Saturday News: “Racist in the Oval Office,” Porn Star in the Hotel Room; “Trump Flushes Away America’s Reputation”; Northam/Fairfax/Herring Sworn In Today

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, January 13.

• Trump Lawyer Arranged $130,000 Payment for Adult-Film Star’s Silence (“Agreement just before election required woman to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, people familiar with the matter say”)
• Porn Star: Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels Invited Me to Their Hotel Room (“‘I ended up with Donald in his hotel room. Picture him chasing me around his hotel room in his tighty-whities,’ Stormy Daniels told fellow porn star Alana Evans.” Yep, that’s our “president.”)
• Donald Trump Flushes Away America’s Reputation
• A Racist in the Oval Office
• The “Shithole Countries”—and the Rest of the World—Respond to President Trump
• Trump, condemned for ‘shithole’ countries remark, denies comment but acknowledges ‘tough’ language (Of course he said it, several attendees either confirmed it or remained silent; Trump’s just lying again.)
• MLK nephew: Trump ‘racially ignorant and racially uninformed’
• Senator Insists Trump Used ‘Vile,’ ‘Racist’ Language
• Trump’s Demand to Rewrite Iran Deal Tests a Weakened Diplomatic Corps
• Chris Matthews joked about putting ‘Bill Cosby pill’ in Hillary Clinton’s water before interview (Matthews needs to be fired.)
• Chris Matthews’ long history of on-air misogyny and sexism
• No One Is Coming to Save Us From Trump’s Racism
• Facebook’s news feed changes could elevate fake news while harming legitimate news outlets (Agreed; this seems like a change for the worse, towards even tighter echo chambers and less of an antidote to “fake news.”)
• No One Can Deny Trump’s Racism Now (“There’s no other way to explain his words and actions.” Nope, but his brainwashed zombie supporters will continue, absurdly, to claim that Trump isn’t racist.)
• Haitian Americans tee off on Trump: ‘His ignorance is the problem’ (“He’s making the world shake its head and say, how unfortunate for America to have a racist as president.”)
• The real reason Trump is cancelling his trip to the U.K. (“The real reason Trump likely canceled his visit to the U.K. has nothing to do with the new building, and everything to do with the fact that the president is wildly unpopular in the country and any state visit, however brief, would likely see massive protests.”)
• Trump reportedly interrupted intel briefing to ask Korean American, “Where are you from?”(“He suggested the ‘pretty Korean lady,’ who was talking about Pakistan, be reassigned to North Korea.” Trump is seriously sick.)
• The curious case of Paul Ryan’s evaporating courage (“He used to call out Trump’s racist comments. Now he doesn’t.” Why is anyone surprised at this pathological liar and sociopathic Ayn Rand true believer?)
• Demoralized Trump aides grapple with ‘shithole’-gate (“The president was expected to pivot away from questions about his mental state to the economy, but his comments at an immigration meeting created a new headache.”)
• Medicaid work requirements are a solution in search of a problem (Mean spirited, pointless, sadistic…Republican.)
• This week of Trump was appalling. And typical. (“His criticism of libel laws and the judiciary should not be dismissed as mere bloviations.”)
• White House physician says Trump in ‘excellent health’ (Yeah right.)
• Trump’s Insane Wall Street Journal Interview Got Lost in Thursday’s Shithole (“Holy buggered Baal, this is like something you hear when you’re trapped in a subway car at midnight.”)
• Barack Obama schools Fox News viewers about reality: ‘You are living on a different planet’ (If you have Netflix, I strongly recommend that you watch Barack Obama’s interview with David Letterman. Among other things, it reminds us all that we must not normalize Trump and that we once had an amazing, admirable man we could be proud of as president.)
• Trump’s ‘Sh*thole Country’ Remarks Are Right-wing Political Correctness Run Amok
• Trump criticism dominates Chuck Grassley town meeting in rural Iowa
• Virginia delegate, a Marine veteran who deployed to Haiti, denounces Trump’s comments
• 2nd District candidate appears in court on fraud charges
• Saying he sees ‘bigger role’ for Rules Committee, Cox refers big-ticket Democratic bills to panel with GOP advantage (Grrrrr.)
• Helicopters and oysters: Richmond prepares for Northam’s inauguration
• Trumpets, morning coats and ham: What to expect at Ralph Northam’s inauguration Saturday
• Addressing dramatic changes in Virginia House, Republican lawmaker urges colleagues to enter ‘brave new world’ together (“One of the most senior Republicans in the Virginia House of Delegates [Lee Ware] delivered an emotional floor speech Friday, mourning the end of the tradition of legislators referring to each other as ‘gentleman’ and ‘gentlewoman’ while urging the body to move forward into a ‘brave new world’ together.”)
• With blustery 40s and 30s, Northam’s inauguration will be coldest for a Va. governor since the 90s
• Skulduggery In The 6th (What Republicans are doing there is bizarre.)
• Ben Cline Calls Out the ‘Rigging of 6th District Convention’
• Editorial: The best — and the worst — inaugural addresses in Virginia history
• Northam appointees include Kevin Hall at Virginia Lottery, Maria Everett to head ABC board
• March to focus on need for change in Virginia’s election system (“Virginia Votes 2018, a nonpartisan Fredericksburg group, will hold a march at 1:30 p.m. Sunday to bring attention to the need for change in Virginia’s election system.”)
• Senator’s bill would exempt entire Virginia court system from FOIA
• Six people granted conditional pardons by McAuliffe on Friday
• Cold and wind are back, and we may have a storm on our hands by midweek