braces and ended up having sex for money with powerful men. She wants the public to have a fuller understanding of how she was victimized.”)
- Underaged girl had sex with Matt Gaetz, Ben Cline’s buddy, so she could afford braces
- Trump official refers Rep. Eric Swalwell for a federal criminal probe over alleged mortgage fraud (“Swalwell is the latest Democrat to face mortgage fraud allegations from Federal Housing Finance Agency head Bill Pulte, who sent a letter to the Justice Department on Wednesday.”)
- Full email inboxes and other challenges facing federal employees as they return to work
- Indiana Professor Removed From Class Over White Supremacy Lesson (“The professor will no longer be able to teach a class on diversity after she showed students a diagram that included the “Make America Great Again” slogan as an example of white supremacy.” The professor is 100% right!)
- Democrats ‘shot credibility’ through shutdown-ending deal, Center for Politics’ Sabato says
- Terry McAuliffe: Donald Trump is the Democrats’ Best Weapon (“I stand where senator Mark Warner, my other senator was and, you know, listen, I think another couple weeks another week another two weeks I think we really would have got to an inflection point because of the slowdown of the TSA and the flight delays and so forth, I think that was really having impact on Trump.”)
- Video: Regarding the Epstein Files, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) Vows That Dems Will “continue to push, no matter how rich or how powerful the people involved are – and if it includes the president, it includes the president!” (Subramanyam also notes that Dems “were introducing legislation as early as 2019 about Jeffrey Epstein, and they were asking for the files back then.”)
- U.S. Navy Veteran Rep. Elaine Luria Hauls in $500,000 in 24 Hours Since Launching Campaign (Also, VA Senate President Pro Tem Louise Lucas, as well as former candidate Mike Williamson, have endorsed Luria)
- Virginia Democrats outperformed Republicans in vulnerable U.S. House districts
- Several Virginia Election Day outcomes smashed polling, pundit predictions
- The polls said the attorney general’s race would be close. It wasn’t. Here’s what happened. (“Because it’s impossible to know exactly what the electorate will look like, many pollsters simply weight their samples to the makeup of the previous election — in this case, the 2021 governor’s race that had an unusually high Republican shape. That gave some of the polls a more Republican slant that we saw on Election Day. Others tried to mitigate that by using a mix of the pro-Republican 2021 numbers and the pro-Democratic 2017 numbers, or the 2024 president number, or some other formula. State Navigate simply had a better model that more accurately reflected what turned out to be our election reality.” I still can’t believe any reputable pollster thought that this year’s electorate would be like 2021. That’s just so stupid, not just in hindsight but many of us said so at the time, these people really shouldn’t do polling anymore.)
- Vexit? West Virginia leaders have their eyes on our Interstate 81 corridor
- Spanberger and Youngkin at odds over hiring a new UVA president
- Pope & Schapiro: Endings and beginnings
- Youngkin rebukes Spanberger for urging UVa’s board to pause selection of president (Whatever; just two more months of this buffoon.)
- Virginia can raise billions with new taxes on millionaires, report finds
- Virginia rolls out Mobile ID, plans to expand use of program across commonwealth
- Higher SOL cut scores coming, but not this year, Virginia board says
- Regulators give Appalachian Power green light to recover small modular nuclear reactor site costs (So f’ing stupid.)
- VCU changed scholarship for descendants of the enslaved to align with anti-DEI policies
- Plan to kill single-family zoning in Va. suburb survives legal challenge (“A Virginia judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by residents in the city of Alexandria seeking to reverse a policy that allows for higher density in residential areas.”)
- Mary Baldwin spokesperson: Steps to restructure for long term ‘have fallen short’
- Christiansburg council races, Radford commissioner race decided after too-close election night
- CWG Live: Mild with increasing clouds through Saturday, then a brief shower chance (“50s and some 60s through this weekend before a marked cooldown early week.”)
