Virginia Del.-Elect Mark Levine: Allowing Oregon "Terrorists" to Win Would "end the rule of law in our Republic"

Virginia Delegate-elect Mark Levine (D-Alexandria, Arlington) just posted the following on his Facebook page about the Washington Post article, Armed activists in Oregon touch off unpredictable chapter in land-use feud. I couldn't agree more with what Mark Levine has to say here. I'd just add that if this were a bunch of heavily-armed African American or Muslim men taking over a federal building, they'd probably be dead by now; the right wing would be going nuts; the media would be in overdrive calling them "terrorists;" etc. Yet in this case, 2016 Republican presidential candidates are silent, Fox et al are calling these people "protestors," etc. A wild, stark, highly-revealing contrast. And yeah, anyone who doesn't understand that is utterly (and/or willfully) oblivious to the way things actually work in this country.

And this is why those people who make claims that we all have "an individual right under the Second Amendment to own guns outside a well regulated militia" for the ridiculous reason that we must defend against a Hitlerian Federal Government that would "snatch our guns away" are playing with fire. Their horrific rhetoric encourages American terrorists to attack.

And no, their guns will not defeat the People of the United States or its duly elected Federal Government. We should cordon off the area, put these terrorists under siege, and allow no food or people in (unless they have hostages, in which case we have trained people to deal with this). We should allow them all to come out, with their hands up. And then arrest each and every one of them and treat them no differently than we would if armed ISIS terrorists had occupied a US Federal Building.

If they are holding people there against their will or fire at our officers, prepare the best snipers we have. Seal Team Six, if necessary. If not, we can be patient, but our tanks -- and their hunger -- will eventually defeat their guns. These terrorists will not do to us what Russia did to Ukraine.

This is not a peaceful protest. This is not a sit in. This is not the equivalent of the Occupy Movement (people who were never armed and never resisted arrest).

This is people defying the will of a democratically elected Government and seeking to overthrow it. There is one and only one way to overthrow the Government of the United States: free and fair elections.

This is consistent with the vision of our Founders. Recall that President George Washington personally put down the armed Whiskey Rebellion when a group of armed farmers sought to defy a duly enacted tax. It's also why President Washington would have NEVER agreed that individuals have a right to bear arms in order to challenge their duly-elected government with force of arms. The Second Amendment is supposed to allow you to serve your duly-elected government in a well regulated militia, not to allow you to oppose your duly-elected government with an armed insurrection.

President Lincoln was right about this too. Recall that the largest armed insurrection against the Federal Government in American history was brutally put down. Hundreds of thousands of Americans died in the U.S. Civil War. And yes, it was the right thing to do. The Union was right.

These terrorists will not win. They cannot win. They cannot be allowed to win. To allow them to win is to end the rule of law in our Republic.

Monday News: "Why aren't we calling the Oregon occupiers 'terrorists?'"; GOP 2016 Candidates Stay Quiet on Oregon Standoff

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Monday, January 4.

