Thursday News: “History Made, the Work Begins”; Biden “Confronts a Confluence of Crises”; “Trump Left Biden a COVID Nightmare”; “Never Take Normal For Granted Again”; “For Va. GOP, the Trump hangover begins”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, January 21. Did you sleep better last night? I know I did! 🙂

• World Welcomes U.S. Return To Paris Climate Accord, Readies Wish List For Biden (“Climate diplomats said they want to see an ambitious U.S. commitment to cut emissions this decade and a diplomatic push to convince others to follow suit.”)
• Inauguration of President Biden Kicks Energy and Climate Agenda Into Action
• The US Rejoins the Paris Agreement, but Rebuilding Credibility on Climate Action Will Take Time
• Energy Transition’s Half-Trillion-Dollar Year Is Even Better Than It Looks
• Twitter Locks Out Chinese Embassy in U.S. Over Post on Uighurs
• Saudi Arabia’s Aramco Omits Carbon Data for Up to Half Its Real Climate Toll
• Dr. Fauci says U.S. will remain a WHO member and join global Covid vaccine plan
• The Current, Deadly U.S. Coronavirus Surge Has Peaked, Researchers Say
• ‘Worse Than We Imagined’: Team Trump Left Biden a COVID Nightmare
• Biden is inheriting a nonexistent Covid-19 vaccine plan from Trump, sources say
• ANALYSIS Biden’s actions on his Inauguration Day sent a message: Kindness and decency are back
• Biden to sign 10 executive orders and invoke Defense Production Act to combat Covid pandemicf
• Biden Ramps Up Covid Fight With Orders Nixing Trump Policies
• President Biden Has Ordered A 100-Day Pause On Many Deportations
• FACT SHEET: President Biden Takes Aggressive and Immediate Action to Contain COVID-19 Crisis
• Biden seeks to immediately turn page from Trump era
• First Thing: President Biden gets straight down to work (“The newly elected US leader signed 15 executive orders after being inaugurated as 46th president, on issues ranging from the climate to immigration. Plus, Kamala Harris made history as the first female, African American and south Asian vice-president”)
• Avril Haines confirmed as director of national intelligence
• Former GOP operative Michael Ellis placed on administrative leave from NSA top lawyer job
• Biden fires Trump-appointed labor board general counsel who refused to resign
• Never Take Normal For Granted Again (“Trump’s grotesque farewell speeches make it easier to appreciate Biden’s simple inaugural address.”)
• Biden’s Classy Call for an ‘America United’
• Why Joe Biden Must Not Shy Away From the Full Power of the Presidency
• Democrats, Repeat After Me: Help People Fast
• Analysis: In the End, the Inauguration Triumphed Over the Insurrection (“But it is still unclear whether President Biden can persuade enough of the nation to walk together into a new era.”)
• Charlottesville Inspired Biden to Run. Now It Has a Message for Him.
• President Confronts a Confluence of Crises (“President Biden moved quickly to undo many of the Trump administration’s signature policy initiatives while pushing his own agenda, including a $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue package.”)
• History made, the work begins (“Biden launches term seeking unity; Harris takes oath — shattering gender and racial barriers”)
• Joe Biden’s Love Letter to the Truth (“The new President tried something different: levelling with the American people.”)
• In Inaugural, Biden Calls for Unity (Against Trump’s GOP)
• “A Broken Land”: Biden and the True Costs of Unity
• Biden’s plain-spoken appeal for unity might be contagious in a new Washington (“Analysis: A weakened Republican Party might find something to grasp in Biden’s plea to end the partisanship that stalled so much progress.”)
• Biden: ‘We Must End This Uncivil War.’ Here’s What It Would Look Like.
• Biden Has Already Fired Three of Trump’s Worst Appointees
• Biden Moves to Oust Top Labor Board Attorney Robb
• Bidens quickly fire White House chief usher installed by Trump
• Army falsely denied Flynn’s brother was involved in key part of military response to Capitol riot
• Trump extended Secret Service protection to his adult children and three top officials as he left office
• Trump Departs Vowing,’We Will Be Back in Some Form’
• ‘Have a good life’: Trump leaves for Florida in low-key farewell
• GOP senators warn McConnell could face backlash if he votes to convict Trump
• Obama, Bush and Clinton to Biden: “Your success is our country’s success”
• Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation
• Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government
• Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis
• Joe Biden Will Have to Deal With Trump’s Immigration Poison for Years
• A look inside Biden’s Oval Office
• Clyburn: Bush called him a ‘savior’ for boosting Biden
• ‘A Total Failure’: The Proud Boys Now Mock Trump
• Biden Should Go Big, Fast, and Simple (“The new president should not repeat Obama’s mistakes.” Agreed.)
• What I Saw at the White House on Trump’s Last Day (“The handover of power was a solemn affair. There was no mistaking the new administration for the old one.”)
• Harris to delay move into vice-presidential residence (“Vice President Harris and her husband Doug Emoff will not immediately be moving into the Naval Observatory while work is done on the 128-year-old home, according to two people familiar with the arrangement.”)
• 3 significant shifts that Vice President Harris cements
• Romney: Founders didn’t intend pardons to be used for ‘cronies’
• In Trump’s Pardons, Disdain for Accountability
• Biden White House promises to bring back ‘truth and transparency’ in first press briefing
• Kayleigh McEnany’s cowardly exit (Jen Psaki is an *infinite* upgrade.)
