by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, December 30.
- 2018’s top 3 most expensive climate-driven events took place in U.S., report says
- Putin, in New Year letter to Trump, says Moscow is open for dialogue (Warms one’s heart, eh?)
- U.S., China Fleshing Out Trade Deal (“Chinese and U.S. negotiators are starting to work out a deal that could defuse trade tensions by boosting U.S. exports and loosening regulations that hobble U.S. firms operating in China.”)
- DR Congo election: Polling under way in tense vote
- Kim Wants More Summits With Moon to Tackle Nuclear Issue
- In Trump’s America, it’s important to remember: this isn’t normal (“The breakdown of norms at home undermines democracy, in foreign affairs it undermines security. Americans must hold the president to account”)
- Markets poised to finish year with worst performance in a decade — and the volatility seems certain to continue
- The halfway point: what have two years of Trump’s wrecking ball done to America? (“The republic has undergone a wild stress test but despite new lows, Donald Trump’s presidency has also seen a democratic renaissance”)
- Government shutdown enters 2nd week
- Trump blames Democrats for 2 child deaths at border, says children were already ‘very sick’ (The one who’s “very sick” is Trump – very sick in the head, heart, etc.)
- FBI, New Jersey investigators gathered evidence of undocumented immigrants who say they worked at Trump golf course, lawyer says
- Video shows migrant children dragged, pushed at since-shuttered shelter
- Malware attack disrupts delivery of L.A. Times and Tribune papers across the U.S.
- The Trump Administration’s War on Wildlife Should Be a Scandal (By the way, if you care in any way about the environment or animals and didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016, f*** you.)
- Trump issues order freezing pay rate for federal workers (Disgraceful as always…massive tax cut for the wealthy, lumps of coal for everyone else.)
- ‘Pouring salt into the wound’: Trump freezes pay of nearly 2 million federal workers during shutdown over his wall
- Top Supreme Court cases to watch in 2019
- Trump’s tweets on children dying in U.S. custody are a new low (“With Trump, there is no bottom.”)
- Letter suggesting furloughed workers do chores to cover rent was posted by accident, OPM says
- Deciphering the Patterns in Trump’s Falsehoods (“We review how President Trump bent the truth this year by repeating and inflating falsehoods, shifting his statements, embellishing or omitting details, and offering misleading attacks.” Not sure why the media refuses to call lies lies. Why euphemisms like “falsehoods?”)
- Trump Blames Democrats Over Deaths of Migrant Children in U.S. Custody (“President Trump’s tweets were his first public remarks on the deaths of two children in detention at the southwest border this month. Many of the circumstances surrounding the boy’s death remain unknown, and the father of the girl has disputed the claim that she had been dehydrated before being detained.”)
- More Republicans Than You Think Support Action on Climate Change (Great, then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.)
- 30 times Trump directly echoed Fox & Friends in 2018
- 2020 Democratic hopefuls are under pressure to build diverse teams (“Progressives are starting to ask for campaign staffs that reflect the candidates’ — and America’s — racial and gender diversity.”)
- Here Are All the Ways Trump Tried to Shut Down Science This Year (“The war on science will have a lasting impact.”)
- Four Key Senators Shift 2020 Presidential Planning Into High Gear (“Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kirsten Gillibrand are finalizing the outlines of presidential bids that may start within weeks. The speed of the senators’ efforts reflects intense pressure to establish themselves as leading candidates in a Democratic field that could get crowded, fast.”)
- Taxpayers Dish Out $54,000 For Mar-a-Lago Party Tents For New Year’s Eve (“The public eats the costs of a bash at Trump’s Florida resort while federal workers go without pay amid the partial government shutdown.”)
- Paul Manafort pressured by Russians to pay back debt while Trump’s campaign chair, Time magazine says
- Trump pulled out of a massive trade deal. Now 11 countries are going ahead without the US
- 6 Times Trump ‘Hit A New Low’ In 2018 (“A congressman said Trump hit ‘a new low’ with his latest tweets — but this isn’t the first time the president has sunk to a ‘new low.'”)
- The Real Reason Why Some Bernie Sanders Fans Have It In For Beto O’Rourke (“They worry that defections from Sanders’ 2016 team will ‘whitewash’ O’Rourke’s policy record.”)
- ‘We’re not playing games here’: Conservative Hugh Hewitt shamed into silence after joke about Trump shutdown
- Conservative NYT columnist who had claimed Trump was ‘tamed’ now admits things could ‘get very, very dark’ (“Ross Douthat has had quite a year” Why does the NY Times employ people like this?)
- Ocasio-Cortez fires back at McCaskill over criticism of rhetoric
- ‘Banning plastic straws will not be enough:’ The fight to clean the oceans (“Starbucks and others moved to ban plastic straws, but much more needs to be done to slow the tide of plastic fouling oceans and corrupting the food chain.” Yep, we need a massive effort on this front – immediately!)
- Social Worker Led Frugal Life To Leave Nearly $11 Million To Children’s Charities (Good for him!)
- Facebook’s 2018 timeline: Scandals, hearings and security bugs
- 1/8/19 Virginia Air Pollution Control Board Meeting on Union Hill Compressor Station Will NOT Allow Public Comments
- Bolling: Mr. Madison warned us of times like this! (Oh god, here we go with the “both sides” false equivalency crap, when anyone who’s been paying attention knows that the problem is Trump and the lurched-to-the-far-right Republican Party.)
- Editorial: State lawmakers must not fear the ballot box
- Gov. Northam’s timely push to end Virginia’s practice of punishing the poor (“Taking away licenses from those with unpaid court debt is senseless.”)
- As court challenges pile up, gas pipeline falls behind (The concept that anti-pipeline protests have had ZERO to do with slowing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline seems absurd to me, but this *is* the Washington Post we’re talking about.)
- The Rev. Paul Wilson fought natural gas pipeline project in Buckingham: ‘It’s taken a toll on me’ (I guess according to the WaPo, the efforts of heroes like Rev. Paul Wilson don’t matter.)
- Malware disrupts production of Virginian-Pilot, Tribune Publishing newspapers
- In Memorium, the iconic figures we lost
- Video: “Tampon Tree” in Fairfax City Brings in 25,000 Feminine Hygiene Products to Aid Women’s Shelters
- PAC looks to flip control of Montgomery County Board of Supervisors (“The campaign manager behind Democrat Chris Hurst’s state House victory last year is turning his attention toward two Republican-occupied seats on the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.”)
- Will 2019 be the year of change in Charlottesville?
- Teenager killed in Fairfax Co. hit-and-run (Horrible.)
- Last four Chincoteague ponies battling ‘swamp cancer’ are euthanized
- Cooler today before more rain chances provide a proper close to 2018
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