Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell should lose his pension because of his felony conviction, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday.
In an advisory opinion sought by Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) said that under a law McDonnell signed in 2011, the ex-governor must relinquish his benefits because he was convicted of a felony related to on-the-job conduct.
“The governor asked for this opinion just to make sure we were clear on the law and the process here, since this is the first time this has happened,” McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy said.
The law, written after a state delegate’s felony conviction on bribery charges, has never been interpreted by a court.
At issue were three things: who employs the state’s governor; when the conviction takes effect — at the time of the jury verdict or after all appeals are exhausted; and which benefits must be forfeited — the pension coming from the job held when the offense was committed or all state pensions and benefits earned.
Once in a blue moon….Happy Blue Moon Friday!
A full moon is coming Friday night that is unlike anything we’ve seen since 2012 and that we will not see again until early 2018. It’s called a blue moon.
Despite the name, the color of the moon will not change. This full moon is special because it is the second one to occur this month — that’s what a “blue moon” is. The first full moon happened on July 2.
Seeing two full moons in the same month is a rare phenomenon that takes place only about once every 2 1/2 years. The next blue moon will not come until January 31, 2018.
The reason we have blue moons in the first place is that the length of a calendar month on Earth is not equal to a lunar month, or the time it takes a phase of the moon to repeat (e.g., the time between two full moons or two new moons).
I am always one to celebrate anything having to do with the moon. So happy Blue Moon Day! (also happy birthday, Moe Davis!)
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Sister Joan Chittister: Opposing abortion doesn’t make you pro-life
In one simple quote, Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B. sums up the hypocrisy in the ‘pro-life’ movement:
“I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.”
Applying labels doesn’t really define a political position. Too many people would force a woman to give birth and then leave her stranded with no means of support.
Much of the pro-choice movement is about economic empowerment. When I was growing up, before Roe vs Wade was decided, having a baby outside of wedlock was possible the second worse thing that could happen to you. You were shunned by society for starters. You lost your job, your health care, and all possible means of supporting yourself.
It’s no wonder some women sought abortion. What society sowed, let it reap. It is only when women have total control over their own reproductive choices do they have real economic empowerment. Children who are born but not fed, educated sheltered or cared for have very little chance. They are once again at the mercy of a society that doesn’t want their precious tax dollars to go to help people living in poverty.
So we have come full circle. Once again society will reap what it has sown.
Sister Joan Chittister’s website: Joanchittister.org
Windows 10 or is it X?
Windows 10 came out today. Some of us have been giddy with anticipation. Now I am trying to figure out how to do things I never knew I wanted to do.
I have it loaded on 2 computers and have decided to stop for a while. there is just too much to learn and I might need to resort to 8.1 in a moment of desperation.
Have you gotten Windows 10 and if so, what have your experiences been? I can’t even figure out how to load a google search bar.
Va GOP jumps on the anti Planned Parenthood bandwagon
RICHMOND — Republican leaders of Virginia’s House of Delegates renewed their calls Tuesday for a criminal investigation into the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics after the release of a third undercover video targeting the abortion provider.
The video released Tuesday shows lab workers using tweezers to sort through identifiable body parts in a petri dish atop a lighted lab table.
“Anyone watching those videos — seeing the tiny hands of a child on a petri dish — has to be shocked,” Speaker William J. Howell (Stafford) said in a conference call with reporters. “And hearing the casual nature of their conversations really is appalling.”
You know, I don’t want to go watch anyone perform brain surgery. I also don’t want to watch abortions being performed or any other types of medical procedures. I just don’t have the stomach for it. However, in my travels, I have picked up some information.
Howell sounds like a real dumb ass. He is shooting off his mouth about something that he knows very little about. Let’s start with some facts. I might not use the correct medical terms but you will get the drift. All abortions that use an aspirator suction device to perform the surgery collect fetal parts in a mesh type bag. Blood and fluids seep through into a larger container. After the procedure, a lab tech empties the mesh bag in a petri dish to make certain all parts are there. If they aren’t, that means an incomplete abortion has been performed. An incomplete procedure means that the woman is at high risk for infection. Usually what is known as a “re-vac” is performed to make sure all fetal tissue has been removed.
