Free Republic

...."McAuliffe made several mistakes, unfortunately," his campaign volunteer said. "He allowed himself, rightly or wrongly, to be defined as anti-parent. Stuff like that does not sell in heavily suburban Virginia." He also said President Biden and Congress’ inability to pass their multitrillion-dollar spending bills dragged Democrats' favorability down nationwide, hurting McAuliffe as a result.

A bill to scrap Lee-Jackson Day as a holiday in Virginia has now passed both the House and Senate. Lee-Jackson Day, established over 100 years ago, is observed annually on the Friday preceding the third Monday in January. It honors Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, both native Virginians. Critics of the Lee-Jackson holiday view it as a celebration of the state's slave-holding history that’s offensive to African Americans. Many cities and counties have opted not to observe it. The bill passed the Senate last month with a vote of 22-18. The bill then passed the House...

While Virginia Democrats are merrily approving gun control laws aimed at the state’s legal gun owners, they apparently aren’t interested in focusing on violent criminals who use firearms in the commission of a crime. HB 1175 would have increased the penalty for using or brandishing a firearm while committing certain felonies, which seems like a pretty common sense bill to me. Instead, members of the House Public Safety Committee rejected the measure on Tuesday, while approving a number of gun bills that are meant to restrict the rights of legal gun owners in the name of public safety. “We will...

The FBI and local police are investigating how at least 19 dead Virginians were recently re-registered to vote in this critical swing state. One case came to light after relatives of a deceased man received a note congratulating him for registering, Rockingham County Commonwealth’s Attorney Marsha Garst said Thursday. “His family members were very distraught,” said Garst, who confirmed the existence of the FBI and police investigation but said she could provide few details because the case is ongoing.

CHAP. LV. An act declaring who shall be deemed citizens of this commonwealth. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That all white persons born within the territory of this commonwealth, and all who have resided therein two years next before the passing of this act; and all who shall hereafter migrate into the same, other than alien enemies, and shall before any .......

It's unclear whether any Virginia jurisdictions qualify as sanctuary cities, but the state legislature is determined to make sure none of them stray across the line, with Republican senators and delegates pushing to withhold money from those that refuse to cooperate -- and even considering making them have to pay restitution to those harmed by illegal immigrants within their borders. The House cleared a bill Monday that would require prisons and jails to honor all requests to transfer illegal immigrants to federal custody, as long as they aren't asked to hold the aliens beyond the time they'd normally be released....

The widower of the woman shot and killed by a Culpeper police officer on North East Street in February was found dead in his Friendship Heights apartment Tuesday, seven months after his wife’s untimely death. According to Virginia State Police, a maintenance crew who entered Gary D. Cook’s apartment to conduct routine service for the apartment complex discovered his body. He was 62. Preliminary findings of an autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Manassas revealed Cook died of natural causes, according to VPS spokeswoman Corinne Geller. Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to Cook’s residence around...

For Immediate Release: June 15, 2012 Contact: Randy Marcus Phone: 804-814-7117 Email: randy.marcus@billbolling.com Website: www.billbolling.com BOLLING ISSUES STATEMENT ON STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE’S DECISION REGARDING 2013 METHOD OF NOMINATION Lieutenant Governor expresses disappointment in Committee’s decision to abandon primary and choose nominees for statewide office via a party convention, and pledges to aggressively restructure his campaign to successfully compete in the convention process Earlier today, 47 members of the State Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia voted to rescind the Committee’s previous decision to nominate our party’s candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General in 2013 in a...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Virginia Democrats are hoping Sarah Palin remains so polarizing that she'll keep voters from from supporting the GOP in this fall's much-anticipated gubernatorial election. In a new Web video released Tuesday, the Democratic Party of Virginia replays audio from a Palin fundraiser last fall, in which she described "these small towns that we get to visit" as "real America." The Web video attempts to draw a link between that comment and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's recent claim that that northern Virginians "aren't necessarily thinking in the same way that folks like you and me think." Huckabee...

DUMFRIES, Va. - An armed woman who stayed home sick from work Wednesday turned out to be a would-be robber's worst nightmare. Police say an alarm went off Wednesday in broad daylight in the 3300 block of Dondis Creek Drive in Dumfries, prompting the home's owner to her basement door where she found three men trying to get inside. "When she confronts them, the men take off and one of them returned," said Officer Erika Hernandez, Prince William County (web | news) . That is when the woman opened fire, striking the would-be robber in the upper body. Police caught...

In the 2008 race for Virginia’s open U.S. Senate seat, a Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds Democrat Mark Warner leading Republican Jim Gilmore 53% to 37%. Both men are former Governors of Virginia and both considered running for their party’s 2008 Presidential nomination.

Virginia Republicans yesterday said they will push five proposals next year in the General Assembly aimed at illegal aliens. The measures would require sheriffs to confirm an arrested person's legal status in the United States through the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement database and every jail to have a person certified to detain illegals during the deportation process. Republicans also want to make a federal conviction for hiring illegals grounds for suspension of a business license, bar people from attending state universities unless they have a valid student visa and make them ineligible for bail. "Honest, law-abiding Virginia taxpayers have...

A Saudi national who served as director of the Virginia office of the Muslim World League (MWL) has been deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on immigration charges. ICE spokesman Dean Boyd said Abdullah Alnoshan, 44, of Falls Church, was returned to Saudi Arabia over the weekend. He was arrested in July by ICE and FBI agents assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force. A criminal complaint charged Alnoshan with conspiring to commit immigration fraud by using fake employment documents to enter, exit and live in the United States. Alnoshan also was accused of seeking to deter...

Officer Charged With Taking Indecent Liberties With Child ARLINGTON, Va. -- An Arlington County police officer was arrested Friday for allegedly soliciting a minor via the Internet. Police said Patrick Sherman, 26, was taken into custody without incident at his residence in the 1100 block of South Thomas Street in Arlington. Sherman has been charged with one count of using a communications system to facilitate certain offenses involving children, a class 5 felony that carries a maximum penalty of one to five years in prison or one year in jail and/or a fine of up to $2,500. The investigation into...

What about a Rice-Allen Ticket in 2008? You heard it here first! Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has great name recognition, solid foreign policy credentials, and a brilliant mind. Former Virginia Governor and current Senator George Allen has a solid conservative foundation, a friendly outgoing personality, and plenty of leadership experience. Rice would strip a lot of black and women's votes from the Democrat ticket; Allen would pull in the conservatives. This is a ticket that could beat Hillary Clinton. This is a ticket that would keep the Democrats out of the White House for eight years with Rice as...

September 3, 2004 - Al Qaida may have an alliance with a violent Central American gang that has established a presence near the Texas-Mexico border, according to members of the U.S. House Select Committee on Homeland Security.Mara Salvatrucha, an El-Salvador-based gang, has met with the terrorist group and may attempt to infiltrate the U.S. border, committee member U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, D-Texas, said Thursday at the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates."We have been in contact with El Salvadoran officials and they have verified that al-Qaida has been active in these gangs," Ortiz said."(The gang members) are all over...