New Year’s Eve 2018 News: “The Story of 2018 Was Climate Change”; “Trump’s border wall request ‘a ransom note’”; “Secretary of Defense Jim Webb?”; “It’s been a long fall under Daniel Snyder”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, New Year’s Eve 2018. Let’s all hope 2019 is a happy year, although with Trump in the White House…’nuff said. Also, check out the video…already 2019 in Wellington, New Zealand.

• The Story of 2018 Was Climate Change (“Future generations may ask why we were distracted by lesser matters.”)
• This Year’s Natural Disasters Show Climate Change’s Dire Consequences Are Already Here
• Populist leaders to attend Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration in Brazil (This guy is heinous, including his vicious bigotry and his insane promise to tear down the Amazon. The United States should be pushing back hard against him, but unfortunately we have our own scumbag-in-chief.)
• Trump’s China Strategy Isn’t Working (“The administration’s scattershot approach is ineffective, if not harmful to U.S. interests. And it’s only amplifying Beijing’s nationalist tune.”)
• Year Ends on 10th Day of Shutdown as Pelosi Awaits
• John Kelly Doesn’t Want to Talk About All the Things He Helped Trump Do (“In an interview with the LA Times, the departing chief of staff asked to be judged by what he prevented.”)
• Stocks pin hopes on U.S.-China trade talks after brutal year
• Trump Digs In, Darkening Hopes for a Deal to End the Shutdown (“The president has repeatedly called allies, reassuring them that he will not yield on his wall demands. But nine days into a partial government shutdown, Mr. Trump has not reached out to Democrats, whose votes he needs for a deal.”)
• Kelly, on His Way Out, Says Administration Long Ago Abandoned Idea of Concrete Wall
• Jeffries: Trump’s border wall request ‘a ransom note’ (“Yes, we need comprehensive immigration reform. Yes, we need to enhance border security. But we are not willing to pay $2.5 billion or $5 billion and wasting taxpayer dollars on a ransom note because Donald Trump decided that he was going to shut down the government and hold the American people hostage”)
• Republican Senator Graham says Trump receptive to shutdown deal idea (Right, except we shouldn’t agree to a penny for an idiotic, environmentally destructive, waste-of-money, medieval border WALL.)
• A year of unprecedented deception: Trump averaged 15 false claims a day in 2018
• Trump compares border wall to ‘Wall around’ Obama home (More demented s*** from our demented “president”)
• Affordable Care Act Can Stay In Effect While Under Appeal, Judge Says
• “Hail and Farewell’ to those who passed in 2018
• What a year it’s been: A month-by-month look back at 2018’s biggest stories
• 2018’s Biggest Loser Was the Liberal International Order
• Bernie alumni seek meeting to address ‘sexual violence’ on ‘16 campaign (“More than two dozen women and men who worked on Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign are seeking a meeting with the senator and his top political advisers to ‘discuss the issue of sexual violence and harassment on the 2016 campaign, for the purpose of planning to mitigate the issue in the upcoming presidential cycle'”)
• Millions To See Pay Hikes In 2019 As Minimum Wage Increases In 20 States (“Thirteen counties and cities will notice the difference immediately on January 1, reaching or exceeding $15 an hour.”)
• After lunch with Trump, Lindsey Graham shifts course on Syria: ‘I think the president’s taking this really seriously’
• Dozens of journalists were murdered in 2018. This is a crisis of press freedom.
• Retired four-star general warns White House applicants against working for ‘immoral’ Donald Trump (“I don’t think he tells the truth.”)
• Conway: Border wall debate ‘a silly semantic argument’ (Trump shut down the government over a “silly semantic argument?” Seriously? Kellyanne Conway is shameless.)
• Over Three Years After Publicly Promising He’d “Do More on [the Climate Crisis] and Do It Soon,” Chuck Todd FINALLY Focuses on the #1 Challenge Facing Humanity
• Chuck Todd says his show is ‘not going to give time to climate deniers’ (It’s about f’ing time!)
• French Resistance hero who saved hundreds of Jewish children dies aged 108
• Laura Ingraham’s radio show is over — but she’s still on Fox News (“Right-wing radio host Laura Ingraham has been hemorrhaging advertisers after a petty attack on a teenager who survived the Parkland, Florida massacre.”)
• Teachers quit their jobs in record numbers during 2018 (“Skimpy budgets, low pay and public disrespect is prompting educators to abandon the classroom in droves”)
• Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith did not return over $50,000 in donations following scandal-plagued campaign
• Exiting lawmakers jockey for K Street perch (“Outgoing Rep. Barbara Comstock (R), who represents the Virginia suburbs of D.C., is seen as another potential K Street recruit.” But of course!)
• Secretary of Defense Jim Webb? (The guy’s gone completely off the deep end. No.)
• Jim Webb for defense secretary (Yeah…no.)
• Terry McAuliffe turned a red state blue – but is he the face of the future for Democrats? (No, TMac did NOT turn Virginia blue…that’s moronic and just flat-out FALSE.)
• Video: Former VA Gov. Terry McAuliffe on CNN’s “State of the Union” Does…NOT Announce for President. Yet.(Calls Trump “an angry, emotional man sitting in the White House.” Is that worse than a “narcissistic maniac”)
• Editorial: Resolve to take action on climate change (“States can take action independent of the federal government or a multinational framework, and it is to the lasting credit of Virginia officials that they have picked up the baton dropped by the White House.” One of the stupidest arguments for inaction I’ve ever heard is that states and localities are “too small to make a difference” on a global problem. That, of course, is completely FUBAR “reasoning,” as it’s going to take action at EVERY level – especially with a climate science denier in the White House right now – to deal with this issue. No time to waste, and nobody can sit on the sidelines on this one.)
• 2019 quiz: What will new year bring for shutdown, stadium, legal pot and Trump? (“With all seats up for grabs in Virginia’s General Assembly elections in November, the results will be?”)
• Candidates Jennifer Boysko and Joe May vie for Jennifer Wexton’s seat in 33rd district (“The two are going head to head for Congresswoman-elect Jennifer Wexton’s seat, which she vacates on December 31…The special election is on January 8.” Make sure you vote, as always – and vote Democratic, in this case for Jennifer Boysko!)
• For Everything There is a Season (“The 20th [Legislative District Committee] met on Saturday, December 29th, and chose a state-run primary for the nomination method. This was over the objections of Anne Fitzgerald and Ken Adams, part of the Sayre faction and the main instigators of the newest Incumbent Protection Act lawsuit”)
• Opinion/Editorial: Broadband needed for rural areas
• Virginia’s blue wave
• Daniel: What does trespassing on your own property mean?
• Wary of opioid abuse, Virginia veterinarians look for red flags in pet owners
• Island infection threatens Chincoteague’s wild horses
• For Redskins, and their shrinking fan base, it’s been a long fall under Daniel Snyder (Dan Snyder is the Donald Trump of the NFL. Everything he touches either is harmed or killed.)
• After a disappointing finish, Jay Gruden says he doesn’t know what the future will bring
• Rainy today and again later this week as above normal temperatures dominate (“The wettest year on record ends in fitting fashion: with rain.”)