Category Archives: Politics

Dems Want to Block a Tough-On-Crime Parole Board Chief

by Kerry Dougherty

Virginia Democrats are audacious. You’ve got to give them that.

During the lawless  McAuliffe-Northam years, Virginia’s Parole Board was headed by bleeding hearts, who specialized in releasing criminals.

They were rewarded for their soft-hearted approach with judgeships. Because that’s how Democrats roll.

You’d think the party that favors criminals over victims wouldn’t want to remind the public of its own terrible record.

But they can’t help themselves.

Now that Gov. Glenn Youngkin has named Patricia West, a tough, super-qualified retired Virginia Beach judge to the same position, they’re trying to block her confirmation. They fear she’ll be too tough on criminals.

Dems have removed her name from a list of gubernatorial appointments. Her name could be restored by the entire General Assembly.

You’d think Democrats would be so embarrassed by what they did when they controlled the board they wouldn’t want to remind the public of their own terrible record. Continue reading

But It’s Just a Little Bit of Money

Rep. Ben Cline (Va.-6th District)

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Ben Cline, the Commonwealth’s Republican member of the U.S House of Representatives from the 6th District, is very upset about the level of federal spending and the state of the federal deficit.

Cline is chairman of the Republican Study Committee’s Budget and Spending Task Force.  In a press release last year, he lamented the trillions in new spending authorized by the Democrats in recent years and the $31.92 trillion in national debt. (He does not mention the trillions in debt rung up during the Trump years.)  The study committee has a proposal that would “balance the budget in just seven years, cut spending by $16.3 trillion over 10 years and reduce Americans’ taxes by $5.1 trillion over 10 years.”

As part of that overall plan, Cline’s task force produced an alternative budget for 2024.  I have to give Cline and the task force some credit.  Usually, when conservatives call for spending cuts, they refuse to say what specific items should be cut or eliminated.  That is not the case with this document.  It has over 120 pages listing specific programs for elimination or reduced funding.  After dealing with Social Security, Medicare, and defense, the budget has about 30 pages of specific mandatory and discretionary spending programs it recommends eliminating or reducing. Continue reading

Barbie, Liars, and Newspapers Circling the Drain

by Kerry Dougherty

Warning: I’m a tad grouchy today. You see, I’m a hyperactive gym rat who hasn’t worked out since last Tuesday and has been slowed down by surgery. That happened Wednesday, by the way, when a skilled orthopedic surgeon sawed off part of my leg.

In other words, I’ve had way too much time to brood.

So, I’m starting the week with a litany of irritants that have totally ticked me off.

Number one: I’m sick of feminists protesting that Margot Robbie was cheated out of an Oscar while her male Barbie co-star Ryan Gosling got one.

How many of these same women protested when Riley Gaines was cheated out of her place on a podium by a man, Lia Thomas?

If that’s you, just shut up. No one wants to hear from you.

Plus, I actually watched Barbie on HBO Saturday night.

That may be the worst movie I’ve ever seen. The absolute worst. Worse even than Oppenheimer which was a total yawn, although many people pretend they liked it because it’s about a smart guy and lasted three hours. They think raving about this bore makes them appear intelligent.

It doesn’t. Continue reading

Didn’t We Settle This Divisive Concept Long Ago?

John C. Calhoun (National Portrait Gallery)

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Governor Glenn Youngkin has signed on to a constitutional position that Virginia and other Southern states used to justify secession from the United States over 170 years ago.

Here, in a nutshell, are the events that led to this situation:

  • Greg Abbott ordered razor wire placed in the Rio Grande River to deter immigrants from crossing;
  • U.S. Border Patrol agents tried to remove the wire but were prevented from doing so by the Texas State Patrol and the Texas National Guard;
  • The United States sued;
  • A lower court ordered the Border Patrol not to attempt to remove the razor wire;
  • In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the lower court order. There were no written opinions accompanying the decision;
  • Despite the Supreme Court decision, Gov. Abbot still refuses to allow the Border Patrol access to certain crossing points, thereby denying that federal authority supersedes the state;
  • Almost all the Republican governors issued a statement saying that because the federal government “has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states,” Texas has the right to exert control over the international border in order to defend itself;
  • Governor Glenn Youngkin was one of the signatories.

Shades of John C. Calhoun! This compact theory and nullification were put to rest at Appomattox in 1865.

