Friday News: “Biden off to climate talks, 1st leg of around-the-world trip”; Dems Still Have Narrow Path to Keep House; “Democrats make big gains in state legislatures”; Murdoch “Knees Trump in the Balls”; “How to Piss Away $44 Billion: An Elon Musk Timeline”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, November 11. Happy Veterans Day and appreciation to everyone who served our country in the military.

• World has nine years to avert catastrophic warming, study shows
• Biden rides green wave, and new pledges, into turbulent climate summit (“‘Joe Biden’s delivering results,’ White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi says. But developing nations ask: Where’s the money?”)
• Biden off to climate talks, 1st leg of around-the-world trip
• Biden to Announce Restrictions on Methane Emissions at COP27
• In Egypt, host of COP27, a small step toward green energy
• Nepal grew back its forests over decades. Here’s how the country succeeded. (Every country needs to do this!)
• Russia is in retreat in every major international forum
• Russian retreat from Kherson city sets stage for more hard combat
• South Korea to Sell Arms to U.S. for Ukrainian Forces Fighting Russia
• Analysis: The Kremlin and Russian state media distanced President Vladimir Putin from the setback in Kherson.
• Iran and Russia find common ground through Syrian and Ukraine wars
• Russia claims all troops gone from city in southern Ukraine
• Reports of wounded soldiers being abandoned as Russia retreats from Kherson city
• Brittney Griner Is Headed to a Truly Horrific Place (“Overcrowding, grueling labor and physical and sexual abuse are all common in these modern versions of Soviet-era Gulags.”)
• Fallback Plan (“Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson is its most humiliating setback since the failed invasion of Kyiv. But there’s no sign Putin intends to end his misbegotten war.”)
• Putin Can’t Escape History
• China eases COVID curbs
• China Eases Zero-Covid Rules as Economic Toll and Frustrations Mount
• Israel’s Far-right Leader Sets Sights on Top Defense Job – With an Explosive Agenda (That was a disastrous election in Israel.)
• U.S. Stock Futures Rise After Dow Surges 1,200 Points
• Stock futures rise after S&P 500 posts its biggest one-day rally since 2020
• Two Big Cheers For Biden’s Economy
• Federal judge in Texas strikes down Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan (Another extremist Trump judge. “The Justice Department is appealing the decision”)
• Editorial: Don’t let Veterans Day mark our 11th hour
• The Red Puddle Election of 2022
• Democracy and the End of Roe Shaped the Midterm Results
• A Republican victory will be much smaller than Democrats feared (In the Senate, it’s most likely that it will stay at 50 Dems or increase to 51 Dems. That’s not a “Republican victory” at all. And Dems still have a narrow path to a 1-seat House majority.)
• Could Democrats still win the House majority?
• Why the midterms were the Y2K of elections (Disaster averted.)
• The midterms were good news for Democrats … and democrats
• Opinion 5 ways to ‘crazyproof’ the country against the chaos of a GOP House
• Democratic Hopes Rise on Senate Control as Two States Count Votes
• Trump won’t fade away. The GOP will have to get rid of him.
• Trumpism Is Toxic (“And three other lessons of the midterm elections”)
• Rupert Murdoch Knees Trump in the Balls While He’s Doubled Over Coughing Up Blood (“The message from the Murdoch-owned New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and Fox News is clear: Pack your bags, bitch. You’re done.”)
• More MAGA Than Ever (“It’s hard to overstate how radicalized and anarchic the base of the Republican Party remains.”)
