Tuesday News: Trump Declares War on Environment; Nunes Must Recuse; Perriello, Northam Tied in New Poll

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, March 28.

• Trump moves decisively to wipe out Obama’s climate-change record (Possibly THE single worst thing Trump will do as President, and that’s saying a lot!)
• Nunes’s secret White House visit on Trump surveillance files triggers calls for recusal
• Trump, Ryan differ on how much relief to offer the middle class in tax-code overhaul (“President Trump wants a tax cut across the board, according to the plan he published during the campaign. But House Speaker Paul Ryan and colleagues have put forward a plan that would not substantially reduce taxes for the middle class, and many households would pay more.”)
• Gorsuch may fall short of votes needed for smooth Supreme Court confirmation
• Schiff Calls On Nunes To Recuse Himself From Russia Probe Over Trump Ties
• Rollback of Climate Rules May Fall Short of Goals, Critics Say (“Mr. Trump is poised to sign an executive order to dismantle the regulations of President Barack Obama. But experts say it will do little to achieve “energy independence” or restore coal mining jobs.”)
• Cohen: The Offender of the Free World (“Merkel is the personification of the [European] Union’s values; she was just bolstered by a local election victory. Russians have taken to the streets to protest against Putin’s corrupt regime and been brutalized. This is not over. Truculent Trump has abdicated responsibility. Europe must step into the void.”)
• Paul Ryan, Brought Down to Size (“His defeat on health care proved what many have known: His reputation as a big thinker was hollow.” Yeah, “many” of us DID know that, but not “many” in the corporate media.)
• Gallup: Trump Approval Rating Now Lower Than Obama, Clinton Records (And it only took Trump two months. Winning! LOL)
• After the health-care fiasco, Trump’s next move may be even more disastrous
• Trump tweets: ‘Russia story is a hoax’ (Unfortunately for him and for the country, it most certainly is not a “hoax.”)
• First on CNN: Border wall ask: $1 billion for 62 miles (Hell no.)
• Can the GOP Actually Pass Tax Reform? (“Probably not. But they can still do a huge, temporary, deficit-busting tax cut!”)
• Donald Trump Says Obamacare Is Going to “Explode”? Only if He Lights the Fuse.
• From health care to tax reform: Paul Ryan’s empty-suit act is about to get worse (“Ryan’s genius reputation wonk is already damaged, and his ‘tax reform’ plan is no better than his health care bill”)
• What Russia’s Latest Protests Mean for Putin (“After the largest demonstrations in years erupted across the country on Sunday, the Kremlin is fighting back.”)
• White House refuses to condemn murder of black man by white supremacist (If a white person had been murdered by a black or Muslim or “illegal” immigrant, they wouldn’t have waited a second to weigh in. Racists.)
• Trump Doesn’t Have A Mandate For Paul Ryan’s Agenda (Or his own, for that matter, given that Hillary Clinton got 3 million more votes than he did!)
• The Young Turks Really, Really Don’t Want You to Compare Them to Breitbart (“But Uygur’s platform increasingly shares one big thing in common with the combative right-wing site that unabashedly eggs on intra-Republican challenges and sells ‘RINO hunter’ coffee mugs in its online store: a mission to make the establishment squeal.”)
• Invoking Immigrant-Induced Mayhem, Sessions Announces Crackdown on Sanctuary Cities (Except for the fact that there IS no “immigrant-induced mayhem”; quite the contrary, actually…immigrants are very good for America.)
• Jeff Sessions Is in for a Constitutional Nightmare (“Meanwhile, Sean Spicer will sleep easy tonight having failed to condemn a hate crime.”)
• Finally, a Cure for Government Dysfunction: Nepotism (“Jared Kushner rears his head.”)
• Warner: Nunes’ meeting on White House grounds ‘more than suspicious’
• New Poll: Perriello 26%-Northam 26%; Gillespie 38%-Stewart 11%; Platt Leads Dem Race for LG
• Virginia governor’s race poll: Democrat Perriello rises, now tied with Northam (“Ed Gillespie is also expanding his substantial lead in the Republican primary”)
• Progressive ally Tom Perriello offers alternative in Virginia’s 2017 Gubernatorial primary
• Trump supporters call for Kaine’s son and other protesters to be prosecuted (Sure, how about after Trump and many members of his Cabinet are in jail?)
• Dave Brat Thinks We’re Stupid (In fact, Brat is one of the stupidest people in Congress.)
• After ACA repeal fails, McAuliffe renews Medicaid expansion push
• McAuliffe attempts to revive Virginia’s ‘one-gun-a-month’ law (That never ever ever should have been repealed – by Republicans, of course – in the first place!)
• McAuliffe: If Obamacare is here to stay, then it’s time to expand Medicaid (“But Virginia Republicans continue to balk, saying it could leave the state on the hook” Virginia Republicans need to lose, and lose badly, this November.)
• Editorial: Long shot Tom Perriello could hit Democratic bull’s eye (Perhaps so, although the LAST people I’d listen to on Virginia politics are the nuts at the Republican Times-Disgrace editorial board.)
• McAuliffe signs legislation to enable local regulation of short-term rentals such as Airbnb in Va.
• McAuliffe proposes giving Alexandria more time to fix sewage discharge problem (“Under the Va. governor’s amendments, the city would have until 2027 to upgrade pipes.”)
• McAuliffe rewrites FOIA bill on suicide investigations
• Sullivan, Casteen weigh in on search for next UVa president
• Cordasco in for rematch v. Mullin
• Portsmouth city manager unveils proposal for $647 million budget
• D.C.-area forecast: Showers and storms possible today, cooler and clear tomorrow