January 2021 - Page 4 of 10 - The Virginia Star

Senator McClellan Unveils Universal Child Care and Early Learning Plan as Part of Gubernatorial Campaign

January 21, 2021January 20, 2021 Jacob Taylor

Democratic candidate for governor and Virginia State Senator Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond City) released a plan central to her campaign last Friday that seeks to provide affordable and quality child care for every family with a kid under the age of five by 2025.

Under McClellan’s Universal Child Care & Early Learning Plan, Virginia families that make below or up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level would receive free child care, no matter the family size. While families making above that poverty threshold would have to pay for child care costs, but no more than 7 percent of their annual income.

Virginia House Republicans Blast Slow COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

January 21, 2021January 20, 2021 Eric Burk

House of Delegate Republicans have repeatedly begun the regular sessions this week by blasting Virginia’s government for the slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

On Monday, GOP Caucus Chairman Delegate Kathy Byron (R-Bedford) said, “Madam Speaker, as we meet today, Virginia’s government is struggling in a critical life-saving mission. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Virginia has received over 850,000 doses of the COVID vaccine, but we have administered fewer than 250,000 doses. That performance ranks us among the lowest of the fifty states.”

Virginia House Passes ‘Good Apples Bill’ Requiring Officers to Report Misconduct to Supervisors

January 21, 2021January 20, 2021 Eric Burk

The House of Delegates passed Delegate Mark Levine’s (D-Arlington) “Good Apples Bill,” which requires law enforcement officers to report acts of wrongdoing committed by other on-duty officers. It also requires officers to render aid if they witness someone suffering a serious bodily injury, and it expands a ban on biased-based profiling to include profiling by sexual orientation. In a vote Wednesday, HB 1948 passed 57-42, with three Republicans joining Democrats to vote for the bill.

President Trump Says Goodbye (for Now) at Joint Base Andrews, Vows, ‘We will be Back’

January 20, 2021January 20, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Accompanied by family and supporters, President Trump spoke briefly to supporters Wednesday morning before he and first lady Melania Trump boarded Air Force One for their home in Florida, telling them: “You are amazing people. This is a great, great country.”

The first family arrived for their flight from Joint Base Andrews after arriving on Marine One from the White House.

Trump Pardons Steve Bannon, Rapper Lil Wayne in Final Wave of Clemency

January 20, 2021January 20, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

President Trump pardoned former White House adviser Steve Bannon, several ex-congressman and two high profile rappers in a final wave of clemency and commutations as he left office.

The White House released the list of 73 pardons and 70 commutations early Wednesday morning, and it did not include Trump himself, any family members or his attorney Rudy Giuliani as some had speculated.

Sen. Klobuchar Blasts ‘Angry, Violent Mob’ in Inauguration Speech

January 20, 2021January 20, 2021 Peter D'Abrosca

A Minnesota Senator used her inaugural speech to demonize mostly peaceful protestors who occupied the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. on January 6, while simultaneously calling for unity.

“Two weeks ago, when an angry, violent mob staged an insurrection and desecrated this temple of our democracy, it awakened us to our responsibility as Americans,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) said, speaking to a sparse crowd. “This is the day when our democracy picks itself up, brushes off the dust, and does what America always does: goes forward as a nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Biden Calls for Ending ‘This Uncivil War,’ in Inaugural Address

January 20, 2021January 20, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

In his inaugural address Wednesday, President Joe Biden called for an end to this “uncivil war” and asked his political opponents not to let disagreement “lead to disunion.”

“We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural verses urban, conservative verses liberal, we can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts,” Biden said on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building.

Virginia House Moves to Expand Ballot Drop Boxes, Allow Ballot ‘Curing’

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Eric Burk

The Virginia House of Delegates passed a voting reform bill on Tuesday. Key provisions of HB 1888 require ballot drop boxes in all localities, allow voters to “cure” or fix errors on their own absentee ballots, and require elections officials to begin processing absentee ballots before Election Day. Additionally, it requires localities to provide ballot marking tools and screen reader assistance technology for visually impaired voters.

