Tuesday News: “That 2nd strike was a violation of the laws of war”; Hegseth’s “Boasting About Caribbean Drone Strikes Is Everything Wrong with the U.S. Right Now”; “Trump’s pardon of Honduras’s ex-president shows counter-drug effort is ‘based on lies and hypocrisy’”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, December 2.

• Erasing a Home’s Risks on Zillow Doesn’t Make Them Go Away
• Zillow deletes climate risk data from listings after complaints it harms sales (“Site removes feature after real estate agents and some homeowners say scores appear arbitrary and hurt sales”)
• World Economy Surprisingly Resilient to Tariffs, OECD Says (“AI investment and supportive fiscal, monetary policies are boosting activity, the OECD says.”)
• Witkoff Heads to Russia as Putin Claims Key Ukrainian City Fell
• Ukraine says fighting continues for key eastern city as Trump envoy set to meet Putin for peace talks
• U.S. delegation to meet Putin in latest bid to end Ukraine war (“Ahead of the key meeting, Russia has claimed fresh military victories, hammering home the point that it can succeed in the war without negotiations if it wants.”)
• Ukraine’s history sows fear of weak security guarantees
• Trump’s Boat Strikes Could Make the Cartel Problem Worse (“The administration’s lethal strikes on suspected traffickers may compromise, not advance, America’s battle against cartels.”)
• Concerns grow that Hegseth, White House aim to scapegoat admiral in deadly boat strike
• Radar revelation stokes fears Caribbean could be drawn into US-Venezuela crisis (“Trinidad PM rejects claims installation is in support of US campaign but opposition says ‘they have sold soul of nation’”)
• Trump reportedly gave Maduro ultimatum to relinquish power in Venezuela
• Hegseth, with White House help, tries to distance himself from boat strike fallout
• Jeffries says not to expect Dems to pursue Hegseth impeachment
• Franklin the Turtle publisher slams Hegseth for ‘violent’ boat strike post
• Trump struggles with Venezuelan dilemma as Maduro digs in and storm builds at home over potential ‘war crime’
• Boasting About Caribbean Drone Strikes Is Everything Wrong with the U.S. Right Now (“Administrations used to bury questionably legal behavior. Somehow this seems worse.”)
• Pete Hegseth And Adm. Mitch Bradley Belong In Prison
• Hegseth Ordered a Lethal Attack but Not the Killing of Survivors, Officials Say (Seriously, NY Times? “Officials says?” WHICH “officials” say that? Because if they’re Trump administration officials, you know they always lie.)
• Pete Hegseth Needs to Go—Now (“A man with such contempt for the military should not run the Pentagon.”)
• The Dishonorable Strikes on Venezuelan Boats (“New reporting suggests that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth violated multiple rules of war.”)
• White House Defends Hegseth Over Strike on Alleged Drug Boat That Killed Survivors
• Shooting the Wounded on Drug Boats? (“Congress is right to seek the truth about the alleged Hegseth missile order.”)
• Experts explain what the law says about killing survivors of a boat strike
• ‘That 2nd strike was a violation of the laws of war,’ former senior military lawyer says
• No wonder Trump is outraged by warnings about illegal orders
• Why is the US on the verge of war with Venezuela? (“The five biggest questions about a massive military build-up.”)
• Trump’s pardon of Honduras’s ex-president shows counter-drug effort is ‘based on lies and hypocrisy’
• Scoop: The letter behind Trump’s pardon of Honduras’ ex-president for drug trafficking
• Rooftop solar back on a roll as new system installs ride the battery boom to a 2025 high (In Australia, but really could and should be eveywhere.)
• White House defends pardon of ex-Honduran president convicted of drug trafficking (It’s WILDLY indefensible!)
• Noem reveals sweeping travel ban plan after meeting with Trump (These people are racist, evil, lawless and insane.)
• Trump Administration Fires 8 Immigration Judges in New York (“The firings, part of a nationwide effort, felt “like a Monday afternoon massacre,” said one judge who lost her job last month.”)
• Costco sues the Trump administration, seeking a refund of tariffs (“The wholesaler is the latest company to sue a federal agency over the president’s signature economic policy.”)
• As regime change looms at the Fed, one candidate emerges as frontrunner for chair (Hassett is HORRIBLE.)
• Congress is the Supreme Court’s favorite punching bag, and it’s about to get decked (“The GOP justices are about to hand Trump a victory that they have been dreaming about since he was married to Ivana.”)
