Friday News: “Is the Iran-U.S. tinderbox about to ignite?”; “Trump’s Collusion Confusion & Sarah Huckabee’s Departure”; “Morrissey is a lawyer in the same way Trump is an entrepreneur”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, June 14.

• Escalating tensions put U.S. and Iran on collision course, experts fear (“Iran and the U.S. have sent mixed messages at different moments, but neither side appears ready to make major concessions in the showdown.”)
• Tankers Are Attacked in Mideast, and U.S. Says Video Is Evidence Iran Was Involved (“Two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman were crippled in the strikes, which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed on Iran. Late Thursday, the Pentagon released a video it said showed an Iranian patrol boat removing a mine from one of the ships.”)
• Tanker owner seems to dispute U.S. account of Gulf of Oman attack
• U.S. releases video purporting to show Iranians removing mine after tanker explosion
• Is the Iran-U.S. tinderbox about to ignite? (“Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign has collided head on with Khamenei’s maximum resistance.”)
• The Empty Promise of Boris Johnson (“The man expected to be Britain’s next Prime Minister makes people in power, including himself, appear ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean he’d dream of handing power to anybody else.”)
• Tory Rivals Plot to Stop Boris Johnson From Winning Power in U.K.
• I Don’t Trust This Administration* With a Lemon Zester, Let Alone a War With Iran (“Mike Pompeo is fighting way above his weight class.”)
• As Trade War Hits, China Factories See Slowest Growth Since 2002
• Trump to America: Who’s Going to Stop Me? (“An unbound president invites more foreign election interference.”)
• Trump sees no national interest beyond his own (“Per Trump, the president should be held to the same standards as a businessman dealing with underworld goons.”)
• Trump upends long-held views on foreign election help (“American opposition to foreign involvement in elections dates back to the nation’s founding, reflected in legal prohibitions and widely embraced norms.”)
• What a presidential president would say about campaign dirt from a foreign foe (How about a patriotic, non-treasonous president?)
• Mitch McConnell, Too, Welcomes Russian Interference (“Or at least he won’t let Congress do anything to stop it.”)
• Forget “No Collusion”—Trump Is Now Pro-Collusion
• Fox’s Judge Napolitano: Seems Trump ‘Is Prepared to Commit a Felony to Get Re-Elected’
• Trump Feels Empowered by Democratic Fear (“Just like in 2016, Democrats are concerned with what might happen, not what is happening.”)
• Trump puts GOP in tough spot with remarks on foreign ‘dirt’
• Federal watchdog agency recommends removal of Kellyanne Conway from federal office for violating the Hatch Act
• A Republican finally reveals the truth about the GOP tax cuts (“We knew Republicans were lying about whether tax cuts would pay for themselves in 2017. Just as they lied about whether they paid for themselves under President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s, or under President George W. Bush during the 2000s, or in Kansas just a few years ago.”)
• Hill push to battle foreign election interference is stuck at McConnell roadblock (“The Senate majority leader has not allowed a vote on any of the bipartisan measures to strengthen election systems and make it harder for hostile powers to manipulate social media.”)
• Bye-bye, Sarah Sanders (“In fact: Sanders stood at the White House briefing room lectern and lied. That’s not a matter of opinion. That’s not a matter of bias. That’s not a matter of analysis. It’s a documented event.”)
• Sarah Sanders leaving White House at end of the month, Trump says (“The combative White House press secretary, whose tenure was marked by controversy and questions about her credibility, will be leaving after 23 months on the job, President Trump announced.” They weren’t “questions” about her credibility, they were outright LIES on her part, over and over again. God, the corporate media is pathetic.))
• Highlights From Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s Career of Deflection
• Sarah Sanders’ legacy: The death of the White House press briefing
• Sarah Sanders failed in almost every aspect of the job
• Jimmy Kimmel Sends Off Sarah Huckabee Sanders: She’s Never Looked ‘So Happy’
• Should We Take These Early General Election Polls Seriously? $#!% No!
• DNC announces lineup for first debate (“The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced on Thursday the 20 Democrats running for president who will take part in the first debate later this month, with four left off the prime-time stage.”)
