Thursday News: “Trump rescinds $4B in US pledges for UN climate fund” as “Earth Sets Another Heat Record”; “The Madness of Donald Trump”; “Republicans Lose Their Minds After Democrats Try to Subpoena Elon Musk”; “Youngkin joins Trump, backs order meant to ban trans women from women’s sports”

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, February 6. Good to see pro-democracy/anti-authoritarian folks starting to get out in the streets and peacefully protest. Also, it looks like local Democratic committee meetings in Arlington and Chesterfield this week have been PACKED, as have town halls held by Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08), Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07), Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10), etc. – another excellent sign; let’s keep it going!

• Trump rescinds $4B in US pledges for UN climate fund (“The U.S. had committed the most money to the global fund, which helps over 100 countries grapple with the changing world.” Evil.)
• Earth sets another heat record in January despite forecasts for cooler 2025
• Air pollution reduces people’s ability to focus on everyday tasks, study finds (“Even brief exposure to particulate matter found to impede selective attention and emotional recognition”)
• Record January warmth puzzles climate scientists
• Rubio Snubs G20 Over ‘Very Bad’ Focus on DEI and Climate (Again, why on earth would any Democrat have voted to confirm Rubio???)
• The World’s Richest Men Take On the World’s Poorest Children
• Ukraine, Russia Leaders Soften Their Stance Against Direct Talks
• US Set to Unveil Trump Plan to End Three-Year War in Ukraine
• Ukraine Still Has Kursk as Bargaining Chip for Any Russia Talks
• Elon Musk’s Enemy, USAID, Was Investigating Starlink’s Contracts in Ukraine (Ding! Ding! Ding!)
• Exclusive: Ukraine sees marked improvement in accuracy of Russia’s North Korean missiles
• Tesla’s European Sales Drop in January After Musk Disrupts Politics There (Nobody who believes in democracy should ever buy ANYTHING from an Elon Musk company again. Also, if you currently have a Tesla, seriously consider selling it.)
• The US is ‘no longer the America we used to know,’ warns Germany’s Merz
• Trump Flashes Newfound Imperialist Streak in White House Return
• The Madness of Donald Trump (“To Benjamin Netanyahu’s delight, Trump proposes the wholesale ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the creation of a new ‘Riviera.'”)
• Inside Trump’s Hastily Written Proposal to ‘Own’ Gaza
• White House tries to soften Trump’s mass displacement proposal for Gaza
• Trump’s real-estate instincts clash with his America First worldview
• Developer in Chief Trump’s Gaza Plan: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
• Trump Calls for Ethnic Cleansing and Using US Troops to “Own” Gaza
• Israel begins preparations for Gaza exodus as Egypt lobbies against Trump plan
• Jeremy Bowen: Trump’s Gaza plan won’t happen, but it will have consequences
• The House speaker defends Trump’s Gaza plan, while other Republicans express doubts. (Mike Johnson is a disgrace to the office of Speaker, a groveling/boot-licking lackey. Pathetic.)
• ‘Angry’, ‘numb’ – Palestinian Americans on Trump’s Gaza comments
• Netanyahu backs Trump’s Gaza ‘take over’ as Israeli defense minister instructs military to draw up voluntary migration plan
• Right-wing media defend Trump’s call to “take over” Gaza and expel Palestinians (Of course they do!)
• The Israel-Hamas ceasefire has held, and now the war should end
• Tariff ‘made something snap in us’ – many Canadians see US rift beyond repair
• Trump Considers Labeling Migrants a Measles, Tuberculosis Risk
• Judge issues nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s bid to end birthright citizenship
• Trump Has Paralyzed Renewables Permitting, Leaked Memo Reveals (Totally bonkers.)
• Cows Have Been Infected With a Second Form of Bird Flu
• Protesters in cities across the US rally against Trump’s policies, Project 2025 and Elon Musk (This needs to ramp up – big time and FAST.)
• New rules for radical resistance in the accelerated age of Trump (“Donald Trump is acting above the law — and the opposition can no longer cower in the corner”)
• In photos: Thousands across the U.S. protest Trump and Musk’s policies
• America’s constitutional crisis could come to a head in four months (“How Donald Trump and Elon Musk could use a debt ceiling breach to usurp Congress’s power.”)
• “What’s the point of having Congress?”: Even some conservatives now say it’s a constitutional crisis (“Some conservative scholars are admitting that Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn approach to government is unconstitutional”)
• The MAGA Coalition Provisional Authority Has Plunged The Country Into A Constitutional Crisis
• Trump and Musk are pummeling federal agencies and buckling the world order (“Trump and his allies are determined to use a potentially short window on power to forge irrevocable change”)
• List: Examples of Trump’s Actions That Are Defying Legal Limits (You see the NY Times’ intentional choice of words, “that are defying legal limits,” nstead of just saying “that are ILLEGAL?” What is wrong with the editors at the NY Times???)
