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by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, December 30.
- Cheap Solar Is Transforming Lives and Economies Across Africa (“Chinese panels are now so affordable that businesses and families are snapping them up, slashing their bills and challenging utilities.”)
- Russia’s losses in Ukraine rise faster than ever as US pushes for peace deal
- Why the Pantomime? Its Always Been About Defending Putin
- Trump sides with Russia on claims that Ukraine targeted Putin residence (Trump is absolutely a Russian asset.)
- Putin was the missing man at Mar-a-Lago
- Putin tells Trump Ukraine attacked his residence, which Kyiv denies
- Trump Admin Scores Visa for Founder of Russian Propaganda Outlet
- Ukraine war live: Russia gives ‘no plausible evidence’ to back up claim of drone attack on Putin’s residence
- China fires a warning to the U.S. and simulates Taiwan blockade, though Trump says he’s ‘not worried’
- Trump vows to “knock the hell” out of Iran if it rebuilds missile program
- Trump Really Thinks He’s a Foreign-Policy Genius (“The president and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a joint press conference in which they agreed that it may be time to ‘knock the hell’ out of Iran again.”)
- Saudi Arabia bombs Yemen port over weapons shipment from UAE and issues warning to Abu Dhabi
- The Cover-Up: Inside the Plot to Conceal Bashar al-Assad’s Crimes
- Trump and Netanyahu Praise Each Other After Meeting, Despite Differences Over Gaza (Trump is a scumbag who’s destroying his country, America; Netanyahu is a scumbag who’s destroying his country, Israel.)
- Trump shows customary disdain for protocol as poker-faced Netanyahu watches on (“President’s impromptu news conference in company of Benjamin Netanyahu touched on Gaza, the possibility of further strikes on Iran’s nuclear program and Israel’s tensions with Syria”)
- Hamas will have ‘hell to pay’ if it fails to disarm, Trump warns after Netanyahu meeting
- Takeaways from Trump and Netanyahu’s meeting in Florida
- Trump, top aides asked Netanyahu to change policy in occupied West Bank
- Israel’s president denies telling Trump a Netanyahu pardon is “on its way”
- Exclusive: CIA carried out drone strike on port facility on Venezuelan coast
- Trump says US bombed alleged drug facility in Venezuela. No one knows if it’s true.
- Trump says U.S. destroyed loading dock in Venezuela
- US struck ‘big facility’ in Venezuela, Trump claimed without offering details
- Grim Evidence of Trump’s Airstrikes Washes Ashore on a Colombian Peninsula
- In One Year, Trump’s War on Immigration Alters the Face of America
- Trump admin can share immigrants’ Medicaid data with ICE, judge rules
- Why the Supreme Court Is Giving ICE So Much Power (“The Constitution inarguably applies to federal immigration agents—but the Supreme Court has taken away the hope of ever holding them to that standard.”)
- Brett Kavanaugh Is Trying to Walk Back “Kavanaugh Stops.” Too Late.
- From ‘global cooling’ to ‘beautiful coal’: Trump’s startling climate claims of 2025
- Trump’s year of offshore wind carnage (“2025 was a decisive, destructive year for the U.S. offshore wind sector. Will the slowdown prove to be a four-year blip or the start of a longer term malaise?”)
- The Plan That Foretold Trump’s 2025 (“Reviewing Project 2025’s year of successes and shortcomings”)
- Trump says he’d ‘love to fire’ Jerome Powell in latest attack on Fed chair (“Trump also repeated false claims about renovation costs for the Fed headquarters during a Monday press conference”)
- States step into the breach as Obamacare subsidies lapse (“The speed at which the mostly Democratic states have taken action underscores the mounting national anxiety about the medical and political impact the end of these subsidies will have.”)
- States get first awards from rural health fund
- RFK Jr. Will Let Us All Die Just to Make a Buck (“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is forcing his MAHA agenda on all of us—and it’s already getting ugly.”)
- Inside RFK Jr.’s reshaping of public health (Absolutely disastrous.)
