Thursday News: “Highly Curtailed” FBI Report Goes to Senate; “Vicious Buffoon” Trump’s “lying, mocking, despicable verbal mugging of Christine Blasey Ford”; “Why is Stewart bad-mouthing Danville?”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, October 4.

• Putin says election meddling ‘nonsense’ risks poisoning U.S.-Russia relations (Putin is evil and crazy; check out his bizarre theories about climate change, for instance.)
• Judiciary Committee receives FBI report on Kavanaugh allegations (“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a motion to end debate on the nomination, setting up a procedural vote expected Friday. His move came hours before the Judiciary Committee announced that it had received the FBI’s report on Brett M. Kavanaugh. Democrats have suggested that past FBI background checks of Kavanaugh include evidence of inappropriate behavior.”)
• White House ‘Fully Confident’ Of Kavanaugh’s Confirmation After Seeing FBI Investigation
• The F.B.I. Probe Ignored Testimonies from Former Classmates of Kavanaugh
• The Senate Should Not Confirm Kavanaugh (“Signed, 1,000+ Law Professors (and Counting)”)
• As FBI background check of Kavanaugh nears its end, probe appears to have been highly curtailed (“The FBI has interviewed six witnesses and has not been allowed to probe the nominee’s youthful drinking, opening it up to criticism over what some will view as a lackluster investigation.”)
• McConnell sets key Kavanaugh vote for Friday
• The Memo: Trump’s shot at Ford seems to backfire
• National Council of Churches calls for Kavanaugh’s nomination to be withdrawn
• I Was Brett Kavanaugh’s College Roommate (“He lied under oath about his drinking and terms in his yearbook.”)
• Trump’s lying, mocking, despicable verbal mugging of Christine Blasey Ford (“Trump made it harder than ever for those who vote for Kavanaugh to claim they are still taking Ford’s testimony seriously.”)
• Trump makes a mockery — of himself
• No one can possibly believe Trump’s tale of self-made success now (“An exhaustive New York Times report suggests the president’s family has enriched itself by gaming the system.”)
• More Than 650 Law Professors Sign Letter in Opposition to Kavanaugh’s Nomination
• In Risky Shift, Trump and G.O.P. Directly Assail Christine Blasey Ford
• The Trump Circus (“The president has latched onto his supporters, and they onto him, in a symbiotic last-ditch shot at survival.”)
• Decades of Trump family tax fraud doesn’t bother conservatives who demanded Obama be “vetted” (“The tax swindler president gets a pass from the right” Pure “tribalism” at work here.)
• Kavanaugh’s nomination just moved one step closer to a floor vote (“Mitch McConnell checked off a key procedural box on Wednesday night.”)
• The Senate bloc that could decide Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation (“All eyes are on Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, and Joe Manchin with a floor vote mere days away.”)
• “We Need to Destroy the Republican Party”: A Conservative Luminary Calls for a Clean Start (“In which Max Boot says the GOP is racist, the Iraq War was wrong, and Trumpism is a cancer.”)
• Federal judge blocks Trump from deporting hundreds of thousands of immigrants under TPS
• Trump likely couldn’t be prosecuted for tax fraud – even if the Times report is true
• Conway claims Trump wasn’t mocking Ford, says White House has treated her like a ‘Fabergé egg’ (My god…)
• The Cruelty Is the Point(“President Trump and his supporters find community by rejoicing in the suffering of those they hate and fear.”)
• Voter Suppression Is Deeply Embedded in the Republican Party. Brett Kavanaugh Helped Put It There. (“So did Don McGahn. There’s a reason one is shepherding the other onto the Supreme Court.”)
• Poll: Amid Kavanaugh Confirmation Battle, Democratic Enthusiasm Edge Evaporates
• The Latest Republican Rhetoric Around Brett Kavanaugh’s Accusers Is Grotesque (“Mitch McConnell’s crew is relentless.”)
• This Vicious Buffoon Is a Vessel for All the Worst Elements of the American Condition (“Donald Trump, American president*, disgraces his office once more.”)
• Kavanaugh, the poster boy for toxic privilege, just doesn’t get it (“Women and people of color are gaining on them, and they are scared to death”)
• Steny Hoyer’s Election Night Watch List (Jennifer Wexton and Elaine Luria make the list. Personally, I’m going to be looking at VA-07 closely for signs of how election night is going…)
• Tim Kaine Sounds Alarm About Trump’s View of ‘Collective Self-Defense’ Powers (“Writes to Defense Secretary Mattis about latest legal interpretation”)
• Senate Election is Blast from the Past (“You had the same battle with Oliver North. You had the same battle with Ken Cuccinelli.”)
• So Much for the WaPo’s Idiotic Corey Stewart “Rebrand” Narrative: “Pepe the Frog”/#Qanon Retweet Edition
• Editorial: Why is Stewart bad-mouthing Danville? (“To call this remarkable is too mild a phrase. When has a candidate for statewide office in Virginia ever spent so much time trashing the reputation of a community he hopes to represent?…Stewart is 20 years out of date…Stewart blames the wrong thing for Danville’s economic collapse 20 years ago.”)
• New VA-10 Poll: Wexton Leads Comstock by 7 Points Among “Likely Voters”; Lead Increases to 11 Points Among “Most Committed Voters”; Kaine Holds 55%-34% Lead Over Stewart
• Kaine and Stewart make their case – but with less vitriol (“In what is expected to be their last joint appearance before the Nov. 6 election, Kaine and Stewart appeared separately on stage at Hampton University to answer questions from a moderator and students about several issues including immigration, national defense and veterans and the controversy over Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.”)
• All eyes are on Chesterfield in the 7th District race (“Brat, Spanberger jockey for votes in the suburbs”)
• BREAKING: Enviro Groups’ Letter to FERC Demands Stop-Work Order on Mountain Valley Pipeline; Video Shows Work Continues…
• ‘A long time coming’: Virginia’s Indian tribes celebrate federal recognition
• Atif Qarni column: Back to school: Virginia students commemorate 1619 events
• Dominion proposes energy efficiency programs under new law, but not all are new
• Legislators: Richmond faces long odds in getting more state money for education
• Henrico special election candidates for Brookland meet in contest’s first public forum
• Jennifer Lewis announces Sixth District Small Business Tour
• A “deal has already been struck”: Mayor expecting Norfolk Southern to move headquarters (“The Norfolk-based railroad could be less than two weeks away from announcing a move to Atlanta, Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander said.”)
• ‘People were running’: Richmond man fatally shoots himself at entrance to Richmond courthouse
• Virginia politician tweets about shooting protesters — then deletes it (“Goochland County supervisor Manual Alvarez Jr. said he was joking when he tweeted that ‘with one reload, I can take 34 of them.'”)
• Virginia adds more land to protected natural areas (“44 acres were added to The Cedars Natural Area Preserve in Southwest Virginia and 53 acres were added to Magothy Bay Natural Area Preserve on the Eastern Shore.”)
• Summer heat, possible shower today. Not as warm Friday and Saturday.