• The 24-Hour Reality Check: Musk’s Impossible Power Grab And America’s Crisis
• Trump White House Moves to Allow for a Musk Takeover of Government IT
• Co-President Elon Musk Wants to Abolish Federal Regulations
• Doge v USAid: how Elon Musk helped his acolytes infiltrate world’s biggest aid agency
• The DOGE Rampage is Also a Bailout for Elon Musk
• If DOGE Goes Nuclear (“The risk of messing with the wrong computer system”)
• Trump-Musk Purge Scandal at Treasury Takes Yet Another Unsettling Turn
• Trump administration agrees to restrict DOGE access to Treasury Department payment systems (“The agreement came in response to a lawsuit accusing Treasury of committing an “unlawful action” by giving private info to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.” They’ve already committed crimes but haven’t been arrested. Why the f*** not???)
• Judge weighs short-term block on Musk allies’ ability to share Treasury records outside the department (Should be permanent!)
• White House Says Musk Will Police His Own Conflicts of Interest (Way beyond unacceptable.)
• Elon Musk Is a ‘Special Government Employee.’ What Does That Mean?
• DOGE Aides Search Medicare Agency Payment Systems for Fraud
• Republicans Lose Their Minds After Democrats Try to Subpoena Elon Musk
• Watch Republicans Go Out of Their Way to Shield Elon Musk From Accountabilit (“During a congressional oversight hearing, GOP lawmakers rush to thwart Democrats from subpoenaing Musk.”)
• Elon Musk Says His Efficiency Team Will Tackle F.A.A. Technology (Uh oh…)
• The Real Reason Musk Is Mad at Us (“It’s all pretty routine, unless you’re a ketamine-addled, terminally online, X-brained wackjob with a tenuous grasp on how the government you now run actually functions. What’s really going on here is Elon thinks that by siccing an online mob on Bill [Kristol], he can intimidate him—and all of us—into silence. Into just going away.”)
• The 24-Hour Reality Check: Musk’s Impossible Power Grab And America’s Crisis
• Trump’s EPA to prioritize AI, lobbyists, and staff cuts in ‘mission to traumatize’ (“New EPA administrator Lee Zeldin’s pillars pledge to help auto industry and have no mention of the climate crisis” No Democrat should have voted to confirm Zeldin either.)
• How Trump’s Sweeping Expulsions Have Thrown the FBI Into Chaos
• FBI agents, prosecutors fear retribution from Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump
• Pam Bondi Instructs Trump DOJ to Criminally Investigate Companies That Do DEI (Utter insanity/fascism. Bondi is a DISASTER.)
• Bondi, as new AG, launches ‘Weaponization Working Group’ to review officials who investigated Trump
• Twin deadlines crash down on Mike Johnson
• White House Orders C.I.A. to Send an Unclassified Email With Names of Some Employees (That’s insane and wildly irresponsible!)
• ‘Blow this place up’: Frustrated Democrats want the Senate to fight harder (Yep, it’s time.)
• Democrats To Take Over Senate Floor All Night To Oppose White House Budget Office Nominee (Slow everything down.)
• Two Dem lawmakers barge into House speaker’s office in backlash against Musk
• Democrats’ phones bombarded with calls to “fight harder” (Things are picking up a bit now, but I’m very disappointed that Dems weren’t ready to roll on Day #1 of the Trump presidency, that they voted for several of Trump’s Cabinet picks, etc. It’s like Dems simply don’t understand what we’re up against this time around, and that’s just mind boggling.)
• NOAA Employees Told to Pause Work With ‘Foreign Nationals’
• Trump Administration Deepens Pressure on Federal Workers to Resign
• Musk aims to hobble federal workers ahead of ‘buyout’ deadline
• Education Department staff warned that Trump buyout offers could be canceled at any time
• Project 2025 thinktank behind lists naming ‘woke’ federal workers
• Federal workers must decide on deferred resignation offer today (In the vast majority of cases, the answer is, definitely don’t do it!)
• More Than 40,000 Federal Workers Have Resigned So Far, Short of Target
• Trump’s gut-it-all plan for D.C.’s “Deep State”
• Susan Collins Tells Reporters She Is ‘Concerned’ About Elon Musk’s Power Over Federal Spending (Hahahahaha, pathetic Susan Collins is “concerned” again!)
• Pro-Trump Arab American group changes its name after the president’s Gaza ‘Riviera’ comments
• Real estate developer in a china shop (“To a region still recovering from the trauma of war, Trump’s proposed takeover of Gaza was incendiary.”)
