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Tuesday News: “China announces retaliatory tariffs”; Federal Workers “Angry,” “Scared But ‘Digging In'” Amidst Musk’s “covert coup…guided by internet trolls”; “It’s clear why Trump blames DEI for everything”; “The resistance begins to coalesce”

By
lowkell
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21

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, February 4. According to Robert Hubbell, “The resistance begins to coalesce,” as “The despair that was prevalent last week is transitioning into bewilderment, indignation, and anger” and this excellent line: “We will never know whether our actions will succeed if we quit without trying. And we cannot know in advance which protest or act of resistance will spark the flames of a massive movement against Trump’s attempt to overthrow the Constitution. Your action might turn out to be that spark!” The bottom line is that if we want this to continue to be the United States of America, with rule of law, the constitution/Bill of Rights, etc. we’re going to all have to do our part to defend it – and definitely NOT say, as a friend did the other day, that it’s “over,” “nothing we can do right now,” blah blah blah. That’s really, really self-destructive/passive/selfish/nihilistic thinking that we should all reject.

Video: Reps. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07), Don Beyer (D-VA08) Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10), Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) Speak in Front of USAID, Vow to Fight Trump/Musk’s ILLEGAL Effort to Destroy It

By
lowkell
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6

See below for video and highlights from this afternoon’s rally by several Democratic members of Congress – including Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07), Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08), Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10) and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11) against Trump’s and Musk’s assault against USAID. A few key points: 1) what Musk and Trump are doing is ” a crime that is unfolding before our eyes “; 2) “USAID was established by an act of Congress and it can only be disbanded by an act of Congress.”; 3) “It is a matter of statute, it’s a matter for Congress to deal with, not an unelected billionaire oligarch named Elon Musk”; 4) AID is a superb agency that saves lives around the world, promotes democracy and US interests, etc; 5) hurting or even dismantling USAID only helps our adversaries, like China and Russia, while harming our allies and our own country; 6) this is a matter of US national security…

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08): “We are here today to shine a light on a crime that is unfolding before our eyes and support our tremendous US civil servants in US AID. President Trump directed his corrupt billionaire friend, Elon Musk, to ransack a critical agency of the US government. Musk and his band of unelected acolytes at DOGE have locked out USAID employees from their offices, improperly accessed highly classified information, purged the agency of its nonpartisan leadership and thrown the agency into chaos through a concerted campaign of harassment and intimidation of its employees. This is on top of Trump’s freeze of crucial foreign assistance programs. These actions severely harm our national security, they put thousands of children around the world at immediate risk of starvation, disease and death and sidelines some of our finest. Civil servants work tirelessly every day to make the world a better place. This is a case of the very worst among us attacking the very best of us. The work USAID does is vital to all Americans. Agency employees stationed here in the capital region and in posts around the world work hand in and with our military to counter terrorism and to stabilize dangerous regions. They monitor and they fight diseases like Ebola and bird flu, to prevent them from coming to the United States. And they work with the US companies to provide life-saving medical care and food assistance for children. Through these activities and others, USAID has been an invaluable pillar of US foreign policy and projecting American power overseas. Its elimination only helps our adversaries, Russia and China, who want to see our global influence reduced at any cost. It’s no coincidence then that Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man with billions of dollars of investment in China, is doing China’s bidding. Lastly, what Trump and Musk have done is not only wrong, it’s illegal. USAID was established by an act of Congress and it can only be disbanded by an act of Congress. Stopping this will require action by the courts and for Republicans to show up and show courage and stand up for our country. Further, I’m urging my fellow Democrats to use every legislative tool we have at our disposal to slow down and stop this crime from succeeding. We’re here to shine a light on this; you see the wonderful people that are here with us.”

