Monday News: “G.O.P. Visions of Tectonic Realignment”; “A Reckoning with Women Awaits Trump”; TMac 100% Wrong on Renewables, Natural Gas

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, February 12.

• World shares attempt bounce after worst week in two years
• Disconnect between US and South Korea grows amid rapprochement with North (“A thawing of tensions between the two Koreas exposes cracks in the alliance between Seoul and Washington”)
• Arrests of ‘noncriminal’ immigrants double under Trump, disrupting lives once thought safe
• Scott Pruitt’s travel practices — secretive, costly and frequent — distinguish his EPA tenure (Slimeball.)
• House Departures Give Democrats Hope of Winning GOP Strongholds
• In big reversal, new Trump budget will give up on longtime Republican goal of eliminating deficit (The concept that this was ever a serious Republican goal is kinda laughable.)
• Pence: The United States is ready to talk with North Korea
• Blow: G.O.P. Visions of Tectonic Realignment (“But while we are focusing on Trump and what he has wrought, it would behoove us to also focus on the titanic moves by the right to literally realign society for the long haul: stacking the courts with virulent conservatives, suppressing voter access, reducing the inflow of immigrants who might lean Democratic, gerrymandering districts, punishing states that lean Democratic in presidential elections and returning to a failed drug policy that disproportionately jails black and brown people. In short, conservatives are using every possible means to permanently lock in power, wealth and influence for the existing, predominantly white and predominantly male power structure.”)
• Juan Williams: The GOP has been corrupted by Trump (It actually was before Trump, but this is even worse.)
• Progressives storm Democratic primaries (“Veteran blue-state incumbents are hitting unexpected turbulence this year.”)
• Reporters Should Leave Trump Alone, Argues America’s Worst Media Critic (Maybe Howard Kurtz, America’s Worst Media Critic, should team up with Chris Cillizza, America’s Worst Political Analyst! LOL)
• A Reckoning with Women Awaits Trump (“Trump is the least mysterious figure in the history of the American Presidency. His infantile character, duplicity, cold-heartedness, and self-dealing greed are evident not merely to the majority of the poll-answering electorate but, sooner or later, to those who make the decision to work at his side. This is manifest even in Trump’s favored medium, reality television.”)
• Pennsylvania Republicans Are Trying to Replace One Gerrymander with Another
• He Predicted The 2016 Fake News Crisis. Now He’s Worried About An Information Apocalypse (“’What happens when anyone can make it appear as if anything has happened, regardless of whether or not it did?’ technologist Aviv Ovadya warns.”)
• Twisted: Trump says Porter sick, guilty; defends him publicly (Speaking of twisted and sick…)
• The mysterious oppo researcher working in the White House lawyer’s office (“Michael Roman, best known as a shadowy operative who oversaw a research unit for the Koch network, now occupies an unusual and undefined role in the Trump administration.” That would be a perfect job for Barbara Comstock, actually, after she loses in November! LOL)
• The left’s civil war over climate change (“McAuliffe said…’We can’t go 100% renewables in Virginia. It’s laughable to even discuss it.’ In response, 350.org founder Bill McKibben told me: ‘Terry McAuliffe’s claims are simply sad,’ reiterating his opposition to natural gas.” Under no circumstances should TMac ever be the Democratic nominee for anything, ever again.)
• Terry McAuliffe celebrates his 61st birthday at the Palm
• Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax delivers keynote at black history event in Spotsylvania
• As Richmond’s Confederate statues go, so might the South’s
• Editorial: Northam should back Morefield’s bill (“Still, there is one thing that has been a surprise in this year’s session. That is the apparently widespread support that Del. Will Morefield, R-Tazewell County, and state Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, have gotten for their bills that would create a unique tax break for certain rural areas in Virginia.”)
• We cool down and slowly dry out today before big midweek warm-up