Thursday News: Samantha Bee on the “Week that WTF”; “How Republicans Botched Their Health Care Bill”; Warner’s “Stand-and-Deliver Moment”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, March 9.

• Doctors, hospitals and insurers oppose Republican health plan
• The “Opposition Party” Keeps Getting Bigger (“The more enemies Donald Trump declares, the less Americans believe him—and the more alone he becomes.”)
• Why Huge Chunks of the Health Care Industry Hate Ryancare (Or is it Trumpcare?)
• How Republicans Botched Their Health Care Bill (“Trumpcare Is Already Hanging on Life Support. It might even be DOA.”)
• Welcome to Trump’s Fantasyland (“The president’s loose relationship with the truth strikes again on health care and Obama.”)
• In the Trump administration, it’s always ‘A Day Without a Woman’ (“Republicans celebrate International Women’s Day in the most tone-deaf way possible.” They just don’t get it. At all.)
• WikiLeaks does America’s enemies a big favor (Notice how Wikileaks never seems to hack Chinese or Russian intelligence services? Funny how that works.)
• Meet the Hundreds of Officials Trump Has Quietly Installed Across the Government (“We have obtained a list of more than 400 Trump administration hires, including dozens of lobbyists and some from far-right media.”)
• ‘Everyday, a new piece falls into place’: Maddow brilliantly spells out the Trump-Russia connection (Superb job by Maddow on this.)
• Sean Spicer Parrots Right-Wing Media Attacks Against The CBO Now That It Doesn’t Fit Trump’s Agenda
• Why the Russia Story Is a Minefield for Democrats and the Media (“Russia scandals have bloodied the Trump administration. But it carries dangers for those reporting it.” Mmmmmmayyyybe.)
• Blow: A Ticket to Hell (“No matter your politics, Trump’s first weeks in office have been a disaster, as his rush to action, lack of focus and absence of acuity have led him to calamitous missteps and conspiratorial misstatements. And now his oversold promises are being exposed for the lies they were — draining the swamp in Washington, forcing Mexico to pay for his ridiculous southern border wall, the incredibly defective Obamacare repeal and replacement proposal.”)
• Collins: Getting Freedom From Health (“So you’ve got two sides here, people. One believes all Americans should have the freedom to make their own decisions about their bodies. The other believes all Americans should have the freedom to not have health insurance. You pick. But do it fast.”)
• Kristof: Connecting Trump’s Dots to Russia (“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Trump team engaged in secret contacts and surreptitious messages, and had advance knowledge of Russia’s efforts to attack the American political process. And that would be a momentous scandal. One reason I’m increasingly suspicious is Trump’s furious denunciations of the press and of Barack Obama, to the point that he sometimes seems unhinged. Journalists have learned that when a leader goes berserk and unleashes tirades and threats at investigators, that’s when you’re getting close.”)
• Public land debate, without the public: GOP Congress votes to shut out citizens from discussion of federal land use (“Capitulating to radical right, Congress reverses Obama-era rules that encouraged public debate on federal land use”)
• Majority of Americans want Attorney General Sessions to resign for lying under oath
• Trump team feigns ignorance of massive tax giveaway to CEOs in their health care bill (“HHS Secretary Tom Price claimed he is is not familiar with the provision that cuts taxes for companies paying CEOs more than $500,000 a year.”)
• Trump’s Obamacare fallback: Blame the Democrats (“After White House promises to go all out to pass the House repeal bill, Trump offers to negotiate with conservative critics after a rocky roll out earlier this week.”)
• Republicans are now paying the price for a years-long campaign of Obamacare lies (“They promised better insurance. They can’t deliver. Now the jig is up.”)
• Does The GOP Health Care Bill Have A Chance? (“It could die with a bang rather than a whimper, get filibustered, get ruled out of order by the parliamentarian, or lose on a floor vote. Lots of ways it could die. Or the Senate could gut the bill and do something token-ish that was actually fairly popular and dare the House to pass it in order to save face.”)
• Drain the swamp? No, let’s just move it, Rep. Chaffetz suggests. (“Chaffetz and House Republicans want to relocate federal agencies to outside Washington.” Even by House Republican standards, Chaffetz is horrible.)
• 17 from Richmond area indicted as NYC police bust Virginia gun ring; 217 weapons purchased in Virginia recovered (Virginia’s gun laws are beyond a really bad joke. Thanks NRA and Republicans.)
• Gov. Joe Piscopo? Candidates in two states try to use lessons learned from Trump. (“Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, who has locked up the support of much of the state’s Democratic establishment, has drawn some comparisons to Clinton. But both candidates have been tacking to the left in recent weeks, on issues including marijuana decriminalization.”I love how things that are supported by the majority of Americans are considered “left” by the media.)
• Tom Perriello Tells Loudoun Why He Should be Governor (“Renewable energy and energy efficiency is a non-partisan issue and it’s a shame that, as innovative as Virginia is, we’re near the bottom of the pack in these areas.”)
• Mark Warner Faces a Stand-and-Deliver Moment in Russian Inquiry (“The result, at the height of anti-Trump fervor and Wall Street-bashing progressivism in the Democratic Party’s base, is a spotlight trained brightly on a southern-state centrist with a nine-figure net worth, a decade-old itch to be president and, until recently, according to friends and former aides, a healthy disdain for the institution he serves.”)
• Senator Tim Kaine’s Son Arrested at Anti-Trump Protest
• Corey Stewart’s Perpetual Anger Machine
• Nazi fliers and racist videos: Should students of color expect this at predominantly white colleges? (Sadly not surprising in Trump’s America.)
• The Debate Over Felon Voting Rights Has a Long History in Virginia
• One Week After Visiting Newport News, Trump Whacks Major Employer in Region
• Richmond officials blame computer glitch for 48-hour delay between mayor’s budget presentation and document’s release to public
• Charlottesville judge dismisses blogger’s petition to remove councilman over offensive tweets (“A Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge has dismissed a legal petition to remove City Councilor Wes Bellamy from office after the special prosecutor appointed to the case determined that the petition did not have enough signatures for a court to consider the complaint.”)
• Del. Sam Rasoul declines PAC, lobbyist money
• Breezy and mild today; Winter cold sweeps in this weekend (“All of next week could be unseasonably cold.”)