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA11): “We’re here today not only to fight for federal employees who dedicate themselves every day to a humanitarian task. We are here to save lives. Because that is what AID does. You name it, AID is there in the fight against HIV, in the fight to protect the Uyghur population in China, in the fight to protect refugees, in the fight to make sure that there’s food security everywhere, AID is there. It is the lead development agency in the world – and no one elected Elon Musk to dismantle it. We are going to fight in every way we can – in the courts, in public opinion, with the bully pulpit, in the halls of Congress and here at AID itself. We are not going to let this injustice happen. Congress created this agency with the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and if you want to change it, you got to change that law. It is a matter of statute, it’s a matter for Congress to deal with, not an unelected billionaire oligarch named Elon Musk. And Elon, if you want to run AID, get nominated by Trump and go to the Senate and good luck in getting confirmed. I want to say to all the employees of AID, we are with you, we will stand with you shoulder to shoulder. This may be a long and difficult struggle and fight, but we’re with you. Don’t give up, keep the fight and remember the mission is so sacred – saving lives all over the world”

Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA10): “I’m Congressman Suhas Subramanyam. Enough is enough! We will not stand for this! This is illegal, this is wrong and this is unconstitutional! It takes an act of Congress to shut down USAID. But you know what, Congress will not let this happen. We will not let this happen. USAID keeps us safe…it prevents wars, it keeps people fed, it keeps people healthy, and it is the shining example of democracy and of the American values that we so hold dearly that we share with the rest of the world. So the work of the USAID is so important and we must protect it, we must fight for it. And as the chair of the subcommittee on military and foreign affairs on the oversight committee, we will call for hearings and we will ask for answers. We will demand answers on why this is happening. But most importantly, we will not let it happen. And we will fight for you, for all the people who rely on USAID for their health care, for their food security, for the men and women who serve us and work for USAID, the contractors, the civil servants. We will stand up for you because when we fight we do win.”

Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA07): “My name is Eugene Vindman. I spent 25 years in the army defending this nation, wearing the uniform. And each and every one of those days, we worked with our partners at USAID to keep this country strong and safe. If we want to zero out the budget, 1% of the budget of this country, $40 billion, we better look at double or tripling the military budget, because without that soft power around the world, we are making ourselves weaker, we’re making our adversaries…stronger, we step back and we create a vacuum. You know who steps in? It’s Russia, it’s China, it’s our adversaries from around the world. So from a point of national security, the work that you all are doing out here at USAID, many of you my constituents – we have over 55,000 federal government employees in the seventh congressional district – I thank you, I thank you for your hard work. We’ve got some tough times ahead, but Congress and the American people are behind you. And let me just put one concrete way that we are actually damaging our national security right now. Every single day, Ukraine is taking the brunt of Russian attacks on infrastructure. USAID programs are actually rebuilding the infrastructure, the electricity infrastructure. If this Administration wants to bring peace to Ukraine, you don’t do that by eliminating the support for the infrastructure in Ukraine, you do that by applying pressure to Russia – and not just to Ukraine. So my message is we support you at USAID. This is a matter of US national security. Democrats, my colleagues, we’re going to fight like hell to make sure that we preserve our national security.”

Video: Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05) Says “the bromance lasts as long as Donald Trump thinks there’s money going in his pocket somehow, based on Elon’s activities.”

By
lowkell
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0

Seem below for video and a transcript of former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA05)’s alarming, but accurate, words last night on MSNBC.

