by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, March 20. As for the Supreme Court seat, just remember that Republicans refused to hold hearings, let alone vote, on President Obama’s highly qualified nominee, Merrick Garland, for almost a year! Ergo, this seat is stolen.
- White House installs political aides at Cabinet agencies to monitor loyalty (“The unusual shadow government of political appointees, which reports to the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, is charged with making sure the secretaries and their staff members carry out President Trump’s agenda and stick to approved talking points, according to officials with knowledge of the arrangement.” How very authoritarian of them.)
- The Great Barrier Reef is dying (“President Trump’s climate malpractice will only accelerate the damage.”)
- What to Expect When Comey Meets With the House Intelligence Committee
- What to Watch: Gorsuch Hearings Are Set to Begin (This seat was stolen by Republicans. No Democrat should vote to legitimize that.)
- Krugman: America’s Epidemic of Infallibility (“But why did so many Americans vote for Mr. Trump, whose character flaws should have been obvious long before the election? Catastrophic media failure and F.B.I. malfeasance played crucial roles. But my sense is that there’s also something going on in our society: Many Americans no longer seem to understand what a leader is supposed to sound like, mistaking bombast and belligerence for real toughness.”)
- ‘Trump’ doesn’t translate into Dutch (“Did Trump play an unexpected part in the ethno-nationalist right’s defeat in the Netherlands?”)
- Intelligence chairman: Justice report shows no evidence for Trump’s claims of wiretapping (The question is why we have to spend even 5 minutes paying attention to the insane guy in the White House’s ravings. Just impeach him already, he’s obviously unfit and unwell.)
- Republicans reach a major impasse on their own health care bill (“The party can’t decide if Trumpcare leans too far left or too far right.” Regardless, it sucks.)
- Ryan announces major changes to Trumpcare, wants vote before Congress learns its impact on Americans (“Passing a bill of this size before letting the CBO assess it is unprecedented.”)
- Trump Ruins Irony, Too (“The paradox is that President Trump has turned an invention of the urbane and educated against them. He has weaponized irony. Now we may all rue the day when he says, ‘I said ‘nuke’ them, not nuke them.'”)
- Trump’s Method, Our Madness (“The fear here is that if the 45th president can maintain this manic pace, he may wear down the resistance and Trump-exhaustion will set in, causing the disoriented experience of reality he has created to grow ever stronger and more insidious.”)
- Five things to watch for in Supreme Court showdown (“Where do red-state Democrats fall on Gorsuch?” Just remember, this seat was stolen.)
- White House squeezes GOP hard-liners as Obamacare vote nears (“Conservatives went to Mar-a-Lago to deal, but came up empty.”)
- Ryan stakes it all on Obamacare repeal (“His tenuous relationship with President Donald Trump is about to be put to the test — big time.”)
- Trump’s Approval Rating Hits New Record Low
- ‘This isn’t freedom’: Chris Wallace grills Paul Ryan for plan to crush seniors with health care costs
- Tracking the special treatment media get when they play nice with the White House
- John Oliver nails it: ‘Consistently monstrous’ Trump is cutting non-military programs as a ‘f*ck you’
- Rural Georgia Trump voters railed against Obamacare — but just realized Trumpcare will be worse (JUST realized???)
- Virginia Democrats Run to the Left in Key 2017 Race (Oh god, here we go with the corporate media’s “centrist vs. left” narrative. Barf.)
- Secret Service detains Roanoke man at checkpoint near White House
- Virginia’s war on the poor gets a warning (“A federal judge can’t fix unwarranted state license suspensions, but he makes his views clear.”)
- Miller, Smith vie for Prince William clerk of court seat (“An election to replace Michèle McQuigg, who died last month, is scheduled for April 18.”)
- Testimony, correspondence, show friction between Dominion, U.S. Forest Service, over pipeline permitting
- Immunization rates plateau in Va. in recent years (They need to be at 100% or close to it.)
- Indivisible Charlottesville Holds Citizen’s Hearing on Neil Gorsuch
- Police investigating after leaflets with swastikas found at Virginia Tech Jewish center (Ah, life in Trump’s America.)
- Those Attending Rally for Corey Stewart Do Not Represent All Roanoke Republicans
- D.C.-area forecast: A springlike week with a brief interlude of winter in the middle
********************************************************
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
