#355
Vote Early, Vote Often
By Hank Silverberg
My wife and I cast our vote in Virginia's governor's race this past Friday, the first day of early voting. This may seem to be a bit of paranoia,
This year's vote is for state offices here in Virginia, and it is generally good politics to have a General Assembly and Governor from the opposite party when Republicans control Congress and the White House. That way the folks in the state capital (in my case, Richmond) can fight against the nonsense, and/or the real danger coming out of Washington. We've had a General Assembly controlled by the Democrats for the past two years, stifling Republican Governor Glen Youngkin's efforts to play follow-the-leader with Donald Trump's agenda.
Virginia is no longer part of the old south, but at times the politics of the Old Dominion of the past rear their ugly heads and force us to get nauseous.
For example, the Republican candidate for governor, Lt. Governor Winsome Earl Sears, has spent much of her advertising campaign on one issue: trans boys being able to use the girl's bathroom. She is hammering her opposition to that as if it were a matter of life or death. It's an issue that has NO relevance to the overwhelming majority of the electorate. That may explain, in part, why the Democrat, former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, has a 12 point lead in the latest poll done by the Wason Center at Christopher Newport University. And her party has similar leads in the race for Lt. Governor and Attorney General.
The poll finds the biggest issues for Virginians are inflation (21%) and threats to democracy (18%), with much of the Democratic support tied to a general dislike for President Trump and his policies. Youngkin, who can't run again by state law, has a 48% approval rating, while Trump's approval rating in the state is at 39%. (Kamala Harris won Virginia by 6% last November.)
Virginia has been a good barometer for the nation as a whole for the past two decades, with urban and suburban northern Virginia solidly Democratic and the rural, small city, less populated southern part of the state solidly Republican.
A significant part of the poll shows Independents, the key to most elections, at 55% in favor of Spanberger. Of course, the only poll that counts is the actual votes, so Spanberger needs to continue to push her issues that do not include bathrooms.
It took less than five minutes to cast my vote, even though there was a steady stream of people on the first day. We used a paper ballot fed into a machine to count it, and I have no doubt it will be counted accurately. The hardest part is waiting six and a half weeks to find out who wins.
https://cnu.edu/wasoncenter/surveys/archive/2025-09-18.html
California Strikes Back
There could be a real showdown between the federal government and the state of California, where Governor Gavin Newsom has just signed a bill that would ban federal immigration agents from wearing masks while conducting raids in the state.
The legislation, passed by Democrats over Republican objections, would prohibit ski masks, balaclavas and other face coverings for local and federal law enforcement as well as officials from other states operating in California. A similar bill would require law enforcement to wear badges or name tags identifying themselves. Newsom signed the mask bill even though he had expressed concern about the state's ability to enforce it. A lawsuit challenging the law is probable before it is scheduled to take effect on January 1.
The Department of Homeland Security had urged Newsom to veto the bill, concerned about the growing harassments of federal agents, particularly ICE agents as they stage raids against illegal immigrants.
There are exceptions on the mask ban. Undercover agents and the State Police are exempt, and using medical masks like the N95 or tactical masks are still permitted.
Democrats in Congress and lawmakers in several states, including Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, have introduced similar proposals calling for mask bans.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/us/california-ice-agents-masks-law.html
Commentary
Sometimes people or governments do something that just doesn't make sense. And so it was this week when the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada recognized a Palestinian State.
The British Prime Minister had announced over the summer that his country would take this action unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza. That, of course, has not happened. Before the October 7th attack on Israel which massacred more than 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages, Israel had twice in the past offered to accept a Palestinian state in Gaza or the West Bank. Those offers were rejected by Hamas.
Hamas has refused to agree to a ceasefire and has broken some temporary ones in the past, so what incentive is there for Israel to agree to this?
Who would run that Palestinian state? The Palestinian Authority, which has been unable to rule the West Bank or control Hamas? Certainly the leaders of Hamas have shown no inclination to stop fighting in order to get a Palestinian state. What the recognition has done has given Hamas legitimacy and encouragement to fight on.
These three countries and others who may follow suit are blaming Israel when the real threats to peace in the region have always been, and still are, terrorist groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others.
Jews, Palestinians, Arabs, Druze and others CAN live peacefully next to each other. They do so INSIDE Israel right now, but only when rationality prevails. There is no rationality on anything Hamas has done since it was founded.
Dumbest Quote Of The Week!
The idiocy continues at Fox News. This week's dumb quote comes from Fox News "host" Laura Ingraham. She was showing a clip of Democratic Congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh of Illinois being thrown to the ground during a passive protest on ICE deportations in a Chicago suburb by federal agents wearing masks and tactical gear.
Ingraham was talking while the clip was in a split screen. After noting a protest in New York, her narration goes like this, describing the protest in Illinois:
"A similar situation in Chicago today where absolutely unhinged agitators worked to form a blockade – they don’t have actual jobs, but that is their job – in front of an ICE facility, including a Democrat congressional candidate who was thrown to the ground by an ICE agent. Good work."
https://x.com/KatAbughazaleh/status/1969013628398411810
To me, that's promoting excessive force by federal law enforcement officers. So much for conservatives calling for an end to political violence.
(You suggestions and comments are welcome)
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