Thursday News: R.I.P. Jacques Chirac; “Trump Is Panicking”; “The Ukraine Scandal Is Not One Phone Call. It’s a Massive Plot.”; As Planet Burns, Dominion Is “Gold Level” Sponsor at Conference CELEBRATING Fossil Fuels!

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, September 26.

• Jacques Chirac, flamboyant French president who opposed U.S. invasion of Iraq, dies at 86 (“Chirac was also known for his advocacy of a ‘multi-polar’ world in which Europe would counterbalance American dominance.”)
• Netanyahu given chance to form Israel’s new government (“Netanyahu now has a preliminary 28-day period to try to broker a deal. But his odds of success appear to be slim.”)
• No apologies: MPs’ fury as Boris Johnson goes on the attack
• The U.S. and Iran Are Still Worlds Apart on a Deal
• EU Says Deal Less Likely After Johnson Hostility: Brexit Update (Boris Johnson is a complete and total f’up, like Trump.)
• The White House has shared the whistleblower’s complaint with members of Congress (“The complaint remains classified, however.”)
• Whistleblower complaint against Trump declassified, could be released Thursday
• “Do Us a Favor”: The Forty-eight Hours That Sealed Trump’s Impeachment
• U.S. Intelligence Boss Joseph Maguire To Face Congress On Ukraine Affair
• The Ukraine Scandal Is Not One Phone Call. It’s a Massive Plot. (“Many people were involved in Trump’s scheme to turn U.S. foreign policy into a weapon”)
• Trump to Ukraine: Such a Shame if Anything Happened to Your Nice Country (“No, Trump didn’t make an explicit threat. He didn’t have to.”)
• Inside Trump’s frenetic response to the whistleblower complaint and the battle over impeachment
• Impeachment will define the 2020 election
• E.J. Dionne Jr: Democrats had no idea Trump would hand them so much ammo
• The House doesn’t need an impeachment inquiry to confirm Trump’s wrongdoing. Just look at his hotel.
• These officials better lawyer up (“Barr is not the only member of the administration who is in legal and career peril. Most importantly, it is essential to determine what Vice President Pence knew of Trump’s efforts, whether he advised against this kind of conduct and whether he was involved in the pressure campaign to find dirt on Biden. When we move into the realm of impeachment, it is obviously necessary to determine if the vice president, in case of removal or resignation, is fit to take over. Congress should move swiftly to subpoena him and obtain all documents relating to this travesty.”)
• The Trump-Zelensky readout is a devastating indictment of our president
• Acting intelligence chief threatened to resign if he couldn’t speak freely before Congress on whistleblower, officials say
• 218 House lawmakers back an impeachment inquiry of Trump
• Cracks emerge among Senate Republicans after release of rough transcript of phone call
• Trump Has Just One Plan for Victory (“To get re-elected, he will stop at nothing. That’s why impeachment is crucial.”)
• Pentagon Letter Undercuts Trump Assertion On Delaying Aid To Ukraine Over Corruption
• Trump deflects and defies as Democrats speed up impeachment strategy
• It Has Begun (“An impeachment inquiry is nothing to celebrate. Still, it is evidence of what’s right being put ahead of what’s expedient.”)
• Phone Call Showed Only a Slice of Trump’s Obsession With Ukraine (“Since the 2016 campaign, the president has had an intense fixation on the country, which he believes is tied up in the origins of the special counsel’s investigation.”)
• Trump Pressed Ukraine’s President to Investigate Democrats as ‘a Favor’
• Senators fret over prospect of Trump trial
• Rough Transcript Shows Trump Pressed Ukraine on Joe Biden and Son
• Trump’s UN Presser Was Hilarious Until It Was Horrifying (“Meanwhile, he threw Vice President Mike Pence under the bus without looking up.”)
• Romney out front of GOP with criticisms of Trump’s Ukraine call, but signs emerge that he’s not alone
• George Conway predicts Republicans will vote against Trump on impeachment
• Trump stares impeachment in the face and doesn’t like what he sees (“Trump, an expert on creating his own reality, may have been undone by facts on a page that he released himself, handing Democrats a clear, apparently prosecutable case, that suggests abuse of power with a transcript of the July 25 call with Volodymyr Zelensky.”)
• Spy Chief to Face Democrats on ‘Disturbing’ Whistle-Blower Claim
• Republicans Say Impeachment Will Backfire. History Says It Won’t
• Nancy Pelosi’s long road to impeachment (“Pelosi had also maintained her keen sense of the caucus, and knew that Democrats were erupting in the days after the Ukraine scandal began to unspool.”)
• Biden says rough transcript suggests Trump likely committed ‘an impeachable offense’
• All the president’s loyalists: Impeachment net snares Trump’s top advisers (“The president’s senior aides are about to face the punishing spotlight of an impeachment inquiry, the beginning of personal and professional costs spreading throughout the Trump orbit.”)
• Trump’s Attempt to Talk His Way Out of Impeachment Backfires (“Democrats say transcript bolsters move for impeachment inquiry; Republicans must choose how closely they can stick with Trump” Alternately, Republicans could actually do the right thing for a change, ya know?)
