by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, January 12.
- Media and intelligence agencies attacked by Trump over Russia claims (“At president-elect’s first press conference since July, originally called to explain how he would avoid conflicts of interest, Trump called Russia dossier ‘fake news’”)
- Fact-checking President-elect Trump’s news conference
- US ethics chief criticises Trump’s plan to give sons business control (“Walter Shaub ‘troubled’ by transition’s U-turn on president-elect’s pledge to fully divest financial assets to avoid conflicts of interest”)
- Trump says he has ‘nothing to do with Russia.’ History shows otherwise.
- Trump press event a theatre of the absurd
- Trump concedes Russia hacked DNC, calls salacious claims ‘fake news’
- Trump outlines plan to shift assets, but critics say that isn’t enough
- It was a mad, mad day in American politics. Is it also our new normal?
- Tillerson’s foreign policy: Russia first (“It was grim to see an incoming American secretary of state avert his gaze from human rights abuses in Russia, and across the globe.”)
- Beyond wild allegations, what’s clearly true about Trump and Russia is disturbing
- Rex Tillerson seems like a smart, competent guy. But he blew it on Russia. (And on climate change, where his answers were weak, even as he accepted the overwhelming consensus that it’s happening and humans are causing it.)
- Obama’s moving farewell, Trump’s terrifying hello (“Tuesday night, Obama warned about our democracy. Wednesday morning, Trump proved the president’s point.”)
- Senate Takes Major Step Toward Repealing Health Care Law
- Blow: Ode to Obama (“Obama wasn’t perfect, but neither is anyone — you or I — and neither was any other president. But Obama is a good man and a good president. Some would argue that he was great on both counts.”)
- Collins: Trump, Sex and Lots of Whining
- Is Rex Tillerson—Friend of Putin, Uninformed on the Issues—the Best We’ve Got?
- What Jeff Sessions Doesn’t Understand About Racism (“It didn’t end on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.”)
- Donald Trump’s spectacular collapse: Full political meltdown, a week before taking office (“Trump looks and acts guilty, compares America to Nazi Germany — and clings to Putin’s leg like a drowning retriever”)
- Jeff Sessions would be a disaster for the LGBT community: Trump’s attorney general pick has spent his career opposing equality at every level
- 4 pieces of evidence showing FBI Director James Comey cost Clinton the election (“And yes, it still matters.”)
- This will not end well: President-elect Trump’s first press conference was a total disaster
- Donald Trump’s new Russian scandal: We don’t know how much is true — but we know James Comey behaved shamefully
- Trump and RFK Jr.: A relationship made in anti-vax hell
- Tillerson Disagrees With Trump on Nearly Everything (“These suggest some tensions with the president-elect.”)
- Democrats struggle with how to play Trump’s Russia troubles (“The party wrestles with whether to question the legitimacy of his presidency amid swirling reports of Moscow’s election involvement.”)
- Why Trump Can’t Let Go (“He has a lot more than money wrapped up in his self-named business.”)
- Tillerson has a shaky show before skeptical senators
- Trump refuses to bend to the office of president (“He’s attacking his opponents. He’s not offering up his tax returns. He’s not dropping his business ties. And he won’t condemn Putin.” This will definitely NOT end well. Or even BEGIN well!)
- Trump shouted down CNN’s Jim Acosta as ‘fake news’ then took a question from Breitbart (“Only one of those outlets champions a white nationalist movement.”)
- Tillerson’s claims on Exxon’s Russian sanctions lobbying defy logic (“The ex-CEO said ‘I don’t know’ in regard to numerous questions about the company he led.” He also denied knowledge of ExxonMobil’s disgraceful climate science denial campaign…)
- Trump’s Sec. of State nominee refuses to answer for his company’s promotion of climate denial (“Tillerson wouldn’t acknowledge what Exxon knew about climate, and understated scientific consensus on climate impacts.”)
- Why Trump’s Conflict-of-Interest Plan Won’t Prevent Conflicts of Interest
- In State of Commonwealth address, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe sounds cooperative and nostalgic
- Va. candidate for governor gives away AR-15 rifle in hopes of boosting his chances (“Republican Corey A. Stewart raises $10,000 in a drawing for the controversial weapon” Pathetic amount of money. Also, is what Stewart did even legal?)
- Virginia puts more money behind effort to prosecute sexual assault
- Bill would end Virginia utilities’ rate freeze when Clean Power Plan dies
- Senate Republicans want to shift money from proposed new initiatives to state police
- Doug Wilder’s longtime assistant convicted of embezzling $16K from 2004 mayoral campaign
- Richmond officials vow to keep crime low in 2017; violent crime rose 17 percent in 2016
- Ricky Gray apologizes; more than 50 mental health experts urge clemency
- Fort Monroe deal inked; McAuliffe drops local news in annual State of the Commonwealth address
- State, local agencies respond to wrongful death lawsuit filed by Sen. Creigh Deeds> (“Virginia’s mental health agency and its local counterpart in Bath County say they cannot be held legally responsible for the suicide of a senator’s son.”)
- Is Hampton Roads mega-regional airport a fantasy? Legislative study would find out
- Editorial: Franklin County illustrates one key problem facing Virginia’s economy
- Richmond School Board member Jeff Bourne announces run for Richmond-area House of Delegates seat
- What’s in a name? For Virginia’s statehouse, the honor of a complex history
- In Alexandria, a dispute over free speech. At council meetings.
- Updated landmark designation for Virginia Capitol leaves behind ‘Capitol of the Confederacy’
- Today’s surge of warmth is short-lived with weekend icing concerns
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