Commentary: If Biden Really Wants National Unity, He Should Call off the Trump Impeachment Trial

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Does President-elect Joe Biden really want the first order of business when he is sworn into office to be the trial of outgoing President Donald Trump?

On Nov. 6, 2020, while votes were still being counted, Biden told the nation: “We may be opponents but we’re not enemies, we’re Americans. No matter who you voted for I’m certain of one thing, the vast majority of them, almost 150 million Americans who voted they want to get the vitriol out of our politics. We’re certainly not going to agree on a lot of issues but at least we can agree to be civil with one another. We have to put the anger and the demonization behind us. It’s time for us to come together as a nation to heal. It’s not going to be easy, we have to try. My responsibility as president will be to represent the whole nation.”

Democrats Introduce Two House Bills Expanding Abortion Coverage

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Eric Burk

Virginia House Democrats have introduced two bills expanding healthcare coverage of abortions. HB 1922, introduced by Delegate Cia Price (D-Newport News) would expand Medicaid abortion coverage and require private employers who offer health coverage to cover abortions. HB 1896, introduced by Delegate Sally Hudson (D-Charlottesville), removes a Virginia prohibition of abortion coverage under Obamacare.

Nearly 200,000 Flags Will Replace In-Person Crowds for Biden’s Inauguration

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Almost 200,000 flags were planted on the National Mall before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, intended to replace those who can’t attend in-person, The Hill reported Tuesday.

The exhibition was illuminated Sunday eve and extends from the National Mall, Third Street to 13th Street in the city’s downtown, according to The Hill.

Pompeo Declares China’s Policies Toward Muslims, Ethnic Minorities ‘Genocide’

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that China’s policies on Muslims and ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang region constitute “crimes against humanity” and a “genocide.”

Commentary: How to Restore Faith in the Constitution

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

In one of the most extraordinary passages of his most extraordinary book, C.S. Lewis, the 20th century’s greatest Christian apologist, wrote of Jesus Christ, that he was either the son of God, as he claimed, or a madman. In the Christmas season, believers take comfort in their faith and joyfully embrace the first alternative.

The United States has a tradition of separating church and state, but there is a competing tradition, equally venerable, that our government is only fit for a religious people, one that understands there is a divine order to which humankind ought to conform, and that, as Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett once explained, it is our task to contribute to the building of the Kingdom of God.

Migrant Caravan in Guatemala Pushes Through Border from Honduras to Reach U.S.

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Guatemalan officials report that 6,500 migrants are moving from Honduras to the USA. The migrants began pushing through the Guatemalan southern border.

The spokeswoman for Guatemala’s immigration authority, Alejandra Mena, estimated that there were some 6,500 Hondurans crossing the country’s southern border on Saturday, making their way north, with 3,000 to 3,500 of them already in Guatemalan territory. A Honduran police officer said he observed “more or less 5,000 people” walk past his checkpoint.

U.S. Scientist Who Led Charge Against COVID Lab Leak Theory Admits He Was Trying to Protect Chinese Scientists

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The U.S. scientist behind an effort to stymie debate surrounding the possibility that COVID-19 could have accidentally escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology admitted through a spokesman that he did so to protect Chinese scientists from online criticism.

Dr. Peter Daszak, the president of the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, orchestrated a statement published in The Lancet medical journal in February, prior to any serious research on the origins of COVID-19, condemning “conspiracy theories” that suggest the virus doesn’t have a natural origin.

Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s and Wayfair Pull MyPillow Products from Shelves, CEO Says

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohl’s and Wayfair have all stopped selling MyPillow products after the company’s CEO continued alleging mass voter fraud occurred during the presidential election.

Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl’s called MyPillow CEO and Founder Mike Lindell this week informing them of their decision, he told Right Side Broadcasting Network (RSBN) in an interview Monday. Wayfair and grocery store chain HEB also dropped MyPillow products, Lindell told St. Paul, Minnesota Fox affiliate KMSP-TV Tuesday.

Conservative Groups Funded by Google Oppose Anti-Trust Action

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

A handful of conservative organizations have signed onto a letter to House Republicans stating their opposition to any proposed anti-trust action against Big Tech companies, according to Breitbart.

