Saturday News: “We’re feeling what not having hope feels like”; FBI Agrees that Russia Helped Trump Win

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, December 17. Also check out Michelle Obama talking about “what else do you have if you don’t have hope?”

• FBI agrees with CIA that Russia aimed to help Trump win (Trump is not a legitimate president.)
• Michael Mann: I’m a scientist who has gotten death threats. I fear what may happen under Trump. (“Those threats have diminished in recent years, as man-made climate change has become recognized as the overwhelming scientific consensus and as climate science has received the support of the federal government. But with the coming Trump administration, my colleagues and I are steeling ourselves for a renewed onslaught of intimidation, from inside and outside government. It would be bad for our work and bad for our planet.”)
• Is Donald Trump a Threat to Democracy? (“In the event of a war, a major terrorist attack or large-scale riots or protests — all of which are entirely possible — a president with authoritarian tendencies and institutions that have come unmoored could pose a serious threat to American democracy. We must be vigilant. The warning signs are real.”)
• A Dangerous Choice for Ambassador to Israel (“Mr. Trump’s chosen representative is more likely to provoke conflict than promote peace.” Horrible, horrible pick.)
• Trump needs to get over his victory (“His unseemly thank-you tour is the opposite of the healing the country needs.”)
• Charlie Sykes on Where the Right Went Wrong (“I was under the impression that conservatives actually believed things about free trade, balanced budgets, character and respect for constitutional rights. Then along came this campaign.”)
• Obama Defends Restrained Response to Russian Hacks
• Trump has been lying about the Russian hack. He just accidentally admitted it himself.
• Clinton Says ‘Personal Beef’ by Putin Led to Hacking Attacks
• Despite protests, Republican lawmakers in N.C. pass changes to curb power of incoming Democratic governor (Time to completely boycott that state?)
• Michelle Obama: ‘We’re feeling what not having hope feels like’ (Michelle Obama “appeared to do the same in her interview with Winfrey, suggesting the nation will no longer have a grownup in the Oval Office once the current first family leaves but never mentioning the nation’s 45th president by name.”)
• Atlantic Ocean Area The Size Of Virginia Protected From Deep-Water Fishing (“Coral in an area in the Atlantic Ocean stretching from Connecticut to Virginia has been protected from deep-sea commercial fishing gear, by a new rule issued this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”)
• This Time, Obama’s Calm in a Crisis Isn’t Helping (“He has his dignity and his faith in civic norms. Republicans have the government.”)
• Obama Blames the Political Press for the Rise of Fake News. Is He Right? (“Meanwhile, Obama argued, the groundwork for the success of the political hoaxes that have come to be called ‘fake news’ was laid by hyperpartisan conspiracy-mongers on the U.S. media’s fringes, especially the rightward fringe.”)
• Trump Picks Mick Mulvaney, South Carolina Congressman, as Budget Director (This is all you really need to know about yet ANOTHER horrendous Trump pick: “Mr. Mulvaney, 49, helped found the House Freedom Caucus…An early backer of Mr. Trump’s during the campaign, Mr. Mulvaney has taken a hard line on spending during President Obama’s term, vowing not to raise the nation’s debt limit and embracing the term ‘Shutdown Caucus’ because of his willingness to shut the government down instead.”)
• Kushner: We struck deal with Sinclair for straighter coverage (Breathtakingly slimy, corrupt, etc.)
• Obama: Trump’s victory threatens America’s core (Ya think?)
• Obama seeks to keep lines open with Trump
• Electors won’t get intelligence briefing: report
• Wingnut troll deliberately gives Kurt Eichenwald a seizure
• Trump And The Republican Party May Pose The Gravest Threat To Our Democracy Since The Civil War (Arguably even greater in an age of nuclear weapons and global climate chaos.)
• Online retailers could be forced to collect sales taxes under new Virginia plan to balance budget
• Yancey: Lawmakers could be looking at a calm session in 2017
• Editorial: In politics, Virginia moves with all deliberate slowness
• Governor leaves Medicaid expansion funds out of his budget revisions (“Faced with a budget shortfall now estimated at $1.26 billion, Gov. Terry McAuliffe and General Assembly Republicans are bickering instead over whether the governor proposed to expand Medicaid in the budget he presented legislators on Friday.”)
• McAuliffe submits cautious budget that closes shortfalls and boosts mental-health programs (“As employment grows, deficit slims down”)
• Governor’s proposed bonus falls flat with state employees, who want pay raise
• Governor includes money for new ABC warehouse in capital budget
• Va. high school students assail new school boundary plan (“Group of Arlington students laments that new plan fails to address concerns about economic segregation.”)
• Transit vision plan is an ‘immense opportunity’ for Richmond region, advocate says
• After warnings of cash-strapped coffers, Jones gives city workers $1.9M in bonuses
• Forecast: Wintry mess this morning, but temperatures will climb Sunday