Wednesday News: NYC Terror Attack; “Why the Mueller Indictments Should Terrify Trump”; GOP Cowardice

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, November 1.

• Suspect in custody after NYC terror attack leaves eight dead (“Officials said five of the eight people killed were among a group of Argentines celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation. Police shot and arrested a suspect, identified as Sayfullo Saipov, an Uzbek immigrant who had been living in Tampa.”)
• 8 Killed in ‘Act of Terror’ in Manhattan (“He was identified as a 29-year-old from Uzbekistan who came to the U.S. in 2010. Officials say that he shouted ‘God is great’ in Arabic, and that notes indicating loyalty to ISIS were near his truck.”)
• What We Know About New York Terror Attack Suspect Sayfullo Saipov
• McCain: ‘More shoes will drop’ in Mueller investigation
• Special counsel: Manafort’s stated wealth fluctuated wildly; he keeps 3 passports
• Why the Mueller Indictments Should Terrify Trump (“Nabbing Paul Manafort and Rick Gates for far-off financial felonies shows that if anyone in Trump’s orbit committed a crime… well, watch out.”)
• Trump Should Probably Not Be Glad His Campaign Manager Was Arrested for Federal Crimes
• Papadopoulos Claimed Trump Campaign Approved Russia Meeting
• Top Trump Campaign Aide Clovis Spoke to Mueller Team, Grand Jury
• A Desperate Republican Scheme to Save Donald Trump
• Trump rushed to condemn NYC attack—like he always does when the suspect isn’t white (“The president’s reactions to tragedies again prove to be different when the suspect is non-white.” Yep, wildly different reactions by our “president”)
• Firing Mueller becoming more difficult for Trump (“But now that Mueller has produced a guilty plea — from a member of Trump’s campaign — dismissing the former FBI director would almost certainly ignite an untenable political inferno.”)
• Mueller schedules interview with Hope Hicks (“The White House communications director is due to speak with prosecutors in the Russia probe after Trump returns from his Asia trip.”)
• White House signals Trump will stay out of Mueller’s way (“The president and his advisers are realizing there isn’t much he can do to derail the Russia probe.”)
• Trump’s beloved alma mater eviscerates his tax plan (“A new study out of Wharton finds his plan doesn’t live up to his promises.”)
• Trump and his allies are laying the groundwork for a Saturday Night Massacre (“We don’t know if Trump will go full authoritarian or not. But as Brian Beutler says, the mere fact that congressional Republicans are not flashing a bright warning sign itself suggests that we cannot count on any procedural response meeting it, if it does come to that. The continued media treatment of efforts to lay the groundwork for such an eventuality as mere efforts to ‘distract’ from Mueller suggests another guardrail is inadequate as well.”)
• Trump must be wondering who else is talking to Mueller
• House GOP delays tax bill rollout(“Key details have yet to be finalized, and Republicans now plan to unveil the bill Thursday.”)
• ‘This is a disaster’: Dem lawmaker explains how GOP’s ‘stupid’ tax plan will hurt most Americans
• The cowardice of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell (“The country needs more from its leaders than silence.” Ed Gillespie is another coward.)
• Most GOP Senators Kept Mum About The Mueller Indictments (What a pathetic bunch.)
• CNN: Fox News faces internal revolt over its embarrassing Russia coverage (“Fox employee: ‘Fox feels like an extension of the Trump White House'” So quit then.)
• Russian propaganda on Twitter is infiltrating fake news websites (“Fake news websites cited Russian social media accounts, including @TEN_GOP, to attack Muslims, defend Trump against perceived enemies, and attack the press”)
• Tech Executives Are Contrite About Election Meddling, but Make Few Promises on Capitol Hill
• Scott Pruitt Is Using the Bible as His Guide for Reorganizing EPA’s Science Boards (Demented.)
