by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, January 17 – inauguration day here in Virginia; congratuations to Abigail Spanberger, Ghazala Hashmi and Jay Jones, and good luck to all of them for successful terms in office!
I’m back from Minnesota after our field hearing on ICE abuses and Trump’s cruel mass deportation machine.
Now Trump’s DOJ launches a probe into Gov. Walz and Mayor Frey right after we met.
This is 100% political retaliation and an implicit threat to all of us standing up for… pic.twitter.com/GkOOCSDAb8
— Rep. James Walkinshaw (@Rep_Walkinshaw) January 17, 2026
- How Wall Street Turned Its Back on Climate Change (Heinous.)
- Rare twins born in DRC raise cautious hope for endangered mountain gorillas (“Virunga park ranger says babies are well cared for by mother Mafuko but high infant mortality makes first weeks critical”)
- Republican dissent as key figures warn Trump against Greenland pursuit (“Congressional Republicans criticize ‘absurd’ idea as polls show most Americans oppose taking control of territory”)
- U.S. lawmakers visit Denmark in bid to sooth tensions over Greenland threats
- Trump’s stated reasons for taking Greenland are being picked apart
- Trump threatens new tariffs on countries opposed to Greenland takeover (Insane.)
- Republicans suddenly support military action … pretty much anywhere
- Trump Has Machado’s Nobel Prize, but Neither Got What They Really Wanted (“President Trump has María Corina Machado’s medal, but he is not recognized as the Nobel laureate. She did not win his endorsement to become Venezuela’s president.”)
- The Nobel Prize and the Laureate Are Inseparable (“The medal and the diploma are the physical symbols confirming that an individual or organisation has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize itself – the honour and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.”)
- Exclusive: Energy secretary discusses plans for Venezuela’s oil, minerals
- Blair and Rubio appointed to Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza
- Canada’s deal with China signals it is serious about shift from US
- How Trump Went From ‘Locked and Loaded’ to Hitting Pause on Striking Iran
- Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Is Running Out of Road
- Why Trump Supports Protesters in Tehran but Not in Minneapolis (“During the President’s second Administration, universal principles such as self-determination and due process are wielded only opportunistically.”)
- Trump’s Own Advisers Suddenly Unnerved as ICE Raids Take Horrific Turn
- We’re Nearing the Day When ICE Thugs Just Open Fire on Crowds (“The United States is now closer to Assad’s Syria than to anything we recognize as fitting within the understood norms of American history.”)
- The Companies Behind ICE (“The Richmond, Virginia-based company Acquisition Logistics has seen a staggering rise in obligated ICE revenue under Trump: nearly $600 million so far. Last year, the small company, which had little record of operating immigration detention centers, won a $1.2 billion Army contract to build what it touted as the largest immigration detention complex in the nation near El Paso, Texas. Owned by a retired Navy flight officer, the company had previously never received a contract award above $16 million.”)
- Watch What They’re Doing: Trump Threatens to Make War on the States
- Judge limits ICE’s crowd control tactics following Minneapolis shooting
- Family of man shot in the leg by ICE in Minneapolis disputes key aspects of DHS account
- Minneapolis judge bars DHS agents from arresting peaceful protesters
- Judge restricts federal response to Minnesota protests amid ongoing outcry over ICE shootings
- I’m a Minneapolis sociologist who studies violence. Here’s how ICE observers are helping.
- Justice Department Investigating Whether Minnesota’s Walz And Frey Impeded Immigration Enforcement
- Justice Dept. launches criminal investigation of Minnesota governor (Tyrannical, unAmerican crap.)
- Trump Administration Begins Criminal Inquiry Into Minnesota Leaders (The Trump administration, meanwhile, is a MASSIVE criminal enterprise, corrupt from top to bottom, and nobody is investgating them!)
- ICE agents detain Navajo man in Arizona, ignoring US, tribal IDs
- Right-wing media are describing pro-immigrant Minnesota activists using the language of war
- Republicans vouch for Fed chair, creating a rare schism with Trump
- The Real Reason the DOJ’s Rampage Against Trump’s Enemies Kicked Up a Notch This Week (“It’s not your imagination. Trump’s Justice Department really is getting worse.”)
- It’s Trump’s Economy, and Voters Are Unhappy With it, WSJ Poll Finds
- How Crypto Is Used for Political Corruption (“This new source of money is giving the administration unprecedented new powers.”)
- HHS Gave a $1.6 Million Grant to a Controversial Vaccine Study. These Emails Show How That Happened
- RFK Jr.’s Eugenics-Coded Crusade (“Survival of the fittest—a concept that’s been twisted and abused since its birth—could be a Trump administration motto.”)
- What’s Going on With the Epstein Files? (“Less than 1 percent of them have been released.” So the Trump administration is in violation of the law.)
- Karoline Leavitt Continues to Make a Mockery of Her Position (She is utterly heinous; basically the “Mouth of Sauron”)
- Trump’s Newest Voters Are Abandoning Ship (“Independents, Latinos, and young people have turned against the president in staggering numbers.”)
- Some Trump administration social media posts mirror extremist rhetoric (And by “some,” NBC News means “LOTS OF!”)
