Tuesday News: Trump’s “ALL CAPS” Approach to Foreign Policy; Laos Dam Collapse; “Why Stewart is wrong about Danville”; Man Arrested in Warner’s Roanoke Office Vandalism

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, July 24.

• Michael Cohen: at least 12 tapes handed to investigators after raid on Trump lawyer
• Laos Dam Collapses, and Hundreds Are Missing
• Russian Hackers Reach U.S. Utility Control Rooms, Homeland Security Officials Say
• Trump threatens Iran, but officials have shunned military moves (Trump is batshit crazy.)
• Trump Threatens Showdown With Iran. But How?
• Trump’s Threat Against Iran Was Loud, but Far From Clear
• Here’s why Trump is blasting Iran on Twitter (“The theories range from a poorly learned lesson of his North Korea diplomacy to a seriously considered, long-term strategy.”)
• Trump, Iran, and the Dangers of Presidential Bluffing (“Last year, the president’s threats targeted North Korea. The outcome holds lessons for a new round of threats.”)
• Republicans Are Frantically Pointing Trump to a Russia-Scandal Escape Route. He Won’t Take It.
• Pruitt Is Gone. His Replacement Continues His Destructive Work. (“The new coal-friendly EPA administrator gutted another Obama-era pollution rule.”)
• How Brett Kavanaugh Could Cripple the Next Democratic President
• Democrats Are Moving Left. Don’t Panic. (“If you want to beat Trump, centrism is not the answer.” According to “Third Way” types like Mark Warner, “radical centrism” or whatever they’re branding it as these days, is ALWAYS the answer.)
• Trump Weighs Stripping Security Clearances From Officials Who Criticized Him (And what is THIS latest lunacy from Trump?)
• Muzzling the Talking Heads of the ‘Deep State’ (“President Trump wants to revoke the security clearances of former top FBI and CIA officials whom he feels spend too much time on television criticizing him.”)
• Trump moves to silence critics (Trump is a malignant narcissist and unAmerican authoritarian.)
• Trump seen imposing auto tariffs despite industry opposition in U.S.
• ‘That was not the deal’: McCarthy, Ryan renege on immigration vow (“The California Republican aiming to be speaker backs away from a promised vote on a guest worker program.”)
• Putin drives wedge between Trump and GOP (“Some top Senate Republicans wish Trump would cancel the next meeting with the Russian president.”)
• GOP to step up on Trump pressure as trade war intensifies
• Haley tells high schoolers to avoid ‘own the libs’-style online behavior (“We’ve all been guilty of it at some point or another, but this kind of speech isn’t leadership — it’s the exact opposite.”)
• Trump’s Shield on the Bench (“Brett Kavanaugh’s criticism of United States v. Nixon should worry Robert Mueller.”)
• Donald Trump’s latest conspiracy theory is impossible to follow: That’s the point (“Most Fox News viewers couldn’t explain Trump’s Carter Page conspiracy theory on a bet. Maybe that’s the idea”)
• Trump administration considers stripping critics of security clearance. There’s just one problem. (“Trump’s press secretary said the administration may strip security clearance from critics — even those without one.”)
• Ex-Con, Ex-Republican Blankenship Launches Effort to Get on West Virginia Ballot As Third-Party Senate Candidate
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Fires Back at GOP Representative Who Called Her a ‘Girl … or Whatever’
• The city that never sleeps finds that it’s running out of reporters to report
• NBC/WSJ poll: Support for Roe v. Wade hits new high (“A majority of Republicans — 52 percent — say the Supreme Court decision should not be overturned.”)
• Republicans Can Say Whatever They Want About the FISA Document and Carter Page (“It’s long enough, and there are enough redactions, for them to get away with it. But none of that will matter in the end.”)
• These Aren’t ‘Moderate’ Democrats. They’re Conservative Democrats. (“Their ideas are stale, cowardly, warmed-over Clintonism that do nothing to address the issues that have led to national crisis.” Yep, “Third Way” bullshit.)
• How the Republican tax cuts are failing workers, in one chart (“Republicans said corporate tax cuts would boost wages. They’re not.” Wait, the money isn’t “trickling down?” I’m shocked! shocked I say!)
• What The Rise Of Kamala Harris Tells Us About The Democratic Party (“Whatever happens later, the rise of Harris and her viability for 2020 tell us something about American politics right now: We are in the midst of an intense partisan and ideological battle over culture and identity; the Democrats aren’t backing down or moving to the center on these issues; and politicians who want to lead in either party will probably have to take strong, clear stances on matters of gender and race.”)
• Iraq War cheerleaders are still driving foreign policy discussions, Iran tweet edition
• Editorial: Why Stewart is wrong about Danville (“No, Kaine did not ‘wipe out’ Danville’s manufacturing base for one simple reason: He wasn’t in office when the city’s economy changed…No, Democrats did not ‘wipe out’ the nation’s manufacturing base, either. Neither party did”…Is Danville getting better or worse? Stewart says it’s getting worse. That runs counter to what one member of Danville city council — a Republican — wrote in a recent commentary in The Roanoke Times headlined ‘The Danville Comeback.’”)
• Comstock and her Democratic challenger lead fundraising across the Virginia
• Congressional candidate lied about donating $700,000 to campaign, prosecutors say (“In truth and fact, Brown did not donate anywhere near that amount thru money or in-kind contributions, nor did the campaign pay her that amount as an expense or reimbursement”)
• Cline holds massive lead in 6th district fundraising over Lewis
• Northam announces more funding to staff school resource officers in Virginia
• Environmental regulators again cite the Mountain Valley Pipeline (And yet it keeps moving ahead, while Gov. Northam stays absolutely silent. Wonder why.)
• Community activist fined for trespassing during Mountain Valley Pipeline protest (“Freeda Cathcart, 57, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating a closure order and was fined $150.” How about fining the pipeline companies for all the damage and destruction they’re doing?)
• Editorial: The case for arming teachers in rural Virginia (The RTD editorial page has had a string of far-right editorials the past week or so. This one’s the latest.)
• Creating a tool belt for tenants (“We need a compromise that better protects tenants while still guaranteeing that landlords can enforce rental agreements Nearly 2.6 million Virginians are living under laws that do not adequately protect tenants prior to, and during, the eviction process.”)
• Warner’s Roanoke office is vandalized; police make arrest (“James Trainor, 36, threw a brick through the glass front door of the lawmaker’s downtown office, police said.”)
• Man charged with felony after door damaged at Sen. Mark Warner’s Roanoke office (“Trainor recently got out of prison after serving a five-year sentence for a conviction in Bland County of attempted second-degree murder, according to court records. He struck a man with an SUV in August 2013. The conviction on that charge also carried five years in suspended time as well as five years of supervised probation.”)
• Norfolk has Hampton Roads highest uninsured population, but Medicaid expansion could help
• As rain totals climb in central Virginia, so does the risk of flash flooding on Tuesday
• Williams: Brook Road’s bike lanes should not be stymied by Richmond City Council. Here’s why the lanes are a good thing.
• Heavy rain and risk of flash flooding persist through Wednesday