Thursday News: “Rhetoric and Bullets”; Special Counsel Looks Into Trump Obstruction of Justice; “Virginia’s GOP Has Lost It”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, June 15.

• House majority whip in critical condition after horrific ballfield shooting (Horrible; hope he recovers.)
• Special counsel starts investigating Trump for possible obstruction of justice, officials say (“The move by Robert S. Mueller III to investigate President Trump’s own conduct marks a major turning point in the nearly year-old FBI investigation. Investigators have also been looking for any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates, officials said.”)
• Senate overwhelmingly votes to curtail Trump’s power to ease Russia sanctions
• Virginia Shooting Suspect Was Distraught Over Trump’s Election, Brother Says (So are something like 50%, 60% of Americans, but that doesn’t mean you go out and shoot people!!!)
• The Virginia mass shooter has a history of violence against women allegations (“Violence against women often precedes mass shootings.”)
• The GOP’s fantastically anti-democratic quest to kill health care in the dark
• Blow: Rhetoric and Bullets (“Violence is abhorrent and self-defeating, but vociferous resistance to national damage has nothing to do with that violence and must continue unabated. You can, as I do, have sympathy for the victims of yesterday’s shooting and condemn the shooter, while at the same time raging, nonviolently of course, against an agenda that places other Americans in very real danger.” Bingo.)
• Collins: Play Ball, and Then Gunfire (“Write a letter. Call your representative. Hold a meeting. You can demand laws to keep criminals from buying guns, or laws to keep greedy gun sellers from ignoring background checks, or laws to ban rifles that allow one person to take down several dozen victims without reloading. Even if your hopes aren’t high, keep fighting. This is a righteous cause.”)
• A madman’s bullets put a partisan Congress on the same team — at least for a while
• Beware of GOP Calls to “Tamp Down” Criticism of Trump in Wake of Shooting
• Attack Tests Movement Sanders Founded (“His most prominent followers said that blaming all of Mr. Sanders’s supporters for the actions of one was akin to blaming all Muslims for the actions of the Islamic State.” This take by the NY Times is completely assinine. To the contrary of the article’s title, Sanders supports responsible gun violence prevention measures which, if they’d been enacted into law, would help avoid shootings like the one yesterday in Alexandria. As for being against the far right, Donald Trump, etc., there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, unless we plan to outlaw political disagreement in this country.)
• G.O.P. Senators Might Not Realize It, but Not One State Supports the A.H.C.A.
• Trump picks right-wing blogger for a judgeship, his confirmation hearing was a complete train wreck (“Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to pick the guy who compared abortion to slavery?”)
• An online rush to blame ‘liberal rhetoric’ for Virginia mass shooting (Note that right wingers NEVER blame “conservative rhetoric” for shootings by right wingers. Funny how that works. Nor do they ever DO anything to solve our gun violence epidemic.)
• Republicans, the Second Amendment and gun violence: Will the GOP ever return to sanity? (“Second Amendment purists have pandered to our worst instincts for years. Will they ever face the consequences?”)
• Republican reaction to Alexandria shootings: Massive hypocrisy and loose talk of “terrorism” (“Even after the rise of Trump and an epidemic of right-wing violence, the GOP twists a tragedy to its own purposes”)
• Sessions: I can’t discuss conversations with the president. 9 legal experts: Yes, you can.
• The WaPo Obstruction Blockbuster and the World of Hurt To Come
• The big lesson from Virginia’s election: we’re still underestimating Trumpism (Not sure about that. First of all, Republican turnout Tuesday was pathetic. Second, Corey “Trump Mini-Me” Stewart didn’t win.)
• Why Fox News Is Finally Dropping Its Ridiculous “Fair & Balanced” Slogan (“Insiders told Sherman the move was made because the slogan had been ‘mocked’ and was ‘too closely associated with Roger.'” It was mocked for good reason. And no, Fox isn’t “trust” by almost anyone other than right wingnuts.)
• Virginia’s GOP Has Lost It (“Nearly making Corey Stewart its nominee for governor is only the latest sign.” Bryce Reeves is also completely bonkers, while Jill Vogel and John Adams are extreme and Ed Gillespie is a “swamp creature” extraordinaire.)
• Tom Perriello Pushed Ralph Northam Left, but Came Up Short (” Progressive insurgents should take note of what worked for Perriello—and what didn’t… Perriello had to lend his campaign $150,000 in the final stretch, and was outspent 3 to 1 on the airwaves. Our Revolution, led by former Sanders staffers, didn’t raise money for Perriello until the last week of the campaign. Grassroots donors through the PCCC contributed around $45,000, total. Insurgent candidates are going to need a lot more than that to compete with party machines…Northam is very likely to become governor in November—and thanks in part to Perriello, he will be a very progressive one.”)
• Maybe Democrats Aren’t Such a Hot Mess After All (“We were told the party was still fighting the 2016 primary. But the Virginia governor’s race is teaching us something rather different.”)
• In Virginia, Democrats Win and Republicans Lose (“The state’s gubernatorial primary races show that the momentum is all with the Democrats… Northam received nearly as many votes as were cast in the entire Republican primary, suggesting that Democrats have close to a two-to-one advantage with energized voters heading into the general election. And Stewart and Gillespie won’t be holding hands anytime soon.”)
• Delegate Simon’s Richmond Report (“When Tom Perriello announced his candidacy I predicted it would be good for Virginia. And I still think it has been.”)
• McAuliffe renews call for gun control measures following shootings of congressman, others in Alexandria (That, of course, is what this is about – the proliferation of guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. Tragically, Republicans are in the pocket of the “nutjob, extremist” NRA and thus refuse to do anything about the situation.)
• Conceding defeat in close GOP primary, Stewart says Gillespie must “fight” to win over his supporters
• Democrats look unified, Republicans in disarray in wake of Va. gubernatorial primary (“Perriello backs Northam, but Stewart won’t support nominee Gillespie.”)
• Republican Corey Stewart is weighing Senate run against Tim Kaine in 2018 (LOL,
  go for it dude!)
• She is transgender. He proposed a ‘bathroom bill.’ They’re running against each other in Northern Virginia. (I knew this would be catnip for the media. And yes, it’s a good story, but c’mon guys, there are lots of other great candidates and great races to cover — please do so.)
• Editorial: A deeper look at the primary results (“Vogel will either become the second woman to hold statewide office (former Democratic attorney general Mary Sue Terry was the first) or Fairfax will become the second African-American to hold statewide office (Wilder, of course, was the first).”)
• Two surprising — and mostly positive — results from Virginia’s primary (The sneering, dripping condescension by Lee Hockstader here is utterly typical of him; same thing he showed towards “activist passion” when I met him at a Jim Webb rally in 2006 and he looked absolutely appalled by Webb supporters’ “passion.”)
• Chesapeake Bay’s summer ‘dead zone’ may grow larger, scientists say
• ormer Alexandria mayor regularly talked to Hodgkinson prior to shootings (“Former Alexandria mayor Bill Euille said he had talked with suspected gunman James T. Hodgkinson regularly at the local YMCA in Alexandria, Va.”)
• U-Va. student, scion of Republican family, charged with rape, forcible sodomy
• Editotial: Former Congressman keeps on fighting (Yes, the Republican Times-Disgrace actually misspelled “Editorial” as “Editotial” – LOL!)
• CASEY: Roanoke Tea Party strikes out in board of supervisors elections
• Summer heat eases; Small chances for storms through the weekend