• Vaccine Panel to Weigh Significant Changes to Childhood Shots
• Senate barrels toward failure on health care (“A bipartisan breakthrough appears unlikely ahead of next week’s scheduled votes.”)
• Jeffries says Johnson ‘tanked’ Trump’s health care proposal (“Congress has just a few weeks left to reach a deal to avoid expiring Obamacare tax credits.”)
• Mike Johnson’s red alert on members quitting Congress
• Retirements signal GOP lawmakers delivered for Trump, but not themselves
• Sorry, Trump isn’t a lame duck (yet) (“The comforting story that Trump’s power is fading obscures the risks facing us” Agreed 100%.)
• FEMA now says workers were “wrongly” reinstated
• Suspended FEMA workers who criticized Trump administration got their jobs back — until DHS leaders found out
• Editorial: National Guard shooting underlines folly of domestic deployment (“These two young service members pledged their lives to defend the Constitution only to be targeted in a cowardly attack in the nation’s capital.”)
• Outlets that reach millions denied access to rare Pentagon news briefings this week
• Thousands of U.S. trucking schools could lose accreditation under DOT crackdown
• At least 11 Indiana Republicans were targeted with threats or swatting attacks amid redistricting pressure from Trump (“The threats came after Trump publicly called on state lawmakers to pass new congressional maps that would benefit Republicans.”)
• Tennessee special election stirs Democratic hopes and GOP fears of an upset
• Why Republicans are sweating Tuesday’s special election in ‘Trump Country’ (“The surprisingly competitive race in Tennessee’s ruby-red 7th Congressional District is a high-profile test of voters’ attitudes about the president’s agenda.”)
• Republicans work to defend a deep-red House district in expensive Tennessee special election (“Tuesday’s race pits Trump-backed Republican Matt Van Epps against Democrat Aftyn Behn after heavy spending, even though Trump carried the district by 22 points in 2024.”)
• Want to Know if Democrats Can Retake the House Next Year? Look At What’s Happening In Tennessee Today.
• The White House’s new media ‘bias’ tracker is a desperate gimmick (“The site isn’t exposing misleading reporting – it’s revealing the bubble Trump increasingly inhabits”)
• Olivia Nuzzi tries and fails to save her reputation in ‘American Canto’ (“The flashy reporter who lost her job at New York magazine over a relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. returns with a memoir light on gossip — and reckoning.”)
• Trump admin. should release ‘unedited video’ of strikes on alleged drug boats, says Sen. Warner
• Video: Sen. Mark Warner Launches Reelection Campaign “to continue his fight to lower costs and prepare Virginia for the economy of the future” (“America has never been afraid of the future, and we don’t need to start now.”)
• Sen. Mark Warner Says the Fact That Pete Hegseth’s “still there is an embarassment”; Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07) Says Hegseth Exemplifies Trump Administration’s “two overwhelming characteristics…malice and incompetence”
• Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-VA11) Says Republicans’ Investigation Into Anti-Semitism in Fairfax County Public Schools – But NOT Into GOP Districts or Within GOP Ranks – “reflects a selective and politicized response to a nationwide crisis” (For instance, “Trump invited the neo-nazi, Holocaust denier, Fuentes, to Mar-a-Lago for dinner along with Kanye West, a self-proclaimed admirer of Hitler.”)
• 7 lessons from Virginia’s 2025 elections that might apply to the 2026 midterms (“Trump is poison for Republicans in much of Virginia”; “State elections are different from congressional ones”)
• Virginia’s state budget has been flush for years. That might be ending. (“Virginia budget analysts say federal actions and economic forces are likely to bring lean times to a state that has enjoyed years of surplus.”)
• Head of Virginia GOP to step down after party’s bruising election losses
• Virginia data centers stir political passions, at county and state levels
• Video: As Dems Prepare for “Trifecta” and Sharp Changes from Youngkin Starting in January, VA Senate Finance & Appropriations Subcommittee on Education Hears From UVA Interim President, VMI Superintendent, UMW President
• UVA acting president: Taking the deal was better than the alternative
• UVA interim president to senators: Agreement with DOJ to pause probes was ‘best option available’ (“Five key takeaways from lawmakers’ Dec. 1 meeting with Virginia university leaders”)
• UVA interim president defends entering Department of Justice settlement agreement
• Senate Democrats grill interim UVA President over Dept. of Justice agreement
• UVa interim leader says DOJ deal helps presidential search
• Virginia bill would ban law enforcement from wearing masks
• Virginia farmers can now apply for grants to practice regenerative farming
• CWG Live: Wintry mix changes to rain this morning; staying cold