I am just a layman of course but I do know that much, regardless of how poorly I have expressed it. At this point, let’s not treat this any differently than any other medical procedure, because it isn’t. THIS PRACTICE IS SOUND MEDICAL PRACTICE.
Gun loophole that needs to be plugged
COLUMBUS, Ga. — The man who killed two women at a Louisiana movie theater last week was able to buy a firearm legally — despite a judge’s order sending him to a psychiatric hospital in 2008 — because he was never involuntarily committed for treatment, Georgia officials said Monday.
An involuntary commitment would have banned John Russell Houser from buying a firearm under the federal gun law that strengthened state reporting requirements after a mass shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007. But Houser never reached the crucial stage of having a judge rule on his mental competence, a process called adjudication, which is required before someone can be involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility, officials said.
“If he had been adjudicated in need of involuntary treatment, I would have reported that to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, who would then send it to the FBI,” said Muscogee County Probate Judge Marc E. D’Antonio, who was chief clerk at the time in the county that would have handled the case. “I clearly would have known. That did not happen.”
Panhandling for the poor in the Gainesville District
I am all for helping poor women and children. I am even all for helping poor men. What I am not for is doing it at intersections in the Gainesville District. We have enough traffic problem without having to put up with panhandling by church groups. There are other ways to help the poor.
I have had several reports that intersections in Gainesville and Haymarket this past weekend had a church group out asking motorists for money at most of the major intersections in Haymarket and some of the intersections in Gainesville. While I salute the cause of helping the poor, I don’t salute snarling traffic or panhandling on public property.
I don’t know if this church group had permission from local authorities or not. They should not have been granted permission. If one church group is allowed to panhandle, then all churches should be afforded the same right. Can you imagine what we would have on our hands? Every weekend people just out trying to do their errands would be snarled in traffic. Getting from point A to Point B would become a nightmare. People would avoid shopping and doing business in those areas. If the competition on weekends got too heavy for all the churches, they could hit commuters up during rush hour.
Yet another theater shooting rampage– 3 dead
A gunman opened fire on a movie theater in Lafayette, La. Thursday night, killing at least two people and injuring at least seven before killing himself, police said.
Police Chief Jim Craft said at a news conference around 11 p.m. that police received reports of a shooting at the Grand Theatre 16 around 7:30 p.m. Four officers entered the theater to confront the shooter and found him dead of a self inflicted gunshot wound. Two other people have been confirmed dead.
Police said there are at least seven other injured victims, with injuries ranging from minor to critical and life-threatening. Louisiana State Police Sgt. David Brooks told CNN that all injured victims have been taken to local hospitals.
The shooter has been described as white and 58 years old. Police know his identity.
At what point do gun rights advocates start coming up with real solutions about what to do about these weekly occurences? Too many Americans are dying from shooting rampages.
I think I am going to barf if I hear any more platitudes and slogans. Too many guns are getting into the hands of those not competent or responsible to own them. I want to know solutions. Come on, A2 advocates, pony up some REAL solutions. No bumper sticker slogans allowed.
At some point the American people are going to rebel and demand changes. It seems to me that strong 2A folks would guard their rights more by thinking up solutions for this epidemic rather than telling us why they have rights.
Sandra Bland: This should never have happened
According to newly released police video, a Texas trooper threatened Sandra Bland with a Taser when he ordered her out of her vehicle during a traffic stop on July 10, three days before she was found dead in a county jail.
Bland — a 28-year old African American woman — was stopped for failing to signal while changing lanes, but the routine traffic stop turned confrontational after the officer, Brian Encinia, ordered Bland to put out her cigarette.
This is a frightening story. The police officer seems to want to escalate the situation until Sandra Bland does become hysterical. He was demeaning and rude where it wasn’t really necessary.
Why did Sandra Bland die? We may never know. It doesn’t sound like she should have ever been arrested.
How very sad. Why was she kept so long? Nothing in this case makes one bit of sense.
ALL lives matter!
Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley was midsentence when the chanting began. “What side are you on black people, what side are you on!” rang the chorus of around four dozen mostly black protesters streaming into a convention hall in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday.
