by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, January 18. Also see Sen. Tim Kaine questioning unprepared zealot Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.
- GOP’s new Obamacare-repeal debacle: Congress’ budget office suggests 32 million Americans will lose health insurance
- Polls show Trump with historically low approval ratings
- National Security Council Sees Rocky Transition (“The Obama administration has written 275 briefing papers for the incoming Trump administration, but nobody knows whether the Trump team has read them.”)
- Reject Scott Pruitt for the E.P.A. (“The Oklahoma attorney general has built his career attacking the very agency he would run.”)
- Donald Trump’s “law and order” obsession is rooted in the distant past — and points toward a dystopian future (“Trump’s ideas about crime, police and the death penalty go back to 1970s stereotypes — but present a real danger”)
- Thank you and farewell, President Obama: Will we ever see another truly “presidential” leader? (“We’re going to miss his pragmatism, his restraint and his ‘American cool’ — we may never see his like again”)
- How America’s Thinking Changed Under Obama
- Is Rex Tillerson’s Confirmation in Jeopardy? (“Key senators were not impressed with his hearing.”)
- The Real Betsy DeVos (“Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of education tried to sound like a moderate—and revealed that she’s either underprepared or a zealot.” Actually, shes both.)
- Here Are Just Some of the Stunningly Bad Moments From Betsy DeVos’ Confirmation Hearing
- If confirmed, Betsy DeVos will be a disaster for students with disabilities.
- Obama commutes sentence of Chelsea Manning, soldier in WikiLeaks case
- Transphobic Slurs And Death Wishes: How Right-Wing Media Responded To The Commutation Of Chelsea Manning’s Prison Sentence
- Trump’s team weighs retooling State to focus on terror (“The shift could mean less focus on climate change and more focus on promoting the use of the term ‘radical Islam.’” Horrendously bad, stupid idea.)
- Reporters have worked from the White House for over 100 years. Will Trump evict them? (“Removing reporters from the West Wing would be a symbolic and practical blow.”)
- Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education pick, lauded as bold reformer, called unfit for job (Definitely unfit.)
- DeVos says it’s ‘premature’ to commit to following Title IX guidance on campus sexual assault (“She did, however, admit that sexual assault is bad.”)
- Media, don’t play Trump’s game of divide and conquer (“As our jobs as journalists become more critical, here are principles that all members of the fourth estate would be wise to consider.”)
- Betsy DeVos says guns in schools may be necessary to protect students from grizzly bears (“Trump’s Education nominee tells Newtown’s former representative that bears justify the presence of guns in schools.” She is beyond a joke.)
- Hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 shuts down
- Trump set to take office without most of his Cabinet (“Republicans are on track to take longer to fill out his team than for any administration since George H.W. Bush in 1989.”)
- The Trump lobbying purge that wasn’t (“The transition made a big show of sidelining lobbyists, but they found ways to stay involved anyway.”)
- What Worries Ben Rhodes About Trump (“Obama’s foreign policy messenger opens up about the world the outgoing president leaves behind—and what Trump could do with it.”)
- Trump Wants To Flood White House Press Briefings With Sycophants And Propagandists
- A. Barton Hinkle column – Governors don’t transform economies, for good or ill (“Gillespie’s kickoff speech leaves the impression that McAuliffe and Gillespie’s likely opponent, Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, bear the blame for the state’s economic malaise — which will be cured once he takes office. Not quite.” In fact, not at all.)
- Tax amnesty proposal part of package to boost revenues in Virginia
- Editorial: Why can’t Democrats win the the General Assembly? (“That reality is this: The people who turn out to vote for Democrats in presidential elections simply don’t turn out to vote for Democrats in state legislative races – at least not in the same numbers. Political scientists write study after study on the question, and still don’t agree on why. Generally speaking, off-year elections see an electorate that tends to be older, whiter, more conservative – and thus more suited for Republicans than Democrats. That doesn’t really answer the question of why it’s that way, though. “Think global, act local” may be a liberal aphorism, but it seems that conservatives are more likely to actually heed it.”)
- House subcommittee kills McAuliffe-backed proposal to repeal voter photo ID law (Yep, that’s Republicans or ya!)
- Jill Vogel rocks fundraising totals for 2017 race
- Schapiro: House redistricting decision – the gorilla in the room (“Looming over Howell, as speaker of the House of Delegates, is a sword, of sorts: a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that could overturn the redistricting plan on which Howell’s Republican majority — and the absolute power he derives from it — depend.”)
- Laura Ingraham mulling 2018 run against Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine
- ‘Luckily, we’ve got a pediatric neurologist in the chamber’ (“Va. Lt. Gov. Northam puts his medical training to work during scare in the Senate”)
- U-Va. to admit more Virginians and give some middle-class families a price break
- Virginia lawmakers call for lower college tuition, criticize UVa ‘slush’ fund
- Virginia set to execute man with controversial drug
- Women’s March: While some to head to D.C. protest, others to rally in Blacksburg, Roanoke
- Virginia hunting enthusiasts say Howell is barking up wrong tree with dog trespassing bill
- Confession is centerstage at Nicole Lovell murder case pre-trial hearing
- Richmond introduces plan to speed bus service around the city
- “It’s all so senseless”: String of shootings, murders in Virginia Beach appear to be random
- Editorial: Removing the blot of corruption, legally (“Norfolk Treasurer Anthony Burfoot, according to the immediate judgment of a federal jury, committed six felonies while serving as a city councilman…Yet, despite his Dec. 9 conviction, he continues to serve as the city’s treasurer while he awaits sentencing in April. He faces a suspension hearing in March. He could also appeal the conviction, a prospect that could take months, if not years.”)
- Mild and breezy today, rain likely on Inauguration Day
********************************************************
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
