Tuesday News: Pauly Shore as Stephen Miller; Who’s Worse, Trump or Pence?; Dominion=Corporate Thug

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, August 8.

• Government Report Finds Drastic Impact of Climate Change on U.S.
• Sanders ‘litmus test’ alarms Democrats (“Bernie Sanders’ single-payer plan sparks fears of primary election challenges.”)
• How America Lost Its Mind (“Much more than the other billion or so people in the developed world, we Americans believe—really believe—in the supernatural and the miraculous, in Satan on Earth, in reports of recent trips to and from heaven, and in a story of life’s instantaneous creation several thousand years ago.” Sigh.)
• 2020 Vision (“Of course Mike Pence is laying the groundwork for a presidential run. With a boss like his, it would be stupid not to.” And Pence is not stupid. Evil and slimy, yes; stupid, no.)
• Trump Is a Marked Man (“Potential primary challenges to the president in 2020 could be a sign of doom for him—and his party.”)
• Can a ‘productive narcissist’ like Trump be persuaded to rejoin Paris climate accord? (“Only by focusing on the one thing Trump really cares about—Trump.”)
• Stop Pretending That Trump Can Be Saved From Himself (“But you can’t impose order on a chaotic president.”)
• Who’s worse for the nation — Trump or Pence? (“Trump’s saving grace is his incompetence. Pence doesn’t have that virtue.”)
• Rex Tillerson is a huge disappointment (“A values-free approach hurts morale at the State Department — and international standing.”)
• Stephen Miller blasted a reporter as ‘cosmopolitan.’ But he lives in a $1 million CityCenter condo.
• Google has fired the employee who penned a controversial memo on women and tech (“The author wrote, among other things, that females suffered from more ‘neuroticism.'”)
• The Cosmic Rightness of Pauly Shore as Stephen Miller
• The Federal Government Could Be Headed for a Showdown — and a Shutdown — Over Trump’s Wall (Under absolutely no circumstances should any Democrat vote for the disastrous, racist, environmentally destructive “wall” – f*** that!)
• We analyzed 17 months of Fox & Friends transcripts. It’s far weirder than state-run media. (“How the Fox morning show evolved into Donald Trump’s posse.”)
• 5 tweets from the new Republican Party spokesperson that are very awkward now
• Kushner-Owned Company Lobbied Against Obamacare Repeal
• The five kinds of Republicans who could primary Trump
• The Memo: Signs of trouble emerge in Trump’s base
• Trump ‘working vacation’ draws scrutiny
• Poll: Trump support eroding with his base (“Trump’s ‘strong approval’ among Republicans has dropped from 73 percent in February, shortly after he took office, to 59 percent now.”)
• Anti-Trump Independents Are Starting to Organize (“Is this the humble beginnings of a third party?” They should have organized LAST year!)
• Russia-linked bots are promoting the ouster of national security adviser McMaster (“As McMaster feuds with Bannon, Russian bots are pushing an anti-McMaster story from Breitbart”)
• Tim Kaine hitting Hamptons for re-election fundraising
• How Do You Power An Amazon Data Center? Longtime Prince William Residents Don’t Want To Find Out (This story is infuriating; Dominion lives down to its reputation as a corporate bully.)
• Editorial: The gun bill that did nothing (“GUN-CONTROL advocates predicted that last year’s muchballyhooed bipartisan gun bill would do little to effect change in the commonwealth. Now there are numbers to prove it.” I said it at the time, as did many others like Lori Haas…)
• Activists invite Va. congressman to hold town hall (“Republican Dave Brat declines, saying he will not ‘spend 90 minutes being shouted at.'”)
• Dominion, Corey Stewart turn power-line dispute into larger political battle
• Editorial: Gillespie’s curious omission on sea-level rise (“While the plan covers much ground — from community rating for flood insurance to flood-proofing military installations — it leaves out one big piece: climate change.” Complete joke — and a bad one at that.)
• Va. Launches New Project: Disability Awareness Training for Law Enforcement
• Pipeline meeting draws project supporters, opponents (I love how they bury this crucial fact: “Those against the project, such as Richard Averitt, easily outnumbered those holding signs to show their support.”
• Citizens Can Weigh in on Pipeline Water Quality Conditions (“Virginia environmental officials are hearing from residents this week about steps the state is taking to protect water quality along the routes of two proposed natural gas pipelines.”)
• Henrico School Board member facing DUI charge was also charged with refusing to take breath test
• Liberal Democrat was first woman to win mayor’s seat in Alexandria (RIP Patsy Ticer.)
• Charlottesville says permit for Unite the Right will be approved only if rally is moved to McIntire Park
• Richmond School Board votes to keep George Mason open, opting for short-term fixes
• Editorial: What Roanoke’s new city manager should know about us
• ‘Driverless’ Van in Virginia Is Driven by Man Dressed Like a Car Seat
• Conditions improve today with fantastic Wednesday and Thursday ahead