• What Pelosi’s Pivot on Impeachment Really Means (“Is this a defining moment in the Trump presidency, or merely some creative packaging?”)
• Trump Is Panicking (“The president has lost control of the news cycle, and doesn’t know what to do next.”)
• Memorandum of Trump’s Conversation with Ukraine’s President Clearly Shows Trump “Betrayed Our Country”; “Barr should resign, immediately…Trump must be impeached”
• “It’s past politics”: Freshman Democrats explain shift on impeachment, despite reelection risks
• The White House Counteroffensive Is Going Swimmingly (“Trump’s people emailed their talking points on the Ukraine memo to House Democrats. They were promptly leaked to reporters.”)
• Trump’s Ukraine Call ‘Transcript’ Proves This Is ‘Stupid Watergate’
• Trump allies voice concerns about Rudy Giuliani’s involvement in Ukraine
• If This Is Trump’s Best Case, The Ukraine Scandal Is Looking Really Bad For Him
• The Case for Trump’s Impeachment Goes Beyond Ukraine (“He has betrayed America with seven countries. Here’s the indictment.”)
• William Barr Hit a New Low In His Crusade to Bury the Whistleblower Complaint (Barr is absolute scum.)
• Today in Conservative Media: It’s a “Transcript,” and It Vindicates Trump (Bizarre, warped alternate “reality”)
• Impeachment inquiry announcement opened the floodgates to terrible headlines from mainstream outlets
• ‘Ready to kick it into fifth gear’: Democratic regulators lay out a nightmare future for tech
• Senator Mark Warner Says Social Media’s ‘Wild, Wild West’ is Coming to an End (It badly, badly needs to. Really shouldn’t have lasted as long as it has.)
• Revealed: Trump’s Wildlife Service pick has ties to anti-animal protection groups (Wildly unacceptable.)
• Spanberger says will seek re-election
• How to Prosecute Impeachment Against Donald Trump (“Don’t rush; it would be malpractice to not shed further light on Trump’s many crimes”)
• Shad Plank: No fish tale — Wittman’s working waterfront, fish habitat and wetlands bills on the move
• Liberty University official to challenge Rep. Denver Riggleman for GOP nomination (Hahaha, this is funny.)
• Virginia’s congressional delegation divided on impeachment inquiry against Trump (Alternate, accurate headline: “Virginia’s GOP Congressmen Put Party Over Patriotism”)
• Families of Heather Heyer & Khalid Jabara, Bipartisan Delegation, Advocacy Groups To Call For Congressional Passage Of NO HATE Act
• Southern State Energy Officials Celebrate Fossil Fuels as World Raises Climate Alarm (See here for a list of speakers; note that Ryan Childress of Dominion Energy was one of them. Also, the “Virginia Coal and Energy Alliance, Inc” was an exhibitor and Dominion Energy was a “Gold Level” sponsor. Appalling. This company is an out-of-control disgrace and needs to be reined in by legislators.)
• Editorial: What shade of green is Northam’s energy plan? (“Why no mention of natural gas pipelines?…Northam’s executive order doesn’t cover the main carbon offenders. He can’t really do anything about gas-burning cars, and maybe he can’t really do anything about natural gas pipelines, either — but he also hasn’t tried.” Yep, and that’s a fatal flaw in Northam’s plans, one he refuses to even acknowledge!)
• Video: At Parisa Tafti Birthday Event in Arlington, DNC Chair Tom Perez Says Virginia “Helped Us Get Our Mojo Back in 2017,” Now It’s Time to Do It Again in 42 Days!
• Liz and Phil Take Alexandria: Fundraiser Tonight with Senator Kaine
• Shad Plank: More tales of big money in General Assembly races
• GOP candidate paid $30 to have antigay tweets deleted, only to have them resurface days later
• Liberty University’s accreditor asks college for information after reports about Jerry Falwell Jr.
• Bowser renews push for Metro to restore late-night hours
• Grief, ‘ghosts’ and fury at Virginia Beach mass shooting briefing
• UVA-Wise wants more teachers with advanced degrees in Southwest Virginia
• A newspaper reported that a man’s ancestors were slaveholders. He’s suing for defamation. (“By referencing his family’s slaveholding past in a story about Edward Dickinson Tayloe II’s desire to preserve Confederate monuments, his lawyers argue, the C-Ville Weekly implied their client was a racist.”)
• Video/Takeaways From the Fairfax League of Women Voters County Board Chair, School Board At-Large Forum
• DNC Chair Tom Perez in Manassas with Babur Lateef, Amy Ashworth, etc. for National Register to Vote Day
• Community members, civic leaders react after invitation to view Henrico officers’ bodycam footage of fatal shooting
• Stafford schools superintendent to present recommendations on fixing transportation issues
• Virginia Beach mass shooting investigation will explore whether the city has a hostile work environment
• Southwest Virginia looks to rock climbing for revenue boost
• Heat builds with a pop-up shower possible. More of the same this weekend. (This weather is completely f’ed up.)