The 10-page letter, addressed to Congressmen Ken Buck (R-Colo.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), declared on behalf of these groups that “both sides of the aisle are pushing for the weaponization of anti-trust, either as a tool to punish corporate actors with whom they disagree or out of a presupposition that big is bad.”

Falling CO2 Emissions Expose ‘Global Warming’ Alarmism As Anti-Science

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 RealClearWire

The “experts” that dominate government, big business, universities, and international institutions vitriolically insist that “science” purportedly establishes beyond doubt that carbon dioxide emissions are raising global temperatures and that the warmer earth will be catastrophic.

In 2020, the pandemic-induced shutdowns that inflicted so much economic harm, particularly on the Third World’s already poor, reduced CO2 emissions by a record-breaking 7 percent. Those demanding that Americans reduce emissions must be especially pleased: the U.S. led the world with a 12 percent reduction.

Legislation Abolishing Death Penalty Advanced by Virginia Senate Committee

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Jacob Taylor

Legislation to abolish the death penalty in the Commonwealth of Virginia was advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday morning.

Introduced by Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax), Senate Bill 1165 was reported out of the committee by a vote of 10-4, mostly along party lines with Sen. Bill Stanley (R-Franklin County), chief co-patron on the measure, the only Republican who voted in support.

Virginia Senate Strips Amanda Chase of Final Committee Assignment

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021 Jacob Taylor

The Virginia state Senate on Wednesday voted to update the body’s standing committees for 2021 and simultaneously stripped GOP gubernatorial candidate Sen. Amanda Chase (R-Chesterfield) of her lone committee assignment from the previous year, resulting in a lengthy debate that highlighted the disconnect between the lawmaker and her colleagues.

The standing committee’s membership was updated at the request of Republicans in order to fill the vacancies left by the late Sen. Ben Chafin, who passed away from COVID-19 complications on New Year’s Day, according to Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax).

Trump Delivers Farewell Address, Says ‘Movement We Started Is Only Just Beginning’

January 19, 2021January 19, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Less than 24 hours before he leaves office, President Trump on Tuesday delivered a farewell address, decrying the violence that occurred at the Capitol on Jan. 6 but pledging “the movement we started is only just beginning.”

Second Amendment Advocates Pour Into Virginia’s Capitol for Lobby Day 2021

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Eric Burk

Buses, a decommissioned ambulance, and lots of cars and trucks traveled through Richmond for hours on Monday afternoon as part of the Virginia Citizens Defense League’s (VCDL) Lobby Day 2021 demonstration. Most vehicles sported VCDL flags and decals; a few also waved Trump flags and other paraphernalia.

“When the first bus came, it just seemed like car after car after car, decked out, horns honking, people waving,” VCDL President Phil Van Cleave said. Car caravans came from all corners of the Commonwealth.

Commentary: The Social Media Purge Exposes Net Neutrality’s True Goal

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

For nearly two decades, Silicon Valley made net neutrality its highest policy priority. Under the banner of a “free and open” internet, Google, Facebook, and Twitter sought regulations to ensure the uninterrupted flow of information by treating every bit equally. Or so they said.

Beginning last Friday night, these firms and others executed an unprecedented digital purge of the social media and video accounts of their political rivals. After several years of accelerating suspensions and suppressions, this time YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter permanently banned a number of high-profile conservatives and deplatformed thousands of others, at least temporarily. Many of these accounts had nothing to do with last Wednesday’s heinous events at the Capitol. Yet their histories are erased.

The 1776 Commission Releases Report on American Founding with Proposals to Unify Nation

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Corinne Murdock

The 1776 Commission published its report on the history and principles of the American founding on Monday. The 45-page account explored the key individuals, events, and documents informing this country’s founding. It addressed the contextual history and meaning of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, ideologies that both historically and presently challenge American principles, and a series of proposals to restore national unity.

The appendices included the entirety of the Declaration of Independence, as well as further insight on the topics of religious faith, identity politics, and a strong civics education. In an interview with The Tennessee Star, Vice Chair Dr. Carol Swain explained that the report focuses on the virtues and ideals of this country that unite and benefit American citizens.

