Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, February 24. Also, check out likely 2017 Republican candidate for statewide office Pete Snyder basically laughing off Rudy Guiliani’s despicable remarks about President Obama (“I do not believe that the president loves America … He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.” Giuliani also claimed his remarks weren’t racist because Barack Obama “was brought up by a white mother, a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of this he learned from white people.” Oh, and Giuliani added, “From the time he was 9 years old, [Barack Obama] was influenced by Frank Marshall Davis, who was a communist.”) So…yeah, that’s the vitriol and slime that Pete Snyder’s defending.
*Republicans divided as DHS shutdown looms (Yep, Republicans are moving to shut down a part of the government – this time, the part that helps protect us from terrorist attacks and other threats. What a party!)
*Scott Walker’s insidious standards (Again, what a party!)
*A deranged GOP (“Why Giuliani’s burst of nonsense matters.”)
*Washington Post: On Homeland Security funding, Republicans govern without logic (And on a lot of other things, too, from climate change to the Affordable Care Act to…you name it, pretty much.)
*Bill O’Reilly and Fox News Redouble Defense of His Falklands Reporting
*CBS Has Released The Falklands Protest Footage Bill O’Reilly Asked For. It Doesn’t Support His Claims.
*VA secretary sorry for false special forces claim
*Va. lawmakers won’t disclose income from other state jobs (They absolutely need to be disclosing this stuff, even if corrupt jerks like Tommy Norment don’t like it.)
*Va. budget negotiators reach agreement (“The deal rejects fee increases and Medicaid expansion but embraces other McAuliffe spending priorities.”)
*Va. lawmakers get more time to redraw districts (“The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia moved the April 1 deadline to either Sept. 1 or 60 days after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a pending appeal from congressional Republicans, whichever comes first.”)
*Va. Senate defeats bill to require attorney general to defend state law (Crazy bill, good riddance.)
*Israel resolution sparks passion, controversy, in Va. House (The reason is not support for Israel, it’s the language of this specific resolution, which is over the top, extreme, and in conflict with decades of official U.S. and Israeli policy, plus U.N. Security Council resolutions, about the future status of “occupied territories.”)
*Amendment to solar energy bill aids Dominion
*General Assembly notebook: Senate panel backs extenstion of autism insurance mandate
*Public safety: Off the rails (“The recent derailment of a CSX train carrying volatile crude oil to Yorktown has raised a host of issues that need a better public airing – among them, where such trains are at any given time and where they are going.”)
*General Assembly briefs: Senators welcome back Puller and Lucas
*Virginia in minority with lack of legislative video, audio archives (It’s actually available, albeit with a delay, over at Richmond Sunlight. But yeah, it’s nuts that the General Assembly doesn’t just provide it, as do a lot of Virginia cities and counties.)
*Our view: No secret ballot for these voters
*Montgomery County supervisors quiz Mountain Valley Pipeline representatives
*Loudoun board member quits race for chairman after legal woes surface
*Virginia measure could put PETA out of the animal shelter business
*Extreme February cold ices over most of Chesapeake Bay in rare event
*Temperatures to remain 10 to 20 degrees below normal in D.C. area
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