A woman named Tia Oso grabbed the microphone as the protestors stormed the room.
“We are going to hold this space and acknowledge the names of black women who have died in police custody, and then Governor O’Malley we do have questions for you!” Oso said as the former two-term governor and his interviewer, Jose Antonio Vargas, watched helplessly. “As leader of this country will you advance an agenda that will dismantle structural racism in this country?” Oso asked.
Shooting up the military
I am not going to refer to any specific article. Something needs to be done to arm our military personnel. Right now, they are doing their job in uniform which apparently is the same thing as drawing an X on their backs and saying “shoot me!” Why must military personnel go around unarmed? How many times have innocent troops been the target of terrorists and crazies? What’s even more disturbing is the fact that the local police has to come to the rescue of the military. This happens time and time again–Chattanooga, Navy Yard, Fort Hood, the list goes on.
Somewhere along the way, the military needs to change its policy. Those wearing the uniform are going to have to be armed and well-prepared to use the weapon in the face of danger.
I don’t know much about military regulations but many of you all do. Please enlighten us as to why the military isn’t armed. They, like every other person, as a right to defend themselves.
Trump’s big mouth strikes again
Real-estate magnate Donald Trump attacked Sen. John McCain’s (R-Arizona) status as a “war hero” on Saturday, saying he was only viewed as a war hero because “he was captured.”
Speaking at an event in Iowa, Trump argued that McCain — who has spoken out against Trump for his controversial comments about Mexican immigrants — was not a real war hero.
“He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. “He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”
“Perhaps he’s a war hero, but right now, he’s said bad things about a lot of people,’ Trump added.
The real-estate mogul also said that he didn’t like McCain after his loss to President Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
“I never liked him after that, because I don’t like losers,” Trump said.
Trump has recently spoken out more forcefully against McCain, after the veteran senator denounced Trump for “firing up the crazies” during a speech last week in Phoenix.
At what point are people going to realize that Trump just has a big, stupid mouth? Having money doesn’t necessarily mean he has any class. For whatever disagreements I have politically with Senator John McCain, I still have respect for him as a war hero. As a senior officer in captivity during the Vietnam War, he was offered a chance for release, which he refused because the rest of the men weren’t being released. That well-known fact alone qualifies McCain as a hero in my book. I doubt if many would argue with me, other than Trump.
Following Trump’s latest bout of incredibly stupid mouth-flashing, Republican leaders have been extremely outspoken against him. Good for them. McCain, Jeb Bush, and a few others have been targeted by Trump. Maybe we should listen to Forest Gump when he reminds us that “stupid is as stupid does.”
Leesburg: another courthouse controversy?
Slaves were once sold on the steps of the old Loudoun County courthouse in downtown Leesburg, which bore stocks and whipping posts. Although 150 years have passed, the courthouse retains a symbol of its Civil War days: a statue of a Confederate soldier, rifle at the ready, facing west.
As the national debate over Confederate symbols on public property continues to gain steam since the June 17 slayings at a historic African American church in Charleston, S.C., dozens of people gathered at the courthouse Saturday morning calling for a change locally: They want a memorial that would also honor the lives of slaves and Union soldiers.
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Open Thread…………………………………………………..Thursday, July 2
Happy 4th of July. Is everyone ready for the long weekend which starts tomorrow?
Who has special plans for the 4th?
I love fireworks but I hate crowds. I have traveled across the country just to see good ones in a non-crowded environment.
The bet I have seen have been in Long Beach, Washington, right on the Pacific ocean from my hotel room. I wish I were there this weekend. Such is not to be, however. I could probably never get that room again. I am sure it books up years in advance. Where have you seen the best fireworks?
Inappropriate mayoral racist rant: But I am not a racist!
The mayor of a small city in Washington admits he called President Barack Obama “monkey man” and first lady Michelle Obama “gorilla face,” but says he will not resign over the racist comments.
“Gorilla face Michelle, can’t disagree with that,” Patrick Rushing, mayor of Airway Heights, reportedly wrote in a Facebook post. “The woman is not attractive except to monkey man Barack. Check out them ears. LOL.”
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