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Virginia

Right to Work Wins Again, Students Clueless on Free Speech, ‘Top Gun’ Ad Flops

September 20, 2017 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer a court decision that upholds Wisconsin’s right to work law and rejects the argument of organized labor that it has a right to part of workers’ paychecks.  They also shudder as a new study shows students of all political stripes evenly divided on whether “hate speech” should be protected speech, whether it’s OK to shout down speakers they don’t like, or even whether uncomfortable views should be allowed on campus.  And they have fun with a political ad that is a horrible parody of a famous scene from “Top Gun.”

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: college students, congress, Free Speech, labor unions, Martini, National Review, right to work, surveym Top Gun, Virginia, Wisconsin

Haley Wins Again, Politicians Not A Panacea, Frivolous Fashion Week

September 12, 2017 by GregC


Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for leading another round of sanctions aimed at North Korea in response to another nuclear test.  They also groan as the Democrat running for governor in Virginia implies that voting her him will give kids there a better chance for success and Jim slams any politician who promises that electing them will solve everyone’s problems.  And they discuss Jim Carrey’s on-air castigation of New York Fashion Week as meaningless, leading Jim to reveal tales of how the recent National Review cruise shared the ship with a lot of people connected to this superficial event.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: cruise, education, Jim Carrey, Martini, National Review, New York Fashion Week, Nikki Haley, North Korea, Ralph Northam, United Nations, utopia, Virginia

Capitol Police Stop Shooter, Political Attack?, Polarized Media Reactions

June 14, 2017 by GregC

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Rich McFadden of Radio America discuss the Capitol Police response to the shooting early Wednesday morning in Alexandria, VA where House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others were injured during their practice for the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game. They also speculate about the possible motive of the 66-year old shooter from Illinois based on reports of his incendiary political views found on his social media account. And they react to the polarized responses on social media that are erupting across the political spectrum following the attack.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts, politics Tagged With: Alexandria, Capitol Police, Congressional Baseball Game, House of Representatives, Martini, media, National Review, politics, Rand Paul, Ron DeSantis, Scalise, shooting, Virginia, Whip

Trump’s Terrorism Speech, Virginia Looking Blue, Trump & the Sword Dance

May 22, 2017 by GregC


After offering an alternative explanation for why some graduates walked out of Vice President Mike Pence’s commencement speech at Notre Dame, Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud President Trump’s speech imploring Middle East leaders to do their part to stamp out terrorists.  They also grimace as polling shows either Democrat running for governor in Virginia winning the general election by double digits.  And they wonder what the Secret Service was thinking when they gave the green light to the elaborate sword dance in Saudi Arabia involving President Trump and members of his cabinet.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: democrats, Gillespie, Islam, Martini, National Review, Notre Dame, Saudi Arabia, sword dance, Terrorism, Trump, Virginia

Virginia Battle Continues Over Transgender School Policy

April 20, 2017 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/4-20-staver-blog.mp3

The Virginia Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the new transgender accommodation policy at one of America’s largest school districts, but the lead attorney for the plaintiffs vows the case will come back and his side will win when the decision focuses on the facts and the law.

Last week, the Virginia Supreme Court dismissed the case against Fairfax County Public Schools – the largest school district in Virginia and one of the ten largest in the United States – because it concluded the plaintiffs lacked standing before the court.

“They ruled on what’s called standing, whether there was an actual injury here.  What we have here is the school board passed the policies but they haven’t actually enforced them yet against any student to the point of disciplining them,” said Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver, who represented the unnnamed student, the student’s parents and another parent with kids in the Firfax Public Schools.

“Fear of discipline should be enough.  That’s what we argued,” said Staver.  “But the Virginia Supreme Court ultimately ruled that it’s not ready for a decision yet until someone actually has standing.  They have to have a real injury, rather than just fear that they’re going to have an injury, even though the fear is very real and very legitimate,” said Staver.

He says once the case comes back with standing, the court will be compelled to side with his clients.

“Whenever we get them to rule on the actual merits, that is whether the school board can add additional non-discrimination categories that are not included in the state law, then we win.  It’s an easy decision at that point in time,” said Staver.

Staver strongly disagrees that a student must be disciplined to have standing to challenge the policy, noting that a formal punishment, even if later reversed, could tarnish a student’s efforts to be accepted at a military academy or work in sensitive areas like national security and intelligence.

He also says students shouldn’t have to negotiate a policy that doesn’t meet state law.

“The school can’t do something that’s clearly illegal, which it’s done, hang it over the heads of the students and threaten that they will be disciplined and then simply void legal repercussions by not disciplining them, but threatening discipline.  The fact that they threaten discipline is enough to deter someone’s actions.  For the good students, they’re not going to want to walk into a buzzsaw  of discipline,” said Staver.

