Free Republic

On April 10, disgraced Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed five pieces of anti-gun legislation into law. Those measures criminalize the private sale of firearms, ration handgun sales to one a month, create a "red flag" gun confiscation scheme, punish property crime victims who fail to hastily report a firearm as stolen, and restrict how Virginia parents may store and introduce their children to firearms. Northam sent two pieces of anti-gun legislation back, including legislation that erodes the Right-to-Carry and the state firearms preemption statute, to the general assembly with governor's amendments. The General Assembly enacted both items of legislation...

A judge has ruled that a Virginia gun range must be allowed to open to customers despite a statewide executive order requiring nonessential businesses to close to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The order issued Monday by Lynchburg Circuit Judge F. Patrick Yeatts says federal and state protections on the right to bear arms outweigh any emergency authority held by Gov. Ralph Northam to order the gun range closed.

Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s office said Friday that Phase One of reopening the state under federal guidelines could last as long as two years as the state battles the novel Wuhan coronavirus. “I personally think Phase One will be a two year affair,” said State Health Commissioner Norman Oliver, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “There are a lot of people working on this, and I hope they prove me wrong, but I don’t see it happening in less than two years.” Phase One under federal recommendations feature a limited reopening of some businesses with strict safety restrictions, social distancing...

Pastor Kevin Wilson and Lighthouse Fellowship Church on Chincoteague Island filed a federal lawsuit against Governor Ralph Northam for violating their religious freedom by targeting churchgoers on Palm Sunday. Liberty Counsel represents the pastor and church and filed the lawsuit today in federal court. Police served a summons to Pastor Wilson for holding a church service for 16 people spaced far apart in a sanctuary that is rated for 293 people. The charge is violating Virginia Governor Northam’s COVID Order 55 with a penalty up to a year in jail and/or a $2,500 fine. On April 5, before the service...

On the menu today: The possibility of another wave of Americans moving out of the big cities, the likelihood of some future pandemic further down the road, and how the Red America–Blue America divide is likely to be altered when we emerge from this crisis. Yesterday on my work Facebook page, a reader asked, “Why is it that the places Covid-19 show up the most are in Democrat controlled areas?” As much as I’d like to believe that all the troubles in the world can eventually be traced back to Bill de Blasio, I responded, “Probably because ‘the places it...

The first phase of reopening the state of Virginia “will be a two year affair,” State Health Commissioner Norman Oliver said on Friday. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) shared the “blueprint” to reopen Virginia on Friday, dubbed the “Forward Virginia Blueprint,” which outlines a phased approach to reopening the state — an approach embraced by a number of other states. “We cannot and will not lift restrictions the way you turn on a light switch,” Northam (D) said. “We will do it responsibly and deliberately, and it has to be grounded in data.” Phase One involves the reopening of certain businesses...

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s office denied the governor had left the state for the Outer Banks after issuing a stay-at-home order. Rumors circulated social media that the Democratic governor had traveled to his second home in the Outer Banks, N.C., after signing an executive order asking Virginians to “remain at their place of residence,” with the exception of essential travel. Northam’s order was issued March 30 and is set to expire June 10.

Its happening here in the USA the arrest of a mother who asked questions when confronted by police enforcing de facto martial law related to the coronavirus.... The price of oil today with the West Texas Intermediate price at 14.23 a barrel by 530 pm Eastern US time..... The meat supply in the United States being impacted by the coronavirus. The US Department of Agriculture reporting beef production down 20 percent for this month compared to April of last year..... Another example of a food processing facility affected by coronavirus is in Alabama where at least 75 cases have been...

Gulftainer is a Middle-Eastern based ports management company that operates Delaware’s Port of Wilmington. The Obama administration brought Gulftainer into the United States with its first lease at Florida’s Port Canaveral, bypassing the required CFIUS National Security Threat Analysis. Gulftainer illegally blocked Wawa from its fuel supplies at the tank farm adjacent to the Port of Wilmington. Wawa is a Pennsylvania-based chain of convenience store gas stations with nearly 900 locations on the East Coast of the United States. Gulftainer attempted to extort $1 million in “fees” in exchange for allowing the Wawa tanker trucks to access their own fuel...

Like many people of faith, Virginia governor Ralph Northam spent last weekend bearing witness to his convictions. On Good Friday, he signed the Reproductive Health Protection Act (RHPA) into law, which, among other things, waived the 24-hour waiting period, pro-adoption counseling, and mandatory ultrasound that had been previously required for women seeking abortions. On Holy Saturday, Northam signed the Virginia Values Act, a bill recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories under Virginia’s anti-discrimination law. As has happened in other states with similar laws, the bill imperils the conscience rights of people of faith, as well as those...

