by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, February 6.
- Read Stacey Abrams’ Powerful State of the Union Response (Superb.)
- Stacey Abrams, first black woman to give Democratic rebuttal, offers tough rebuke of Trump, GOP leaders
- Stacey Abrams: ‘Immigrants, not walls’ make the US strong – video
- Stacey Abrams Showed Democrats How to Win the Fight for Abortion Rights
- The State of the Union Is Delusion (“A conman recited his fantasies, while a basket of respectables hooted and hollered”)
- Trump to Democrats: Let’s Compromise — and Do It My Way! (Yeah…no.)
- State of the Union: Donald Trump attacks Mueller and Democrats in divisive speech
- Climate change was the subtext of the State of the Union. It should’ve been the headline.
- Nancy Pelosi and the Sarcastic Point Clapback Heard Round the World (“At Tuesday’s State of the Union, Pelosi took the dark art of performative piss-take to another level when she literally clapped back at the president’s face by way of rebuttal for Trump’s disingenuous call for comity and unity.”)
- The End of Trump’s State of the Union Was Just Really, Hilariously Poorly Written
- Donald Trump 2019: Same lying racist he was last year (“Delivered late, this State of the Union offered the same old Trump: Racist trolling with a dash of desperation”)
- The Sound of Someone With Nothing to Say (“Trump’s State of the Union address offered a few laughs, and little else”)
- The State of the Union is Crooked (“Trump’s demand to end all investigations was as out of line as his tie”)
- In dissonant State of the Union speech, Trump seeks unity while depicting ruin (“Ruin” after two years of all-Republican government? Yeah, that sounds about right! LOL)
- Trump veers between comity, confrontation at raucous State of the Union (“Comity” and “Comedy”)
- 5 takeaways from Trump’s State of the Union address (“This language completely glosses over the past three and a half years. Whatever you think of Trump’s politics, he has pursued a divisive political strategy very much focused on his base. Many of the ‘divisions’ and ‘wounds’ predated him, yes, but he has exacerbated them with an unyielding, uncompromising and controversial style that relies on fomenting culture wars and humiliating those who run afoul of him.”)
- Nearly 30 dubious claims woven into speech (“From the economy to immigration and crime, the president played fast and loose with the facts.” Wild lie about New York’s and Virginia’s abortion legislation, for instance.)
- Democrats dismiss Trump’s call for comity as more broken promises (Which they are, of course. Why frame it as “Democrats dismiss?”)
- Trump’s Call for Unity Was Never Going to Be Real (“In a long and sometimes strange State of the Union, the president exalted bipartisanship—without displaying a strategy, or a will, for achieving it.”)
- State of the Union Fact Check: What Trump Got Right and Wrong (Tons of “false,” “misleading,” “exaggerated” and “no evidence” – typical Trump in other words.)
- Andrew Cuomo: Trump’s Assault on Abortion Rights Must Be Rejected (“The president and the religious right are spreading falsehoods about abortion laws to inflame their base.”)
- The Real State of the Union, in Charts (“It’s not pretty. But there is one big reason for hope.”)
- Trump speaks of global cooperation in a world he has labored to divide
- Pope Acknowledges That Priests and Bishops Sexually Abused Nuns
- Trump’s State of the Balcony Address (“His annual speech to Congress was more focused on the guests in the audience than on his policies.”)
- Far-right media smear Democratic women wearing suffragette white at State of the Union by comparing them to the KKK
- Right-wing media predictably attack Pelosi with sexist remarks (Just keep kicking their butts, Speaker Pelosi!)
- Lawmakers prepare for climate action as Trump State of the Union champions oil and gas (“There’s a huge pent up demand for action on climate after, really, 30 years of inaction.”)
- Meet the Republicans who have suddenly discovered that racism is bad
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg Cancer Conspiracies Show How Private Facebook Groups Help Spread Hoaxes (“The closed networks provide an unaccountable and practically invisible platform for misinformation.”)
- House Dems Are Kickstarting Their Climate Agenda with a Flurry of Hearings (“After years of science denial, things are about to change.”)
- Elizabeth Warren registered for bar as ‘Native American’ – report (“Democratic presidential hopeful apologizes for identifying as Native American in Washington Post interview” Ugh.)
- ‘It’s a mess’: Race and gender fault lines in Virginia cripple Democrats (“Democrats couldn’t react fast enough to the racist photo in Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s old yearbook showing one man dressed as a Klansman and another in blackface. But a newly surfaced sexual assault allegation against the man who would replace Northam if he resigns — Justin Fairfax, the state’s African-American lieutenant governor and a rising star in the party — has left Democratic national figures and Virginia lawmakers at a loss for words.”)
- Maybe Gov. Ralph Northam should say, ‘You first, Mr. President’
- Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., on Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (“Got to take any action like this seriously…”)
- A Partial List of Top Democrats and Progressives Demanding Ralph Northam’s Resignation
- Political crisis in Virginia expanding after Gov. Northam’s racist 1984 yearbook photo surfaces (“Governor Northam also signed off on legislation giving Amazon millions in incentives.”)
