Thursday News: “Everybody Hates” GOP Tax Plan; Facebook Can’t Answer Mark Warner’s “Simple Question”; ” The Trumpification of Ed Gillespie”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, November 2.

• Trump calls for death penalty for Uzbek man charged in NY attack
• About John Kelly’s Racist History Lesson
• Reports of crowds, glitches as ACA enrollment opens for its fifth year (“The administration’s persistent determination to undercut the law’s insurance marketplaces has prompted widespread predictions that fewer Americans will end up with coverage when the enrollment periods ends on Dec. 15 in most of the country.”)
• Divided GOP unites by attacking Hillary Clinton (Note to crazy GOP – it’s now November 2017, not November 2016, and Clinton is – unfortunately – not in the White House!)
• The New York attacker was from Uzbekistan. Here’s why that matters. (“Uzbeks have become a prime recruiting target for terrorist groups.”)
• Facebook, Google and Twitter admit large-scale Russian infiltration (“Senators chastise big tech firms for not taking Russian manipulation seriously enough. Will anything change?”)
• Trump blames N.Y. attack on weak laws, justice system (And in other remarks, crazy old man Trump added, “GET OFF MY LAWN!!!” Heh.)
• “You Can’t Go Any Lower”: Inside the West Wing, Trump is Apoplectic as Allies Fear Impeachment
• Michael Flynn Followed Russian Troll Accounts, Pushed Their Messages in Days Before Election
• The other huge scandal Mueller brought to light this week (“President Trump promised to ‘hire the best people.’ And, as scientists go, Clovis is an excellent talk-show host. Among his scientific breakthroughs: being ‘extremely skeptical’ of climate change, calling homosexuality ‘a choice,’ suggesting gay rights would lead to legalized pedophilia, pushing the Obama birther allegation, and calling Eric Holder a ‘racist bigot’ and Tom Perez a ‘racist Latino.'”)
• How did Trump’s goofy USDA pick end up in the middle of the Russia scandal? (“Sam Clovis, Trump’s dubious pick as USDA science chief, is also deeply entwined in Russian intrigue” He’s also completely demented.)
• Republicans Are Trying to Pass a Tax Plan That Everybody Hates
• The Republican Tax Plan Is Chaos and Suicide All at Once
• Republicans promised a tax reform bill by Wednesday. Here’s why they don’t have one. (“Nobody knew taxes were so complicated.” Morons.)
• Scott Pruitt’s EPA: Now with 10% More Bible (“Getting the science out of scientific advisory panels.”)
• In Call With Times Reporter, Trump Projects Air of Calm Over Charges (Why is Trump talking to the “failing New York Times?” LOL)
• House GOP waffles on Trump’s promised permanent cut in corporate tax rate
• John Kelly’s Bizarre Mythology of the Civil War (“By parting ways with annoyances like facts and history, Donald Trump’s chief of staff can help his boss make white America feel good again.”)
• White spite: Why education is at the center of Trump’s politics of resentment
• Russian ads, now publicly released, show sophistication of influence campaign
• NPR’s Head Of News Resigns Following Harassment Allegations (“Questions are being raised in the NPR newsroom about when management became aware of some of the allegations against Oreskes and why firmer action wasn’t taken prior to the release of the Post’s report.”)
• Nine reasons why no one should hire Bill O’Reilly (I’d add that nobody should advertise on Fox.)
• Jake Tapper Blasts ‘Slime Coated’ and ‘Lying’ Fox News Over ‘Allahu Akbar’ Comment
• “A Different Level Of Crazy”: Is Civil War Breaking Out In The Wall Street Journal Over The Editorial Board’s Coverage Of Mueller? (“A series of virulent anti-Mueller editorials has reporters worried about their paper’s credibility.” Quit.)
• Hours after Trump calls US justice system ‘a laughingstock,’ White House denies he ever did (The gaslighting of America continues apace…)
• The Republican Party Deserves a Better Civil War
• With Tweet, Trump May Add Burden to Suspect’s Prosecution (“Presidents are typically advised never to publicly weigh in on pending criminal cases. Such comments can be used by defense attorneys to argue that their clients cannot get a fair trial — especially when the head of the executive branch that will prosecute a case advocates the ultimate punishment before a judge has heard a single shred of evidence at trial.”)
• Seven Bizarre Notions Trump and His Team Have About America (The Civil War, “Questioning the military,” Torture, Civil rights, etc.)
