Wednesday News: FBI Rebuts White House on Porter; Senate Hits “Wall” in Immigration Debate; Kirk Cox Laughably Claims He’s Being “Bipartisan”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, February 14.

• FBI rebuttal of Porter timeline sows more chaos for Kelly and the White House
• Corruption Charges Suggested for Netanyahu
• U.S. inflation test looms large, dollar falls
• McConnell keeps firm grip on immigration debate (“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who promised what was expected to be a free-for-all immigration debate, is keeping his hand firmly on the wheel…By limiting the debate to a few days and expressing his preference for a GOP proposal that mirrors President Trump’s four-point immigration plan — which doesn’t have the votes to pass — McConnell has significantly influenced the process in the upper chamber.”)
• Once-sleepy state races heat up as Democrats score a series of surprising wins (“Democrat Margaret Good’s win Tuesday night in Florida’s 72nd state House district marked the 36th red-to-blue switch in a legislative race since the start of 2017. While some Republicans admit worry, others insist the trend is overstated and simply a reflection of Democrats heavily outspending the GOP.”)
• Democrats just flipped a Republican-held Florida state legislative seat in a district Trump won (“That’s the 36th special election pickup since Trump’s election.”)
• NY Times Hires, Quickly Fires Journalist With History of Homophobic Tweets (“The esteemed paper announced Tuesday that it had hired tech writer Quinn Norton. Within hours, they ditched her—as a history of using gay slurs and the n-word surfaced on Twitter.” The NY Times has really deteriorated.)
• Longtime Trump attorney says he made $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels with his money (Again, just imagine the reaction from Fox, etc. if this same headline was “Longtime Obama attorney…” or “Longtime Clinton attorney…”)
• The Economy Is Soaring, And Now So Is The Deficit. That’s A Bad Combination.
• Trump won’t stop trying to keep America white (“The Trump-backed immigration proposal, combined with other recent moves, could extend the white hegemony that brought the president to power.”)
• Trump’s Budget Has No Purpose Except Fear
• Trump’s reverse merger with the GOP is complete (“The values of the hollowed-out Republican Party have successfully been taken over.”)
• Paul Ryan’s Suicide Mission (“The Speaker of the House has promised to stick with conservatives on immigration. But will he trade his gavel for a breakthrough deal?”)
• The stakes in the DACA debate could not be higher
• Release the Democratic memo, Republicans, and prove you’re really transparent (“After sensible redactions have been made to the Democrats’ memo on FBI surveillance, the GOP should push for its immediate release.”)
• White House reels as FBI director contradicts official claims about alleged abuser
• Scoop: Trump threatens veto on immigration deal
• The White House’s story on Rob Porter is falling apart
• How Glenn Greenwald Made the Russia Scandal Disappear (I refuse to read The Intercept or anything by Greenwald.)
• Senate Intel Leaders Look for Better Security Before 2018 Primaries
• Rob Porter is no anomaly: He’s the perfect symbol of Trumpism (“In a White House characterized by vicious bigotry, sexism and lying, Porter only stands out because he got caught”)
• Trump’s Passion for Tariffs Faces Stiff Headwinds From His Party
• The right-wing roots of Trump’s “Blue Apron” SNAP attack (“The outrageous SNAP proposal in President Trump’s new budget is built upon decades of conservative lies about welfare” And of course loving corporate welfare.)
• Why is The New York Times publishing discredited gun researcher John Lott? (The NY Times is desperate for clicks/eyeballs and is letting its standards deteriorate significantly.)
• Sean Hannity says Obama’s portrait is sexually perverse (“The right-wing host claims the portrait contains ‘secret sperm cells.'” Yep, Hannity is completely deranged.)
• WATCH: Trump ignores repeated questions about domestic abuse victims (“He did so while a House Republican congratulated him for his ‘perfect tone.'”)
• Dreamers deadlock: Congress at impasse as pressure mounts to act (“Senators voice doubts that any plan to keep the Daca program alive has the votes to pass, as the deadline to act approaches”)
• Sarah Sanders is at her worst at a strange time — when she’s talking about respect for women (“Watching the press secretary at Monday’s briefing, the words that came to mind were these: A new low. Yes, a new rock bottom from the podium at the Trump White House press briefing.”)
• Editorial: A welcome change to felony charges (“A deal Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, reached with Republican leaders in the General Assembly would raise that level to $500. Democrats had hoped to set it at $1,000, which would have been more appropriate.”)
• Federal agency OKs start of pipeline construction in Giles County (Grrrrr.)
• Virginia General Assembly passes unusual bipartisan plan to help impoverished areas
• Virginia House passes Medicaid work requirements at session midpoint (“Republicans have killed most Democratic priorities, but Medicaid expansion remains on the table.”)
• Kirk Cox column: Bipartisanship distinguishes House of Delegates decisions (Yeah, if by “bipartisanship” he means Republicans killing almost everything proposed by Democrats.)
• Bert Mizusawa, retired major general and former Trump adviser, to run for U.S. Senate in Va.
• Jackson: Utility legislation will help grow Virginia’s economy (Suuuuure.)
• Metro funding, ban on drivers’ handheld phone use advance on Va. assembly’s ‘crossover day’ (“In a major milestone for Metro funding, each house of Virginia’s General Assembly approved on Tuesday more than $100 million per year for the system.”)
• Alexandria council loans $63,000 to stabilize slave-trading museum
• Norfolk’s Thelma Drake nominated to lead Federal Transit Administration in trying time for transit
• The toll on I-66 inside the Beltway hit $46.50 on Tuesday
• Richmond has $150 million for school construction. Now what? (“Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney secured City Council approval on Monday for his proposal to fund construction of city schools by way of a meals tax increase. Now comes the hard part.”)
• Warmer today with chance of evening showers; we could top 70 degrees tomorrow!