Category: Politics
-
Virginia’s Two-Faced Democrats
A very bad week. One can only assume that Virginia’s Democratic Party is very happy to see this week draw to a close. The Democratic Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General are facing deep scrutiny over revelations that came to light this week. While the specifics of each scandal remain hazy the sudden evaporation of moral…
-
Tommy Norment’s Turn in the Yearbook Whipsaw
Da Bomb. The Virginia Pilot is reporting that Tommy Norment, R-Williamsburg, Republican majority leader of Virginia’s State Senate, was an editor for a VMI yearbook called The Bomb that printed “racist photos and slurs, including blackface”. The yearbook in question was published in 1968. African Americans were allowed to enroll at VMI in the Fall of…
-
Virginia Voters Should “Clean House” this November
State of affairs / affairs of state. Multiple scandals have rocked Virginia’s state government this week. All three of our state’s top officials stand accused of substantial wrongdoing. Governor Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring have admitted to dressing in blackface during their college / medical school days. Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax is being…
-
Why Virginia Democrats Are Pushing Ralph Northam to Resign
by Peter Galuszka Virginia Democrats were on a roll politically until a story broke Friday that a photograph on Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) 1984 medical school yearbook page showed a man in blackface and a man in Ku Klux Klan garb. Democrats had seemed to be in a good position to win control of both…
-
Who Is the Dude in the Plaid Pants?
Who is the dude in the plaid pants? This angle on the Northam blackface story is at least two days old — it appeared Sunday in Zerohedge — but it has yet to be reflected in any of the reporting I have seen on the controversy by Virginia mainstream media, so I summarize the details…
-
Facts? We Don’t Need No More Stinking Facts!
As Donald Rumsfeld famously said of the Iraq War, there are known unknowns and unknown unknowns — things we know we don’t know, and things we don’t have a clue we don’t know. The same thing could be said of Governor Ralph Northam’s now-infamous medical school yearbook photo of a young man in black face…
-
Can We Step Back And Ask, Why Not Forgive?
I want to believe Ralph Northam, but I don’t know which statement to believe. I want our political discourse to recognize everybody has made mistakes, everybody has at least one clay foot and most of us two, all who judge shall themselves be judged. But the American political arena now resembles the blood-soaked sand of…
-
Five Virginia Politicians Thwart the People and Democracy in Marijuana Reform Legislation
We the people elite. A number of proposed bills to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana were put forth in the ongoing General Assembly session. These bills were systematically killed in subcommittee by a tiny fraction of the General Assembly. Generally speaking, five Republican Delegates decided that the proposed marijuana reform bills should not…
-
I’m Shocked, Shocked To See Corporate Checks In Here! (Your Donations, Sir.)
Interesting to see Governor Ralph Northam channeling Claude Rains Monday, choosing the first day of the annual two-day General Assembly campaign finance feeding frenzy to highlight his support for a series of campaign finance proposals. Campaign fundraising by state legislators and their pooled caucus accounts goes dark with the opening of the regular session today. …
-
Virginia’s economy continues to sputter
Blue state blues. The Associated Press is summarizing Virginia’s latest Comprehensive Annual Financial Report regarding the economic health of The Old Dominion. The news is bleak. “Personal income grew 4.1 percent in Virginia compared to 4.5 percent in the U.S. Housing prices in Virginia rose 5 percent compared to 6.8 percent nationally. Virginia also lagged…
-
Following the Dark Money: Bloomberg to NYU to Virginia’s OAG?
Here is a counter-factual mental exercise for you. Imagine that former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a conservative skeptic of climate change, had applied for a grant from the conservative-libertarian Koch Foundation to cover the cost of hiring an AG staff member dedicated to litigating environmental groups. Then imagine that Cuccinelli’s office had to compete nationally…
-
Crazy Time in Virginia
Del. David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, is an old-school, moderate liberal Democrat. He consistently earns low ratings from conservative groups (only 7% from the American Conservative Unions) and high ratings from core Democratic constituencies (100% by the Virginia Sierra Club and 100% from the Virginia Education Association.” But, like many old-school Democrats, he’s fairly pro-business. The Virginia…
-
Altria rumored to be in talks to buy Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group
High in Henrico. Henrico County based Altria, makers of Marlboro cigarettes among other products, is rumored to be interested in buying Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group. Altria is refusing comment while Cronos said it “confirmed that it is engaged in discussions concerning a potential investment by Altria Group … in Cronos Group.” Cronos went on…
-
Marijuana arrests and racism in Virginia (especially Arlington County)
Reefer madness. The upcoming debate in the Virginia General Assembly over decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana may have racial overtones. VCU Capital News Service studied the data for marijuana arrests in Virginia from 2010 through 2016. African Americans were 3.2 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana crimes than whites. At the…
-
Va 2019 General Assembly session – prefiled House of Delegates bills
Much ado about nothing. As of this morning there were 83 prefiled bills for the House of Delegates and 225 prefiled bills for the State Senate. With a few exceptions the House prefiles are pretty “ho hum”. I will examine the Senate prefiles in a subsequent column. One from column A and two from column…