Tuesday News: Much of FL In the Dark; “Is Trump Ending the American Era?”; Really Dumb WaPo Editorial

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, September 12.

• Irma leaves much of Florida in the dark
• Florida Staggers Toward Long Recovery (“Flooding and Power Failures May Plague State for Weeks”)
• U.N. Security Council Adopts New Sanctions Against North Korea
• Irma, and the Rise of Extreme Rain (“Extreme rainstorms are up more than a third since the early 1980s, according to research by Kenneth Kunkel of the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies…The main reason these storms seem to be more frequent is global warming…There is overwhelming evidence that climate change is altering the weather. Irma and Harvey weren’t caused by climate change, but they almost certainly would not have been so powerful if the air and the seas fueling them hadn’t been so warm.”
• Trump’s legal team debated whether Kushner should leave White House
• Four more Democratic senators will co-sponsor Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill (“Single-payer is swiftly becoming the party line, rather than a deviation from it.”)
• E.P.A. Chief Calls Climate Change Link ‘Insensitive’ (Have I mentioned recently that Scott Pruitt is evil?)
• The cruelest insult to Harvey and Irma’s victims (“Climate-change denial does a disservice to those who lost their lives.”)
• GOP leaders made a huge wager — and they’re losing (“When will they admit betting on Trump was a bad idea?”)
• The NRA’s idea of recreation: Assault rifles, armor-piercing bullets and silencers (“Apparently, this is what ‘sportsmen’s heritage’ looks like.”)
• McConnell Says Democrats’ Glee on Debt Limit Deal Was Premature
• How Donald Trump Lied to Conceal His Moscow Business Partner (“Perhaps this was his greatest deception of the 2016 campaign.”)
• Is Trump Ending the American Era? (“For all the visible damage the president has done to the nation’s global standing, things are much worse below the surface.”)
• Will Donald Trump Destroy the Presidency? (“He disdains the rule of law. He’s trampling norms of presidential behavior. And he’s bringing vital institutions down with him.”)
• Five memorable moments from Hillary Clinton’s newest book
• Hillary Clinton Is ‘Done,’ But Not Going Away
• Senate approves resolution condemning white supremacist groups
• Alex Jones: Sources tell me Trump is being “covertly drugged” and is now slurring his words by 6 or 7 p.m. each night
• What you need to know about Laura Ingraham, who Fox News is reportedly giving a show in prime time
• Leader’s exit fuels worry for centrist Republicans
• What Steve Bannon Is Up To (“He isn’t targeting GOP incumbents to defend Trump’s honor. He’s doing it for himself.”)
• Polls Showing DACA As Popular — Even Among Republicans — Don’t Tell The Whole Story (“So even though DACA is popular, Republicans would be unlikely to face a backlash among their voters — even their more centrist ones — should they refuse to pass a replacement.”)
• Kaine hits the trail again, battling 2016 ghosts on his way (“‘There is nothing this guy has done that should surprise a person in this country,’ the 2016 VP candidate says of Donald Trump.”)
• ‘Thanks for watching, Ted’: The internet goes bonkers after GOP’s Cruz gives thumbs-up to porn account
• Ted Cruz Likes Porn Clip on Twitter, Fervent Speculation Ensues
• Ted Cruz’s college roommate relives ‘misery’ of living with Texas senator after Twitter porn controversy
• For both sides of abortion debate, unusually high stakes in Virginia governor’s race (“Democrat Ralph Northam, a longtime abortion rights supporter, faces Republican Ed Gillespie, who says he wants to see most abortions banned.” There really aren’t just two sides to this debate…)
• Billionaire donates $1 million to help Va. immigrant groups mobilize for November vote (“The campaign targeting Fairfax and Prince William counties is part of a larger effort to fuel a Democrat resurgence in the Trump era.”)
• U-Va. was ill-prepared for march of torch-bearing white nationalists, report finds (“A panel said that the university should have sought out more information on the marchers and acted upon it. The report also pointed to a flawed application of the school’s own protocols and a misunderstanding of laws.”)
• The Virginia governor’s race is how politics should be (At first I thought this editorial, presumably by the Post’s Lee Hockstader, was a parody. Of course, this is the same guy who endorsed Barbara Comstock because he thought she might be a moderating influence or something.)
• Cost of IT legal dispute between Virginia and Northrop Grumman could approach $15M
• Williams: As relations between police and community fray, Mayor Stoney must step up
• Report: UVA police were unaware of policy it could have used to penalize tiki torch marchers (“U.Va. police didn’t try to enforce the Virginia law, which says people who burn objects with the intention of intimidation is guilty of a class six felony.”)
• Judge’s ruling permits pipeline surveying of Franklin County farm(“The judge described Virginia’s pipeline surveying law as a ‘legislative failure’ but said Monday that he felt compelled to enforce it.”)
• Editorial: The progressive thing the coalfields are doing that no one is noticing (“Dominion Energy is now looking into what would be a revolutionary breakthrough — using water in abandoned coal mines to generate power. The idea is that these old mines could be turned into pumped-storage hydroelectric sites.”)
• U.S. News and World Report rankings: U.Va. stays in top 25 of U.S. universities as VCU falls
• HRT proposes 15-minute rush hour service on some routes
• Hurricane Irma’s remnants will bring clouds, showers and humidity