• Why aren’t we calling the Oregon occupiers ‘terrorists?’ ("It is hard to imagine that none of the words mentioned above — particularly 'insurrection' or 'revolt' — would be avoided if, for instance, a group of armed black Americans took possession of a federal or state courthouse to protest the police." Or imagine if these people were armed Muslims?!?)
• Republican candidates stay quiet on Oregon standoff
• Oil Advances as Saudis Cut Ties With Iran After Embassy Attacked
• Donald Trump’s provocative first TV ad raises the temperature of GOP race ("Provocative?" How about bigoted, vicious, fascistic?)
• Obama Opens 2016 With Another Big Push on Guns("Could an emboldened president really shake up the chronic gun debate in his final year in office?" Let's hope!)
• Militia Occupies Federal Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, Vows to Stay “For Years” (Cut off their power, starve them out, then arrest them.)
• All they want to do is screw over the president: Ryan, McConnell confirm they have no real agenda in ’16 besides blocking Obama
• As The Bundy Brothers Occupy Federal Building, Here Are The GOP Candidates Who Supported Their Dad
• Chuck Todd Doesn't Ask Rand Paul About Militia Takeover Involving Sons Of Ally Cliven Bundy (If these were African Americans or Muslims, Chuck Todd would devote the entire show to it, probably several shows.)
• Chuck Todd Allows Texas Lieutenant Governor To Hype False "Gun-Free Zones" Claim About Mass Shootings (What's the point of having a moderator if he won't ask questions, let alone tough questions? Might as well just have the guests show up and talk about whatever they want.)
• Fiorina Responds To Rose Bowl Tweet: Can't A Girl Have A Bit Of Fun? (What a bizarre human being.)
• CNN analyst: White militiamen aren’t a threat like black protesters because ‘they’re not looting anything’ (Is this an Onion satire or an actual thing someone said on the boob tube/idiot box? Sadly, the latter.)
• General Assembly 2016 preview: Highway tolls talk turning to reality in Hampton Roads
• Dailey: Don't give up Virginia's psychiatric hospital beds
• Congressman Bobby Scott to meet Monday with President Barack Obama about gun violence
• At the 10th largest school system, a violent threat comes every other day ("Retired Secret Service agent Tom Vaccarello analyzes threats to schools in Fairfax County.")
• Fredericksburg area called a 'pro-life hub' as abortion debate heats up
• New mayor seeks her footing in tradition-bound Alexandria ("Allison Silberberg promises more ethics, openness and slower development decisions.")
• D.C. area forecast: Arctic chill blasts into region to open week

DNC, DPVA Steering Committee Member Frank Leone Demolishes "GOP Loyalty Oath Myths"

by Lowell

Great job by Democratic National Committee (DNC) member and Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) Steering Committee member Frank Leone in demolishing a bunch of "myths" surrounding the Virginia GOP's "loyalty oath" for the March 1 presidential primary.  Key points, with a bit of my commentary mixed in.

1. Despite the media's relentless, dishonest attempts at creating a false equivalency between the Democratic and Republican parties, Leone explains that in fact both parties do NOT do "loyalty" oaths for Virginia presidential primaries. In fact:

...Since Va. Code 24.2-545 was adopted in 1999, parties may require voters to sign a statement of affiliation to participate in the state-administered presidential primary. Republicans required a statement in 2000, asked for a statement in 2008 and 2012, but withdrew their requests when outrage ensued, and have required a statement for 2016. Virginia Democrats have never required an oath to participate in their Presidential primary. Ever.

2. As I've pointed out as well, it's a very different thing for parties to require loyalty "pledges" or "oaths" in party-run, party-paid-for, low-turnout caucuses and conventions. A primary, in contrast, is run and paid for by the state. Also important to note is that the Virginia General Assembly, in its infinite wisdom (heh), has not passed legislation to require registration by party in Virginia. In other words, if Republicans are so worried about Democrats crossing over and messing with their preeeeeccciousssss primaries, then why don't they pass a law requiring party registration? Uhhhh.

3. This Republican "loyalty oath" fiasco is 100% the Virginia Republicans' doing -- Democrats had nothing to do with it. Nor, I'd add, did this blog, which the Virginia GOP's Executive Director bizarrely attempted to argue the other day.

4. Frank Leone's final point is an important one, and worth reprinting in full.

Sunday News: Jeff Schapiro's "New Year's wish list for Va. politicos" Includes VP Tim Kaine

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, January 3.

