by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, January 31. Also, check out the powerful performance by Bruce Springsteen and Tommy Morello of “The Ghoast of Tom Joad” (a superb song AND a great choice for the current situation) yesterday in Minneapolis – including chants from the crowd of “ICE OUT NOW!” and Morello’s message of “ARREST THE PRESIDENT.”
- Electric cars go mainstream as adoption surges across rich and developing nations (“A wave of affordable Chinese-made EVs is accelerating the shift away from petrol cars, challenging long‑held assumptions about how transport decarbonisation unfolds”)
- How liberals lost the internet (“The overwhelming liberal focus on disinformation misreads how digital platforms work: misleading content is everywhere, but the real battleground is over emotion and attention, which is what determines whether information – good or bad – finds an audience. This is why cutting-edge propagandists now focus less on policy messaging and more on massaging vibes.”)
- How the right won the internet (“The internet has totally changed the way in which politics is conducted. As established in the first piece in our series, liberals have totally failed to grasp this fact. The right, however, are thriving in this new world.”)
- ‘Humanity’s favourite food’: how to end the livestock industry but keep eating meat (Factory farming is pure evil, a dark stain on humanity.)
- Gold and silver prices plunge following Trump’s Fed pick announcement (“Today’s plunge was seen by many market analysts as an inevitable move for an asset class primed to retreat, with the Fed news merely a catalyst.”)
- Is ‘America First’ starting to backfire as Washington’s allies go it alone?
- UK and EU to explore renewed talks on defence cooperation
- Ukrainians brace for -20C despite energy truce: ‘It will be a catastrophe’
- Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy fears rising US-Iran tensions will scupper key peace talks in UAE (“Apparent pause in Russia-Ukraine hostilities comes amid concern that peace talks set for Sunday in Abu Dhabi will be delayed.”)
- Trump’s Armada Is Getting in Place. Now He Must Decide What to Do With Iran.
- Trump’s Iran moves rattle Arab allies (“Officials working to ratchet down tensions aren’t sure the president is listening.”)
- Scoop: Saudi defense minister says Trump not bombing Iran would embolden regime (“This is a reversal from the public Saudi talking points cautioning against escalation and from the deep concern Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) expressed to Trump three weeks ago. That warning was one reason Trump decided to delay a strike.”)
- Trump Officials Bypass Congress to Push Billions in Weapons Aid to Israel (Of course they do. Any protestors for this?)
- Israeli strikes on Gaza reportedly kill at least 12, one of highest tolls since October agreement (“Attacks, which killed women and children, come day before border crossing is due to open in Gaza’s southern most city”)
- Mexico president says Trump tariffs on Cuba’s oil suppliers could trigger humanitarian crisis (“Island country only has oil enough to last 15-20 days, and 12-hour blackouts have become commonplace”)
- Judge blocks additional citizenship provisions in latest setback to Trump’s election executive order
- Sen. Chris Coons: Democrats Are Willing to Shut Down DHS Over ICE Abuses
- Thousands of new ICE watchers hit the streets after two killings (“Minnesotans outraged by the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti have signed up in large numbers to monitor and protest ICE with other activists.”)
- ICE’s Assault on a Minnesota School District (“Liam Ramos, whose photo became a symbol of Operation Metro Surge, is one of several students in Columbia Heights who are now in federal custody.”)
- Calling the Protests in Minnesota an Insurgency Poses Dangers (“Using the language of war could make civil debate difficult and lower the bar for violence on both sides, experts said.”)
- ICE eyeing Ohio next, where it is expected to target Haitian immigrants (If/when Democrats ever get back into power, they need to dismantle this FUBAR agency.)
- ICE Expands Power of Agents to Arrest People Without Warrants (That’s a police state, antithetical to democracy and civil liberties.)
- UPDATED: CPJ condemns arrests of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort over Minnesota protests coverage
- Don Lemon released without bond after arrest in connection with church protest
- MAGA media demand Trump put down the Minnesota “revolution” (These people are fascists, also just evil.)
- Don Lemon Got Arrested Over a Church Protest. It’s Not Just Any Church. (“Cities Church in Minnesota has some very powerful MAGA friends.”)
- Will corporate America finally stand up to the Trump administration? (“The brutal handling of immigration raids and the killing of Alex Pretti have tested the reticence of the corporate class”)
- Kristi Noem Is Taking the Blame Over Alex Pretti’s Killing. Why Not Stephen Miller? (“Miller is in charge of so much but accountable for so little. How does this keep happening?”)
- DHS keeps making false claims about people. It’s part of a broader pattern
- ICE Deportation Flights Are Getting Longer and Crueler (“A private equity–owned airline profits off Trump’s migrant crackdown.”)
- The Tiny, Terrified Men of the Trump Administration (“Disaffected young men uncertain about their masculinity should pay close attention.”)
- Meet the New Proud Boys (“The far-right group’s views and tactics are now emulated by federal agents.”)
