New ads from McAuliffe, Trump says RINOs are dying, and a weekend at the Defending Freedom Action Summit in Richmond
The latest in Virginia politics.
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McAuliffe releases two new ads for gubernatorial campaign
Water Cooler
Governor Northam will be holding a COVID-19 update today at 1 pm.
Trump says RINOs (Republican in name only) are a dying breed. Trump commented on this in an email where he asked his supporters to let him know which candidates he should support during midterms. “I am working hard to make sure these anti-Trump ‘Republicans’ don’t get into office, but I need YOUR help. We need true, America FIRST conservative candidates running for office, and I could really use the input of the American People, like YOU, to find them,” the email reads. “I need YOU to tell me what type of candidates I should endorse for the 2022 Election. Remember, I don’t care what MEGA DONORS or special interest groups want… I only care what YOU want.”
Today, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger is expected to announce from VCU’s campus legislation that would create an emergency supply of key ingredients used in essential generic medicines and incentivize domestic manufacturing of these ingredients.
Three rural women leaders on Sept. 24 called on Virginia’s Republican members of Congress to support their constituents by voting to extend the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) beyond 2021.
Kastelberg Launches New Television Ad in House of Delegates Campaign attacking incumbent
Mary Margaret Kastelberg is attacking her Democratic opponent, Del. Rodney Willet (Henrico), in a new ad released Monday.
Commentary: I spent the weekend at the Defending Freedom Action Summit in Richmond
(This is guest commentary from Goad Gatsby, a citizen journalist that has been documenting fringe political movements in recent years.)
Gun ownership is on the rise with over 7.5 million new gun owners in the United States over since 2019. During that period of time, there has been a pandemic, wildfires, hurricane flooding, nationwide protests, and mass mobilizations of militias. The incentive to own a gun has been stoked by fears of impending disasters and distrust of other people within the country. The ability to own a firearm is something I support but my greatest reason for supporting gun ownership is because paramilitary militias also have the ability to own firearms.
The Second Amendment Institute held the Defending Freedom Action Summit at a Marriott hotel in Richmond, Virginia on September 25th and 26th. It was advertised as a “grassroots activism conference” but I disagree on the grassroots. Not that it’s wrong to have an event sponsored by companies and focus on top-down political organizing, it’s just not grassroots activism. Key speakers include former Interior Secretary under Trump Ryan Zinke, President of the gun rights advocate group Virginia Citizen Defensive League Philip Van Cleave, and New York City Republican City Councilor Joe Borelli. Initially, I was granted a press pass and the privilege to meet with speakers but when I arrived, I found that my press pass would not be issued and the lead organizer of the event told me to wait as he tried to figure things out.
For those not familiar with me, I have built a reputation following Black Lives Matter protests and being critical of far-right groups like the Proud Boys. Upon my arrival, rumors spread that I was a member of Antifa and that I was coming to cause trouble at the conference. It’s hard to disprove being a member of an organization, and even harder if that does not exist. As I began to doubt that I would be granted entrance as I sat around in the lobby. Nearly ready to call it a loss and move on to something else, one person came up to speak to me.
My first conversation was with a South Dakotan congressional candidate Bruce Whalen. Whalen told me about growing up on a reservation, his opposition to mandatory vaccines, and how he supported treatments like HydroxyChloroquine and Ivermectin. He even told me how he felt confident using Ivermectin horse paste on himself because of his knowledge of animal husbandry. Certainly, these medical practices are something I would never encourage, but there is an online niche of making fun of someone who believes in these inadvisable medical practices — however,t I see it as a result of inaccessibility to healthcare. Whalen is currently planning to run against Senator John Thune in a primary race because he does not believe that Senator Thune did enough to keep Trump in office.
After talking to Whalen, another person started asking me about my political positions. After hearing his stories about the times he met right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and how he found Jones to be unbearable and I shared my similar stories, he told me that he was one of the event organizers and that he was going to make the call to let me in.
This conference may have some noteworthy speakers but it was poorly attended. A likely reason is a combination of being poorly publicized and COVID cases still on the rise. About half of those in attendance were also speakers. This gave me many opportunities to try and probe the various personalities, preferably 6 feet away.
