by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, May 10.
- Trump offers a hero’s welcome to 3 Americans freed by North Korea
- Israel launches massive military strike against Iranian targets in Syria
- Tensions rise in Middle East after Trump withdraws U.S. from Iran deal (“As if things needed to get any worse.”)
- America Keeps Accidentally Helping Iran (“By scrapping the nuclear deal, President Trump is following the established U.S. playbook of aiding Tehran.”)
- Iran’s Door to the West Is Slamming Shut, and That Leaves China (“Trump wants to punish Iran, Xi wants it on his new Silk Road”)
- The United States Is a Country That Tortures People (“We will do it again if you scare us enough.”)
- Cohen Got Millions for Insider Access Outside White House (“Through a secretive shell company, Michael Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, was paid by major corporations and a law firm for help navigating Washington in the Trump era.”)
- How Michael Cohen Profited Off His Meager Trump Administration Expertise
- A New Low (“The emerging scandal over Michael Cohen’s consulting could take presidential corruption to another level.”)
- Editorial: Until Gina Haspel Denounces Torture, She Shouldn’t Lead the C.I.A.
- Trump’s Shadowy Money Trail (“Questions about his finances, and about whether his campaign helped Russia hack the 2016 election, need to be asked in the same breath.”)
- CIA Nominee Gina Haspel Won’t Say If Torture Is Immoral (That alone should disqualify her.)
- McCain urges Senate to reject Haspel’s nomination (McCain is absolutely right about this.)
- Trump suggests pulling credentials from ‘corrupt’ media (That’s third-world authoritarian, banana-republic behavior right there.)
- Scott Pruitt Is Trying to Fix His Ethical Nightmare With…Another Ethical Nightmare (“He would be better off resigning.”)
- Pardoning Michael Cohen This Early In The Mueller Investigation Could Be Trouble For Trump
- Kaine: Deadly Niger mission was unauthorized (Can you imagine if this had happened under Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? Fox would be 24/7 with this story.)
- Republicans move to force DACA vote in defiance of Ryan (“A faction of centrist lawmakers hopes to pressure GOP leaders and the president into reaching an immigration deal”)
- Pro-reform House Republicans could bypass Paul Ryan and force a DACA vote (“Seventeen GOP Representatives have signed a discharge petition. With a handful more, it could get interesting.”)
- George Will: Pence has chosen to be ‘horrifying’ (“Conservative commentator George Will dubbed Vice President Mike Pence ‘the worst person in government,’ in an op-ed published in The Washington Post on Wednesday.” There’s a lot of competition for that “honor,” but good see a right winger calling out Pence for embracing the evil Joe Arpaio, “a grandstanding, camera-chasing bully and darling of the thuggish right.”)
- Trump is no longer the worst person in government
- California Will Require Solar Power for New Homes (Virginia should require new buildings to meet stringent energy efficiency codes.)
- White student calls police on black student napping in Yale dorm (OK, seriously – WTF is wrong with white people sometimes????)
- ‘When gerrymandering backfires’: Democrats go after once-safe GOP seats (“Republican redistricting maximized GOP gains in past years, but it could exacerbate the party’s losses in 2018.”)
- Women trounce men on first major primary night of the year (“But, overwhelmingly, it was Democratic women winning nominations in Republican-leaning districts.”)
- This is the website the Russian-linked company that paid Michael Cohen $500K didn’t want you to see (“The internet never forgets.”)
- The rise of the American news desert (“Predominantly white rural areas supported Trump. They also often lack robust local media.”)
- Trump and His Administration Are a Parasite on American Government (“The blight of corruption is festering beneath the surface.”)
- Failed West Virginia candidate Don Blankenship attacks Trump in post-defeat open letter (“You, yourself, also spread fake news against me. Your interference in the West Virginia election displayed a lack of understanding of the likely outcome of the upcoming general election”)
- Brat Says Trump is Right on Iran Treaty – Kaine Says He’s Wrong (Has Dave Brat ever been right about anything?)
- Six Months Out: The 10 Most Vulnerable House Incumbents (#2 is Barbara Comstock)
- Big Donors Form New Alliance to Seize House From Republicans (“Paperwork to form the House Victory Project was filed last month with the Federal Election Commission and it listed 10 initial Democratic House candidates: Tom Malinowski and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey; Jason Crow of Colorado; Susie Lee of Nevada; Brad Ashford of Nebraska; Angie Craig of Minnesota; Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Florida; Elissa Slotkin of Michigan; Elaine Luria of Virginia; and Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona.”)
- Tuesday’s Most Important Victory Didn’t Go to Any Candidate (“Ohio voted to fix its redistricting system.”)
- Hugh Hewitt used his MSNBC gig to praise efforts to weaken a law that his firm’s client is accused of violating (“After the Pruitt scandal, another Hugh Hewitt problem at MSNBC”)
- Samantha Bee: ‘Man, getting answers out of Trump’s CIA nominee is torture’
- US cities losing 36 million trees a year, researchers find (Ugh, we need to be GAINING 36 million trees a year, not losing them!)
- You can’t keep a good culture warrior down: The return of Oliver North
- Trump White House quietly cancels NASA research verifying greenhouse gas cuts (Appalling.)
- Everyone Wants to Be the Next Attorney General of New York (This will be fascinating.)
- Democrats Haven’t Won This Virginia Seat In Nearly 40 Years. Will Donald Trump Change That? (“If Democrats have any shot of taking back the House of Representatives from Republicans this fall, they’ll need to win races like Virginia’s 10th Congressional District.”)
- At Dominion shareholder meeting, pipeline opponents address CEO directly (“Mr. Farrell, do you feel Dominion’s profits are more important than people’s lives and the planet?” Obviously, the answer to that question is a resounding YES by Farrell.)
- ACLU report critical of solitary confinement in Virginia prisons, calls for limiting the practice to no more than 15 days
- Southwest Virginia legislator targets opioid crisis
- State’s position on releasing info about child abuser is cowardly (“The Department of Corrections has been tight-lipped on how it kept tabs on John Tucker Hardee, who’s now been charged in the death of a 2-year-old girl.”)
- Virginia to take part in national drone testing program, Virginia Tech to manage operations
- Stop Playing Games With Virginia’s Budget
- Jim Oliver: No good reason to elect School Board
- Clouds and humidity return with a chance of late-day storms
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