by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, August 31.
- “The Amazon Stays, Bolsonaro Goes”: Protesters in Brazil Demand Action on Rainforest Fires (“The guy wants to rule by decrees and provisional measures, we need to stop this mess!”)
- In a Tweet Taunting Iran, Trump Releases an Image Thought to Be Classified (Just imagine if Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton had done something like this; Republicans would be screaming “TREASON!” “IMPEACH!” “LOCK HIM/HER UP!” But it’s Trump, so it’s all good.)
- Trump Tweets Sensitive Surveillance Image Of Iran
- Why Boris Johnson is so desperate to lock Parliament out (“Avoiding a no-deal Brexit is still possible, but only barely.”)
- Bolton sidelined in Afghanistan policy as his standing with Trump falters
- Hong Kong Protesters Clash With Police After Wave of Arrests
- Hundreds Of Young People Strike In Front Of UN For Climate Action (“Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg joined the rally in New York, a prelude a global youth-led strike to take place in September.”)
- The Unstoppable Surge in Negative Yields Reaches $17 Trillion (“30% of all investment-grade securities now bear sub-zero yields.”)
- Misogyny, meet hypocrisy: Climate deniers go after AOC, Greta Thunberg with sexist attacks (“Climate skeptics don’t have science, morality or simple decency on their side — so they’re leaning into sexism”)
- The Climate Rollback That’s Too Much Even for Big Oil
- Potentially disastrous Hurricane Dorian strengthens to Category 4
- Trump’s personal assistant fired after comments about Ivanka, Tiffany
- Getting Fired Ain’t the Story (“In November, Westerhout not only wasn’t a Trump loyalist she was apparently driven to tears when she learned he’d be President. She’d worked for the RNC and the Romney campaign. So she’s a professional Republican. But she holds Trump in such contempt that she still was driven to tears when he, the Republican nominee, won the presidency over Hillary Clinton?’)
- Boris Johnson’s Parliamentary Runaround
- Court Denies Democrats’ Motion To Hurry Trump Tax Return Case (Absurd.)
- Four Reasons the GOP’s Latest Tax Scheme Is a Terrible Idea, According to a Conservative Tax Wonk
- This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for American democracy
- Support for unions is high in 2019, but membership is still on the decline (“The highest approval for unions in a decade, but the picture for labor is not a completely rosy one.”)
- Valerie Harper, Who Won Fame and Emmys as ‘Rhoda,’ Dies at 80 (“Originally a theater actress, she parlayed a role as a wisecracking sidekick on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ into her own sitcom.” RIP)
- Stunned Twitter Critics Swat Bret Stephens’ Bedbug Link To Nazis In NYT Column (“The conservative writer ties insect insult against him to anti-Semitism. He once called Palestinians mosquitos in a Wall Street Journal column.” How is this guy employed by the NY Times? And how does a piece-of-crap column like this get approved for publication? Fire the editors? So embarrassing.)
- DNC throws Iowa, Nevada caucuses into confusion (“The DNC recommended throwing out ‘virtual caucus’ plans intended to boost turnout in Iowa and Nevada, citing cybersecurity concerns.”)
- Fox host Stuart Varney insists Trump has never lied to the American people (Actually, it’s been well documented that Trump’s lied thousands and thousands of times. But this is “alternative facts” Fox, so…)
- CEO Jack Dorsey’s Twitter Account Was Hacked, Company Says (“Company blames breach on mobile provider allowing the phone number associated with the profile to send unauthorized tweets”)
- Very few Democratic contenders have support from a key constituency (“There has been a lot of coverage about South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s struggles with African American voters. However, plenty of other candidates on that stage will have little or no African American support. Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report notes that 24 percent of the 2016 Democratic electorate was African American. In four of six recent polls that broke out African American voters, she found that former vice president Joe Biden leads among African American voters by 19 to 36 points.”)
- Pull it together, Joe Biden (“But Biden didn’t have to respond this way. Biden could have easily conceded that he should have gotten his facts right, while also saying what he did say, which is that his larger intended point was undiminished and important.”)
- Billionaire 2020 hopeful Tom Steyer remains an investor in funds tied to the firm he founded
- Dels. Herring and Aird, Sen. Surovell endorse Kamala Harris for president
- O’Rourke visits Bland — the county in Virginia that voted strongest for Trump
- Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke makes history in Bland County, hosts town hall at VT (“O’Rourke trails in polls but people were excited to meet him”)
- New Poll of Virginia Latinx/Hispanic Voters: Trump Getting Clobbered, Seriously Underperforming 2016 Exit Polling
- DLCC Completes $1 Million Commitment to Virginia Democrats
- Good News for Fairfax County Democrats, Courtesy of School Board Member Ilryong Moon (D)
- Democratic Party Nominee Stan Scott Challenges Senator Ryan McDougle to Oppose Dominion Rate Increase
- Flip-A-District Friday: David Zilles (HD23), Irina Khanin (HD29), Juanita Jo Matkins (HD56)
- Virginia Democrats like their odds to flip the state Senate. The House may be more of a tossup (Agreed.)
- In response to aide’s suit alleging email and Facebook ‘hacks,’ Adams says she caused no harm
- The Virginia teachers turning to crowdfunding for school supplies
- Paul Goldman appeals General Registrar’s referendum decision on $1.5 billion coliseum deal; Navy Hill commission leaders nominate members
- Shad Plank: Dominion forecasts big cost for cap & trade plan General Assembly rejected (Dominion is completely full of it.)
- Before public feuds and an abrupt resignation, Virginia Beach city manager’s support from staff dwindled
- 6 in Hampton Roads, including Norfolk police chief, picked to serve on governor’s African American Advisory Board
- Feds: Hampton Roads drug ring had enough fentanyl to kill 14 million people
- ‘Conservative’ string attached to $50 million law school gift (“A $50 million gift made earlier this year to Virginia’s largest public university was given specifically to ‘promote the conservative principles of governance,’ newly released documents show, raising concerns from critics that it compromises academic freedom at the school.”)
- Arlington’s path to zero emissions (“Although the County Board deserves credit for its clear and bold expression of political will on an issue of momentous importance to us all, Arlington’s path to net zero remains — at least right now — buried beneath layers of state and federal inertia, disinterest and outright opposition. The best path forward for Arlingtonians concerned about global warming and the future of the planet may ultimately lie not in electric cars, solar panels or carbon credits and offsets, but in the November elections.”)
- Judge pares down foundry’s lawsuit against Roanoke, but won’t dismiss it
- First responders from D.C. area deploy to Florida as Hurricane Dorian nears
- 80s and mostly dry for the holiday weekend (“Humidity and cloud cover increase, but odds of rain are never that high.”)
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