by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, May 13.
- Trump’s words add fuel to questions about legality of firing Comey
- A Vast Global Hack Is Said to Use a Leaked N.S.A. Method (“Hackers using a tool stolen from the United States government conducted cyberattacks that aimed to blackmail computer users by seizing their data…A cybersecurity firm said it had recorded at least 45,000 attacks in as many as 74 countries.”)
- Congress Must Be A Check On Trump To Avoid A Constitutional Crisis (“…if Trump continues to interfere in the FBI’s activity, and Congress doesn’t step up its own investigation, we could end up in a true constitutional crisis.”)
- President Trump Craves Loyalty, but Offers None (“The chaos over the firing of James Comey reveals an isolated, insecure man.” The question remains how anyone could have supported him, let alone still CAN support him.)
- Trump has a long history of secretly recording calls, according to former associates
- Sessions’s new criminal charging policy would drag the country backward (Big time.)
- Boot: When Will Republicans Stand Up to Trump?
- If There Are White House Recordings, They Could Be Subpoenaed
- James Comey won’t testify after all: Former FBI director declines request from Congress
- Democrats are now openly talking about impeaching Donald Trump (And he richly deserves it; the problem is that Democrats alone don’t have the power to impeach this tinpot tyrant.)
- Trump’s tweet about ‘tapes’ of his conversations with Comey is a major tell (“Whenever Trump really starts to panic, he starts shouting about recordings that don’t actually exist.”)
- Senate panel investigating Russia outraged by Comey firing (“The FBI director’s canning has fortified members of both parties to pursue its probe of Trump campaign ties to Moscow.”)
- Jeff Sessions Is Going to Fill Those Prisons One Way or Another (Hey Jim Webb, still happy about your disgraceful, unforgivable support to Trump?)
- Amid FBI fallout, Trump escalates war against media and Comey (“The president took to Twitter Friday to ratchet up his rhetoric against two targets in a move one Democrat described as ‘unhinged.'”)
- An appalling chorus of Trumpcare apologetics exposes the farce of American democracy (“Nobody dies because they don’t have health care” and other clueless Republican excuses for the inexcusable”)
- The Senate Starts to Look at Trump’s Businesses
- Comey furious at lack of respect White House showed, sources say
- Trump threatens to cancel White House briefings because it is ‘not possible’ for his staff to speak with ‘perfect accuracy’ (Translation: it’s not possible for pathological liar Trump or his flacks to tell the truth.)
- White House Staff React in Real-Time as Trump Tweets: ‘Jesus’ (“Flacking for a man who can change his mind at any moment is proving to be a tactical minefield for the White House press office.”)
- Will Trump get away with what Nixon could not? (“It is not plausible that Flynn talked to the Russians without Trump knowing.”)
- Trump’s top aides must go (“Comey’s firing and its aftermath demand a special counsel — and a sweep of White House officials.”)
- Rod Rosenstein has one chance to save himself (“The once-renowned lawman has become a national joke.”)
- The Week that Could Make—Or Break—America (“I truly do believe that good will prevail, but this week proved what many of us had long predicted and feared—that Trump is a threat to the Constitution.” Yeah, I’m not optimistic at all, given Republicans’ almost complete unwillingness to put patriotism before party and power.)
- ‘It Took My Breath Away’: Chris Wallace Offers Stunning, Must-Watch Critique of Trump White House
- Virginia AG: State board can regulate carbon pollution
- Warner: Comey won’t testify to intel panel next week
- Protests against removing Confederate monuments are not really about history (“They invoke a toxic nostalgia for a time and place of white supremacy.” Agreed.)
- McAuliffe, GOP lawmakers again battle over veto power, Medicaid
- Is it a veto or not? McAuliffe and GOP fight over language blocking Medicaid expansion. (“The battle could determine whether McAuliffe can pull off expansion in final months.”)
- Fifth Democrat jumps into race to challenge Rep. Barbara Comstock
- Schapiro: “If it were a movie, it wouldn’t be believable,” Warner says of Russia probe
- Dominion Energy shareholders nearly pass global warming resolution (“Investors wanted the company to assess how it fits into the 2016 Paris Agreement that aims to keep the global temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius”)
- Before and after AHCA vote, threats against Virginia Republicans (Absolutely unacceptable.)
- Glenn Davis, GOP candidate for LG, asks state to investigate ads from rival Jill Vogel
- Fired Va. social services manager says state made him scapegoat for SNAP investigation
- Norfolk considers digging down to add thousands of seats to Scope arena
- Officials: Teamwork, collaboration key to economic growth for coastal region
- Editorial: Why do we need a lieutenant governor? (“The lieutenant governor has only two functions. To preside over the state Senate (breaking ties when necessary) and to make sure the governor is still breathing…Five states don’t have a lieutenant governor at all, and they seem to do just fine: Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, and Wyoming…It’s absurd that Reeves is going around talking about how as lieutenant governor he’d fight terrorism”)
- Rain ends this morning; one more day of cool weather before a warm-up arrives