Staver is confident of winning on the merits because of the Dillon Rule, which states no local non-discrimination policy can add protected classes beyond what has been added under state law.  Virginia has not added transgender or sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy.

He says the looming fear of punishment based on an illegal policy is already condemned in legal precedent.

“If you have a violation of free speech, you can file for that action.  But if you’re threatened in your free speech, you don’t have to go through discipline or threat or arrest, if the law or the rule or the policy or the ordinance actually creates a chilling effect so that you refrain from speaking, because you are fearful that you will be disciplined or charged or arrested, that’s enough,” said Staver.

Nonetheless, Staver says he is already gathering evidence that will argue his clients has suffered injury because of the policy.  In fact, Staver says evidence came in during the lead-up to oral arguments before the court that would have greatly strengthened his case, but he points out evidence discovered after filing the case is inadmissible.

Staver is unsure whether other left-leaning school board in Virginia will take the court’s dismissal as a green light to enact their own policies.  He strongly urges districts not to follow the lead of Fairfax County or else they will end up paying massive court fees when they lose on the merits.

On the other hand, Staver says the more school districts pursue the transgender accommodation policy, the easier it will be to gather evidence to being the case back to the Virginia Supreme Court.

Another advantage for Staver, is the Trump administration’s repeal of the Obama Justice Department’s directive that all public schools adopt transgender accommodation policies.

“It definitely strengthens our case on the merits because Fairfax County or any other county could say, ‘We’re just doing it because we’re compelled to do so by this federal directive.  They can’t do that anymore.  That particular argument , that crutch has been taken away from them,” said Staver.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Court, Fairfax, news, Staver, Supreme, transgender, Virginia

Three Martini Lunch 11/15/16

November 15, 2016 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/3-Martini-Lunch-11-15-16.mp3

Greg Corombos of Radio America and Ian Tuttle of National Review have only crazy stories today.  They discuss Pres. Obama urging Donald Trump to reach out to those who didn’t support him, after Obama spent eight years dismissing and demonizing the opposition.  They also cringe at reports that Donald Trump is trying to get cabinet-level security clearances for three of his children.  And they sigh as faculty and students at the University of Virginia condemn the school’s president for quoting Thomas Jefferson, who founded the University of Virginia.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: children, clearances, Jefferson, Martini, National, obama, Review, Trump, Virginia

‘It’s Not Possible’: Dems Push Back on Claims of Stuffed Absentee Envelope

October 26, 2016 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/10-26-neilson-blog.mp3

Democratic Party officials in Fairfax County, Virginia, are categorically denying that pro-Democrat campaign materials were included in the same envelope as a voter’s absentee ballot, arguing that pamphlets were sent in a separate mailing to absentee voters from the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, or FCDC.

Earlier this week, Jena and David Jones shared their story of finding more than they expected in the envelope that contained her ballot.

“I found a letter from the governor of Virginia asking me to please vote Democrat and ‘help keep Virginia blue’ this year.  Then I got a letter from the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, giving me a step-by-step, yes-and-no what I should vote for as far as the meal tax and all those other things on the ballot,” said Jena.

In recent days, at least two more people contend they received the same materials in the envelope with their absentee ballots.

After the report was first published, and shared on Facebook by David Jones, Fairfax County Democratic Committee Executive Director Frank Anderson replied to David’s post to dispute their account of what the ballot envelope contained.

“These materials were NOT sent in the same envelope as the ballot. The ballot is mailed separately by the Office of Elections. Political parties are free to mail items to voters who request absentee ballots. The two envelopes arrived at the same time,” commented Anderson, showing a photo of the pro-Democratic materials and the separate envelope they are designated to be sent in.

jones-ballot-5

That triggered a quick back-and-forth between David Jones and Anderson.

“I hate to tell you but you’re wrong. All items came in one envelope,” said Jones.

“Impossible. That letter came out of my office. We never have access to other people’s ballots,” replied Anderson.

“Then it seems those that sent the ballots have access to YOUR letters,” said Jones.  “Who should I believe? You or my lying eyes?”

Anderson then stated that political parties are informed when anyone requests an absentee ballot and mailings are sent to those voters to promote Democratic candidates and positions on ballot initiatives.

“I am literally sitting down the hall from the place where those envelopes are stuffed. We are a political office and have no business handling anyone’s ballots. You can believe what you want to believe,” concluded Anderson.

The Virginia Department of Elections did not respond to repeated attempts for a response.  But after seeing our reports, Anderson protested the premise of the story.

