Sunday News: “Iran denies it carried out drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities”; “New Sexual Misconduct Allegation Against Brett Kavanaugh Emerges”; “Virginia’s ‘off-off-year’ elections were once sleepy. And then came Trump.”; “Liberty University dogged by growing claims of corruption”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, September 15.

• Iran denies it carried out drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities (“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had directly blamed Iran for what he said was ‘an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply’ after Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility.”)
• Saudi Arabia Shuts Down About Half Its Oil Output After Drone Strikes (If that lasts for a serious length of time, it could lead to a major oil price spike.)
• Saudi Arabia Drone Attack Is a Strike at Oil’s Future (“An unprecedented assault promises major disruption and sets the stage for a new and dangerous period for world oil markets.”)
• Saudis Race to Restore Oil Output After Crippling Aramco Attack (“Assault led to loss of about 5% of global oil supply”)
• A Uighur professor vanished and may be executed. Yet China expects respect.
• A US military operation killed Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza, the White House confirms (“Hamza bin Laden is believed to have been the last of Osama’s sons with ties to al-Qaeda.”)
• ‘Johnson is a liar who only backed Leave to help his career’ – David Cameron (“Former PM vents fury in his memoirs at his old colleagues over their stance on Brexit and compares Leave campaign to racist Tory electioneering in 1964”)
• Federal Reserve to Return to Stimulus Pump: Global Economy Week
• President Trump Wages War on Government and Expertise, and Our Institutions Surrender
• Democrats Get Closer To Serious Field Of Trump Challengers
• Trump is seriously, frighteningly unstable – the world is in danger
• Holder cautions against potentially prosecuting Trump post presidency (“Yes, I think there is a potential cost to the nation by putting on trial a former president, and that ought to at least be a part of the calculus that goes into the determination that has to be made by the next attorney general”)
• ‘People Actively Hate Us’: Inside the Border Patrol’s Morale Crisis (“Border Patrol agents have gone from having one of the most obscure jobs in law enforcement to one of the most hated. Overwhelmed by desperate migrants and criticized for mistreating the people in their care, many agents have grown defensive, insular and bitter.”)
• Trump’s plan to monitor the mentally ill to curb gun violence is messy and flawed
• Trump expected to announce gun control legislation this week. But the substance of it is a mystery
• Brett Kavanaugh Fit In With the Privileged Kids. She Did Not.
• New Sexual Misconduct Allegation Against Brett Kavanaugh Emerges: NYT
• ‘The Education of Brett Kavanaugh’ Takes a Hard Look at the Supreme Court Justice and His Accusers
• Castro calls for latest claim against Kavanaugh to be investigated
• The Third Democratic Debate In 7 Charts
• Why is billionaire Tom Steyer running for president — as an enemy of big corporations? (“Hedge fund billionaire tells Salon his campaign is driven by two issues: corporate money and the climate crisis” What about impeachment, which along with the climate crisis is Steyer’s signature issue?)
• David Brock’s Media Empire Ramps Up for 2020 (“His site, Shareblue, is staffing up as others in the progressive media universe are cutting back. And there are big plans in store too… the site has begun to hire some of ThinkProgress’ former staffers—three, so far, in total—with the hope of sharpening their policy acumen and reporting output right as the campaign heats up.”)
• The 13 Republicans needed to pass gun-control legislation
• They were once America’s cruelest, richest slave traders. Why does no one know their names? (“Franklin and Armfield, who headquartered their slave trading business in a townhouse that still stands in Alexandria, Va., sold more enslaved people, separated more families and made more money from the trade than almost anyone else in America. Between the 1820s and 1830s, the two men reigned as the ‘undisputed tycoons’ of the domestic slave trade, as Smithsonian Magazine put it.”)
• Dems sweat fallout from Massachusetts Senate clash (“The party is holding its collective breath, awaiting a primary that stands to divide the state’s political class and reverberate up and down the ballot next year.”)
• Is Texas, long a Republican stronghold, really in play for the Democrats in 2020? (“The state has long eluded Democrats, but significant gains in the 2018 midterms and a series of GOP congressional retirements have raised hopes for change”)
• Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University dogged by growing claims of corruption (“Trump ally’s political influence may be on the wane as he calls for investigation at evangelical university”)
• RIP GOP review: how Democrats can usher fall of the house of Trump (“Stanley Greenberg makes key points about Republican decline – but the president’s opponents face tough challenges too”)
• Rep. Wexton addresses gun violence prevention at town hall meeting (“Wexton focused on H.R. 8, which would require background checks before gun purchases”)
• Video: Gene Rossi Believes Political Pressure Being Applied to Prosecute Andrew McCabe Because He Had the “Audacity” to Criticize Trump
• Beyond Parody: Even a “Corporate Front Group” Thinks Virginia’s Ethics Enforcement So Weak That It Can’t Even Be Rated
• Video: Stacey Abrams Fires Up Prince William County Democratic Candidates; Time for Virginia Voters to “Push Aside Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia…Basically Anything that Trump Represents”
• Gibson: The changing face of Virginia politics (“Bitecofer said women would not just be back-benchers in next year’s General Assembly if Democrats win majorities. They would inherit committee chairmanships and Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Springfield, probably would become the first woman Speaker of the House.”)
• Gabrielle Giffords to campaign in Virginia for state House and Senate candidates
• Virginia’s ‘off-off-year’ elections were once sleepy. And then came Trump. (“Virginia Republicans, already forced to run on a less favorable House map imposed by the courts to remedy racial gerrymandering, concede that Trump will energize Democrats again this year. But they say Democrats won’t have the element of surprise this time.”)
• Editorial: After 1619 commemorations, what comes next? (“This commonwealth would be well-served by addressing its African history head-on. Gov. Ralph Northam has announced a commission that will review how African history is told in Virginia public schools. The group is a valuable building block in a long process.”)
• Gordon C. Morse: Suing patients an unbecoming look for U.Va.
• ‘Long way to go’: School divisions changing tactics to boost teacher diversity
• EDITORIAL: Region deserves more transportation dollars
• 395 Express Lanes on track to open in November
• Peninsula residents survived Dorian — scared, scarred but grateful
• Editorial: Pulaski’s ambitious goal
• Editorial: Conducting manager searches in secret shows contempt for public
• He’d just started at Radford University. Then the freshman was found dead in a Va. jail cell.
• Alexandria to trade traffic lanes for new bike lanes on congested one-mile stretch of Seminary Road (“The city council narrowly voted for the plan, despite protests from many residents who said the change would worsen already problematic traffic on the thoroughfare just off Interstate 395.”)
• Reports of shooting in Ballston area of Arlington set off panic, witnesses say
• Turning sunnier and less humid today; hotter again tomorrow