Tuesday News: “Trump’s Claims About Biden Aren’t ‘Unsupported.’ They’re Lies.”; “Pompeo Took Part in Ukraine Call”; “Public Moves Clearly in Favor of Impeachment”; “Republicans’ rush to undermine whistleblower reeks of desperation”

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, October 1.

• Boris Johnson’s Plan for EU Divorce Deal Hits Trouble (“The British PM hasn’t revealed his strategy and it’s already getting pushback.”)
• Hong Kong police fire water cannon, tear gas as protests spread
• China marks Communist Party’s 70th anniversary with grand show of power
• Hong Kong Protester Shot by Police Amid Widespread Violence
• Trump’s ‘favorite dictator’ panics (“Sissi’s reaction has been telling. In the past 10 days, he has launched what looks like a panicked attempt to prevent the protests from swelling. According to human rights groups, more than 2,000 people have been arrested, from known critics of the regime to random young people swept up on the streets.”)
• Jamal Khashoggi: A missing voice, a growing chorus
• House Subpoenas Giuliani, Trump’s Lawyer, for Ukraine Records
• Pompeo Took Part in Ukraine Call, Official Says
• Trump Pressed Australian Leader to Help Barr Investigate Mueller Inquiry’s Origins
• Attorney General Barr personally asked foreign officials to aid inquiry into CIA, FBI activities in 2016
• Trump may have lied to Mueller, House Democrats say
• McConnell Envisions Senate Trial if House Passes Articles of Impeachment
• Trump’s Claims About Biden Aren’t ‘Unsupported.’ They’re Lies. (“The president’s accusations turn reality on its head and the media should say so.” Agreed; words like “unsupported” are cowardly drivel.)
• Ukrainians named in whistleblower report say Trump’s lawyer was clear about his hunt for dirt on Bidens
• Fact check: Were whistleblower rules changed before Ukraine complaint? “’The law was not changed. What happened was a form was changed. A form cannot change the law,’ one attorney told NBC News.”)
• Trump’s false claim that the rules for whistleblowers were recently changed
• As Trump lashes out at whistleblower, analysts fear law offers meager protection (Need to strengthen that law big time.)
• CNN Poll: Support for impeaching Trump rises among independents and Republicans
• Support for impeachment surges amid Trump-Ukraine scandal
• Public Moves Clearly in Favor of Impeachment (“A Quinnipiac poll shows a similar picture: 52% support an inquiry, 45% do not. On actually removing the President from office, the public is evenly divided: 47% to 47%… Only a week earlier, 57% opposed removal from office while only 37% approved, according to Quinnipiac.”)
• Bill Clinton Had a Strategy. Trump Is Doing the Opposite. (“During the Lewinsky scandal, Clinton focused on doing his job. Trump isn’t even pretending.”)
• Trump allies concerned he doesn’t understand gravity of impeachment fight
• Trump’s ‘Civil War’ Quote Tweet Is Actually Grounds for Impeachment, Says Harvard Law Professor
• GOP maps out impeachment defense amid messaging stumbles (Why is the GOP defending the indefensible? Why not just cut Trump loose at this point?)
• Trump’s Misconduct Could Become the New Norm (“Even if they won’t vote to impeach or convict the president, members of Congress should still condemn it—before his misdeeds become standard operating procedure.” Right, that’s the bare minimum for Republicans.)
• Trump floundering with impeachment defense (“The President’s rare struggle to control the narrative dims any hopes he can avoid an impeachment vote”)
• Trump and Giuliani Connections to Ukraine Corruption Go Back Years (“The House wants a trove of documents and communications from Sam Kislin, who helped Trump stave off bankruptcy and helped fund Giuliani’s political campaigns.”)
• William Barr and Mike Pompeo Are Now Fully Implicated in Trump’s Trainwreck (“The office of the president*, the Department of State, and the Department of Justice are now all involved.”)
• Rudy Giuliani Is the Loosest Cannon on the Deck. Democrats Just Served Him a Subpoena.
• The irony of Trump demanding to meet his accuser, explained (“There are almost two dozen women who have gone on record with accusations.”)
• Hillary Clinton’s Emails Are a Trump Scandal Now (“Reviving the most useful issue of 2016 looks bad for the president in 2019.”)
• Deflection frenzy: Republicans’ rush to undermine whistleblower reeks of desperation (“Kitchen sink counterattack: In their battle against a broadening scandal, Republicans are just making sh*t up”)
• Is William Barr Going After Trump’s ‘Deep State’ Enemies? (Barr is evil.)
• Why Trump Tweeted About Civil War (“What began as trollish shorthand for political polarization has gone mainstream.” Demented.)
• What’s the Matter With Republicans? (“Trump has given them another chance to break away. Why won’t they take it?”)
• The Floodgates Open on Trump (“In the wake of the whistle-blower complaint, the President’s disregard of democratic norms has reached a point of crisis. Will more people come forward with damning information?”)
• Would Warren Or Sanders Move To The Center Against Trump?
