Friday News: Bannon is a Rasputin-Like Madman; CPAC Freak Show; DNC to Vote for Chair, Vice Chairs

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, February 24. Also, check out Priebus and Bannon at the CPAP extremist freak show. This lunacy is what we are up against – RESIST!!!

• Bannon vows a daily battle for the ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’ (This guy is a madman.)
• Tight Race For DNC Chair Narrows Ahead Of Weekend Vote (“No one expects a winner to be determined on the first ballot in Atlanta, and some observers think as many as four, five or even six ballots will be required to decide the race.”)
• How the candidates for DNC chair stack up ahead of Saturday’s vote
• The DNC in the age of Trump: 5 things the new chairman needs to do (“Move beyond cycle-to-cycle thinking and invest in long-term infrastructure, including tomorrow’s leaders.”)
• Pence: GOP full tilt on Obamacare repeal (F*** off Pence.)
• 2020 race lures sprawling Democratic field (“At least a dozen senators are widely thought to be in the mix — including Vermont’s Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey’s Cory Booker, California’s Kamala Harris, Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, Oregon’s Jeff Merkley, New York’s Kirsten Gillibrand, Connecticut’s Chris Murphy, and both Minnesotans, Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken. But the depleted bench of Democratic governors is also stocked with possible White House hopefuls, expanding the list of credible presidential prospects to as many as two dozen.”)
• TrumpBeat: Is Trump Already Messing With Government Data?
• The massive wave of town hall protests ruining the GOP’s week, explained
• ‘We literally live and die by insurance’: Cancer patients fear GOP efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act
• Big Tent or Circus Tent? (“At the Conservative Political Action Conference, fringe elements were once shown the door. Now they occupy the White House.”)
• An Alarmed Base Prods Democrats Into an All-Out War (“Democrats acknowledge there is a wide gulf between the party’s desire to fight Mr. Trump and its power to thwart him, quietly worrying that the expectations of the party’s activist base may outpace what Democratic lawmakers can achieve.”)
• Brooks: The National Death Wish (“Cotton and Perdue are the second coming of those static mind-set/slow-growth/zero-sum liberals one used to meet in the 1970s. They’ll dry up the river. I wish they had a little more faith in freedom, dynamism and human ingenuity.”)
• Krugman: Death and Tax Cuts (“No, mainly they hate Obamacare for two reasons: It demonstrates that the government can make people’s lives better, and it’s paid for in large part with taxes on the wealthy. Their overriding goal is to make those taxes go away. And if getting those taxes cut means that quite a few people end up dying, remember: freedom!”)
• The White House’s thoughtless, cruel and sad rollback of transgender rights
• Kushner, Ivanka Trump Pushed to Remove Words Critical of Climate Deal From Executive Order (How nice of them.)
• Alt-Right Facts (“CPAC invented an alternate history of the alt-right to justify Steve Bannon’s invite.”)
• Trump administration signals new war on drugs, crackdown on marijuana use (That’s insane.)
• CPAC Is Trying To Wash The “Alt-Right” Stench Off Breitbart (Sorry, can’t do it. Anyone participating in this CPAC monstrosity at the minimum condones white supremacy.)
• FBI refused White House request to knock down recent Trump-Russia stories
• Boehner: Republicans won’t repeal and replace Obamacare (“‘They’re basically going to fix the flaws and put a more conservative box around it,’ Boehner said.”)
• Fossil fuels’ BFF: Scott Pruitt’s emails show why Republicans rushed through his EPA confirmation
• West Texas says no: For many people along the border, Trump’s wall fantasy is a nightmare
• First installment on the butcher’s bill: Donald Trump’s supporters will be made to pay (“A month in, the bill keeps adding up: Trump voters backed an unqualified demagogue, and the price will be painful” Yep, Trump supporters will be particularly screwed by Trump.)
• Is Moving Left the Democrats’ Best Bet? (“A conversation with Tom Perriello, the Virginia progressive who’s running for governor on the promise to fight the Trump agenda.”)
• State-funded honey bee study cut short by budget problems (That stings! Seriously, though, cough up the money General Assembly!)
• Amid surge of overdose deaths, Gov. Terry McAuliffe signs four bills to address Virginia’s opioid crisis
• Evangelical leader Falwell: It was Steve Bannon’s idea that he lead education task force (Bannon is an extremist nutjob, needs to go immediately.)
• Editorial: Dave Brat gets an earful of democracy
• Transgender Student In Virginia Bathroom Case Reacts To Trump’s Order
• In Eastern Virginia, Mixed Feelings on Trump’s Trans Restroom Guidance
• VA Senator Tim Kaine speaks out against roll back of transgender student’s rights
• McAuliffe signs new legislation on opioids
• Both sides have fair share of defeats in 2017 session (Seriously, the media should be barred from using the idiotic phrase “both sides.”)
• State budget: 2019 funding, pay increases safe in Virginia spending plan
• Bill for capping school suspension lengths dies
• Northam rolls out plan for no-cost community college in Va. governor’s race (Good stuff.)
• Virginia dedicates state office building in honor of civil rights pioneer (“The Barbara Johns Building is home to the state attorney general and a troubled past.”)
• Editorial: Why Herring’s case against Trump matters (“Maybe Trump will figure out a constitutional way to pursue his aims. Whatever he does, though, a case that Virginia’s attorney general has filed underscores some key boundaries, ones that another Virginian named James Madison helped write more than two centuries ago.”)
• On a roll: Candidate for Virginia lieutenant governor lives out of RV
• Metro needs $800 million by September or it faces ‘a real problem’
• Virginia lawmaker left handgun unattended in General Assembly meeting room (John Cosgrove is nuts; why on earth is he in the Virginia General Assembly???)
• Second chances must not be casualty of mayor’s hiring flap
• Editorial: A question not asked at the regional jail
• Arlington manager proposes 2-cent tax-rate hike to help schools, Metro
• Metro might sell naming rights to its stations. Any buyers out there?
• Getting Metro Safety Back on Track
• Forecast: Near-record warmth today before a cold front hits Saturday (We need to take emergency measures immediately to slow/stop global climate chaos.)