Category: Politics
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Lies, Damn Lies, and Presidential Debates
by James A. Bacon Virginia played prominently in the disinformation spewed by President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in their first 2024 presidential debate last night. Biden brought up the seemingly unkillable canard that Trump referred to the White supremacists in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville as “good people.” Meanwhile,…
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Virginia Dems Find Enemies to the Left
BREAKING: The Virginia Democratic Convention has been disrupted by protesters advocating for Palestine. “Democrats, Democrats, can’t you see. Genocide is your legacy.” pic.twitter.com/A7T6zTkCW7 — Stu (@thestustustudio) June 22, 2024 by James A. Bacon At Virginia’s Democratic Party convention three days ago, Senator Tim Kaine wrapped up the proceedings with a good old-fashioned bashing of the…
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A Taste of His Own Medicine or Hypocrisy at its Greatest
by Dick Hall-Sizemore State Sen. John McGuire (R-Goochland) is an ardent and vocal supporter of Donald Trump, who constantly questions the integrity of the electoral process and still peddles the lie that the 2020 Presidential election was stolen. McGuire attended the Jan.6 “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C. McGuire challenged incumbent U.S. Rep. Bob…
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Rambling: Guess Who He is Voting For
There is no doubt as to whom the residents in this house perched on the edge of Rt. 58 in Grayson County are supporting!
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Careful There, Dems, These Are Your Voters
by Kerry Dougherty I’m not in the habit of offering political advice to Democrats, but they might want to consider toning down the “convicted felon” rhetoric. Ever since Donald Trump was convicted of 34 felony charges in New York, the left has become a Greek chorus, chanting “convicted felon” every time they mention his name.…
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Is This What is Meant by Cult of Personality?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The primary race for Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District seat is a microcosm of what the modern Republican party has become. Both candidates, Bob Good, the incumbent, and John McGuire, a member of the Virginia Senate, are ultra-conservative. There is probably not any substantive difference between them on policy issues. Yet, they and…
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Bad Blood in the Virginia Beach GOP
by James A. Bacon I was fully prepared to believe the worst when I dipped into a Virginian-Pilot article about an indictment filed against Laura Hughes, chairwoman of the Virginia Beach Republican party. According to the Pilot, she was charged with the felony of “intercepting wire communications.” Another case of politicians behaving badly! It has…
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Hung ‘Cowed’ Ducks Debates, GOP Activists
PAC scandal overshadows his campaign; Republicans better off with another nominee. By Ken Reid Although Hung Cao did not run a great campaign for U.S. House 10th district, which he lost in 2022, when the distinguished Navy captain veteran and Vietnamese refugee announced last July for U.S. Senate, I felt he was the best candidate.…
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Virginia Beach Budget Will Lower Your Standard of Living
When Councilman John Moss narrowly lost his seat on City Council in a 2022 three-way race, Virginia Beach lost the lone elected official who actually understood municipal budgeting. Moss could be counted on to make city budgeteers squirm as he peppered them with intelligent questions about why they continually funded vacant city jobs and then…
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Congress Values Names More Than Housing for Service Members
by Donald Smith “Removing the last vestiges of Confederate history from the U.S. military, including renaming nine Army posts, will cost more than $62 million, a congressional commission said Tuesday.” That quote is from Alex Horton’s Washington Post article on the recommendations of the Naming Commission, dated September 13th, 2022. “For the base names,” wrote Horton, “the changes will…
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Freebees Aren’t Free
by Kerry Dougherty I can’t be the only Virginia Beach taxpayer sick of watching my real estate taxes climb every year while the city council wastes money on pricey gimmicks like “free” Tesla rides for residents and visitors to the city. For two years we’ve picked up the tab for a small fleet of Teslas…
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The Budget Do-Over: A Game of Chicken?
by Jock Yellott Speaking off-the-cuff at a Charlottesville/Albemarle Bar Association lunch on April 18, 2024, Senator Creigh Deeds offered some pointed remarks about Governor Youngkin. The Governor and the General Assembly had just the day before agreed to scrap the budget and the Governor’s proposed amendments and start over from scratch in May, averting a…
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State Legislatures Control Budgets — Virginia’s More Than Most
by David J. Toscano For over a month, Virginia’s legislature and governor have been embroiled in a “two scorpions in a bottle” fight over the new biennial budget, which must be passed by June 30, 2024, to fund the government. Last Wednesday, each of them loosened the cork in the carafe. After Assembly-initiated discussions with…
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Diamonds Aren’t Forever
by Jon Baliles The entire saga of the development of the Diamond District project in Richmond has come full circle in the last 18 months, as Mayor Levar Stoney, desperate for an economic development win after the failure of his Navy Hill boondoggle and two failed casino referendums, has rounded the bases trying to get…
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New Novel: Midnight’s Broken Toll
by Joe Fitzgerald All politics is personal. So it’s an open question why Mickey MacNamara runs for the state Senate. Is it to win the job or to hurt the man who holds the seat? The incumbent had a hand in the failures of Mickey’s father; Mickey has the time and resources to try and…