• Kaine defends ‘oppo research’ that resulted in Trump dossier: We all do it
• Reporter violently arrested while trying to film Virginia Gov. hopeful Ed Gillespie at public event (“A woman reportedly tied to Gillespie’s campaign spoke with officers just before they slammed reporter to the ground.”)
• Gerrymander? Maybe it should be called the Ed Gillespie-mander (“Ed Gillespie did more to cement Republican majorities than anyone else. As Virginia governor, he’ll do even more”)
• EDITORIAL: Next governor will get to veto gerrymandered districts (A major reason to vote for Ralph Northam next Tuesday.)
• Schapiro: A reminder Gillespie doesn’t need (“Through his spokesman, David Abrams, Gillespie declined to say what kind of relationship, if any, he may have had with Manafort. It’s difficult to believe they didn’t know of each other. And Democrats note that at one time Gillespie and Manafort apparently lived in the same Fairfax County neighborhood.” Alexandria, actually.)
• Polling techniques may account for erratic predictions in Virginia (“Ultimately, the goal for all public pollsters doing pre-election surveys is to produce a more precise result. And in off-year elections in Virginia, that means making sure that the right voters are included in the survey and that those who won’t cast a ballot are excluded.”)
• Virginia tests a likely 2018 election strategy: Racially fraught appeals (“The strategy in Virginia by Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie has played heavily on themes of race and crime — itself an issue that has historically conjured racial stereotypes — in the style employed by President Trump last year.”)
• An ad that had no place in Va.’s governor’s race (Lee Hockstader strikes again.)
• Record-shattering Virginia fundraising leaves candidates neck-and-neck in money race
• A week before Election Day, new poll finds tightening race for Va. governor (So, take your pick: a) the Quinnipiac poll, which shows Northam’s lead widening from 10 points in September to 17 points now; b) the Schar School poll, which shows Northam’s lead narrowing from 13 points a few weeks ago to 5 points now. One of these trends is not right.)
• New anti-Gillespie ad sparked by worries about Northam’s appeal to minorities
• Video shows officers taking reporter to ground at parade that included GOP candidate Ed Gillespie in Virginia
• Ninth Democrat joins race for nomination to challenge Rep. Comstock (“Paul Pelletier, who spent nearly 27 years with the Justice Department, is the ninth Democrat to join a midterm race that could be among the nation’s most competitive.” Yeah, I heard about this one a few weeks ago.)
• Latino Victory Fund pulls truck-themed anti-Gillespie ad after New York attack
• Virginia Democrats Went Easy on Trump. Will It Cost Them the Governor’s Race? (“It’s Ralph Northam’s election to lose. And he just might.”)
• Editorial: Tuesday’s loser is in for recriminations (Wow, this is dumb on so many different levels.)
• Sen. Tommy Norment preparing bill for marijuana decriminalization
• Here’s how much Virginia taxpayers are spending to jail marijuana users (Complete waste of taxpayer money, not to mention discriminatory, stupid, etc.)
• Virginia reaches major ozone benchmark, environmental agency says
• The ‘crying Nazi’ is hosting a radio show from a Virginia jail (Please tell me this isn’t real.)
• Democrat Melissa Dart, Republican John McGuire in running to succeed Del. Peter Farrell, R-Henrico
• Impressive newcomer (“Now Mr. Mullin is running to keep that seat, and once again Ms. Cordasco is his opponent. Once again, we are endorsing Mr. Mullin…As it is, we are left with an incumbent who makes us uncomfortable, Republican Gordon Helsel, and a challenger who failed to impress us, Democrat Michael Wade.”)
• Inspired by presidential election, Cori Johnson takes on veteran delegate Chris Peace in 97th district
• Big money floods into Peninsula House races
• ‘Fake news’? Post by deleted Facebook account is used in Henrico campaign mailers
• Political newcomer challenging Freitas for 30th District House seat
• Endorsements for Wright, Stolle, Baron
• Cool and cloudy today, but 70-degree days are on their way back for brief visit