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by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, February 15.
- These Unsinkable Tubes Could Help Harvest Energy From the Ocean (“Researchers developed aluminum structures that trap air bubbles, making them able to float perpetually in even the harshest environments.” “Dr. Guo has also explored combining colorful metals and water-attracting surfaces. For example, he has used a black metal to create a device known as a thermoelectric generator, absorbing heat from sunlight and other sources to generate electricity.” Science is amazing – except for Trump and his know-nothing, anti-science, go-back-to-the-dark-ages crowd.)
- Russia killed opposition leader Alexei Navalny using dart frog toxin, UK says (“There is no innocent explanation for the toxin being found in samples taken from Navalny’s body, Foreign Office says.” Putin is EVIL, and Trump loves the guy. That says it all.)
- Is Ukraine Causing More Russian Losses Than Putin Can Replace?
- Deep in China’s Mountains, a Nuclear Revival Takes Shape (“Satellite imagery of secretive nuclear facilities reveals Beijing’s efforts to expand its arsenal, just as the last global guardrails on nuclear weapons vanish” This is really really REALLY bad.)
- China Watchers Are Trying to Spot the Next Target of Xi’s Purges
- Rubio Calls For The End Of A Tolerant, Democratic Europe And The Crowd Goes Wild (“All we can really hope for, however, is that the applause in the room was polite and not a sign of sincere relief. For if it is, Europe is even more full of suckers than it has seen over the past years, addicts so dependant on the idea of US power and leadership that they will take this free dose fentanyl and recede back into their haze of dependence.”)
- Rubio calls on Europe to join Trump’s new world order (“Top U.S. diplomat backs new partnership with the continent as he reiterates MAGA talking points.”)
- Top Trump official says no US ‘slush fund’ for far right in Europe (“‘It’s not America’s decision to govern who’s elected in Europe,’ Sarah Rogers tells POLITICO.”)
- Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- ‘Trump will be gone in three years’: Top Democrats try to reassure Europe (Will Trump actually be gone? How about TrumpISM?)
- Rubio’s Valentine’s Day message to Europe: Change or get dumped
- Rubio reassures Europe’s leaders of US backing — but only if they change course (Thug, goon, etc.)
- ‘Woke Europe not facing civilisational erasure,’ says EU’s Kallas after Rubio’s Munich speech (If Rubio actually believes the crap he spewed, then he’s an imbecile and/or evil.)
- Hungarians have had enough of Viktor Orbán. But Trump’s tailwind could save his skin (“Opposition challenger Péter Magyar is ahead in the polls on a promise of hope. Orbán is betting on fear of war to stay in power”)
- Epstein files fallout takes down elite figures in Europe, while U.S. reckoning is muted
- Iran ready to discuss compromises to reach nuclear deal, minister tells BBC in Tehran
- Nobody knows what would follow regime change in Iran – but what happened in 1979 offers some pointers (“So the regime may fall, but if it does, the future is as hard to predict as it was amid the tumult 47 years ago. The people may prevail and find that the real battle for freedom, prosperity and security has only just begun.”)
- New photos give glimpse inside Iran’s bloody crackdown on anti-government
- No fuel, no tourists, no cash – this was the week the Cuban crisis got real
- India’s Toxic Air Crisis Is Reaching a Breaking Point (Not sure how people – or nature – can live like this at all. Utterly disgusting and unacceptable.)
- Israeli airstrikes kill 11 in Gaza, Palestinian officials say (“Israel’s military said its strikes were a response to ceasefire violations by Hamas.”)
- Venezuelan deportee can return to US but fears repeat of ordeal: ‘I’m not over that nightmare yet’
- U.S. Deports Nine Migrants in Secret, Ignoring Legal Protections (“Most had court orders protecting them from removal to their home countries, so they were sent to detention in Cameroon.” If and when this is all over, there desperately needs to be accountability and justice.)
- Broken bones, burning eyes: How Trump’s DHS deploys ‘less lethal’ weapons on protesters (“Federal immigration officers have repeatedly used force in ways that appear to violate their own policies or general policing guidelines, NBC News found.” Hideous.)
- 5 of the most-botched deportations of Trump 2.0
- Judge Boasberg’s Most Recent Decision (“This is a government that doesn’t want to afford some people their constitutional rights. The burden of ensuring that it does falls upon all of us. Peaceful protest, functioning courts, members of Congress who insist of doing oversight in immigration facilities—all of these things matter.”)
- ICE Tried to Justify a Minneapolis Shooting. Its Story Unraveled. (Message to media: just assume that Trump and his regime are LYING – ALL THE TIME.)
