Friday News: French Election Craziest Since U.S. Election; GOP’s “Comically Bad” Health-Care Plan; “Putting Metro back on track”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, April 21.

• Deadly Paris shooting could influence voters on eve of key French election
• France Is About to Vote in the Craziest Election the World Has Seen Since, Well, November
• Trump holds his tongue on French vote (“The president’s silence has surprised some who worried he or his strategist Steve Bannon might overtly back Marine Le Pen in Sunday’s presidential election.”)
• Trump Rails Against Trade Deals, From Steel to Milk (Note that the Republican Party has been pro-free-trade basically forever.)
• The GOP’s latest health-care plan is comically bad (“The proposal reads like a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit.” Republicans simply have no ability to govern the country. We need to “repeal and replace” – them!)
• Krugman: The Balloon, the Box and Health Care (“The answer, surely, is that it began as a cynical ploy; at first, the Republicans hoped to kill health reform before it really got started. And now they’ve trapped themselves: They can’t admit that they have no ideas without, in effect, admitting that they were lying all along. And the result is that they just keep trying to stuff the balloon into that box.”)
• Pursuing a Victory, White House Aims to Revive Health Bill
• Palin Joins Trump for Dinner, and She Brings Friends (Really, really sick. Ted Nugent is seriously one of the most horrible people in America, and Palin is…well, Palin.)
• The Trump administration may be deporting ‘the good ones’ (“Statistics on noncriminal undocumented immigrants show roundup rumors threaten to become reality”)
• Fox’s conduct is even more contemptible than O’Reilly’s (“The network deserves the same flaying its host is getting.” Fox is a disgrace to America.)
• How Trump Blew Up the Conservative Media (“The right-wing media won the presidency—but lost control of their audience. Inside the new power dynamics roiling Fox, Breitbart and the Wall Street Journal.”)
• Broken health care promises: The new Republican plan to gore pre-existing conditions protections (“Republicans are desperate to repeal and replace Obamacare, so they’re toying with screwing over the sick”)
• Was Ted Nugent’s White House Visit a Joke? (“Unfortunately, no. It was loaded with meaning.”)
• Federal Court: Texas Intentionally Gerrymandered Its Districts to Dilute Minority Votes
• Fox News is paying Bill O’Reilly tens of millions as punishment for sexually harassing women
• Sen. Warner on Trump and Russia: ‘We have to find out the truth’
• Sessions ‘Amazed’ Judge On ‘An Island In The Pacific’ Blocked Trump Travel Ban
• Trump’s nuclear option on Obamacare, explained (“He might blow up the law — or himself.”)
• Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions ramp up their crusade against black and brown Americans
• Editorial: Trump’s budget director doesn’t understand the Appalachian economy
• Waiting for Goodlatte: Some residents frustrated by congressman’s absence (“The longtime Republican lawmaker from Virginia doesn’t do town halls — not anymore.” BADlatte!)
• Manassas Mayor Hal Parrish withdrawing from delegate’s race (Now,
  time to beat Jackson Miller yet again.)
• Virginia governor commutes sentence of death row prisoner (“Teleguz will now serve life in prison without a chance of parole.”)
• Editorial: Is Tom Perriello the Ken Cuccinelli of 2017? (Yet another “WTF” from the RTD. Who even knows what they’re ranting and raving about most of the time.)
• Portsmouth’s treasurer race draws another candidate after Democrat drops out
• Metro’s GM: The System Needs $15.5 Billion And A New Business Plan
• Editorial: The stain Burfoot leaves behind
• Union Slams Metro Plan, Accuses WMATA of ‘Bad Faith’ (“Metro General Manager Paul Wiedefeld wants to slash pensions and force employees to compete with contractors.”)
• Putting Metro back on track
• Metro, school needs likely to push Arlington tax rate up 1.5 cents, board says (“Arlington board to vote Saturday on small tax hike that would fund transit and school growth.”)
• Arlington official criticized for remark about slain U.Va. student Yeardley Love (“School board member James Lander apologizes for suggesting lacrosse player should have removed herself from abusive relationship.” Among the MANY other problems with Lander’s comments, the fact is that Love HAD removed herself from the abusive relationship!)
• Overnight storm leaves damage and cleanup for many in D.C. area
• Summerlike and a bit damp today before a cooler, wetter weekend