Sunday News: “The Pittsburgh Suspect’s Internet of Hate”; Trump “Riling Up the Crazies”; “72 hours in America: Three hate-filled crimes. Three hate-filled suspects.”; Editorial Boards Endorse Tim Kaine

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, October 28.

• Brazil’s Bolsonaro poised to win presidency in dramatic swing right (This is a disaster, not the least of which for the Amazon and the climate. Huge, huge mistake.)
• Brazil presidential election: Who is Jair Bolsonaro, the popular candidate more dangerous than Trump? (“The many reasons why Bolsonarismo stands alone when compared to its global far-right peers.”)
• ‘The most horrific crime scene’: 11 dead in attack on Pittsburgh synagogue (“Suspect charged with 29 counts of federal crimes of violence and firearms offenses”)
• Pittsburgh Tragedy Called the “Deadliest Attack on the Jewish Community in the History of the United States” (“The assault comes after reports of rising anti-Semitism in America.”)
• Suspected synagogue shooter appears to have railed against Jews, refugees online
• American Jews’ worst fears become reality with synagogue massacre (“As threats increased, as online abuse grew more vicious, as the defacing of buildings with swastikas became more common, the possibility of violence loomed over Jewish communities in the United States.”)
• A Massacre in the Heart of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood (“Squirrel Hill will continue to live by the values that Jews have sustained for more than 2,000 years. They can never be gunned down.”)
• A Prayer for Squirrel Hill—And for American Jewry (“The Pittsburgh synagogue killings show that dormant hatreds have reawakened.”)
• Sayoc made numerous references on Facebook to Russian associates, echoed pro-Kremlin views
• America’s Fatal Shame (“At least 10 people were killed in a Pittsburgh synagogue shooting Saturday morning. Must this nation worship only behind bars and guards?”)
• The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting and the Escalating Crisis of Hate-Fuelled Violence in the Trump Era
• The Tree of Life Shooting and the Return of Anti-Semitism to American Life
• Trump Says Synagogue Shooting Could Have Been Prevented With “Armed Guards” (Trump is an imbecile and a tool of the blood-on-its-hands gun lobby. Note that the murderer in this case shot three heavily armed cops!)
• The Pittsburgh Suspect’s Internet of Hate (“Robert Bowers was an avid user of Gab, a social network popular among white nationalists and the alt-right.”)
• Trump Calls for Unity After Synagogue Shooting, Then Swiftly Denounces Democrats (Trump is an absolute disgrace to our country. Send a strong message on November 6 by voting up and down the ballot for Democrats!)
• Trump’s Attacks on the News Media Are Working (“…with the president settling on ‘Fear and Falsehoods’ as an election strategy, as The Washington Post put it last week, the political information system is awash in more misleading or flatly wrong assertions than reporters can keep up with. It’s as if President Trump has hit the journalism industry with a denial-of-service attack.”)
• The Nature of Trump’s Culpability in the Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre (“The shooter may despise him, but the president’s dehumanizing language has made political violence—and hate crimes like this—more likely.”)
• Stop Trying to Understand What Trump Says and Look at What His Followers Do (“At the end of a week of hate crimes in America, it’s time to let go of trying to prove causation and instead assess the facts that are plainly in front of our eyes.”)
• The Pittsburgh synagogue shooting is another example of America’s gun problem (“Shootings like this are enabled by America’s easy access to guns.”)
• What is happening to our country? (“In times of crisis, we look for the president to bind our wounds, to overcome partisanship, to unite the country. Trump is doing the opposite. He is deliberately exacerbating our divisions for partisan gain. He is risking widespread political violence so that he and his Republican supporters can hold on to office.”)
• Shaking My Faith in America (“The bloodshed in the Tree of Life synagogue is a sign that hatred of The Other is poisoning our public life.” “It is a sign that President Trump’s remorselessly cynical, jungle-style vision of how to conduct business and politics is ripping apart a society already under the stress of generational, demographic, technological, economic and social change.” It’s also social media, Fox “News,” right-wing talk radio, and the Republicans’ strategy to win power by pitting people against each other.)
• Trump Cabinet exodus likely after midterms (Depends who leaves, but this could be really bad.)
• Trump has passed on every chance to unite the country during the pipe bomb crisis (“Imagine how he’d act if the crisis were worse.”)
• I Grew Up in a Place Where I Felt Safe from Anti-Semitism—It was the United States
• ‘Riling Up the Crazies’ (“As long as I’ve covered politics, Republicans have been trying to scare me. Sometimes, it has been about gays and transgender people and uppity women looming, but usually it has been about people with darker skin looming…it was Republicans who flipped the sentiment and turned it into a powerful and remorseless campaign ethos: Make voters fear fear itself…For Ailes, and later Trump, politics was a war to preserve a gauzy John Wayne throwback world, patriotic and traditional, to save it from a sneering, contemptuous elite and from the ‘Other.'”)
