Friday News: “The Two Key Dates From Biden’s First Prime-Time Address” – May 1 and July 4; “McConnell in full-blown panic that Democrats will get credit for saving the economy”; “Progressives, Meet Your New Hero: Joe Biden”; “Appeals court takes up Fairfax’s defamation case against CBS”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, March 12.

• Massive $3 billion wind, solar and battery project approved in South Australia
• China’s Dirty Recovery Will Make Curbing Climate Change Tougher
• Italy braces for widespread closures as Covid cases rise
• Ten years later, the Syrian revolution is not over
• China rewrites Hong Kong’s election rules to guarantee Beijing “patriots” stay in power (“Another blow to Hong Kong.”)
• Lockdown hits UK GDP less than feared, but Brexit pummels trade
• The Risk of Letting Big Finance Write Its Own Climate Rules
• France’s Biggest Insurer Dumps German Power Giant Over Coal (“The decision is precedent-setting for the insurance industry.”)
• Russia Wants to Vaccinate Nearly 1 in 10 on the Planet This Year
• India’s degraded and downgraded democracy
• Israeli Strikes Target Iranian Oil Bound for Syria
• EU Battery Ambitions to Get $1.1 Billion Research Boost
• Israeli real-world data on Pfizer vaccine shows high Covid protection
• It’s Still ‘America First’ on Vaccines as Russia, China Fill Gap
• As vaccine nationalism deepens, governments pay to bring production home
• States with Republican governors had highest Covid incidence and death rates, study finds
• How scientists correctly predicted the pandemic would last more than a year
• All of the coronavirus vaccines can save lives. Take whichever you can get.
• AP-NORC poll: 1 in 5 in US lost someone close in pandemic
• The Lessons of One of the Worst Years in American Life
• Biden’s Goal for the Nation: July 4 Gatherings With Close Family
• Biden’s speech promised Covid-19 vaccines for all US adults in May. It’s really possible. (“Covid-19 vaccines truly are coming for everyone soon… By the end of this month, the pharmaceutical companies have indicated they’ll produce and ship more than 3 million vaccines a day. If states manage to turn those doses into shots in arms as they get them, the US could vaccinate around 150 million to 160 million Americans before May — roughly two-thirds of US adults.”)
• Fact Sheet: President Biden to Announce All Americans to be Eligible for Vaccinations by May 1, Puts the Nation on a Path to Get Closer to Normal by July 4th
• Key takeaways from Biden’s 1st prime-time address to the nation
• The Memo: Nation rallies for Biden on his COVID-19 response
• President Biden Signs Sweeping Stimulus Package Into Law (“The $1.9 trillion relief bill is among the largest anti-poverty measures in US history.”)
• Joe Biden’s Line Of The Night Shows His Biggest Difference From Donald Trump (“The president’s speech included a line that’s hard to imagine coming from his predecessor.”)
• Transcript: Joe Biden delivers remarks on 1-year anniversary of pandemic
• ‘I need you’: Biden asks Americans to do their part to help country emerge from Covid crisis
• Biden Sees Normalcy Returning by Summer as Vaccinations Surge
• Biden Says Everyone Should Be Eligible for Shots May 1, Promises Working Website You Can Use to Find Them (“What Biden introduced in his speech were two dates: May 1 and July 4”)
• Biden set a July 4 goal for some normalcy, with caveats. Here are takeaways from his speech.
• Biden tells Americans that only we together can defeat the virus
• Joe Biden Is a Transformational President
• Yellen Says Americans to Start Seeing Payments This Weekend
• Biden will direct states to make all adults eligible for Covid vaccine by May 1
• Fauci’s star rises as relationship with Biden deepens
• Progressives, Meet Your New Hero: Joe Biden
• Joe Biden Knew He Was Onto Something Long Before We Did (“The advent of Covid-19 changed his conception of the presidency for the better”)
• Native American tribes lead the way on coronavirus vaccinations
• The Republican Freshman Class Is a Tribute to Our Nation’s Notorious Local Bozos
• DOJ seeks to build large conspiracy case against Oath Keepers for Jan. 6 riot
• National Guard’s Presence at the Capitol After Riot to Cost $521 Million
• Even Trump’s Defense Secretary During the Capitol Riot Blames Him for Inciting It
• Can Cyrus Vance, Jr., Nail Trump? (“Insiders say that the Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation has dramatically intensified since the former President left office. ‘It’s like night and day,’ says one. According to another, ‘They mean business.'”)
• Democrats debate fast-track for infrastructure package
• Biden Is Vetting BIPOC Judicial Nominees After Trump Filled The Courts With Mostly White Men
• After opposing wildly popular stimulus package, GOP hopes to gnaw away at public support (“Republicans flee in all directions: They’ll take credit for parts of the package, while claiming it’s useless”)
• McConnell in full-blown panic that Democrats will get credit for saving the economy
• ‘Everybody Shouldn’t Be Voting,’ Republican Blurts Out
• As GOP lawmakers look to pass new voting restrictions, some conservatives are pushing back
• Biden needs to do the right thing for migrants, so the GOP can’t lie about them
• The real lesson of the feud between Susan Collins and Chuck Schumer (“This is a teachable moment, but in an entirely different way: It shows yet again how confused and obfuscatory our discourse is around ‘bipartisanship.'”)
• Nancy Pelosi is a force of nature (“The House speaker was in fine form on Thursday after passage of the covid-19 relief bill.”)
• Senate Democrats plan to reintroduce energy tax reform bill, focus on long-term incentives (“The Clean Energy for America Act could include technology-neutral incentives rather than wind- and solar-specific credits, and would aim to move beyond the current cycle of short-term incentive extensions to a more permanent approach, according to Bobby Andres, senior policy adviser to Democrats on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.” Also, get rid of ALL corporate welfare and subsidies of any kind – direct or indirect – for fossil fuels.)
• Facebook, Google fight bill that would help U.S. news industry
• What Chris Wray didn’t say: Unpacking the FBI chief’s wobbly Capitol riot testimony (“FBI director left many questions unanswered and spun multiple stories — but at least he didn’t indulge the wackos”)
• Jan. 6 aftershocks worsen as ‘Cold War’ in the House escalates
• Far-right supporters move to open source to evade censorship
• Amazon Won’t Sell Books Framing LGBTQ+ Identities as Mental Illnesses
• Latest Accusation Against Cuomo Is Referred to Albany Police
• New York Assembly authorizes new probe of Cuomo sexual misconduct allegations
• Andrew Cuomo Aides Called Former Staffers to Discredit Accuser
• Tucker Carlson faces massive backlash after he insulted women serving in the military (“Women tweet photos of their service, sending Carlson a message: ‘If you’re looking for a mockery, look in the mirror'”)
• Tucker Carlson’s Opinion on Pregnant Military Women Based on ‘Zero Days’ of Service: Space Command Official
• Sen. Tammy Duckworth Blasts Fox News Host For Mocking Women in Military: ‘F*ck Tucker Carlson’
• Fox News spreads dangerous conspiracy theories about migrants, calling them agents of drug cartels (“Fox’s continued dangerous rhetoric on immigration shows it has learned nothing from El Paso shooting in 2019”)
• Ken Cuccinelli says Biden is ‘personally responsible’ for crisis at the border (Bonkers and xenophobic as always.)
• Georgetown Law professor terminated after ‘reprehensible’ comments about Black students
• Video: Sen. Mark Warner on President Biden Signing the American Rescue Plan into Law (“This moment is too pivotal to risk doing too little and the future of our country is well worth the investment”)
• Sen. Tim Kaine Statement on American Rescue Plan Becoming Law; Video of His Floor Speech
• Former Rep. Riggleman (R-VA05) Rips VA-Gov Republican Candidates For Use of “STOP THE STEAL language wrapped in ‘election integrity’”
• Abigail Spanberger column: One year in, keeping our momentum in the fight against COVID-19
• Spanberger demonstrates leadership on climate issues
• Virginia Republican Candidates’ Election Conspiracies Add More Fuel to Ongoing Chaos in GOP Civil War (“Glenn Youngkin and the rest of the extremist Republican candidates in this field are either hopelessly detached from reality, or they are cynically peddling dangerous conspiracy theories to get ahead in this primary”)
• Suddenly flush, Va. revenues up by $1 billion with tax refunds lagging, federal money coming
• New Report Strongly Implies That the Virginia Clean Economy Act’s 2045/2050 Timeframe Is At Least a Decade Too Slow
• Anonymous attacks in the GOP gubernatorial race continue to scare party operatives
• Video: Like Clockwork, VA GOP Governor’s Contest Starts Nasty, Xenophobic, False, Trump/Cuccinelli-Style Immigrant Bashing(Pete Snyder attacks “sanctuary cities,” “open borders,” etc, etc.)

