| Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, August 27. Also check out video of Andy Parker, father of murdered WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, vowing that his "mission in life" will be to do "whatever it takes" to "shame legislators into doing something about closing loopholes and background checks and making sure crazy people don't get guns." A courageous man, glad to see Gov. McAuliffe strongly supporting him, as do 80%-90% of Virginians based on the polls. *Republicans stay mostly silent in face of Trump's bigotry and misogyny ("But the character of the candidates already has been revealed. Trump is acting like a sexist and a bigot - and the rest of the candidates are, with occasional exceptions, too timid to call him what he is.") *The Trumpification of the news ("Nowhere is the tension between financial and public imperatives more obvious than in the massive coverage of the Trump spectacular and the parsimonious attention given to anything serious any other candidate might say. But hey, how often does a serious speech about our economic troubles win ratings for anyone?") *Will America finally do something to stop our gun-fueled carnage? ("Congress must act. And if not Congress, then state leaders who want to finally do something about the gun-fueled carnage.") *McAuliffe says tragedy reinforces need for stricter gun laws *Biden unsure if he has the 'emotional fuel' for 2016 run *Father Of Slain Journalist Makes Emotional Plea For Gun Control On Fox News *We're now averaging more than one mass shooting per day in 2015 *Dow soars more than 600 points, ending a six-day losing streak *4 Reasons Why a Biden Run Would Help Sanders (I've been thinking the same thing for a while, that Sanders has to be very happy about this prospect...) *State attorneys ask judge to dismiss Virginia Uranium suit *Feds: McDonnell does not deserve continued freedom ("The Solicitor General urged Chief Justice John Roberts to reject the former Va. governor's request for bail while pursuing his high court case.") *Virginia killings become world's *McAuliffe says public can't see report on U.Va. student arrest by ABC police ("The investigation into a bloody arrest by Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control police is done and Gov. Terry McAuliffe has read it. It concluded the agents involved did not violate ABC policy, and McAuliffe said he agrees they be put back on the job.") *City Attorney to seek court order to remove Confederate monument *Two Roanoke journalists killed on live television by angry former colleague *Remembering the lives of the news crew killed in Virginia ("Reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward worked as a team at WDBJ in Roanoke, Va.") *Gunman in televised shootings of Roanoke journalists used Twitter, sent manifesto *Deaths of WDBJ journalists leave region in 'state of shock' *Nationals' late rally falls short, and their deficit grows ("Gonzalez is again unable to make it out of the fifth inning in 6-5 loss. Three-run rally in the seventh is not enough." What happened to Gio?) *PM Update: Another beautiful night and a gorgeous Thursday; Ragweed heading toward peak
Who could that "evil, demon possessed idiot" have murdered so easily WITHOUT that gun?
Although there was mention of this in the Washington Post, I found it interesting that the topic was discussed in Forbes:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/er...The key quote: "Given what we know now about how the ocean expands as it warms and how ice sheets and glaciers are adding water to the seas, it's pretty certain we are locked into at least three feet of sea level rise, and probably more," said Steve Nerem of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and lead of NASA's new interdisciplinary Sea Level Change Team, in the briefing. "But we don't know whether it will happen within a century or somewhat longer."Let me translate the last sentence: "We don't know how fast this is going to happen, but let's not panic anyway." Fair enough, let's not panic. But let's do something constructive.
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One reason nobody has been able to call Trump out on the things he has been saying is that he changes the subject constantly, especially when he is asked a question. But a lot of his main talking points are hopelessly contradictory.Take his position on trade agreements and big government, for instance. He seems to think he can just renegotiate trade agreements at will. But aren't they treaties? If the U.S. starts unilaterally violating these treaties, the dispute will probably end up at the WTO and we would lose. So the U.S. either has to renegotiate the terms when the treaty says they can be revisited, or has to find a plausible way to erect de facto trade barriers that will bring other countries to the table to renegotiate. (Of course, Trump's campaign bluster is counter-productive, as it would be evidence in the future of bad faith.)
Other countries, like China and Japan, are masters at finding such de facto trade barriers. No doubt we could do it too, under the guise of immigration and anti-terrorism laws, the threats posed by ISIL, etc. etc. I believe we already have laws on the books that technically require each individual shipping container to be inspected upon arrival at a U.S. port. I don't think we do that currently because Customs and the Border Patrol don't have that kind of manpower. But it could, if we were willing to increase the size of Customs and the Border Patrol so that we could credibly institute the rigorous inspection regime that our national security needs demand. So ironically, the path towards fixing these trade agreements, assuming they need to be fixed, would require a much larger and more expensive federal government (which would require higher taxes). We would have to have government bureaucrats and agents and officers everywhere, inspecting everything, creating documentation of everything, so that flow of trade gets hopelessly snarled and backed up, so container ships have to wait for weeks to unload, and so tractor trailers are backed up at the borders for days. Of course, our trading partners would see through this immediately, and retailiate in kind. In the short term, say for a year or so, there wouldn't be much growth or new jobs as a result (other than government employees). Most likely, we would have a recession. Anyway, that's how I see it playing out. I'm not sure how Trump sees it playing out, because nobody is bothering to ask him.
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Video: Donald Trump supporter yells 'Get out of my country' to Jorge Ramos (0.00 / 0) [delete comment]
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It's getting easier to switch stations or mute; tired of Trump already?
Del. Marcus Simon: "Let's not scapegoat people living with mental illness in response to this latest tragedy" as Republicans are doing (0.00 / 0) [delete comment]
From Del. Simon's Facebook page - he nails it.
Let's not scapegoat people living with mental illness in response to this latest tragedy, as I heard one of my Republican colleagues doing on the radio this morning. The fact is there are too many guns and guns are too easy to get in Virginia. Let's have an honest discussion about it when the General Assembly convenes in January, with truly open minds. Right now my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have no interest in reducing the number of firearms in circulation, or in doing anything to keep them out of the hands of dangerous people. Follow me on Twitter. Follow Blue Virginia on Facebook and Twitter.
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Video: Reporter's father says it's time to "force politicians that are cowards and in the pockets of the NRA" (0.00 / 0) [delete comment]
to pass "sensible laws so that crazy people can't get guns...This can't happen anymore...We've got to have our legislators and our congressmen step up to the plate and stop being cowards about this..."
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Video: Gov. McAuliffe says "I will never surrender, I don't believe in the status quo" on guns (0.00 / 0) [delete comment]
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Thursday News: "Republicans stay mostly silent in face of Trump's bigotry and misogyny"
Thursday, August 27, 2015
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