Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, December 30. The image is from CenLamar.com, and specifically its story, “House Majority Whip Steve Scalise Was Reportedly an Honored Guest at 2002 International White Supremacist Convention.”
*Bodies recovered in search for missing plane
*Rep. Scalise confirms he spoke to white nationalists (“A spokeswoman for the House majority whip says the Republican was unaware of the group’s ideology in 2002.”)
*Former KKK leader says his political adviser was ‘friendly’ with Rep. Scalise (Ah, Republicans…what a party!)
*Michael Grimm resigning from Congress (Ah, Republicans…what a party!)
*NY Times Editorial Board: Police Respect Squandered in Attacks on de Blasio (“With these acts of passive-aggressive contempt and self-pity, many New York police officers, led by their union, are squandering the department’s credibility, defacing its reputation, shredding its hard-earned respect. They have taken the most grave and solemn of civic moments – a funeral of a fallen colleague – and hijacked it for their own petty look-at-us gesture.”With these acts of passive-aggressive contempt and self-pity, many New York police officers, led by their union, are squandering the department’s credibility, defacing its reputation, shredding its hard-earned respect. They have taken the most grave and solemn of civic moments – a funeral of a fallen colleague – and hijacked it for their own petty look-at-us gesture.” Bingo.)
*Economic facts get in the way (“Uh-oh. Now that the economy is doing well, what are Republicans – especially those running for president – going to complain about? And what are Democrats willing to celebrate?”)
*The Pope Thinks Climate Change Is a Major Threat. So Do American Catholics. (“Most Catholics say global warming is a ‘crisis’ or a ‘major problem.'”)
*The 10 Worst Civil Liberties Violations of 2014 (When “The great torture shrug” only clocks in at #7, you know it was a horrible year.)
*Thomas Piketty Won 2014 (Definitely one of the most interesting books I read in 2014, along with Francis Fukuyama’s “Origins of Political Order/Political Order and Political Decay”)
*Potential Hillary Challenger Paid Nearly $100,000 In Campaign Donations To His Family (“Jim Webb’s family has made quite a bit of money from his political career.” Yikes.)
*Virginia House Democrats hope to ‘create dilemmas’ for Republicans (Politics 101, what else is new? I’m sure Republicans are similarly strategizing, which is 100% to be expected.)
*Maureen McDonnell’s daughter trashes her mother to help her father (“So, Maureen McDonnell wrestled the Rolex on him? Muscled him into Willams’s private jet? Held him at wife-point until he drove the Ferrari and smiled for the camera? Frog-marched him into the fancy country clubs?”)
*Gilmore raises national profile, won’t rule out presidential bid (Hahahahahahahahahaha.)
*What’s Driving Jim Webb’s Potential Bid for President in 2016? (“Since his exploratory launch Nov. 19, Webb has appeared only once before the media in Richmond, Virginia, and hasn’t traveled to an early primary state. His private outreach to potential supporters is mostly being steered by himself and a couple of trusted aides from his Senate tenure. He has not been in personal touch with the state party head in any of the three early nominating states. A spokeswoman told U.S. News he was not available for an interview for this story.”)
*Our view: McAuliffe’s plan for a voting-machine upgrade warrants bipartisan support
*Virginia’s average gas prices have fallen for 182 consecutive days (It’s good to see Republicans, who blamed Barack Obama for high gasoline prices, now give him credit for low gasoline prices. Oh wait…)
*Richmond contribution to Redskins for 2014 not yet finalized (“Another disheartening season for the Washington Redskins came to a merciful end Sunday, but the numbers aren’t in yet on what Richmond will pony up for having hosted the team’s 2014 training camp.” Richmond should contribute zero to this super-wealthy franchise.)
*Joe fights back (Don’t be surprised if Morrissey wins on 1/13/15.)
*Williams: In Morrissey aftermath, Democrats’ process hurts everyone
*Dumfries mayor runs for 36th state Senate district
*Herbert E. Harris II, former congressman from Northern Virginia, dies at 88
*D.C. area forecast: Shifting to sunny this afternoon, staying colder through New Year’s, then rainy by weekend
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