Former Governor Wilder lambasts McAuliffe over Supreme Court pick

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

RICHMOND — Former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder on Wednesday blasted Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s handling of an appointment to the state’s Supreme Court, saying his fellow Democrat had made political missteps that hurt him with Republican legislative leaders and black voters.

Wilder said McAuliffe failed to follow basic Richmond protocol by not running his pick by House and Senate leaders. He also dismissed as “silly” McAuliffe’s claims that the GOP was bucking his nominee because she is a woman. And he said McAuliffe had offended African Americans by choosing a white circuit court judge over a black jurist on the state’s appeals court — a perceived snub that he said would hurt McAuliffe’s friend Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.

“McAuliffe being the majordomo for the Clinton campaign in Virginia, this doesn’t help her,” Wilder said. “Some of us are not going to forget it. . . . The real question is, who in the hell was advising the governor?”

Wilder made the remarks during an interview with The Washington Post about an upcoming special session of the General Assembly, during which Republicans plan to take the rare step of removing a sitting Supreme Court justice.

So basically this is all about race.  Wilder wants a black judge and the Republicans want to get their brownie points with the potential black voters.   Wilder is rarely subtle.

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School lunch program: And the elephant balls award goes to….

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

Five employees of a federal government watchdog agency, one of whom is a member of the Prince George’s County school board, were indicted Tuesday on charges of illegally obtaining reduced-price school lunches for their children, officials said.

Prosecutors allege that the employees, all with the Government Accountability Office, along with the spouse of a separate GAO worker, fraudulently reported their incomes to qualify for the discounted meals offered by the federal government. And officials said there may be nearly 300 other federal workers flagged for similar concerns of fraud.

The alleged theft by the six people cost the government $13,000 over four years, according to county and federal officials.

“This is a program for people who can’t afford it, but these are people who can,” said John Erzen, a spokesman for the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Lynette Mundey, who is a Prince George’s Board of Education member, and five others were charged with theft, fraud and filing false applications, prosecutors said. Others charged were Barbara Rowley, Jamilah Reid, Tracy Williams, Charlene Savoy and James Pinkney, the spouse of a GAO employee

 

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Who are the Oath Keepers and what is their mission?

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

The Oath Keepers describe themselves as a group focused on fulfilling “the oath all military and police take to ‘defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.’ ”

On Monday night, protesters again gathered in the streets of Ferguson, Mo. Demonstrations in the St. Louis suburb have flared up in recent days to mark the first anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was fatally shot by a white police officer.

Also on the scene overnight: Members of a citizen militia group known as the Oath Keepers.

The men — all of them white and heavily armed — said they were in the area to protect someone who worked for the Web site Infowars.com, which is affiliated with talk-radio conspiracy theorist and self-described “thought criminal against Big Brother” Alex Jones.

Reporters and Black Lives Matter activists immediately took note.

I can’t see how the presence of Oath Keepers could be helpful to this situation.  Perhaps I am wrong. I went to oathkeepers.org to see what I could find out.

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Trump continues his unpresidential sexist rant at Megyn Kelly

MoonHowler

Washigntonpost.com:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday night that Fox News Channel anchor Megyn Kelly “had blood coming out of her eyes” when she  aggressively questioned him during Thursday’s presidential debate.

“She gets out and she starts asking me all sorts of ridiculous questions,” Trump said in a CNN interview. “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever. In my opinion, she was off base.”

In Thursday’s debate, Kelly questioned Trump over his history of offensive statements about women.

Calling in to CNN for a 30-minute interview on Friday night with Don Lemon, Trump hurled insults at Kelly, calling her a “lightweight,” and bashed her co-moderators, Chris Wallace and Bret Baier, as well as other Fox talent.

“I just don’t respect her as a journalist,” Trump said of Kelly. “I have no respect for her. I don’t think she’s very good. I think she’s highly overrated.”

Trump said he is considering skipping the next debate hosted by Fox News Channel, scheduled for January in Iowa, because he believes he was treated unfairly by the network’s moderators.

 

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VCDL raises stink over Louisa Park sign that reads “No Weapons”

MoonHowler

nunchuck

CentralVirginian.com:

Gun rights activists from the Virginia Citizens Defense League have taken issue with a sign located at Louisa Town Hall Community Park that reads, “No weapons.”