“Please stop spreading these absurd allegations that are just hearsay from a misinformed voter who cannot verify his claim,” stated Anderson in an email, in which he also explained why he believed the Jones account could not be accurate.

He also shared a photo sent by State Sen. Scott Surovell, showing his absentee ballot envelope next to a separate envelope containing Democratic Party advocacy.

jones-ballot-4

In a formal interview, FCDC Communications Adviser Bruce Neilson says the Jones version of opening the envelope cannot be true.

“It’s not possible,” said Neilson, who then explained how absentee voters are approached by the local Democrats.

“Voting is a sacred privilege and a right of every citizen.  The activity of voting is also a public record.  The Fairfax County Democratic Committee receives a notice of everyone who has requested an absentee ballot.  We get that information as public information on the day the ballot is mailed,” said Neilson.

“The same day the ballot is mailed, our volunteers prepare materials to advise voters what the Fairfax (County) Democratic Committee knows to be Democratic positions on the ballot,” said Neilson, noting the materials include fliers on candidates and ballot proposals like the meals tax.

However, he insists those materials are never sent with the ballot itself.

“That material is mailed in a separate envelope, labeled with our initials – FCDC – and our return address in Fairfax, Virginia, and would be received either the same day, perhaps the day before or the day after she received her official absentee ballot from the government,” said Neilson.

“It’s a separate mailing.  It’s a separate stamp.  It’s a separate envelope.  It’s very easy to confuse where they came from if you have all those materials on the table at the same time while you’re filling in your votes,” said Neilson.

Jones is standing by her story 100 percent, as is her husband.  David says it’s a very clear memory.

“Jena opened the envelope that contained her ballot, the green sample ballot, the two-sided letter from the governor and card with kids on it saying “go vote” or something of that nature. There was also the return envelope which I signed,” said David.

The coverage of Jena’s story has also elicited similar stories from two other Fairfax County voters.  Both of them commented on Reddit.

“I can confirm this.  I live in Herndon, VA (Fairfax County) and also received these materials in my absentee ballot.  I thought it was fishy at the time but didn’t look into it,” stated a comment by a reader using the handle thisisaterriblename.

Another, under the Reddit handle Nightingale-Nights, said the same thing happened to them and posted similar photos to the ones David and Jena shared last week.

Neilson says there is no way the county government, which sends out the ballots, could be including partisan materials in the envelope containing the ballot.

“They don’t have our materials.  Our materials are printed for us, by our printer, and we have complete control over our materials in our office and they come from our office in our mailing.  They don’t go anywhere else,” said Neilson.

“It’s not possible that the county government is distributing partisan Democratic materials.  It’s never happened before.  I’m not aware of it happening now.  And I don’t think that it would happen anywhere in the future,” said Neilson.

There are only a few known complaints of stuffed ballot envelopes in Fairfax County, leading David Jones to believe an individual in the government is responsible.  He accepts the explanation that the Fairfax County Democratic Committee is not responsible for what he and Jena discovered with her ballot.

“I understand Frank’s comments about his office has nothing to do with the ballots. I believe that. I think what we are seeing here is a person that actually stuffs and mails the ballots is taking it upon themselves to add in extra material. I don’t see how Franks office could be held accountable for what’s in the ballot envelope. But it does seem odd that others are now reporting similar issues,” said Jones.

Neilson says there is no chance of that scenario being true.

“I just can’t imagine that happening because of the internal controls that we have on the literature that we mail,” said Neilson.

He also says the internal controls at the county government are air-tight.

“I am an election official.  On Election Day, I serve in a non-partisan capacity for our county election office.  I can assure you, you have Democrats and Republicans working in the office.  You have plenty of oversight of the voting process and there’s no way that a partisan political piece was mailed with her ballot.  There is no way that happened,” said Neilson.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: 2016, absentee, ballots, democrats, Fairfax, Jones, news, Virginia

Three Martini Lunch 10/13/16

October 13, 2016 by GregC

http://dateline.radioamerica.org/podcast/3-Martini-Lunch-10-13-16.mp3

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America react to Liberty University students denouncing Jerry Falwell, Jr. for making the school synonymous with Donald Trump.  They also discuss reports of Trump pulling mostly or entirely out of Virginia, making his road to victory more difficult.  They have fun with the Clinton team’s contradictory explanations for all the embarrassing emails coming out from Wikileaks.  And they they note Bob Dylan’s winning of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

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Filed Under: News & Politics, Podcasts Tagged With: Clinton, Dylan, Falwell, Liberty, Martini, National, Nobel, Review, russia, Trump, Virginia, Wikileaks

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