FAKE NEWS: CNN Botches Story About Virginia Man Arrested at Police Checkpoint in Washington D.C.

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Admin

Virginia man who was arrested at a police checkpoint in Washington D.C. over the weekend, has been released from custody following a brief court appearance.

Although initial news reports hyped the story, investigators said they do not consider Wesley Beeler, a security contractor who was working in the area, to be a threat to public safety.

Biden Vows to Undo President Trump’s Pro-Life Policies

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Admin

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have promised to undo a number of President Donald Trump’s pro-life policies.

Biden has indicated that he will reverse the Mexico City Policy, which bars foreign organizations receiving U.S. funding from providing abortions, abortion information or abortion referrals. He has also promised to restore federal funding to Planned Parenthood, to repeal the Hyde Amendment and to renew legal action against the Little Sisters of the Poor.

Hungary Weighs Big Tech Sanctions over ‘Systemic Abuses’ of Free Speech

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Admin

Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga said Monday that Hungary is considering sanctions against big tech firms over alleged “systemic abuses” of free speech, Reuters reported.

Varga plans to meet with the Hungarian Competition Authority this week to discuss possible penalties for what he says are unfair commercial practices utilized by social media firms including Facebook and Twitter, according to Reuters. In addition, the minister plans to convene a meeting with the state-sponsored Digital Freedom Committee.

West Virginia School Bus Drivers File Lawsuit Against School Superintendent over Suspensions Related to Capitol Protest

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Admin

Two veteran school bus drivers from a West Virginia school district have filed a civil lawsuit for suspensions related to their attendance at the January 6 Washington, DC protest.

Tina Renner and Pamela McDonald were suspended by Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Bondy Shay Gibson after receiving word the drivers had “posted threatening and inflammatory posts on their Facebook pages, had been present at the Electoral protest march on Wednesday that erupted in violence, and had violated […] leave policy.”

Year-End Campaign Fundraising Haul for Virginia’s Statewide Candidates Shows McAuliffe Far Ahead, Followed by Foy

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Jacob Taylor

With Virginia’s statewide elections for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general drawing ever closer, candidates’ campaign finance reports literally show who has been busy fundraising, but can also offer an early glimpse of their viability in the races.

On Saturday, year-end fundraising reports, covering the second half of last year from July 1st to December 31st, for each statewide candidate were released to the public. The Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) compiled the numbers and listed the cash on hand for each candidate.

Commentary: They Have Opened the Gates of Hell and It’s a One-Way Passage

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Recently, we received a copy of a private commentary sent around by a tech founder in Silicon Valley, who wrote the following, which we quote here with permission provided the author’s anonymity is preserved:

The entire American tech stack – which enables Americans to buy, sell, pay, and communicate – has been weaponized in furtherance of a radical anti-freedom agenda.
This is the single most chilling week in my lifetime, and America’s since the Civil War.

Biden Reportedly Taps Warren Ally Rohit Chopra to Lead Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Admin

President-elect Joe Biden will reportedly nominate Rohit Chopra, an ally of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Chopra is a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and if confirmed by the Senate would take over an agency that he helped create alongside Warren approximately a decade ago. Chopra’s selection was first reported by Politico, which cited four individuals with knowledge of the decision.

Northam Administration Moves to Tax PPP Loan Recipients

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 Jacob Taylor

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s administration has recommended to the General Assembly that the state not conform its tax code to specific provisions included in the recently-signed federal emergency relief bill that gives businesses who received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans a significant tax benefit.

Under the provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), signed into law by President Donald Trump in late December, businesses in the Commonwealth that got forgivable PPP loans would not be taxed on that income and could deduct their business expenses covered by the federal payment.

Chesterfield Supervisor Leslie Haley Announces Run for Attorney General

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Jacob Taylor

Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors member and lawyer Leslie Haley announced her bid for the Republican nomination in the 2021 Virginia attorney general election on Thursday.

Haley, who has represented the Midlothian District on the board since 2016 with stints as both the chair and vice chair, launched her campaign to be the Commonwealth’s top attorney through a press release and short video.