• Virginia Gov. McAuliffe: If any American was involved with election interference, ‘it’s treason’
• Senators to Facebook, Google, Twitter: Wake up to Russian threat
• Facebook couldn’t answer this one simple question from Senator Mark Warner (“Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) had one specific and simple question for Facebook’s Colin Stretch. He wanted to know about 30,000 fake accounts Facebook discovered earlier this year that were trying to influence the French election. At the time, Facebook bragged that it was able to discover these accounts and swiftly took them down. Warner wanted to know if Facebook, after discovering these accounts, cross-checked to see if these same accounts also tried to tamper with the U.S. election.”)
• Tim Kaine on How Niger and Trump Have Stirred New Anxieties About America’s Forever War
• Northam says he’d ban sanctuary cities if one ever appears in Virginia
• Trump forces high-wire act for Republican in Virginia governor’s race
• CASEY: The ins and outs of voter photo ID (“Some photo IDs are valid for voting purposes in Virginia; others are not. Employee IDs issued by a public or private employers seem to be the least questionable. But IDs issued to welfare or Medicaid recipients are invalid at the polls, and the law seems to discriminate against elderly voters as well.”)
• WV DEP waives water review authority, paving way for Mountain Valley Pipeline (It’s up to Virginia now to block this environment-despoiling boondoggle.)
• Wild and nasty Virginia election becomes a referendum on Trump (Not sure about that, but that’s the media’s preferred narrative, along with that this race – or really any race – is “tightening” and “neck and neck.”)
• Once a voice for a big-tent GOP, Gillespie faces criticism from unexpected source: Republicans (“Allies and GOP operatives chided the Virginia candidate over ads about MS-13 and Confederate monuments.” Gillespie’s campaign has been a disgrace; let’s make sure on Tuesday that he isn’t rewarded for it!)
• The Trumpification of Ed Gillespie (“It would be hard to find a better example of the ‘corrupt Washington establishment’ that President Trump calls ‘the swamp’ than Ed Gillespie…If painting Northam as a friend to violent Salvadoran gangs and pedophiles seems like a stretch, that’s American politics in 2017. We used to think that however grotesque they were, there was still a difference between overt declarations and explicit racial politics on one hand and dog whistles and implicit racial politics on the other. That distinction seems to be fading, if it is not gone altogether.”)
• For the Democrat in the Va. governor’s race, victory may hinge on black voters
• Cory Booker, Keith Ellison come to northern Virginia to campaign for Democratic ticket (“The party’s leading African American figures arrival comes as poll show tight race in governor’s race.”)
• Virginia NAACP picks new president (“The Rev. Kevin Chandler, senior pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in South Boston, has been elected president of the Virginia State Conference NAACP for 2018-20.”)
• Why Democrats care about Virginia’s normally sleepy House of Delegates races (“Legislative contests are a laboratory for technology and messaging in advance of 2018.” Right, which should ALWAYS be the case!)
• Reporter says his violent arrest was illegal (“Reporter Mike Stark spoke about his arrest after he tried to question Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie in Annandale, Va., on Oct. 28.”)
• More moms of young kids seek political office as stigma begins to lift (“In Northern Virginia, home to some of the state’s most competitive races, several female Democratic candidates have young children. Advocates hope more mothers in the legislature will add insight into issues for women and working families.”)
• Ex-Felons Voting for the First Time Could Shake Virginia’s Governor’s Race (“A massive effort is underway to get formerly incarcerated people to the polls.”)
• Editorial: Why the Latino Victory Fund ad is so damaging (Wait, THIS was the “most controversial ad thus far in Virginia’s governor’s race,” not Gillespie’s deluge of race-baiting, xenophobic crap? Alrighty then…)
• Majority of U.Va. students support Ralph Northam over Ed Gillespie for governor (Smart kids.)
• Oceana: Most of offshore Virginia can’t handle both drilling and DOD training
• Representing the region (On Democrat Shelly Simonds: “Not surprisingly for a former educator and school board veteran, she is a champion for public education — but she is not a single-issue candidate, expressing thoughtful ideas about economic development and public transit. She is in favor of more sensible gun laws in the commonwealth, including returning to the one gun a month limit.”)
• Editorial: Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney sticks to his knitting
• Richmond police investigating vandalism of vehicle with anti-gay message as a hate crime
• Opinion/Editorial: Bell brings expertise to legislature (Sure, he brings “experience,” but Rob Bell is wrong/extreme on pretty much everything. Vote Kellen Squire instead!)
• Joe Morrissey suit says prominent defense attorneys, Henrico’s top prosecutor, RTD conspired against his mayoral candidacy (Uhhhhhhh….)
• Much of Northeast notches warmest October in recorded history (Switch to clean energy ASAP!)
• Very mild through Friday, then the weekend turns cooler