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A Message From The Old Dominion                          #259

By Hank Silverberg


Virginians go to the polls on Tuesday. On the ballot is the entire General Assembly, along with many local offices like county sheriffs and school board members. 

(Virginia Capitol Building) 

So why does this matter to those outside Virginia?

Answer: the state is a microcosm of the USA, with the  urban centers and D.C. suburbs up north predominately Democratic, and the rural Shenandoah Valley and southeast predominately Republican.  

There has been more than a month of early voting, and my sources indicate about 59% of those who cast their vote early were Democrats (based on voter registration). Early voters have usually made up their minds way before they get to the voting booth, so logic would assume Democratic candidates have an advantage going into Election Day. So as usual, which ever party gets the remainder of their voters to the polls on November 7, will end up on top.

A recent poll done by the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University indicates 67% of the electorate is very interested in this election, much higher than the 47% in 2019. It also showed Democrats ahead by just a slim margin, 47% to 45%.  

But 55% of those polled disapprove of President Biden, who won the state by 10% in 2020. 

Virginia currently has a one-term restricted Republican Governor, Glenn Youngkin. The legislature is split with the Democrats narrowly controlling the State Senate and the Republicans narrowly controlling the House. 

Youngkin has been campaigning hard for GOP legislative candidates, and the Democrats have raised a record amount of money for their slate. 

Despite all the rhetoric about parental rights in schools and transgender issues, the overturning of Roe v Wade  has put abortion at the top of voter's minds (90% for Democrats, 74% for Republicans).

Even with all this, control of the General Assembly will be determined by maybe a dozen key races. There are 40 Senators in Virginia and 100 Delegates. 

Despite Youngkin's victory two years ago, Virginia has been blue for a decade. What happens in Virginia as a microcosm of the country as a whole, may be a precursor of the 2024 race  for the White House. We should all be watching with interest. 

Rozell: Poll shows advantages for both parties (richmond.com)

Washington Post: Post-Schar School Poll: Abortion Is Key for Dems., Women in Virginia Election | Schar School of Policy and Government

To Boldly Go

Space is definitely the final frontier, and new discoveries are made every year. Sometimes they are big, like very distant black holes. Sometimes they are small, like the moon discovered this week,

(Dinkinesh and friend, NASA photo) 
orbiting a very small asteroid. The asteroid is called Dinkinesh, because it's pretty small, just barely a half-mile across. But now it apparently has an even smaller moon  (technically another asteroid), about one-tenth-of-a-mile in size. 

NASA's Lucy spacecraft found the moon as it flew by Dinkinesh, 300 million miles away in the main asteroid belt out past Mars. Dinkinesh is Amharic, the language of Ethiopia. It means "you are marvelous." Frankly, the asteroid and its little  brother don't look that  marvelous, but there are a lot of folks at NASA fired up about the discovery. 

NASA spacecraft discovers tiny moon around asteroid | AP News


The Beatles 

The Beatles have released a new song! Wait! What? John Lennon was murdered in 1980, and George Harrison died in 2001. How can that be?

 Well, now and then you hear about the remarkable things they can do with artificial intelligence. The remaining two Beatles, Paul McCartney, now 81, and Ringo Starr, now 83, have teamed up with an unreleased recording of John Lennon from the 1970's doing a song called "Now and Then."  McCartney says the original recording of Lennon's voice was on a cassette tape. It was hidden and hard to hear behind the piano and unusable until A-I came along. 

McCartney, Starr and Harrison had used the tape to construct the songs "Free as a Bird," and "Real Love" in the 1990's, but they couldn't do it with "Now and Then" until now. 

McCartney and Starr built a track using Lennon's voice and Harrison's guitar session, which had been written in 1995. They put it all together with images of the band when they were young and new AI images of Lennon and Harrison. The single was released this week. And just to spice things up, the flip side is a re-release of "Love Me Do," their first big hit back in 1962. "Now and Then" is good, but the video is even better. 

So "Now and Then" is the last Beatles song ever, 60 years after they burst on the music scene and changed rock and roll forever. Here's the video: 


The Beatles - Now And Then (Official Music Video) - YouTube







Dumbest Quote of The Week

This week's dumb quote comes from a long shot Presidential candidate with lots of name recognition. Robert Kennedy Jr., who has wiped out his earlier credibility as an environmentalist, is now running for president. He's an anti-vaxxer and a bit bizarre in his stands on many issues. But here's what gets him in this week's dumb quote column. 
In an appearance this past week he said:

"I'm gonna say to NIH scientists, God bless you all. Thank you for public service. We're gonna give infectious disease a break for about eight years."

The implication is he would kill all research
on such diseases as Ebola, SARS, West Nile Fever and Covid among others, at a time when they are all sickening significant populations across the globe.   

His father and uncles would be horrified at this thought.     




(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)   

My recent book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at:

HankSilverberg@gmail.com  for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature)                       

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796


My NEWEST book is now available. It is designed for use in Public Speaking and entry level communications classes. 


                                                 
You can purchase Communications and Public Speaking Trends in the 21st Century at these two links: 


or straight from the Publisher at:  







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