by Lowell
Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, January 3.
- Far side of the moon: China’s Chang’e 4 probe makes historic touchdown (“Lander sends back first close-up shot of previously unexplored side of the moon”)
- Brazil’s Bolsonaro hands farming interests greater sway over Amazon lands (That’s a disaster. Also another reason to stop eating beef.)
- Jair Bolsonaro launches assault on Amazon rainforest protections (Bolsonaro will be an absolute disaster on many fronts, with his anti-environmental insanity ranking at the top.)
- Pelosi to make history with second Speakership
- The survivor: Nancy Pelosi makes history — again
- Trump’s Shutdown Is Not About Border Security (“About 800,000 federal employees, and the citizens who depend on them, are being hurt for an empty political stunt.”)
- Second White House meeting scheduled as shutdown drags toward week three
- Source: Trump tells Schumer he can’t accept Dems’ offer because he’d ‘look foolish’ (Worst president ever. By far.)
- Harry Reid: Trump is ‘amoral’ and ‘the worst president we’ve ever had’ (I’d say immoral, but otherwise agree with Harry Reid.)
- Democratic leaders face backlash if they compromise on wall
- The Real Shutdown Fight Might Only Be Getting Started (“Even though the government has been closed for nearly two weeks, the political pain is just now being felt, and no party is budging.”)
- Here’s Nancy Pelosi’s plan to corner Trump and trap Mitch McConnell using his own legislation (“By passing this bill in the Senate but blocking it in the House on Trump’s order, Republicans boxed themselves in. They cannot easily claim that their own bill they just voted for in the Senate is soft on border security. Nor can they pin the blame on Pelosi for not retaking up the alternative House bill that included Trump’s wall funding, because that bill was rejected by the Senate.”)
- Trump’s acting attorney general just humiliated himself with a display of servile groveling (Disgusting.)
- Democrats Are Fighting About Whether Deficits Matter. That’s Good. (“The Democratic Party is no longer united in its reverence for balanced budgets.”)
- Republicans Could Cancel Primaries to Protect Trump From a Challenge (Republicans hate democracy, part infinity.)
- Trump suggests Vatican proves border wall is moral (“Trump on Wednesday suggested that a border wall can’t be immoral because there are walls around the Vatican.” Yep, he’s an absolute imbecile.)
- Trump Says Mattis Resignation Was ‘Essentially’ a Firing, Escalating His New Front Against Military Critics
- Sexism Claims From Bernie Sanders’s 2016 Run: Paid Less, Treated Worse
- Bernie 2016 Staffers: Sexual Harassment Claims Were Brushed Off, Ignored (The more we learn about Bernie 2016, the worse it looks.)
- Bernie Sanders says he was not aware of claims of sexism in 2016 campaign (“‘We will do better’: Senator responds to reports that former female staffers experienced pay discrimination and harassment”)
- As Trump’s sparring partner, Pelosi respects the office but not the man (“Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the incoming House speaker, faces a novel challenge in balancing her esteem for the Oval Office against her contempt for its occupant.”)
- A defensive Trump calls a Cabinet meeting and uses it to boast, deflect and distract (“The session quickly became a 95-minute stream-of-consciousness defense of President Trump’s administration and worldview, filled with self-aggrandizement, revisionist history and falsehoods.”)
- Mitt Romney’s Noisy Arrival in Trump’s Washington (“The incoming senator from Utah never wanted to define himself by his relationship with Trump. But with his new op-ed, Romney has signaled that a confrontation with the president is inevitable.”)
- Romney broadside stokes Trump camp’s suspicions about 2020
- RNC chair McDaniel sides with Trump over uncle Mitt Romney
- Why Guys Like Mitt Romney Don’t Scare Donald Trump (“The president has taken the measure of his rivals and found them wanting.”)
- Can Anyone Succeed As Trump’s Chief of Staff?
- MSNBC’s and CNN’s focus on Romney’s Trump op-ed shows how little the media has learned (“In a 6-hour period, CNN and MSNBC each spent nearly an hour discussing the op-ed”)
- Nikki Haley praises Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro after he targets LGBT on 1st day in office (“In her final days as United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley tweets praise for Brazil’s new far right president” Why does anyone admire Nikki Haley? I really don’t get it.)
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren says Trump is what happens when ‘corruption invades a system’ (“The Massachusetts lawmaker called the president an ‘accelerant’ to a corrupt system in her interview on MSNBC’s ‘The Rachel Maddow Show.'”)
- Electric cars may already be making gas cars as obsolete as ‘flip phones’, experts say (“Buying a gas car today would leave you with a financial “albatross” that has little resale value, warns Wall Street Journal.” It’s kinda like the lunacy of building new fracked-gas pipelines.)
