by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, October 20.
- Barack Obama delivers veiled but withering rebuke of Donald Trump (“Back in the public fray at a rally in Virginia, the former president delivered his views on the current political climate in his strongest terms yet”)
- Bush and Obama Rebuke Trump by Implication Alone (It’s not just implication, really, it’s glaringly obvious what they’re both saying.)
- The Self-Dealing Presidency of Donald Trump
- There’s a Dangerous Bubble in the Fossil-Fuel Economy, and the Trump Administration Is Making It Worse (“By prolonging the decline of the fossil-fuel industry, the Trump Administration could be inviting a global economic collapse.”)
- The Anguish of John Kelly (“The White House chief of staff decried the desacralization of military deaths—but it was the president he serves who politicized condolence calls.”)
- Senate Passes Budget Resolution Seen As Key To Trump’s Tax Overhaul (“The bottom line on this budget is that it’s a right-wing fantasy document that paves the way for a hyper-partisan process on tax reform and trillions of dollars in handouts to big corporations and the wealthy”)
- Trump’s mindless cruelty to a soldier’s widow speaks to the core of his character (“A weak and narcissistic man is in a job that requires strength and empathy.”)
- CIA Backs Off Director’s Claim That Russian Meddling Didn’t Swing Election (Pompeo is an extremist nutter and should never have been confirmed.)
- Senate Republicans Block Measure To Protect Arctic Wildlife Refuge From Oil Drilling (These people are, at the deepest level, anti-life.)
- Thousands Of Protesters Show Up In Florida To Drown Out Richard Spencer’s Hate (“The mayor of Gainesville calls the white supremacist a ‘terrorist leader.'”)
- The Trump administration promises to fight for the travel ban. Why bother?
- What You Need To Know About The Honest Ads Act (“NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks to Democratic Sen. Mark Warner about the Honest Ads Act, a proposal to regulate online political advertising the same way as television, radio and print.”)
- Krugman: Trump, Trade and Tantrums
- The Darkness Reaching Out for the Darkness in Everyone (“This was a tragic day for John Kelly.”)
- These wealthy institutions are quietly financing white nationalism (“Organizations that claim to serve the public good are enriching Robert Mercer.”)
- Senator Kaine calls Iran deal withdrawal dangerous
- Trump nominees show up for work without waiting for Senate approval (“Some lawyers and experts warn the administration may be bumping up against a 1998 law designed to prevent the president from doing an end-run around Congress.”)
- Putin tells the United States it needs to stop making fun of Donald Trump (Cool, now let’s do the exact opposite of what the Russian dictator/thug wants us to do!)
- Why You Might Be Seeing Bipartisan Health-Care Bill in December (Yeah…or not.)
- The DNC’s Imbalance Between Self-Righteousness and Self-Awareness (“They need to get it together. Fast.”)
- Finally, We Learn Why Chad Is on the Travel Ban List. It’s Not Good. (“CBS reports that as part of its security review of traveler vetting procedures, the Trump administration had required countries to provide a sample of its passports to the Homeland Security Department for analysis. That was a problem for Chad, because the country had run out of passport paper”)
- Two cheers for George W. Bush: But his party spawned this horror (“Don’t surrender to W-nesia! It’s nice that Bush is speaking out against Trumpism, but the GOP must face its guilt”)
- Trump and conservative media have their own, quite different version of the Russia scandal (“The president is trying to argue that Democrats, the Clintons, and the FBI are the real villains.” Right-wing media is an alternate universe, like that one on Star Trek where Spock is evil and has a beard…)
- George W. Bush Condemns Trumpism, But Skips His Role In Its Rise (“The former president allowed Wall Street to run wild and invaded Iraq, fueling conditions that propelled Donald Trump into power.” Very true.)
- Calm Down About Those Virginia Polls, Folks (“The October average of Virginia gubernatorial surveys has Northam leading Gillespie by 7 percentage points, 50 percent to 43 percent…With an average Northam lead of about 7 points, sampling error alone suggests that some polls should find Gillespie up by a little and some polls should find Northam with double-digit advantages. That’s exactly what we’re getting.”)
- In attack on Frederica Wilson over Trump’s call to widow, John Kelly gets facts wrong (My opinion of John Kelly just plummeted.)
- George W. Bush delivers clear rebuke, without mentioning Trump by name
- 10/19: President Trump Legacy May Be as One of the Worst U.S. Presidents
- Ryan’s friends flee as frustration with Trump grows (“A flurry of House GOP retirements could make the speaker’s job even harder.”)
- Obama Attacks Tactics of Republican Candidate for Governor in Virginia
- ‘Our Democracy Is At Stake,’ Obama Says Of Virginia Race For Governor (It really is.)
- Speaking to thousands in Richmond, Obama urges Virginia voters to ‘reach out for hope, not fear’ (Thousands of hope-filled, happy people who look like Virginia, unlike the tiny, all-white, angry/vitriolic Pence/Gillespie rally the other day.)
- Obama back on campaign trail to rally for Ralph Northam in Richmond
- Koch group launches new million dollar anti-Northam push in Va. governor’s race (We all need to tell “Americans for Prosperity…for the Top 0.1%” where to shove their ads)
- Danica Roem: A policy wonk in a rainbow headscarf, trying to make history (This woman is SUPER smart, SUPER hard working, will be a SUPER effective delegate for her district — elect her on 11/7!)
- Del. Bob Marshall: Conservative warrior fights to preserve ‘laws of nature’ (A warped, bizarre, hateful, ineffectual old man.)
- Virginia attorney general candidates to face off in final debate (Wait a minute, the subheading of this “straight news” article actually refers to Herring as a “liberal activist?” WTF???)
- Ralph Northam campaign fliers omitted his black running mate. Was it racism or politics at play?
- Judge removes community agency from Deeds’ lawsuit over son’s death
- Richmond has spent $16,000 cleaning monuments in last two years
- Virginia Statehouse Race Pits ‘Bathroom Bill’ Author Against Transgender Woman (The media looooooves this story!)
- Moonshine Makes A Comeback in Virginia. And This Time, It’s Legal
- Sunny with low-humidity warmth through the weekend
