Saturday News: “Trump Has a Recipe for War and Corruption, Not Peace”; “Trump and Mamdani’s White House Lovefest Leaves Trump Allies ‘Shocked'”; MTG Announces Resignation, “expects the MAGAs to lose the midterms, and for Donald Trump…to be impeached”; Thanks to Trump, “[VA’s] fiscal situation is not healthy”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, November 22.

• ‘It’s like arguing with robots’: negotiators on the state of Cop30 talks (“Three representatives of developing countries speak candidly about meetings behind closed doors in Belém”)
• COP30 climate talks overrun with deadlock over fossil fuels
• ‘A lot of fighting’: Fossil fuel row breaks out at UN climate summit
• COP30 climate summit deadlocked as EU rejects draft deal (“The outcome of Brazil’s COP30 climate summit was left hanging in the balance, with the European Union refusing to accept a draft deal it said would fail to advance global efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change.”)
• A New Tropical Forest Fund Will Pay Countries, Locals and Indigenous Tribes to Protect Their Trees (“This is how the fund, which was seeded with $5.5 billion during COP30, will work—and why the Earth needs it.”)
• Exclusive: COP30 PR Agency Edelman Lobbied Presidency to Favour Fossil Fuel Client (“As the New York-based firm was preparing to work on the climate summit, it was also pushing for Brazilian oil and gas distributor Vibra Energia to help power it.”)
• South Africa says a declaration was adopted at the start of the G20 summit despite US opposition
• Macron Says G-20 at Risk, Predicts End of Road for Bloc
• Trump Offers a Ukraine Peace Plan the Kremlin Can Love
• Trump is giving Russia almost everything it wants with his Ukraine peace plan
• Trump officials’ meeting with Russian in Miami spurs questions about latest Ukraine proposal (“U.S. officials and lawmakers are increasingly concerned about a meeting last month in which representatives of the Trump administration met with Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian envoy who is under U.S. sanctions, to draft a plan to end the war in Ukraine, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.”)
• Trump Has a Recipe for War and Corruption, Not Peace (“Who would benefit from the White House’s 28-point proposal for Ukraine?)
• Trump’s hard-sell Ukraine deal is realpolitik on steroids
• Russia’s Ryabkov says potential Putin-Trump summit is on the agenda (INSANE.)
• Trump’s peace plan is a demand for Ukraine’s surrender
• Trump Uses Gaza Peace Playbook in Ukraine (“White House gives Ukraine less than a week to sign on to plan requiring major concessions”)
• Steve Rosenberg: Putin uncompromising as leaked plan reaches Moscow
• Trump paints Zelenskyy into a corner with his new plan to end Russia’s war on Ukraine (Americans should all be outraged at this. Where the hell are previously pro-Ukraine Republicans like Glenn Youngkin???)
• Exclusive: US threatens to cut intel, weapons to press Ukraine into peace deal, sources say (Disgraceful and outrageous!)
• European Leaders Back Zelensky After U.S. Plan Leaves Them Out
• Zelensky says Trump plan forces Ukraine to choose between “dignity” and the U.S.
• ‘Witkoff needs a psychiatrist’: Europeans fume at Trump’s plan to profit from frozen Russian assets
• Trump is giving Russia almost everything it wants with his Ukraine peace plan
• The Witkoff-Dmitriev peace plan annotated
• Johnson counters Thune on Russian sanctions bill process: ‘Not my understanding’
• Ukraine allies to hold talks on White House peace plan at G20
• Nigeria sees one of worst mass abductions as 315 taken from school
• Brazil’s ex-president Bolsonaro arrested at his home by federal police (This should have happened to Trump within a year or two, max, of him leaving office after his coup attempt.)
• White House blew past legal concerns in deadly strikes on drug boats
• Judge Places Hold on I.R.S. Data Sharing With ICE
• The A.I. Boom Is Driving the Economy. What Happens if It Falters?
• A Key Medicare Expense Is Expected to Climb Nearly 10% in 2026
• Kennedy Says He Told C.D.C. to Change Website’s Language on Autism and Vaccines (WILDLY unacceptable!)
• Washington resident dies of complications from bird flu strain never before reported in humans (Scary.)
• The Texas Gerrymandering Case Is a Test of the Supreme Court’s Integrity (“Do the justices have any rules they won’t let Republicans break?” No?)
• Supreme Court allows Texas congressional map favoring GOP, for now (This court is completely f’ed up.)
• Alito lets Texas reinstate gerrymandered House map that could give GOP 5 more seats (Alito f’ing sucks.)
• Supreme Court, For Now, Keeps in Place Texas Republican-Friendly Congressional Map
• Is Trump Giving Illegal Orders? Dems Just Blew the Question Wide Open.
• ‘Horribly wrong’: US veterans condemn Trump’s politicization of military (“Experts infuriated by president accusing Democrats of ‘sedition’ for urging soldiers to refuse illegal orders”)
• Senator whose wife was shot fears for safety after Trump sedition accusation (“President called behavior of Mark Kelly, whose wife Gabby Giffords survived assassination bid, ‘punishable by death’”)
• Senators Launch Inquiry After a White House Official Intervened on Behalf of Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
• The GOP Is Realizing That Trump Won’t Be Around Forever (“The intra-party fight over the Epstein files was only the prelude.”)
