by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, March 21.
- New Zealand bans military-style rifles, prime minister says days after mosque attacks that left 50 dead (Can you imagine Republicans acting responsibly like this? “The center-right opposition National Party supported the ban, with its leader, Simon Bridges, saying it was ‘imperative in the national interest to keep New Zealanders safe.'” Wouldn’t it be great if the U.S. could have a normal, center-right political party instead of the far-right monstrosity we’ve currently got or the center-right party we used to have for most of the 20th century?)
- New Zealand is showing America how to respond to mass shootings (“The country is coming together after the Christchurch massacre.”)
- New Zealand’s Dealing With Its Gun Problem. When Will We?
- Theresa May: don’t blame me for Brexit crisis, blame MPs (“PM faces calls for resignation after blaming Commons for delay to UK’s exit from EU”)
- Brexit Standoff Pushes U.K. to Brink of No Deal
- Don Jr. Is Right About One Thing: Brexit and Trump’s Election Were Built on the Same Lie (“They were the two great manifestations of the false consciousness of our era: that whatever has gone wrong can be blamed on liberals and only conservatives can put things right.”)
- US judge halts hundreds of drilling projects in groundbreaking climate change ruling (How about halting *every* fossil fuel project?)
- Fed Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged; Signals No More Increases Likely This Year (“Eleven of 17 officials didn’t think an increase would be needed at all this year—up from two in December”)
- Trump’s top Pentagon official is now under an ethics investigation (“Did Trump’s defense secretary favor Boeing? The Pentagon’s watchdog wants to find out.”)
- Supreme Court lights up racist prosecutor, and even the conservative justices joined in (“Even Justice Alito threw shade at a blatantly racist prosecutor.”)
- Aides struggle to see strategy in Trump’s Conway, McCain fights (“The president has repeatedly forced people around him to make painful choices between their loyalties.” How about being loyal to the country and the constitution instead???)
- Trump: McCain got the funeral he wanted, and I ‘didn’t get a thank you’
- Republicans begged him to stop, but Trump escalated his attacks on McCain (“The president’s comments follow a longtime pattern in which he lashes out at those he sees as rivals — alive or dead — including, in recent days, George Conway.” Trump is severely mentally disturbed.)
- George W. Bush really did lie about WMDs, and his aides are still lying for him (“Ari Fleischer’s latest excuses are pathetic.”)
- Ari Fleischer and the Iraq War Ghouls Are Proof the Republican Party Needs a Total Reset (“The assault on history continues. The assault on decency is more than complete.”)
- Trump and the Conways Deserve Each Other. We Don’t Deserve Any of Them. (“George Conway’s career as a ratfcker goes back farther than Kellyanne’s.”)
- Kellyanne Conway defends Trump after he attacked her husband (I can’t even imagine being in a marriage like that.)
- Former Trump confidante Hope Hicks to cooperate with House Democratic probe into Trump
- Trump just nixed a major argument against releasing the Mueller report (“But his acquiescence to the report being public doesn’t mean it will be.”)
- Mueller Laid Out the Dots. His Report May Show If They Connect
- Schwarzenegger Pulls No Punches in a Rare Rebuke of Trump (“The former California governor called President Trump’s attacks on John McCain ‘absolutely unacceptable.'”)
- By suing Twitter and parody account @DevinCow, Nunes makes himself a laughingstock
- After Devin Nunes Sues a Parody Cow, It Surpasses Him on Twitter (CA22 voters badly need to oust this laughingstock in 2020.)
- Journey to Antarctica: Is This What a Climate Catastrophe Looks Like in Real Time? (“Scientists aboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer watch a 25-mile-wide section of ice crumble into the sea”)
- A GOP governor doesn’t believe in chickenpox vaccines. He took his nine kids to a pox party instead. (This guy’s one of the biggest freaks in the national Republican Party freakshow.)
- How Ta-Nehisi Coates turned reparations from a punchline into a policy objective (“Talk about reparations is more nuanced than promising black folks a check.”)
- Anti-Muslim Hate Has Been Rampant on Reddit Since the New Zealand Shooting
- To attempt to make sense of QAnon, Politico turned to Pizzagate conspiracy theorists
- Democratic super PAC launches $50 million effort to weaken Trump with core supporters (“The American Bridge group is expanding its budget nearly three-fold to target Midwest white working-class voters.”)
- How Companies Learned to Stop Fearing Trump’s Twitter Wrath (“Two years ago, some of America’s largest corporations were trying to accommodate President Trump, fearful that he could send their shareholders and customers fleeing with a tweet. Now they have a new strategy: Ignore him.”)
- Here’s Every Defense of the Electoral College — and Why They’re All Wrong
- Scoop: Biden advisers debate Stacey Abrams as out-of-the-gate V.P. choice
- The Esquire Interview: Mayor Peter Buttigieg (“The South Bend, Indiana mayor and Democratic presidential candidate talks socialism, the Green New Deal, “I’m With Her,” what Democrats can learn from James Joyce(!), and more.”)
- Virginia Democrats split on Medicare for All Proposals
- Kaine introduces legislation to boost paid sick leave
- Spanberger Holds Third In-District Town Hall In Nottoway County
- Governor Northam Signs Legislation Cutting Sales Tax on Essential Personal Hygiene Products
- Never Forget That Virginia Republicans Actually NOMINATED This Bigoted Extremist for Lt. Governor
- Schapiro: Voice from past says Northam is key to Democrats’ future (Behind a strict paywall; read it if you can.)
- Shaun Brown reports to prison for fraud, announces new candidacy (“The former congressional candidate said she will run for the 3rd District seat while serving her three-year sentence.” Ee gads.)
- Lending industry needs oversight (Reminder that Sen. Dick Saslaw has received $317,629 from “Consumer Credit/Payday Loans” companies over the years.)
- Northam signs legislation to excavate and clean up coal ash
- Fairfax school district launches review of seclusion and restraint policies
- After backlash, Henrico Democrats delete fundraising pitch linking GOP House Speaker to New Zealand attack (“’This is really dumb,’ tweeted Brennan Gilmore, a progressive political activist. ‘Henrico Dems should withdraw the statement. Dems have enough to hit Cox on without making up absurd crap like this.’”)
- Henrico County Dems Accuse Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox (R) of Making “Same White Power Gesture That the New Zealand Terrorist Makes In His Court Appearance” [UPDATED: Henrico Dems Take It Down]
- Editorial: Trump trashes a growing industry in the New River Valley
- Del. Mark Levine: Urge VA Board of Psychology to Discipline Licensed Psychologists Who Practice “Horrific Form of Abuse,” aka “Conversion Therapy”
- Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer once criticized major development projects. Now he’s embracing them.
- Judge calls jail death ‘shameful,’ signs off on $3 million Jamycheal Mitchell settlement
- Virginia transit officials drove through Elon Musk’s tunnel. They say they’ll stick with railways and roads
- Exit ramp where bus crashed along I-95 already was under the scrutiny of highway safety officials (“Less than two months before Tuesday’s fatal bus crash along Interstate 95, a Prince George County woman called Virginia transportation officials to warn them about the site”)
- U.Va. could face legal barriers to increase minimum wage for contracted employees
- Video: Inside Scoop Gets the “Scoop” on a Dozen Candidates Running in Fairfax County
- Division over bus station move exposes downtown Roanoke’s ‘growing pains’
- Endorsement: Karl Frisch for Fairfax County School Board (Providence District)
- All Charlottesville schools closed Thursday after threat against high school
- Soaking wet today, windy tomorrow, but at least a sunny weekend (“One to two inches of rain could fall today, and a flood watch is in effect.”)
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