“For me there is no equivalence between armed, individual militants going into a home, shooting parents in front of their children, killing children, lighting babies on fire, burning down entire kibbutz and military action going after military targets, terrorist perpetrators of a horrible massacre. Those are different things.”
So said Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger in an exchange with a University of Virginia student yesterday. The Daily Progress has the story here. — JAB
by Dick Hall-Sizemore
Here is a recent tweak in election law that did not get a lot of public attention. Effective January 1, 2024, it will be almost impossible for a political party to use a convention to nominate a candidate for a Congressional district seat. On its face the law still allows a political party of a district to determine how the nomination of candidate is made, but the 2021 change makes this stipulation:
A method of nomination shall not be selected if such method will have the practical effect of excluding participation in the nominating process by qualified voters who are otherwise eligible to participate in the nominating process under that political party’s rules but are unable to attend meetings because they are (i) a member of a uniformed service, as defined in § 24.2-452, on active duty; (ii) temporarily residing outside of the United States; (iii) a student attending a school or institution of higher education; (iv) a person with a disability; or (v) a person who has a communicable disease of public health threat as defined in § 32.1-48.06 or who may have come in contact with a person with such disease. However, such restriction shall not apply when selecting a candidate for a special election or nominating a candidate pursuant to § 24.2-539, or in the event that no candidate files the required paperwork by the deadline prescribed in § 24.2-522. (more…)
by Kerry Dougherty
Last Saturday’s horrors of Hamas were followed here and abroad with another kind of horror. There were anti-Israel rallies at colleges and in major cities across the nation. These heartless people were demonstrating for just one reason: to show support for the barbarians who had just invaded a country, slaughtered innocent people, raped women and children and grabbed hostages.
Frankly, I had no idea how widespread anti-Semitism was in the U.S. until I saw these shocking images.
Take a gander at their hatefests and tell me what you notice:
https://x.com/TBifford/status/1712577727071666607?s=20
https://x.com/therealmrbench/status/1712827303732932693?s=20
https://x.com/kerrydougherty/status/1713351767134466364?s=20
Yep, masks.x.com/…ugherty/status/1713351767134466364 (more…)
Hmmm…. Gendered negotiation of urban spaces among transgender persons in Pakistan: dismantling the colonial binary. Sounds interesting.
Actually, I’d be more interested in gendered negotiation of rural spaces among transgender persons in Pakistan…. as in, rural spaces controlled by the Taliban. I’d also like to know more about dismantling the pre-colonial binary. You know, the binary in traditional Pashtun culture that cloaks women in burkas, denies them education, and sentences them to death when they commit adultery.
Even more fascinating would be discussing the Pashtun practice of bacha bazi, in which adult men have sex with boys. That would make a riveting lecture.
Does anyone in Women’s and Gender Studies programs anywhere in the country study that?
from Liberty Unyielding
The debate over school choice has tended to focus on whether students learn more as a result. But learning improvements from school choice are probably smaller than improvements in other dimensions, such as civic participation, law abidingness, and family stability later in life. Jason Bedrick of The Heritage Foundation notes that “School-choice policies even appear to foster law-abidingness and self-governance. A study by @P_Diddy Wolf & @Corey_DeAngelis found that students participating in Milwaukee’s school choice program saw significant reductions in criminal convictions & paternity suits.” Perhaps private schools have the ability to instill values in ways that the public schools do not.
“When it comes to civic knowledge and skills, 10 studies find a private-school advantage, six find no difference, and none find a government-school advantage,” Bedrick points out. “Some claim government schools are where people of all different backgrounds learn to live and work together. Yet, in the research on political tolerance—a virtue our nation needs direly today—show a 13-1 advantage for school choice over government schooling.”
In the public schools, “Teaching students a historically accurate understanding of our nation’s founding and the role of government is not a priority. Instead, instructional content too often centers on social justice, ethnic studies, and Marxist-inspired Critical Race Theory,” Bedrick says.
Since private schools spend less per student on average than the public schools, school choice also has the potential to save taxpayers a lot of money over the long run. (more…)
By Steve Haner
The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) last week told several offshore wind developers it would not approve changes in their state contracts, putting several planned ocean turbine projects into jeopardy. The story is important for its contrast to how Virginia faces the same future. (more…)
from The Republican Standard
Fairfax County School Board Member Abrar Omeish put liberal intolerance on full display during a school board meeting Thursday night.