  • “I think it’s because [Republicans in Congress are] polling and crosstabs still show favorability to Donald Trump. I don’t really think they care about the American people, they care about winning in their specific district. And, you know, what’s amazing to me is that when, you know, when I was a Republican, way back in the day, when…big government picking winners and losers, you want small government. Well, now we have Republicans. And when you look at polling, people who are Trump and support Trump, all of a sudden they think big government is the way to go. And I just find it so interesting, right, this picking winners and losers is the thing that people want, when you’re looking at where where this is going. And I just find it fascinating and also absolutely disturbing that this is happening. You know, the flip to that, to allowing Elon to run through the woods like this without any security clearances. But the other thing is, is that it’s going against directly against the competitors that he has, which is something I know you mentioned at the beginning. But that also blows my mind when you talk about conflicts of interest for any type of contractual obligations. And the last thing is the security clearances. Vetting is awful. Julie knows this, vetting is long, it’s irritating, it’s frustrating. Nobody wants to fill out an SF86 – it sucks, right? But it is an absolutely necessary function because you don’t want a bunch of people looking through private files and payment files that haven’t been vetted properly. And I…think the cancer has been injected to the system. And I think we’re going to see it here down the road.”
  • “I think, you know, Julie, god dang, I love being on here with you. When you get angry, it makes me happy. And you know the other thing, too, when you’re talking about the Musk-Trump bromance, I think it lasts as long as Trump thinks that he can actually gain wealth from Elon Musk’s participation in United States government. And you know, Julie’s exactly right about the language. It seems like the Democrats have no idea how to attack insanity, which happened over the last few years also. Well, I sort of do know how to attack insanity. You have to call it like you see it. And right now we really have a billionaire, you know, or actually, I would say an incel trapped in a billionaire’s body, running through our government organizations and wreaking havoc on it, putting fear into people, you know, with the damaging and threatening emails. But I think there’s something even worse, you know, and I think that is that we have data, United States data, in the hands of people that haven’t been vetted. Where is that data going? And when you see Elon Musk, and I know at the beginning…you said that, you know, he rails against big government. Well, he loves Chinese big government because people should look at the state-owned enterprises that have invested in Elon Musk’s companies. So where is all this money going? How are they directing those monies? What are they doing with contracts? How are they identifying the competitors in the spaces that are going directly against Elon? How is he enriching himself? But really, how is he enriching Donald Trump’s family? I think… the bromance lasts as long as Donald Trump thinks there’s money going in his pocket somehow, based on Elon’s activities.”

Fmr. VA Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Trump Voter, Says “America does not have an Imperial Presidency” – Trump Can’t Just Unilaterally Shut Down USAID, Which “was created and funded by an act of Congress”

By
lowkell
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3

I mostly agree with former VA Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, a Trump-supporting conservative Republican, on this one. Although Bolling’s still waaaayy underplaying the significance, urgency and danger of what Trump and Musk are up to, which is basically to seize power for the president, take it away from Congress, violate the law and the constitution at will, etc. But yes, as Bolling says:

“Trump’s actions will no doubt once again trigger a constitutional challenge. USAID was created and funded by an act of Congress, and there is a serious constitutional question as to whether the President has the unilaterial power to shut down an agency that was created and funded by Congress.

As we see these efforts to exert more control over the federal govenrment by the Trump adnministration, it is important to keep in mind that America does not have an Imperial Presidency. Presidents have certain powers in our democratic system, and certain powers are reserved for Congress.

If we are going to cede these types of broad powers to the President, some may like the decisions President Trump will make, but they may not like the decisions the next Democratic President may make. That is why the President has limited powers in our system.”

By the way, why are we getting stronger responses from Republicans, including ones that support Trump (like Bill Bolling), than from the vast majority of Democrats, who seem to be fixated on egg prices, etc., even as Trump/Musk rapidly dismantle our government, deprive Congress of its constitutionally mandated authorities, etc??? Because as this astute comment points out, “The power to preserve our constitutional republic lies with the people, but we require our elected officials to stand with us in naming this crisis for what it is. We do not have time.”

The Commonwealth Institute: Money Committees’ Budgets Take Critical Steps to Boost Virginia Families, After “Youngkin presented a budget that missed the mark in several key areas”

By
Blue Virginia
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0

From The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis:

Monday News: “‘Let Them Eat Cake’ Moment: Trump’s Big ‘Pain’ Confession Leaves Critics Horrified”; “Trump, Musk wage two-front war as donor does president’s ‘dirty work’”; “Democrats fume over weak early response to Trump”; “The Logic of Destruction”

By
lowkell
-
14

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, February 3.

Virginia General Assembly 2025 Session, Week 3: “Crossover” Is Coming Up!

By
Blue Virginia
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7

Good stuff as always from the incredibly hardworking VAPLAN/Cindy – see below! But first, check out video from today’s Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee meeting, as Sen. Louise Lucas presented details of the budget presented today. According to Sen. Lucas:

“This year, one of the issues that has weighed heavily on my mind is the struggle that working Virginians are feeling from inflation and from the general uncertainty that is currently part of our political environment…I want to help provide Virginians with more certainty and stability…since the governor’s introduced budget came out, I have stated and prioritized that working families and individuals need immediate relief…To that end, I do not agree with the details of the governor’s approach…[it] did not provide relief to everyone…Well, today, I’m excited to tell you that the committee budget provides hard-working Virginians with relief that is a step towards their long-term prosperity.

