Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, August 31. Also, I watched most of this great discussion yesterday with historian Doris Kearns Goodwin at the 2014 National Book Festival. This woman is truly a national treasure; a fascinating conversation on Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, LBJ, JFK and…Barack Obama.
*Ukrainian port city fears it’s next in rebels’ sights
*Ferguson isn’t about black rage against cops. It’s white rage against progress.
*When Whites Just Don’t Get It (“After Ferguson, Race Deserves More Attention, Not Less”)
*Democrats Seek to Rally Blacks in Bid to Retain Senate Control (“Democrats are trying to mobilize African-Americans outraged by the shooting in Ferguson, Mo., to help them retain control of at least one chamber of Congress”)
*America’s real ice bucket challenge (“85 percent of the federal government’s spending increases between now and 2024 will be consumed by just three items: Social Security (which will claim 28 percent of the increase), Medicare and other health-care programs (32 percent) and interest on the debt (25 percent). Spending on everything else – military and domestic programs alike – would fall to the lowest proportion of the economy since at least 1940” That’s not acceptable.)
*Schapiro: Conviction or not, McDonnell scandal alters Virginia politics (“The historic five-week trial will lay waste to the notion of the ‘Virginia way,’ a quaint concept that elections and governance are conducted with mannered dignity by men and women who – because they have an agonizing sense of public mission – know what’s best for the rest of us.” Good riddance to a ridiculous notion.)
*Whose ‘truth’ will McDonnell jurors believe?
*In Virginia, thousands of day cares operate without government oversight (But wait, I thought Republicans always say that the answer to everything is LESS regulation. Hmmmm.)
*Oil train wrecks prompt scrutiny (Yet again, Republicans want LESS regulation when we actually need much tighter regulation in this case.)
*A river of cash, and much of it legal (“The McDonnells received huge sums in legal gifts, thanks to loose campaign-giving laws in Virginia.” Again, more regulation – not less, as Republicans argue – is needed here.)
*Broken plastic DVD case may have killed whale (We’ve got to stop spewing pollution into our air and water ASAP.)
*Elect Norfolk’s School Board
*Nats’ ace delivers a superb outing (“Stephen Strasburg submits one of his best starts of the season as the Nationals turn back Seattle, 3-1.”)
*Warm and sticky heading into Labor Day. Stormy too?
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