Sunday News: Definitely No “Victory” in Syria; “Michael Cohen and the End Stage of the Trump Presidency”; “Virginians must pay for the transportation they use.”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, April 15.

• ‘Mission Accomplished!’ But What Is the Mission in Syria? (Right, and what has he supposedly “accomplished” exactly?)
• President Trump declares victory as Pentagon details U.S.-led strikes in Syria (“‘Mission Accomplished’ tweet echoes language used by Bush in 2003” Absolute idiocy; there’s no “victory” in Syria, not by an enormous stretch.)
• Assad is defiant as U.S.-led strikes in Syria show no sign of impacting his hold on power (As I said in the previous item – no “victory.”)
• The U.S. Airstrikes on Syria Turned Out to Be Very Conventional (“And quite possibly useless.”)
• The Hypocrisy of Trump’s “Mission Accomplished” Boast About Syria
• Trump’s Syria identity crisis (“The president is torn between his own — and his party’s — hawkish and isolationist instincts.”)
• Trump risks political blowback from his base on Syria (“The president, who campaigned on a non-interventionist platform, has followed the path of his predecessors and reversed himself in office.”)
• Michael Cohen and the End Stage of the Trump Presidency
• Trump is drowning in scandal. He can’t focus on Syria.
• The Success of Russia’s “Madman” Routine in Syria
• Despite Trump’s bluster, it’s unclear what Syria strikes accomplished
• Syria: Trump may bluster but James Mattis is calling the shots
• Cohen Again Denies He Made Prague Visit During Trump Campaign
• Michael Cohen, Once the President’s Trusted Fixer, Emerges as His Greatest Liability
• Why the question of whether Michael Cohen visited Prague is massively important for Donald Trump (“The Steele dossier claimed Cohen went to Prague to meet Russians. He’s said for more than a year that he didn’t.”)
• Famed gay rights lawyer sets himself on fire at Prospect Park in protest suicide against fossil fuels
• Kentucky governor claims that children were sexually assaulted, used drugs while teachers protested (This batshit-crazy teabagger needs to be in a mental institution, not the governor’s mansion.)
• Former FBI head: assumption Clinton would win a factor in email probe (Ugh.)
• ‘Can I say one more thing about the Parkland kids?’ Watch Kate McKinnon’s Laura Ingraham stop by SNL’s Weekend Update
• Cale Jaffe: Candid discussion needed on gun safety regulation (“U.S. Senate candidates Corey Stewart, Nick Freitas and E.W. Jackson, for example, reacted to the March for Our Lives protests by failing to acknowledge that constitutionally permissible safety measures might be considered to address gun violence. Instead, they argued that the protests were part of an effort to ‘disarm Americans,’ were equivalent to ‘rallying against the First Amendment’ and ‘that a government that comes after our guns is coming for much more: our liberty.’ These allegations are grossly misleading when it comes to understanding constitutional history.”)
• Gordon C. Morse: Do lawmakers have the courage to fix Virginia’s tax system?
• Sen. Tim Kaine Questions Legality Of U.S.-Led Airstrikes
• Va. House speaker criticized at annual Equality Virginia dinner (“Cox assigned the four bills to a House subcommittee that has traditionally been hostile to LGBT rights bills because he ‘knew we had the votes’ to pass them.”)
• Virginia doesn’t have to choose between roads and rails (“Virginians must pay for the transportation they use. Refusing to do so means suffering the consequences.”)
• Cockburn boasts early lead in Democrats’ congressional nominating contest
• Times-Dispatch wins 40 awards, including 14 first-place news awards, in Virginia Press Association’s annual contest
• Cockburn leads on first day of Fifth District caucuses ahead of May convention (“Albemarle County’s caucus is scheduled for April 16, and Charlottesville’s is scheduled for April 21.”)
• 200 rally for gun rights at Virginia State Capitol (“About 200 people, some with handguns on their hips and others with rifles slung across their backs, gathered on the grounds of the Virginia Capitol on Saturday for a rally in support of the Second Amendment.”)
• Will the fall’s electoral tide extend to Roanoke’s spring council election?
• Editorial: Is Appalachia an American version of East Germany?
• D.C.-area forecast: Cooler today with some showers possible; heavy storms likely late tonight