Monday News: Trump Caves to NRA; “GOP has sold its soul on Russia”; “The Last Temptation”; Rural Community Banks

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, March 12.

• After Taunting Republicans for Being Afraid of NRA, Trump Gives In to NRA (Because Trump is terrified of the NRA too.)
• White House vows to help arm teachers and backs off raising age for buying guns (Yep, as expected Trump caved to his masters at the NRA.)
• Putin condemned for saying Jews may have manipulated U.S. election (Add this to the long list of reasons – including murdering his opponents – why Putin is heinous.)
• Trump under pressure over chaotic approach to North Korea nuclear talks (“Republicans: denuclearisation must be prerequisite for meeting”)
• Trump privately trashes Rick Saccone
• White House official says Trump was just having fun by smearing Maxine Waters (“The president likes making funny names.” He sure does, mostly about women and people of color. Misogynist and racist.)
• Mueller Weighs Putting Off Trump Obstruction Decision (“Delay would let him wrap up less explosive parts of inquiry”)
• The Last Temptation (“How evangelicals, once culturally confident, became an anxious minority seeking political protection from the least traditionally religious president in living memory”)
• An MSNBC political analyst is advising a GOP candidate with ties to white supremacists
• Trump’s abuses of power may not matter (“There is clearly a new level of corruption inside the White House. How many voters will simply ignore it?”)
• Republicans wage 11th-hour blitz in Pa. special election (“The GOP tried everything to save itself and Donald Trump from embarrassment — including calling Democrat Conor Lamb too conservative.”)
• When the President of the United States Calls You a ‘Son of a Bitch’
• The ‘attention-deficit-disorder’ Congress (“Donald Trump’s fondness for flitting from one topic to another is making it hard for lawmakers to focus, too.”)
• The Memo: Moment of truth for Trump in Pennsylvania
• Juan Williams: GOP has sold its soul on Russia
• Everything You Need To Know About The Pennsylvania 18th Special Election
• Where Is Barack Obama? (“The former president’s reticence in the Trump era is only hurting his party.”)
• Frustrated in Court, Trump Administration Seeks to Change the Federal Balance of Power (“If it has its way, judges could lose their ability to halt the government’s policies.” Very, very dangerous.)
• Trump loves winning, but in his presidency and business, California has gotten in his way
• White Evangelical Women, Core Supporters of Trump, Begin Tiptoeing Away
• Reddit and the Quest to Detoxify the Internet
• Veteran CIA agent on Trump: “Corruption like we’ve never seen before”
• Melania Knew (“America, this is not about partisanship; this is about principle. Each of us must proclaim that this situation is over the line, that women matter, that their voices and their stories matter, that propriety, honor and character matter.”)
• The Mideast Peace Plan Is Nearly Finished. Is It Dead on Arrival?
• Virginia Libertarians Nominate Candidate for U.S. Senate (“Convening in Richmond on Saturday, March 10, the Libertarian Party of Virginia nominated Matt Waters of Alexandria as its candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being contested in November.”)
• Editorial: Why don’t some Democrats care about community banks? (“…the main reason so many Democrats — including Kaine and Warner — have signed onto the revisions is their concern about small banks, what we often call ‘community banks.’…Warren doesn’t have many rural localities in Massachusetts to look out for; Warner and Kaine have vast swaths of Southwest and Southside Virginia. Those places may not count for many votes anymore (especially for Democrats) yet they’re there, nonetheless.”)
• Editorial: How vulnerable are Virginia’s Republican members of Congress? (Very.)
• A Virginia community steeped in Civil War lore grapples with a desire for change (“Residents and alumni debate renaming Lee-Davis High School in Mechanicsville.”)
• ‘This is so preventable’: Richmond-area students prepare to walk out of class after school shootings
• Editorial: Virginia needs alerts for missing adults
• Senator Dick Black will run for re-election and he has an opponent (Black is one of the most extreme Republicans in Virginia, period. He has to be defeated.)
• A death behind closed doors: Hampton prisoner’s suicide raises questions
• Our Views: Winter polls — A true portent, or ‘fake news’? (I’m linking to this Winchester Star editorial just to demonstrate how far-right and crazy that paper’s editorial board is.)
• Forest service imposes emergency closure along Mountain Valley Pipeline route
• Familiar face coaching No. 1 Virginia’s 1st-round opponent, UMBC
• Virginia Tech reaches NCAA tournament in back-to-back years for first time since ’80s (And my alma mater, UPenn, makes it for the first time in 11 years. Go Quakers!)
• Some wet snowflakes possible today. Colder than normal much of the week.