“Moms demand action” drew red-shirted supporters from Lovettsville and across the Commonwealth to convene in Richmond for a special session ordered by Governor Ralph Northam to pass gun safety legislation.
They came in buses and cars on July 9, 2019, the day scheduled for the General Assembly to take action. Continue reading
Many have found it particularly distressing given how little has been accomplished to assure citizens that they are safe from mass shootings and gun violence.
Moms, family and friends gathered to protest this past weekend – to demand action for a change.
In recent days, in Virginia Beach, a city employee killed 12 people and injured four more in a municipal building.
The killer carried two lawful .45 caliber handguns but he also had a silencer and an extended capacity ammo magazine. The large magazine meant he didn’t have to re-load and could continue to shoot longer and kill or wound more innocents. Continue reading
Hardly a person fails to follow the polls to consider the trend of opinion approaching the day of election.
In Virginia that appeared to favor Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Edward Gillespie closing in on his Democratic opponent.
There was a pol that had Mr. Gillespie’s opponent, Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Ralph Northam, with a 13-point lead in September, then a 6-point lead weeks ago, and a 2-point lead the weekend before the election.
There was much concerned talk among Dems and joyfully anxious conversation among Republicans.
As they went from polling place to polling place on the day of the election, many wondered if Northam might be the only member of the Democratic slate left standing by election night.
This seeming trend toward a narrow victory for Northam augured badly for down ticket Dems who rely on the tail of the statewide ticket to pull them over the electoral finish line.
Polls and pundits, however, were astonished at the results several hours after 7PM when the precincts across the state closed and began reporting their results. Continue reading
What a civil political forum looks like
Has our political discourse grown futile?
The combination of misdirection, false statements, exaggerations, misplaced emphasis, character attacks, slander, lies, and too little time to research all of the above for anyone but political obsessives (like myself) makes an intelligent vote a somewhat elusive outcome in what passes for our modern political campaigning.
That said, I had an opportunity this past Saturday to participate in a civil, disciplined, even enlightened political process that just might serve as an antidote to the modern campaign.
This past Saturday, two seasoned political journalists asked each of our partisan gubernatorial candidates, Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Edward Gillespie, who they are, why they are running, and what hopes they may harbor for the Commonwealth if elected this November.
Among the “hard questions” posed, Dale Peskin asked Mr. Gillespie about his “attack ad” charging that Mr. Northam was indifferent to MS 13 gang crime, that he’d release gang members to the streets, and that he favored “sanctuary cities.” No matter that there are no sanctuary cities in Virginia, that Mr. Northam opposes the creation of any, and that Mr. Northam supports prosecuting any and all crime, whether it’s the MS-13 gang or any other kind. Mr. Northam said the ad was “despicable and inaccurate” and nothing less than “fear mongering.” Later that day Mr. Gillespie campaigned with Mr. Trump’s Vice President. Mr. Northam compared how Mr. Trump campaigned last year with how Mr. Gillespie was campaigning this year. Continue reading
We Irish know in our genetic sinews, no scholarship need be considered, that Halloween, or all Hallows’ Eve, springs from the medieval Gaelic Samhain, marking the end of harvest and the beginning of the darker half of the year.
It is little wonder then that we have most of our elections as the natural light dims and darkness grows.
In one tradition of All Hallows’ Eve, souls wander the earth until this evening for their one last chance to gain vengeance.
This election season we have the feeling our candidates are making the holy day’s danse macabre their inspiring motivator, calculating a revenge comprised of how they may get theirs — at our expense.
The right to vote that we “enjoy” is a forced choice made before the primary or caucus is held, the product of back room paper and power shuffling that pre-selected whom we may consider.
The districts themselves are drawn not rationally but by the force of numbers in the line-drawing state legislature with one clear purpose – to pre-determine each election’s outcome.
Our voting discretion is “informed” by tall yarns, name calling and distracting issues that make the blood boil.
One clamoring voice outshouts another with high cost hard copy and electronic propaganda that muddle or drown out any contrary fact or opinion.
The election “trick” is the threat of how bad it will be if you don’t choose the imperious “me.”