Tuesday News: “The Jell-O President and the Shutdown”; Trump Solar Tariffs a Jobs-Killing Tax; Alaska Earthquake; “Outlook brightens for Medicaid expansion”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, January 23.

• Trump hits solar imports with tariff but still concedes millions of jobs to China (“White House policies will kill clean energy jobs in the near term and long term.”)
• Alaska Earthquake Prompts Tsunami Warning
• Krugman: The Art of the Broken Deal (“Trump’s unreliability is a big problem, over and above the substance of his policies. But here’s the funny thing: While his instincts are clearly autocratic, the Constitution doesn’t set him above the law. Congress has the power to constrain his actions, to force him to honor promises. His ability to keep betraying those who trust him depends entirely on the willingness of Republicans in Congress to go along.”)
• Scoop: FBI director threatened to resign amid Trump, Sessions pressure
• Shutdown ends, shifting focus to next spending bill, ‘dreamers’ (“President Trump signed a short-term spending bill to fund the government through Feb. 8 after it passed the Senate and House on the strength of a statement from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that he would address the status of young immigrants called “dreamers” who were brought to this country illegally as children. Thirty-three Senate Democrats joined 48 Republicans to break the impasse.”)
• Senate Democrats’ Vote to End Shutdown Infuriates Some on the Left
• Democrats Blink in Shutdown Impasse, Hoping for a Bargain
• The Jell-O President and the Shutdown (“Now Donald Trump and the Republicans must do right by the Dreamers.”)
• Blame McConnell and Ryan for the shutdown (“Leaders of the Senate and House frittered away precious time and political capital.”)
• Trump is being used, and he doesn’t even know it (“On immigration policy, the president still thinks he is calling the shots. He is quite mistaken.”)
• The Trump evangelicals have lost their gag reflex (“Political favors from Trump are no reason to become enablers.”)
• The Democrats Threw the Shutdown Fight – And That’s Fine
• Did Schumer Cave on the Shutdown? (“Today, Schumer had one negotiating partner, McConnell, and he took the available offer: six years’ worth of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the promise of a Senate vote for the Dreamers, in exchange for an agreement to fund the government for three more weeks.”)
• This is what happens when you trust Mitch McConnell (“McConnell says a lot of things. Then he does whatever he wants.”)
• Schumer’s shutdown performance sparks unrest in his ranks (“The Democratic leader confronts the most serious cracks in the unity he’s tried to foster since he took the reins of his conference last year”)
• Senators take the wheel from an erratic president
• Sens. Burr, Warner say spending bill limits Congress’ authority to oversee intelligence programs
• Feds: Man threatened to kill CNN employees
• In effort to expose voter fraud, Kansas Republican exposed 945 Social Security numbers
• Winners and losers from the government shutdown (I’m not sure we’ll really know who the “winners and losers” of this deal were for at least a few weeks.)
• ‘We’re Back at Square One’ (“Encouraged by Senate Democrats’ push to protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation, immigration activists now feel defeated after an agreement to reopen the government without legislation addressing the issue.”)
• Pennsylvania’s gerrymandered House map was just struck down — with huge implications for 2018 (“It was one of the most pro-Republican gerrymanders in the country.”)
• Zinke’s ‘political stunt’ on offshore drilling continues to backfire (“President Trump is reportedly unhappy with his Interior secretary.” Sad!)
• Democrats didn’t cave on the shutdown (“Democrats are funding CHIP for six years and reopening the government without losing their shutdown leverage.” I’m mostly with Ezra Klein on this one.)
• Trump’s porn-star payoff may have been illegal: Will it matter?
• The Case For The Democratic ‘Cave’ (“It’s not really a cave if you’re just continuing the fight.” Yeah, probably so…let’s hope!)
• WATCH: Hot mic catches GOP senator ogling ‘beautiful’ teenaged girls with fellow lawmaker (Gack, get him outta there now!!!)
• Trump Reportedly Uses ‘Accent’ To Imitate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (“The president has previously come under scrutiny for mocking others’ accents.” Trump epitomizes the “ugly American.”)
• Video: Mainstream media ignored the Women’s March. Here’s what Women’s March participants said about the media.
• For Zuck’s sake (“The crux of the problem is that Facebook desperately wants to be seen a neutral platform while Facebook’s users want them to keep inaccurate information off of Facebook… Zuckerberg’s personal challenge is to fix what’s broken. Ours is to keep pressing him in the right direction.”)
• The attacks on Jane Fonda show who Megyn Kelly really is (“Megyn ‘Santa just is white’ Kelly called Fonda ‘a woman whose name is synonymous with outrage’…NBC reportedly pays Kelly an annual salary of $18 million to host her hour of Today featuring interviews and monologues like the one this morning. She will be co-hosting the network’s State of the Union address coverage next week.”)
• Sen. Tim Kaine says bipartisan group of senators key to facilitating deal ending shutdown
• Virginia would have been hit hard by shutdown
• Surprise! Dominion Energy favors latest slew of rate legislation in Richmond (“Electricity users need to counteract the clout of the mammoth utility, a major contributor to state politicians.”)
• Editorial: Outlook brightens for Medicaid expansion
• As women’s wave comes to assembly, House Dems look to undo ‘Day of Tears’ mourning Roe v. Wade
• The local Amazon headquarters finalists shouldn’t get into a bidding war (“As the Washington region jockeys, it might also collaborate.” Yeah, but it won’t.)
• Editorial: Why is Virginia one of Amazon’s finalists? Here’s why. (“Amazon really likes the Washington, D.C. area — maybe.”)
• Casey: Physicians look at eye-surgery bill with great skepticism (“The sponsor of legislation that would expand the scope of optometry said it’s not intended to allow optometrists to perform eye surgery. But the way the proposal is written, eye surgeons — aka ophthalmologists — say that’s exactly what it would do.”)
• Mountain Valley Pipeline construction start OK’d in West Virginia (So, so stupid.)
• Environmental groups file legal challenges to VA pipeline
• Northam To Take The Stage: Recently Inaugurated Virginia Governor Ralph Northam Will Serve As Charter Day’s Keynote Speaker
• Virginia’s only black statewide elected official quietly protests Jackson tribute (“Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax stepped down from his spot on the dais as the state Senate voted to honor Confederate general Stonewall Jackson.”)
• Va. House panel throws penalty flag on bill to protect sports referees from spectator abuse
• King Tide data shows Peninsula flooding in 50 years
• Editorial: New ‘Dominion Bill’ represents a step forward (The Republican Times-Disgrace right-wing editorial board strikes again! LOL)
• Virginia lawmakers seek to make menstrual products more affordable, available
• Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney proposes raising the city’s meals tax to 7.5% to fund school facilities improvements
• Springlike showers and 60s today, turning colder through midweek (“Some gusty thunderstorms are possible this morning as an unusually strong cold front comes through.”)