Tuesday News: “How News Networks Should Cover Someone Like Donald Trump”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, March 29. Also, watch President Obama skewer the media for its pathetic coverage of this year’s presidential race (and, I’d add, almost everything else).

• EgyptAir passenger plane hijacked and diverted to Cyprus (“A flight from Alexandria to Cairo with dozens of passengers was hijacked by a man who said he had an explosive belt, Egyptian authorities said. Negotiations have resulted in the release of most passengers, and there have been conflicting reports about the hijacker’s motive.”)
• FBI accesses phone of San Bernardino shooter without Apple’s help
• Alleged Capitol gunman charged in shooting incident
• Trump’s popularity nosedives in critical stretch (“How bad are Trump’s image ratings? The HuffPost Pollster average of recent national polls puts Trump’s favorability at only 31 percent, while 63 percent view him unfavorably.” How can even 31% have a positive image of this neo-fascist egomaniac?)
• Rush Limbaugh’s blessing of Trump is killing conservatism (“Populist anti-intellectualism has culminated in Trump.” I’d say “anti-knowledge,” “anti-science,” “anti-rationality.”)
• Donald Trump’s Wisconsin Charm Offensive Didn’t Go So Well (Now, if only Chuck Todd, Chris Cuomo, Wolf Blitzer et al. could learn how to ask serious, hard-hitting questions and to follow up when the person being interviewed lies, contradicts himself, etc.)
• President Obama Critiques Media Coverage Of Presidential Primary (It’s been a complete joke.)
• How News Networks Should Cover Someone Like Donald Trump (“The responsibility of the media in an election cycle is to cut through the noise and bluster and help voters make informed decisions about which candidate is most qualified to run the country. That means resisting the urge to chase every shiny new Trump story. It means refusing to let Trump constantly phone in for interviews in the quest for more access to the candidate. And it means having the courage to look beyond the Trump spectacle and identify his campaign as what it is – a billionaire carnival barker’s racist, hateful, and deeply dishonest effort to become the most powerful person in the country.”)
• Tim Kaine: Senate owes Garland a hearing
• Hideous, disgusting racists: Let’s call Donald Trump and his supporters exactly what they are (“Media wants to call them ‘economically anxious working-class whites.’ There’s a clearer, more honest name to use”)
• National poll: Clinton, Sanders tighten; Trump approaches 50 percent
• North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory Calls LGBT Criticism ‘Political Theater’ (McCrory is a bigot and an idiot. But I repeat myself.)
• Barbara Comstock gives away Donald Trump donations (“Democrat LuAnn Bennett, who is challenging Comstock this fall, is trying at every opportunity to tie the congresswoman to the Republican presidential front-runner.”)
• McAuliffe tells college presidents to keep tuition increases in check
• McAuliffe rejects plea to immediately release Jamycheal Mitchell report
• McAuliffe faults General Assembly for linking Capitol Square projects to bonds for universities
• Our view: The iron box (“How could one of the top Republicans in Richmond and one of the top Democrats read each other’s minds so closely that they’d use virtually the same language throughout their entire letter? Let’s not be cynical and say it’s because Dominion Power — the major player behind one of those pipelines — is the top campaign contributor to Saslaw and the second biggest to Howell. Surely these wise solons would not be doing Dominion’s bidding, would they? Perish the thought.”)
• Casey: Does ‘threat’ against senator merit a special prosecutor? (“Over the weekend we learned that a special prosecutor has been appointed to investigate whether Andy Parker of Henry County threatened Sen. Bill Stanley when Parker directed some angry comments to the senator via Facebook. Seriously?”)
• Va. attorney general hopeful picks up key endorsement (“U.S. Sen. Mike Lee is expected to back attorney John Adams in the GOP primary.” The crazies endorse the crazies.)
• Gabrielle Giffords’s gun control group brings its national campaign to Virginia (“It will push for mandatory background checks at gun shows, which are not currently required in the state.” Way too late for that, should have been engaged when this was a live issue a couple months ago.)
• Republicans battle for control of party’s 6th District leadership (“For months, an internal leadership battle has been unfolding among 6th Congressional District Republicans in a campaign that has underscored the sometimes prickly divisions among party stalwarts.”)
• Assured wins mean we lose
• Editorial: Ensure grades are meaningful in Virginia Beach
• New 25,000-seat ODU stadium could open for 2018 season, developer says
• Loudoun sheriff cleared of wrongdoing with emails, financial reporting in reelection campaign (“Sheriff Mike Chapman had been accused of illegally accessing emails from his political opponent, and hiding the true source of some campaign contributions.”)
• Windy and sunny today, showers and storms close out March