I've been unable to post at the www.bluevirginia.us site (WordPress) most of today (3/18/22), as the site is being migrated to a new - and hopefully better - server (don't ask! LOL), so I'm posting this here at the old bluevablog.blogspot.com site for now. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that...haha.  Anyway, VPAP is out with its annual legislators' "batting averages," as you can see in the following screenshots. But first, see here for all the usual caveats: These numbers can be *highly* misleading if you look at them the wrong way, or as in the case of VPAP, they ca ..read more

by Lowell Donald Trump today: "No leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man’s religion or faith." Donald Trump previously: 2/12/16: TRUMP: 'How can Ted Cruz be an evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?' 12/14/15: Donald Trump Questions Ted Cruz's Evangelical Faith 9/18/15: Donald Trump's history of suggesting Obama is a Muslim (many examples, going back years, such as suggesting in 2011 that Barack Obama's birth certificate might say he's a Muslim) 9/18/15: Donald Trump fails to correct man calling Obama a Muslim and ..read more

by Andy Schmookler Note: This piece will be running in newspapers in my conservative congressional district (VA-06). In 2012, Americans engaged in the constitutional process for deciding who would get the powers of the presidency. In that election - and the one in 2008 - millions of us Americans won an important right: to have our guy name the person to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court if any were to open up. We won it fair and square. We can talk about the president’s constitutional responsibilities and privileges, but ultimately this is about the rights of us American citizens who par ..read more

by Lowell Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, February 18. Also check out the spot-on political cartoon by the always-superb Tom Toles and the word clouds by CNU's Wason Center from their just-released poll of Virginia voters. Donald Trump and the conservative psyche: What Republican operatives don’t understand about the Donald’s transcendent appeal ("Trump's disjointed views and lack of substance are irrelevant; he's winning by exploiting voters' primal fears" Ugly, ugly, ugly.) Republicans’ Supreme Court contortions ("GOP determi ..read more

by Lowell I received the following statement by Environment Virginia earlier today, pertaining to yesterday's announcement of the "Governors Accord for a New Energy Future." Among others, you'll note that Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is a signatory. The question in my mind, which I'll discuss after the Environment Virginia press release, is whether this announcement actually, you know, means anything. Governors' Clean Energy Accord announced yesterday Richmond, VA -- A bipartisan group of 17 governors announced a new initiative yesterday to commit states across the country to advancing clean ..read more

by Lowell Yesterday, a new CNU poll of Virginia had Hillary Clinton leading Bernie Sanders for the March 1 primary by 12 points (52%-40%). Today, a new poll by Public Policy Polling (PPP) shows Clinton with an even larger, 22-point lead (56%-34%). That includes a 58-point lead (74%-16%) for Clinton among African Americans in Virginia. The bottom line is that, with 13 days to go until Virginia's presidential primary, Clinton's southern "firewall" certainly appears to be holding, at least in this state. How's the "firewall" looking in other, early March primary states? According to P ..read more

by Lowell Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, February 17. Also, check out President Obama's press conference yesterday in California following an ASEAN summit. Obama rejects GOP calls to let next president choose Scalia’s successor By seeking to thwart the Constitution, Republicans are playing with fire Why a constitutional originalist would reject the GOP’s delay, delay, delay tactics GOP Senator Breaks Ranks, Calls Party’s Supreme Court Strategy ‘Obstructionist’ Obama's Next Supreme Court Pick: Dream Teamer or Confirmable? The GOP’s ..read more

by Lowell The following is an emotional, powerful speech by openly gay Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax) against far-right-wing Del. Todd Gilbert's appalling HB 773, the Orwellian-named "Government Nondiscrimination Act." In fact, as Del. Sickles correctly explains, this bill isn't about "nondiscrimation," but "it IS a discrimination bill...that is going to hurt our state." Del. Sickles then proceeds to cite example after example of major corporations, law firms, etc, etc. who sponsor the Equality Virginia annual dinner, and more broadly who support full equality for all their employees. What's ..read more

by Prince William County teacher Atif Qarni and Prince William County School Board member Justin Wilk A few days ago, the Virginia House of Delegates passed HJ1, a constitutional amendment which would give the s ate power over local school divisions to fund charter schools. The Senate will likely vote on the amendment soon. As a Prince William County school board member (Justin David Wilk) and a Prince William County school teacher (Atif Qarni), we have been advocating that members of the General Assembly vote against this bill. Prince William County has the lowest rate of per pupil fun ..read more

by Lowell Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for a snowy Monday, February 15. Also, check out Mitch McConnell back in 2005, attacking Dems for obstructing President Bush's judicial nominees, and arguing that "any president's judicial nominees...deserve a simple up or down vote." The GOP’s dangerously dogmatic Supreme Court obstructionism Debate rips open GOP wounds, and the party risks tearing itself apart Scalia’s death flips court’s dynamics and hurts conservative hopes Results in key cases could change with Scalia’s death Editorial: The Supreme C ..read more