Friday News: Roger Stone Indicted, Arrested by FBI; “Federal workers miss 2nd paychecks as shutdown continues”; “Coming to Jesus, armed. Virginia Senate OKs guns in churches.”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, January 25.

• Venezuela crisis: US pulls out staff and tells citizens to ‘strongly consider’ leaving (“Defence minister Vladimir Padrino accuses opposition, US and regional allies of launching attempted coup against Maduro”)
• Trump White House’s plan for Venezuela regime change far from clear (“The problem for Juan Guaidó and his foreign backers is how to convert assets abroad to real power inside Venezuela”)
• Intervening Against Venezuela’s Strongman, Trump Belies ‘America First’ (“President Trump has finally met a strongman he does not like. After making friends with autocrats around the world, Mr. Trump has drawn a red line with Nicolás Maduro, demanding that the iron-fisted president of Venezuela hand power to his opposition.”)
• Roger Stone indicted on charges brought by special counsel (“Longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone has been indicted by a grand jury on charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. He was arrested by the FBI Friday morning, his lawyer tells CNN. Stone is indicted on seven counts, including one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of false statements, and one count of witness tampering. Law enforcement raided Stone’s house, and CNN witnessed uniformed and armed law enforcement approach his house just after 6 a.m. ET in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.”)
• Federal workers miss 2nd paychecks as shutdown continues (Appalling and 100% the Republicans’ fault.)
• The Shutdown Has Sent the Trump Administration Over the Looney Tunes Cliff
• Dems strengthen hand in shutdown fight
• GOP senators read Pence riot act before shutdown votes
• Both Senate Bills to End the Shutdown Failed—but That’s Progress
• Senators negotiate in hopes of ending shutdown as dueling plans fail
• Shutdown Talks Signal Potential for Deal Even as Trump Demands Wall
• Trump just lost a lot of leverage in the shutdown
• Trump Just Lost His Leverage for Building a Wall (“Two failed votes in the Senate on reopening the government show the president can’t even count on the Republican majority to have his back.”)
• Trump White House grows eager to escape losing shutdown fight (“After a day of failed Senate action, Trump and his advisers realize they may never win over Democrats in a battle that is costing them dearly.”)
• Exclusive: White House preparing draft national emergency order, has identified $7 billion for wall
• ‘Am I out of touch?’: Trump administration struggles to show empathy for workers. (Bunch of sociopaths.)
• Bluster, bombast, backing down: What happens when someone says no to Trump?
• ‘This is your fault’: GOP senators clash over shutdown inside private luncheon
• Davos is a microcosm of the world — and the outlook is grim
• Trump Officials Are Too Out of Touch to Get Why the Shutdown Hurts the Economy—and Their Popularity
• Trump tells federal workers to borrow groceries as second missed pay day looms (“Local people know who they are, when they go for groceries and everything else.” WTF???)
• Trump’s Wall of Shame (“It would stand as a lasting reminder of the white racial hostility surging through this moment in American history.” Great to see Jamelle Bouie writing for the NY Times!)
• The Sum of Some Global Fears (“Setting the table for a smorgasbord recession.”)
• Officials rejected Jared Kushner for top secret security clearance, but were overruled (“Jared Kushner was rejected for a top secret clearance by 2 career security specialists, but their supervisor overruled them and approved him, say sources.”)
• It Looks Like Speaker Nancy Pelosi Was Exactly the Right Person for the Job (“‘Moderate’ Democrats ought to take note of how swiftly she got the president* to fold on the State of the Union.”)
• Ted Cruz, Face of 2013 Shutdown, Gets Crushed Over “Crocodile Tears” Shutdown Remarks (“This is quite the satisfying takedown of the Texas senator.” Cruz is utterly insufferable.)
• Joe Biden Should Run, Just to Represent the Kind of Politics Democrats Must Abandon (“He cannot, after the midterms just past, be the Democratic nominee for president.”)
• A Rival Who Can Flummox Trump: A Powerful Woman Named Nancy Pelosi (“In the past, when President Trump was challenged by powerful women, he appealed to their male bosses, our reporter writes in an analysis. But Mr. Trump has never before faced an adversary like Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a leader of a branch of government that is equal to the chief executive.”)
