by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, February 20.
- Deadly floods in India point to a looming climate emergency in the Himalayas
- Russia Has Third Vaccine; German Incidence Rate Up: Virus Update
- U.S. Officially Rejoins Paris Climate Agreement (“The Biden Administration aims to strengthen the country’s emissions reduction pledge under the pact by Earth Day”)
- Price Check: Nations Pay Wildly Different Prices For Vaccines
- ‘Democracy must prevail’: Biden goes all-in on trans-Atlantic alliance
- Wind turbines can handle the cold just fine. Just look at Iowa and Sweden. (Yep, and they’ve been doing so for decades.)
- Putin Foe Navalny to Be Sent to Prison Camp After Losing Appeal
- Myanmar coup: fresh demonstrations follow death of protester
- Diverse Myanmar protesters united in opposition to coup
- Here’s Biden’s least bad option in Afghanistan
- Bitcoin hits $1 trillion in market value as cryptocurrency surge continues
- U.N. investigators examine 2019 plot to use Western mercenaries and U.S. weapons to topple Libyan government
- Erik Prince, Trump Ally, Violated Libya Arms Embargo, U.N. Report Says
- Incredible new images shared by Perseverance rover after Mars landing
- U.S. Is Poised to Beat China’s V-Shaped Recovery, JPMorgan Says
- Human Destruction of Nature Is “Senseless and Suicidal” (This is humanity at its absolute worst.)
- Climate change and record cold: What’s behind the arctic extremes in Texas
- How Extreme Cold Turned Into a U.S. Energy Crisis
- ‘California and Texas are warnings’: blackouts show US deeply unprepared for the climate crisis (And Republicans, of course the worst at everything, are actually busy falsely blaming the very SOLUTIONS to the problem!)
- A Quite Possibly Wonderful Summer (“Families will gather. Restaurants will reopen. People will travel. The pandemic may feel like it’s behind us—even if it’s not.”)
- With Vaccine Delay, Biden Warns of Uncertain End to Pandemic (“On a visit to a vaccine manufacturing plant in Michigan, President Biden said the nation could be ‘approaching normalcy’ by the end of the year, but said new virus variants could slow progress.”)
- When Could the United States Reach Herd Immunity? It’s Complicated.
- What 500,000 covid-19 deaths means
- About 6m vaccines delayed due to extreme frigid weather across US (Ugh.)
- Covid-19 Vaccination Delays Could Bring More Virus Variants
- Biden tours vaccine plant in Mich., pushes relief package
- Republicans Struggle to Derail Increasingly Popular Stimulus Package (Republicans working hard as usual…to screw the American people, except for the super-rich ones and big corporations, of course.)
- How Biden’s massive Covid relief bill was put on a glide path to passage (“As House Democrats prepare to push through the legislation next week, with Senate Democrats set to follow suit in short order, it’s a moment that underscores a confluence of factors on politics, policy and quiet, but wide-ranging, behind-the-scenes work that has nearly all gone Biden’s way.”)
- Extreme Cold Killed Texans in Their Bedrooms, Vehicles and Backyards
- As Texans endured days in the dark, the state failed to deliver vital emergency information
- ‘Thank God for The Texas Tribune’: Power crisis shines light on local news
- Texas journalists are providing critical information about a disaster they’re living through
- The Lessons of the Texas Power Disaster (“The entire nation’s energy delivery system needs an overhaul.” Yep, no doubt about this…let’s do it!)
- Exclusive: New York City tax agency subpoenaed in Trump criminal probe
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is Houston-bound with $2 million to help Texans after winter storm
- Texas Power Operator Sued Over Outages During Winter Storm
- What caused the Texas disaster? Decades of Republican deregulation: “Laissez-faire run amok” (“‘There are things we could have done to prevent this,’ says former Democratic lieutenant governor. ‘But we didn’t'”)
- The Texas Freeze: Why the Power Grid Failed
- State GOP lawmakers propose voting restrictions to placate Trump supporters (Absolutely unacceptable. The GOP has become the party of un-American voter suppression.)
- Why Joe Biden isn’t waiting on immigration reform
- Feds now say right-wing extremists responsible for majority of deadly terrorist attacks last year
- We must recognize the sacrifice of the officers who took their lives after Jan. 6
- Trump gears up for war with his own party (“Cocooned in Mar-a-Lago, the newly acquitted ex-president is stepping up his political activities.”)
- Democrats Beat Trump in 2020. Now They’re Asking: What Went Wrong? (“Disappointed by down-ballot losses, Democratic interest groups are joining forces to conduct an autopsy of the election results. Republicans do not yet seem willing to reckon with the G.O.P.’s major defeats.”)
- Facebook just handed its critics in Washington a lot more ammunition (“The social media giant’s ‘bullying’ of Australia worsens its problems at home.” Anti-trust time.)
- Do your job and regulate tech, Congress — or states will try to do it for you
- Mitt Romney Tears Into Donald Trump Again Amid GOP Civil War
- Lee says Romney shouldn’t be punished for impeachment vote
- Congress Finally Scrutinizes One of SCOTUS’s Most Disturbing Practices (“There’s one court reform Democrats and Republicans might actually agree on.”)
