Category: Politics
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Virginia marijuana reform: Outlook for 2020
By Don Rippert Cannabis certitude. The seemingly inexorable march toward legalized marijuana in the United States continues unabated. A poll of 9,900 American adults conducted by the Pew Research Center from September 3 – 15, 2019 found that 67% of the respondents thought cannabis should be legalized. That’s five percentage points higher than Pew’s last…
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Northam Comes to the Aid of Menhaden (But is Chap Petersen Paying Attention?)
By Don Rippert Fish tale. Omega Protein, a Canadian owned company, has willfully exceeded its menhaden catch limit in the Chesapeake Bay. You can read the details here. The catch limit is controversial since menhaden is the only marine fish regulated directly by the Virginia General Assembly. All other saltwater fish in Virginia are regulated…
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Virginia Democrats’ Quid Pro Quo Squabble
by James A. Bacon More blue on blue: Hedge-fund manager Michael Bills, the money meister behind Clean Virginia, worked behind the scenes to oppose the elevation of Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax Station, to Speaker of the House. So alleged Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, in an interview on the John Fredericks radio show last…
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How Influence Is Played in Richmond
By Peter Galuszka It helps to have an influential father, especially if you are Peter Farrell. The 36 year-old former Republican delegate and financial investor has been named to the Board of Visitors of Virginia Commonwealth University by Gov. Ralph Northam. Northam, a Democrat, has accepted thousands of dollars in political donations from Thomas Farrell,…
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No Surprise Here
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Both the RTD and Washington Post today reported on the new Speaker-to-be’s first committee chair appointments. (This is one of the real powers of the Speaker of the House of Delegates. He/she gets to make all committee appointments, including the chair of each committee.) The Post was a little more muted, but…
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Will VA Now Help Kill the Electoral College?
By Steve Haner Add this to the pile of really bad ideas that now have a chance to pass in New Blue Virginia: Allowing California and New York to decide how to cast Virginia’s electoral votes. Since millions who slept through government class were stunned to learn in 2016 that the popular vote doesn’t pick…
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This Says It All: In Just Four Years
This says it all – from J. Miles Coleman, at Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball. I saw it this morning on The Bull Elephant, which focuses on Loudoun. Would Virginia Beach and Henrico look the same? If you have any doubts the Trump era has produced a true realignment, dispel them. SDH
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There Was No Republican Message. None.
By Steve Haner You know Virginia has changed when being labeled a socialist by your opponent is less damaging than being labeled a Republican. That’s the opening line for my short essay on what happened November 5, which as far as I can tell has already been analyzed 345 other times in various publications, including…
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Virginia Brewer Takes Shot at Dan Snyder with New IPA
By Don Rippert Ear flick. Given the emotions of the recent election I thought a little levity might be in order. Harpers Ferry Brewing of Hillsboro, Va., is introducing a new IPA. It will be called “Sell the Team” in a relatively transparent shot at Redskins’ owner Dan Snyder. The beer went on sale yesterday…
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What Will Clean Virginia Be Asking For?
By Steve Haner “Do you actively support efforts to reduce corruption in government?” Of course, any candidate presented with that question will reply yes. What do you expect? “No, I’m quite passive about corruption in government. Live and let live.” That was one of the softball questions on the Clean Virginia candidate survey form,…
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Virginia Republicans Reap What They Have Sown
By Don Rippert Massacre. The Republicans in Virginia have once again been shellacked at the voting booth. Republicans went from controlling both the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates to controlling neither. It appears that Democrats will be the majority in the senate by a 21 to 19 count and will control the house with…
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Orsted Drops Projected OSW Capacity Factors
By Steve Haner The company that will partner with Dominion Energy Virginia to build a massive offshore wind farm off our coast has just cut the energy production forecasts for its own facilities, sufficient to lower its profit margins and drop its stock values. “Our models weren’t sophisticated enough,” Orsted’s chief financial officer is quoted…
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Wealthy Greenies Dump Millions into Virginia Elections
by Hans Bader You may not be following Virginia’s legislative elections, which will occur on November 5. But liberal billionaires across the country are. They are spending millions to help progressives take control of the Virginia legislature. The Washington Post reports that heaps of money are flowing into Virginia political campaigns ahead of the election.…
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The Radioactive Donors In 2019? Healthcare
By Steve Haner The following is one of my “revise and extend” follow-up posts, this one adding detail to an exploration of the raging attacks on Republican efforts to offer alternative health insurance plans. You can read the original post on the Jefferson Policy Journal. Not many months ago, it was a safe bet…
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Taxes Likely to Go up in Virginia
by Hans Bader Taxes are likely to increase in Virginia after the Democrats take control of its state legislature this fall. Democratic spending proposals would add at least a billion dollars annually to the state budget. These costly proposals can’t be paid for without raising taxes, because the cost of existing state programs is already…