• Border Wall Is Out of Sync With the Southwest’s Changing Politics (“Each of the nine House members whose districts touch the border from California to Texas opposes a wall as the wrong solution for border security.”)
• Wilbur Ross says furloughed workers should take out a loan. His agency’s credit union is charging nearly 9%.
• Elizabeth Warren to propose new ‘wealth tax’ on very rich Americans, economist says
• AOC Thinks Concentrated Wealth Is Incompatible With Democracy. So Did Our Founders. (Teddy Roosevelt and many others believed that it’s unAmerican to allow people to pass great fortunes on from generation to generation. They also were uncomfortable with huge “trust,” aka corporate power. That’s in part why we have anti-trust laws, estate taxes, and why for most of the 20th century we had very high marginal tax rates – 80%, 90% – on the super rich.)
• Va. Sen. Warner: Flying public ‘less safe’ because of partial shutdown
• Top Florida official resigns after photos surface in blackface, mocking Katrina survivors (“After a racist campaign, Gov. Ron DeSantis has accepted his new secretary of state’s resignation.” Republicans, of course.)
• Mark Warner’s Enablers (“The Virginia senator gets too much respect for his Trump-Russia conspiracy theories.” Kimberley Strassel is completely unhinged.)
• Menhaden politics: Senate panel says keep regulation with the General Assembly (“Steve Atkinson, of the Virginia Federation of Salt Water Sport Fisherman, said intensive fishing of menhaden has cut the supply of a key source of food for striped bass so severely that the Virginia fisheries commission is considering further restrictions on fishing for that species.”)
• Video: Sens. Warner, Kaine at National Airport “to highlight the effects of the shutdown on airports and airport workers”
• Rep. Wexton Invites Secretary Ross To A Food Bank To Learn How Federal Employees Have Been Affected By The Government Shutdown
• Rep. Wittman, a Virginia Republican, wants to stop members of Congress from flying first class (“The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources killed SB 1573, which sought to prohibit permits for oil and gas exploration or drilling ‘in the beds of any waters of the Commonwealth.'”)
• This Latest Move – Former Terry McAuliffe, Jim Webb Chief of Staff Lobbying for the Koch Brothers – Epitomizes Everything Sleazy/Wrong with the “Virginia Way”
• AFP hires former top Virginia Democratic aide as lobbyist (I am absolutely not surprised that Paul Reagan would do this.)
• Lt. Gov. Fairfax sits to take a stand
• ‘Virginia’s the wild wild west:’ Northam’s campaign finance reform effort dies in House subcommittee
• Governor Northam and Legislative Leaders Announce Bipartisan Agreement on Coal Ash Clean Up
• After three years of legislative wrangling, ‘peace in the valley’ on coal ash
• Judging Trump — from the left and the right (“A diverse group of political figures converged Thursday at the University of Virginia’s American Democracy Conference to discuss the effect of Donald Trump’s presidency and the importance of compromise.”)
• Latest Virginia 2019 Forecast: Republican House and Senate Majorities Looking REALLY Shaky
• Video: Fairfax County School Board Votes Unanimously to Take a Step Forward on Solar Power
• Independent Candidate Announces for HD86 Special Election on February 19 [UPDATE: Appears to Be a Tea Partier]
• Senate panel rejects ban on offshore oil drilling (The eight anti-environment, fossil fool Republicans who voted for offshore oil drilling are Stuart, Hanger, Ruff, Obenshain, Stanley, Black, Chafin, Suetterlein. They need to go.)
• Virginians left in the dark as tax season approaches and state lawmakers debate policy
• Senator Chafin pitches sister for anticipated Supreme Court opening (Hmmm…isn’t this the type of thing that got Phil Puckett in trouble?)
• Coming to Jesus, armed. Virginia Senate OKs guns in churches. (“The Senate passed the measure 21 to 19, with every Republican in favor and every Democrat opposed. It now heads to the House, where similar measures died in committee last year.”)
• Virginia looks to ban “spoof” calls
• Virginia chambers pass bills allowing happy hour advertising
• Highway funding bill could slow I-64 money
• A blustery Friday with a few snowflakes possible