Monday News: Trump Looking at “Strong Options” Against Iran; Lawless Thug Trump Threatens Fed Chair with Criminal Probe; “Celebrities wear pins protesting ICE on the Golden Globes red carpet”; “Kill, smear, cover-up”; “UVA’s presidential search missed what took us an hour to find”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, January 12.

• World’s richest 1% have already used fair share of emissions for 2026, says Oxfam (“Richest 1% took 10 days while wealthiest 0.1% needed just three days to exhaust annual carbon budget, study shows”)
• Under Trump, U.S. Adds Fuel to a Heating Planet
• Ending the war in Ukraine has more support than ever. So why is peace still not in sight? (Two words: 1) Vladimir; 2) Putin.)
• ‘We hope they will give us heat’: Bitter winter cold bites for Kyiv’s residents as Russia steps up attacks
• China says US shouldn’t use other countries as ‘pretext’ to pursue its interests in Greenland
• ‘Completely bonkers.’ Trump’s Greenland mining dreams in Greenland collide with reality
• What can the EU and Nato do to stop Trump from trying to claim Greenland?
• Trump says he’s looking at “very strong options” for supporting Iran protests
• As Death Toll Surges in Iran, Leaders Take Tough Line Against Protesters
• Iran warns it will retaliate if US attacks, as hundreds killed in protests
• Death toll in crackdown on protests in Iran spikes to at least 538, activists say
• Weakened by War, Iran’s Regime Faces Its Toughest Challenge Yet
• Netanyahu Joins Germany’s AfD, Far-right Europeans in Backing Orbán as Hungary Campaign Begins (“The AfD and Austria’s FPÖ are boycotted by Israel over their antisemitic roots and members. Launching an uphill re-election bid, Orbán invited international far-right allies to his illiberal Fidesz party convention, where he denounced the EU as an ‘enemy of European Christian civilization'”)
• Trump says no more Venezuelan oil or money will go to Cuba
• Why Russia’s Fearsome Arsenal Fizzled in Venezuela (“The Venezuelan regime had high-powered air defense systems from its allies in the Kremlin, but failed to set much of it up.”)
• GOP senators seek to rein in Trump amid concerns over military escalation in Venezuela
• Trump ‘inclined’ to keep ExxonMobil out of Venezuela after CEO response at White House meeting
• Trump ‘Inclined’ to Keep Exxon Out of Venezuela
• How Marco Rubio Went from “Little Marco” to Trump’s Foreign-Policy Enabler (“As Secretary of State, the President’s onetime foe now offers him lavish displays of public praise—and will execute his agenda in Venezuela and around the globe.” Rubio was confirmed 99-0 by the US Senate. WTF???)
• DHS Secretary Noem defends her statements made hours after deadly ICE shooting (This is appalling stenography of wild, blatant lies from Noem; why doesn’t CNN say the word “LIES” in its headline? Our media sucks so bad…)
• Kill, smear, cover-up (“On January 7, Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother and U.S. citizen, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis. After her death, Good was subjected to a vicious smear campaign by the President, the Vice President, administration officials, and their allies.”)
• They Want Us To Be Afraid (“By protecting its murderous ICE agent, the Trump regime is saying nothing can stop the police state’s terror campaign—against immigrants and Americans alike. I say we the people can.”)
• What I Saw at the ICE Out for Good Protests this Weekend (“Following the brutal murder of Renee Good, the demonstrations were a show of defiance in the face of the Trump regime’s escalating intimidation tactics.”)
• We need hard truths and tough reporting, not ‘both-sides-equal’ trash (“The CBS anchor again embarrasses the network’s legacy. Plus: some examples of journalists who are doing it right”)
• Trump Administration Live Updates: Noem Says ‘Hundreds More’ Agents Will Be Sent to Minnesota Over ‘Corruption’ (Fascism.)
• Celebrities wear pins protesting ICE on the Golden Globes red carpet
• Stephen Miller and the ICE Nazis
• They say they’re monitoring ICE arrests. Feds say they’re breaking the law.
• Trump’s Investigation Is a Warning to the Next Fed Chair (“The investigation reflects the lengths to which the president will go to control the central bank.”)
• Trump Faces Fed Roadblock as Key Republican Blasts Justice Probe
• DOJ opens probe into Fed’s Powell, drawing backlash from lawmakers
• Statement from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell (“On Friday, the Department of Justice served the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June.”)
• Bill Pulte Seen as Key Instigator Behind Powell Subpoena (Fascist.)
• Criminal investigation into Fed chair Powell has ‘reinforced’ concerns over independence, Goldman Sachs warns
• ‘I don’t know anything about it’: Trump denies involvement in DOJ’s Fed subpoenas (Why does the “mainstream media’ continually amplify Trump’s lies, uncritically? They think their job is to be a stenographer?)
