Thursday News: Polar Vortex “may be a consequence of climate change”; “Trump says the intelligence community is wrong. Actually, he is.”; “Trump jumps into Virginia uproar over late-term abortion”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, January 31.

• The Messier Brexit Gets, the Better Europe Looks (“Two years later, as Britain’s exit from the bloc, or Brexit, looks increasingly messy and self-destructive, there is a growing sense, even in the populist corners of the continent, that if this is what leaving looks like, no, thank you. Nothing has brought the European Union together quite as much as Britain’s chaotic breakdown.”)
• Minus 33: Bitter Cold Lingers in Midwest, Leaving at Least 8 Dead
• Fed Signals End of Interest Rate Increases
• Fed Gives Markets What They Want (“The central bank signals that it will be patient about further rate hikes and flexible about unwinding its balance sheet.”)
• Schumer urges Coats to stage intelligence intervention with Trump
• Trump tells intel chiefs to ‘go back to school’ after they break with him (So says the ignoramus, doofus of a “president”)
• Trump says the intelligence community is wrong. Actually, he is. (“The intelligence chiefs’ threat assessment was realistic, except for its omission of one challenge — a dangerously uninformed president.”)
• In latest attack on intelligence agencies, Trump ignores areas where they agree (“In tweets, the president unleashed his latest assault on the spies and analysts who work for him but sometimes deliver facts that he doesn’t want to hear.” Can you even imagine if Obama or Clinton had done something like this???)
• Lack of Intelligence (“Trump’s latest attacks on his own intelligence agencies are galling, even by his standards.”)
• Rep. Gerry Connolly Bill to Give Feds a 2.6% Pay Increase Passes House
• House Republicans Vote Down Wexton Resolution Condemning Government Shutdowns
• Undo the damage to federal contract workers. Give them back pay. (“The unprecedented length of the shutdown caused real hardship for people, many of them low-wage contract workers.”)
• Mitch McConnell Has Open Disdain for Democracy (“He’s telling you outright he wants to make it harder for you to vote.”)
• ‘Get this done’: McConnell moves to avoid new shutdown (“The Senate majority leader is coming out strongly against another shutdown — making it harder for Trump to close the government again.” Why didn’t he do that the first time???)
• ‘It’s some galaxy brain stuff they wanted us to believe:’ How Russia’s effort to sabotage Mueller’s investigation backfired (“The fake trove of the special counsel’s files were immediately dismissed as largely fabricated by the reporter and researcher who received them.”)
• Democrats aren’t ruling out physical barriers in a border security deal (“It’s not in their current proposal, but they haven’t dismissed the option.”)
• Scott Walker’s Foxconn Boondoggle Is Going to Fleece Wisconsin for Years (“Public-private partnerships mean private profit and a public stick-up.”)
• Schultz deletes tweet of column calling Warren ‘fauxcahontas’ and Harris ‘shrill’ (Ee gads, he’s another Trump.)
• Podesta: Clinton says ‘she’s not running for president’
• McConnell says bill that would make Election Day a federal holiday is a ‘power grab’ by Democrats (Right, because making it easier for everyone to vote is about “power grabs”)
• Which Democrats Are Running In 2020 — And Which Still Might
• Senator Warner calls on Zuckerberg to support market research consent rules
• Michael Cohen Is Ready to Talk Russia to Congress (“He once felt he owed Trump his loyalty. Now he owes Congress an explanation.”)
• Fox News has had a meltdown about a new law expanding abortion access in New York
• Sarah Sanders: God wanted Trump to become president (More like Satan.)
• NRA Heavyweight Wanted Access to Putin: Leaked Email
• Hacked emails list right-wing fundraiser partying with Russian fascists and oligarchs (“A new database of hacked emails reveals attendance at a 2014 gala in Russia.”)
• The McAuliffe middle (Gotta love when right wingers tells Democrats what “moderate” and “centrist” mean.)
• Trump jumps into Virginia uproar over late-term abortion
• UPDATED: Trump reacts after Va. Republicans share video of lawmaker backing late-term abortions; Democrats call it an ‘orchestrated ambush’
• Va. Del. Dawn Adams (D-HD68) on Third-Trimester Abortion Bill: “I made a mistake…I did not read a bill I agreed to co-patron”
• Virginia lawmaker says she wouldn’t have co-sponsored controversial abortion bill if she had read it closely
• Video: Gov. Northam on WTOP’s January “Ask the Governor” Show ( “We want the government not to be involved in these types of decisions…legislators, most of whom are men by the way, shouldn’t be telling women what they can and can’t do with their bodies.” “These decisions shouldn’t be taken lightly”)
• Video: Intense Debate on Virginia House of Delegates Floor Over Abortion Bill Controversy (“House Dem Leader calls GOP video ‘deliberately misleading and clearly was part of an orchestrated ambush,’ leading to ‘ongoing harassment, intimidation'”)
• Failed abortion bill draws GOP outrage against Va. Gov. Northam, Democratic legislators (“President Trump called the effort ‘terrible.’ A Northam spokeswoman said conservatives accusing the governor of backing infanticide were twisting his words.”)
• Here Are the Facts Behind an Abortion Controversy Engulfing Virginia Democrats (“A House subcommittee rejected the bill, but if it had become law it would not have licensed Virginia physicians to perform abortions as a fetus enters the birth canal. Tran’s bill resembles New York’s Reproductive Health Act in that it expands access to later-term abortions, but partial-birth abortion, or ‘born-alive abortion,’ as GOP chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called in a tweet, is already illegal. RHA didn’t legalize it, and neither would Tran’s bill…Tran has wandered into a familiar fever swamp. The idea that abortion providers tear apart full-term, viable babies about to breathe has animated the far right for a long time. It’s the stuff of pulp fiction, and the myth bears little resemblance to reality.”)
• Failed legislation loosening restrictions on late-term abortions, which are already legal in some cases in Virginia, ignites furor
• Video: On “John Fredericks Show,” Virginia State Sen. Jennifer Boysko Discusses Threats Against Del. Kathy Tran Over Viral Video on Abortion Bill (“This isn’t a major shift from what we already have in the Code, and it’s being…misrepresented as though this is something sweeping and new, and it’s not.”)
• Despite Department of Corrections Memo, Menstruating Visitors at Virginia Prisons Continue to Face Inhumane Body Cavity Searches for Contraband
• Virginia farmers see lots of promise in hemp, though uncertainty around economic benefits remains
• After years of conflict, Republicans are ready to come to the table on redistricting reform. Here’s what that means.
• Norment proposes refunding $420 million to state taxpayers affected by federal reforms
• Brian Hess column: How will consumers fare with sports betting in Virginia?
• John Warren Kindt column: Virginia and its tourism will be cannibalized by casinos
• Virginia should put off casino debate until 2020, top senator says
• Va. bill would override Fairfax rule limiting short-term rentals to 60 days
• Bills on tolls, gas tax to fix I-81 move to full Senate Finance Committee
• Senate panel kills Sen. Bill Stanley’s referendum on schools modernization (14-2)
• Cantor: Time to let families lead the way in education (One of the last people whose opinions I want to hear on anything.)
• No decision on casino in Norfolk or Portsmouth expected until 2020
• Hampton planners brainstorm water management solutions with Dutch experts, others (That’s great, but we really need a solution to global warming and sea-level rise)
• Bitter arctic air today with snow showers possible tomorrow (“Temperatures may make a run at 60 early next week.” This chaotic whether is totally consistent with – even predicted by – man made global climate change)