• 2015: A year of progress and buffoonery on climate change (The buffoonery coming, of course, from the Republican Party.)
• Saudi Arabia’s execution of cleric ignites fury in Iran (Time for the world to get off of oil and tell the Saudis to screw themselves.)
• That Time When Donald Trump Said Jeb Bush Would Make a Great President ("In a 2000 book, the GOP front-runner also praised Hillary Clinton.")
• CNN Commentator Blames Hillary Clinton For Terrorist Recruitment Video Featuring Donald Trump (Riiiiight.)
• Trump whines about media coverage at Mississippi rally: ‘It’s so damn unfair, the press’ (Quick, somebody call the waaaaaaaaaaaambulance for poor little Donald Trump! LOL)
• Gov. McAuliffe to Campaign for Hillary Clinton in Iowa
• Militia takes over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters (Domestic terrorism, anyone?)
• The Oregon militia standoff, explained ("The apparent goal of the takeover is ultimately to induce the federal government to turn over government-owned land to local ranchers, loggers, and miners for their use." How about jail instead?)
• Schapiro: New Year's wish list for Va. politicos ("U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.: To be Hillary Clinton’s running mate for vice president — and to win.")
• Virginia’s governor sets sights on Cuba, other foreign markets
• Collection rates rise at Virginia courts
• Editorial: A bureaucratic hurdle worth keeping ("Plans to upend Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need — the state’s mechanism for managing the costs of health care facilities and services — deserve rejection.")
• Legislation takes aim at short-term loans
• Loudoun County's First African-American Board Chair Sworn In Saturday
• Hampton Roads planners already thinking about self-driving future
• Armstrong ‘not considering’ run for Congress (“I think my days of public service are over")
• Police investigate illegal hog farm
• D.C. area forecast: Work week starts with windy winter chill, maybe even a few flakes

Video: Phyllis Randall (D) Sworn in as New Loudoun County Board Chair

Congratulations to Democrat Phyllis Randall for making history in Loudoun County, Virginia (see the video of her being sworn in as new Loudoun County Board Chair)! Also, congratulations to Democrat Koran Saines, who unseated raving homophobe and all-around extremist Eugene Delgaudio (R) and Kristen Umstattd (D) for the seat formerly held by Kenneth Reid (R). These three new members will definitely move the 9-member Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in a better direction; I just wish Democrats could have won two close races -- in Ashburn and Algonkian districts - and gotten closer (or over the hump) to taking back control of the Board. Still, this is a start, and something to build on for elections in four years...

 

An End to Veteran Homelessness in Virginia?

by Dan Sullivan

The good news first: our Governor set yesterday as the goal for ending veteran homelessness in Virginia; he declared a “functional end” in November. The bad news: that’s a fairly meaningless accomplishment. There is much to applaud in the administration’s efforts to help veterans in Virginia. Not this.

Loosely, the federal definition of a functional end to veteran homelessness is that there are no homeless veterans except those who have been offered housing and turned it down. It can also mean that the number of veterans becoming homeless is less than or equal to the number who are leaving homelessness. So by definition veterans will remain homeless. But accepting that as reality, the concept was originally operationalized in local jurisdictions where the challenge can be reasonably addressed; communities where the task of identifying homeless veterans and providing accommodations is manageable and meaningful. Finding a homeless veteran in a community and locating nearby housing is different than saying we have more available housing than we have identified homeless veterans statewide; particularly in a state as large as Virginia. It doesn’t matter to a homeless veteran in Winchester that there is a roof available in Norfolk.

Saturday News: Terrorists Use Trump in Recruiting Video; Gov. McAuliffe Heading to Cuba

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, January 2.

