Tuesday News: “Black and Brown Forum;” “One Big Thing Obama Can Do in His Final Year in Office”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, January 12. Also, check out the video of last night’s “Brown & Black Forum” for the three Democratic presidential candidates; interesting discussion, although a glaring omission in the questions was the topic of environmental justice, given that pollution and other environmental problems disproportionately harm people of color.

• WATCH: Democratic presidential candidates appear at Iowa Brown and Black Forum (Not sure why this got so little coverage, it was a very interesting and important event. I guess the media was too obsessed with Trump to notice.)
• Hurricane Donald is destroying the GOP coalition: How Nixon & Reagan’s “Southern Strategy” finally imploded
• No one holds him accountable: The Donald sics his goons on protesters, and the media shrugs (“We take for granted that a Trump rally will get ugly. Just imagine the coverage if Bernie or Hillary urged violence “)
• Powerball is a national disgrace: The lottery exploits despair, and state governments should be ashamed
• Anti-Clinton misogynists: If Bill’s attackers are “defenders of women,” why do they have a history of sexism?
• Supreme Court appears skeptical of union fees — a potentially major loss for labor groups (Not good.)
• The Roberts Court finds a new way to stack the deck in favor of the rich (“Another step toward American oligarchy.”)
• Jobs are up. Gas is down. Why do Democrats sound nearly as gloomy as Republicans? (Massive disconnect.)
• Rand Paul and Carly Fiorina Cut From Next Republican Mainstage Debate
• Sean Penn interviews El Chapo and suddenly journalists care about ethics (“…with the daily ethics violations committed by people who were actually trained to be journalists, it does seem strange that all of a sudden members of the media want to hash out what’s acceptable in reporting the news or conducting interviews.”)
• Iowans’ Passion for Sanders Creates Anxiety for Clinton
• Here’s One Big Thing Obama Can Do in His Final Year in Office (“Even without cooperation from Capitol Hill, he still has the power to make some major moves that would cut emissions, help shift the U.S. from dirty to clean energy sources, and send a signal to the world that America is serious about trying to achieve the grand goals agreed to in Paris.”)
• Howell announces new House committee notification system (“House Speaker Bill Howell announced Monday a new system to notify the public of meetings by House committees.”)
• House agenda follows governor’s lead (Sloppily-written headline, should say Democratic agenda in the House…certainly not the “House agenda”)
• Loupassi teams with Surovell to help rehabilitated felons get jobs
• Va. GOP added to Trump supporters’ lawsuit against loyalty pledge (“A hearing is set for Wednesday in Richmond.” Lovin’ it!)
• A Democratic senator wants to kill the car tax — like Gov. Gilmore (“Sen. Petersen filed two bills to do away with the unpopular levy” The ONLY way I’d consider getting rid of it is if we replace the revenue, preferably with a significant carbon tax or gasoline tax.)
• McAuliffe seeks new restrictions on payday, car-title lending
• Jackie’s rape story was false. So why hasn’t the media named her by now? (Good question.)
• Editorial: Lawmakers need to watch the ball
• McDonnell appeal lives with no word from high court
• General Assembly bill could provide work-around for noncompliant businesses
• Montgomery and Prince William, worlds apart on deportation raids (“Corey Stewart encourages illegal immigrants to move to Montgomery County.”)
• Washington’s NFL team should build its next stadium in the District (And under no circumstances should the stadium be build in Virginia, especially not in exurbia.)
• Court Rosen pleads guilty to drug charge, won’t seek re-election
• City Council members react to mayor’s church revelations
• Roanoke County schools to consider random drug testing policy
• Flurries tonight. Then temperatures plummet. (“Tomorrow will likely be the coldest day of the season thus far.”)