by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, February 4.
- Targeting methane “ultra-emitters” could cheaply slow climate change (“Patching up leaky oil-and-gas works across the world would be a good place to start”)
- How the PR Industry Has Helped Big Oil Transform the Way We Think About the Environment (“Powered by fossil fuel funding, PR agents have used astroturfing, ‘manufactured consent,’ and other techniques to furtively shape public perceptions in favor of their polluting clients.” Evil.)
- ISIS Loses Its Leader as Biden Navigates Global Crises
- Islamic State’s ‘ghost’ of a leader was plotting comeback when U.S. commandos cornered him (Good riddance…and great job by the military, Biden administration, etc.)
- Inside Biden’s decision to target ISIS’s elusive leader
- US leaders struggle with Putin’s Ukraine puzzle
- Russia, Ukraine, and the NATO of Today (“If a lot has changed since the end of the Cold War, there’s much that hasn’t.”)
- The Reason Putin Would Risk War (“He is threatening to invade Ukraine because he wants democracy to fail—and not just in that country.” Putin “knows, in other words, that one day, prodemocracy activists of the kind he saw in Dresden might come for him too.”)
- U.S. Exposes What It Says Is Russian Effort to Fabricate Pretext for Invasion
- Russia, China push back against US in pre-Olympics summit
- Putin and Xi call for halt to NATO expansion in show of unity at Beijing Olympics, Kremlin says
- China’s pandemic Olympics begins, with lockdown and boycotts
- NBC Opens Olympics With ‘Worst Hand Imaginable’
- Exclusive poll: Why Americans are turned off by the Olympics
- I’ll skip the Olympics. You should, too. (“If enough people don’t watch the Games, maybe the IOC will think twice about letting genocidal regimes host them.”)
- ‘Apartheid state’: Israel’s fears over image in US are coming to pass
- Biden is on a roll as commander in chief
- Mark Zuckerberg’s Disaster Is Taking Silicon Valley With It
- Facebook’s dream of connecting the whole world is dead
- Zuckerberg Tells Staff to Focus on Video Products as Meta’s Stock Plunges
- Meta Erases $251 Billion in Value, Biggest Wipeout in History
- Americans get sicker as omicron stalls everything from heart surgeries to cancer care (“Slammed by COVID-19, many U.S. hospitals have put off essential procedures. Delays are leading to consequences like heart attacks and sending people to emergency rooms to get care.”)
- Omicron surge likely slowed U.S. job growth, losses possible
- Scoop: Biden to extend, but modify, Trump’s solar tariffs
- US anti-vaccine mandate campaigners aim to mimic Canadian convoy tactic (“American truckers attract thousands on social media for planned convoy protest to Washington DC”)
- Why Voter Suppression Probably Won’t Work (Maybe, maybe not – but it’s still really, really wrong.)
- Republican voter suppression doesn’t always work. But don’t feel too reassured.
- Frustrations mount inside DNC over midterm strategy
- W.E.B. Du Bois Would Have Seen Right Through the C.R.T. Backlash
- Whoopi Goldberg’s Holocaust comments show why we need critical race analysis (“ABC’s suspension of Whoopi Goldberg shows why we can’t talk about race and Whiteness.”)
- Republicans rebuke Liz Cheney in unprecedented moves (Today’s Republican Party rebukes those who STAND UP FOR our democracy, while being perfectly fine with those who ATTACK our democracy. In a sane world, nobody would vote for that party.)
- At RNC gathering, rift emerges between Trump’s interests and the party’s
- Why are Democrats struggling with working-class voters? Don’t blame ‘wokeness.’ (“Vaguely blaming ‘wokeness’ for Democrats’ problems is a useless exercise.”)
- So what was Trump’s plan after seizing the voting machines? (“If Trump, Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn had a plan, it was to sow unbelievable chaos. And it might have worked”)
- Pence, Trump tensions rise, raising questions about a break
- Josh Hawley seeks to be Putin’s new favorite pet
- Republicans’ animus toward Biden’s Supreme Court pledge shows how they’re no longer veiling their racism
- You Might Call Neil Gorsuch’s Federalist Society Chat ‘Ideological Payola’ (Gorsuch is a disgrace AND illegitimate. Quite a combo, eh?)
- Did Jeff Zucker and Chris Cuomo Make Me Too a Weapon in Their Power Struggle? (“The former CNN executive’s workplace romance sure doesn’t seem like the real reason he’s resigning.”)