• Jen Psaki Is Praised for “Not Crazy” First Press Conference
• ‘This moment belongs to all of us:’ Black women exult as Harris walks into history
• Amanda Gorman calls on Americans to ‘leave behind a country better than the one we were left’ in powerful inauguration poem
• Some QAnon followers lose hope after Inauguration
• QAnon believers struggle with inauguration.
• ‘It’s Over’: Devastated QAnon Believers Grapple With President Joe Biden’s Inauguration
• QAnon believers grapple with doubt, spin new theories as Trump era ends
• Trump Made The Federal Courts Whiter And More Conservative — And That Will Be Tough For Biden To Reverse
• A day of firsts: five key takeaways from Biden’s historic inauguration
• Biden pledges to defeat extremism and culture of lies as he confronts Trump’s legacy
• Joe Biden delivers one of the best inaugural addresses in memory
• This is more than a change of presidents (“In just about every position of government, we are trading up.”)
• On his final day, Trump demeaned the presidency one more time
• Mitch McConnell finally admits that Trump and Republicans provoked the Capitol attack. Now what?
• Yes, this time could be different. Biden really could unite the country.
• The media had a role to play in the rise of Trump. It’s time to hold ourselves accountable.
• A president replaced. A nation redeemed.
• Biden’s speech was a commitment to a new democracy
• Biden’s inauguration offered what America needs: A ‘return to normalcy’
• Biden’s speech was a commitment to a new democracy
• “Sense of Entitlement”: Rioters Faced Few Consequences Invading State Capitols. No Wonder They Turned to the U.S. Capitol Next. (“Armed far-right mobs met little law enforcement resistance when they repeatedly attacked state capitols.”)
• Reacting to the inauguration, Rush Limbaugh suggests Biden had “not legitimately won it” (Limbaugh’s going to be evil and insane until the end, apparently.)
• Sean Hannity attacks President Biden for not having COVID pandemic under control (As always, Hannity is a combo of evil and beyond parody.)
• Fox News after the Fox News Presidency
• Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says “I remember sitting four years when he gave one of the darkest inauguration speeches in American history…mean-spirited, no willingness to reach out”
• Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA01), Who Pushed to Overturn Election, Called Out HARD By Qasim Rashid For Claiming “Today, we witnessed the peaceful transfer of power” (Rashid: “No American should ever forget that Rob Wittman incited a white supremacist mob that tried to assassinate Speaker Pelosi & former VP Pence”)
• Video – Rep. Spanberger Statement on Inauguration of President Joe Biden: “Today is a Moment of Optimism”
• Spanberger sees inauguration as ‘a moment of optimism’
• Virginia Republicans Are Doubling Down On Election Conspiracies And Defending Insurrectionists (“Defending a far-right militia leader who violently stormed the U.S. Capitol is a new low, even for Virginia Republicans.”)
• Schapiro: For Va. GOP, the Trump hangover begins (“Caught in the middle of this conflict between lawlessness and lawfulness — and weakened by it: Virginia Republicans desperate to restore their relevance in this year’s statewide and legislative elections. It demands they be contortionists, separating themselves from Trump without appearing to do so. The strategy didn’t work while Trump was in office. There’s no guarantee it will now that he’s out.”)
• Wednesday (1/20) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +4,515 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 455,591), +165 Hospitalizations (to 20,231), +63 Deaths (to 5,861)
• Petitioning During COVID: A Campaign Nightmare
• Virginia Committee Says No Limits on Personal Campaign Donations (That’s absurd.)
• Dominion Over Everyone: How Money Flows in Virginia Politics
• Killing the Death Penalty (“Lawmakers consider bill to abolish capital punishment in Virginia”)
• VA Sen. Chap Petersen (D?-Fairfax City) Argues It’s Not Worth Closing Schools For 9 Year Olds Because Of the Death Of a 99 Year Old
• Six Republicans vie Thursday for nomination to try to succeed late Sen. Chafin; Democrat enters race (“Six Republicans are running in a firehouse primary Thursday for the party’s nomination in the 38th State Senate District. A Democrat has also announced her candidacy. A special election is being held March 23 after the coronavirus-related death of Sen. Ben Chafin.”)
• Senate marijuana panel proposes changes to Northam legalization bill, would delay sales until 2024
• Private prison, gambling and marijuana businesses showered General Assembly with campaign cash before session
• Following 1/6/21 Insurrection at U.S. Capitol, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Demands Resignation of Faaaaar-Right Del. Dave LaRock (R)
• State Senate 38th District Republican Forum Grades
• Roanoke vaccination clinics fill up within hours, as demand far outpaces supply
• CASEY: Slowpoke mail service riles customers in Roanoke and across Southwest Virginia
• Hundreds of Richmond-area real estate and credit union employees were set to be vaccinated this weekend. That changed after we asked why.
• Officers Who Stormed The Capitol Should Be Fired, Franklin Co. Group Says (Is that even a question?!?)
• Chesapeake teachers were told not to show Biden’s inauguration live in case violence erupted (WTF???)
• In New Budget, Kamras Proposes Teacher Raise, Leaves Out New Schools (“On Tuesday night, Richmond School Superintendent Jason Kamras presented his proposed budget to the school board, and explained why no new schools may be built until 2024.”)
• Northam to rename Virginia Beach’s Camp Pendleton, which honors Confederate general
• CNU, Hampton Roads Convention Center could be vaccination sites as schools plan for Phase 1b
• Mild sunshine with less wind before a dry but cold weekend