• The path to 218: Why Democrats aren’t out of the race for the House yet
• Democrats still have a path to keep the House — but it’s tough
• Trump Is ‘Ready for War’ With 2024 Presidential Announcement
• Did Christian nationalism lose in the midterms? Sort of — but it’s not going away (“Mastriano took a beatdown, Boebert’s in trouble and Trump is tarnished. But religious extremists are still with us”)
• Trump to hold ‘special announcement’ at Mar-a-Lago amid GOP pushback on 2024 bid
• Rift in Trump’s inner circle over 2024 presidential campaign announcement
• Young Black and Latino voters seen as key in turning back midterm ‘red wave’
• “Political media is broken…This kind of [poll-based, “horserace”] coverage is not just pointless, it’s harmful”
• The Supreme Court lost Republicans the midterms (“A leading Democratic data analyst explains what happened in 2022 — and why abortion proved to be the decisive issue.”)
• Republicans who questioned the 2020 results are bringing back an old norm: Admitting defeat
• Democrats make quiet history with state-level gains
• Democrats make big gains in state legislatures after beating expectations (“Democrats took control of the Michigan state Senate for the first time in nearly 40 years. They’re on track to flip other legislative chambers when all the votes are counted.”)
• Steve Bannon lost (“Trump’s former senior adviser pushed election deniers and conspiracy theorists in the midterms. Voters across the country rejected them.”)
• Judge hits Trump lawyers with $50,000 fines over tossed Clinton lawsuit
• Biden Says Democrats Face Long Odds to Win House (“It’s still alive. But it’s like drawing an inside straight.”)
• John King shows Democrats’ possible but very difficult path to keep the House
• Midterms suggest early voting is here to stay (“This year’s early-vote total is expected to pass the tally in the last midterm election in 2018.”)
• Neguse announces candidacy for Democratic caucus chair
• Kevin McCarthy’s bid to be House speaker is in jeopardy
• McCarthy’s dual threat (“Groups on both ideological ends of the House Republican Conference are preparing to exercise considerable power if the GOP manages to win a narrow majority — in leadership elections and beyond.”)
• Rick Scott Was Prepared to Take On McConnell — Until Tuesday
• Sean Patrick Maloney on His Loss, the Media and A.O.C. (“Mr. Maloney said that he and other New York Democrats were unable to overcome suburban fears of crime. He also had some harsh words for Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “)
• Nevada Senate race on knife’s edge as majority hangs in the balance
• Nevada Awaits a Winner in a Pivotal Senate Race (“For now, the Republican Adam Laxalt, who backed Trump’s 2020 election denialism, is urging patience from his supporters as all the votes are counted.” Laxalt’s very likely to lose in the end, when all the votes are counted.)
• Democrats pad narrow leads in Arizona Senate, governor races (Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report tweeted this morning, “I’ve seen enough: Sen. Mark Kelly (D) wins reelection in #AZSEN, defeating Blake Masters (R).”)
• Democrats Pad Narrow Leads In Arizona Senate, Governor Races
• Arizona election officials to count votes until ‘early next week’
• The GOP thought it could make gains in New England. A blue wave hit instead.
• McConnell turns to Brian Kemp to help save Herschel Walker in Georgia runoff
• Georgia midterm runoff draws a whopping $262 million in fundraising so far
• Senate GOP fears another Trump disaster in Georgia runoff
• How Warnock became the last Democrat standing in Georgia’s top 2022 races
• Warnock, Walker pivot to overtime in Georgia Senate contest
• Black Georgia voters say the Walker-Warnock runoff leaves them with a burden to ‘save the Senate’ again
• Michigan GOP memo delivers scathing election post-mortem on Trump-backed candidates
• US election: Trump tears into rising Republican rival DeSantis
• Lauren Boebert takes slim lead over Adam Frisch, thousands of ballots still remain in Pueblo County (Ugh.)
• South Dakota Voters Approved Medicaid Expansion, but Implementation May Not Be Easy
• Democrat Kim Schrier wins 3rd term in tossup U.S. House race in Washington
• The Age of Social Media Is Ending (“It’s over. Facebook is in decline, Twitter in chaos. Mark Zuckerberg’s empire has lost hundreds of billions of dollars in value and laid off 11,000 people, with its ad business in peril and its metaverse fantasy in irons. Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has caused advertisers to pull spending and power users to shun the platform (or at least to tweet a lot about doing so). It’s never felt more plausible that the age of social media might end—and soon.”)
