Tuesday News: 17 Years Since 9/11; John Bolton Gives Bat****-Crazy Speech; Evacuations Ordered as Monster Hurricane Florence Bears Down on Mid-Atlantic;

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, September 11. I can’t believe it’s been 17 years since that horrible, fateful day in 2001…one those of us who lived through it will of course never forget. Meanwhile, get ready for Hurricane Florence!

NOAA Hurricane Hunter Richard Henning is currently flying through Hurricane Florence: “This is a very large, very powerful hurricane… Everything that you’ve been hearing about this storm in terms of its severity is all true…” https://t.co/YOoH04RAHW pic.twitter.com/qVUS0N9AY1

— CNN (@CNN) September 11, 2018

• U.N. Chief Warns of a Dangerous Tipping Point on Climate Change (We need to crank up our efforts big time, including canceling new fossil fuel infrastructure projects like the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley fracked-gas pipelines here in Virginia.)
• Trump’s Effort to Strong-Arm the Palestinians Will Bring More Suffering, Not Peace (Yep, it’s completely wrong.)
• Trump Shutters the Palestinian Diplomatic Mission—and Middle East Peace (That move kind of sums up Trump in many ways – shutting down diplomacy, peace, hope…for absolutely no good reason.)
• Hurricane Florence Could Be the Worst Storm to Ever Hit North of Florida (“Since records began, only 10 major hurricanes have made landfall around the Carolinas. This one has the potential to blow them all out of the water.” Exactly what we’d expect in a climate chaos world.)
• Climate Change Drives Bigger, Wetter Storms — Storms Like Florence
• More than 1.5 million people evacuated from coastal areas as Hurricane Florence takes aim at Carolinas
• ‘Extremely dangerous’ Hurricane Florence may approach Category 5 as it churns toward the Carolinas
• CNN Poll: Trump approval down 6 points in a month, hits low among independents (“Overall, just 36% approve of the way the President is handling his job, down from 42% in August. Among independents, the drop has been sharper, from 47% approval last month to 31% now.”)
• John Bolton threatens war crimes court with sanctions in virulent attack (Bolton is bonkers. But of course we knew that…)
• Ignore Trump’s antics. Things only look worse.
• Trump fabricates Obama quote in tweet (“Is the president being dishonest, ignorant about how quotes work, or some combination of the two?”)
• Trump Falsely Claims G.D.P. Growth Is Higher Than Unemployment ‘for the First Time in 100 Years’ (“It has happened at least 185 times in the past century.” Trump opens mouth, lies pour out.)
• The GOP finds yet another way to suppress the vote (“The administration launches a massive fishing expedition in North Carolina.” UnAmerican.)
• Trump is harming the dream of America more than any foreign adversary ever could
• Japan launches bid to end ban on commercial whaling (F*** that!)
• Brett Kavanaugh could be worse than you think: Here’s how he’ll gut environmental protection (“Kavanaugh’s history suggests he’s skeptical of longstanding court precedents that protect environmental laws”)
• CBS gave Les Moonves a graceful exit he didn’t deserve
• Trump fights to wrest credit for the economy from Obama (In fact, something like 90% of the improvement we’ve seen in the U.S. economy since the “Great Recession” came under President Obama. Maybe more than 90%, come to think of it.)
• Trump says he’ll ‘write the real book’ to counter Woodward’s (Hahahaha.)
• ‘Something has changed’: Women, minorities, first-time candidates drive Democratic House hopes (“A Democratic slate dominated by women, minorities and first-time candidates could make the next Congress look very different.”)
• Trump Administration Wants to Make It Easier to Release Methane Into Air (Completely horrible and stupid as usual.)
• Let’s Not Forget the President*’s National Security Adviser Is a Bloodthirsty Maniac (“John Bolton is one of the ‘moral’ ‘adults’ in the room?” More like a sociopathic maniac.)
• House Republicans Unveil Tax-Cut Bill Ahead of Election Push (The party for which the answer to every question is “tax cuts for the wealthy.”)
• Sanders tried to explain why the DOJ should investigate the New York Times. It was a mess. (“Team Trump can’t cite a single law they think the New York Times broke, but they want DOJ to investigate anyway.”)
• GOP faces deadline crunch as threat of losing House deepens
• The Republican Candidate for Florida Governor Goes to Some Interesting Parties (“Rep. Ron DeSantis shares speaking engagements with Geert Wilders and Nigel Farage.” Ee gads.)
• Ben Sasse Is a ‘Reagan Republican.’ Just Like Donald Trump. (“He’s just a Republican with milder snake oil waiting for the smoke to clear.”)
• Manchin (Literally) Fires Away At Obamacare Repeal in New Ad
• A federal appeals court just gave both middle fingers to Roe v. Wade (“Republicans don’t control the Supreme Court yet, but three Republican judges are getting a head start.” Very dangerous.)
• Video: Fox News’ Tucker Carlson echoes white nationalists, white supremacists, and neo-Nazis
• At least 180 lawmakers voice support for federal pay raise as Congress goes to conference
• Virginia Universities to Host 2 US Senate Town Halls (“Liberty University and Hampton University will each host a U.S. Senate Town Hall featuring Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine and Republican challenger Corey Stewart.”)
• Echoing Northam, Virginia Attorney General asks for court to redraw district maps
• Governor orders Zone A in Virginia to evacuate Tuesday; Florence now a major hurricane, aims for US Southeast
• State officials calling for ‘catastrophic levels of inland flooding’ during approaching Hurricane Florence; storm could test James River floodwalls in Richmond
• Virginia governor orders mandatory evacuation of low-lying areas ahead of Hurricane Florence
• Southern Virginia Beach should prepare to evacuate for Hurricane Florence, city manager says
• State IT costs top $100 million for disentangling from Northrop Grumman, new email vendor struggles with backlog
• Review finds Virginia elections agency had culture of ‘open support for one party over the other’ (If that’s the case, it’s absolutely unacceptable, whether for Republicans or Democrats!)
• Study finds Department of Elections fails to help local registrars, was subject to political influence
• Metro’s new safety watchdog could soon take control from federal officials
• Metro’s soaring pension costs threaten future service, federal report says
• Richmond City Council raises threshold that triggers vote on members’ spending
• Virginia congressional candidate appeals court decision to kick her off ballot (Good, let’s get some serious “discovery” going here and find out what Scott Taylor did exactly!)
• Editorial: Virginia’s election process needs vast improvement
• Handcuffed and in crisis: With a shortage of nearby beds, police drive mental patients across the state for treatment
• Fifth District GOP candidate Riggleman, Del. Freitas address College Republicans (“Riggleman spoke about the campaign, while Freitas decried ‘liberal’ university experiences” Uhhhh…alrighty Nick.)
• Aligned Energy is coming to Northern Virginia with a hyperscale campus
• Williams: To ‘stand for something’ isn’t enough in Richmond. We’ve got to shed our zero-sum attitude. (Behind paywall.)
• Warm and cloudy with showers — and we’re watching Hurricane Florence