If, as Gov. Youngkin believes, a governor can defy the Supreme Court regarding immigration, what is to stop a future Democratic Virginia governor and legislature from ignoring Supreme Court rulings and enacting strict gun control measures on the grounds that the national government has broken its compact to ensure public safety?

For more analysis and commentary on this development see here and here. For a more measured analysis, see here.

Richmond Shoots Itself in the Foot–Again

Keith Balmer, Richmond City General Registrar, Photo credit: Richmond Free Press

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

It never ceases to amaze me how the City of Richmond seems unable to accomplish even the most basic functions of government right.

The latest snafu occurred in the office of the General Registrar. A fourth of the voters requesting absentee ballots for the upcoming Democratic presidential primary election received outdated instructions. The instructions, dated 2021, said that absentee voters need to include a witness signature. Legislation enacted by the 2023 General Assembly eliminated that requirement.

That might be excused as a simple oversight involving a recent change in the statutory requirements. Except, this is the second time that it has happened.  Last fall, some Richmond voters got the same wrong instructions with their absentee ballots.

General Registrar Keith Balmer blamed the office’s vendor for the mistakes.

This is simple, basic stuff that should not happen, especially twice within a few months. Continue reading

The Monster at the End of the Book

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

We have created a monster. The genie is out of the bottle. Whatever metaphor you want to use, there is no going back and the way forward poses great dangers. The monster or genie is AI.

The media are full of the promising possibilities of AI improving our lives—great leaps in medicine, science, technology, manufacturing, etc. There is less discussion of the effects of having leaders in business and government, as well as the bureaucrats in those spheres, who are incapable of composing a coherent paragraph on their own due to their reliance on ChatGPT through high school and college.

What really concerns me is the potential of AI for politics; elections in particular. Candidates, or, more likely, sympathetic groups, could release recordings having opposing candidates seeming to say what they did not say. For example, residents of New Hampshire recently received a robocall with what sounded like the voice of Joe Biden urging them to skip the primary election there.

For the upcoming election, think of the effect of a video surfacing that showed Trump doing what the Steele dossier alleged he did in Russia. There is no doubt this is possible. After all, last fall, a group of teenage boys in New Jersey, being teenage boys, circulated pictures of girls in their classes with nude bodies (not theirs). Experts say that all it takes is an iPhone and easily accessible AI software.

I have been mulling all this over for a while. It turns out that I was not thinking broadly enough. In addition to being a possible weapon, the existence of AI provides politicians “plausible deniability,” as one expert explained. FOX News recently ran an ad comprised of well-documented gaffes of Trump. He responded, “The perverts and losers at the failed and once disbanded Lincoln Project, and others, are using A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) in their Fake television commercials in order to make me look as bad and pathetic as Crooked Joe Biden, not an easy thing to do.”

I should not have been surprised at this response. After all, this is a man who insists, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary, that the 2020 election was stolen. And millions of people accept his version. I expect that, at some point in the upcoming year, Trump or some group allied with him, will be claiming that all the footage showing the January 6 attack on the Capitol was AI-generated.

It used to be said, “Seeing is believing.” That is no longer true. We are entering a world in which we will not know what to believe. We will not know whether to believe that what we see, pictures, video, film, etc., is real or AI-generated. Truth will become elusive. Or, perhaps truth and reality will cease to exist as objective concepts and become whatever one defines it to be at that moment.

A Doggone Tale

State Sen. Tammy Mulchi (R-Mecklenburg)    Photo credit: Mecklenburg Sun

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

A recent special election in Southside Virginia is a stark illustration of  how a small special interest group can exercise out-sized power.

In mid-December, long-time state Sen. Frank Ruff (R-Mecklenburg), announced he was resigning from the Senate, shortly after having been re-elected to a seventh term.  He had received a diagnosis of cancer in October and was facing a strict regimen of treatment.  Gov. Glenn Youngkin set Jan. 9 as the date for a special election to fill the seat.

Ruff’s announcement caught most people by surprise.  According to the reporting of David Poole in the Mecklenburg Sun , two people who were not surprised by the announcement were Tammy Mulchi, Ruff’s legislative aide, whom he endorsed in his resignation announcement, and Kirby Burch, the leader of the Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance.  Both got advance notice from Ruff of his impending resignation announcement. Continue reading

Still Acting Like a Rookie

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Governor Glenn Youngkin does not seem to be a fast learner. He seems to think he is still at the Carlyle Group where the top brass announced deals and the rest of the organization fell in line. That’s not how it works with a bicameral legislature, especially when your party is in the minority in both houses.