- More than 300 anti-ICE protests planned across US this weekend (“ICE Out of Everywhere’ demonstrations, including vigils and marches, follow Friday’s national strike”)
- ‘A Terrifying Line Is Being Crossed’: Mayor Jacob Frey on the Turmoil in Minneapolis (“The Times spoke to Mr. Frey not long after President Trump’s border czar promised to de-escalate the situation in the city.”)
- Takeaways from AP report on ICE claims that immigrant shattered his skull running into wall (Sounds like ICE agents committed murder and should be arrested/charged.)
- Trump’s post-truth agenda beaten back as Americans refuse to accept ICE lies
- January Was a Warning of Where Trump Will Go Next (“The administration’s authoritarian project is accelerating.”)
- Former CNN personality Don Lemon arrested: Trumpers making a martyr of the wrong guy (“Again, bad take there from the Trumpers, just viewing Good and Pretti as dead, and thinking that the world won’t see the arrests of two Black journalists for what they are.”)
- Journalist Don Lemon is charged with federal civil rights crimes in anti-ICE church protest
- Trump’s Agents Arrested Don Lemon. Then the Story Got Even Darker. (“But now the story is getting even darker. The Justice Department went to a grand jury to get an indictment, according to a source familiar with the situation. Lemon’s arrest was executed after 11 p.m. on Thursday night at his hotel in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammys, the source continues, adding: ‘This appears to be about maximum humiliation.'”)
- The Case Against Don Lemon Is Junk, and Dangerous
- The Church at the Center of Don Lemon’s Arrest Has Ties to Christian Nationalism (Of course it does.)
- Trump’s second term: Jan. 6 on a grand scale (“What we saw at the US Capitol five years ago was merely a trial run for the chaos and violence of 2026”)
- Senate passes bill to resolve shutdown clash, punting on DHS for two weeks
- Here’s what federal programs are headed for a (possibly brief) shutdown
- Most of the federal government shuts down, but a quick end is in sight
- Trump has tapped a new Federal Reserve chair. Has he finally found his yes-man?
- Warsh ‘regime change’ faces steep hurdles at a sprawling US central bank
- Warsh’s Three Tasks: Shrink the Fed, Tame Inflation, Manage the President
- Trump taps BLS economist to lead the data agency
- With this decision, the Supreme Court can and should rein Trump in (By conservative George Will)
- 5 early takeaways from DOJ’s big Epstein files drop (“Unverified Trump allegations, new questions about prominent figures and victim privacy failures mark the 3 million file document drop”)
- A Chaotic End to the Epstein Files (“Millions of pages of files related to the Epstein case were released today. One six-page document involving President Trump immediately drew everyone’s attention.”)
- Reps. Khanna and Massie ask Blanche for access to unredacted Epstein files
- Latest Epstein files release: Allegations of rape, murder, worse, involving Donald Trump
- Release of Three Million Epstein Pages Falls Short, Survivors Say
- Musk to Epstein: ‘What Day/Night Will Be the Wildest Party on Your Island?’
- Here’s What to Know About the Millions of Pages of Epstein Documents
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Planned Trip to Epstein’s Island
- Elon Musk Emailed Extensively With Jeffrey Epstein, Asking to Visit His Notorious Island
- Woman Told FBI Trump Abused Her at 13, Epstein Files Reveal
- Epstein files updates: survivors say new documents expose victims’ names ‘while men remain protected’
- Elon Musk had more extensive ties to Epstein than previously known, emails show
- Melania’s ‘Love’ Email to Ghislaine Revealed in Epstein Files
- Trump Accused In Epstein Files of Forcing Underage Girl To Perform Oral Sex
- Trump’s Pick for Fed Chair Pops Up in Latest Epstein Files
- Jeffrey Epstein scouted women for New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, emails show
- Scoop: Epstein files include “hung like a horse” message to Clinton email
- Trump Is All over the Epstein Files. Except, Well, the DOJ Says It’s “Fake.”
- Bill Gates Accused of Twisted Plot to Drug Wife After Sex with ‘Girls’ (“Jeffrey Epstein mentioned assisting the billionaire with a plot to give Melinda Gates antibiotics for an STD.”)
- Williams: Hey MAGA: Gun rights are optional, too
- 2nd Amendment advocates issue dire warning over Trump’s Pretti gun remarks (“Trump and top officials’ response to the Pretti killing has some gun rights supporters threatening electoral consequences.” DO IT!)
- Trump Could Interfere With the Midterm Elections. You Can Help Defend Them.
- Trump’s Profiteering Hits $4 Billion (“In August, I reported that the President and his family had made $3.4 billion by leveraging his position. After his first year back in office, the number has ballooned.” MASSIVE corruption, orders of magnitude worse than any other president in American history, and blatantly impeachable.)
- Atlanta FBI boss ousted after balking at 2020 election probe (Really, really bad.)
- CNN Boss Confronted by Staff Over MAGA Pundit’s On-Air Behavior (It’s inexcusable for CNN to employ this guy, also for anyone to treat him as an actual journalist, and baffling why anyone would watch him.)