• Michigan’s Arab American community offers muted response to Trump’s Gaza takeover plan (So, basically, they love screaming at Democrats – and ONLY at Democrats – while being super nice to Republicans. Brilliant, huh???)
• To Fight Trump, Democrats Must Embrace Gerrymandering (“Republicans have been winning an asymmetric war over district lines for decades. To preserve democracy, their opponents will have to fight back.” Yep, and that includes here in Virginia, where Dems massively f’ed up by passing the redistricting amendment…)
• Trump administration evicts former Coast Guard leader from her house with 3 hours notice (Trump seems to get off on gratuitous cruelty…)
• Trump takes action to ban transgender women from women’s sports (This is very close to a nonexistent problem, but Republicans are OBSESSED with it nonetheless.)
• The White Nationalist Now in Charge of Trump’s Public Diplomacy (“A speechwriter gets a second shot at the State Department.”)
• ‘60 Minutes’ publicly releases transcripts of interview at heart of its dispute with Trump (Why???)
• Google Unwinds Employee Diversity Goals, Citing Trump’s D.E.I. Orders (So much for Silicon Valley being liberal.)
• Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says “I thought the pace of assault was pretty heavy last week. If anything, it’s picked up this week.” (“This is not a time to keep your heads low…If you’ve got a time to raise your voice, it’s now”)
• Video: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) Moves to Subpoena Elon Musk; Oversight Committee Republicans Vote It Down (“Who is this unelected billionaire that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies…without any Congressional review, oversight or concurrence?”)
• Jeff Schapiro: Black Democratic lawmakers grilling Spanberger (“Abigail Spanberger’s presumed nomination for Virginia governor is becoming a bit of a slog, with the Democrat under pressure from Black lawmakers to embrace their agenda.”)
• Virginia lawmakers call on Youngkin to talk to Trump about federal workers
• Virginia Gov. Youngkin on Trump: ‘He told everybody what he was going to be doing’ (And Youngkin, who the media in 2021 kept falsely telling us was some sort of “mystery date” or “moderate” or “normie Republican,” thought it was great – yay fascism!)
• Youngkin joins Trump, backs order meant to ban trans women from women’s sports (First of all, Youngkin’s just a nasty dude. Second, there are only about 7 transgender athletes per year in all of Virginia, out of 1.3 MILLION students. That’s 0.000538%…and pretty much 0.0% in terms of having a serious impact on a sports contest. Yet Rs like Trump and Trumpkin act like this is a MASSIVE threat – obsessed with it, really. Very revealing!)
• VA Senate, House Dems Call Out Youngkin, Sears, Miyares For Working “to implement Trump’s extremist agenda into Virginia, disregarding the well-being of families across the Commonwealth.””
• Video: In Richmond, 100s of Protesters Chant “‘Stop the Coup’ in protest of Donald Trump’s flurry of executive actions and Elon Musk’s unprecedented access to federal government systems” (Del. Alfonso Lopez says “I have 14 family members who are going to be deported if [Trump’s] unconstitutional orders are allowed to move forward”)
• Protest against President Donald Trump’s policies held at Virginia capitol: ‘A lot at stake right now’
• Bill requiring solar planning framework dies, returns, dies again (“Concerns over impacts on forest, farmland sank the proposal.”)
• Legislation creating a marijuana marketplace continues to make progress, but will Youngkin sign it? (Very doubtful.)
• Virginia’s senior groups advocate in Richmond
• Halfway through session, Democrats say everything is going to plan, Republicans hope Youngkin puts veto pen to good use
• Virginia’s legislative session hits halftime, teeing up clash with Youngkin
• Legislators prep for partisan battles in second half of General Assembly session (The media loves this framing – it’s one of their “safe spaces” to talk about “partisan battles” and not get into which “side” is a normal party, which side is a bunch of right-wing extremists.)
• Where bills stand at the midpoint of the General Assembly
• Dominion Energy says Virginia Beach wind farm’s cost is up
• Higher egg prices, livestock casualties among bird flu’s effects in Virginia
• Virginia lawmakers to CDC: Restart bird flu reports now
• Virginia House targets speed camera ‘cash grab’ (“Bill advances to Senate, aiming to curb profiteering and ensure cameras focus on safety, not revenue.”)
• Virginia needs to empower localities to build healthier communities
• Loudoun Co. schools vote to fund DEIA programs despite opposition from some board members
• Editorial: Though disappointing, Virginia Beach right to cancel Something in the Water
• CWG Live updates: Freezing rain fades away today, but more wintry weather lies ahead