- CNN Will Be Better Off (“The network needs to reinvent itself, and Jeff Zucker was not the man for the job”)
- Canceling CNN’s Jeff Zucker show – an ignominious career of ruining networks & developing characters
- The Jeff Zucker Mess Isn’t Some Mere Office Romance
- Jeff Zucker’s CNN Legacy: Reality TV Aesthetic
- Arizona Republican House speaker effectively dooms GOP bill to allow state legislature to reject election results
- CNN Probe Eyes Jeff Zucker’s Ties to Andrew Cuomo
- “This Does Not Fit the Crime”: CNN Employees Continue to Push Back on the Fall of Jeff Zucker (It’s amazing – and highly revealing! – that they’re defending Zucker.)
- How the Fallout From Andrew Cuomo’s Resignation Spread to Jeff Zucker
- The National Butterfly Center closed indefinitely. A fringe Va. candidate is partly to blame. (“Kimberly Lowe, who is running in Virginia’s 9th Congressional District, accused the executive director of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Tex., of being indifferent to child sex-trafficking.”)
- Fox News is filling its editor positions with GOP operatives and Trump staffers (Of course it is…)
- Kaine sees reason for optimism in Russia-Ukraine crisis
- Sen. Tim Kaine and Wife Anne Holton Selling Northside Home
- Virginia rep. calls for details on state’s response to January’s I-95 snowstorm backup
- Outside firm to investigate Virginia’s I-95 response
- “Pretty much every education group in the state is calling on Youngkin to rescind EO 1 and shut down the tip line.”
- What Is There To Hide? Governor Youngkin Refuses To Share “Tip Line” Emails
- Glenn Youngkin Set Up a Tip Line to Snitch on Teachers. It’s Only Gotten Weirder Since. (“A Saturday Night Live send-up, TikTok spammers, and rejected records requests.”)
- Rooting out Glenn Youngkin’s hypocrisy (“Youngkin grew up in a culture marinated in Confederate grievance. He campaigned as a genial moderate interested in “parents’ rights.” He has chosen to govern as a bully. His Big Brother-style attack upon the intellectual freedom of beleaguered public school teachers has taken it several steps too far.”)
- Youngkin refuses to disclose teacher tip line submissions
- The Youngkin administration is denying FOIA requests on the governor’s education orders (“Multiple media organizations, including the Mercury, have seen their records requests denied or delayed”)
- Senate panel kills Youngkin-backed charter schools bill and proposed ban on teaching ‘divisive’ concepts
- Youngkin’s Grocery Tax Cut Push Will Defund Public Schools (“Meanwhile, Senate Democrats Continue to Thwart Governor’s Plan To Defund Virginia Public School”)
- Youngkin touts plan to eliminate grocery tax in appearance at Alexandria supermarket
- Video: Del. Sally Hudson, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, and Montgomery County Supervisor Mary Biggs Hold Press Conference on Republican Threats to Defund Public Schools (“Attempting to use his executive power to overturn state law and usurp power from local school boards is a dangerous and damaging degradation to the very foundation of our democracy”)
- Editorial: Wasted efforts to fix a voting system that ain’t broke
- Senate panel proposes study of one key Youngkin income tax proposal, but supports one-time refunds
- BREAKING: Federal Court Invalidates Another Key Permit in Endangered Species Act Case, Casting Serious Doubt on the Future of Mountain Valley Pipeline (“Decision comes just after Fourth Circuit invalidated U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management”)
- Another Mountain Valley Pipeline permit struck down by federal court
- #BeLikeGreta: Taking the Climate Emergency to Our State and Local Public Officials in Virginia
- Virginia Sen. Ghazala Hashmi’s Statement on Defeat of Discriminatory and Divisive GOP Legislation
- Lowest 10-Day COVID Cases Increase in Over a Month; Hospitalizations Down to Lowest Level Since 12/31/21
- The Richmond City Democratic Committee voted to censure state Sen. Joe Morrissey (“The Richmond City Democratic Committee (RCDC) voted Thursday night to censure state Sen. Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) for comments he made towards the president of Petersburg’s NAACP chapter. Petersburg in its entirety is included in Morrissey’s Senate district.”)
- Republican Del. Cordoza criticizes Black caucus for denying him membership
- Va. Holocaust Museum reacts to ban of ‘Maus’ by Tennessee school system
- Va. wants Commanders to call commonwealth home. But taxpayers would get sacked: expert (Hell no.)
- D.C.-area forecast: Rain ends late day as cold air pours in and winter makes a return
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