Thursday News: Students Say “Enough” to Gun Violence; “Team of Sycophants”; “Stephen Hawking’s dire warning about what Trump’s policies will do to the Earth”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, March 15.

• “Trump Wants Them Out of There”: After Swinging the Axe at Tillerson, Trump Mulls What to Do with McMaster, Sessions, Jared, and Ivanka
• Trump Organization Tied to Deal to Keep Ex-Porn Star Quiet (This is like a million times worse than Bill Clinton’s consensual sex act with Monica Lewinsky, yet Republicans literally impeached Clinton over that, yet are doing NOTHING about Trump. Hmmmm.)
• How a Democrat Succeeds in Trump Country (“Mr. Lamb does not meet the test of ideological purity sought by his party’s progressive wing, but the future of the party may rest upon Democrats like him, who have the insight to understand Mr. Trump’s appeal and act accordingly. Ivory Soap Democrats won’t cut it in territory like the 18th.”)
• Kristof: Dictators Love Trump, and He Loves Them
• Stephen Hawking’s dire warning about what Trump’s policies will do to the Earth (“In his final years, the iconic scientist lent his voice to the fight against catastrophic climate change.”)
• Democrat’s Win in Pennsylvania Upends Parties’ Midterm Plans
• Second Trump Attorney Joins Stormy Daniels Case, Which Ostensibly Doesn’t Involve Him
• Lamb Win Could Point to Democratic Resurgence in Lily-white Districts
• 6 Weird and Worrying Moments From Trump’s Missouri Fundraising Speech (“Trump Said Democrat Conor Lamb Won in P.A. Because He’s ‘Like Trump'” Yeah, except that in almost every way, Lamb is NOT like Trump.)
• Senate passes rollback of banking rules enacted after financial crisis (“The bill, which passed 67 votes to 31, would free more than two dozen banks from the toughest regulatory scrutiny put in place after the 2008 global financial crisis. Despite President Trump’s promise to do a ‘big number’ on the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, the new measure leaves key aspects of the earlier law in place.”)
• The Democratic blue wave (“Republican candidates have been underperforming President Trump in special elections.”)
• ‘Enough’: US students come together in spectacular walkout to end gun violence (“About 3,000 schools across America protest in coordinated riposte”)
• Britain is punishing Putin. America should join in. (“Or his poison will continue to spread.” Absolutely. And if we had a real president, not the treasonous Trump, we would be doing just that!)
• Beware of Devin Nunes’s Next Move
• Andrew McCabe, a Symbol of Trump’s F.B.I. Ire, Faces Possible Firing (That’s bonkers.)
• The revolt in Trump country should petrify Republicans (“Many blue-collar voters in Pennsylvania’s special election seemed interested in coming back to their old Democratic loyalties.”)
• Larry Kudlow may have been more wrong about the economy than anyone alive (“And he’s Trump’s choice to advise him on exactly that subject.” As usual, only the “best people” – lol.)
• Trump’s new economic adviser is really bad at economics. Here are the receipts. (“Larry Kudlow has made some astoundingly bad predictions, even for a CNBC pundit.”)
• Weathering Trump’s skepticism, U.S. officials still fighting global warming (It’s not “skepticism,” it’s denial, and it’s a huge problem that the U.S. under Trump’s reign of idiocy is acting the way it is.)
• Prominent US neo-Nazi arrested on domestic violence charge (“Matthew Heimbach’s arrest is latest setback for white nationalists, as expert says movement appears to be ‘fraying’” Hahaha!)
• The ‘Enthusiasm Gap’ Could Turn A Democratic Wave Into A Tsunami (“According to the Cook Political Report’s David Wasserman, turnout in Democratic-leaning Allegheny County equaled 67 percent of presidential-year turnout, but voters turned out at only 60 percent of presidential levels in Republican-leaning Westmoreland County. That sort of turnout gap suggests that registered-voter polls could be underrating Democrats in this year’s midterms — and could turn a challenging year for Republicans into a catastrophic one.”)
• House Republicans said Russia didn’t try to help Trump win the election. Now they’re backtracking. (We need to vote EVERY SINGLE ONE of these traitorous Republicans out of office in November.)
• Trump’s Picks for State, CIA Hit Potential Roadblocks in Senate
• 2 “good guys with guns” accidentally fired them in schools on Tuesday (The entire concept that there are black-and-white “good guys” and “bad guys” is beyond oversimplistic, just brain dead really. Who listens to this crap???)
• GOP suddenly changes its story on Conor Lamb after his win (“What a difference a day makes.”)
• American Students Have Simple Demands (“Today was a proud day.”)
• The ‘Voter Fraud’ Myth Is Just Embarrassing at This Point (“And Kris Kobach, its patron saint, is getting embarrassed in court.” It’s not even a myth, it’s an intentional and insidious lie by Republicans aimed at suppressing voter turnout among people of color in particular.)
• Conor Lamb’s Victory Matters, and Paul Ryan Should Be Scared (“Republicans had the money. They had the gerrymandering. They still couldn’t do it.”)
• ‘I didn’t even know’: Trump boasts about making up information during meeting with Canada’s Trudeau
• Team of Sycophants (“Tillerson’s dismissal leaves the White House more than ever the conniving and dishonest court of an erratic, ill-informed, and willful monarch.”)
• Roger Stone Keeps Changing His Story About WikiLeaks (Roger Stone is a psycho.)
• Ex-Roanoke social worker’s account of why she was fired called into question (“A memo outlining reasons a Roanoke social services worker was fired last week cites performance problems but makes no mention of the concealed weapons permit she said led to her dismissal.” Shocker, eh?)
• Virginia social worker quickly became a right-wing gun martyr – but her story is falling apart (The gun nuts badly wanted to believe her story, but “Charlottesville’s Daily Progress newspaper reported Wednesday that the claims behind the firing of Chelsea “Storm” Durham, a 22-year-old gun rights advocate who was employed by the city of Roanoke’s social services department, were debunked by a memo she provided to a local news station.”)
• Virginia scientists reflect on Stephen Hawking’s life
• Virginia to adopt new ballot guidelines after confusing 2017 elections (“The draft guidelines recommend black ovals be provided for voters to fully fill in next to the candidates they support rather than boxes or arrows that can be filled in with checkmarks, such as the current ballots Arlington and elsewhere. They also recommend accurate instructional illustrations that demonstrate how to vote correctly.”)
• Editorial: In walkouts, students seek change
• UVa students, faculty march in solidarity with high school students
• Brown: Questions Continue in 6th District as Delegate Lists Withheld from Candidates (What a mess.)
• “It’s just gone too far”: Students, parents rally against gun violence in Roanoke
• Minority Rights Coalition holds solidarity march to end gun violence
• Department of Corrections fails family (“The General Assembly must increase DOC oversight, especially when prisoners die within the state’s prisons. It was a moment all mothers fear, presaged by a knock at the door. Two state troopers stood in the evening’s pall and informed Lysa Stevens her son was dead.”)
• Police investigate allegation of hazing by athletes at Fairfax County high school
• Editorial: Henrico’s bold move on transit
• Gusty winds neutralize today’s milder air, but it’s both cold and blustery Friday