Tag: David J. Toscano
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Virginia Redistricting Fails: The Fight Continues
David J. Toscano Faced with a potential Democratic wave this fall, Republican legislators across the nation continue their efforts to placate Donald Trump by adopting unprecedented mid-cycle gerrymanderings designed to protect their majority in Congress. Emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act in the Callais decision, Republicans just adopted new maps in…
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Virginia Redistricting: Swallow Hard–But Vote “Yes”
by David J. Toscano If a car runs a red light and is about to hit you, you don’t just complain that the driver violated the rules–you do something! When Texas and other Republican legislatures across the country, at Donald Trump’s request, enacted unprecedented mid-decade redistrictings designed to ensure GOP control of the U.S. House…
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States Confront Rising Energy Costs
Data center demands create headaches for lawmakers by David J. Toscano As Donald Trump continues his campaign against offshore wind[1] and encourages the U.S. military to buy expensive, dirty coal[2], state governments are left to manage electricity affordability, reliability, and climate goals on their own. It is a delicate balance. Consumers naturally want lower rates and reliability.…
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Redistricting Roulette
by David J. Toscano “Unprecedented” and “outrageous” were the words most often heard in response to Texas Republicans’ attempted mid-cycle redraw of congressional maps to boost GOP odds of keeping control of the U.S. House after the midterms. Now, a federal district court has concluded that the legislature’s new plan is an unconstitutional racial gerrymander—placing…
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Almost as Good as It Gets
Democrats run the table — and then some by David J. Toscano In the classic film, Network, Howard Beale delivered one of the most remembered lines in movie history: “I’m mad as hell, and I am not going to take it anymore”. Many voters, from Virginia to California and Maine to Georgia, seemed to feel…
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Will October Surprises Affect Fall Elections?
by David J. Toscano October is a month for football games, falling leaves — and political surprises. In Virginia, surprises abound — and not just from the University of Virginia’s football team (now sporting an 8-1 record). First, there was the publication of damaging and inappropriate texts from Democrat Jay Jones in the Attorney General…
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Turning Point?
Federal overreach, state silence, and the resignation of Jim Ryan by David J. Toscano “…Or we will bleed you white.” It sounds like a mob threat from a B-movie. But it captures the essence of what Trump’s Department of Justice told University of Virginia officials: remove President Jim Ryan — or face financial ruin. Jim…
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And Then They Came for the Intellectuals II
Conservatives will rue the day when they permit the federal government to coerce the resignation of any university president, especially one at a state university that answers to its legislature, governor, and citizens. by David Toscano Observers of higher education had been predicting that University of Virginia President Jim Ryan might be ousted by U.Va.’s…
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And Then They Came for the Intellectuals
by David J. Toscano “Our colleges [have] become dominated by Marxist Maniacs and lunatics.” — Donald J. Trump, July 17, 2023 “We need to … aggressively attack the universities in this country; the professors are the enemy.” — J.D. Vance, November 2, 2021 Under President Donald Trump, the federal government has mounted the most aggressive…
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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…