Split opposition boosts McAuliffe’s comeback bid in Virginia (“With multiple women and people of color in the Democratic primary, groups that typically support those candidates are mostly sitting out the race so far.”)

• Editorial: Parole board dispute deserves full investigation
• Gov. Northam releases Environmental Justice Report
• Thursday (3/11) Virginia Data on COVID-19 Finds +1,250 Confirmed/Probable Cases (to 590,625), +136 Hospitalizations (to 25,061), +53 Deaths (to 9,902)
• Editorial: Community institutions and spaces are driving Virginia’s vaccine successes
• Officials should have been more forthcoming on investigation into woman’s death after vaccination
• Video: “Virginia People’s Debate” Between Democratic Lt. Governor Candidates
• Sam Rasoul Introduces Plan To Support Older Virginians And Lower Drug Prices
• Virginia is set to become the first southern state with its own voting rights act. Here’s what it does
• On environmental justice, Democrats split over the best path forward
• Appeals court takes up Fairfax’s defamation case against CBS (“A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond heard arguments Thursday from a lawyer for Fairfax, who is seeking to have his defamation lawsuit against CBS reinstated after a district court judge dismissed the case last year. CBS News broadcast interviews in 2019 with two women who accused Fairfax of sexual assault. Fairfax denies wrongdoing and accuses CBS of ignoring evidence that would cast doubt on their allegations.”)
• Without Ballad merger, monitor says Virginians could have lost health care when they needed it most
• Denial of Mountain Valley Pipeline permit reversed by federal appeals court
• A year of COVID: A VCU Health student finally gets his chance to fight the pandemic
• Virginia Beach City Council: No investigative powers for board that reviews complaints against police (“The council’s position disappointed community activists who have been lobbying the city to make the civilian review board more effective and transparent.”)
• Appeal options for George Huguely, killer of Yeardley Love, continue to dwindle
• In Virginia Beach, white students are nearly twice as likely to return for in-person classes as Black students
• How a longtime Virginia Beach Republican left the party of Trump and became a Democratic candidate
• Atkins to retire after 15 years at the helm of Charlottesville City Schools
• D.C.-area forecast: Not as warm but still comfortable today, with a few showers possible