by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, September 29. Also, check out Sen. Mark Warner’s comments about Twitter’s “deeply disappointing” presentation.
- As Puerto Rico Reels, ‘Where Is the Cavalry?’
- U.S. responded more forcefully to Haiti quake in 2010 than to Puerto Rico disaster (This is rapidly becoming Trump’s Katrina.)
- Krugman: Trump’s Deadly Narcissism (“In short, Trump truly is unfit for this or any high office. And the damage caused by his unfitness will just keep growing.”)
- Trump, Roy Moore, and the Craven Surrender of the GOP Establishment
- Furious Dems say urgency lacking in Puerto Rico response
- The Muted GOP Response to Roy Moore’s Anti-Muslim Prejudice (“The would-be Alabama Senator cements a Republican Party transition to acceptance of open intolerance of Muslims that is a long time coming.”)
- Donald Trump May Have Done a Lot More Than Just Take a Photo With the President of Azerbaijan (“The notoriously corrupt and repressive country boasts about its leader’s ‘conversation’ with Trump.”)
- How Trump Opened the Door to Roy Moore
- The Ongoing, Quiet Repeal (“Despite failed votes, Obamacare is being dismantled internally.” Can you imagine if Obama did something like this? The right-wing noise machine would be in overdrive, calling him a tyrant, dictator, etc.)
- Private Emails, Private Jets and Mr. Trump’s Idea of Public Service (“His promises to fight corruption look emptier by the day.”)
- Lobbyists Rally to Save Breaks Under Threat in New Tax Plan
- How Trump’s Tax Plan Would Benefit Trump (Nope, nothing corrupt about THAT, eh?)
- Trump’s tax ‘miracle’: Cowardice and dishonesty
- Price apologizes, pledges to reimburse taxpayers for part of the cost of his flights (“Price is expected to write a check for nearly $52,000, which appears to cover the cost of his seat on his charter flights but not those of his staff” Not even close to sufficient.)
- Interior secretary took $12,000 charter flight home in plane of oil executives, documents show (The epitome of the corrupt “swamp” that Trump phonily railed against.)
- The GOP tax plan is ridiculous. Here’s why. (“At best the plan is an outline, lacking crucial details, yet the White House is claiming it could boost the economy by more than 6 percent a year.”)
- Trump’s Cabinet loves living large (“Do any of our top officials understand the difference between public service and personal luxury?” We went from one of the most squeaky-clean administrations in U.S. history to one of the most corrupt. Great job, Trump voters!)
- Elon Musk: In Seven Years, SpaceX Could Land Humans on Mars (“The entrepreneur’s updated plan calls for a giant rocket that could send humans to Mars—and possibly the moon—by 2024.” Seems a wee bit optimistic, but I guess we shouldn’t underestimate Elon Musk?)
- Roy Moore’s deep devotion to the Gospel of Bannon (“His absurd claims reflect a kind of zealotry willing to call night day and day night.” Isn’t calling night day and day night a GOP specialty?)
- Distrust of Senate grows within GOP
- Protesters at Harvard greet DeVos speech on school choice (DeVos is another classic “swamp creature” who needs to go.)
- Fox erases Trump Jr.’s link to extreme far-right blog in his tweet about Russian Facebook ads(“Trump Jr. linked to far-right fringe blog Zero Hedge, but Fox deleted the link from their on-screen graphic and didn’t mention it in their sanitized report” Fox is like a Soviet/Stalinist propaganda network.)
- Why Paul Ryan went on Hannity to pledge his loyalty to Trump (Speaking of Stalinist…going on state media, essentially, and pledging loyalty to the leader? Is it possible to despise Lyin’ Ryan even more than I already do?)
- White House tries to defend Trump’s claim that he pays more under his tax plan. It’s a train wreck. (“Asked about how the plan will benefit Trump, Gary Cohn couldn’t change the topic fast enough.”)
- Tom Price took military jets abroad, bringing total cost of travel to more than $1 million (He needs to pay back every penny of that.)
- Democrats Try To Force Dream Act Vote, As GOP Rolls Out Conservative DACA Fix
- Exclusive: Kushner didn’t disclose personal email account to Senate intel committee (So…time to start those “lock him up” chants?
C’mon, Trump, what are you waiting for?) - The False Dream of a Neutral Facebook (“Mark Zuckerberg wants the platform to be seen as having a huge effect on voting—but no impact on votes.”)
- Mark Warner to Facebook: Tell Me What You Know (Social media has turned out to be, on balance, a disaster in many ways.)
- Mark Warner calls Twitter presentation to Intel panel “deeply disappointing” (“Warner said Twitter’s response was ‘frankly inadequate on almost every level’ and said that Twitter must explain to the public what happened during the 2016 election. He said that the American public should have the ability to know when they’re seeing a political ad, who’s behind it and if it’s sponsored by foreign agents on social media platforms.”)
- Northam, Stoney tout VEA report claiming Gillespie tax cut plan could steer $400 million from public schools
- Attorney General and Lawmakers Target High-Interest Loans
- Gabrielle Giffords to campaign for Ralph Northam in Virginia governor’s race (“Her gun-control PAC is also planning to spend $150,000 on the race.”)
- In a changing Virginia suburb, a slate of diverse Democrats hopes to show path back to power (“Candidates set their sights on the House of Delegates seats from Prince William, a bellwether county where strategists are watching to see whether Democrats can convert voter disapproval with President Trump into victory at the ballot box in November.”)
- Watch: Virginia gubernatorial candidates hold forum in Richmond
- Gillespie quietly rolls out second ‘Kill, Rape, Control’ attack ad against Northam (Appalling crap, this alone should disqualify “Enron Ed.”)
- State official: Without action, Virginia’s public mental hospitals will overflow by 2024
- Williams: On Amazon headquarters, Richmond’s not ready for prime time
- Chesterfield purchases land to create county’s largest regional park (Good – every county, city and state should be doing this!)
- Editorial: 2 timely ideas for region: drones and broadband
- Doug Wilder on taking down Confederate statues: Richmond schools need that money first (Why is it a tradeoff between those two things, specifically?)
- State partially accredits four Hampton schools (How is this helpful?)
- Dig out those fall clothes for now, as we’ve got nice days on repeat
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