Friday News: Theresa May to Exit Over Brexit; Trump Throws Tantrum, Lashes Out at Pelosi, Claims He’s Definitely Not “Mad”; Justin Fairfax Defends Ralph Northam

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, May 24.

• Britain’s May to resign after failures on Brexit (“She’ll step down as party leader by June 7. Conservatives will then choose a new leader, who will become the next prime minister.”)
• Brexit has finally brought down Theresa May
• Does Trump Have an Off-Ramp on Iran?
• Trump may bypass Congress on Saudi arms deal, drawing warnings from both parties (“The president has signaled that he may invoke emergency authority to complete weapons sales that lawmakers have temporarily blocked.”)
• Yes, Europe’s far right is gaining strength. But so is the resistance. (“Europe’s centrists are planning their comeback.”)
• China denounces U.S. ‘rumors’ and ‘lies’ about Huawei ties to Beijing
• Trump’s Cover-Up Accelerates (“The president directs his attorney general to declassify information—raising the prospect of selective disclosures.”)
• IRS could be forced to release Trump’s taxes in the heat of 2020 (“The administration is betting that it can drag out the coming case beyond next year’s elections. That could prove a bad strategy.”)
• Assange Indicted Under Espionage Act, Raising First Amendment Issues
• A week of Trump-fueled dysfunction leaves Congress gasping (Worst president ever. By far.)
• ‘He always brings them up’: Trump tries to steer border wall deal to GOP donor’s firm (Massively corrupt.)
• Trump’s Impeachment Finger Trap (“With each stonewall and demand that Democrats drop investigations, the president is making it more likely that Congress will feel compelled to act.”)
• Plastic a bigger threat to whales than oil spills or drilling, study says (“Are green-minded people fixating on the wrong pollution threat?” We need to deal with both.)
• This Treaty Is Good for the Environment. It Might Even Be Good for Trump. (“The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol of 1987 is, technically, a climate-change deal — possibly the most important climate-change deal that most people have never heard of. Agreed to in October 2016 by delegates from 197 nations at a conference in Kigali, Rwanda, the accord sets hard targets for the global phaseout of chemical coolants called hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. HFCs lack the ozone-destroying potency of their chlorofluorocarbon predecessors, which were banned by the original 1987 treaty. But, as greenhouse gases go, they are devastating, packing 1,000 times the heat-trapping punch of carbon dioxide.”)
• Mnuchin’s excuse for delaying the Harriet Tubman $20 bill is insulting (“Delaying the bill is the Trump administration’s latest insult.”)
• Trump v Pelosi: how a ‘stable genius’ president met his match (“Analysis: With calls for an intervention on his behalf, the House speaker has knocked an ‘extremely calm’ leader off balance”)
• Pelosi has Trump frantic and rattled — again (“There’s something about the House speaker that always seems to flummox the president and throw him off his stride.”)
• Rep. Nadler: Robert Mueller wants to testify to Congress — but in private (“Mueller is willing to give a public opening statement but closed-door testimony, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said.”)
• Republicans spend more than $4 million at Trump properties (Corrupt.)
• Trump Devotes Press Conference to Instructing Aides to Explain That He’s Definitely Not Mad (“He claims Nancy Pelosi has ‘lost it,’ while he remains an ‘extremely stable genius.’” Sorry, but if you have to talk about why you’re not “mad” and that you’re an “extremely stable genius,” you are seriously messed up.)
• Trump talks ‘Crazy Nancy’ Pelosi and treason at wild press conference (Pelosi: “When the ‘extremely stable genius’ starts acting more presidential, I’ll be happy to work with him on infrastructure, trade and other issues”)
• ‘We’re getting back on track’: Dems ready Mueller strategy shift (“Democrats are aiming to highlight the substance of Mueller’s 448-page report.”)
• In the heart of Trump Country, renewable energy is about to flourish (“Farmers in southern Ohio are moving from growing soybeans to selling or leasing land to solar projects.”)
• Trump Is Using His Pardon Power to Reward Violence and Cruelty (“His vision of how to act ‘tough’ extends from war crimes to police brutality and doesn’t stop there.”)
• Faked Pelosi videos, slowed to make her appear drunk, spread across social media (Social media is seriously flawed.)
