by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, March 26.
- Why the Stormy Daniels story matters, in one paragraph (“Her 60 Minutes interview shows it’s not about sex. It’s about the abuse of power.”)
- Stormy Daniels describes her alleged affair with Donald Trump
- Stormy Daniels says threats kept her quiet about alleged Trump affair until now
- Cambridge Analytica sent foreigners to advise U.S. campaigns, former workers say
- Forget policies, the Stormy Daniels affair shows how far US politics has sunk (“As the porn star’s allegations show, discourse in Washington is shifting to something more tawdry and celebrity-oriented”)
- What We Learned From the Stormy Daniels 60 Minutes Interview
- Stormy Daniels Has Put Trump Fixer Michael Cohen In Serious Legal Danger (“Cohen might be facing significant legal jeopardy, and this could expose Trump himself as deeply as anything related to Russia…If Stormy Daniels’ account holds up, then it opens a vast new avenue for potential risk to Cohen, and ultimately Trump.”)
- Pence secretly drafted Trump’s latest transgender military ban (Anyone who thinks Pence would be a better “president” than Trump might be a bit delusional…)
- Study: wind and solar can power most of the United States (“Wind, solar, and storage could meet 90–100% of America’s electricity needs”)
- Good news about renewables: but the heat is still on to cut fossil fuel use (“New data shows global emissions are at a historic high. Political leaders must now consider imposing serious penalties” Put a high price on greenhouse gas emissions; return the money in a progressive manner to individuals, while investing some of it into cleantech R&D and rapid scaling.)
- At a Crucial Juncture, Trump’s Legal Defense Is Largely a One-Man Operation
- “Tomorrow Is the Beginning of Democracy” (“The Parkland generation has a plan to solve our gun violence crisis. But that’s just the beginning.”)
- Why the March for Our Lives could win (“By making more people more passionate about gun control, the movement could help close a big gap in the current debate.”)
- The march of the hope-mongers (“There are tough-minded reasons to believe that this could be a turning point in the struggle against gun violence.”)
- Blow: Donald Trump Is A Man at War (“This is precisely what makes him so dangerous: As the personal threat to him grows, his threat to the country grows. The power of the American presidency is an awesome power, and Trump will harness and deploy it all as guard and guarantee against his own demise.”)
- AP sources: Trump plans to oust Shulkin as VA secretary
- Mattis isn’t sure he can work with Bolton: report
- Five takeaways from Stormy Daniels’s big interview (“It’s deeply embarrassing — and tawdry — for Trump…Silence from Trump — and an absent Melania Trump — for now”)
- Scott Pruitt’s Dirty Politics (“How the Environmental Protection Agency became the fossil-fuel industry’s best friend.”)
- Protests Put G.O.P. on Defensive Ahead of Midterms
- ‘It’s Very Difficult to Overestimate the Potential Danger John Bolton Could Put Us In’ (This is an easy one, by the way; if you see anyone praising John Bolton, you know they’re complete idiots and/or far-right ideologues and/or Trump sycophants.)
- The Parkland Students Went on Fox News and Perfectly Explained Why the NRA Is Wrong (“They’re fear mongers. They want to sell weapons by exploiting people’s fears.”)
- Americans less likely to trust Facebook than rivals on personal data (“Warner repeated calls for Zuckerberg to testify in person before U.S. lawmakers, saying Facebook and other internet companies had been reluctant to confront ‘the dark underbelly of social media’ and how it can be manipulated.” Facebook’s business model may very well be antithetical to personal privacy and, ultimately, democracy.)
- U.S. Seeks Deal With China in Bid to Avert Trade War
- There’s No Going Back From What Happened This Weekend. The Gun Debate Is Over. (“The only question is how far and how fast change will come.”)
- What the Stormy Daniels Interview Demands of Congress (“Legislators should void any nondisclosure agreements that may be restraining other women from speaking about their interactions with the president.”)
- How much is Rick Gates telling Mueller about Trump? (“Lawyers and Trump associates describe deep unease in Trump world about what the former deputy to indicted Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort might be telling special counsel Robert Mueller in exchange for leniency.”)
- Kaine questions whether Bolton can get security clearance
- Kaine: Trump is ‘lying’ or ‘delusional’ on DACA
- Full Warner Interview: Facebook hasn’t been ‘fully forthcoming’
- Sen. Mark Warner on past vote against assault weapons ban: “I think it’s time to change our positions” (Ya think?)
- US Senate GOP primary candidates to debate in Virginia (“The debate is being co-hosted by the school’s Center for Effective Lawmaking, College Republicans and the Frank Batten School for Leadership and Public Policy. Batten School Dean Allan Stam and professor Andy Pennock will moderate the debate.” This should be, uh…fun?)
- Scott Surovell column: Northam’s appointment to the SCC will increase Virginians’ prosperity (“The current vacancy is a momentous opportunity for Northam to set a new course for our commonwealth and actually ensure that the investments in this year’s utility legislation are actually implemented and not whittled down. He has a dozen good people to call on and by doing so he could start to bring Virginia’s ‘fourth branch of government’ into the modern era.” As long as it’s nobody who’s a tool of Dominion or any other corporation.)
- This is a story about American democracy working (Yeah, not sure I’d go that far, but then again, this is Fred Hiatt…)
- Editorial: When the Assembly comes back to town (My god, the RTD editorial board actually used the phrase, “level-headed Virginia moderation,” as if that’s an actual thing! LOL)
- More than a half-million people rode Metro on Saturday. Was that a record?
- Editorial: Clinton’s wrong about ‘backwards’ red state America (Seems like the Roanoke Times is setting up a straw man to knock down here. There’s no doubt that many Trump voters responded positively, including by VOTING FOR HIM, to his almost constant racism, misogyny, viciousness, ignorance, etc.)
- Editorial: A pipeline lesson for Virginia, courtesy of Massachusetts (I’m including this Republican Times-Disgrace editorial yet again to demonstrate how wrong – and in this case fallacious – these folks are. Huge error/falsehood #1: taking into account methane emissions, natural gas most certainly is NOT “much cleaner than coal.” Huge error/falsehood #2: given rapid advances in energy storage, natural gas absolutely will NOT be needed “to backstop renewable energy for years to come”)
- Weeklong disciplinary hearing against Joe Morrissey scheduled to begin Monday (“Facing the potential revocation of his law license for the second time in his career, Richmond lawyer Joe Morrissey has filed paperwork indicating he plans to call more than 30 witnesses as he prepares to defend himself against three ethics complaints filed by the Virginia State Bar”)
- Cool today, but 60-degree weather is on the horizon
