by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, December 19. Also check out Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of the most brilliant writers in America, “whose [The Atlantic] piece entitled ‘My President Was Black‘ will lead the January/February 2017 issue, reveals what he’s learned about Obama during the eight years that Coates covered him, and how the president has —or hasn’t — changed since 2008.”
- The Electoral College Meets Today. Here’s What to Expect. (Hillary Clinton has 2.9 million more votes than Drumpf. Just sayin’…)
- Krugman: How Republics End (“It takes willful blindness not to see the parallels between the rise of fascism and our current political nightmare…Republican institutions don’t protect against tyranny when powerful people start defying political norms. And tyranny, when it comes, can flourish even while maintaining a republican facade…if there is any hope of redemption, it will have to begin with a clear recognition of how bad things are. American democracy is very much on the edge.”
- Blow: This Is Not Normal! (“The nation is soon to be under the aegis of an unstable, unqualified, undignified demagogue and with Republicans in control of both houses of Congress, there is little that can be done to constrict or control his power and unpredictability…I fully understand that elevated outrage is hard to maintain. It’s exhausting. But the alternative is surrender to national nihilism and the welcoming of woe.”)
- Trump private security force ‘playing with fire’ (“The president-elect continues to employ a battalion of retired cops and FBI agents to protect him and clamp down on protesters.” Very fascistic.)
- Leak reveals Rex Tillerson was director of Bahamas-based US-Russian oil firm
- The Anti-Trump Electoral College Effort Is Only The Beginning (“Although the hopes for #HamiltonElectors to upend Monday’s electoral college vote for president likely will not materialize, the move is likely only the first step in an effort to undermine Trump’s presidency before it begins.”)
- Will the GOP be the pro-Putin party? (If so, they will be the pro-dictator, anti-America party.)
- All This Talk of Voter Fraud? Across U.S., Officials Found Next to None (“Voter fraud” is a myth perpetuated by Republicans hell-bent on suppressing African-American and other heavily Democratic voting groups. End of story.)
- How to defend America’s democracy (“Donald Trump must be held accountable by the institutions of our democracy if and when he falls short.”)
- Trump’s pick for Commerce Secretary may have the biggest conflicts of them all
- ‘As if the lies were truth’: Ex-Bush aide explodes at alternate reality created by pro-Trump media
- ‘Everything Feels Relatively Existential Now’ (“How can Democrats rebuild after their 2016 rout? Politico Magazine asked four smart observers to hash it out.”)
- Nice job, Donald Trump voters! You became Vladimir Putin’s pawns (“The same people who thought Barack Obama was a Commie simply don’t care that a Russian despot helped Trump win” Gee, wonder why that is…hmmmm.)
- Lies, damned lies and Donald Trump: How the Reagan and Bush assaults on truth and science may presage what’s coming (“Under Ronald Reagan and especially George W. Bush, the GOP sought to destroy science and reason. Get ready for more.” Yep, we’re going pre-Renaissance with Trump and these other flat-earth, science-denying, right-wing extremists…)
- Newt Gingrich ramps up attacks on “propaganda media”: If you’re not with Trump, you’re the enemy (“Team Trump takes the alt-right Nazi insult ‘lügenpresse’ mainstream: Truth is whatever their leader says it is”)
- Sorry, media, Exxon CEO is Trump’s worst possible nominee for climate and America (“Rex Tillerson is director of a US-Russian oil company. He made Exxon beholden to Putin and climate destruction.”)
- Election officials focus on whether voter ID laws contributed to Hillary Clinton’s defeat (Seems obvious.)
- Ben Carson’s Warped View of Housing (And of everything else…)
- Sunday Shows Largely Ignore NC GOP’s “Unprecedented Power Grab” (For the gazillionth time, those shows are worthless – actually much worse than worthless.)
- Ted Koppel: Trump Ally Alex Jones Is “Spreading The Manure That Fertilizes Conspiracy Theories All Over The Internet”
- Insiders: Electoral College won’t block Trump (“‘This whole notion of a faithless Electoral College is an anti-Trump fantasy,’ said an Iowa Republican.” No, they’re just being “faithless” to our Republic.))
- Two deaths, and a chance at reform (“The feds step in to investigate a jail symptomatic of Va.’s systemic breakdown.”)
- Some Va. Democrats upset by venue for Electoral College ceremony (I don’t care where it’s held, I just want the correct result – rejection of the corrupt, unqualified, demagogic, racist, illegitimate Donald Trump.)
- Virginian-Pilot editorial: Bending rules for executions perverts justice
- Report finds older Virginians lose $1.2 billion a year through financial exploitation
- Claims against Richmond sheriff are most expensive in the state
- Forecast: Colder than normal today before temperatures begin to rebound
