Friday News: Global Warming-Fueled Irma Worse Than Andrew?; “Dreamers, Liars and Bad Economics”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, September 9.

• Category 5 Irma stays on perilous path toward South Florida, now under hurricane warning (“Florida is at risk for their most destructive hurricane since Andrew in 1992.”)
• Florida braces for a direct hit from Irma with the ‘potential to catastrophically devastate our state’
• The Trump administration wants to ignore a major aspect of these hurricane disasters (“As horrible as Harvey was — and as Irma is shaping up to be — recognizing the role climate change is playing in this year’s superstorms must help guide recovery and resiliency efforts.”)
• The false equivalence plaguing our discussions of climate change (“The national GOP rejects science and any serious action. Everyone else in the U.S. and world is on the other ‘side'”)
• House heads toward passage of Harvey aid bill, debt hike
• Republicans jolted by, and Democrats wary of, Trump’s overtures to opposing party (I wouldn’t trust this @#$$! as far as I could throw the @#$$@!)
• Paul Krugman: Dreamers, Liars and Bad Economics (“In short, letting Dreamers work is all economic upside for the rest of our nation, with no downside unless you have something against people with brown skin and Hispanic surnames. Which is, of course, what this is all really about.” Yep, this is 100% racism/xenophobia.)
• Trump Wants to Eliminate the Debt Ceiling. He’s Right. (“Naturally, Paul Ryan wants to stop his one good idea.”)
• Donald Trump Can’t Pivot Out of the Trouble He’s In
• Mexico earthquake of magnitude 8.2 strikes off Pacific coast
• Upbeat Trump raves to Schumer, Pelosi about news coverage of their deal
• Exclusive: Mueller seeks interviews with WH staff over Trump Tower meeting statement
• Facebook’s role in Trump’s win is clear. No matter what Mark Zuckerberg says. (On balance, Facebook is really not a good thing…)
• Trump, Schumer agree to pursue plan to repeal the debt ceiling
• Trump’s betrayal of the Republican leaders should surprise no one (“The Democrats must be cautious with Trump now working with them.”)
• Trump’s deal with the Democrats saves us from disaster — but not for long (“The debt-ceiling agreement puts tough budget decisions off for three months; a long-term solution is something to work toward.”)
• Trump-GOP relationship reaches new low (Sad!)
• Bernie backers’ attacks on Democrats infuriate the party (“Demands for ideological purity are stoking divisions heading into the 2018 midterms and 2020 presidential election.”)
• Gingrich or Santorum as speaker? House conservatives plot mischief for the fall. (House conservatives are a pox on America.)
• Tillerson is working with China and Russia — very, very quietly (“Out of the spotlight, the secretary of state seems to be crafting a broad strategy aimed at stabilizing the situations in North Korea, Syria and Ukraine.”)
• Trump knocks out an awful Fed chair contender — for an awful reason (“Gary Cohn appears to be too anti-Nazi for the president to stomach.”)
• Rep. Charlie Dent, outspoken GOP moderate, will not seek reelection (“The retirement of the seven-term member will force Republicans to defend a third open seat in a swing district in a difficult midterm election cycle.”)
• Homeland Security Cancels Massive Roundups of Undocumented Immigrants (Bad idea.)
• Donald + Chuck + Nancy (“In the absolute worst sign for conservatives, the president has been basking in the positive reinforcement the media’s offering him. For the first time in forever, he has the mainstream media praising him—or at least laying off of him for a hot minute—over his surprising bipartisan turn.”)
• U.S. Courts Can, Should and Likely Will Block Trump’s DACA Phase-Out
• Trump’s deal with Democrats: Did he undermine Ryan and McConnell, or just himself? (“As usual, the president has no idea what he’s doing — and in this case he may have jeopardized his own survival”)
• Donald Trump Jr. says he did want Hillary Clinton dirt from Russia after all (Trump Jr. goes to Africa to murder beautiful endangered “big game.” No surprise he is evil in other ways too.)
• Republicans hit peak racial hypocrisy: Their condemnation of white supremacy is laughable (“Leading Republicans have fled from Trump’s racism. But their party has been a white-identity club for 50 years ” Bingo.)
• Court records: Wife of Trump Org ethics attorney arrested after tryst with Fauquier inmate (“Burchfield and the 23-year-old inmate were having sex in the car, according to a criminal complaint filed at Fauquier County General District Court.”)
• Donald Trump Jr.’s statement to Senate investigators is bad news for his dad (“Since July, the story has changed dramatically.”)
• All five living former presidents launch joint Harvey relief effort
• Right-wing media pushed false, racist narrative of widespread looting during Hurricane Harvey
  (Of course they do…it’s the right-wing media.)
• Mark Warner: Facebook discovery of ad sales to Russian company may be ‘tip of the iceberg’
• After Charlottesville, Colleges Vow to Do Something. But What?
• Ed Gillespie V. Ralph Northam: Nonpartisan Candidate Guide For 2017 Virginia Governor’s Race (Gillespie is hard right, pretty much.)
• At NAACP forum, Northam and Gillespie talk race, history and Charlottesville
• Virginia gubernatorial candidates tackle education, criminal justice reform during debate (Ugh, this post is worthless…so little information, no analysis, no video, nada.)
• Senator Tim Kaine speaks out on DACA
• Cory Gardner joins Tim Kaine in sponsoring a resolution rejecting white supremacists in wake of Charlottesville violence (“The measure urges Trump and his cabinet to use all available resources to address the threats posed by hate groups”)
• Pipeline opponents plan statewide protests at environmental agency offices across Virginia (“The first day of the protest will involve rallies on public sidewalks outside DEQ offices in Virginia Beach, Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Richmond, Abingdon, Glen Allen and Woodbridge. On the second day, faith leaders and “spiritual elders” will pray for McAuliffe ‘as he makes a decision of historic consequences very soon.’ The third day will feature a ‘non-violent sit-in,’ said Jamshid Bakhtiari, a spokesman for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.”)
• Editorial: Rural Virginia needs the Dreamers (“That’s why the congressmen from rural Virginia should be the loudest voices in favor of immigration. It’s the best pro-growth vote they could cast.”)
• Gillespie proposal would ease up, a bit, on the drug war (Need to ease up more than “a bit”; the “war on drugs” has been a disastrous failure.)
• Virginia’s elected officials need to pass hurricane legislation before – not after – a disaster (Virginia elected officials need to pass CLIMATE CHANGE legislation before – not after – a disaster.)
• Activists hang KKK ‘clown’ effigies from tree in a Virginia park (“The display was created by the same art collective that installed naked statues of Donald Trump in major cities last year.”)
• Contract talks collapse between Metro and its biggest union, triggering arbitration
• With Hurricane Irma looming, fast-thinking Virginia businessman files claim on NC’s new island (“Kenneth M. Barlow, who lives outside of Richmond, filed the claim with the Dare County Register of Deeds on Aug. 7. It cost him just $26, which is cheap for a nearly mile-long island … or sandbar, as some insist. The deed gives him ‘all right, title, interest and claim’ to the island.”)
• Neo-Confederate group says it plans to proceed with Monument Avenue rally despite governor’s temporary ban
• Stoney endorses candidate for Henrico Board of Supervisors, raising eyebrows
• Loudoun County, nearby jurisdictions hope to land Amazon’s ‘HQ2’
• Charlottesville to reopen Fourth Street on Saturday
• 70s and sunshine for days; keeping an eye on Irma into next week