• Twitter Is in Grave Security Danger Right Now (Musk is such a f***up.)
• Elon Musk Has No Idea What He’s Doing at Twitter
• How to Piss Away $44 Billion: An Elon Musk Timeline (“What happens when trolls come for the world’s richest memelord?”)
• Elon Musk braces for $56 billion battle with heavy metal drummer (Definitely rooting for the heavy metal drummer!)
• Twitter boss Elon Musk ‘not above the law’, warns US regulator
• Musk Warns Twitter Bankruptcy Possible as Senior Executives Exit
• With New Ruling, Sandy Hook Families Win Over $1.4 Billion From Alex Jones
• Inside the Twitter meltdown
• Twitter’s content moderation head quits as departures alarm the FTC
• ‘Economic Picture Ahead Is Dire,’ Elon Musk Tells Twitter Employees (Musk is way, way, WAY less smart than most people thought.)
• Pope & Schapiro: The impact of the 2022 congressional elections
• The loss of abortion rights brought voters out to the polls this year (“Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger held on to her northern Virginia congressional seat after leaning into the fight for abortion rights, hitting the issue early and often. That ended up being a winning strategy.”)
• As Metro prepares to open new rail stations, advocates want better bike-ped accessibility
• DC sues Commanders, Snyder, NFL over ‘deception’ regarding sexual harassment investigation
• Video: VA Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, Formerly a HUGE Trump Supporter, Now Says “Enough Is Enough”; Trump Spokesperson Warns “There Will Be a Reckoning” (VA Sen. Amanda Chase, a full-blown MAGA/Trump cultist, calls Winsome Sears and Tim Anderson “weak ass Republicans”)
• Earle-Sears breaks with Trump, saying it is time for the GOP to move on
• Virginia’s GOP lieutenant governor calls Trump ‘liability to the mission’
• Earle-Sears calls for Republicans to move on from Trump
• Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears says it’s ‘time to move on’ from Trump
• Video: “In Memoriam of Glenn Youngkin’s Endorsements, 2022-2022” (May They Rest in Peace? LOL)
• Youngkin ‘cautiously optimistic’ that Virginia can pass abortion restrictions
• PolitiFact VA: Youngkin overstates his 2021 vote from cities (And Youngkin wildly overstates his support from Black and Hispanic voters, among others.)
• “An Eye-Opening Call for Republicans to Move On from Trump” From VA Del. Tim Anderson (R), a Close Ally of Trump-Worshipping VA Sen. Amanda Chase (Anderson: “Trump running for President is the absolute worst thing that can happen to Virginia state politics.”)
• Virginia officials working to ensure all students are taught the scientifically-proven way to read
• Bolling: In the 2022 Midterm Elections, Republicans Simply Blew It (From former Virginia LG Bill Bolling, a conservative Republican.)
• Virginia 2022 Midterm Election Review
• Virginia political scientists offer thoughts on midterm, look ahead (“The GOP did great at mobilizing its base in Republican-leaning districts, but could not persuade enough swing voters in the most competitive districts the party hoped to flip, particularly the 7th and the 10th”)
• Jen Kiggans’ win expected to tee up a special election to fill her state senate seat (“Jen Kiggans’ win on Tuesday will set in motion a special election for her Virginia senate seat. The boundaries of District 7, which includes parts of Virginia Beach and Norfolk, will remain in place for the special election.”)
• Arlington could adopt ranked-choice voting for primary elections (DO IT!)
• Virginia Tech is considering adding more student housing. Town officials support the proposal. Housing developers don’t.
• D.C.-area forecast: Waves of rain through evening, and a potential tornado risk (“It’s a turbulent day as the remnants of Nicole pass. The best odds for severe weather are midday and afternoon.”)