MLK, Jr. Day News: “We can’t give up on King’s Promised Land”; “Trump Lawyers Argue No President Can Be Impeached for Any Abuse of Power”; “Five guidelines for the House impeachment managers”; “Virginia’s Capitol as a dystopian landscape braced for battle”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 20.

• China to ban plastic bags in major cities by end of 2020 (“The United Nations has identified single-use plastics as one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges.” We should do the same in Virginia and the U.S. in general.)
• Prince Harry seeks ‘more peaceful life’ as reluctantly ends royal role
• Iran’s Leaders Have a Problem They Can’t Fix
• BlackRock Has Bigger Weapons in Its Climate Armory (“To reduce coal use in Asia, the fund manager should use its power as a sovereign debt investor.”)
• China trade deal was pitched as a boon for the working class, but Trump celebrated with Wall Street titans
• “Flood the zone with shit”: How misinformation overwhelmed our democracy
• Lev Parnas Paid His Way Into Donald Trump’s Orbit
• AP sources: Security probe targets Trump’s Russia adviser
• White House’s top Russia official put on leave pending investigation
• George Conway: Why Trump had to hire this legal odd couple (“This is what happens when you don’t pay your legal bills.”)
• Impeachment: Trump wants Senate trial over before State of the Union address
• Trump Lawyers Argue No President Can Be Impeached for Any Abuse of Power (“…as a constitutional principle, the notion that a president cannot be removed for abusing his power, but can be removed for a criminal violation, however small, would turn impeachment into a ludicrously ill-fitting solution for the problem it was designed to solve. It implies Trump could not be impeached for promising to pardon anybody who murdered his political rivals, but could be impeached if he resold a mattress that was missing its tags.”)
• House Democrats may call new impeachment witnesses if Senate doesn’t
• Trump’s lawyers shouldn’t be allowed to use bogus legal arguments on impeachment
• Dershowitz claims abuse of power is not an impeachable offense even if proven (It’s already proven. And yes, of course it’s impeachable.)
• When McConnell speaks, Trump listens. Impeachment trial will test the unlikely bond. (Yuck.)
• Ken Starr Remains a Partisan Hack and a Poisonous Creep (“His Clinton probe was one of the sleaziest episodes in recent American political history, at least until Trump came along.”)
• Senate Republicans Are Bathed in Shame
• Juan Williams: Counting the votes to remove Trump (“Four Republican votes is a low bar to avoid a sham trial. But Trump has defined membership in the GOP as a matter of loyalty to him above all. At the moment, that means a Republican has to be blind to all evidence that Trump broke the law.”)
• Mitch McConnell may win the impeachment and lose the Senate
• We can’t give up on King’s Promised Land
• Five guidelines for the House impeachment managers (“The public must be told Trump and Senate Republicans are hiding critical witnesses and documents…Explain the seriousness of the charges…Explain the consequences of allowing a stonewall to succeed.”)
• Why the Iowa outcome seems especially hard to predict this year (“Two weeks remain, and the voters who might matter the most have yet to be convinced of a solid choice.”)
• Biden campaign warns against media use of Trump disinformation during impeachment trial (There will be tons of it coming from Republicans, no question.)
• To win black support, Bloomberg acknowledges white privilege (“‘My story might have turned out very differently if I had been black,’ said the billionaire in a much anticipated speech.”)
• New York Times Editorial Board Endorses Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren (Very, very weird. Other than both being women, these are two very different candidates; how can you endorse BOTH?)
• Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren (“In a break with convention, the editorial board has chosen to endorse two separate Democratic candidates for president.”)
• With Iowa caucuses looming, Democratic candidates ramp up their attacks
• Suspect fatally shot 2 Honolulu officers, set fire that destroyed several homes: Sources
• Editorial: Honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
• Editorial: Unfamiliar names? (“Today we honor King, the preeminent leader of the civil rights movement. But that struggle involved more than one person. Today’s holiday is a good day to recognize all who took part in bending that arc of history, whether their names are familiar or unfamiliar — because some who are in the latter category should be in the former.”)
• Bills Listed as “Failed” Might Not Really Have “Failed,” But Some Really Have – and Richly Deserved to “Fail”
• Final 2019 Data Show Enormous Amounts of $$$ Poured In to Virginia General Assembly Races
• The Virginia Bill Roundup Continues: Climate, Energy Transition, and Other Utility Regulation
• Virginia gun rally: anti-fascist activists will not mount counter-protest
• Virginia Gun Rally: What to Watch For (“Thousands are expected at a gun-rights rally at the State Capitol in Richmond, and officials say some may be spoiling for trouble, raising fears of another Charlottesville.”)
• Virginia gun rally: What’s behind the battle over gun control descending on Richmond
• Virginia Governor Declares State Of Emergency Ahead Of Gun Rally (This interview is appallingly bad, starting with the relentless “both sides-ism” false equivalency of NPR news, which is nearly unlistenable at this point.)
• Virginia Officials On Guard for Pro-Gun Rally in Richmond
• Live blog: Pro-gun groups call for thousands of armed supporters to fill streets around Virginia Capitol (“The rally is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. and run through noon, but organizers plan to begin shuttling people into the area at 7 a.m.”)
• Virginia’s Capitol as a dystopian landscape braced for battle. How did it come to this? (“Increasingly, interaction comes through social media. It exposes more people than ever to more information and a wider diversity of thought and opinion than was once imaginable. It also spreads disinformation and provides a nurturing and unchallenged refuge for extreme ideologies and, under the seeming anonymity of the digital universe, emboldens people to lash out and threaten adversaries in ways they likely would not in person.” That’s part of it, no doubt, but it’s certainly not symmetrical on “both sides,” as Lewis seems to suggest.)
• Ahead of Richmond Rally, Apple and Google Are Letting Nazis Use This App to Coordinate (“Telegram, which has banned ISIS content, remains a favored tool of white supremacists.”)
• As gun rights rally looms in Virginia, Richmond residents fear another Charlottesville (“Many say they’ll be staying as far away as possible from the demonstration they worry will turn violent.”)
• Richmond braces for giant gun rights rally on Monday
• Militia leaders warn Virginia gun rally could get violent (“With somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 people possibly coming out, this thing has enormous potential to go bad”)
• Sarah Klem and Heidi Schoomaker column: Unrestricted access to guns makes our families, communities less safe
• Thousands expected in Richmond as Capitol readies for massive gun rally Monday (“As Democrats plan gun control legislation, gun-rights supporters are planning a large rally. Gov. Ralph Northam has temporarily banned guns on Capitol grounds, citing threats of violence.”)
• Proposal to ban Dominion’s contributions among electoral bills before the legislature (This absolutely *should* pass, but I doubt it will, even with Democrats in charge.)
• Legislation Making Menstrual Products Available to Virginia Students Moves on to Full Senate
• Opinion/Editorial: Internet access for public school students
• Cold start to week, then moderating temperatures lead into wet weekend