• 4 Things That Were Supposed To Happen By 2016 Because Obama Was Reelected (Republicans wildly, 180-degrees wrong, as usual.)
• Krugman: Privilege, Pathology and Power ("Mr. Trump isn’t the only awesomely self-centered billionaire playing an outsized role in the 2016 campaign. There have been some interesting news reports lately about Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas gambling magnate." Adelson is utterly appalling.)
• Saudi Arabia executes prominent Shiite cleric and 46 others in 12 cities (Western nations all need to get off of oil ASAP and tell Saudi Arabia where to shove their drilling rigs.)
• Al-Shabaab recruit video with Trump excerpt: U.S. is racist, anti-Muslim
• Carly Fiorina's Rose Bowl tweet draws Twitter scorn, hashtag ("Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina prompted a Twitter storm after she penned a controversial tweet in support of the Iowa Hawkeyes, instead of her alma mater Stanford's Cardinal." Hahahahaha.)
• Big Oil braced for global warming while it fought regulations (Bunch of sociopaths committing crimes against humanity, nature.)
• The 5 most ludicrous conspiracy theories that conservatives actually believed in 2015
• Virginia voter ID lawsuit is part of national push by Democrats ("If successful, the challenge to Va. voter laws could give Hillary Clinton an edge.")
• Our view: The key dates for politics in 2016 ("Here in Virginia, the fun gets under way on Jan. 13, when the General Assembly convenes...on March 1 will be the Super Tuesday presidential primary, in which Virginia is one of 12 states going to the polls.")
• McAuliffe prepares for historic marketing trip to Cuba
• McAuliffe headed to Cuba; Va. Beach lawmaker says he should address human rights (Fine, although no reason to do that only in Cuba.)
• Editorial: Who wins in settlement deals?
• Our Editorial Creed (A great explanation for why the Richmond Times-Dispatch richly deserves to be nicknamed the "Republican Times-Disgrace.")
• Arlington board may become less liberal as it turns over in 2016 ("The balance of the panel tips right, and the two new members may hold the key to its future direction.")
• Tragedy, transportation, travesty resonate in 2015
• New Roanoke County sheriff sweeps out veteran administrators ("Virginia's system allows constitutional officers to control patronage, which means they can hire and fire with near impunity.")
• The Midtown, Downtown tunnel tolls just went up 25 cents
• D.C. area forecast: Pleasantly cool this weekend before the first big cold snap of winter

If Fred Hiatt's Going to Fire Harold Meyerson Due to Insufficient "Clicks," Maybe Time to Fire Fred Hiatt, Jackson Diehl, Jennifer Rubin, etc.

Getting ready for New Year's Eve and generally not paying close attention to the news during the holiday season, a lot of people probably missed this item yesterday.

Journalists, liberals and many in the political and labor worlds — including presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders — expressed regret on Thursday over the ending of Harold Meyerson's weekly column in the Washington Post.

"There are few progressive voices in corporate media. @HaroldMeyerson is one of the best. His insights will be sorely missed by Post readers," Sanders tweeted on Thursday.

[...]

...for the Post, ending Meyerson's columns wasn't about ideology or policies. It was about readership.

"The Post opinion section takes pride in publishing a wide range of views, including progressives Eugene Robinson, EJ Dionne, Ruth Marcus, Greg Sargent, Paul Waldman and Katrina vanden Heuvel and contributing columnists Rachel Maddow and Danielle Allen. We’ve been pleased to publish Harold’s columns for the past 13 years, but he failed to attract readers as these others have. And while our decision should never be made based only on clicks, I think it would be arrogant to entirely ignore what our readers are telling us" editorial page editor Fred Hiatt said in a statement to POLITICO.

So...Washington Post Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt's explanation for why Meyerson was fired was due to supposedly Meyerson's supposed "fail[ure] to attract readers." Is that true?  I decided to take a look. The problem, of course, is that I don't have access to the Post's readership data. So, I decided to use a very rough proxy: the number of comments each columnist attracted, on average, over their last 10 posts, and rank them that way (see graph, above; click to "embiggen"). As you can see,  Dionne, Robinson and Marcus averaged more comments than Meyerson. But many others -- Jared Bernstein, Stephen Stromberg, Jennifer Rubin, Charles Lane, Jackson Diehl, Robert Samuelson, Catherine Rampell, Anne Applebaum, Fred Hiatt himself, and Michael Gerson  -- all averaged fewer (in several cases FAR fewer) comments as Harold Meyerson, who ranks approximately in the middle of the Post editorial page writers I looked at.

Bottom line: if comments are even close to a proxy for comparative traffic within the Washington (Com)Post family, then Hiatt appears to have fired Meyerson for reasons other than "clicks." And if Hiatt really IS firing people based on their relative paucity of clicks (as opposed to, let's say, their quality, value, news-worthiness, insight, etc), then he should have started by firing himself.