- The White House Wants Everyone—Except the Press—to See Melania Trump’s Documentary (“Amazon spent tens of millions on a documentary from first lady Melania Trump. But they seem to be going out of their way to keep journalists from seeing it.”)
- Melania review – First Lady is a preening, scowling void of pure nothingness in this ghastly bit of propaganda
- Melania review – Trump film is a gilded trash remake of The Zone of Interest
- ‘Melania’ Review: Brett Ratner’s Melania Trump Documentary Is an Unabashed, Fly-on-the-Gilded-Wall Fawn Job
- ‘Melania’ Review: Brett Ratner’s First Lady Documentary Is a Cheeseball Infomercial of Staggering Inertia
- The Melania Trump Documentary Is a Disgrace (“The exorbitant film captures the rotten state of the entertainment industry.”)
- MAGA “prophet” claims God told her that JD Vance, Pam Bondi, Mike Johnson, and Susie Wiles are part of the “deep state” and are trying to “deceive” and “sabotage” Trump (Completely unhinged.)
- Trump wants to build a 250-foot-tall arch, dwarfing the Lincoln Memorial (Insane and fascistic.)
- Trump announces August auto race in downtown Washington
- Not Even Two Weeks Since Abigail Spanberger Was Sworn In as Governor, Right Wingers Are Viciously Attacking Her (“White Witch”; “demonic radical communist psychopath”; “Marxist agenda”; supposedly banning guns and leaf blowers, etc)
- Video: Regarding the 2025 VA Election – Which Democrats Won in a Landslide – Trump Points Insanely/Falsely to “Cheat[ing]” (Also, as Sam Shirazi correctly notes: “Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Earle-Sears, and Jason Miyares were responsible for overseeing the [2025] Virginia elections.”)
- Virginia’s Redistricting Decision Moves Ahead: Don’t Get Distracted (“Headlines are not a substitute for facts and legal maneuvering does not replace democratic participation.”)
- Former AG Miyares says he’ll fight to stop redistricting ‘by any means necessary’ (Miyares is a disgrace…also a joke.)
- Catherine O’Hara, Schitt’s Creek Star and Comedy Legend, Dies at 71 (What a great actress – rest in peace, and hopefully comedy!)
- Catherine O’Hara was the best part of any scene
- On community safety and trust: Virginia must act to protect all residents
- Award-winning journalist Laura Vozzella forges a new path in Sen. Bill Stanley’s office (First of all, why is this headline laudatory and celebratory? Second, this falls into the “I told you so” category, as I was basically the only one over the past 10 years or whatever willing to call out Laura Vozzella for her relentless whitewashing/sanewashing of Republicans like Glenn Youngkin, as well as her stenography of Republican talking points, and “both sidesism”/false equivalency at best. “Award-winning” says more about the journalism industry than anything else…)
- Virginia Democratic leader responds to outrage about tax increase proposals (I’m including this crap by Sinclair propagandist and former Trump administration official Nick Minock simply to demonstrate how the right-wing propaganda machine works. So what they do, on ANY issue they choose, is to gin up “outrage” – even if it’s based on all kinds of falsehoods, distortions, etc., as in this case – then have the media write headlines like “Democrat responds to outrage.” Totally f’ed up, and Democrats should build our own media to counter this garbage.)
- Alexandria and Falls Church Mayors; Arlington County Vice Chair: Proposed State Laws Would Help Solve Virginia’s Housing Shortage (“We hope more of our local government colleagues will join us in finding pragmatic changes around our land use, zoning, and housing policies…”)
- Virginia bill offers forgivable med school loans for service in state health care deserts (“The bipartisan bill would forgive medical school loans of up to $50,000 a year.”)
- Confederate statues remain at Virginia’s Capitol. This bill would remove them. (Good f’ing riddance.)
- A pathway to addressing Richmond’s affordable housing crisis
- Youngkin tried to rush sale of Augusta Correctional Center on his final day in office (“Glenn Youngkin, on his final full day as governor, appeared to try to rush the sale of the former Augusta Correctional Center property to a mysterious New York City-registered LLC, for reasons unknown, but it’s not hard for us to put two and two together, now that we know the Trump regime is eyeing the property as a site for a new ICE detention facility.”)
- Federal agency approves SSEP pipeline to transport gas from VA into NC
- Hanover warehouse owner pulls out of potential Virginia ICE facility deal
- Virginia is one step closer to driverless taxies
- New superintendent appointed by Norfolk School Board
- Richmond restaurants join Minnesota Solidarity Weekend, but many won’t close doors
- Memorial to DCA crash victims planned for Alexandria park
- Updated snow forecast for southeastern Virginia: Whiteout conditions, potential negative-degree wind chills
- CWG Live: Cold near peak intensity today as gustier winds deliver frigid wind chills (“A snowstorm is missing us to the south, but it will increase our wind this afternoon through Sunday. Wind chills might not get out of the single digits today.”)
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