Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, October 11. Also, I'm pleasantly surprised to hear self-professed "radical centrist" Mark Warner praising the super-progressive, social justice-oriented Virginia Organizing. Keep up the great work, Virginia Organizing!
- GOP hard-liners seek more power by changing rules. That could mean more chaos.
- The Families Funding the 2016 Presidential Elections (To quote Megan Beyer: "When we lived in Europe in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision that unleashed this torrent of money into our elections the media there predicted this. Changing this is critical - and until we do money will necessarily be an outsized focus of our elections and their outcomes." In other words, until we change this, our "democracy" is in name only. Thanks a LOT right-wing Supreme Court justices!)
- Krugman: Paul Ryan, Centrist Crush (Ryan is "more or less unique among extreme right-wingers in having the approbation of centrists, especially centrist pundits. That is, he’s a big man within the GOP because people outside seem to approve of him. And it’s important to ask why...What you need to understand about political commentary these days — including the de facto commentary that poses as news analysis, or even reporting — is that most of the people doing it have both a professional and an emotional stake in portraying the two parties as symmetric, equally good or bad on policy issues and general behavior. To stray from this pose of even-handedness is to be labeled a partisan — and to admit that the parties aren’t the same, after all, would mean admitting that you’ve been wrong about the most basic features of the situation for years.")
- 3 Reasons Right-Wingers Are Rallying Against ‘Speaker Paul Ryan’ The #1 reason really says it all about this f'ed-up party: "Ryan has backed some form of comprehensive immigration reform." Oh, the horror!)
- Ex-staffer: Benghazi committee pursuing 'partisan investigation' targeting Hillary Clinton (Again, does anyone with a brain not understand this? Oh yeah, the corporate media...)
- Fox News Posts Anti-Semitic Screed Blaming Jews For Holocaust (That network is utterly disgusting.)
- Echoing Calls for Justice of Million Man March, but Widening Audience
- Coming Tuesday: National debate-stage debut for a passionate newcomer (Bernie Sanders, who has been in national politics for decades, is a "newcomer?")
- A Grieving Father’s Crusade for Gun Safety ("Peter Read, whose daughter died in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, is standing up to gun rights supporters with a push for tougher gun safety laws.")
- Most gun owners support background checks and other limits. Why aren’t their voices heard? ("Gun owners and dealers who publicly break with the NRA and other powerful gun rights groups sometimes find themselves being labeled as anti-gunners, traitors or worse.")
- Schapiro: Odds lengthening on Democratic take-back of Va. Senate? ("On Election Day, Democrats have to run the board to take back the Virginia Senate. Twenty-three days out, they’re barely managing a trot." Not sure he presents any evidence of that, though.)
- Ed Gillespie courts voters at Botetourt County dinner
- Riders to Metro: Adios (Metro needs two things: 1) strong management; 2) financial resources, and lots of 'em.)
- Crowded field of challengers, incumbents in Alexandria council race ("Debt issues, need for more affordable housing are among concerns fueling Alexandria’s council race")
- Dunnavant, Repp look to succeed Stosch in Virginia Senate's 12th District
- Frank Wagner for Virginia Senate (Utterly bizarre endorsement. After talking about the corrupt Wagner accepting "lavish gifts," adhering to "his party's misguided and inexplicable opposition to Medicaid expansion," and being a sock puppet of Dominion Power, they endorse him because he's "senior" and supposedly "reasonable?" Alrighty...)
- Virginia, the gerrymandered and disengaged
- Jobs, education and health care key in Southside's 20th District Senate race ("Incumbent Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, is being challenged by former Martinsville mayor Kim Adkins")
- Chase, Powell vie for 11th District Virginia Senate seat
- D.C. area forecast: Warm and sunny afternoons through the holiday weekend
