New Years Day 2016 News: President Obama on the “Epidemic of Gun Violence” and What We Need to Do About It

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, New Years Day 2016.

• Donald Trump Thanks Conspiracy Site For ‘Amazing Honor’ Of Being Its Man Of The Year (There should be a bunch of automatic disqualifiers for holding public office in America – climate science denial, for instance, or appeals to bigotry or violence. Add to that list being a wacked-out conspiracy theorist, as Donald Trump sure appears to be.)
• Obama to unveil new gun control curbs (Finally, some action!)
• 2015 was a grim year for American gun violence
• Women’s rights at stake: How the Supreme Court and abortion laws will shape the 2016 election (“It doesn’t seem like it now, but come primary season, abortion might be the No. 1 issue for many GOP voters”)
• Ben Carson’s top staffers resign in a delayed campaign shake-up
• Carson’s new campaign chairman is a Christian soldier who ‘believes’ in him (Yikes.)
• Jeb Bush Says No Need For Federal Investigation In Tamir Rice Case (And he thinks the case took place in Chicago, not in Cleveland where it actually happened. Oh, and he also called the Attorney General “he,” when of course it’s a woman, Loretta Lynch. In short, “JEB” knows nothin’ about nothing’.)
• Republican Demographic Problems Aren’t Just For the Future Anymore (“Hispanics and young whites have become significantly more Democratic.”)
• Washington Post: Harold Meyerson column dropped because he failed to attract readers (This is sad; if newspapers are going to base their content overwhelmingly on clicks, eyeballs, etc, do they just become a “give the people what they want” – sex! scandal! violence! crazy weather! – and ditch a lot of important substance?)
• The Shad Ranking: The year that was in 2015 Virginia politics
• Some significant transportation projects coming to Va. in 2016
• Numbers don’t always give us the bottom line for transportation plans (“If you give drivers more lane space, it won’t be long before they fill it up. Then what?”)
• Virginia eyes new sentences after juries not told about parole (“A task force found many courts would not tell juries whether Virginia had abolished parole.”)
• Enrollment challenges at several colleges in Virginia and Maryland
• Lookin’ at 2016: Big dreams for a big year to come
• D.C. area forecast: A new year and a new chillier weather pattern