Friday News: Crisis Grows Over Apparent Khashoggi Murder; “Trump’s arm-twisting of the Fed is what’s truly ‘loco’”; “Mark Warner on Fed, Google Breach and Missing Saudi Dissident”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, October 12.

• Turks tell U.S. officials they have audio and video recordings that support conclusion Khashoggi was killed (So what’s Trump going to do about this? Let me guess…NOTHING?)
• Saudi Arabia won’t be able to sweep the Jamal Khashoggi case under the rug
• Don’t Let One Missing Journalist Get In the Way of $110 Billion in Saudi Arms Sales, Trump Says
• The Prince and the President: Khashoggi Case Raises Saudi-Turkey Tensions
• From Wall Street to K Street, Companies Gauge the Risks of Doing Business With Saudi Arabia
• The Guardian view on Saudi Arabia: will it pay for Jamal Khashoggi’s fate? (“The suspected murder of the journalist has led to unprecedented pressure on Riyadh. The west should not be tempted to return to business as usual”)
• The Growing Crisis Over a Saudi Journalist’s Disappearance
• Media companies pulling out of Saudi conference after Khashoggi’s disappearance
• As stocks tumble, the U.S. wonders: Is this economy as good as it gets? (“Numerous forecasters have lowered their expectations for U.S. growth, and some are warning of a possible recession in 2020.”)
• Florida’s Panhandle coast devastated by historic Hurricane Michael (Climate CHANGED)
• World shares bounce after rout, set for worst week since February
• Dow plummets again – down 545 points as selling is widespread
• Trump’s arm-twisting of the Fed is what’s truly ‘loco’ (“Trump apparently thinks it’s okay to arm-twist the Fed, whose political independence is supposed to be sacrosanct.”)
• Republicans Have a Secret Weapon in the Midterms: Voter Suppression (“After losing in 2012, the GOP enacted the harshest limits to voting since Jim Crow. It could make the difference this year from Florida to North Dakota.”)
• The Increasingly Menacing Message of Donald Trump’s Rallies (“The torrent of the President’s words is exhausting, contradictory, and annoying. Still, tuning him out is hardly the way to understand him.”)
• Clinton fires back at Trump: ‘You asked Russia to hack me on national television’
• Trump hints that he plans to seriously obstruct justice after the midterms
• 10 months after tax bill’s passage, the big wage gains Trump promised workers are MIA (“Corporate profits, however, have risen sharply.”)
• Senate Confirms BP Oil Spill Lawyer, Climate Policy Foe as Government’s Top Environment Attorney (“Jeffrey Bossert Clark has repeatedly challenged the science underpinning U.S. climate policy. He’ll be defending the administration’s policy rollbacks.”)
• Inside the Historic Trump-Kanye Oval Office Summit (“For once, the president wasn’t the biggest bloviator in the room”)
• Kanye West accidentally explains misogyny’s role in Trump’s election (“You made a Superman cape for me.”)
• Trump hosts Kanye for surreal Oval Office meeting (Kanye is seriously f’ed up.)
• Michelle Obama Wanted Democrats to ‘Go High.’ Now They Aren’t So Sure. (Yeah, that didn’t seem to work out too well…)
• John Kelly Called Elizabeth Warren An “Impolite Arrogant Woman” In An Email (“‘blah blah blah,’ Kelly, then serving as the secretary of homeland security, wrote.”)
• Democrats agree to confirmations of 15 Trump judges (“In exchange, Dems facing reelection can go home to campaign.”)
• Mitch McConnell Is Going to Kill the United States Senate (“And the truth is, he doesn’t care so long as he gets his judges.”)
• CNN’s conservative pundits are helping the GOP fearmonger over “scary” liberal protesters
• Yeah, Kanye Happened. But the Really Diabolical Stuff Was at the Other End of Pennsylvania Avenue. (“Congress just wreaked havoc with a bunch of Trump appointments.”)
• Republicans who clucked that Clinton and Obama disrespected the Oval Office never heard Kanye West’s f-bomb
• The Five-Year-Old Who Was Detained at the Border and Persuaded to Sign Away Her Rights (Appalling.)
• Poll: Gov. Walker of Wisconsin trails in re-election bid (“Democrat Tony Evers has 53 percent support from likely voters, while Scott Walker, the Republican incumbent, has 43 percent.”)
• Sen. Mark Warner on Fed, Google Breach and Missing Saudi Dissident
• Pope Francis accepts Cardinal Donald Wuerl’s resignation as D.C. archbishop
• Mark Warner Is Coming for Tech’s Too-Powerful (“The senator from Virginia says he’s ‘very annoyed’ with Silicon Valley’s ‘pathetic’ response to security concerns.” Go get’m, Senator!)
• Editorial: Register to vote by Monday (“MONDAY IS the last day to register to vote in the Nov. 6 election. If you’re eligible and aren’t registered, now is the time. It takes only a few minutes and a little effort.”)
• Hurricane Michael forces Rep. Dave Brat to cancel Virginia rally (“With strong winds and rain in forecast, headliner Sen. Rand Paul could not attend.” Two political extremists vs. extreme weather.)
• Leslie Cockburn Has Tackled War Zones, So She Can Handle Taking on a Few Republicans
• Democratic candidate’s husband tweets his way into Virginia 5th district’s odd Afghanistan flap (Andrew Cockburn has apparently deleted his Twitter account…)
• Corey Stewart Aide with Murky ‘Alt-Right’ Ties Appears at Stewart’s Pro-ICE Rally
• Exclusive: GOP Senate Candidate Corey Stewart Has an Apparent Nazi Sympathizer Organizing Campaign Event
• Down Big in Polls, Libertarian Joe Walton Forges On
• A Democrat leads in Virginia’s 10th (Barbara Comstock “has voted with the president nearly 98% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight, a data-journalism website, often siding with him on issues that shock voters in the fast-growing, increasingly multi-hued district. Mrs Comstock favours a wall on the border with Mexico, is an advocate of expanded gun rights and a near-total ban on abortion, and voted for the federal tax cut that could drive up already-high local tax bills.”)
• Nash: Endangered species — a fight in your own back yard (“In fact, our state fish and game agency reports that an astonishing 500-plus Virginia animal species are now rare or declining and ‘at risk of extinction’ here — many of them at ‘extremely high risk.’ That’s eight percent of our mammal species, 11 percent of birds, 21 percent of freshwater fish, a quarter of our reptiles and amphibians.”)
• Hurricane Michael brings flash floods, power outages and tornado warnings to Virginia
• Del. Ben Cline premiers first ad on Facebook for district race (If this guy is elected, he’s going to be as bad or worse than BADlatte. Vote Jennifer Lewis instead!)
• State sues Fones Cliffs golf course developer over violations; adjacent land to be preserved (Good, now how about the pipelines???)
• Metro board members back away from recommendations to increase service
• Report gives Fairfax Co. police good grade in making reforms
• Chesterfield School Board withdraws from joint audit committee in effort to gain independence from county
• Virginia governor declares emergency as Tropical Storm Michael hits state
• Almost brisk! Slight wind chills behind Michael today, but at least we’re clearing out.