Thursday News: What You Need to Know About the Cassidy-Graham Monstrosity; Gillespie’s Version of “Willie Horton”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, September 21.

• Manafort offered ‘private briefings’ on 2016 race to Putin ally
• As Maria pulls away from Puerto Rico, ‘catastrophic’ flooding continues, and East Coast awaits its next move (“The storm is expected to turn north parallel to the East Coast — but just how close it will come, while enormously consequential, is not clear.”)
• All Power Out as Hurricane Maria’s Winds, Floods Crush Puerto Rico
• Maria regains strength as it pulls away from Puerto Rico, approaches Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos
• Mueller Seeks White House Documents Related to Trump’s Actions as President
• Who is for and against the Senate ObamaCare repeal bill (“Powerhouse health groups like the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association have come out against the Graham-Cassidy proposal in strong terms, warning that it could lead to coverage loses for millions of American”
• Don’t Let These Other Stories Get Lost in the News (“Trump is poisoning our institutions of government in myriad ways.”)
• Trump Is Deluded if He Thinks He Can Negotiate a New, Better Paris Climate Deal (There could be a looong list of “Trump is Deluded if…” headlines.)
• The Republicans Aren’t Even Pretending This Is About Healthcare Anymore (“They’re too tired to lie”)
• Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea. I asked 8 experts how worrisome that is. (“One expert responded just by sending a photo of Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream.”)
• The unlikely group who brought Obamacare repeal back to life (“Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Bill Cassidy crafted the bill, while Lindsey Graham played the role of salesman.” Santorum?)
• The Media Has A Probability Problem (“The media’s demand for certainty — and its lack of statistical rigor — is a bad match for our complex world.” The fact is, most journalists are generalists, don’t know s*** about science, statistics, energy, environment, health care, you name it.)
• Kimmel, not Cassidy, is right on health care, analysts say
• Trump Leaning Toward Decertifying Iran Nuclear Deal, Sources Say (This guy has absolutely no business being anywhere near the Oval Office.)
• Trump Suggests Iran Deal Can Be Revised Rather Than Killed (Good luck with that.)
• Diplomats meet on Iran deal as Trump stays mum on decision (We’d better not pull out.)
• Trump shows ‘America First’ is utterly incoherent (“His U.N. speech was a demonstration of ignorance.”)
• Republicans’ new health care plan would need to move faster than 96% of laws (Crazy.)
• Trump’s UN speech went over well with at least one country — Russia (And Israel’s far-right Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu, loved it.)
• The White House’s preposterous policy analysis on refugees (“The administration is covering up the benefits and highlighting the costs.”)
• Sen. Graham presses for support for GOP health bill (Screw you Lindsey.)
• Here’s how the GOP health care bill is already sabotaging Obamacare (“The current health law is taking a(nother) beating.”)
• Report finds that every state would suffer under Trumpcare (“The latest effort to repeal and replace the ACA could mean states lose $4 trillion over the next 20 years.”)
• How Matt Drudge became the pipeline for Russian propaganda (“Drudge Report has linked nearly 400 times to RT, Sputnik News, TASS since 2012”)
• Trump blocks woman with stage 4 cancer on Twitter after she criticized his latest health care plan (“President Snowflake.”)
• Two major cities demand fossil fuel companies pay for climate damages (“San Francisco and Oakland join a growing movement aiming to hold fossil fuel companies accountable through the courts.”)
• 5 big lies Sen. Cassidy told about his health bill after Jimmy Kimmel called him a liar (“There are a lot.”)
• Top senator says there are likely ‘a lot more’ fake Facebook accounts tied to Russia (“There are likely ‘a lot more’ fake Facebook accounts affiliated with Russia than what the company has so far disclosed, the vice chairman of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, said on Wednesday.”)
• Goodlatte, Kaine, Warner on Trump’s proposed border wall
• UMW poll shows U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine with solid leads over potential opponents
• Trump says he’s worried about voter fraud. One of his nominees may have voted illegally in Virginia.
• Virginia Republican’s ad ties opponent to MS-13. Democrats compare it to ‘Willie Horton’ (Appalling ad; let’s hope it backfires on Gillespie, big time.)
• Virginia to make big play for Amazon HQ2, but quietly
• BlackPAC plans $1.1 million effort to mobilize African American voters in Virginia
• Editorial: Takeaways from the second Gillespie-Northam debate (The Roanoke Times is either being intentionally obtuse on the proposed fracked gas pipelines or it really IS obtuse.)
• Why Virginia thinks it’s got a shot at Amazon’s 2nd headquarters (Note that one thing McAuliffe didn’t mention is something Amazon definitely wants – clean, renewable energy.)
• Is Virginia’s Gubernatorial Race a National Bellwether? (A right-wing take.)
• Nat Turner, the leader of a violent Virginia slave uprising, will be honored on a new emancipation statue in Richmond
• U-Va.’s new president will earn $750,000 a year
• Arlingtonians can keep their wild pets, but most new ones prohibited
• Summer warmth pays no heed to the calendar through the weekend