About a month ago, the governor announced, with much fanfare, a plan to bring the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals to Potomac Yard in Alexandria. It would be a $1.5 billion deal involving the construction of a sports arena and supporting facilities. A new sport and entertainment authority would oversee the project, including issuing bonds to fund it. The General Assembly would need to approve the legislation creating the authority.

The General Assembly has convened and the members have questions about this deal. However, as reported by the Washington Post, the administration has few answers. It does not have the bill language ready for the members to review. Even more basic, at the end of last week, it did not have a patron for the legislation lined up. Delegate Luke Torian (D-Prince William), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee said that the administration had asked him to carry the bill in the House, but he was still waiting to see the bill. “I hope to have an opportunity to see it over the course of the weekend,” he said. Continue reading

A Modest Suggestion

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Gov. Glenn Youngkin has taken a tough stance toward the Chinese. He has prohibited state agencies from using the TikTok platform. He wants to ban the use of TikTok by Virginia residents under 18. He championed legislation prohibiting the sale of Virginia farmland to Chinese buyers. Finally, he scuttled the location of a major electric car battery factory in Southside Virginia because one of the owners was a Chinese company.

The Governor is correct in his concern about the Chinese government. That country poses a major threat to the United States. But let’s be honest — none of those actions will have any effect at all on the Chinese government.

If the governor wants to go beyond political grandstanding and issuing toothless edicts, he could take the next step: prohibit state agencies from purchasing anything made or assembled in China. The large appetite of American consumers over recent decades for products made in China was undoubtedly a major factor in the growth of its economy and power.

Granted, the loss of the Virginia government agency market may not be much more than a drop in the ocean of the Chinese economy. However, it would be a substantive step by the governor. He could also use his “bully pulpit” to encourage Virginia citizens and businesses to avoid buying and selling products made in China. Constitutionally, that is as far as he could go, but these steps would put some substance behind his calls of concern.

God Made Nikki Haley, Too

By Steve Haner

On or before March 5, I will cast a vote for former Governor and Ambassador Nikki Haley for the GOP nomination for president. She edges out Governor and former Congressman Ron DeSantis with me mainly on questions of temperament and foreign policy. I am not an isolationist.

There are six names on that Virginia ballot for the Republicans, and three for the Democrats. There is no reason at this point to believe, or even hope, that the outcome will be something other than victories here for Donald Trump and Joe Biden. If that is the matchup in November, the betting at this point would have to be Virginia’s electoral votes go blue again. Continue reading

Republican Rock Star Campaigns with Kiggans

Rep. Jen Kiggans in Virginia Beach. (Photo by Kathy Sargent)

by Kerry Dougherty

An enthusiastic, overflow crowd crammed into a ballroom at the Marriott Oceanfront on 42nd Street Sunday afternoon to kick off Rep. Jen Kiggans’ re-election campaign. I’m not good at crowd estimates – plus I’m short and didn’t have a good vantage point – but there had to be 500 or more people in the room.

Present was a who’s who of GOP Virginia politicians from former Governors George Allen – who introduced Kiggans – and Bob McDonnell to Attorney General Jason Miyares, former members of Congress Thelma Drake and Randy Forbes and former Del. Glenn Davis, who resigned his seat in the General Assembly to become Director of the Virginia’s Department  of Energy, Del. Barry Knight and Sen.-elect Danny Diggs.

Kiggans ticked off an impressive litany of bills passed by the slim Republican majority in the House, including one that would have stemmed the flow of immigrants entering the country illegally.

“We used to call it a crisis on our Southern border,” Kiggans said, “Now we call it a catastrophe.”

Kiggans noted that the 2nd District seat was one of just six that the GOP managed to flip in 2022 to take control of the House. The Democrats desperately want to flip her seat back into the D column next year and have been running negative ads against Kiggans since last summer. The congresswoman said she hates the “lies” that are told about her, but is willing to take the abuse to continue serving the 2nd District. Continue reading

Showdown in Hill City

Stephanie Reed, Mayor, City of Lynchburg Photo credit: Lynchburg City Council

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

The members of the Lynchburg City Council have been embroiled in fighting among themselves for the past year. At the close of the year, the council took the unprecedented step of censuring one of its members.

