Friday News: “Stunning Rebuke to Trump” by Nation’s Top Former Intel Officials; “The Voice of God Is Aretha Franklin”; Corey Stewart Photoshop FAIL, Racist Comments About NFL Players

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, August 17.

• After Edging Away From Abyss, Turkey Faces New U.S. Threats
• China, Unsure of How to Handle Trump, Braces for ‘New Cold War’
• Osama bin Laden raid leader asks Trump to pull his security clearance
• Revoking James Comey’s security clearance could be a federal crime for Trump says MSNBC analyst
• Spy Vs. President (“The nation’s top former intelligence officials come together to issue a stunning rebuke to Trump”)
• Top former intelligence bosses speak out in favor of John Brennan
• Trump gears up to strip more clearances from officials tied to Russia investigation (Can we say “obstruction of justice?”)
• Yes, Revoking John Brennan’s Security Clearance Raises Constitutional Concerns
• Trump Predicts ‘Red Wave,’ But Special Elections Show Democrats Poised For Big Gains (“Based on calculations by NPR, the average special election shift was 10 points towards the Democrats. If you apply that margin to all 435 congressional districts — using the 2016 presidential margins as a partisan baseline — the Democrats would net 63 seats. That’s certainly on trend for a blue — not red — wave, and far more than the 23 seats they need to flip the House.”)
• Donald Trump’s Grip on the Republican Party Just Got Even Tighter (“The Trump loyalty oath has effectively ruled out any criticism of the President by Republicans who want to have a future in a party that he leads.”)
• “Rigged Witch Hunt,” Meet Trump’s “Red Wave” (“The two fantasy story lines in the President’s unreality show.”)
• No, Democrats Don’t Need a National Platform for the Midterms (“The most important thing is that they aren’t the party of Trump.”)
• Krugman: Something Not Rotten in Denmark (“The simple fact is that there is far more misery in America than there needs to be. Every other advanced country has universal health care and a much stronger social safety net than we do. And it doesn’t have to be that way.”)
• Omarosa Manigault Newman Releases Tape of Lara Trump’s $15,000-a-Month Job Offer
• “DEATH SPIRAL”: Why Omarosa Totally Triggered Trump (“The perceived betrayal of a longtime female ally, and her perfectly executed Trumpian tactics, made the feud too personal to ignore.”)
• Pentagon may delay Trump’s military parade, originally slated for November, to next year (How about never?)
• NYT: Omarosa believed to have as many as 200 tapes
• GOP leader criticizes Republican senators for not showing up to work (Not getting anything good done is what Republicans do best, eh?)
• Bomb threat made at Boston Globe after editorial condemning Trump
• Musk Details ‘Excruciating’ Personal Toll of Tesla Turmoil (“During an hourlong interview with The Times, Elon Musk choked up, speaking about how his health has suffered and that, from a personal standpoint, he believes ‘the worst is yet to come.'”)
• Trump’s military parade is now estimated to cost $92 million – $80 million more than earlier estimate (That’s $92 million too much!)
• Taking the debate bait (“Conservatives keep using dumb stunts to get attention, and news outlets keep falling for it”)
• Manafort trial jury ends first day of deliberations with no verdict (“The jury sent four questions to the judge.”)
• 565 Migrant Children Remain Separated From Families 3 Weeks Past Judge’s Deadline (“The number of kids who have been reunited in the last couple of weeks can be counted on two hands, according to court filings on the immigration detentions.”)
• WHOA: We found video footage of Donald Trump being super racist (“The president’s racism has been hiding in plain sight for decades.”)
• Why a Free Press Matters (“Journalists have been keeping a check on power since the creation of the First Amendment. Now they’re being tested.”)
• Newspapers Have Faced Down Dictators, So They Should Face Down This Obvious Clown (“In an alliance of editorials, they’re also coming to grips with their own shortcomings.” Note that in our area, the Washington Post didn’t participate, nor did the Virginian-Pilot, Roanoke Times, Daily Press, Free Lance-Star, Daily Progress, etc.)
• Tucker Carlson’s Taco Tantrum: ‘It’s An American Food! … Those Are My Tacos. Mine!’ (“The Fox News host tells a Univision anchor that tacos are an American food, and ‘you’re not going to appropriate my culture.'” Beyond parody, beyond stupid.)
• The Voice of God Is Aretha Franklin (“She harnessed the spirit of the choir to craft songs on life and love and yes, respect.”)
• 25 Districts That Could Decide The House In 2018 (VA-10 and VA-05 both make the list. I’d consider VA-02 and VA-07 as well.)
• Before and After Aretha (“The artist was unrivaled in her ability to shape her own work and image without bending to constraints.”)
• Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin Has Died of Pancreatic Cancer at Age 76
• Trump Can’t Even Honor Aretha Franklin Properly (“The president described the deceased soul legend first as a person who ‘worked for me,’ a telling remark in his ongoing disparagement of black women.”)
• Ariana Grande Gets Standing Ovation for Emotional Aretha Franklin Tribute on ‘Tonight Show’
• Watch the Aretha Franklin performance that brought Barack Obama to tears
• Aretha Franklin Had Power. Did We Truly Respect It?
• Virginia GOP candidate lies and says ‘the left’ was responsible for violence in Charlottesville (“Fundraising email completely ignores the death of counter-protester Heather Heyer.”)
• GOP Senate Candidate Corey Stewart Got Very Racist About NFL Players at 2017 Event
• GOP Senate Candidate Corey Stewart Follows Neo-Confederate Leader on Twitter (“Michael Hill runs the League of the South, a hate group that marched in Charlottesville last year. One of 257 followers is running for Senate from Virginia.”)
• Senate GOP candidate Corey Stewart called kneeling football players ‘thugs’ (The one who’s a “thug” is…yep, Corey Stewart!)
• Corey Stewart used racist stereotypes to disparage NFL players in 2017 campaign event (Because…of course he did!)
• Photoshop fail: Corey Stewart seeks to link Sen. Tim Kaine to radical left with phony image of Contra commandos in Nicaragua (“Stewart, chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, acknowledged the picture was altered, but offered a somewhat confusing defense. ‘Of course it was photoshopped,’ he said. ‘It was meant to prove a point: that Tim Kaine was a radical leftist back in the ’80s and is a radical leftist today.'” Yeah, riiiiiight, so now if you’re a Catholic missionary you’re a “radical leftist” according to Corey Stewart. What a nutjob.)
• Va. House Democrats caucus meeting yields no change at the top
• Dave Brat’s out of tune (“Brat has pulled back from his constituents. The Post’s Paul Schwartzman wrote Brat hasn’t held any town hall style meetings since 2017, preferring instead to hold “mobile office hours” where he meets with constituents ‘who requested it.’ In short, he’ll talk to voters — on his terms.”)
• Environmentalists ask 4th Circuit to invalidate FERC permit for Atlantic Coast Pipeline
• U.S. Sen Tim Kaine and Republican challenger Corey Stewart drop by Fredericksburg
• Debate developing in General Assembly over proposed tax cut
• Editorial: Lawmakers should consider tax changes
• The Virginian-Pilot’s owner considers sale of newspaper’s historic downtown headquarters (Hey Virginian-Pilot, you’ve got “Tronc’ed!”)
• How much will redistricting legal battle cost Virginians?
• Signer to chair post-Aug. 12 anti-extremism group
• Showers and storms pepper us for the next few days