Video: Newly-Elected Arlington County Board Members, Katie Cristol and Christian Dorsey, Lay Out Priorities for 2016

The Arlington County Board held its traditional New Year's Day morning organizational meeting today. Here's some video and a few highlights.

Newly-elected Board member Katie Cristol (D) joined others in first expressing thanks to outgoing Board Chair Mary Hynes (D) and outgoing Vice Chair Walter Tejada (D). She said that 2016 will "certainly be a year of change for the Arlington County Board," but when it comes to policy priorities, "follow-through is the new innovation." According to Cristol, "land use remains our greatest challenge." Cristol also talked about increasing the "availability of entry-level, affordable ownership housing and child care, which I believe are two of the utmost priorities for this board in the next few years." Cristol emphasized that "we MUST follow through on a comprehensive transit plan for Columbia Pike this year; residents and business owners have waited too long for what's next for this corridor...2016 has to be the year in which we get specific about what state-of-the-art bus service on Columbia Pike means." Finally, Cristol talked about "maintain[ing] our moral center by taking care of our most vulnerable."

For his part, newly-elected Board member Christian Dorsey (D) talked about his vision of "sustainable growth," namely "how we meet our present needs and overcome our current challenges without compromising the ability of current residents and future residents to enjoy our great community; how we take care of our present needs without kicking the consequences down the road, that must be borne in a most expensive and inefficient way by later boards and later residents in the community." Dorsey emphasized the "urgency toward our presenting and implementing a transit plan for Columbia Pike...This is an absolute prerequisite for sustainable growth." Dorsey said he's looking mostly to produce "singles and doubles," but wants to "swing for the fences" in "how we engage with the Arlington community...restore the faith that public participation is valued and valuable."

P.S. Also see remarks by new Vice Chair Jay Fisette (D) and new Chair Libby Garvey (D) on the "flip."

New Years Day 2016 News: President Obama on the "Epidemic of Gun Violence" and What We Need to Do About It

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Friday, New Years Day 2016.

• Donald Trump Thanks Conspiracy Site For ‘Amazing Honor’ Of Being Its Man Of The Year (There should be a bunch of automatic disqualifiers for holding public office in America - climate science denial, for instance, or appeals to bigotry or violence. Add to that list being a wacked-out conspiracy theorist, as Donald Trump sure appears to be.)
• Obama to unveil new gun control curbs (Finally, some action!)
• 2015 was a grim year for American gun violence
• Women’s rights at stake: How the Supreme Court and abortion laws will shape the 2016 election ("It doesn't seem like it now, but come primary season, abortion might be the No. 1 issue for many GOP voters")
• Ben Carson’s top staffers resign in a delayed campaign shake-up
• Carson’s new campaign chairman is a Christian soldier who ‘believes’ in him (Yikes.)
• Jeb Bush Says No Need For Federal Investigation In Tamir Rice Case (And he thinks the case took place in Chicago, not in Cleveland where it actually happened. Oh, and he also called the Attorney General "he," when of course it's a woman, Loretta Lynch. In short, "JEB" knows nothin' about nothing'.)
• Republican Demographic Problems Aren't Just For the Future Anymore ("Hispanics and young whites have become significantly more Democratic.")
• Washington Post: Harold Meyerson column dropped because he failed to attract readers (This is sad; if newspapers are going to base their content overwhelmingly on clicks, eyeballs, etc, do they just become a "give the people what they want" - sex! scandal! violence! crazy weather! - and ditch a lot of important substance?)
• The Shad Ranking: The year that was in 2015 Virginia politics
• Some significant transportation projects coming to Va. in 2016
• Numbers don’t always give us the bottom line for transportation plans ("If you give drivers more lane space, it won’t be long before they fill it up. Then what?")
• Virginia eyes new sentences after juries not told about parole ("A task force found many courts would not tell juries whether Virginia had abolished parole.")
• Enrollment challenges at several colleges in Virginia and Maryland
• Lookin' at 2016: Big dreams for a big year to come
• D.C. area forecast: A new year and a new chillier weather pattern