- Virginia politics is in a state of chaos as Democrats look for a way forward
- ‘This isn’t me’: Gov. Northam’s defiance caught advisers off guard (“Over the past several days, he has even toyed with the idea of leaving the Democratic Party and governing as an independent — a sign of the degree that he is isolated from every political ally, from his state party and from the national party.”)
- Ralph Northam Seeks Signs of Support as Crisis Strains Virginia Leadership
- Zero tolerance or rush to judgment? In the Trump era, Democrats hasten to push out the accused
- Virginia Lt. Gov. Fairfax accuser told friend at Stanford about 2004 sexual assault (“Tyson’s Stanford colleague Jennifer Freyd told the Bay Area News Group on Tuesday that sometime last fall, at the start of their fellowship program, Tyson told Freyd and a couple of other colleagues about the 2004 encounter at the Boston convention. Freyd doesn’t remember whether Tyson named Fairfax, but said that she spoke about it while ‘illustrating a concept’ they were discussing about sexual violence…Both are scheduled to be part of a Stanford symposium on Feb. 12 called ‘Betrayal and Courage in the Age of #MeToo.'”)
- Virginia Democrats Too ‘Busy’ To Discuss Sexual Assault Claim Against Justin Fairfax (This is cringe inducing.)
- Why Virginia Democrats are pushing Ralph Northam to resign
- Democrats Can’t Have a Double Standard When It Comes to Believing Women
- A Quick Primer on ‘Believe Women’ (“The ‘Believe Women’ movement is simply this: do not dismiss allegations out of hand by attacking the accuser…Instead, listen to and consider what women have to say when they have the bravery to come forward. Validate that bravery by taking it seriously. Invented accusations do happen, but they are rare; certainly, they are less commonplace than assaults that go unreported. One of the (many) reasons why assaults aren’t reported is the credible fear that they won’t be believed.”)
- Republicans Pass Their Own Trump-Style Tax Plan in Virginia House of Delegates
- Video: Far-Right VA State Senator Sponsors Bible Study Bill, Says He Wouldn’t Want Koran Taught, Walks Out on Muslim Prayer
- So Many Bills Filed, So Few Remain: Almost-Halftime Status Report on Climate and Energy Legislation
- VA Sen. Jill Vogel (R) Reverses Course Under Pressure, Pulls “Conversion Therapy” Bill
- Northam gets special attention in Trump’s State of the Union (Outright, wild lies by Trump. In other words, “the usual.”)
- It’s halftime at the General Assembly. Here’s what you need to know. (Basically, Republicans used their majorities to kill almost everything good and to push a lot of bad stuff.)
- General Assembly needs clear focus to keep progress in view (Yeah, except with Republicans in charge, the chances of “progress” are minimal.)
- Where legislation stands at halfway point of General Assembly session
- Nine former med school classmates and a GOP state senator express support for Northam(“We do not believe the governor ever engaged in, promoted, tolerated or condoned racism. That is not who he is now nor who he was then.”)
- Schapiro: Va. Democrats’ crisis is becoming a suicide pact
- Democrats grapple with Fairfax assault accusation in #MeToo era (Democrats have to decide, fundamentally, if they ALWAYS believe women, SOMETIMES believe women, or what.)
- Virginia Democrats take wait-and-see approach to Fairfax allegation
- ‘It’s not the same pair of pants’ — Northam’s high school classmate says he isn’t in racist photo
- Day 5 of scandal watch in Richmond: With no word from Northam, life goes on in the capital
- Roanoke physician apologizes for appearing in blackface photo from EVMS yearbook
- Editorial: Why the abortion controversy in Virginia helps Republicans
- Senate votes to create new state agency to oversee Medicaid
- As Virginia prepares to join carbon-trading states, arguments erupt over the price of admission
- Virginia’s longest-running prosecutor plans to retire at end of the year (“Paul B. Ebert, 81, is one of the state’s best-known legal figures, having presided over many high-profile prosecutions, from Beltway Sniper John Allen Muhammad to Lorena Bobbitt, the onetime wife of John Wayne Bobbitt. Over 13 terms, Ebert has sent more defendants to death row than any other prosecutor in Virginia’s history.”)
- Roanoke County prosecutor retires; chief assistant named acting commonwealth’s attorney
- Delmarva governors event postponed amid Northam scandal
- EVMS hires former state attorney general to investigate school’s culture surrounding race in wake of Northam yearbook page photo (The head of “Virginia’s shadow government,” McGuireWoods, and brother-in-law of Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell. Can you get any more incestuous “Virginia Way” than this?)
- VA Capitol Police Shows Affinity with White Nationalist Groups (WTF???)
- EVMS president apologizes for “pain” as school begins probe of racist yearbook photos
- Appeals court allows quick-take of land for Mountain Valley Pipeline
- Stoney quietly parted ways with Richmond’s top economic development official last fall
- A deadline, a fee … and some legislative tactics
- Following intense debate, one piece of emergency balance billing legislation makes it through crossover
- Editorial: Legislators strike a welcome blow against distracted driving
- UPDATE: Man suspected of killing state trooper had criminal past in Chesterfield
- Summit in Williamsburg focuses on marsh resilience to rising sea
- Cooler today with PM showers; warmer later this week before winter returns
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