Commentary: Scholastic Corp. Pushes a False Racial Narrative to Elementary Children

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

What do George Floyd, Thanksgiving, and the Civil War all have in common? The publicly traded Scholastic Corporation has made a conscious decision to weave them into a twisted account of American History (their label) portraying our country as systemically racist, fundamentally flawed, and essentially evil. Articles written in their weekly Scholastic News Review are mandatory classroom reading and discussion for our children—6 million in total from first through sixth grade across the country, according to Scholastic.

During back-to-school week in August, these 6 million mostly elementary-age students were welcomed back with an article titled “Demanding Justice,” with the subheading: “Protests spread across the United States after a Black man is killed by police.”

Missouri Becomes First State in U.S. to No Longer Perform Abortions

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 The Center Square

Missouri has become the first state in the U.S. where abortions are no longer performed.

A total of 45 abortion facilities closed or halted abortions nationwide in 2020, including in Missouri, which is now the only state without an active abortion facility, according to a survey conducted by Operation Rescue, a pro-life activist organization.

Durbin Says Members ‘Have to Follow Their Own Conscience’ on Trump Impeachment

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin told CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Sunday that Senate members “have to follow their own conscience” on President Donald Trump’s impeachment.

Durbin told Tapper on CNN’s “State of The Union” that he doesn’t know how members of his own caucus will vote to convict Trump.

Michigan State Professor: ‘Wuhan Virus’ Is an Example of ‘Linguistic Racism’

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Michigan State University recently highlighted linguistics professor Peter De Costa’s study about “linguistic racism.”

To explain the concept, De Costa cited the phrase “Wuhan virus” as an example.

The university’s official news service, MSU Today, interviewed De Costa following the publication of his study, “Linguistic racism: Its negative effects and why we need to contest it.”

Puerto Rico: Tax Haven for the Super-Rich

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Puerto Rico has become a popular tax haven for super rich Americans who take advantage of local laws, which allow them to avoid paying U.S. federal income taxes.

Over the last decade, thousands of wealthy Americans have built homes, started businesses and spent a significant amount of time in Puerto Rico, all in order to take advantage of the island’s tax code that exempts them from U.S. taxes. While just a few thousand have taken advantage of the law, the U.S. federal government has potentially lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

“It’s being done, in a sense, in plain sight,” Peter Palsen, an international tax expert at the Washington D.C-area law firm Frost Law, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The IRS has the knowledge of who’s doing it.”

U.S. Bans Cotton, Tomato Products Made by Uighurs in China

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a ban on imports of cotton and tomatoes from the Xinjiang area of China, where the government is detaining more than a million Muslim Uighurs in horrendous prison-like conditions where they are forced into labor, the US Customs and Border Protection announced.

Effective January 13 at all U.S. ports of entry, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Withhold Release Order against cotton products and tomato products produced in Xinjiang based on information on information that the Chinese Communist Party was using detainees for “prison labor” in reeducation camps.

‘All’ Republicans are ‘Guilty’ of Capitol Attack and Should be ‘Forced to Shut the Hell Up,’ Louisville Professor Says

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

University of Louisville professor Ricky Jones wrote in an op-ed that Republicans should “be forced to shut the hell up” about the Capitol Hill attack unless they denounce their former support of President Donald Trump.

“Republicans, you should not be allowed to speak about being shocked by President Donald Trump or the recent right-wing raid in Washington, D.C., for your words ring hollow,” wrote Jones, who is the chair of the Pan-African Studies department.

Democrats Call for pro-Trump Virginia Redistricting Appointee to Resign

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Eric Burk

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) is calling for Trump supporter Jose Feliciano Jr. to resign from Virginia’s redistricting commission. Feliciano is one of Republicans’ four citizen appointees, and is under fire for comments he allegedly made on Twitter.

Homeland Security Nominee Mayorkas Raked in Millions at Corporate Law Firm Representing Utility Company Responsible for Fatal Gas Explosion

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

by Chuck Ross Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of homeland security, received $3.3 million last year as a partner at his law firm, where he represented a defense contractor accused of kickbacks to secure a Department of Energy contract and a utility company found responsible for…

Commentary: Now That Democrats Have Successfully Pulled Off Their ‘Decapitation’ Strategy, Will Americans Reward or Punish Them?