• ‘Let me make something 100% clear’: FEC chair lays down the law on foreign help (“The head of the Federal Election Commission released a statement on Thursday evening reiterating, emphatically, that foreign assistance is illegal in U.S. elections.”)
• How pro-Trump media spun Trump saying he’d accept dirt from foreign governments in the 2020 election (“Conservative media claimed that Trump was just ‘playing,’ drew a false equivalence with the Steele dossier, and attacked Hillary Clinton”)
• Democrats Must Be Daring (“Too many are leaning toward their safest candidates rather than their favorite ones.”)
• Republican senator: Foreign interference is a serious threat, but I trust Trump’s judgment (Thom Tillis is a spineless imbecile.)
• Beto O’Rourke Calls For A ‘Moonshot’ To Combat Climate Change
• The Cold Logic of Climate NIMBYism (“The uneven incentives of climate action are driving the world to inaction”)
• Utilities try to exploit local media to push bogus claims about rooftop solar
• Employees turn their back on Agriculture secretary over being relocated to Kansas City (“Perdue announced earlier Thursday morning that the Economic Research Service, which provides research and statistical analysis for lawmakers, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which allocates federal research funding, will be relocated to Kansas City from Washington, D.C. — the final announcement in a process that began last year.”)
• Video: Mark Warner Says Trump Comments About Foreign Interference “extraordinary even in a Trump world”
• Video: Pete Buttigieg Speaks in Arlington, Says We’re In a “Once or Twice-in-a-Lifetime Moment Where an Era Begins”
• House Passes Beyer Amendment To Require Increased Reporting On Unaccompanied Children From Federal Agencies
• Meredith Watson’s Attorney Replies to LG Justin Fairfax: “Fairfax refuses to answer questions in the Legislature and in the media. That says it all.”
• Fairfax says he was victim of ‘blackmail’ attempt; lawyer for accuser calls his claim ‘defamatory’ (“Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax said this week that he was the victim of a ‘blackmail’ attempt in February by a woman who is accusing him of rape.”)
• Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax calls for criminal investigation into sexual assault allegations against him
• Justin Fairfax’s lawyer formally asks prosecutors to investigate rape allegations against him
• FWIW Virginia: About That Election on Tuesday
• RAPID RESPONSE: RSLC Grasping to Show Signs of Life in Virginia
• ‘Fightin’ Joe’ Morrissey is the perfect Democrat to take on Donald Trump (“Morrissey is a lawyer in the same way Trump is an entrepreneur. His law career rivals Trump University for sleaziness. During his time as a prosecutor and a defense lawyer, Morrissey was fined, jailed and suspended so many times that his law license was revoked for a decade. The sex scandal wasn’t his first trip to jail. In 1991, he did five days for punching a defense lawyer in the face during a heroin trial. And then decorated his office with boxing gloves.”)
• Some of the Stupidest Republican, Right-Wing “Hot Takes” on Tuesday’s Virginia Primary Elections
• Governor, Democrats Plan Press For Gun Reform
• Virginia gov announces public talks on gun control (“Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is announcing a series of public talks his administration will host in the run up to a July 9 special session on gun laws.”)
• Editorial: Changing license suspensions correct
• Amazon’s HQ2 prompts housing price spikes in Northern Virginia, Washington Post analysis shows (“In May, the average home price in Arlington County — the future of home of Amazon’s second headquarters known as HQ2 — was $713,000, up about 7 percent from a year ago. And in April, the average price hit $742,000, or more than 11 percent above the same month in 2018, according to The Post’s analysis”)
• Virginia Beach city manager disputes reports that gunman in mass shooting got into fights at work
• GMU’s Cabrera named Georgia Tech president (Maybe the next president will move GMU away from being Koch U?)
• Virginia Beach tries to dispel “rumors” about mass shooting
• Internal Norfolk report shows missteps before brutal beating at mental health office. City says it’s not at fault.
• Richmond Public Schools names new principals after removing 10
• Updated forecast: Gradual clearing in wake of fast-moving storms