Category: Courts and law
-
Virginia Supremes Uphold SCC, Rule Against Wal-Mart
by L. Steve Emmert Yesterday the Supreme Court of Virginia issued a ruling in Wal-Mart Stores East, LP v. SCC. The question here is whether Wal-Mart can shed the shackles of buying electricity from the dominant utility, a regulated monopoly that you know as VEPCO or APCO, depending on where in Virginia you are. Some time…
-
Our Cell Phones Are Still Off-Limits to Robocalls
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Here is a follow-up on a previous post. The Supreme Court handed down a decision today that will probably be lost in the coverage of its other decision released today, the one about “faithless” Presidential electors. Nevertheless, the decision in that other case, Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, inc., saves…
-
Senate Democrat Promises on Police Reform
By Steve Haner What follows, without edits, is the full list of legislative proposals now endorsed by the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus. With 21 members, if they all show up and vote aye on all of these, they pass in the upcoming special session. Bills would then have to also pass the House of Delegates…
-
“Bring That Sucker Down Without Anyone Getting Hurt”
By Peter Galuszka In a striking sign of the times, Popular Mechanics magazine has published a how-to article regarding removing statues on your own. The article is titled: “How to Topple a Statue Using Science: Bring that sucker down without anyone getting hurt” by James Stout. The force need to bring down a controversial statue…
-
The Systemic Racism of Monument Avenue
—
by
in Blogs and Blog Administration, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Demographics, Electoral process, Federal issues, Housing, Labor and Workforce, Money in politics, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka Richmond’s grand Monument Avenue, a double lane, tree lined thoroughfare, has been the epicenter of the Black Lives Matter campaign that has focused on the statues of several Confederate figures one the road, including Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Jefferson Davis. All are up for removal, but the…
-
An Enormous Bill is Coming Due in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock We had a long discussion in this space earlier about whether the Virginia Supreme Court Order of March 16, 2020, that suspended writs of eviction and residential unlawful detainers was constitutional. The June 8 extension of the original order was especially troubling because by that order the courts were open for…
-
Virginia Democrats Gearing Up for Police Reforms
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The upcoming special session of the General Assembly will be about budget cuts and police reform. Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn announced last week that actions on police reform would be allowed to be taken up at the special session to be held on a to-be-announced date. Whenever it is held, it apparently will…
-
Libertarians Need Not Apply
By Peter Galuszka The Virginia Republican Party had a big shock Saturday. Far-right candidate Bob Good snatched the party’s nomination in the fifth congressional district from incumbent Denver Riggleman, who was backed by President Donald Trump and Jerry Falwell Jr., the head of Liberty University. The remarkable twist could presage an arch-conservative backlash against Trump’s…
-
State Supreme Court Backs Northam Decree Denying Landlords Access to Courts
by James C. Sherlock This essay is a follow-up based upon a June 7 letter from Governor Northam to the Virginia Supreme Court to which I just gained access. That letter makes the situation much worse. The Order On June 8 the Virginia Supreme Court issued IN RE: FIFTH ORDER MODIFYING AND EXTENDING DECLARATION OF…
-
They Are Coming For Your Family, Your Strip Malls
By Peter Galuszka State Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield County, has always played the clown. The conservative politician grabbed attention a year or so back when she addressed a meeting at the General Assembly wearing a revolver in a holster on her hip. She’s also feuded with the county Republican Party and was defrocked. Now Chase…
-
Rule by Decree has Found a Co-conspirator – Virginia’s Chief Justice
by James C. Sherlock One of the most clearly illegal court orders in Virginia history was issued on Monday, June 7. At the request of the Governor, the order suspended the rights of some plaintiffs to access the courts. The order also refers to the fact that the Governor is planning to institute a “comprehensive…
-
“Systemic Racism?” Damned Right!
—
by
in Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Corruption and Scandals, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Demographics, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Media, Politics, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Social Services and Entitlements, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka There has been much debate on this blog regarding whether there is “systemic racism” in Virginia and the rest of the country. It’s a crucial question in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed and handcuffed African American who was killed on video by a white Minneapolis police officer…
-
Gunning Up Virginia’s Cops
—
by
in Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Corruption and Scandals, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Defense, National Security, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Federal issues, Government Finance, Gun rights, Mental illness and substance abuse, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race RelationsBy Peter Galuszka In 2014, the Sheriff’s Department of York County and Poquoson got their very own tank-like vehicle, called a “Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP).” Fully armored and tan in color with steep sides, it looks like something out television footage of the war in Iraq where U.S. troops needed to get through mine-infested…
-
Our Gutsy Governor
—
by
in Bacon and Pigs, Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Defense, National Security, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Efficiency in Government, Elections, General Assembly, Governance, Government Transparency, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Media, Politics, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t OversightBy Peter Galuszka On June 24, 2015, Nikki Haley, a Republican who was South Carolina’s first non-white governor, called for the removal of a Confederate flag that had been flying over the state’s capitol grounds for years. “This flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state,”…
-
Beware Fake Tweets
—
by
in Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Defense, National Security, Elections, Electoral process, Federal issues, Government Transparency, Infrastructure, Media, Money in politics, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, TelecommunicationsBy Peter Galuszka Around midnight Monday, reporters in downtown Washington D.C., stood by ready to cover the next round of protests about the slaying of African Americans by police. They started getting tweets marked #dcblackout suggesting that internet service was being interrupted because of a secret program presumably run by the government that would cut…