• Donald Trump signed the Epstein files bill: OK, so, release them already?
• Epstein survivors say they received death threats in new letter
• Republicans frustrated with Bondi over Epstein, Comey ‘messes’ at DOJ
• The President Is Losing Control of Himself (“Donald Trump’s outbursts on social media this week were different than usual.”)
• Epstein, Trump, and the Era of Elite Impunity (“Democrats don’t need to pick and choose among the administration’s many sins. They all tell the same grim story.”)
• In the midterms, Republicans will be footing the bill for Trump’s policies
• Marjorie Taylor Greene announces that she is resigning from Congress (“Wow; so, she expects the MAGAs to lose the midterms, and for Donald Trump, then, to be impeached. OK, OK. And doesn’t want to have to be in a position to have to defend him after he spends millions dragging her name in the mud. Huh, I guess that just happened.”)
• GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will leave Congress after five turbulent years (“She made the announcement on social media just days after her public falling out with President Donald Trump”)
• The top 20 billionaires influencing American politics
• Comey seeks dismissal over ‘fundamental errors’ in grand jury process
• Death threats surge against Democrats targeted by Trump
• Trump and Mamdani’s White House Lovefest Leaves Trump Allies “Shocked,” Says Source (“Let’s just say I didn’t have Mamdani and Trump having a cordial Oval Office meeting and presser on my 2025 MAGA Bingo card”)
• Trump and Mamdani’s Strange First Meeting (“A ‘communist’ and a ‘despot’ walk into the Oval Office …”)
• Trump reveals ‘one thing in common’ he has with Mamdani after Oval Office love fest
• The Trump-Mamdani Buddy Movie? It’s Getting Mixed Reviews. (“The casting aside of months of traded insults was a development that seemed good for New York City but struck some of both men’s followers as odd.”)
• Trump pivots from bashing Mamdani, predicting he will ‘do a great job’ as mayor
• 86 Democrats Condemn Socialism as Zohran Mamdani Meets With Trump
• Fawning Trump Says Call Me a ‘Despot’ to Mamdani in Ultimate TACO (“The president gushed about New York City’s mayor-elect during their meeting after previously calling him a ‘lunatic.'”)
• ‘Fascist’? ‘Communist’? For an Afternoon, They Were Just 2 Guys From Queens.
• Queens men meet (LOL, funny headline!)
• Trump, Mamdani make love — not war
• Arizona attorney general asks state supreme court to revive case against Trump’s 2020 allies
• Right-wing media figures are starting to declare “MAGA is dead”
• Vanity Fair Is Reviewing Its Ties to Olivia Nuzzi (Brilliant, lol.)
• RFK Jr.’s Digital Lover’s New Job Could Be in Danger (“Olivia Nuzzi’s new job as Vanity Fair’s West Coast Editor is at risk following new allegations.”)
• Reps. Don Beyer (D-VA08), Don Bacon (R-NE02) Introduce Bipartisan Resolution to Fix Broken House Disciplinary Process (“The proliferation of resolutions to punish our fellow Members with censure, disapproval, or the revocation of committee assignments has become unsustainable…”)
• The Politics Hour: U.S. Rep James Walkinshaw on what’s ahead for Virginia (“I don’t want see another government shutdown, I’m cautiously optimistic…And there was some reporting today that there may be an agreement coming together for a short term extension of the ACA tax credits with some reforms to it and I hope to see that.”)
• Video: Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07) Holds Press Conference with Hanan Elatr Khashoggi – the Wife of Murdered Journalist Jamal Khashoggi (Rep. Jamie Raskin calls Trump’s comments about Khashoggi’s murder an “absolute disgrace and shame” in “a week of absolute moral and ethical collapse”)
• In Letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) Demands Answers About Potential Tampering of Epstein Files (“What steps has the FBI taken to protect the files’ storage at the facility in Winchester, or elsewhere?”)
• Spanberger, Democratic leadership set to inherit drastically different budget thanks to federal cuts (“’Our fiscal situation is not healthy. The Trump administration is hurting the Virginia economy;’ Surovell told Radio IQ. ‘It’s undercutting our best jobs. We need to be prudent here and we need to plan.’…’we also are looking at about $900 million in K-12 benchmarking, over $3 billion in Medicaid benchmarking,’ Surovell said. ‘If we conform with federal tax law, it’s going to cost us over a billion dollars in state revenue losses.’”)
• Virginia Climate Assessment highlights changing conditions across the state
• Spanberger vows to fill university board vacancies ‘Day 1’ (“Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger promises to take quick action after her inauguration on Jan. 17 to fill vacancies on the governing boards of three Virginia colleges and universities.”)
• Virginia sued over new social media age verification law
• Virginia union leader explains the boycott of Amazon, Home Depot, and Target
• UVa shooter gets 5 life sentences
• Former Virginia Beach man gets five years for threatening to kill Biden, Harris
• A hulking home addition is dividing neighbors and stumping officials (“A three-story home addition in Fairfax County, Virginia, has divided a neighborhood and led to constant attention and, in some cases, harassment.”)
• ‘¿Conoces a la migra?’: Fear of ICE raids creating anxiety for Arlington students
• CWG Live: Rain ending by midday, then sunnier times ahead