Thursday News: Trump’s VP Hopefuls’ “desperation;” Tim Kaine’s “audition;” Northam Outraises Gillespie

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, July 14. Also check out Stephen Colb ert, who talks about how, “[a]s Republicans meet to set the party’s new platform, some age-old issues like pornography, marriage and coal are resurfacing anew.” In short, it’s a nightmare.

• Trump’s vice-presidential hopefuls reveal their desperation — and his poor judgment (“Newt Gingrich, Mike Pence and Chris Christie vie to join a campaign of ignorance.” Ignorance and hate.)
• CNN’s Corey Lewandowski Is Still Being Paid By Donald Trump (“The Network’s Ethical Morass Is Worse Than We Thought”)
• Large number of GOP senators skipping Trump’s convention (The question is, who in their right mind would go to this monstrosity?)
• Paul Ryan Was Asked How He Could Support ‘Openly Racist’ Trump. His Answer Was Disturbing. (Lyin’ Ryan strikes again.)
• Speakers at Donald Trump’s Convention: Tim Tebow, Peter Thiel, but No Sarah Palin?
• Sources: Sean Hannity flew Gingrich to Trump meeting
• Election Update: When To Freak Out About Shocking New Polls
• McConnell’s historic judge blockade (Voters need to punish him for this at the polls this November.)
• Trump’s Words of Resistance Stir Whites Sensing Decline (Ugh.)
• The Plum LineOpinion
  Top Dems think Clinton took a hit. But they aren’t particularly nervous.
• Trump and Ex-Staffer Go to War Over Alleged Affair
• Coal Faces Decline For The Foreseeable Future (Which is necessary for the sake of our planet – and life on said planet.)
• Michele Bachmann: Trump longs for days when ‘even my Jews would say Merry Christmas’
• Scholars Steeped in Dead Politicians Take On a Live One: Donald Trump
• The First Woman and African American Librarian of Congress Was Just Confirmed (Congratulations!)
• Time to move on: Sanders has endorsed Clinton, but some of his backers are still pointlessly raging against reality (“The primaries are over — progressives now must get together and make the easy choice: Clinton or Trump?” Exactly, that’s the choice.)
• Ginsburg howls at Trump: She has every right to wade into the presidential election
• GOP war on porn: The same party that nominated a libertine for president is now calling your porn a “public health crisis”
• Fox News Poll: Clinton tops Trump by 7 points in Virginia
• Editorial: A fair examination of fracking regulations
• Virginian-Pilot editorial: A FOIA deal not worth making
• Our view: Kaine’s audition
• In 2017 Va. governor’s race, Democrat Northam leads in fundraising (“Lt. governor raised $1.04 million in first half of 2016; Republican Gillespie raised $852,000.”)
• Virginia congressman said Obama ‘reaped what he sowed’ over Dallas shooting (I always thought that Robert Hurt was an empty suit, but now he proves himself to be far worse than that.)
• GOP AG hopeful John Adams, Democratic LG hopeful Justin Fairfax announce fundraising figures
• Virginia suspends driver’s licenses in ‘unconstitutional scheme,’ class action says (WTF?)
• Va. GOP chairman says Hillary Clinton would force Sen. Tim Kaine to ‘defend the indefensible’ (And we care what anti-Semitic “joke” dude John Whit-less thinks…why exactly?)
• Ex-UVa rector Dragas voices concern over closed meeting
• Editorial: Burdened by court fines
• Hundreds of protesters march a “Silent Mile” in downtown Norfolk
• Virginia will begin testing mosquitoes for Zika virus in targeted areas
• Virginia wages war on the poor with driver’s license suspensions (“A sixth of the state’s drivers hold suspended licenses for nonpayment of fines and fees.”)
• Tim Kaine attacks a Virginia nonprofit (I’m including this Republican Times-Disgrace editorial simply to show how insane that rightwing rag is.)
• Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. says proposal in Republican platform could energize evangelicals (“Falwell says Donald Trump called him to say the Republican platform will call for repeal of the Johnson Amendment. The 1954 law, proposed by then-U.S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, D-Texas, changed the U.S. tax code to bar tax-exempt organizations like churches and nonprofits from backing or opposing political candidates.”)
• Pike Leaders: Transit Plan ‘Does Not Even Come Close’ to Streetcar-Level Service (As I’ve been saying for a few years now, Libby Garvey/John Vihstadt/Arlingtonians for Sensible Transit/etc. were lying through their teeth. Now we have more strong evidence.)
• Facebook live-stream of Norfolk shooting adds new dimension to videos of crimes
• Humidified heat fuels some storms late today; Brief relief this weekend (“Today feels like the hottest day of summer so far.”)