- The “Absolute and Abject Failure” of the GOP: Democratic Stars Joe Neguse and Beto O’Rourke on Trump, Cruz, and Finding Hope
- QAnon followers still think Trump will be inaugurated — on March 4. National Guard will be ready
- Trump supporters are planning to storm the Capitol again on 4 March, lawmaker warns
- Six Individuals Affiliated with the Oath Keepers Indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for Conspiracy to Obstruct Congress on Jan. 6, 2021
- U.S. alleges wider Oath Keepers conspiracy, adds more defendants in Jan. 6 Capitol riot
- The Capitol Rioters Are Starting To Face Much More Serious Charges For The Insurrection
- Cancun fallout threatens to deal lasting damage to Cruz
- How a Disaster Vacation Could Take Down Ted Cruz (The vacation but not the sedition?)
- On Cancun and the Insurrection (” The year 2021 has not been kind to Ted Cruz. We’re only two months in and he’s already attracted all sorts of attention—the wrong kind—for his role in inciting an insurrection and then for fleeing…”)
- Just how unpopular is Ted Cruz? (“A lot of politicians will enjoy his self-immolation.”)
- The Trump ‘cult’ is driving away Republican lawmakers (No Virginia Republican elected officials have left this seditionist cult, at least not yet. Why not?)
- Steve Bannon Has Regaled Us With Tales of a Grand Trumpian Restoration
- Manchin to oppose Biden’s pick for budget director, possibly sinking nomination
- Biden won’t pull Tanden nomination, says she’ll get the votes
- Rush Limbaugh’s toxic patriotism will be his worst legacy
- Flags in Florida will be lowered for Rush Limbaugh, Gov. Ron DeSantis says (For a racist, homophobe, xenophobe, all-around bigot, seditionist, etc. Yep, that’s who Ron DeSantis wants to honor. Disgusting as always with that creep.)
- The worst of The Rush Limbaugh Show
- Newsmax host launches rabid verbal attack on Joe Biden’s dog: “This dog looks like – I’m sorry – from the junkyard” (These people are completely unhinged.)
- I prayed Virginia would end the death penalty. It finally did — and gave other states hope. (by Sen. Tim Kaine)
- Video: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11), Other Speakers Explain Why It Is Absolutely CRUCIAL Congress Pass HR1, the “For the People Act” (“Every single Democrat in the U.S. House is now signed on as a co-sponsor to H.R.1!”)
- Rep. Rob Wittman Brags About Joining the HBCU Caucus; Qasim Rashid Rips Him For Having “praise[d] racists,” Demanded SCOTUS Toss Millions of Votes by Black Americans, Helped “[ignite] white supremacist-led insurrection” (Wittman is completely shameless and 100% dishonest.)
- Newsletter: RPV Chairman sends Friday night letter with an update on the nomination process
- Wason Center Polls VA Gov, LG and AG Races: “McAuliffe, Herring have head starts among Democrats; Chase leads Cox, Snyder for Republican governor bid”
- Schapiro: Old Right and the Five Trolls (“The candidates for the GOP gubernatorial nomination are pushing something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The old includes the anti-tax pledge of the once-feared Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform. “)
- The Virginia GOP Is Trapped In a Trumpian Maze Of Its Own Creation
- Judge tosses suit brought by Republican contender for Virginia governor (“State Sen. Amanda F. Chase contended that her party’s nomination plan is illegal under coronavirus rules.”)
- Chase, who refuses to wear mask, stressed COVID safety in failed lawsuit to stop GOP convention (And who says she doesn’t “do COVID” LOL)
- Local Leaders Across Virginia Endorse Attorney General Mark Herring For Re-Election
- Continuing climate change fight, Virginia lawmakers commit to clean car standards
- Breaking: Virginia Takes “Major Leap Forward for Climate Leadership” with Passage of Del. Lamont Bagby’s Clean Car Standards Bill (As usual, Republican arguments were moronic and embarrassing, in this case some variant on “you’re turning is into CALIFORNIA, oh my god!!!”)
- Virginia to shift vaccine distribution toward Black, Latino residents ages 65 and up in next few weeks
- Friday (2/19) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +2,034 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 559,930), +101 Hospitalizations (to 23,369), +8 Deaths (to 7,098)
- Walgreens, Walmart, Kroger and more pharmacies in Virginia to get COVID-19 vaccines in the next week
- Virginia’s vaccine supply expected to increase in coming weeks
- Northam urges raises of 5% for teachers, 3.5% for state workers
- State Democrats Want to Prevent Those Convicted of Domestic Abuse From Having Firearms
- State Lawmakers Working to Remove Byrd Statue, Rename Jefferson Davis Highway
- Wild Virginia Statement re: US Court of Appeals For DC Circuit Decision On “Stay” Request For Mountain Valley Pipeline Construction in Limited Areas
- UVA’s President Explains Ongoing Restrictions as COVID Cases Spike
- Rising coronavirus cases at U-Va., VMI and other Virginia colleges spark worry, lead to changes
- Gloucester School Board asks U.S. Supreme Court to review transgender policy after rulings in Gavin Grimm case
- Inmate death at Hampton Roads Regional Jail under investigation
- A wind-chilled Saturday leads to the coldest night of winter
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