by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, August 1.
- Trump dictated son’s misleading statement on meeting with Russian lawyer (“President Trump’s personal intervention, described by people with knowledge of the deliberations, is part of a series of actions that some advisers fear could place him and some members of his inner circle in legal jeopardy as the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election proceeds.” Trump for Prison!)
- Scaramucci fired from White House role as Kelly flexes muscle as chief of staff (Scaramooch, Scaramooch…he’s just a poor boy, nobody loves him? Or maybe “Goodbye, everybody, I’ve got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth?” LOL) - GOP leaders concede it’s time for Senate to move on from health care
- Putin tests Trump with counterpunch on sanctions (Putin knows Trump is very, very weak.)
- Senate Republicans brush off Trump’s healthcare demands
- Kelly seizes control of the chaotic West Wing (“Trump’s new chief of staff established his authority by abruptly dismissing newly named communications director Anthony Scaramucci.” Good now fire Stephen Bannon and many of the others!)
- GOP lawmakers, Trump at odds over insurance payments
- Trump Is About To Make A Key Obamacare Decision
- Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ): My Party Is in Denial About Donald Trump (“We created him, and now we’re rationalizing him. When will it stop?” Probably never, sad to say, as Republicans put party and politics over patriotism the vast majority of the time.)
- GOP Sen. Jeff Flake: Donald Trump is like the biblical flood, and we need to build an ark (“We lost our way and began to rationalize away our principles in the process.”)
- Trump’s latest attempt to gut Obamacare could backfire spectacularly (“Congratulations on your expanded welfare state!”)
- Hardball With Senators Is a Risky Game for New Presidents (Especially corrupt, impeachable idiots like Trump.)
- The Past Week Proves That Trump Is Destroying Our Democracy (“Do Americans have what it takes to stop him?” I’m pessmistic, unless the 40% or so of Americans who STILL support the Orange Gropenfuhrer finally come to their senses.)
- Ivanka Trump is part of the problem (“Far from being a moderating force on her father, the president’s daughter is not part of the solution.” The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…)
- Pruitt’s Deregulation Spree Has Cut Corners (“He may be one of the most effective Cabinet members right now, but that may change when his legal shortcuts are litigated.”)
- Democrats snub new party message (“Some question whether the party even needs one.”)
- Obama’s Inner Circle Is Urging Deval Patrick to Run (“The former Massachusetts governor would have powerful allies in 2020. There’s just one problem: It’s not clear he wants to do it.”)
- Drop the Bluster on North Korea (“Threats have gotten nowhere. Mr. Trump needs to take a chance on diplomacy.”)
- The Downsides of John Kelly’s Ascension (“Trump, who has no idea how many articles there are in the Constitution, neither knows nor cares about any of the niceties of civil-military relations. To their credit, Kelly, Mattis, and McMaster have thought long and hard about these issues. But like any of us they have their individual limitations, and like any of us, their characters can be eroded by the whirlpool of moral and political corruption that is Donald Trump. The Marines live by a hard code, and John Kelly has endured tests of character more difficult than most of us can conceive. But his hardest tests lie ahead, and neither he nor anyone else can be sure that he will pass them.”)
- The Mooch’s Wild, 11-Day Ride Through Trump’s White House (“The Scaramucci era was over before it even began.”)
- Can John Kelly Rein in Trump? (“The removal of Anthony Scaramucci as the White House communications director suggests that the new chief of staff may be one of the few people able to tame the President.”)
- Sinclair’s Boris Epshteyn celebrates Anthony Scaramucci’s “new approach” and “fresh perspective” for Trump’s White House (Remember to not watch the news at Sinclair’s local affiliate, WJLA-7.)
- How Trump’s lawyers, Sean Hannity, and a Sinclair outlet tried to cover up Trump Jr.’s Russia meeting
- Ejected by Voters, ‘America’s Toughest Sheriff’ Could Now Be Headed to Prison (It’s loooong past time for this scumbag.)
- Read a Bunch of Trump Administration Dummies Argue With an Email Troll They Thought Was Their Coworkers (“Look, phishing scams can hit just about everyone, and the Trump administration is composed of people who are just humans. Very, very dumb humans, who should probably not be trusted with any kind of serious responsibilities.”)
- EXCLUSIVE: Kelly called Comey to express anger over firing, sources say (“New White House chief of staff John Kelly was so upset with how President Donald Trump handled the firing of FBI Director James Comey that Kelly called Comey afterward and said he was considering resigning, according to two sources familiar with a conversation between Kelly and Comey.”)
- Kushner to Interns: Trump Team Too Disorganized to Collude With Russia (“In off-the-record remarks, the president’s son-in-law offers a unique defense.”)
- Nearly all Cabinet officials attend Bible lessons with right-wing pastor who compares Trump to biblical heroes (Trump can be compared to a number of Biblical figures, but none of them are heroes!)
- Editorial: Ensuring freedom of information in the commonwealth
- Pipeline analysis dramatically underestimates forest impacts, state agencies report
- Power outage in North Carolina’s Outer Banks may keep tourists out for two weeks
- (“An analysis by Mountain Valley Pipeline of the controversial project’s impacts on intact forests in Virginia underestimated those effects by more than 300 percent, according to an assessment by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation and other state agencies.”)
- Editorial: Could pipeline opponents sink Northam and elect a pipeline advocate?
- AG Herring agrees to second debate with challenger Adams, but no more after that
- A transgender candidate takes on Virginia’s ‘minister of private parts’ (I love Danica Roem and want her to win, of course, but…cmon, corporate media, do we really need a gazillion nearly identical headlines about “Transgender woman vs. anti-LGBT bigot?” Oh, and make sure you guys don’t cover any other Virginia House of Delegates races, because apparently none of them matter. Amazing.)
- McAuliffe promoting millennial civic engagement
- Group calls for 1,000 faith leaders to protest Aug. 12 rally in Charlottesville
- Teachers and parents decry conditions at Mason Elementary, the worst facility in Richmond’s portfolio
- Monument Avenue Commission begins holding public meetings this week to discuss future of Richmond’s Confederate statues
- Temperatures, humidity start to creep up as the week progresses
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