Sunday News: Global Warming-Fueled Irma Reaches Florida Keys; “Political candidates have to confront Virginia’s racial history”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, September 10.

• Hurricane Irma regains power as it lashes Florida (“Storm upgraded to Category 4 as it closes in on the Keys”)
• Irma takes aim at America’s most vulnerable, unprepared city: Tampa (“Climate science denial is thwarting efforts to plan for rising seas and worsening storms.” Big time.)
• Here Are The Latest Updates On Hurricane Irma’s Path Of Destruction (“Meteorologists say the storm will take an unexpected westward turn, hammering the Tampa area.”)
• As Irma approaches, fear is in the water, spreading with new and viral efficiency (“Fear is in the water these days, spread with a new and viral efficiency on social media into everyone’s homes and everyone’s pockets at all hours, every day. There are so many fears and faux fears making people jittery that it has taken a special effort to get some Americans to pay proper attention to Irma, a storm whose danger is obvious to the naked eye.” Yeah, social media has turned into a disaster, really…)
• Is Ending DACA the Worst Decision Trump Has Made? (“In terms of immediate human suffering, yes.”)
• President Trump’s War on Science
• The Paranoid Style In Conservative Politics (“Rush Limbaugh makes a good punching bag, both because of his general grotesqueness, and because his personal flight from Florida provides a perfect punch line. But the paranoid style in policy debates is pretty much universal on the modern right.”)
• A Nobel Peace Prize Winner’s Shame (“Aung San Suu Kyi, a beloved Nobel Peace Prize winner, is presiding over an ethnic cleansing in which villages are burned, women raped and children butchered.” Suu Kyi doesn’t control the Burmese military, but still…c’mon, this is horrific. Also, where’s the United States on this ethnic cleansing/genocide???)
• Republicans Claim That Their New Plan to Repeal Obamacare Is a Moderate Compromise. LOL.
• Pence’s spokesman pushes lie about voter fraud in New Hampshire (“There is no actual evidence, but that isn’t stopping the Trump administration.”)
• There will be blood: “Republicans have a binary choice: fight for President Trump, or die” (“Suggesting that conservatives must choose between Trump and death is not innocent; it points toward civil war”)
• Eric Bolling’s 19-Year-Old Son Found Dead Hours After Ouster From Fox News
• Shad Plank: DACA, TV spending and gubernatorial hopefuls talk about veterans
• Kaine, Alexander to make bi-partisan music in opening act of music festival
• Schapiro: New twist on Va.’s old bugaboo (“In Virginia, particularly since World War II, race has been — and remains — a potent political stimulant, often for ill, occasionally for good.”)
• Gordon Morse: Political candidates have to confront Virginia’s racial history (“A conversation has begun, and it will not stop with the statues. Are we — and our elected leaders — brave enough for this? Can we talk about this issue intelligently?” With racist demagogues like Corey Stewart running around out there, it’s not likely.)
• Editorial: Hurricane Harvey should serve as deadly warning (“In this year’s legislative session, the Virginia Senate killed a measure that would have created a Cabinet-level position to handle coastal protection and flooding adaptation, an idea that emerged from Norfolk. A companion measure failed in the House Appropriations Committee.”)
• Editorial: Frank assessments (“So now what? The state GO Virginia council will review all these plans on Tuesday. That’s great. But it might be better if every citizen read them, and then asked their local officials what they’re doing about them.”)
• Richard Cullen to step down as McGuireWoods chairman but continue law practice (Virginia’s “shadow government,” along with Dominion Energy. And you thought this was a democracy? Ha!)
• For Richmond student, Trump’s DACA decision could mean deportation
• 70 animals find shelter from Harvey at CASPCA
• VDOT’s chief engineer supports closing Natural Bridge to traffic
• Fairfax Co. residents suggest new names for J.E.B. Stuart High School
• Swearing-in set for new Fairfax School Board member
• Virginia Beach SPCA educational programs encourage children to be humane to animals and people
• Expect another pair of sunny days before Irma-related showers roll in midweek