The Yale-educated Democrat broke into a minutes-long diatribe following a moment of silence held by her colleagues for the victims of Hamas terrorism and the innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives lost:
Thursday wasn’t the first time Omeish disrupted school board proceedings. On the eve of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, she opposed a moment of silence for the victims, implying it was racist and neglected to acknowledge “state-sponsored traumas” inflicted by the U.S. government. (more…)
By Chris Braunlich
Subscribers to Netflix will soon see rate increases because of the Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA Hollywood strikes. Buyers of new and used cars will, as a result of the United Auto Workers strike, see prices go up as supply dwindles and costs rise.
The current spate of labor actions – involving more than 420,000 employees – is a response to higher inflation. However, it will also drive prices even higher, both through lost productivity and higher costs to pay for higher wages. (more…)
by Tom Blau
Virginia Republicans seem increasingly depressed by November electoral prospects. Many Republicans can’t figure out if the Democrats are more driven by incompetence or fecklessness, but they ask, anyway.
But the more concrete question is: can Democrats, despite everything, nevertheless do well at the polls next month? And if they’re so bad, how determined are Republicans to slam the ball in the net? Maybe not so: on the macro level, the newspapers report population movement from states like New York and California to states like Florida and Texas, attracted by the prospect of not having to self-censor casual conversations. On the “micro level,” they complain that many important campaign jobs—door-to-door canvasser, poll-site greeter, election official, and poll-watcher — are unfilled.
The stakes are high, not just at home. Virginia’s rare election a year before the presidential gives it outsize influence on the country. Virginia is home to many who depend — or do quite well — on a government paycheck. Appeals to liberty or the market, the competitors of government rule, don’t find natural soil. Virginia’s 8.6 million population is driven by the size of Fairfax County (1.1 million), plus Arlington, Alexandria et al among the main D.C. bedroom communities.
The situation is tough. As Damon Runyon, the great chronicler of mid-20th-century Manhattan low-lifes (see Guys and Dolls), put it, surely “The race is not always to the swift, or the battle to the strong — but that’s generally the way to bet.”
But if it were easy to outrun the swift and outfight the strong, who would need campaign volunteers? I’m looking at you, dear reader. (more…)
by Steve Haner
Virginia’s new electricity bill subsidy program for customers of Dominion Energy Virginia has cleared its final hurdle at the State Corporation Commission and will begin enrolling participants in time for this coming winter. It is largely following the schedule previously outlined.
In a final order issued October 13, the Commission set the rate adjustment clause amount that will be added to Dominion customer bills at 73 cents per 1,000 kilowatt hours. For most residential customers it will add between 50 cents and a dollar per month to their bills. (more…)
by James C. Sherlock
It is important now more than ever to celebrate people doing the right things for the right reasons. Good should be called out where found.
First Lady Suzanne Youngkin has taken helping Petersburg to heart and continues to support multiple initiatives to make that happen.
She doesn’t have to do that, certainly to the extent that she has done and continues to do. It is clearly personal to her.
She is joining Petersburg Blandford Academy (6th grade of Vernon Johns Middle), Petersburg’s Communities in Schools (CIS), the Petersburg Women’s Club, and a small group of volunteers to bring the “Girls with Pearls” program to that city.
Girls with Pearls is a turn-key, school-based program that fosters leadership to change the outcome for girls by empowering them to plan for a bright future through education, personal responsibility and social awareness.
With those dedicated women and men behind it, Girls with Pearls will help young people become better adults.
They have our thanks and support.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore
With the opening of the new General Assembly Building this month came other reminders of how the world has changed.
It was not that long ago that staff and tourists could walk unimpeded into the Capitol building. One could drive into the circle beyond the gate fronting on Grace Street to pick someone up or drop off a passenger. One could drive on the street between Capitol Square and Old City Hall and even park there on weekends (so long as one did not park in Senate Clerk Susan Schar’s space).
First, it was the Capitol. Visitors without a State ID now have to trek down the hill and enter through an underground entrance and then walk back up several flights of stairs to get to the interior of the Capitol.
Now, the area has the look of a fortress. There is a large gatehouse at the Grace Street entrance along with a large iron gate. The street entrances off Broad St. have gates manned by Capitol Police.
This is not meant to be a criticism. It is a lamentation over the realities of the present era.
by Jon Baliles
Republished with permission from RVA 5×5.
They say the past is prologue and that if you don’t learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it, among other famous quotes that have stood the test of time. And they have a factor of truth and lesson in them. And so is the case with next month’s casino referendum, the second one we have had the chance to vote for because the first one was ignored by city leaders in 2021.
This Deep Dive is a look back at the last time Richmond faced two referendums on one topic in short succession — the people were asked to vote to register their voice and they said no to the city leaders, planners, and business leaders. Both times, the people’s voice was ignored, and both times the city leaders overruled their vote and their voice and pursued their plans irrespective of the results — with disastrous and long-lasting consequences.
This may be starting to sound familiar. (more…)
The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….
This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.
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