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

In their latest entry in their litany of hypocrisy, the Democrats are trying assiduously to suppress the very opposition strategy they engaged in during the Trump Administration.

It is ironic, and in many instances unnecessary. By and large, Republicans and populists would never engage in many of these political tactics. Nevertheless, the Democrats are trying preemptively to extinguish a Republican-populist version of their “resistance” by using the execrable and rightly condemned Capitol riot as a pretext to equate legitimate “opposition” with treasonous “sedition.”

The Democrats’ “resistance” was no organic, spontaneous uprising. It was a well-orchestrated political operation. Knowing what they did to undermine the Trump Administration, the Democrats know what they must do to stop it from happening to them. In other words, there is a history lesson the Democrats are trying to rewrite.

Passionately Catholic: Becoming a Super Spreader of the Gospel

January 18, 2021January 19, 2021 Admin

There’s much concern in today’s COVID world about containing the virus and avoiding the spread. We are told to wear our masks in public, to keep at least six feet between us and to avoid crowds. If we all comply, we will not contract the virus, or so we’re told.

Virginia Delegate Jones Files Bill to Automatically Reinstate Felon Voting Rights

January 18, 2021January 17, 2021 Eric Burk

Attorney General candidate Delegate Jay Jones (D-Norfolk) has pre-filed a bill that would automatically reinstate felons’ voting rights after completion of their sentence. Governor Ralph Northam is also pushing for passage of the bill, HJ546.

“If you break the law in Virginia, you’ll be punished. But right now, part of the punishment follows you for the rest of your life—even after you’ve paid your debt to society. ” Northam said in his State of The Commonwealth address. “You lose your civil rights—like the right to vote—and you don’t get them back unless the governor acts to give them back.

Pro-Gun Rights Car Caravan Planned for Lobby Day

January 17, 2021January 16, 2021 Jacob Taylor

Lobby Day, the annual tradition where Virginians from across the state gather in Richmond to engage lawmakers on pressing issues, is going to look quite different this year.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) Lobby Day 2021 is set to take place on Monday in Richmond, but this year, instead of a massive gathering of mostly armed individuals at the Capitol, the gun-rights advocacy group is organizing a car caravan through the heart of the city.

Commentary: China Gets Biden

January 17, 2021January 16, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Joe Biden may be gearing up for January 20, but it was January 2012 when the Delaware Democrat got his big break. “Biden Gets China,” headlined the January 2, 2012 report in The Atlantic. As author Steve Clemons explained, “a senior White House official has confirmed that Vice President Joe Biden will take the lead on the administration’s next phase China policy.”

Texas AG Launches Investigation into Big Tech’s ‘Biased Policies’ After Trump’s Twitter Ban

January 17, 2021January 16, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into the content moderation policies of multiple Silicon Valley based tech companies after President Trump was permanently banned from Twitter last week.

Paxton’s office demanded four big tech giants such as Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Amazon and Google provide information relating to their censoring of conservative speech as well as their termination of the popular conservative social media app Parler from their platforms.

Music Spotlight: Mira Goto

January 17, 2021January 16, 2021 Bethany Bowman

Singer/songwriter Mira Goto grew up in a musical family. Her grandmother played the organ at church for many years and she learned to play the violin as a child. She grew up with access to instruments and a family who loved to sing.

As a teen, she thought the guitar was a much cooler instrument so she put her efforts there. Her favorite artist was Alanis Morrisette. “If I ever have the opportunity to do CMT Crossroads, she will be my first pick,” she mused.

DOJ Officials Walk-Back Assertion That MAGA Rioters Wanted to ‘Capture and Assassinate Lawmakers’

January 17, 2021January 16, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Justice Department officials have formally walked back the outlandish assertion that claimed protesters sought to “capture and assassinate elected officials” during the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Michael Sherwin, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters during a press conference on Friday that there is no “direct evidence of efforts to capture or assassinate lawmakers” during the riot.