Friday News: Our White Supremacist, “Shithole” “President” Strikes Again; “The Dreamer Deal That Wasn’t”; “Terry McAuliffe suggests he’d clock Trump”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, January 12.

• Trump attacks protections for immigrants from ‘shithole’ countries
• Most newspapers and TV stations decline to censor Trump’s vulgar language
• ‘Like throwing gasoline to the fire’: Trump’s explosive remark roils immigration debate (“Immigration talks on Capitol Hill foundered Thursday after the White House and some GOP lawmakers rejected a tentative deal from a bipartisan Senate group. President Trump had already lashed out at the bipartisan group, using incendiary language to ask its members why they proposed restoring protections for immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries.”)
• African countries and Haiti react to president’s remark
• Trump has no idea what he thinks (except about those ‘shithole’ countries) (“If ignorance is bliss, Trump must be very happy.” Ignorant and racist.)
• There’s no way to pretty up Trump’s ‘shithole’ comments
• Trump’s Vulgar Immigration Remarks Alarm Lawmakers (Republicans, of course, will do nothing.)
• Trump’s comments about ‘sh*thole countries’ are wildly popular with white supremacists (“That’s what everyone is thinking.”)
• Anderson Cooper: ‘Let’s not kid ourselves,’ Trump’s comments are ‘racist’
• CNN’s Don Lemon: ‘The president of the United States is racist’ (Ya think? Duh.)
• These journalists finally called Trump racist (If you’re a journalist and you have NOT called Trump a racist, you are not a real journalist because you’re deliberately hiding the demonstrable, glaringly obvious truth.)
• John Kasich and Jeb Bush Jr.: A Bad Idea on Immigration (“We believe in strengthening families. Forcing Salvadorans to return home is not the way to do it.”)
• Why Trump Thinks Kim Jong-un, Who Called Him a ‘Deranged Dotard,’ Might Be His Friend (“President Trump and Rocket Man will be admiring the size of each other’s nukes in no time.”)
• The Pathological Cruelty of Trump’s Medicaid Work Requirement
• Trump Cancels U.K. Visit Over Obama’s ‘Bad Deal’ – Which Was Initiated by Bush (Of course the racist Trump blames the black guy.)
• Krugman: Dollars, Cents and Republican Sadism (“Over the past few years it has become increasingly clear that the suffering imposed by Republican opposition to safety-net programs isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. Inflicting pain is the point.”)
• The Dreamer Deal That Wasn’t (“A bipartisan group of senators thought they had a deal on DACA. Then the president weighed in.”)
• Walmart quietly lays off thousands of workers after bonus announcement (“Workers across the country were not told of the closings and showed up to work to find stores shuttered.”)
• White House effusively praises Walmart for bonuses, has no comment on massive layoffs (“This is only the beginning of what people have to look forward to in the Trump economy.”)
• Deduct This (“How states can undo one of the most potentially destructive elements of the Republican tax law.” I presume someone’s put in a bill to do this here in Virginia?)
• There is nothing ‘professional’ about this president
• Obama to Letterman: No Sense of ‘Relief’ After Turning Presidency Over to Trump
• The America Europe needs right now is missing (Thanks to Trump, we are now not leading, whether from in front or behind. We are not even really following. We are basically a pariah nation. Great job, Trump and Trump voters!)
• Trump’s Never-Ending Complaint about Hillary Clinton and the F.B.I. (Demented.)
• Transcript of Donald Trump Interview With The Wall Street Journal
• Trump rebuffs Dreamers deal reached by senators
• Trump races to head off another special election debacle (“After a humiliating loss in the Alabama Senate race last month, the administration is drawing up ambitious plans that will kick off next Thursday when Trump travels to the conservative district to appear with Republican candidate Rick Saccone. Vice President Mike Pence and an assortment of Cabinet officials are also expected to make trips; Pence may go twice ahead of the March 13 special election, two administration officials said.”)
• Mueller interview fraught with peril for Trump
• The House voted to allow the NSA to keep spying on Americans (“Section 702 lives.”)
• Trump’s Wall Street Journal interview is incoherent and bizarre
• How a day that started with a bipartisan immigration deal ended with a “shithole”
• If the President* Is Uniquely Dangerous, Treat Him That Wa
• Donald Trump cancels London visit amid protest fears (“President will not open new US embassy next month, with secretary of state Rex Tillerson likely to take his place”)
• Editorial: Yes to easier voting in Virginia
• McAuliffe leaves with a weightier legacy than many expected – especially GOP
• Key dates of Terry McAuliffe’s tenure as governor of Virginia
• Editorial: How will we remember the McAuliffe years? (“The real measure for politicians is how they react to unexpected events. McAuliffe’s response to the horrid events in Charlottesville was a class act. Years from now, what we’ll probably remember about the McAuliffe years is that, the felons, the pipelines and the new economy.”)
• Senate sends bill recognizing six Virginia Indian tribes to President Trump’s desk
• Terry McAuliffe suggests he’d clock Trump if he hovered over him in a debate (Vintage T-Mac. Although come to think of it, Jim Webb would probably react the same way, assuming he hadn’t become a demented Trump supporter at this point. Heh.)
• Women hit a record high in Virginia legislature. Can they break the boys’ club? (Again, note that this is almost exclusively on the Democratic side, while Republicans are almost all white males.)
• Editorial: A damaging idea for the coast (“Drilling for oil and gas off the coasts of Virginia and North Carolina remains as bad an idea now as when the Obama administration proposed — and then thought better of — offshore exploration in this part of the Atlantic.”)
• Southwest Va. lawmakers push legislative package aimed at reforming pipeline regulation
• Atlantic Coast Pipeline hits more delays in North Carolina
• Roanoke, Blacksburg Democrats roll out pipeline-related bills
• Talks a good sign for Medicaid expansion?
• Yancey named chair of Transportation Committee (Enjoy your last two years in office?)
• Unseasonably warm and showery, then the cold barges in early Saturday