Because of the dearth of the coverage of local government by today’s media, not much news of those goings-on has filtered to the eastern portion of the Commonwealth. Fortunately, we have Cardinal News, along with The News & Advance, to chronicle these events. Using FOIA requests, Cardinal News was able to use e-mails and phone conversations among the members to report and comment extensively on the situation.

Marty MIsjuns, member of Lynchburg City Council. Photo credit: Lynchburg City Council

The main characters in this drama have been Stephanie Reed, the mayor, and Marty Misjuns, at-large member of city council.

Before getting into the current controversy, a little prologue will help shed some light on the situation. In January 2021, Misjuns was a captain in the city fire department and the Ward I chair of the Lynchburg Republican City Committee. That month, he posted on his Facebook page political cartoons that included “caricaturized illustrations of transgender women.” In October 2021, the Lynchburg Fire Department fired him. His Facebook page identified him as a “public figure” due to his party position. Misjuns sued the city claiming wrongful termination, violation of equal protection, conspiracy, municipal liability, violation of First Amendment freedom of speech rights, and violation of First Amendment freedom of religion rights. In April 2023, a federal judge dismissed all the claims except for the First Amendment claims. Those claims were allowed to proceed to the discovery phase. Misjuns appealed the dismissal of the other claims to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The trial for the upheld claims is set for mid-March of 2024. No date has been listed for the appeals to be heard. Continue reading

An Obstructionist Rises to the Top

Rep. Bob Good (5th District)

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Amid all the other topics being discussed and debated on Bacon’s Rebellion, we have neglected to note that the Commonwealth has recently picked up a dubious distinction. It is now the home of the chair of the House Freedom Caucus — Rep. Bob Good (R–5th District).

His selection was not cheered by all conservatives. Those supporting Donald Trump’s presidential bid are upset that Good is backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. State Senator-elect John McGuire (R-Goochland) announced soon after the November elections that he would challenge Good in the Republican primary in the spring. “I’m running for Congress against ‘Never Trump’ politician Bob Good,” he declared. Continue reading

Let’s Make a Deal

Sen. Louis Lucas (D-Portsmouth)

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Gov. Glenn Youngkin earned his spurs (and his money) making deals in the private sector. He came into the governorship with no political experience. During his first two years in office, he showed little inclination to compromise or make deals. He bet big this fall on coming out of the November elections with Republican majorities in both houses of the General Assembly. He lost, big time.

Now there is something that he wants; something that would be a feather in his cap: engineering the move of two major-league sports teams, the NBA Washington Wizards and the NHL Washington Caps, to Virginia.

His major obstacle is a General Assembly controlled by Democrats, whom he spent all fall trying to defeat. To get what he wants, he is going to have to be willing to make deals. How good a deal maker will he be in the political realm?

At least one legislator has signaled her willingness to deal. Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), the incoming chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee recently observed, “While some people want sports stadiums … I want tolls to disappear from Hampton Roads and I want recreational sale of marijuana. Guess we will have to find compromises this session.” Want to make a deal, Governor?

Racism Comes in All Colors

by Kerry Dougherty 

What follows here is fiction. Totally imaginary. Still, picture this with me:

The mayor of Virginia’s largest city — that would be Virginia Beach, population 458,000 — decides to hold a holiday party for city council members on city property.

The mayor — and let me remind you this is hypothetical, it did not happen — sent out invitations characterizing this in some kind of strange pidgin English as a party for “white electeds,” which meant that the four black members of council were not welcome.

Because of their skin color.

What would the reaction be when the whites-only party became public?

I can tell you.

There would be loud cries of “racism”! Calls for the mayor’s immediate resignation. There would be  protests in the streets, with both whites and blacks denouncing the mayor’s shocking behavior. The local newspaper would call for the mayor to be removed from office and the editorialists would lament that Virginia hadn’t progressed from the days of Jim Crow.

The news would make national headlines and no doubt state and federal prosecutors would be looking at the civil rights violations in an exclusive, all-white Christmas party for elected officials.

It would be — pardon the expression — a poopstorm.

Odd then, that when something similar actually happened, not in Virginia, but in the largest city in Massachusetts, Boston — there is just a mild outcry. And lots of folks defending the move.

Could it be because the Boston mayor excluded whites, not blacks? Continue reading