I categorize the types of speakers into two personality types; gun rights advocates and cultural warriors. Gun rights advocates are people I find to be correct even if their reasoning to their positions are wrong — Like the answer to solving domestic violence isn’t as simple as giving out guns. Issues like domestic violence require complex solutions that cannot be easily solved, which brings me to the cultural warriors. These are the types of speakers that boil topics down to sound bites and craft social issues to create two separate groups — one moral, the other immoral.
Issues like transgender students in schools and teaching the 1619 Project are popular topics for cultural warriors. When having a chance to personally connect with conservative speakers, I kept drilling the point that people listen to politicians and pundits that they have never met to get them to distrust the neighbors that they have met. Likewise, those same neighbors being distrusted won’t extend their hand when they feel excluded and targeted for being different.
One of the biggest names in gun rights got to speak first on Sunday morning — the leader of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Philip Van Cleave. He spoke highly of the Second Amendment and had well-researched views on the Constitutional law of gun ownership, but he also demonized protesters that wanted to hold police accountable for violence toward citizens. Sadly, Philip Van Cleave uses these speaking engagements to uphold his right-wing views and strays away from his views of defending freedom and standing up against government overreach when it has to deal with law enforcement.
Some of the younger culture warriors seem to orbit around a 55-year-old former candidate for Congress named John Paul Moran. Moran gave the impression of being a mentor of cultural warriors and taking to social media calling the Democratic Party “Biden’s Taliban Party.” Moran and his company, Grand Opportunity USA, seem to be desperately seeking to get attention among the Trump MAGA movement, but seem to be gaining little attention.
Saturday’s live stream of the event on Youtube received a little more than 100 views.
More Virginia News
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$50 million gift to prompt construction of UVa performing arts center
Virginia Launches Expanded Train Service from Downtown Richmond to Washington, D.C., on to New York and Boston
announced the launch of expanded rail service from Richmond to the Northeast corridor. The Amtrak Northeast Regional Route 51 will now offer early morning service from Main Street Station, getting travelers from Downtown Richmond to Washington D.C. when the workday begins or to New York for a lunchtime meeting. The new train is the first expansion of service under Governor Northam's Transforming Rail in Virginia program to significantly expand rail infrastructure throughout the Commonwealth.
Governor Northam celebrated the milestone this morning from the tracks at Main Street Station as the first train departed at 5:35am.
“If you've ever been stuck on I-95, you know we can't pave our way out of congestion,” said Governor Northam. “This new train offers quick, reliable service from the Commonwealth's capital to Washington, D.C., connecting our two cities and making it easier for thousands of Virginians to get to work in the morning. Virginia is leading the nation in expanded access to high-performance rail—and I look forward to many more milestones ahead.”
The newly expanded service has stops at a variety of destinations in the Northeast corridor. Travelers can choose from three daily departure times, two in the morning and one in the evening.
Tickets are now available for purchase. Amtrak worked with a medical director and partnered with the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health to ensure proper health and safety protocols were implemented.
National News
Pfizer CEO: We can do both booster shots and primary vaccines
Merkel’s party lost, should go into opposition, rival party says
Supreme Court observers see trouble ahead as public approval of justices erodes
Facing a heap of defeat, progressives stake hopes on spending bill
’No backup plan’: Democrats reject grueling debt limit off-ramp
Pelosi sets infrastructure vote as Dem leaders struggle to unify caucus
Two kids, a loaded gun and the man who left a 4-year-old to die
40 years later, a dwindling band of Iran hostages awaits a promised payment
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Governor Northam Announces Administration Appointments
Governor Ralph Northam announced additional appointments today.
