by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, August 18.
- Photos: unprecedented floods kill hundreds in India (This disaster is exactly what you’d expect in a global warming world.)
- Devastating Floods In South India Leave Over 300 Dead, Thousands Displaced
- California Is on Fire, But Don’t You Dare Blame the Great Chinese Climate Hoax! (“Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has a lot going on.”)
- Trump Is Not a King (“A group of top former intelligence and military leaders are sending a message to the nation’s troops and spies: think twice before following the president’s orders in a crisis.”)
- The 5 Big Takeaways From Our House Forecast (“Potential Democratic gains are broad-based, across all regions of the country”)
- So much for the presidency (“Disgusting as the thought is, the possibility that Trump said the n-word could be the least of our worries.”)
- Trump Is Making the Department of Justice Into His Own Private Goon Squad
- Having Decided It Can’t Rely On America, Germany Debates Acquiring Its Own Nuclear Weapons (That was one of the first thoughts I had when Trump started bashing NATO, calling into question the U.S. commitment to its allies, etc. Watch out for Japan, South Korea and Taiwan as well.)
- John Brennan: Trump Is ‘Drunk On Power’ — And Dangerous (“’These are frightening times,’ former CIA director tells Rachel Maddow.”)
- Was It Illegal for Trump to Revoke Brennan’s Security Clearance? (“The president not only violated the former C.I.A. director’s First Amendment rights but also made it harder for the government to draw on his expertise.”)
- Embracing Conspiracy Theory, Trump Escalates Attack on Bruce Ohr (“Trump threatened on Friday to quickly revoke the security clearance of Bruce Ohr, a little-known Justice Department official, for the first time seeking to apply his power to cut access to sensitive information to a midlevel government worker rather than a prominent former national security official.”)
- Trump’s Plan for Coal Emissions: Let Coal States Regulate Them (This would be laughable if it weren’t so deadly serious.)
- U.S. special counsel recommends six months in prison for Papadopoulos
- Alex Jones does not compute (“Platforms can’t pretend they’re neutral overseers any longer — no matter how many haphazard rules they put in place.”)
- Despite bans, Alex Jones appears on Facebook and Periscope broadcasts to rant about “false flag” attacks
- Manafort trial Day 14: Jury ‘scared’ as it heads home without a verdict
- The Bane That Is Betsy DeVos (“Watch out, the secretary of education is on the loose.” Shudder.)
- The Military Intelligence Folks Are in Open Revolt (“Retired Admiral William McRaven is a different breed of cat.”)
- The Assault on Minority Voting Rights Is Loud and Proud in Georgia (“The Day of Jubilee strikes again.”)
- AP source: It’s not just audio, Manigault Newman has video
- ‘He lost his one black friend’: Bill Maher laughs about how Omarosa destroyed Trump’s whole week
- Here are the House seats most likely to flip, according to election rating systems (VA-10 is one of the top six in the country. VA-02, VA-05, and VA-07 are also listed as in play. Let’s win them all!)
- Kofi Annan, Former U.N. Secretary-General, Peace Prize-Winner, Dies At 80
- Brian Kemp’s Bid for Governor Depends on Erasing the Black Vote in Georgia (“It’s working.”)
- Fracking is destroying U.S. water supply, warns shocking new study (And note, the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines both get their natural gas from….yep, FRACKING.)
- Worst-case scenario for House GOP is 70-seat wipeout (“If that pattern holds in November, the worst-case scenario for the GOP is a truly historic wipeout of as many as 72 House seats, according to The Hill’s analysis of special election results and congressional and presidential returns from 2016.” That works for me!)
- Trump: Manafort trial is a ‘very sad day for our country’ (As usual, Trump has it completely wrong…in fact, what’s “very sad” for our country is Trump’s corruption, obstruction of justice, probable collusion with Putin, etc.)
- Trump cancels military parade, feuds with D.C. mayor over ballooning cost (We shouldn’t spend a penny on this idiocy.)
- Mark Warner wants to block Trump from ‘arbitrarily revoking security clearances’
- Netflix Cancels Michelle Wolf’s Talk Show After Less Than Three Months
- Senator, congressional candidate tour businesses, attend roundtable discussion in Danville
- ‘You don’t understand Danville’; Sen. Kaine tours city, says Stewart’s view is ‘flawed’
- GOP Senate candidate photoshops Tim Kaine shaking hands with Stalin (So here’s the thing; Corey Stewart is unhinged, but note that he DOES get media coverage for his lunatic stunts. And for someone who’s been basically cut off by the GOP, Koch brothers, etc., that’s probably exactly what he wants – free, “earned media.”)
- Blue Ridge Caucus: What lawmakers learned while touring Virginia’s schools
- Tarina Keene column: If Roe falls … (“Now is the time for Virginians to take control of our fate. We cannot wait for someone else to save us. It’s you; it’s me; it’s us. We can make positive changes to the TRAP regulations now. We can pass the Whole Woman’s Health Act, elect a clear pro-choice majority in the General Assembly, and go further with a constitutional amendment to protect individual liberty.”)
- Victoria Cobb column: Virginia’s attorney general unwittingly made the pro-life argument (First of all, these people are NOT “pro-life,” as they like to call themselves, they are anti-choice and/or forced-birthers.)
- Virginia officials flush with policy choices on taxpayer relief after federal reforms (I’d invest the money in something good, like renovating every school and other public building in Virginia to be “net-zero” in terms of energy/carbon.)
- Mountain Valley Pipeline cuts workforce, delays project completion to late 2019
- Lawsuit: Democrats are disenfranchising black candidate (Uh, riiiight.)
- Congressman agrees to debate after scuttling public TV forum (This guy is such a joke.)
- Gov. Northam: Virginia’s Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rate Drops to Lowest Since 2007
- Hampton recommends changing zoning law to allow medical cannabis oil production
- Schapiro: Family feuds roil both legislative caucuses
- VDOT: Half of expanded Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel to be toll lanes (At this point, given the urgent need to slash CO2 emissions, investing in new road infrastructure is not the way to go at all. Unless, of course, all those vehicles are electric and powered by clean energy, such as the massive offshore wind resources in the Hampton Roads area.)
- Week’s end editorial: Let’s put a hold on that new RVA arena
- Virginia asks U.S. Supreme Court to call off resentencing for Beltway Sniper
- Virginia Department of Education to release SOL test results Wednesday amid questions of their value; ‘We haven’t fixed things, we’ve made a bigger mess’
- Teen’s complaints of illness went unheeded for days, staffer at mental health care center told medic
- Republicans pick nominee to replace Henrico supervisor seat that could tip the balance of power
- Occasional showers possible today, isolated shower chance tomorrow; no more 90s for a while?
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