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the Commonwealth of Virginia over a law that requires someone to sign the envelope of another person's absentee ballot if that ballot is submitted by mail. Under Virginia law, any voter who submits an absentee ballot by mail must open the envelope containing the ballot in front of another person, fill out the ballot, and then have that other person sign the outside of the ballot envelope before it is mailed back. "In the midst of the pandemic and during a stay-at-home mandate, the witness requirement amounts to an unconstitutional burden on the...

LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege! LIBERATE MICHIGAN! LIBERATE MINNESOTA!

Republicans in the Richmond area will have a month and a half longer to pick a nominee to run against Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, in November. The coronavirus pandemic also is pushing the Virginia Democratic Convention into the virtual realm. A Richmond judge on Tuesday granted a request from the Republican Party of Virginia to push the deadline for nominating a challenger from June 9 to July 28. The party had been scheduled to hold a convention April 25 at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond, but is looking into other options with executive orders from Gov. Ralph Northam limiting...

CNN Tonight host Don Lemon showed off how bitter and heartless he could be during Wednesday’s handoff from PrimeTime host Chris Cuomo. The same day The Washington Post disgustingly mocked the death of a Virginia pastor due to the coronavirus, Lemon decided he needed to get his kicks in as well. According to Lemon, his death should be a “lesson” for those who believed “God is larger than this dreaded virus,” as the pastor said. Shortly before to the handoff, Cuomo had interviewed Bishop Gerald Glenn’s daughter, Mar-Gerie Crawley to see what kind of man he was and to set...

Groups known as ReOpen Virginia, End The Lockdown VA and Virginians Against Excessive Quarantine said they have thousands of people who are gating at Virginia's Capitol Square at 11:30 a.m. There are more than 17,000 members of the REOPEN VIRGINIA group on Facebook. "It’s time to end this lock down, it’s gone on far enough & we are tired of the misinformation & fear mongering...Time to take our power back!!" the group "End The Lockdown" wrote. There were similar protests held in North Carolina and Michigan on Tuesday. In North Carolina, the Raleigh Police Department ordered crowds to disperse since...

Governor Northam has ordered local businesses to stay closed through May 8. He is operating under authority that he believes he has under Virginia law. Virginia’s emergency disaster law grants a Governor broad powers “to protect the public peace, health, and safety, and to preserve the lives and property and economic well-being of the people of the Commonwealth.” Governor Northam, like many other leftist authoritarian governors, used his emergency powers to shut down businesses in his state in order to “save” people from coronavirus. Did he act within his powers? Coronavirus, as of April 15, resulted in 195 deaths and...

The governor has been providing regularly scheduled briefings at 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to provide the latest updates. On Monday, he provided new details on a Virginia-specific model from UVA, talked about statewide responses at long-term care centers, and said he would have a decision by Wednesday on how long to postpone the re-opening of non-essential businesses. Last Friday, he announced plans to establish a nursing home task force, proposed the release of inmates with less than year left in their sentences, and emphasized a need for volunteers. On April 8, he announced that he was postponing...

We need this to go viral. This will happen TODAY unless we get some Help here in Virginia. Northam is only giving briefings to media outlets beforehand and not to legislature!!! Our state legislatures are being left in the dark only to find out last minute what this governor intends to do. He will extend this until August and with his powerful executive orders he will issue, we won’t be able to protest. Please go to her video on her Facebook with the link I provided as she details what has just happened. State Senator Amanda Chase needs our help...

Virginia will no longer require voters to show a photo ID prior to casting a ballot and the state will join a handful of states across the nation in making Election Day a state holiday, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) announced Sunday. Northam said he signed a series of bills aimed at expanding access to voting. “Voting is a fundamental right, and these new laws strengthen our democracy by making it easier to cast a ballot, not harder,” Northam said in a statement Sunday. “No matter who you are or where you live in Virginia, your voice deserves to be heard....

Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., signed a bill Saturday allowing individual localities to remove, relocate or contextualize Confederate statues and monuments within their communities. Localities can begin using these powers starting July 1. In 2016, first-year College student Zyahna Bryant — then a student at Charlottesville High School — petitioned Charlottesville City Council to remove the statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and to rename Lee Park in Downtown Charlottesville. The following year, Charlottesville City Council voted to remove two statues — one of Robert E. Lee and one of Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson — both Confederate generals. The decision was...