Secretariat of the Commonwealth
Board Appointments
Board for Professional and Occupational Regulation
Enid Candelaria-Vega of Virginia Beach, Licensed Professional Counselor
H. Scott Johnson, Jr.* of Springfield, Managing Partner, PCT Law Group, PLLC
Board of Medicine
Oliver J. Kim of Alexandria, Federal Policy Director, Cambia Health Solutions
L. Blanton Marchese* of North Chesterfield, Chief Executive Officer, Emergency Services Solutions, Inc.
Pradeep K Pradhan, MD, FACP of Danville, Physician, Centra Health
Dr. Jennifer Rathmann of Blacksburg, Chiropractor, Tuck Chiropractic Clinic
Board of Trustees A.L. Philpott Manufacturing Extension Partnership - GENEDGE Alliance
Karen Sorber of Abingdon, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder, Micronic Technologies
Board of Trustees for the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia
William F. Sibert* of Staunton, Retired, Highway Construction
Board of Trustees of the Virginia Museum of Natural History
Makunda Abdul-Mbacke, MD, MPH, FACOG* of Axton, Piedmont Preferred Women's Healthcare
Commission to Examine Racial and Economic Inequity in Virginia Law
Cynthia Hudson of Henrico, Counsel, Sands Anderson, Former Chief Deputy Attorney General of Virginia
Andrew “Andy” Block of Charlottesville, Professor of Law, University of Virginia, Former Director, Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice
Henry L. Chambers, Jr. of Henrico, Professor of Law, University of Richmond
Rev. Pierre Greene of Henrico, Register Representative, Capitol Financial Solutions
Jill Hanken of Richmond, Retired Health Attorney, Virginia Poverty Law Center
Carla Jackson of Chesterfield, Assistant Commissioner for Legal Affairs, Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles
The Honorable Birdie Jamison of Richmond, Retired Judge, Richmond General District Court
The Honorable Jerrauld Jones of Norfolk, Chief Judge, Norfolk Circuit Court
Ashley Kenneth of Richmond, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis
Leslie Chambers Mehta of Chesterfield, Chief of Staff, Counsel to the Chief Executive Officer, Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Rare Disease Council
Lisa G. Kaplowitz, MD, MSHA, Chair, of Alexandria, Consultant, COVID Vaccine Unit, Virginia Department of Health
Jana A. Monaco, Vice Chair, of Woodbridge, Virginia State Ambassador, Rare Action Network
Ijeoma Azubuko of Alexandria, Associate, Booz Allen Hamilton
Maureen E. Dempsey, MD of Glen Allen, Regional Vice President, Senior Clinical Officer, Anthem BCBS
Rebecca Goldbach, MBA of Virginia Beach, Human Resources Business Partner, CMA CGM America LLC
Stephen L. Green, MD of Prince William County, Infectious Disease Specialist and Hospitalist
Greg Josephs DTM, MA of Ashburn, Disabled Community Member
Peter Kasson of Charlottesville, Associate Professor, University of Virginia
Holly Kearl of Reston, Author, Community Manager, The Aspen Institute
Dr. Tiffany Kimbrough of Henrico, Associate Professor, School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University
Susan Klees of Charlottesville, Vice President of Communications, HemoShear Therapeutics, Inc.
Shannon McNeil of Alexandria, Master of Social Work Candidate
Richard Nicholas of Buchanan County, Chair, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Appalachian College of Pharmacy
Megan O'Boyle of Arlington, parent of an adult with a rare disease, Patient Engagement Lead, RARE-X
Sarah Paciulli of Richmond, Nurse Practitioner, Virginia Commonwealth University Health
Stephen S. Rich, PhD, FAHA of Charlottesville, Director, Center for Public Health Genomics, Harrison Professor of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia
Mary E. Schmidt, MD, MPH, FIDSA of McLean, President, Schmidt and Libby Health Advisory Group
Samantha A. Vergano, MD, FAAP, FACMG of Norfolk, Division Director, Medical Genetics and Metabolism, Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters
Virginia Council on Women
Marzia Nawroz Abbasi of Fairfax, Realtor, Kristin Francis Team, Arlington, KW Metro Center
Virginia Commonwealth University Health System Authority Board of Directors
Joel Bieber of Richmond, Attorney, The Joel Bieber Firm
Virginia Data Advisory Commission
Zaki Barzinji of Herndon, Program Director, The Aspen Institute
Arlyn Burgess of Charlottesville, Chief of Staff, School of Data Science, University of Virginia
Mary Beth Dunkenberger of Roanoke City, Associate Director, Institute for Policy and Governance, Virginia Tech
Carrie Gaston of Mechanicsville, Vice President, Data Acquisition and Management Services, Capital One
Bridget Dalton Giles, PhD of Smithfield, Director of Special Programs, Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium, Research Assistant Professor, Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center, Old Dominion University
The Honorable Bryant A. Hood of Danville, City Council Member, Danville
Tyler Schenck of Winchester, Innovation and Information Services Director, Winchester
Virginia Racing Commission
Jeff Tanner of Exmore, Dean, Strome College of Business, Old Dominion University
*denotes reappointment