• Breaking: Nobody Knows What’s Going to Happen in 2020 (Agreed, and that’s scary.)
• Slowly and Persistently, Elizabeth Warren Is on the Rise (She’s impressive, no doubt.)
• Elizabeth Warren Did Job and Received Hourly Rate for It, Shocking Report Finds
• Buttigieg tells Jewish leaders U.S. should guide Israel toward better policies (Exactly.)
• Impeaching Trump Is Risky. So Is Refusing To.
• Bipartisan lawmakers reach deal on disaster relief, shrugging off Trump’s border money demands (“Hours after Trump said Congress can’t legislate and do oversight, Congress decided to legislate without him.”)
• Lawmakers in Texas just concocted a new way to keep Democratic voters from the ballot box (“It is voter suppression pure and simple”)
• Republican-led Maryland commits to sweeping clean energy standards (“In a twist, Gov. Larry Hogan has endorsed a bigger target: 100% clean energy for the state by 2040.” Meanwhile, Virginia is held back by Dominion Energy, people like Terry Kilgore, etc.)
• Potential DHS senior official Ken Cuccinelli suggested that states invoke “war powers” to turn back migrant “invasion” (Yep, Blue Virginia reported on that ages ago.)
• Warner and the Threat From China
• Kaine: Trump Has Provoked Iran (“Amid yet-unspecified threats Iran poses to the U.S., an influential Senate Democrat says Trump’s actions are in part to blame.”)
• Kaine Calls on Lawmakers to Use Strategies to Lower Abortion Rate
• Rep. Jennifer Wexton says ‘inept’ Ben Carson should resign as HUD secretary
• Wexton seeks to block HUD from gutting trans protections at homeless shelters
• Va. & Md. Senators Introduce New Legislation Reforming WMATA Safety & Renewing Federal Commitment to Metro
• New Metro funding plan would prohibit money for Chinese rail cars
• Chaz Nuttycombe’s Pre-Birthday Analysis Thread: HD26 “Will Be a Tough Seat for Democrats to Flip,” Key Is Youth Turnout
• Fracking Industry Freaking Out that Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline Project Might Meet “Crushing Defeat” at Hands of “Forces of Evil” (aka, Enviro Groups)
• At UVA, Bill Clinton praises McAuliffe’s response to 2017 rally (Haha, right.)
• Northam says Va. National Guard had no choice but to adopt Trump administration’s transgender ban
• ‘This is blowing up’: Inside the chaos that led to Northam’s admission and reversal on racist photo
• Lt. Gov. Fairfax backs Northam following inconclusive yearbook investigation
• Fairfax, facing his own scandal, says Northam report shows officials should not rush to judgment (“Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax said Thursday that an inconclusive investigation into the racist yearbook photo that appeared on Gov. Ralph Northam’s yearbook page ‘provides ample reason for the importance of our elected and party leaders not rushing to judgment based on limited initial evidence.'”)
• Susan Platt Launches “It’s Just Good Business” Campaign to Push for Virginia to Pass the ERA in 2020
• Tran Campaign Responds to House Republicans’ Desperate Attacks
• FWIW Virginia: Dem Digital Ads Emphasize Abortion Rights, Healthcare, Education; Northam “Largely Absent from GOP Advertising”
• Amazon’s HQ2 Boosts Northern Virginia Housing, Cools NYC
• UNCUT VERSION: Words matter. Labels matter. Representation matters.
• Either the Scott Wyatt Campaign is Dumb or They Think You Are
• CASA in Action: Del. “Kaye Kory’s Racial Insensitivity Has No Place in Virginia”
• Median home price in Arlington jumps more than $100K since Amazon HQ2 news: report
• Tim Chapman, Fairfax board chair hopeful, has multiple speeding tickets and decades-old arrests, public records show (“The Democratic candidate also served two years’ probation after pleading guilty to attempting to drive while impaired by alcohol.”)
• Randall praises collaboration, fellow county leaders in fourth State of the County
• Trees down, thousands without power after severe storms move through (“The intense storms triggered a tornado warning for D.C. and produced high winds, which gusted to 68 mph at Reagan National Airport.”)
• Finally. A fantastic Friday!