First, there’s almost $1 billion for a tax rebate that will be sent out around October 15 for hard-working Virginians…individual filers will receive $200 and married filers will receive $400…I have stayed true to my word…In addition to this relief, we have extended the previous increase in the standard deduction for two years to ensure there is no impact on citizens while we wait for Congress to take action on federal tax changes that are set to expire…Again, this is a fiscally responsible way to deal with the many unknowns for our state. But we’re not stopping at maintaining the standard deduction; we are proposing to increase the deduction by another $250 for individual filers and…another $500 for married filers…Increasing and making the state Earned Income Tax Credit fully refundable to 20% of the federal credit…proven progressive tax policy…”

There’s a lot more – check it out, below!

*******

UPDATE 4:18 pm – See the following press release from the VA Senate Democrats:

Senate Democrats Champion Budget That Delivers Real Relief for All Virginians

RICHMOND, VA – The Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus today applauded the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee for producing a comprehensive budget that makes historic investments in Virginia’s families and future. The budget delivers immediate financial relief while securing long-term investments in critical priorities across the Commonwealth.

The Senate budget includes transformative investments for Virginians:

IMMEDIATE TAX RELIEF: • $977.8 million in direct tax rebates ($200 single/$400 joint filers) • Increased standard deduction to $8,750 single/$17,500 joint filers • Fully refundable Earned Income Tax Credit at 20% of federal credit

EDUCATION & WORKFORCE: • $1,000 bonus for teachers and support staff, plus 3% salary increase • $15 million for high-demand workforce credential training • $15 million for need-based undergraduate aid • $9 million for tuition assistance grants • $25 million for early childhood education employer cost-sharing pilot

HEALTHCARE & FAMILY SUPPORT: • $6.1 million for comprehensive maternal health initiatives • $15 million for rental assistance pilot program • 1.5% bonus for state employees, plus 3% salary increase

COMMUNITY PROTECTION:• $50 million for community flood protection and resilience • $50 million for disaster mitigation in vulnerable communities

The Senate Democrats issued the following statement:

“The Senate Budget is a testament to Senate Democrats’ steadfast commitment to serving all Virginians—not just a privileged few. While the governor’s proposal created winners and losers, our Senate budget delivers targeted relief and strategic investments that uplift every working family across the Commonwealth. From responsible tax reductions to robust education funding, from expanding healthcare access to strengthening community protections, we are building a more resilient, equitable, and prosperous Virginia for all.”

The Senate Democratic Caucus remains committed to working across the aisle to pass a final budget that serves all Virginians, not special interests.

###

************************************

The Senate and the House (mostly?) completed committee work on their own chambers’ bills; just floor votes (a LOT) remain before crossover next week. In fact, both sides are doing a little finagling to get all three constitutional readings in on a few bills before the deadline.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK, Senator Carroll Foy, asking Sen Peake about his latest attempt to repeal the bail reforms made in 2020: The Governor and Attorney General Miyares had a press conference surrounded by law enforcement and they said that crime in Virginia was down 11% and we had one of the lowest recidivism rates in the country…In 2020 we had a criminal justice reform omnibus package…and I would attest that us having one of the lowest recidivism rates and the reason for crime being down is because we got rid of some of these unfair presumptions, a lot of the mandatory minimums, and a lot of the things that people tout as tough on crime, which is actually ineffective, because we are actually improving public safety. 

