Free Republic

He isn't a politician, but many are hoping the father of a slain Muslim-American war hero will become one after his powerful Democratic National Convention speech. Leading the effort to get Khizr Khan to consider a run for elected office is Vietnam veteran and Democratic activist Tom Keefe, who launched a fundraiser on Wednesday called "Yes We Khan." The campaign, which aims to get Khan in the Virginia House of Delegates, raised more than $11,000 in just 24 hours. Keefe, who also attended the DNC and was on stage with other veterans during Gen. John Allen's speech, told NBC News...

PARIS — With its guffawing masculine hilarity, the National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, would not be put to shame by the most boisterous American state legislature. The marble-and-velvet setting may be more elegant, but the rowdy laughter says the same thing: Men dominate. Over the last week, that male world has been shaken. The Assembly’s vice president, Denis Baupin, was forced to resign after several women came forward publicly with accusations that he had sexually harassed numerous female colleagues for years. One said Mr. Baupin had pushed her against a wall, grabbed one of her breasts and tried...

This year’s impending presidential election loomed large in a party-line vote by the State Board of Elections on Thursday to overhaul Virginia’s voter registration form to make it easier for Virginians to vote. ..... The board’s action was not related directly to McAuliffe’s sweeping executive order last week to restore voting and other civil rights to an estimated 206,000 felons.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Sen. Ted Cruz’s former campaign co-chairman in Virginia has traveled to Syria and promised support for the government of President Bashar Assad, who U.S. officials have repeatedly said has lost the legitimacy to rule the war-torn country. Virginia state Sen. Dick Black’s trip to a Middle Eastern country in the midst of a civil war and his comments in the face of official U.S. foreign policy are highly unusual for a state lawmaker. Black, an outspoken Republican, is a part-time state senator who has no role in official U.S. foreign policy. Still, he has met...

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has vetoed legislation he said would legalize discrimination of the LGBT community. The Democratic governor made the announcement Wednesday during a radio appearance on WTOP. The measure would prohibit the state from punishing religious groups that refuse services related to gay marriages. Republican supporters said it would protect people from expressing their religious beliefs. …

<p>Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has vetoed legislation he said would legalize discrimination against LGBT people.</p> <p>The Democratic governor signed his veto of Senate Bill 41 Wednesday morning while on WTOP.</p> <p>"We're not going to tolerate discrimination. Virginia will be open and welcoming," he said.</p>

A bill removing funding from Planned Parenthood and similar organizations in the state passed the Virginia Senate Monday by a vote of 21-19. The senators voted strictly along party lines — 21 votes supporting the bill came from the Republican party, while the 19 opposing votes came from the Democratic party. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe has not yet acted upon the bill, which passed the House on Feb. 16 in a 64-35 vote. According to the bill summary, the bill, “prohibits the Department of Health from spending any funds on an abortion that is not qualified for matching funds under...

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Friday signed into law a compromise gun policy hammered out between Democrats and Republicans who rarely see eye-to-eye on the hot-button issue. The measures will allow more out-of-state concealed-handgun permit holders to legally carry guns in Virginia, prohibit people subject to permanent protective orders from carrying firearms and require police presence at gun shows for voluntary background checks. SNIP The measures flew through the GOP-controlled House and Senate with little opposition. The compromise was vehemently opposed by Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun-control group, Everytown for Gun Safety. The once-strong ally of McAuliffe ran...

A Virginia legislative committee has defeated a measure that sought to prohibit officials from using execution drugs they received from another state if they don't reveal the source of the drugs. Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell's bill was voted down by the Senate Education and Health Committee on Thursday. ...

Today, the United States Supreme Court denied a request to halt the implementation of new Congressional boundaries handed down from a federal court several weeks ago. The order for the case was only one sentence long and read: "The application for stay presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is denied." A judge had recently ruled that the proposed congressional map was unconstitutional because it packed in too many African American voters into the 3rd Congressional District, and changed the landscape for surrounding districts, including the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th. Virginia and Florida are...