- The Democratic governor building a playbook to resist ICE (“Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Trump, immigration, and fighting back.”)
- Barack Obama publicly states support for anti-ICE demonstrators in Minneapolis (“Speaking with progressive YouTuber, former US president stressed ‘unprecedented nature’ of agency’s actions”)
- This Is Much Worse Than Mere Detention
- Limited government shutdown likely to linger for at least 10 days as Congress takes break (“13% of federal civilian workforce is affected, although DHS – which spurred budget standoff – remains funded”)
- Democrats say Trump’s climate rollbacks ‘corruption in action’ (MASSIVE corruption. Also just plain evil.)
- Trump’s Relentless Self-Promotion Fosters an American Cult of Personality
- Trump tells soldiers to vote GOP in campaign-style rally at Fort Bragg (“Army policy prohibits partisan displays, and most service members refrained from cheering. ” ABSOLUTELY OUTRAGEOUS by Trump.)
- The SAVE Act and the Myth of a Voter Fraud Crisis (“Congress proposes sweeping documentation barriers to combat a form of fraud Americans are more likely to experience as a lightning strike than at a polling place.”)
- President Trump’s Claim of an “Irrefutable” Argument Supporting His Right to Unilaterally Impose Voter ID and Election Rules May Be Based on Insane Claim that Marriott Hotel Manager Found Secret Text in the Shadows of a Microfilm Copy of the U.S. Constitution
- Jeffries goes all in on redrawing maps favoring Democrats — with House control on the line (“Jeffries is vowing to spend ‘tens of millions’ of dollars to push through an April ballot initiative in Virginia to potentially give Democrats four more seats.”)
- Fragmenting Latino vote now a wildcard in elections (“… after moving toward Donald Trump in 2024, the nation’s fastest-growing electorate is splintering into competing political identities, with no single partisan anchor after decades as a reliably Democratic bloc.”)
- Pam Bondi’s ‘Cage Match’ and Trump’s Fraying Coalition
- Bondi Desperately Tries to Bury Epstein Files for Good—Again
- Bondi’s Incompetence Is the Latest Insult for Epstein’s Victims
- Trump insider Tom Barrack kept in regular contact with Jeffrey Epstein for years, files show
- GOP senators view Lutnick’s contacts with Epstein as political liability (They don’t care about the immorality and evil of it, just whether it might hurt THEM politically. Soulless, amoral sociopaths.)
- Obama addresses racist video shared by Trump depicting him as an ape
- Welcome to the Voyage of the Damned (“The tech heroes turned zeros are leading us to our doom”)
- ‘South Texas will never be red again’: Home builders warn GOP over Trump’s immigration raids (“Construction executives have held multiple meetings over the last month with the White House and Congress to discuss immigration busts on job sites.”)
- Learn this from Bezos and the Washington Post: with hyper-capitalists in charge, your news is not safe
- I Trusted Jeff Bezos. The Joke’s on Me. (“He told me, in short, what I wanted to hear — and won my trust. In the intervening years, Bezos has apparently decided that his flattery is better aimed at a very different audience: Donald Trump.”)
- Video: On the Epstein Files, Peter Mandelson, etc., Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) Says “you’re seeing accountability everywhere else but the Trump administration – and it’s infuriating!” (Rep. Subramanyam says he wants to hear from Mandelson, Les Wexner, Prince Andrew, Howard Lutnick, etc.)
- Bobby Scott to host immigration Know-Your-Rights panel open to public
- Video: Ivy Main Says “the hostility to offshore wind is really just [Trump]; nobody else feels this way…he will be gone and then we will get back on track” (Also: “wind and solar are the cheapest forms of energy and they will continue to get cheaper; whereas fossil fuels, they can’t get cheaper”)
- Editorial: State-level rules for data centers will help communities’ planning (“A group of bills before the legislature can help form a statewide framework for data centers, providing communities the information needed to make informed decisions.”)
- Williams: Here’s why you should care about the Richmond Free Press
- Delegate Nadarius Clark recovering after medical emergency on Thursday
- Democrats back off from bills to radically alter VMI
- High level turnover at Norfolk housing authority after director’s firing
- Virginia health officials warn to avoid contact with Potomac River due to sewage spill (“Hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage spilled into the Potomac starting on Jan. 19 before crews were able to contain the overflow. The area of contamination was just inside the Beltway along the C&O Canal in Montgomery County, Maryland and extended into Virginia. It was considered the largest spill of wastewater in U.S. history.”)
- CWG Live: Rainy this afternoon into evening before a mostly mild week (“Pleasantly mild highs should reach the 50s to near 60 much of this coming week.”)
