Sunday News: “White House Christmas” and “The Ghost of Witness Flips”; Trump Admits to Serious Crime on Twitter?

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, December 3.

• Trump appears to have just admitted to a serious crime on Twitter (“This is a brand new version of events from the White House. And it could land the president in very hot water.”)
• Newly revealed email from Trump transition could be the smoking gun (“A paper trail reportedly shows the Trump team sought to reward Russia for its help electing Trump.”)
• Alabama race is neck and neck, with voters divided over Roy Moore allegations, poll finds (“With less than two weeks to go, support for Democrat Doug Jones among likely voters stands at 50 percent vs. Moore’s 47 percent”)
• Did Trump’s tweet about Michael Flynn’s guilty plea just admit something it shouldn’t have? (President Dumbass strikes again.)
• N.R.A. Member Offered Trump Aide ‘Kremlin Connection’ (“A conservative operative told a campaign aide he could arrange a back-channel meeting between Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia through his pro-gun connections.” Charming, eh?)
• How the Republicans Broke Congress (Correct. Which is why I find it so annoying to hear Democratic candidates talking about how the “political class” or “political system” generically are broken, how the answer is a “new generation of leadership” or whatever. That has absolutely ZERO to do with what’s actually been happening, which is a relentless Republican assault on our democracy, government, rule of law, etc.)
• Emails Dispute White House Claims That Flynn Acted Independently on Russia (Lock ’em up!)
• Top FBI official assigned to Mueller’s Russia probe said to have been removed after sending anti-Trump texts
• Trump’s campaign: Big Macs, screaming fits and constant rivalries (Trump’s just as nasty, abusive, crazy, infantile, etc. as we expected. With a horrendously disgusting, unhealthy diet to boot.)
• Why Trump’s Tax Bill Could Be His Death Warrant (“The president is giving establishment Republicans the one thing they need to abandon him.”)
• Donald Trump’s “Fake News” Tactics (“In attacking the media, the President has in many ways strengthened it.”)
• Michael Flynn’s Guilty Plea Sends Donald Trump’s Lawyers Scrambling (“The President insists that the investigations into Russian meddling amount to nothing more than fake news. But the truth is now emerging.”)
• ABC Suspends Brian Ross Over False Trump Report
• Battle for the House: GOP targets Democrats in Trump districts (Good luck with that.)
• Trump: ‘I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn’ (“Some legal experts have speculated that if Trump knew that Flynn had lied to the FBI and then asked Comey to drop the investigation, it could amount to obstruction of justice.”)
• Alec Baldwin returns to SNL to face down ‘Michael Flynn: The Ghost of Witness Flipped’
• All the Promises Republicans Cannot Keep (“In their haste to pass a tax bill through the Senate, GOP leaders made commitments big and small—on economic growth, deficits, health care, and immigration—that could haunt them in the years to come.”)
• Trump wants to move the U.S. embassy in Israel. Doing so would have disastrous results. (“The decision would further exacerbate an already tense situation.”)
• EDITORIAL: Election Day debacle could have been avoided (“HOW IN THE world did 147 voters in the 28th House District wind up with the wrong ballots on Election Day? That is the question everybody is asking, not only in Fredericksburg, but in all of Virginia as well.”)
• Democrat seeks vote recount in race for Virginia delegate seat (“Joshua Cole, a Democrat who lost a Virginia House of Delegates race by 82 votes amid Election Day ballot errors, decided Saturday to seek a state-funded recount.”)
• Terry McAuliffe’s Dead-Serious Advice For Democrats: Have Fun! (“Terry McAuliffe spent 35 years chasing checks from donors, raising millions for Democrats, amassing success and scandal, befriending the Clintons, and earning legendary political status as the high-energy, fun-loving fundraiser known as ‘the Macker.’ Now he’s a governor with a serious record, in a state where Democrats just won big. So what’s changed about him? As it turns out, not much.”)
• Schapiro: Headlines The Macker doesn’t need (“The GreenTech lawsuit revives an image of McAuliffe as the fast-talking, fast-buck artist — an image that he presumably believes was subsumed to that of the in-charge governor. The Charlottesville report suggests that McAuliffe may be anything but.”)
• Hundreds of anti-pipeline protesters from around Virginia rally on Capitol Square ahead of Water Control Board hearings
• A report on Charlottesville teaches some overdue lessons (“A review of the incidents in August details a breakdown in leadership and policing.”)
• Interstate 66 tolling starts Monday. Here’s what you need to know.
• Glenn Davis: Tax cuts will help Virginia’s small businesses (This guy’s not the sharpest tool…)
• Editorial: GO Virginia should spend it all on rural Virginia
  (The money should be invested where it makes the most sense, where it’s most needed, etc. – not necessarily in any one particular region.)
• ‘Let Them Fight,’ Top Cop Said At Charlottesville Rally: Report (“As fights first broke out, Police Chief Al Thomas said, ‘let them fight, it will make it easier to declare an unlawful assembly.'”)
• D.C.-area forecast: Comfortable close to weekend, much colder air moves in midweek