• The Conspiratorial Hate We See Online Is Increasingly Appearing In Real Life (“Why toxic online behavior is spilling into the streets.”)
• Donald Trump jokes about his hair being ruined by having to answer questions in the rain about Pittsburgh shooting (I can’t even…)
• 72 hours in America: Three hate-filled crimes. Three hate-filled suspects.
• Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and others stick with conspiracy theories after mail-bomb suspect’s arrest (Absolute evil.)
• Robert Bowers’ synagogue attack is only one of 16 cases of white-supremacist killings since Trump was inaugurated
• Trump, Republicans Continue Remaking The Federal Courts — Even As Senate On Recess (This is an ongoing disaster.)
• Virginia Absentee Ballot Numbers As of 10/26 at 445% of TOTAL 2017; Deep-Blue VA-08 at 534%
• ‘I’m a carpetbagger’: Volunteers from safe blue districts try to swing Va. races
• Editorial: Our choices in top races (“In contrast with his GOP opponent, Kaine has conducted himself as a senator with the type of affable, common-sense professionalism that distinguished his four years as governor and his time as mayor of Richmond before that.” “Voters can be confident that by replacing him with Luria, they will be in good hands for the next two years.” “Taylor’s involvement in the cynical effort to place Brown on the ballot, his inability to account fully for the behavior of his staff and his lack of understanding of how his decisions raise legitimate questions about judgment and trust is a disqualifying offense.”)
• Tim Kaine will build bridges (The Tronc-owned Daily Press editorial page isn’t exactly brilliant, but even they could figure out that the superb Tim Kaine is a far, far better choice than the self-described “vicious,” “ruthless” candidate Corey Stewart.)
• Editorial: Final RTD endorsement splits the ticket (Picking Kaine over neo-Confederate Corey is a no brainer that even the RTD couldn’t f*** up. Same thing with Donald McEachin. Of course, they got it TOTALLY wrong on VA-07, where Abigail Spanberger is INFINITELY superior to far-right loon Dave Brat. They also got it wrong in VA-01, where Rob Wittman is one of the only Virginia Republicans running this year who has publicly and unabashedly endorsed neo-Confederate Corey.)
• EDITORIAL: Rob Wittman for Congress (One of the lamest, also right-wing papers in Virginia endorses one of the lamest members of Congress. And yes, of course Vangie Williams made the case to replace Rob Wittman – if you were listening at ALL.
• Anthony Flaccavento takes on Rep. Morgan Griffith for second time to represent rural 9th District
• Rosemary Codding: Virginia’s restrictions against abortion care are unconstitutional
• A look at where Brat and Spanberger stand on the issues
• Opinion: Response to RTD’s Brat endorsement line-by-line (“Richmond Times Dispatch has endorsed racism, xenophobia, misogyny and a continued Republican failure to run a responsible, ethical government. It has endorsed irresponsibility and needs to get with the times.” Sad to say, but this paper’s editorial board is beyond repair, no chance that they will ever “get with the times.”)
• Deaf and mute man can’t stand trial in girl’s killing. Can Virginia hold him forever?
• Gastañaga: Don’t criminalize pregnancy
• Who will become the next mayor of Virginia Beach? (“On Nov. 6, voters will get to choose one of two sitting council members as their next mayor. Bobby Dyer is a physical therapist with 14 years in office. Ben Davenport is a real estate broker and a relative newcomer who alienated former Mayor Will Sessoms but then won his support.”)
• Editorial: From Pagaea to Pittsylvania County; why there’s uranium in Virginia
• Pillion: Southwest Virginia is open for business
• Why it feels like Metro is on fire, even when it isn’t (“An analysis of data provided by fire departments in the six jurisdictions served by Metro show a higher number of smoke- and fire-related incidents than Metro’s official tally.”)
• Fredericksburg could be first in state to offer clean energy financing program (“Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing, or C–PACE as the program is called, would give local banks the option of granting landlords and developers a minimum $20,000 loan for a maximum of 20 years for such things as solar facilities, Energy Star-rated heating and air conditioning systems, LED lights and WaterSense-certified products.”)
• Bodies of two Fairfax sisters washed up in New York City river, police say
• Red Sox Rally In The 9th To Beat Dodgers, Lead Series 3-1
• Steadily brighter and warmer into midweek (“Each of the next few days has a little something to offer those looking for a dose of nice fall weather. However, the total package doesn’t arrive until midweek.”)