by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, January 12.
- As Brexit Nears, Britain Scrambles To Come Up With “Plan B” (“Parliament is addressing the political crisis with mounting urgency. But, government sources fear, ‘we’re going to get smashed.'”)
- Trump Is Rushing the Syria Withdrawal—And That Could Backfire (“America’s retreat from Syria began Friday despite bipartisan opposition and conflicting goalposts from top officials.” This is not the way to do it. At all.)
- U.S. government shutdown may depress January job growth (“A partial shutdown of the U.S. government could slash job growth by as much as 500,000 in January and lift the unemployment rate above 4.0 percent unless the impasse in Washington is resolved before next Friday, economists warned.”)
- U.S. Government Shutdown Hits Record Length With No End in Sight
- Trump backs away from declaring national emergency to fund border wall
- F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia
- FBI reportedly opened inquiry into whether Trump was working for Russia (“Firing of James Comey prompted investigation into whether Trump was working against American interests, the New York Times reports”)
- America shuts down: how the federal government closure is impacting millions (“An estimated 800,000 federal workers are missing paychecks, but the effects extend beyond those who work for the government”)
- Waiting for a National Emergency (“Republicans and Democrats have stopped negotiating an end to the government shutdown. No one has any ideas. It’s crisis-declaring time.”)
- Government shutdown becomes longest in U.S. history, enters ‘uncharted territory’ (“We’re talking about $5.7 billion for a wall, but the costs that are inflicted on the economy are orders of magnitude beyond that $5.7 billion”)
- House Republicans resort to wacky excuses to reject ending Trump’s shutdown (“Most GOP lawmakers did not vote for Democratic-sponsored bills to reopen most of the federal government.”)
- Trump’s Big, Beautiful, Stupid Wall Could Unite the Left and Right in Texas (“Just like the Keystone XL pipeline did in Nebraska.”)
- No, a Democratic President Would Not Abuse the National-Emergency Powers Like Trump Might (“Just look at how Democrats deal with the press.”)
- Steve King and Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan Are All Republicans. They Are Republicans for a Reason (“Not one of them is a freak accident.” The GOP has become the white nationalist party.)
- Is Steve King Too Racist for the GOP? (“Republicans are sick of King, but won’t say they want him gone. Is this real soul-searching or just saving face?”)
- TSA leaders worry about “tipping point”
- Donald Trump Just Cannot Help It (“The Reichstag fire was at least a fire. Here, there is smoke and mirrors.”)
- Government Shutdown Squeezes Contractors as Checks Stop and Invoices Stall
- Down the Rabbit Hole With Donald (“It’s just another week under the mattress.”)
- An evangelical group is trying to strip LGBTQ protections from an anti-lynching bill (Some of the worst people in the country right here.)
- Elizabeth Warren wins the first Daily Kos 2020 Presidential Straw Poll (full results) (With 35,000 votes among these national progressive activists, it’s Warren 22%, O’Rourke 15%, Harris 14%, Biden 14%, Sanders 11%…McAuliffe ZERO.)
- Bill to guarantee back pay awaiting presidential signature
- Justice Ginsburg’s Recovery ‘On Track’
- WH Economist: Fed Workers Actually ‘Better Off’ (Ummmmm…)
- It’s Final: Megyn Kelly and NBC Part Ways. And She Will Be Paid in Full. (What a fiasco.)
- Virginia senators concerned that shutdown could jeopardize security clearances (“Furloughed workers cite compounding problems, such as health insurance lapse”)
- Tulsi Gabbard says she will run for president in 2020 (As Matthew Yglesias writes, “In addition to all the bizarre stuff, Gabbard’s voting record is somewhat more conservative than the average House Democrat.” And as Greg Greene tweets, “Well, I suppose one of the 2020 possibilities from my “Hell No” list had to jump in at some point. Looks like Gabbard will be the first.” No thanks.)
- Republican Rep. Steve King embraced white supremacy, and the media had no idea how to cover it(“TV news coverage of his remark that day was incredibly muted and often shied away from explicitly calling the comment racist; one show’s tweet merely called it ‘controversial.'” This is where the corporate media and its “objective” news model moves wayyy beyond parody.)