• Bernie Sanders raises $25.3 million in third quarter for 2020 campaign (“U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders raised $25.3 million in the third quarter of 2019 for his White House run, his campaign said on Tuesday, piling up 1.4 million individual donations and surpassing the $18 million he raised in the second quarter.”)
• Pete Buttigieg Raises $19.1 Million in the Third Quarter
• Cory Booker Raises $1.7 million in 10-Day Span to Stay in 2020 Race
• The most damaging witness against Trump is Trump
• There’s another whistleblower complaint. It’s about Trump’s tax returns.
• Jeff Flake: Fellow Republicans, there’s still time to save your souls
• James Madison warned us that Trump is dangerously un-American (“James Madison warned us that somebody as reckless as Donald Trump might come along.”)
• Trump’s tweets distract from the Ukraine matter, but we can’t ignore them (“The only response to the president’s attempt to cow the country into letting him get away with abusing his office is not to let him get away with abusing his office. Congress and the nation must make Mr. Trump answer for his undemocratic intimidation tactics and for the bigger scandal he is using them to obscure.”)
• An American president who doesn’t understand the meaning of America
• Trump: Of Course I’m Trying to Unmask the Whistleblower! (“The president had no problem effectively admitting on camera that he’s in the process of breaking the law.”)
• California’s college sports pay law could change NCAA as we know it (“The law allowing athletes to be paid for commercial deals is ‘the single biggest threat the NCAA has faced, maybe, in its history,’ a sports lawyer says.”)
• Sen. Mark Warner: “We cannot lose sight of how truly dangerous the President’s response to these allegations has been”(Rep. Don Beyer: “The line must be drawn here” Tom Perriello: GOP “owns the violence being threatened” if they don’t condemn Trump’s “civil war” remarks)
• Judge delivers mixed ruling in abortion case, throwing out two Virginia laws but upholding others (“U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson said Virginia’s law requiring that non-surgical second-trimester abortions — up to the fetus’s point of viability — be performed only in a hospital is unconstitutional. He also struck down a requirement that clinics performing five or more first-trimester abortions a month meet the same facility requirements as general and surgical hospitals, saying it placed an undue burden on women seeking an abortion. However, Hudson, in a brief order accompanied by a 67-page opinion, upheld other Virginia abortion regulations, including the requirement that only a physician perform abortions, an informed consent requirement, mandatory ultrasounds, a waiting period and inspection requirements for abortion clinics.”)
• Dominion Energy takes a second swing at a costly plan to upgrade its power grid in Virginia (“The $594 million, three-year proposal filed Monday aims to answer concerns from state regulators.”)
• Amanda Chase’s Offensive Behavior Is Pushing Away Fellow Republicans, Swing Voters
• Chesterfield GOP kicks Sen. Amanda Chase out of the county party
• With Trump-style bravado, a Virginia state senator is alienating her own party (“Republicans in the state fear that Amanda F. Chase’s antics could put a safe seat in play in a critical election year.”)
• Why Democrats are pumping big money into a race for a rural Eastern Shore House seat (“The 100th District is one of the few rural districts in the state that could flip, meaning Phil Hernandez, Bloxom’s opponent, is getting an influx of cash, with Hernandez raising more than four times the amount of money Bloxom has.”)
• Audio: State Sen. Bryce Reeves (R), Facing Strong Challenge from Dem Amy Laufer, Is Either Panic-Stricken or Actually Believes His Lunacy
• Most public defenders in Richmond make less than a secretary in the prosecutor’s office. They want a raise
• Video: Everytown for Gun Safety, Missy Cotter Smasal Campaign Run TV Ad Featuring Virginia Beach Mass Shooting Survivor
• Virginia Beach mass shooting being used in attack ad against GOP lawmaker
• Video: Ghazala Hashmi Releases New TV Ad Focused on Health Care
• Forest conservation grants awarded to offset damage from Mountain Valley Pipeline (“Forest conservation grants totaling nearly $4 million have been awarded as part of an effort to offset environmental damage to Southwest Virginia caused by the Mountain Valley Pipeline.”)
• Opinion editor C.W. Johnson retires after more than 20 years (“Johnson was the opinion page editor for the Daily Press when he was tapped in November 2018 to also assume that role at The Pilot after the newspapers merged.”)
• Editorial: A promising roadmap forward (“Goochland County residents and officials know the hurdles to achieve reliable, broadband internet. With a renewed financial commitment and set of strategies, local leaders are one step closer to supporting a connected future.”)
• Emails reveal admissions, development and administrative personnel discuss ‘high-priority’ applicants linked to donors (Missed this one the other day.)
• Accreditation ratings show need to close achievement gaps in region, state
• All Alexandria, Va., schools earn accreditation for the first time
• With accreditation results, Hampton schools celebrate a perfect score for first time
• Five local schools not fully accredited
• Fredericksburg’s Walker–Grant Middle School slips in latest accreditation ratings
• Partly sunny and warmer today, hot on Wednesday before fall weather (finally) arrives (“October welcomes us with a burst of summer today (80s) and tomorrow (90s). Heat records are likely to be broken on Wednesday, before crisp fall air finally moves in for the weekend.”)