- Multiple Labor Department staffers are on leave amid IG investigation into Secretary Chavez-DeRemer
- Trump installs loyalists on panel set to review White House ballroom
- The House Slumped to Historic Lows of Productivity in 2025 (How hard would it be for the NY Times to put “GOP-Led House” in their headline? This is a choice not to do so.)
- Trump pardons former Puerto Rican Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced (“She was indicted by the Justice Department in 2022 over her alleged participation in a bribery scheme. She pleaded guilty in August to a reduced charge of a campaign finance violation.”)
- Trump Sets Fraudster Free From Prison for a Second Time
- ‘Staring over the edge’: South Carolina measles outbreak doubles in a week
- Trump officials extend National Guard’s D.C. mission through 2026 (There is literally ZERO good reason for this.)
- Kaine calls Senate Venezuela vote a ‘whiplash experience’
- Video: On ACA Subsidies, Fmr. Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA05) Says Rep. John McGuire (R-VA05) Is “kick[ing] those people [he represents] to the curb…[to] give another tax credit to Elon Musk and Peter Thiel” (“About 35,000 people in [VA05] shop for their own health insurance through the [ACA]”)
- ‘Disgusting, un-American’: House Dem responds to ICE’s racial profiling, violence in Minnesota (“Rep. James Walkinshaw joins The Weeknight just after his trip to Minneapolis for Democrats’ field hearing, “Kidnapped and Disappeared: Trump’s Deadly Assault on Minnesota.” He heard first-hand accounts of ICE’s brutal actions and brings the details.”)
- Lucas to Kaine, Warner: No comments on redistricting from the ‘cuck chair in the corner’
- Video: Virginia Senate Democrats Advance Constitutional Amendments to the Ballot, Allowing Virginians to Decide the Future of their Freedoms (Amendments on reproductive freedom, voting rights, marriage equality and redistricting head to the voters)
- Virginia voters will decide on redistricting, 3 other constitutional amendments
- Virginia Democrats advance redistricting, 3 other proposed amendments
- Surovell reiterates that state lawmakers draw congressional boundaries (“There are a lot of people who have opinions, including our federal elected officials, but the drawing of congressional districts is our job”)
- Virginia inches closer to gutting GOP seats through redistricting
- State Senate passes four constitutional amendments to close out first week of session (State Senate *Democrats* overwhelmingly passed the amendments.)
- Virginia Senate Democrats advance mid-decade redistricting amendment (A much more accurate headline in the VA Mercury than in the Cardinal News)
- Virginia redistricting amendment heads to voter referendum
- Spanberger voiced hesitation on 10-1 congressional map in private Dec. meeting
- DOGE cuts wiped out years of growth in Virginia’s federal civilian jobs
- Video, Highlights: Inauguration of Abigail Spanberger as Governor, Ghazala Hashmi as Lt. Governor, Jay Jones as Attorney General
- It took 75 governors to elect a woman. Spanberger will soon be at Virginia’s helm (“Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer and three-term congresswoman, is breaking long-held traditions on inauguration day. She says she wants her swearing-in to showcase the state’s modern vibrancy.”)
- Abigail Spanberger to be sworn in as Virginia’s first female governor
- Virginia inauguration ceremony will be filled with history making firsts (Should be “history-making” with a hyphen.)
- Judge issues injunction reversing Trump regime ‘pause’ on Dominion offshore wind project
- Federal Court Allows Dominion Energy in Virginia to Continue Offshore Wind Project
- Judge allows a third offshore wind project to resume construction as the industry challenges Trump
- Dominion wind farm work can continue, judge rules, in another blow to Trump
- VA Speaker Don Scott: “I applaud the court’s decision to block this reckless and unlawful order…This disruption should never have happened.” (“Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind will resume construction after a federal judge on Friday temporarily lifted the Trump administration’s suspension of the project.”)
- Federal judge rules Dominion can resume work on Virginia Beach offshore wind farm
- Photos: A Defining Moment in Virginia History as Lt. Governor Ghazala Hashmi Takes Her Oath of Office at Noon Saturday (Hashmi will take her oath on “her family’s Qur’an and an original version of the United States Constitution printed in 1799”)
- Youngkin ran on culture war issues. Here’s how he changed Virginia schools. (Classic “both sides”/false equivalence “journalism” from the Bezos Post.)
- A look at who has donated to Abigail Spanberger’s inaugural committee
- Judge denies Justice Dept. bid to join suit in Va. school locker room case (“A federal judge has denied the Justice Department’s request to join a lawsuit over a Virginia school district’s transgender facilities policy.”)
- Some U.Va. Board Members Asked to Resign as Gov. Abigail Spanberger Takes Power
- Multiple UVA board members resign under pressure from Spanberger
- Leaders of UVa board resign under pressure from Spanberger
- JUST IN: Democratic firehouse primary for Del. Bennett-Parker’s seat scheduled for Tuesday
- Yes, Alexandria — There’s Another Primary Tuesday, January 20. Here’s What It Is, Who Can Vote, and Why It Matters
- Rasoul removed from House Appropriations Committee
- CWG Live: Snowflake chances today and Sunday as coldest air of season looms (“Wind chills could fall near zero Monday night with highs only in the 20s Tuesday.”)
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