Wednesday News: Armaged-DON; Climate Report Shows Need to Switch to Clean Energy ASAP; False Equivalency Runs Amok in RTD

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, August 9.

• Climate Report Could Force Trump to Choose Between Science and His Base
• 9 Takeaways From the National Climate Report (“Humans are to blame.”)
• This is what America will look like if we follow Trump’s climate policies (“Leaked draft reveals a devastated America, up to 8 feet of sea level rise, 18°F Arctic warming–unless we embrace Paris climate deal” Absolute disaster, in other words, if we don’t switch to clean energy – that’s right, no more new fossil fuel infrastructure, including natural gas pipelines – ASAP. That’s what the science says; couldn’t be any clearer, really.)
• Trump’s ‘fire and fury’ threat to North Korea sparks new fears of war (“Trump’s comments drew a counter threat from North Korea, which said it is ‘carefully examining’ a preemptive strike on Guam.”)
• This is how bad things could get if Trump denies the reality of climate change (“Recent studies provide a glimpse at the dangerous future ahead.”)
• Trump’s ‘fire and fury’ threat is a rhetorical grenade (“The unnecessary bombast brings the president down to his adversary’s level.”)
• Pruitt climate science challenge splits conservative allies (“There is concern the GOP and its policies will suffer if the EPA chief reopens a losing argument about whether global warming is real.” Pruitt is a fossil fuel industry tool of the worst order.)
• Trump hits new polling low as base shrinks (“The president’s base of support has diminished, not increased, in the 7 months he’s been in office.”)
• Was Trump’s North Korea Threat a Strategy Shift or Pure Bluster? (“No missiles flew overnight, so some are taking comfort in the idea that is that Trump was just matching North Korea’s bluster with his own. However, it’s still tremendously frightening that Trump doesn’t seem to understand that’s just the kind of thing that can unintentionally start a war.”)
• Businesses Are Finally Realizing That Trump Causes “Uncertainty” (Duh.)
• North Korea now making missile-ready nuclear weapons, U.S. analysts say (Fortunately, we don’t have a hothead, inexperienced or incompetent president in the White House. Oh wait…shit.)
• The 144 million people who like Trump best (“All that’s missing from Trump’s Putin-style propaganda is shirtless photos.”)
• Trump, media escalate feud (It’s not a “feud”; the president of the United States is waging war on the free press in this country.)
• Trump is a fake president and his base is starting to agree
• Sorry, Mike Pence, You’re Doomed (“He trumpets his conservative Christianity and avoids supping alone with any woman other than his wife, then turns around and steadfastly enables an avowed groper with a bulging record of profanely sexual comments.”)
• Israel Imagines Life After Netanyahu as Inquiries Intensify
• The Purges Are Coming (“Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department just took a major stand against voting rights. It’s now up to the Supreme Court to protect the rolls.”)
• Hours before Trump threatened nuclear war, White House adviser said North Korea isn’t a real threat (Why is this Gorka dude anywhere near the White House???)
• Can Paul Ryan Raise the Debt Limit Without Losing His Job?
• What to Make of the Mike Pence 2020 Rumors (“In 2020, at the end of a failed, one-term Trump Presidency, no amount of pac money or donor meetings will insulate Vice-President Pence from the political fallout from being Donald Trump’s transition chief, Capitol Hill liaison, right-hand man, and principal surrogate”)
• We looked at Trump’s Twitter interactions for more than a year. A lot of them are suspicious. (Everything about this slimeball is suspicious.)
• ‘God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong Un,’ evangelical adviser says (I bet Ewwww Jackson agrees wholeheartedly.)
• President Trump has sent private messages to Russia special counsel Robert Mueller (“Trump’s private communications represent a ‘striking’ contradiction with his public condemnations of the Russia investigation, said Jimmy Gurule, a former assistant attorney general in the George H.W. Bush administration.”)
• Trump’s Battle Against Diversity
• No, Looking At Trump Biz Doesn’t Make Mueller Probe A ‘Fishing Expedition’
• Trump gets a folder full of positive news about himself twice a day (“It’s known as the ‘propaganda document'”)
• Al Gore explains the threat Trump poses to our climate
• Calm down: we’re (probably) not about to go to war with North Korea (“I’m at least, like, 75 percent sure.”)
• Trump now sounds more North Korea-y than North Korea
• Wednesday: Lt. Governor Debate With Jill Vogel and Justin Fairfax
• Editorial: All tangled up in tuition (“The cost of a college education is not only getting higher. It’s getting tougher, too. At least in Virginia.”)
• Virginia drafts new plan to hold struggling schools accountable (“The state crafted the plan to align with 2015 federal Every Student Succeeds Act.”)
• A. Barton Hinkle column: Is Ralph Northam a closet libertarian? (How Hinkle gets this out of a standard pro-choice position is kinda beyond me.)
• Schapiro: Rivals alike in their selective representation of facts (Yeah, because Gillespie denying climate science and Northam opposing cuts to Planned Parenthood funding are the exact same thing, totally equivalent and stuff.
  My god…)
• Editorial: Richmond schoolkids come before millionaire athletes
• Jamycheal Mitchell’s death remains under investigation, but officials schedule ‘lessons learned’ seminar
• Newport News’ Simonds is Democrats’ pick for 94th District (“Democrats in the 94th House of Delegates District picked Shelly Simonds as their nominee to replace Zack Wittkamp, who withdrew from the race late last month. Simonds will face Del. David Yancey, R-Newport News, and Libertarian Party candidate Michael D. Bartley in the November election.”)
• Editorial: Another way that Virginia has left Southwest Virginia behind
• Local Delegates Look Beyond Arlington Ahead of November Elections (“All noted a level of enthusiasm among Democratic-leaning voters they have not seen in some time, something Levine put down to objections to the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.”)
• Ahead of Far Right Wing Rally in Virginia, Airbnb Cancels Accounts
• ACLU, Rutherford Institute Urge Charlottesville to Allow Rally at Emancipation Park
• Why the upcoming alt-right rally in Charlottesville may be less important than we think (“…the diminished Klan itself is not what worries us. Instead, we are concerned about their ideological heirs who hide in plain sight — without the distinguishing hoods and robes — who walk in and out of government buildings, lobbying firms, think tanks and corporations day in and day out.”)
• Officials: Newport News Chief of Police Richard Myers resigning
• Republican in Prince William, Stafford House race falsely touts Masters Degree, apologizes (I strongly encourage everyone in this district to vote for Jennifer Carroll Foy, who is super impressive.)
• Richmond, Redskins talking about renegotiating training camp deal (“‘The current deal is not the deal I would have negotiated with the Redskins,’ Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney said.”)
• Magnificent midweek; more unsettled toward weekend