Wednesday News: “Trump’s falsehoods are eroding public trust, at home and abroad”; “Tweeting Toward Oblivion”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, March 22.

• 
  AP Exclusive: Manafort had plan to benefit Putin government (“Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, people who lobby in the U.S. on behalf of foreign political leaders or political parties must provide detailed reports about their actions to the department. Willfully failing to register is a felony and can result in up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, though the government rarely files criminal charges.”)
• House Obamacare repeal DOA in the Senate
• A Republican Health Care Bill in Search of a Problem (“The G.O.P. has no shared vision of what it wants to achieve, aside from killing Obamacare.”)
• Will Democrats Be More Aggressive With Gorsuch?
• Eyeing Trump’s Budget, G.O.P. Governors Say ‘No Thanks’
• Labor pick cut deal with billionaire accused of having sex with minors (Why am I not surprised with this administration-from-hell?)
• A President’s Credibility (“Trump’s falsehoods are eroding public trust, at home and abroad.” This is the right-wing Wall Street Journal editorial board, by the way.)
• Trump Warns House Republicans: Repeal Health Law or Lose Your Seats
• Tweeting Toward Oblivion (“Donald Trump faces a stark choice. He can tweet, or he can govern. He can indulge his persecution complex, firing off missives that compare Barack Obama to Joseph McCarthy and American intelligence officers to Nazis, or he can recognize it as a gateway to disgrace and irrelevance.”)
• Good-golly Gorsuch may turn out to be a rascal on the bench
• Trump’s budget targets rural development programs that provide a quiet lifeline (Yep, Trump voters went wildly against their own self interests. Nice job, guys!)
• Susan Rice: When the White House twists the truth, we are all less safe (“The actions of America’s allies — and enemies — depend on our perceived credibility” And Trump has zero credibility.)
• Trump’s Terrifying Comey Tweet (“The president is using his office as a platform to contest the very nature of truth.”)
• Franken to Gorsuch: “I Had a Career in Identifying Absurdity, and I Know It When I See It”
• Trumpcare is just bad politics: Paul Ryan’s bill gets worse, in a last-ditch effort to save it (“Paul Ryan is altering his health care bill at the last second — not to improve it, but to salvage his reputation”)
• Wall Street Journal blisters Trump as a ‘fake president’ for clinging to fake wiretap story
• ‘Nothing more than nepotism’: Conservative commentator trashes Ivanka Trump’s ‘creepy’ role in the White House
• Carl Bernstein: ‘Richard Nixon was a far less dangerous man than Donald Trump’ (Nixon was also infinitely smarter, savvier and better on both domestic and foreign policy than Trump. Also less corrupt by far than Trump.)
• Watch Al Franken’s shut down Gorsuch’s cruel decision in the ‘Frozen Trucker’ case (“I had a career in identifying absurdity. And I know it when I see it.”)
• Trump Tries To Lead America Down A Fox News Rabbit Hole
• Andrew Napolitano’s International Embarrassment Could Put Murdoch’s Sky Bid In Jeopardy
• Hill Republicans say they’re growing frustrated with Mattis (“The Marine general was welcomed as a moderating force in the Trump administration, but his moves to name Obama veterans to Pentagon posts are irritating allies in key committees.”)
• Tillerson: ‘I didn’t want this job’ (Uhhhhh…)
• Why experts think Rex Tillerson skipping a NATO summit is “an unmitigated disaster”
• 4 ways the House health care vote could go down — including “in flames”
• Altered Facebook news headline jolts Virginia governors race
• Sen. Mark Warner: We have to talk to Paul Manafort (“The Democratic senator and ranking member on the Senate intelligence committee said on CNN’s Erin Burnett “OutFront” that allegations about Manafort’s dealings in Ukraine and other open questions meant that the committee would speak with him as part of its probe into alleged Russian interference in the presidential campaigns and collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.”)
• Trump budget blueprint doesn’t bode well for Metro, Sen. Tim Kaine warns
• Schapiro: Can Democrats again harvest votes in Va. countryside?
• Among the priorities of a new Virginia congressman: Void D.C.’s strict gun laws (“D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said Rep. Thomas Garrett should mind his own district.”)
• Virginia’s June primary poses the first major test for Democrats in Trump era
• Family Foundation of Virginia attempts appeal of abortion clinic regulation changes
• Va. GOP blasts state attorney general for visiting ‘terror-linked’ Falls Church mosque (Bigots.)
• The Trump administration’s attack on the Chesapeake Bay
• State pollinator protection plan buzzes along
• BREAKING: Cosgrove Announces for Chesapeake Clerk of Court (Unfortunately, this is not a realistically winnable seat for Dems.)
• Glitch causes test alerts to fail in some areas of Virginia during statewide tornado drill
• Local Indivisible group playing a role in Va. races
• ‘Norfolk 4,’ wrongly convicted of rape and murder, pardoned by Gov. McAuliffe
• With gang recruitment increasing, Fairfax police say crime is up in every district
• Arlington County votes to allow sale of century-old farmhouse
• In York County appearance, governor hopeful Gillespie backs charters, tax cuts
• Pasta supper surprise: Protest interrupts Dem dinner party (“New on this year’s menu was an Atlantic Coast Pipeline protest in which seven sign-carrying UVA students took the stage to demand that the candidates oppose the $6 billion project.”)
• Norfolk council finally decides on formal rules for how a bill becomes a law
• Richmond’s mayoral dropouts inspire change to Virginia election law
• New allegations surface in Jamycheal Mitchell’s jail death, prosecutor says
• Norfolk treasurer race draws 2 independents – one a defector from the Democrats
• Capital Weather Gang: We’re back to winter jackets today, but trending warmer toward the weekend