by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, April 20.
- March set a remarkable new record for global warming, NOAA reports (“First time any month was more than 1.8°F warmer than normal ‘in the absence of an El Niño episode.'” Stop emitting greenhouse gases ASAP and switch to inexhaustible, increasingly low-priced clean energy!)
- Once critical of global deals, Trump slow to pull out of any (Yep, Trump supporters were suckered.)
- Trump Probably Won’t Defy Midterm Gravity (“Here’s the other thing we know and which cases like the Georgia special election on Tuesday — and the one in Kansas last week — serve to demonstrate: Trump can’t defy gravity. These were bad results for Republicans. They’re consistent with what you’d expect from a public that would like to elect some Democrats to counterbalance an unpopular president and the Republicans’ hold on both branches of Congress.”)
- Blow: A Fake and a Fraud (“Trump sold himself as a populist only to line his own pockets. Trump built his entire reputation not as the champion of the common man, but by curating his image as a crude effigy of the cultural elite.”)
- Kristof: The North Korea-Trump Nightmare (“President Trump is scary in many ways, but perhaps the most frightening nightmare is of him blundering into a new Korean war.”)
- Collins: Paging the Trump Armada (“When it comes to Trump and foreign affairs, the big problem is that you want to be fair, but you don’t want to encourage him. A lot of Americans liked the idea of responding to a chemical attack in Syria by bombing a Syrian air base. But if the president thought it was popular, wouldn’t he get carried away? It’s like praising a 4-year-old for coloring a picture, and the next thing you know he’s got his crayons out, heading for the white sofa.”)
- The Trump administration just quietly admitted that the Iran deal is working (Yet ANOTHER thing the Obama administration did right.)
- Trump’s campaign legal fees top $4 million
- Tom Brady Skips Patriots’ White House Visit Along With Numerous Teammates
- No, Mr. President, you can’t do what you want
- The Supreme Court jumps into a playground fight over a phony war on religion (“Conservative groups hope to chip away at constitutional provisions in 39 states restricting taxpayer money from going to churches.”)
- O’Reilly’s departure creates new challenges for Fox (The country and the world would be so much better off if Fox died.)
- Exclusive: After Bill O’Reilly’s Ouster, Fox Executives Fear “There’s More to Come”
- O’Reilly Out at Fox News as Harassment Claims Pile Up
- The All-Spin Zone (“Bill O’Reilly’s long career of transforming B.S. into ‘common sense.'” Pro tip: if you hear a right winger mouth the words “common sense,” you know they’re completely full of crap on, well, everything basically.)
- Still a Factor (“O’Reilly is gone, but his ugly brand of egotism and resentment is here to stay.” The fact that this scumbag had an audience is what’s disturbing.)
- Fox Replaces O’Reilly With Guy Who Thinks It’s Funny to Joke About Ejaculating on a Woman in Work Email (Tucker Carlson is, if it’s humanly possible, as bad as O’Reilly.)
- Why is Jason Chaffetz running away? A rising Republican star doesn’t just retire from Congress for nothing (Good riddance! But yeah, wonder why…)
- How the right-wing Koch and DeVos families are funding hate speech on college campuses across the US
- Bill O’Reilly’s firing from Fox News won’t erase his legacy of bullying and humiliation
- Andrew Sullivan and the “model minority” myth: Columnist unintentionally reminds us that racism is the force that gives conservatives meaning (“In a New York magazine column, the ‘principled’ conservative reveals the movement’s deep-seated racist assumptions”)
- Kentucky coal company announces plans to build the state’s largest solar farm (We need this in southwestern Virginia.)
- Editorial: Virginia finally makes a move on pot
- Dominion Bets Big on Establishment Candidates Northam, Gillespie in Virginia Governor’s Race
- Perriello, Northam, dark money and Avaaz
- Back in Loudoun, Bennett Looks to Help Next Wave of Democrats
- Virginia Supreme Court hears pipeline cases (“The Virginia Supreme Court heard two cases Wednesday challenging a controversial state law that allows surveyors to enter private property without the owner’s consent to study their land for a possible natural gas pipeline route.”)
- Democrat Roger Dean Huffstetler to run against Garrett in 5th
- Virginia legalizing marijuana anytime soon? Probably not, lawmakers say
- Democrat Jennifer Wexton says she will challenge Rep. Barbara Comstock (“Democrats say the state senator from Loudoun County is a strong contender” Interesting. Now let’s see if Dorothy McAuliffe throws her hat in the ring.)
- Prince William Clerk of Court Race Loss is Warning for November
- Forget Georgia. Virginia Democrats say victory in obscure local race signals end of Trump.
- Gov. McAuliffe can prevent Virginia from executing an innocent man (“There is too much doubt regarding Ivan Teleguz’s guilt.” Just leave him in jail.)
- Metro’s general manager has a smart plan for survival. Good luck. (“The transit system’s funders need to get on board with Paul Wiedefeld, before it’s too late.”)
- Megabus Adding Stop in Virginia Beach
- Norfolk school officials plead their case to City Council for additional $10 million in funding
- Big wins for Caps, Wizards and Nats
- Warm today and Friday; cooler this weekend with soaking rain Sunday
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