Philip Van Cleave, president of VCDL, wrote in an email to Louisa Town Manager Tom Filer that the sign posted in front of the playground is not in compliance with Virginia state law.

Van Cleave cites Code section 15.2-915 which states that no local governing body can make rules concerning guns.

The sign in front of the playground at the park, Van Cleave  said, is considered an administrative action and therefore illegal.

Van Cleave argues that even if the town were to change the sign to read, “no illegal weapons,” it would still be out of compliance.

“The town certainly supports people’s Second Amendment rights,” Filer said. “We’re just trying to create a safe park.”

While the town isn’t trying to restrict firearms, a concern over illegal weapons still exists.

“What they may have been thinking of is the list of banned concealed weapons,” Van Cleave said.

Virginia state law does ban some concealed weapons in public areas including throwing stars, nun chucks, metal knuckles and blackjacks.

The word “weapons” applies to firearms as well. Even adding the word “illegal” on the sign, the town would still be making regulations that refer to firearms, in contrast to state laws.

“The sign is illegal. That’s the bottom line,” Van Cleave said.

Van Cleave should just leave it alone.   Why must everything be an issue?  So Louisa County doesn’t want weapons in its parks.  Good for them.  Maybe there has been a problem in the past.  Maybe something has gotten thrown out of court when some kids were misbehaving with what they consider toys.

With Van Cleave on the loose, I am not going to worry about taking MY issue to far.  No one is threatening his rights.

August 6: 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima

MoonHowler

“Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima. It is an atomic bomb. We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the like of which has never been seen on this earth.”

— President Harry S. Truman

America did what it thought it had to do.  It took a tremendous risk.  The devastation to a mostly civilian population was unthinkable and unspeakable.

I have often said, I have very mixed feelings about the use of the atomic bomb 70 years ago.  I expect if it hadn’t existed, I would not be here.  My father was on the west coast, probably waiting to be shipped out to mainland Japan.   On the other hand, I believe we should never use nuclear weapons on human beings again.

The Manhattan Project and all its secrets remain a fascination, even 70 years later.  How much do we not know?

The Japanese town of Nagasaki was bombed 3 days later on August 9, 1945.  Total surrender took place  about a week later.  WWII was finally over, or was it?

More reading:

An illustrated history of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings

Republicans oust McAuliffe’s choice for Virginia Supreme Court

MoonHowler

Washingtonpost.com:

RICHMOND — Virginia Republicans say they will reject Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s pick for the state’s newest Supreme Court justice and install their own choice — an unprecedented move in modern Virginia history.

The decision added another layer of tension to the already fraught relationship between McAuliffe (D) and the GOP-controlled legislature, with the governor accusing legislative leaders of throwing “a political temper tantrum.”

“This woman is highly qualified, and I’ve got to tell you, it doesn’t send a good message to women around the commonwealth of Virginia,” McAuliffe said about the GOP decision not to back his appointment of former Fairfax Circuit Court judge Jane Marum Roush.

“This is the same group of individuals who have tried to roll back women’s rights and tried to hurt women’s rights in the commonwealth of Virginia,” McAuliffe said.

House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) and Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City) said lawmakers will elect Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. to the Supreme Court when they convene in Richmond on Aug. 17 for a special legislative session.

Shame on Virginia Republicans.  Rossie D. Alston might not be the best person for the job.  He used to be a circuit court judge right here in Prince William County and some of his decisions were very questionable in high-profile cases.  Alston is known for his “designer sentences” that are light on crime.

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What to do with Cecil’s killer?

MoonHowler

 

 

It’s not acceptable to turn Americans over to third world nations.  Let’s keep the dentist here and shun him.  His behavior is unacceptable.  I expect he has lost most of his patients and will now have to live life like the rest of us earthlings who can’t afford $50,000 big game trophy trips.

As for the poaching problem, why not slap million dollar fines on those trophies that are smuggled in.  Anyone caught with an African animal body part should be slapped with a fine and the trophy should be confiscated.

This dude wanted to go after elephants next.  Shudder!!!  Double shutter!

He needs to go shoot tin cans for a while like the rest of us.  The only shooting that should be taking place on game reserves is with a camera.    At some point, there will be no wild animals left in Africa.