- Democrat Julian Castro expected to launch 2020 U.S. presidential bid (He should run for U.S. Senate instead.)
- GoFundMe Border Wall Campaign Implodes, Turns to Kris Kobach and Sheriff Clarke (Clarke is the craziest of the crazies. Kobach is an extreme nutter.)
- GoFundMe Is Refunding All $20 Million In Donations To Build Trump’s Wall After The Plans Changed
- Trump expected to ditch career diplomat and nominate former GOP congressman as Qatar ambassador (“Fraud allegations against Taylor’s unsuccessful midterm election campaign are currently under investigation by a special prosecutor in Virginia, although Taylor himself is not under investigation.” Actually, I’m pretty sure Taylor IS under investigation.)
- EDITORIAL: Let Virginia governors seek second term (Agreed.)
- Editorial: McAuliffe for president? What Democratic activists should know (“Perhaps McAuliffe’s biggest liability among Democratic primary voters will be his support for natural gas pipelines. Just look at the trouble that Gov. Ralph Northam is having from his left for not intervening to stop the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines. McAuliffe actually stood beside Dominion executives and endorsed the ACP (and later the MVP, as well)…Democratic activists are likely to take a dim view of McAuliffe’s embrace of pipelines. If, that is, they bother to look at him at all.” Correct.)
- Schapiro: Northam’s speech to lawmakers important for what he didn’t say (“Backers of a proposed casino in benighted Bristol, among them men and women who made a fortune in Southwest Virginia coal long before it hit bottom, have stroked checks for $550,000 to six PACs. Northam’s committee recently received $25,000, an amount that could be verboten under the aforementioned Democrat-proposed restrictions. But it’s a mere bagatelle compared with what Kirk Cox landed.”)
- New Virginia reps weigh in on government shutdown (“Spanberger in particular calls for an immediate end to the shutdown over concerns that there could be long-term hits to the country.”)
- Video: On WAMU’s Politics Hour, AG Mark Herring Threatens Legal Action Against Trump If He Violates the Constitution on “Wall” Funding
- Equality Virginia Messaging Campaign: “Someone You Know Is Gay…In Virginia, They Can Be Fired For Who They Are”
- Delegate Margaret Ransone Refuses to Meet with Democratic Challenger Francis Edwards; Calls Capitol Police and Sneaks Away
- Environmental groups push coal ash, solar and carbon bills in Virginia (“The bills would mandate the safe storage or recycling of toxic coal ash, put Virginia on a firmer path to slash power plant carbon emissions and ease a host of solar energy restrictions.”)
- “Return of the ‘Gunimals’”: Liberal Women of Chesterfield County Mock the “Virginia Citizens Defense League”
- Puppy Pistol returns? Activists remind Va. lawmakers of prank that ensnared gun lobbyist
- Virginia farmers get money to help clean up the bay
- Virginia lawmakers want to limit criminal charges for student misbehavior in school
- Old Dominion University to review entire Greek community after allegation of racist behavior
- Mountain Valley Pipeline files response to state’s lawsuit
- ‘You Look Scary’: Muslim Family Describes Discrimination at Virginia Hospital (“A prominent Muslim family went to a hospital after the birth of a newborn baby. They say the staff humiliated them” WTF?)
- Video: HD86 Democrats Debate; Nominating Caucus TOMORROW (Saturday) in Herndon, Chantilly
- Supervisors set special meeting on Spotsylvania solar farm proposal (“A special meeting has been scheduled on the proposed 500-megawatt solar facility in Spotsylvania County.”)
- Local nonprofits collecting food and funds for furloughed federal workers
- Opinion/Editorial: Virginia is a leader in transportation (Alrighty.)
- Hampton Roads Regional Jail makes secret deal with ex-employee to settle lawsuit
- Major decisions loom for Richmond City Council at halfway point of term
- Snow develops later today, with several inches likely tonight through Sunday morning
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