- DOJ Organizing Vast Conspiracy Investigation Against Trump Enemies, Bondi Says (Authoritarian, insanity, etc.)
- Trump’s latest attack on the Constitution — and Joe Biden (“The president is trying to find a workaround to Biden’s commutations — and the double jeopardy clause”)
- Democrats Aim to Spotlight Republican Efforts to Rewrite the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot (Love how the NY Times calls a violent, pro-Trump insurrection/coup attempt a “riot”)
- Wannabe Christian Crusader Pete Hegseth Is Just Getting Started (“The defense secretary spent Trump’s first year in office wreaking havoc on the U.S. military—and killing innocent people around the world.”)
- How Social Security has gotten worse under Trump (“Customer service has deteriorated by key measures as the agency enacted sweeping cuts in the president’s second term, internal data and interviews show.”)
- Greene: Speaker Mike Johnson ‘is not our Speaker’ and is controlled by White House
- Marjorie Taylor Greene Says Trump Turned on Her Over Epstein Survivors
- The Heritage Foundation Shows How MAGA Will Die (“Even corrupt institutions can reach a tipping point”)
- Judge orders release of transcript of closed hearing for man accused of killing Charlie Kirk
- A Former South Park Writer Gambled On Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center Renaming Plan—And Won (“Donald Trump might have changed the signs at the Kennedy Center, but a URL that reflects its new name might be more elusive.”)
- The regime wants to turn artists into performing monkeys (“But freedom of speech includes freedom to not praise the king.”)
- New Year’s Eve Concerts at Kennedy Center Are Canceled (“The jazz drummer Billy Hart said the decision was “evidently” connected to President Trump’s name being added to the arts center.”)
- More Kennedy Center Performers Pull Out After Trump’s Name Change
- More musicians cancel Kennedy Center concerts after board votes to add Trump’s name to the building
- Kennedy Center Hit With Last-Minute New Year’s Cancelations
- What to know about Iowa’s state Senate special election
- Formally ending Iraq wars is a victory for the American people – Sen. Tim Kaine
- Politico Gives Youngkin “The Milk Carton Award for Missing Politicians”; Says His “star faded as he hemmed and hawed about running for president last year” – and Badly Lost the 2025 Elections
- With Just 19 Days Until Youngkin’s (Mercifully) No Longer Governor, Here Are Ten Examples of the “Mainstream” Political Media’s Whitewashing, Sanewashing, Stenography, etc. of this Supposed “Moderate” Non-Trumpian Republican
- Governor-Elect Abigail Spanberger Announces Jessica K. Looman as New VA Secretary of Labor (“At the U.S. Department of Labor, Ms. Looman was entrusted with protecting the nation’s foundational federal labor standards laws for 165 million workers”)
- Spanberger taps former Biden labor official Jessica Looman as Virginia labor secretary
- As attorney general, Jones will inherit many cases from Miyares. One of the most contentious involves giraffes.
- Special prosecutor closes Jay Jones’ reckless driving case after finding ‘no legal issue’ with sentence
- AG-elect Jones cleared in community service probe
- Four seeking chairmanship of Republican Party of Virginia
- Spanberger meets with Virginia emergency leaders to review severe weather plans
- Study: Virginia faces $23 million revenue loss due to international student enrollment changes
- Pressure from Charlottesville and Richmond could derail new UVA president
- The new guy, Scott Beardsley, may be the shortest-term UVA president ever
- Judge to review classified information Trump administration used to halt Dominion wind project
- Editorial: Chesapeake school officials shamefully embrace anti-trans panic (“Transgender Americans should be free to seek economic opportunity, such as employment, without prejudice, the same as everyone else.” Absolutely!)
- Understaffing, systemic failures at state prison in Chesapeake led to inmate death, lawsuit alleges
- May Nivar: Maintaining Virginia’s way of life while encouraging growth
- A newspaper’s name is removed in downtown Richmond
- CWG Live: Strong gusts keep day wind-chilled despite sunny skies