- Five Ways to Look at Apple’s Surprise Bad News (“None of them is good.”)
- Fox News panel attacks Elizabeth Warren for drinking a beer on Instagram Live: “She’s playing the gender card” (The Fox freak show continues: “Why beer? Why that beverage? Is that to appeal to, like, male voters?”)
- Ryan Zinke has resigned as interior secretary (He should be investigated and prosecuted, if appropriate – which it almost certainly is.)
- The Trump Cabinet Introduces the Universal String Theory of Grift-Plus-Incompetence (“Nothing But The Best People remains hilarious.”)
- The Only Mantle Mitt Romney Might Seize Is Being the Biggest Fake in American Politics (“His old running mate is retiring. Someone’s got to do it.”)
- When ex-spies go rogue by becoming lawmakers (Abigail Spanberger “would like to serve on the House Agriculture Committee, but, of course, also hopes for a spot on the Intelligence Committee.”)
- The Ugly Nihilism of Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Comments About Why It Doesn’t Matter if Trump Is Immoral
- Terry McAuliffe: To beat Trump, Democrats must counter his lies with realistic solutions
- House Ethics Committee says Rep. Thomas Garrett misused official resources, was ‘trying to run out the clock’ on probe (“In one text message to the congressman’s chief of staff, Flanna Garrett wrote: ‘NONE of what I asked to be done with the phone was done. Not a f****** thing. I am going to sit down with some of your staff and tell them how f****** disrespectful and STUPIDLY shortsighted they are for completely disregarding every thing [sic] I asked them to do.'”)
- David Toscano: Atlantic Coast Pipeline “Behemoth” Is “Leaking Oil,” Is “No Longer Worth the Investment Needed to Keep It Going.”
- DEQ Director David Paylor Lied to the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board – and Now We Have the Smoking Gun
- Virginia senator who twice met Syria’s Bashar al-Assad will not seek reelection (As usual, the WaPo does NOT link to the original source, which was The Bull Elephant blog. Note that here at Blue Virginia, we DO link to original sources, because that’s Journalistic Ethics 101.)
- State Sen. Black to retire (This article doesn’t link to OR credit The Bull Elephant for its scoop. Ugh.)
- One of the loudest Republican supporters of Russia and Assad announces his retirement (This article also doesn’t link to or credit the original source.)
- POLL: Does Va. State Sen. Dick Black’s Retirement Make It Easier or Harder for Dems to Win SD13 in 2019? (With 153 votes, 33% say that it depends on who Rs find to replace Black, 28% say it makes things a bit easier for Dems, 22% say it makes things a bit harder for Dems, 11% say it makes things a LOT harder for Dems, and 7% say it makes things a LOT easier for Dems.)
- LOOKING AHEAD: Bills filed affecting elections and campaign finance
- Carroll Foy: repeal of crime of “habitual drunkard” alcohol purchase
- Former congressman Brat lands job at Liberty University business school (Beyond parody as always for Brat and for “Liberty” “University.”)
- Jerry Falwell Jr. and Dave Brat: A Match Made in…NOT Heaven, That’s For Sure
- Virginia House Democratic Leader Filler-Corn Announces 2019 Staff Appointments
- J. Daryl Byler column: On criminal justice reform, Virginia should move past Congress’ ‘First Step’ (“J. Daryl Byler is executive director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University.”)
- Editorial: Goodlatte’s legacy, part two: Unexpected things (The whitewash of BADlatte’s horrendous record continues.)
- Svoboda: Virginia’s energy needs must be met with renewable energy and efficiency, not polluting fossil fuel power plants (Exactly!)
- Gregory: Here’s an easy way to cut carbon emissions on I-81 (“Excess fuel consumption and air emissions can be significantly reduced by building stiffer roads and maintaining smoother pavements.”)
- Northam’s budget would give VCU first call on ABC site
- Could a paper and plastic bag tax come to Virginia grocery stores? (It should, immediately; this is a massive “negative externality.”)
- Christian Dorsey Named 2019 County Board Chair (Go Christian!)
- Editorial: Gamble on Pamunkey casino could pay off
- John Uhrin files petition to stop opponent from taking a seat on the Virginia Beach City Council
- Pharrell-backed Virginia Beach surf park could open in 2023, but hurdles remain (“Developers could break ground on a $328 million surf park and entertainment hub next year at the former Dome site, with a possible opening date in 2023, Deputy City Manager Ron Williams said on Wednesday.”)
- Dry today but rain returns late Friday into Saturday
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