How environmental bills fared:

  • A handful of bills to increase the amount of solar energy being created have passed out of committees. HB2037 allows localities to require solar parking lot canopies in new development; HB2090 encourages multi-family shared solar; SB1040 and HB1883 encourage the generation of rooftop solar to meet Dominion’s RPS.
  • A bill from the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation that would create a Clean Energy Technical Assistance Program (a research consortium of the universities) to guide and assist localities in how to create policies to meet clean energy goals seems to have hit a major bump in the road–the Senate version is waiting for a floor vote, but the House cognate has died in subcommittee.
  • A bill to require the utility companies to pilot a virtual power plant (where a network of small-scale distributed energy sources like rooftop solar function together as a remotely-controlled and coordinated power plant) passed the Senate; its House cognate is up for a floor vote.
  • Bills to increase the target energy storage capacity of utilities passed the Senate and are due for a House vote.

Those newfangled technologies bills:

  • House and Senate easily passed bills to expand defamation and slander “words” to include synthetic digital media, such as AI-generated deep fakes.
  • A bill creating a civil cause of action for the unauthorized use of someone’s voice or visual likeness passed the House and goes over to the Senate.
  • Neither the House Housing and Consumer Protections subcommittee nor the Senate General Laws committee was ready to ban algorithmic pricing tools in real estate transactions (used to fix collusive rental prices).
  • The bill to regulate decentralized autonomous organizations (organizations that function like a bank, but are run by computer, using blockchain technology, i.e. crypto co-operatives) passed the House easily and moves on to the Senate.

Oldies but goodies/baddies:

Video: Sen. Tim Kaine Says Trump Race Baited After Plane Crash to Get Everybody “Chas[ing] Down a Rabbit Hole” of “DEI Allegations with No Evidence”

By
lowkell
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2

I’ll post the full video when it’s available, but for now, here are some highlights – courtesy of Aaron Rupar – of Sen. Tim Kaine’s interview with Jake Tapper (ugh, I know!) this morning…

VA State Sen. Danica Roem: “We all want someone, somewhere, to effing do *something*… but, if we’re being honest, the only people coming to the rescue are us.”

By
lowkell
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0

Excellent thread by VA State Senator Danica Roem, over at Bluesky (where every Virginia Democrat should have an account and be posting at this point!). A few highlights (bolding added by me for emphasis):

  • “It’s not going to be far from my mind Monday they’re still pulling bodies out of the Potomac, we just said farewell to civil rights champion Sen. Henry Marsh III by his flag-draped casket in the Old Senate Chamber, and we endured an onslaught of attacks on trans, undocumented and BIPOC Virginians.”
  • “We have to be our own best advocates. We have resist the temptation to lose our cool at each other if for no other reason than we’re looking for someone to blame. We all want someone, somewhere, to effing do *something*… but, if we’re being honest, the only people coming to the rescue are us.”
  • “It’s us. It’s our immediate community. It’s our truest family, friends & colleagues who’ve been there every step of the way. It’s the attorneys and paralegals from, by and for our community who got into law in the first place precisely for this moment. We have to step up and lead. It’s our moment.”
  • “On a call with a constituent, we talked about how I’ve focused my 2025 bills on the very things I campaigned on in 2023 — fixing roads, feeding kids, fighting data center sprawl — representing the 30th District as expected/promised but 🤬, the other side’s just toxically obsessed with trans people.”
  • “Even when it is utterly exhausting and so much is just awful, never lose your sense of purpose, even if it means redefining it. We have to meet the moment of where we’re at, figure out where each of us fits in with all of this and…. just take a minute to breathe where we can find it.”
  • “We all know the worst is yet to come and it’s a scary world, even when that uncertainty isn’t lingering. But to paraphrase a GRRM quote, when we’re afraid is the only time we can be brave.”

Sunday News: “The Price America Will Pay for Trump’s Tariffs”; “Musk’s Team Now Has Access to Treasury’s Payments System”; “Trump is waging war against his own government”; “US society’s plunge into ‘dark times’”; “Democracy DEFCON”; “DOGE is ripping out the guts of government”

By
lowkell
-
30

by Lowell

Here are a few international, national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, February 2. And no, it’s not your imagination – things really ARE spiraling downhill and out of control rapidly, and the Republican-controlled Congress is doing nothing to stop it (while Democrats have essentially no levers of power and the media keeps “normalizing” this totally abnormal situation). Bottom line: we really needed to win the November 2024 election…and we didn’t. As a direct result, now we’re in deep trouble.

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