Wednesday News: Al Gore on the Climate Crisis; Trump’s Embarrassing WSJ Interview; Fox’s Fake Seth Rich “News”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, August 2.

• The Best Quotes From Trump’s Embarrassing Unpublished WSJ Interview (“I’m very happy with Anthony. I think Anthony is going to do amazing.” “And then you call places like Malaysia, Indonesia, and you say, you know, how many people do you have? And it’s pretty amazing how many people they have.” Yes, this moron is our “president,” so to speak.)
• Scott Pruitt’s EPA Shows Disdain for America (“Can the courts make him do his job?”)
• Relationship between Trump, Senate Republicans hits new skids (“Some GOP senators are openly defying directives of President Trump, who has belittled them as looking like ‘fools’ and tried to strong-arm their agenda. The friction underscores the challenge the party faces as lawmakers seek to move beyond a failed health-care effort.”)
• Jeff Flake’s Republican Heresy Doesn’t Go Nearly Far Enough (“The disease afflicting the Grand Old Party has deeper roots than he cares to admit.” Flake is all talk, no action.)
• Donald Trump, Sean Spicer colluded to make up Seth Rich conspiracy stories (“Trump’s White House pushes a fake story about a conspiracy that’s big in right-wing circles”
  This is beyond demented.)
• Exactly How Close Was the White House to Fox News’s Fake Seth Rich Story?
• If Donald Trump is innocent of collusion with Russia, how come he keeps acting so guilty? (“Trump reportedly dictated his son’s false statement about the Russia meeting — but claims he has nothing to hide”)
• Why Chaos Rules at the White House (“And why even John Kelly is probably powerless to impose order onto it.”)
• Can anyone get a handle on the president who handles everything? (“Good luck to John Kelly”)
• Here’s the president talking about how surprised he is that some Asian countries are large (“Read this Trump interview quote and tell me if you can make sense of it.” Does Trump have dementia or is he simply an imbecile? And again, I ask, who the HELL voted for this f***tard???)
• An even better deal (“The People’s Platform endorses the kind of bold populist agenda this nation needs.”)
• Time for the Trump administration to speak with one voice on the debt ceiling (“Raising the limit is the only responsible option.”)
• Senate confirms Wray as next FBI director
• The Senate Overwhelmingly Confirms Christopher Wray as FBI Director (“The new chief starts his job with a bipartisan mandate to preserve the bureau’s independence from the White House.”)
• Trump Came In As A Weak President, And He’s Made Himself Weaker
• Trump Loyalist Mixes Businesses and Access at ‘Advisory’ Firm
• The New FBI Director’s First Task: Inform Trump He Doesn’t Run the FBI
• Democrats Don’t Need a ‘Litmus Test’ on Abortion. But Respect for Women Should Be Mandatory. (“’Trust women.’ And if you can’t bring yourself to trust them with decisions over their own bodies, Democratic men, at least respect them enough to keep your own counsel about it.”)
• WATCH: President Trump’s lawyer caught lying about Trump’s involvement in Russia meeting coverup (This Sekulow dude gives me the creeps.)
• Jared Kushner’s secret plan to create Middle East peace without reading books or learning history (“Congressional interns were asked not to record the session. A recording found its way to the media anyway.”)
• McConnell plans to pass tax bill with just GOP votes (McConnell continues to be horrible.)
• Top EPA official resigns over direction of agency under Trump (Here’s her exit letter, which says “Today the environmental field is suffering from the temporary triumph of myth over truth. The truth is there is NO war on coal, there is NO economic crisis caused by environmental protection, and climate change IS caused by man’s activities.”
• A Saboteur’s Handbook: How Trump Could Still Wreck Obamacare
• Sanders: Trump Worked On Jr.’s Russia Statement ‘As Any Father Would’ (“As any father would?” Yeah, Sarah Huckabee Sanders actually said that shit.)
• It’s time for Sean Hannity to go (It’s looong past time.)
• All the Major Players in the Latest Seth Rich Story Are Contradicting Themselves
• Warner: ‘A Lot Of Questions’ About Why Trump Crafted Statement For Son
• Tillerson spurns $80 million to counter ISIS, Russian propaganda (“The secretary of state won’t tap funding approved by Congress, angering officials.”)
• Republicans wonder: Can we govern? (The answer to that question’s been obvious for ages: no, at least not at the national level, and based on Republican attempts at governance in places like Kansas and Louisiana, no at the state level too.)
• Majority in the House is up for grabs
• Human Rights Campaign Endorse Mark Herring, Ralph Northam
• Gov. McAuliffe launches task force to promote millennial civic engagement
• Schapiro: Cantor and Brat – the alpha and the omega (“The interview — or is it a mea culpa? — is another example of the selective, often distant manner in which Cantor, as a politician and, now, as an investment banker, engages his constituents. His occasional back-home meetings with voters tended to be invitation-only affairs.”)
• Pro-Trump mayor of sinking Virginia island questions Al Gore’s climate change views on CNN (They’re not “views” to be questioned, they’re scientific facts, like gravity, the earth revolving around the sun, etc. Beyond that, the irony of the mayor of an island that’s going to be swallowed up by waters rising due to climate change is just…sick, actually.)
• A. Barton Hinkle column: Should Richmond erect more Confederate monuments? (“But the version of history that includes slavery is the more accurate one. And that history is nowhere to be seen on Monument Avenue. For a long time, it was nowhere to be seen in Richmond. Talk about political correctness.”)
• Virginia State Bar files ethics complaint against Joe Morrissey alleging cover-up of sex scandal (It’s about time.)
• Dominion to pay back estimated $11 million to $12 million to overcharged commercial customers
• Journalist in Style Weekly defamation trial: “I didn’t make anything up.” (“Peter Galuszka told jurors he believed everything he reported in two articles that appeared in 2015 in Style Weekly and one published in the Washington Post suggesting Supervisor Sean Davis was improperly using his position on the Board of Supervisors to influence Hanover schools”)
• Should Virginia Beach’s high schools do away with class rankings?
• New Virginia law addresses bullying in schools
• Moderate heat and humidity, with an isolated storm here and there