Thursday News: “Wild,” “Madcap” White House Meeting on Guns; “Hope [Hicks] Against Hope”; Virginia Budget Negotiating Teams Set

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, March 1.

• Hope Hicks to Leave Post as White House Communications Director (Trump will need to find another “white lie” person.)
• Hope Hicks Didn’t Break Overnight (“Hicks, meanwhile, was never going to be able to make a clean break. The source said that she wanted to leave when she was far enough removed from her own scandals that scandal wouldn’t be the obvious explanation for leaving.”)
• More Than 30 Trump Aides Lose Top Secret Clearance, Sources Say (Can you imagine if this had happened in a Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton administration? The right would be going apeshit, screaming “TREASON!” and “IMPEACH!” at the top of their lungs.)
• The long odds against gun legislation in Congress (“Of the more than 360 access-related gun bills proposed by Congress since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, only one has become law, according to an Axios analysis of congressional bill data from ProPublica.”)
• The fallout from the wild White House gun-control meeting (“Yesterday’s White House meeting on gun control was a stunning display of Trump leaving his party behind and siding instead with Democrats. Senate Republicans immediately dismissed Trump’s directive to put together a broader gun package, instead hoping — and assuming — that he’ll change his mind and come around to their side of the issue.”)
• The Sharp Rise and Sudden Departure of Hope Hicks (“The communication director’s surprise resignation comes amid harsh scrutiny, and deprives the president of one of his closest and longest-serving aides.”)
• The GOP’s Tax-Cut Narrative Is Already Unraveling (“The law’s role in boosting wages was overblown. Its deficits are scaring investors. And fears that it might accelerate inflation could push the Federal Reserve to choke off growth.”)
• Hope Against Hope (“Hope Hicks is kidding herself if she thinks that her tenure in the Trump White House will be judged only for harmless, situational untruths”)
• Scoop: Besieged Sessions dines with Rosenstein, Francisco
• Vladimir Putin threatens US arms race with new missiles announcement (“Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia had developed and was testing a new line of strategic, nuclear-capable weapons that would be able to outmanoeuvre US antiballistic missile defences, suggesting a new arms race between Moscow and the west.” Not good.)
• The Growing List Of Trump Administration Departures Will Make Your Head Spin (“A revolving door never spun so fast.”)
• NRA’s Warnings Have Come True: A President Wants To Unilaterally Disarm Americans (Except that it’s NOT Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, it IS Donald Trump! LOL)
• It’s Time for ‘Law-Abiding Gun Owners’ to Earn Their Keep (“Show the country what you’re made of and tell the NRA what you actually want.”)
• Trump’s Gun Control Meeting Was a Nightmare for Republicans
• They Were Trained for This Moment (“How the student activists of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High demonstrate the power of a comprehensive education.”)
• Dow drops 380 points, ending 10 consecutive months of gains
• Wayne LaPierre’s Unconstitutionalism (“None of the rights in the Bill of Rights are absolute.”)
• Has Jared Kushner Conspired to Defraud America?
• Robert Mueller Has Trump and Family in His Crosshairs
• Kushner group got millions in loans after a White House meeting: report
• Trump: ‘Take the guns first, go through due process second’ (That, of course, is not how things work in a country where we have rule of law. Something Trump doesn’t understand — at all.)
• Senate GOP rejects Trump’s call to go big on gun legislation
• Could GOP inaction on guns hand the House to Dems?
• The Loneliest Man in Washington Just Got Lonelier (“With the departure of Hope Hicks, President Trump loses one of his closest aides.”)
• Walmart says it is raising the age requirement for gun and ammunition purchases to 21
• The Midterms Could Set Trump On A Path Toward Impeachment
• President Trump bucks the Republican Party on gun control: full transcript (“Trump appeared to enthusiastically endorse several gun control measures in a roundtable with Congress members.” Bizarre.)
• NY Times reporter asks editor if its columnists are misrepresenting facts (“‘Equivocal bulls**t’: Editor who hired climate denier offers weak defense to staff.”)
• Lawmakers Want to Know Why the Trump Administration Demanded Sensitive Oil Data
• Trump’s madcap, unscripted gun control meeting with lawmakers, explained (“Trump had Democrats cheering in his bipartisan gun control meeting.”)
• Mary Margaret Whipple: Recognizing Virginia’s founding mothers
• Pipeline protesters are sitting in trees along its route in an effort to stop construction
• Connolly wants probe of FBI HQ decision
• Gov. Northam announces Va. state parks stimulate more than $226 million in 2017
• Legislation reinstating coal tax credits passes General Assembly(Veto.)
• Hundreds meet with Sen. Tim Kaine as students return to Fla. school where 17 were killed
• Budget negotiating teams set as Virginia Senate names conferees (“The Senate team will be led by Norment and Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, who chair the Senate Finance Committee. The other members are Republican Sens. Steve Newman of Lynchburg, Frank Ruff of Mecklenburg County, and Frank Wagner of Virginia Beach, and Democratic Sens. Dick Saslaw and Janet Howell, both of Fairfax County. Only Saslaw and Howell voted for Medicaid expansion as part of the proposed House budget.”)
• Virginia Budget Negotiations Forge Ahead, in Secret (“Virginia’s Senate and House have written their versions of the two-year state budget. But there’s a problem. The two budgets are about $400 million apart. A handful of lawmakers are now tasked with hammering out the difference, and all the wrangling happens behind closed doors.”)
• Commentary: Budget Imbalance in Virginia
• Norment’s Historic Triangle tax bill heads to governor’s desk
• Editorial: America’s most successful teen activist was a Virginian
• Threats against Fairfax Co. school made to impress a girl: Police
• Valley lawmakers irked by response to I-81 aid request
• Settling-out process reduces howls about NOVA tolls — and maybe on I-64, too
• AG’s office joins exoneration requests in extraordinary case of Virginia man convicted of bank robberies for which real robber confessed
• Fish fight: Governor’s bill on menhaden catch limits advances, barely
• Take Metro or I-66? Each had its own issues during Wednesday morning’s rush
• Confederate flag controversy continues to escalate in Stafford
• Opinion/Editorial: Statues, law and mixed motivations (“A judge’s order to Charlottesville to remove tarps covering the Robert E. Lee statue is not an ideological statement. It is simply a juridical one.”)
• Senate advances bill to bring betting machines to Colonial Downs in New Kent
• Arlington GOP Wants More Info About County’s Amazon HQ2 Bid (I actually agree with them on this one.)
• Triangular economics (“A small increase in sales tax for Williamsburg, James City and York counties, that will be partially used to benefit the Historic Triangle sites at a time when the local tourism industry is struggling.”)
• A little light rain today, then a hazardous high-wind event is likely Friday