• The ‘No Hire’ Economy — US Job Growth has Zeroed Out as Hiring Rates Sink, Hitting Young & Low Income Workers the Hardest
• The Supreme Court Gets Back to Work (“The Justices are heading into a busy, contentious season. The mood seems brittle.”)
• Trump Regrets Not Seizing Voting Machines After 2020 Election (“In an interview, the president said he should have ordered the National Guard to take the machines to find evidence of fraud, but added that the Guard might not have had the sophistication to do so.” Trump is an insane person.)
• ‘I Think We Don’t Like Them’: Trump Says MAGA Has No Room for Antisemites (Why “I Think?” Why not just flat-out “We Don’t Like Them?”)
• The Purged (“Donald Trump’s destruction of the civil service is a tragedy not just for the roughly 300,000 workers who have been discarded, but for an entire nation.”)
• US frackers were already facing a global oil supply glut. Trump’s Venezuelan dream could make it worse
• Protesters try to attack driver after truck speeds through anti-Iran demonstration in Los Angeles
• Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says the Idea of Trump “going to be the world’s policeman for his moral view of the world; that’s not what I think we signed up for”
• Mark Warner on CNN ‘State of the Union’: Addresses ICE shooting, Venezuela, Iran
• Video: Regarding Trump’s Threats to Greenland, Sen. Tim Kaine Vows “Congress will stop him, both Democrats and Republicans…We’re not going to do it the ‘hard way’ and we’re not going to do it the ‘easy way’ either.”
• Greenland conquest “would be disastrous,” Sen. Tim Kaine says
• Virginia Democrats push for maximum redistricting; that poses a risk for Macy’s campaign. Here’s how. (“The National Democratic Redistricting Committee has drawn maps that would allow Virginia Democrats to redraw the state’s congressional districts to eliminate all but one Republican House member. The most realistic way to do that would be to put Roanoke and Charlottesville in the same district, which would put Beth Macy into the same district as Tom Perriello.”)
• Subramanyam Calls to Impeach Noem, ICE Transparency at Loudoun Town Hall Meeting
• Spanberger names Carrie Chenery as commerce, trade secretary (“Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger is appointing Carrie Chenery, the former leader of a regional economic development partnership in the Shenandoah Valley, as secretary of commerce and trade, bringing a background in business recruitment and government to a critical job for the Virginia economy.”)
• Glenn Youngkin Says JD Vance Would Be a ‘Great’ Republican Nominee in 2028 (Youngkin’s path to far-right radicalization deepens. Just appalling on every level.)
• What to watch as Virginia’s 2026 General Assembly returns to Richmond
• Clean energy will take center stage in Virginia’s legislature this year
• Debate over social studies testing delays Virginia accountability decision
• After Youngkin’s veto, lawmakers hope Spanberger will warm to cost-cutting prescription drug board
• Jessica Anderson: Funding education makes communities economically ‘robust’
• Boysko hopeful this is the year for her “Equal Pay Act”
• ACLU says Virginia prisons continue to miscalculate earned sentence credits
• Opioid epidemic costs Virginians billions per year despite declining overdose deaths (“The monetary cost of the opioid epidemic in Virginia has reached new heights despite a significant and steady decline in deadly drug overdoses recorded in recent years.”)
• Photos of “ICE Out of Virginia” Protests This Weekend: “Renee Nicole Good should still be alive today”; “She had stuffies in the glovebox”; “ICE is endangering our communities”
• Vanishing act: How UVA’s presidential search missed what took us an hour to find (“…we traced the evolution of Beardsley’s CV across multiple versions and time-stamped snapshots. What we found suggests not a handful of cosmetic edits but a pattern of strategic self-presentation that should have prompted basic follow-up questions in any serious presidential search. The résumé is very much the problem — not because it was sanitized, but because it raises fundamental questions about academic integrity that the search process failed to address.” Excellent reporting)
• ‘Our country is kinder than this’: Roanoke residents protest ICE, honor Renee Good
• Monday Debate, Tuesday Vote: Firehouse Election to Fill Ebbin’s Senate Seat (“Before voters head to the polls, they will have one chance to hear directly from the candidates. A public debate is scheduled for Monday, January 12, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Charles Houston Recreation Center. Doors open at 6 p.m.”)
• New mental health program meets kids where they are: at school (“Nurture Now served 1,200 Appomattox County students in the first year. It’s available to kids from preschool through high school.”)
• CWG Live: Seasonably chilly through midweek. Chance of rain and snow Thursday. (“A significant winter storm does not appear likely this week.”)