"The relationship between Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) and gun control groups is quickly souring after critics say he caved to pressure from the National Rifle Association. Virginia will now recognize concealed carry permits from dozens of other states with what critics say are weaker gun laws than the commonwealth."

Today, the Virginia House of Delegates passed a bill to authorize the farming, and production of industrial hemp in the state for commercial purposes, setting the foundation to nullify in practice the unconstitutional federal prohibition on the same. The vote was 98-0. Introduced by Del. Brenda Pogge (R-Norge), House Bill 699 (HB699) would amend current state law on hemp by removing a provision that authorized the licensing of hemp farming only upon approval of the federal government.

RICHMOND - A Virginia Senate panel on Wednesday scrapped a raft of gun-control bills while advancing measures intended to expand gun rights. Among the legislation was one, proposed by Sen. George L. Barker (D-Fairfax), that would have created a way for authorities to remove firearms from people deemed by a Circuit Court judge to be at "substantial risk" of injury to themselves or others. "There are people slipping through the cracks who are a danger," said Lori Haas, a gun-safety activist whose daughter was injured in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. "It is not meant to send somebody into your...

Republican lawmakers on Virginia's Senate Courts of Justice Committee defied Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) by passing a bill on January 20 to allow concealed carry in the state without a permit. Currently, Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Maine, Montana, Vermont, and Wyoming allow concealed carry without a permit. According to Fredericksburg.com, Republican lawmakers also struck down a bill supported by McAuliffe intended to "require background checks on all gun buyers at gun shows." McAuliffe has been pushing for such an expansion from the time he assumed the governor’s office.

A Virginia state senator has thrown down the gauntlet with Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe in a brewing battle over gun rights -- pushing to defund the governor’s armed bodyguards unless he revokes an order that banned firearms in most state buildings. "It’s easy for someone who is surrounded by armed state policemen to tell someone else they can't carry a weapon to protect themselves," Republican state Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr. told FoxNews.com. "It’s just equal treatment, that’s all I’m saying."

Virginia's radically anti-gun Governor and Attorney General were probably quite pleased with themselves when they spitefully severed concealed carry agreements with 25 states, including all but one of its neighbors. They probably didn't anticipate the backlash they’ve received, which includes calls to recall or impeach Attorney General Mark Herring, and pushes for legislation that will both strip elected officials of the ability to make such unilateral decisions, and get a little payback.

A southwest Virginia lawmaker has filed a bill that would allow a Confederate battle flag to again be displayed on state-issued license plates. Senator Charles W. Carrico Sr. told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that his constituents believe Gov. Terry McAuliffe went too far when he moved to have the plates phased out. The Grayson County Republican says he represents his district "first and foremost." ...

I am excited to announce that our sponsor, Delegate Scott Lingamfelter, has officially pre-filed the Convention of States resolution in Virginia for the 2016 session of the General Assembly! Our resolution will be known as House Joint Resolution 3, or HJ3, and you can read it here. In a nutshell, the resolution calls for an amendment-proposing convention of the states under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, limited to proposing amendments that do one of three things: (1) impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, (2) limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, or (3) set term limits...

There’s been a lot of Monday-morning quarterbacking about how firearm violence prevention played in Virginia elections this year. Let’s look at the two state Senate races where the issue played a central role: Senate District 10 in the Richmond area and Senate District 29 in Prince William County. In both races, gun safety was either the winning factor or helped tighten a race in a previously non-competitive GOP-held district. First, polling in and outside of Virginia shows more than 85 percent of Americans support common-sense firearms-violence prevention rules such as universal background checks or keeping firearms out of the hands...

Republicans kept control of the Virginia state Senate on Tuesday despite millions from billionaire Michael Bloomberg's gun control advocacy group backing Democrats. The victories mean that the Republicans retain control of both houses of the state legislature. The party remains an obstacle to Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe as he tries to tighten gun laws and expand Medicaid in the state, a battleground in the 2016 presidential elections. Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety advocacy group had made the Virginia races an election focus. It spent $2.2 million in ads for two Democratic Senate candidates in a bid to have the party...