by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, April 30. Also see President Obama’s weekly address, in which President Obama “repeated his call for Republicans in the United States Senate to give Chief Judge Merrick Garland a fair hearing and a vote.”
- Right-Wing Media Claim Anti-Trump Protests Help Trump’s Electoral Chances
- Wayne Simmons, Right Wing Media’s Benghazi Expert, Pleads Guilty To Fraud (Least surprising news of the day.)
- House Republicans Have A Temper Tantrum Over Rule That Bans Financial Advisers From Scamming Retirees
- Donald Trump could be a generation-long disaster for the Republican Party
- Insiders: Clinton would crush Trump in November (The only thing that makes me nervous is that the “insiders” have been mostly wrong – particularly about Trump, but also about the rise of Bernie Sanders – this election season.)
- George Will: If Trump is nominated, the GOP must keep him out of the White House (Yes, this coming from a climate-science-denying, far-right-wing Republican.)
- Trump deals Clinton a winning card (“His attempt to denigrate the Democratic candidate appears to be backfiring.” Yep, YUGE mistake!)
- Tim Kaine rejects rumors he’ll be sharing a Hillary Clinton ticket (“The Virginia Democrat expressed confidence that Clinton will not only be the party nominee, but win the general election. He also expects to be by her side, just not in the way some many are assuming.”)
- President Obama’s Plan to Make America Smarter About Guns (“Technology aimed at improving safety for cops and private gun owners gets a push from the White House.”)
- David Brooks has driven me mad: His wacky New York Times mea culpa is a master troll’s finest moment yet (“‘I’ve slipped into a bad pattern, spending large chunks of my life in the bourgeois strata.’ It only gets better”)
- This Chart Will Warm Your Heart If You Want America To Use Less Coal (Virginia coal consumption for electric power down 47% since 2007. Let’s shoot for 100%, fast.)
- Virginia elections board adopts new voter registration form on party-line vote
- GOP candidates jockey for delegate ‘free agents’ in Virginia
- Trump, Cruz supporters to vie for delegates spots at Virginia convention (“The action starts Friday afternoon at James Madison University.”)
- 2016 RPV Convention: Friday Wrap-Up (“The Whitbeck forces won the opening day of the 2016 Republican Party of Virginia State Convention in Harrisonburg but it wasn’t before some drawn-out amendments on top of amendments were brought during the adoption of the rules by the pro-Haley side.” Nice job by Lynn Mitchell – a blogger, NOT the corporate media, natch – covering this!))
- Dominion makes case for moving forward on nuclear (Brilliant — move forward on one of the most expensive forms of energy but NOT on the least expensive forms, like energy efficiency and utility-scale solar, let alone distributed power or offshore wind. As always, state-protected monopoly Dominion is all about feeding out of the taxpayer-funded welfare trough.)
- What would VP Kaine mean for VA? Chaos (and fun)
- Republicans vying to challenge Beyer in Northern Virginia congressional race (“Two relative unknowns are competing for the GOP nomination to seek the 8th District seat.”)
- Congressional candidate Scott Taylor says proposed debate moderator is biased (“Taylor’s spokesman, Scott Weldon, said Friday that Taylor wouldn’t participate unless someone else was presiding because Hoeft ‘made false public attacks against’ Taylor that favor Forbes.”)
- Proposals for building second tunnel on Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel top $1 billion
- Hampton School Board candidates discuss schools’ accreditation statuses
- After two weeks, Shenandoah National Park wildfire ‘contained’
- Our view: What wasn’t said (“On Tuesday, Roanoke voters will tell us what they think of the candidates running for City Council. They also will tell us what they think about themselves.”)
- Norfolk mayoral race brings out attack ads from Protogyrou (“Mayoral candidate Andy Protogyrou, who is the source of the mailings lambasting his opponents, Sheriff Bob McCabe and state Sen. Kenny Alexander, contended Friday that his approach isn’t out of line.”)
- Mostly dry today, but rain that soaks us tonight may linger through Sunday
********************************************************