Monday News: “100 Days of Horror”; Trump Admin. Targets EPA, Labor Dept.; RTD Even More Unhinged Than It Usually Is

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, April 17.

• Turkey referendum: Vote expanding Erdogan powers ‘valid’ (More terrible news in the world…)
• Pence, in South Korea, Calls North Korea Missile Test ‘a Provocation’
• Pence: ‘Era of strategic patience’ on North Korea is over (What are the other options? Are they good or even acceptable options?)
• A ‘Cuban Missile Crisis in Slow Motion’ in North Korea (“A mix of national ambitions, personal ego and deadly weapons is creating opportunities for miscalculation.”)
• Blow: 100 Days of Horror (“The clock is being turned back. Vulnerable populations are under relentless attack by this administration. This is a war, and that is not hyperbole or exaggeration. While folks are hoping that some Russia-related revelation will emerge from the darkness to bring this administration to a calamitous conclusion, the administration is busy rebuilding and reinforcing the architecture of oppression in plain sight.”)
• EPA, Labor Dept. are targeted by industry leaders after Trump solicits policy advice (This is totally unacceptable.)
• While the world discusses North Korea missile launch, Trump complains about tax marches (“Rehashing the election, Trump believes the Tax Day protesters must’ve been paid.” Because that’s how Trump thinks, that people are motivated mostly by money, like he is, and have no principles they’re willing to fight for.)
• Does Trump want to be the president who broke health care? (“The president should be working to preserve Obamacare, not making reckless threats against it.”)
• Trump Voters in a Swing District Still Waiting for Change (Oh, they’re getting change…for the worse — much much worse.)
• The Tax Return Protests Worked. Trump Is Irritated and Lashing Out.
• Russia and China send ships to chase US carrier in waters off Korean peninsula as tensions mount
• White Supremacist Caught on Video Sucker Punching a Woman at Berkeley Protest (Trump’s America…)
• Krugman: Why Don’t All Jobs Matter? (“Why does public discussion of job loss focus so intensely on mining and manufacturing, while virtually ignoring the big declines in some service sectors?…it’s hard to escape the sense that manufacturing and especially mining get special consideration because, as Slate’s Jamelle Bouie points out, their workers are a lot more likely to be male and significantly whiter than the work force as a whole.”)
• Rachel Maddow’s excellent reporting on Trump and Russia is driving Fox News crazy
• Handicapping The Georgia 6 Special Election (Let’s hope Ossoff pulls off a miracle and gets 50% tomorrow. If not, then let’s win it in June!)
• Democrats welcome Bernie takeover (“More than a dozen Democrats interviewed by The Hill say the Vermont Independent has become a powerful and welcome voice for a party struggling to find its identity after a devastating defeat in 2016.”)
• Sweeping change at DOJ under Sessions (“In just two months as the nation’s top cop, Sessions has moved quickly to overhaul the policies and priorities set by the Obama administration.” All in very bad ways.)
• Editorial: We must curb gun violence (by U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott)
• Editorial: Corey Stewart is a joke. Tom Perriello could be a threat. (WTF? Every time you think the Republican Times-Disgrace editorial board can’t get more disgraceful, it goes ahead and does so. First, it claims that Corey Stewart’s neo-Confederate campaign is a “joke,” which it is in the sense that he won’t be elected, but is NOT in the sense that what he’s toying with is very dangerous and deadly serious. As for saying that Trump ran a campaign that stoked and appealed to bigotry, xenophobia, racism, etc., there’s no question whatsoever that he did, so how on earth is it a “threat” to say so? Again, this is why I put the word “disgrace” in the RTD’s name. They’re basically not much better than Breitbart, the Daily Caller, etc.)
• Democratic hopeful Tom Perriello comes to Blacksburg
• Metro isn’t hopeless: Here are four realistic reforms the region could agree on. (“How to save Metro with compromises on unions, taxes, governance and a compact.”)
• Virginia Tech community rallies a decade after campus shooting tragedy
• First solar farm proposed in Henrico County
• Gov. McAuliffe attends wreath laying at VT to honor 32 victims of massacre
• They hoped a streetcar would help revitalize this Va. community. Now Bailey’s Crossroads feels bypassed. (Yeah, great job Libby Garvey, John Vihstadt, etc. Not.)
• Showers to start and end week, mostly nice in between