by Lowell
Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, February 12.
- Consumerism—and the Chemicals in All of Our Stuff—Is Thwarting the Transition From Fossil Fuels
- Ad Firms Make Oil Companies Look Green. Here’s Six Ways They Greenwash Themselves.
- Climate change is threatening cacao crops, researchers say
- GOP plans for NOAA, FEMA could have deadly climate consequences
- Under Trump, Billionaire Climate Champions Have Gone Quiet
- EU to propose new 2040 climate target for emissions by end-March
- Almost $500 million in food is at risk of spoilage after USAID pause, report says (Insanity/cruelty.)
- Putin’s Ukraine (“The End of War and the Price of Russian Occupation”)
- Ukraine Says Russian Missiles Hit Kyiv Before Bessent Visit
- American Detainee Marc Fogel Arrives in U.S. Following Release From Russian Custody
- Kremlin says unidentified Russian freed in US in exchange for Moscow’s release of Marc Fogel
- Europe shifts Ukraine strategy as Trump pushes to end war
- Modi heads to US in mission to dodge a tit-for-tat tariff battle (“Prime minister hoping to revive ‘bromance’ of Trump’s first term despite US president calling India ‘a very big abuser’”)
- The Emperor’s New Tariffs: Small, Ugly and Stupid (“Trump is throwing a tantrum, but the damage will be real”)
- Trump readies reciprocal tariffs as trade war fears mount
- Trump is driving China and South America’s relation to its ‘best moment’ (“The US is targeting its own allies and its withdrawal from the region has left a power vacuum for China to fill in”)
- Trump doubles down on plan to empty Gaza. This is what he has said and what’s at stake (Where are the protests??? Oh, they only protest Democrats, almost forgot!)
- Netanyahu threatens to resume fighting in Gaza if hostages aren’t released Saturday
- After meeting with Trump, Jordan’s king says his country opposes displacing Palestinians in Gaza
- Relatives of Israeli hostages are terrified as the Gaza ceasefire teeters
- Trump wants to move forward with Gaza plan as Jordan’s king cautions, ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves’
- In Trump’s Cross Hairs Over Taking Gazans, Egypt and Jordan Try Diversion
- Hegseth’s visit to U.S. base in Germany met with student walkout
- Pope Francis’s Stunning Rebuke of JD Vance Exposes MAGA’s Dark Soul (“The vice president took a stab at theology to defend the administration’s rank cruelty. Then a higher authority weighed in.”)
- With High Prices Persisting, Trump Tempers Tone on Slaying Inflation (Alternate NY Times headline: “Trump Lied About Taming Inflation, Has Already Failed”)
- US Core Inflation Seen Rising at Firm Pace in January
- Trump officials tell GOP lawmakers they need $175B to secure borders
- The Path to American Authoritarianism (“What Comes After Democratic Breakdown”)
- The Framers’ Case Against an American Monarch
- Team Trump Threatens To Ignore Court Orders (“The White House is talking about an unprecedented act of defiance.”)
- In the Musk revolution, lessons from the 20th century will be deleted (“Democracy’s traditional defence against fascism doesn’t work against the new far-right hybrid coded in Silicon Valley”)
- Sotomayor Sounds Alarm Over Trump ‘Monarchy’ Power Grab
- Ignoring Court Orders Would Make Trump a King (“How Elon Musk, JD Vance, and Christian nationalist figures are pushing a fresh constitutional crisis.”)
- Trump DOJ Accused of Deleting Evidence In Jan. 6 Court Cases (Obstruction of justice!)
- Judge orders HHS, CDC and FDA to restore deleted webpages with health information
- Appeals court rejects Trump administration bid to reinstate funding freeze
- Not Hyperbole Anymore: Musk Is In Charge of the US Government
- The Shriek of the Fox (“In the February darkness, a glimpse into a terrifying moment unlike any other in our history…” “A new government in Washington is dismantling our democracy. Piece by piece. With hammer blows and shivs and clubs and with memos and executive orders and the complicity of political leaders who do not lead. Greed and self-interest and hate and ignorance are at work everywhere you look.”)
- Musk shows why he’s such a powerful ally for Trump and would be an even more menacing enemy
- Trump Humiliated in the ‘Most Powerless Image Ever’ of a U.S. President: O’Donnell
- Elon Musk appears with Trump and tries to claim ‘Doge’ team is transparent
- Elon Musk owning OpenAI would be a terrible idea. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen (“My heart says he is settling scores and making mischief. My head fears Trump might like an ally controlling the key AI company”)
- Furious at Musk? Don’t Buy a Tesla. (Also, the article recommends, if you own a Tesla, SELL IT, and also “Refuse a Tesla at the Rental Counter”)
- Why DOGE is unconstitutional (“Trump is acting extra-constitutionally. Only Congress or the Supreme Court can stop him.”)
- Elon Musk’s Business Empire Scores Benefits Under Trump Shake-Up (Over-the-top corruption, the likes of which the US has never seen.)
- An invitation to corruption (“With an executive order and a pardon, the president appears to condone malfeasance.” Drop the words “appears to”)
- Trump Orders Plans for ‘Large Scale’ Work Force Cuts and Expands Musk’s Power (Wildly unacceptable.)
- Live Updates: Musk Asserts Without Proof That He’s Fixing a Bureaucracy Rife With Fraud (Yet again, the NY Times goes with the “without proof” or “without evidence” dodge, instead of just saying flat-out in their headline that what Musk’s saying is FALSE.)
- The Staffers Helping Elon Musk Dismantle and Downsize the U.S. Government, One Agency at a Time
- Trump executive order vows substantial cuts to federal workforce
- Speaker Mike Johnson raises white flag of surrender over House (Mike Johnson is pure scum, truly evil.)
- Treasury officials: Musk ally ‘mistakenly’ had power to alter payments system (That’s a serious crime, for sure.)
- Musk’s ‘Doge’ guts nearly $1bn in US education department’s research office (That’s unconstitutional and illegal, given that CONGRESS appropriates funds.)
- Gaming Out Going Head to Head with the Trumpist Scourge
- Associated Press blocked from Oval Office after not using ‘Gulf of America’
- AP statement on Oval Office access (The media has bent over backwards to try to whitewash/sanewash Trump, “both sides” the news, etc, and it got them…nothing.)
- For Stunned Federal Workers, Sleeplessness, Anger and Tears
- The Federal Workforce Resistance to Donald Trump Is Here (“In courts of law and the court of public opinion, the civil servants who keep the government running are shaken but uncowed by a president and a tech billionaire smashing doors—and all kinds of laws—to drive them out.”)
- Brief. Mysterious. ‘Anxiety provoking.’ Inside DOGE’s crusade to overhaul the GSA
- Trump fires USAID inspector general one day after blistering report
- Trump Says the Corrupt Part Out Loud (“It’s infrastructure week, but for bribery.”)
- GOP lawmakers urge Trump to respect federal court rulings (They have to do a lot more than “urge” him.)
- FEMA official ignores judge’s latest order, demands freeze on grant funding (Contempt of court – lock him up.)
- Trump appoints Terry Cole, Youngkin Cabinet member, to head DEA
- Dozens of CFPB Workers Fired in After-Hours Blitz
- Project 2025 architect begins dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau following years of right-wing media attacks
- Elon Musk’s DOGE takes aim at agency that had plans of regulating X
- Federal Agency Fires Staff, Calls It an Error, Fires Them Again
- Scoop: Dems “pissed” at liberal groups MoveOn, Indivisible (“The Democrat said Jeffries himself is ‘very frustrated’ at the groups, who are trying to stir up a more confrontational opposition to Trump.” “It’s been a constant theme of us saying, ‘Please call the Republicans,’ said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.).”))
- We Served in the Military. Trump Has No Idea How Much Damage He’s Just Done to It. (“The trans ban isn’t just immoral. It’s logistical nonsense.”)
- Following Deadly DCA Collision, Virginia & Maryland Lawmakers Request Answers From FAA (“As DOGE continues to meddle in government operations, letter warns against hasty changes to nation’s air traffic systems by inexperienced & partisan individuals “)
- Sen. Mark Warner and Colleagues Blast Trump Admin. Decision to Shutter the CFPB and Put Consumers, Military Families at Risk (“Since its inception, the CFPB has returned over $21 billion back to consumers who have fallen victim to abusive and illegal activity”)
- Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08): “The Musk-Trump Administration’s purge of the federal civil service is illegal, terrible for the country, and paves the way for increased corruption.”
- Griffith’s HALT act, which would create stiffer penalties for illicit fentanyl traffickers, passes U. S. House
- Medicaid covers nearly 1 in 4 Virginians. Here’s what could happen if federal funding goes away.
- ‘Two paths’ to expand housing remain during Virginia’s 2025 legislative session
- Republican abortion bill banned from Virginia’s 2025 legislative session (“Observers say measure, which won’t get a legislative hearing, is already covered by Virginia law”)
- Commentary: Back the blue? Then reform Va.’s probation system
- Miyares wants law enforcement to crack down on stores that are distributing marijuana
- House subcommittee punts on bipartisan after-school life counselors bill
- Gov. Youngkin bans China’s DeepSeek AI from state networks (Youngkin used to be VERY tight with China, now has flip flopped to HATING China. Gee, wonder what changed…other than his moving from the Carlyle Group, where he made tons of $$$ off of investing in China, to politics, where he wants desperately to be the 2028 presidential nominee of a party that’s anti-China…)
- Editorial: Firm data control, robust oversight needed for license plate readers (“The General Assembly should impose tougher data restrictions and slow expansion of license plate readers to guard against abuse.”)
- Trump abolishes Federal Executive Institute, imperils dozens of Charlottesville jobs
- Henrico County reviews internal reports on January water outage (“Official miscommunications during the crisis affected the county’s response.”)
- The latest threat to our national security? A casino in Fairfax County. (“There are good reasons to reject a casino in Tysons Corner. National security is not among them.”)
- Hanover hit with the highest snowfall totals in the Richmond region
- CWG Live updates: Snow showers possible this morning. Rain arrives late this afternoon. (“More rain is likely this weekend.”)
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