Free Republic

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. said he will lead two new presidential task forces to be created by President Donald J. Trump to reform the Department of Education. “I’ve been in conversations with [presidential adviser] Steve Bannon and others, and the president is forming some education task forces, that I’ve been asked to head,” Falwell said Tuesday. Falwell said there would be two presidential task forces on education, and he would lead both.

NORFOLK An Old Dominion University statistics professor has apologized for a strongly worded email that told a group of faculty, administrators and graduate students “screw you” and “you are not American” if they didn’t plan to attend any of a series of events centered around diversity. Associate professor Norou Diawara sent the email to members of ODU’s Coalition of Black Faculty and Administrators and a list of statistics graduate students Monday afternoon saying he was “not happy at all, with the state of the affairs in the USA. It is very sad we have come to this level.” He said...

Sean Spicer Verified account ‏@PressSec .@POTUS has named Dana Boente, US Attorney for the Eastern District of VA as Acting Attorney General. Sally Yates has been relieved.

Unfortunately, after passing out of the Senate General Laws Committee last week, two bills that add sexual orientation and gender identity ("SOGI") as special legal classes passed the full Senate on Friday. One bill adds SOGI to public employment criteria. The other relates to housing and would require, for example, a faith-based university to open up it's female-only dormitories to male students who "identify" as a female. And it would require the university to open its married housing to same-sex couples. Although we anticipate these bills will be defeated in the House, the fact that these direct threats to religious...

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the 2016 presidential election, told NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday morning that President Donald Trump was guilty of Holocaust denial.Kaine based his argument on the complaint that Trump’s statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day did not specifically mention Jews. He also took a swipe a Breitbart News.He said: I think all of these things are happening together. When you have the chief political adviser in the white House, Steve Bannon who is connected with a news organization that traffics in white supremacy and antisemitism [sic] and they put out...

A candidate for the Democratic National Committee blames Hillary Clinton's loss in the 2016 election on her decision to tap Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate. [Snip] "We lost simply ... because Hillary did not pick the right running partner," Mr. Tolliver said in response to a question.

A warm, sunny Saturday a decade ago, there was a Hispanic festival in our small town, a bedroom community for illegal aliens seeking day labor jobs in the nearby wealthy suburbs. It was a sanctuary city at the time. No problem with the festival itself.  The music was lively and the food tasty.  And don't the Irish have St. Patrick's Day, and the Italians Columbus Day? While wandering around the festivities, I noticed a table with three nice ladies in front of a "Register To Vote" sign.  Curious about its presence at a festival where the bulk of the crowd...

Virginia Tech says the 10th anniversary of the shooting on its campus that killed 32 people will be marked with three days of events. The school says in a statement that events and tributes will culminate on April 16, the shooting's tenth anniversary. The school says that on April 14, a campus arts center will host a "Performance in Remembrance'' with student performers including a wind ensemble, choirs and dancers. On April 15, the school will host the eighth annual 3.2-mile "Run in Remembrance.'' A community picnic will follow. On April 16, there will be a ceremony recognizing the students...

Hillary Clinton garnered more than 800,000 votes from noncitizens on Nov. 8, an approximation far short of President Trump’s estimate of up to 5 million illegal voters but supportive of his charges of fraud. Political scientist Jesse Richman of Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, has worked with colleagues to produce groundbreaking research on noncitizen voting, and this week he posted a blog in response to Mr. Trump’s assertion. Based on national polling by a consortium of universities, a report by Mr. Richman said 6.4 percent of the estimated 20 million adult noncitizens in the U.S. voted in November. He...

FAIRFAX, Va. - A Virginia teenager has been appointed to all four American military service academies. Timothy Park, 18, beat the odds with stellar grades, test scores, leadership, community service and fitness. "I'm feeling amazing right now," Park said. In fact, the odds are so great, it's a rare reality for anyone to get into all four schools. "It's about one percent, if not less," Park said. "Of the whole country."

Good Evening/Night, WELCOME MARK LEVIN!

Hillary and Bill Clinton are looking at a series of reports to diagnose what went wrong with her 2016 bid for the White House Allies and party leaders suspect the couple will eventually return to campaigning and fundraising for the Democratic Party, though won't run for office again Those moves could come as soon as the next few months, as there will be gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey this fall According to Politico's reporting, Clinton's inner circle is advising a 'wait-and-see' approach as her poll numbers could rebound if President Trump's sink 'I'm certain Trump will screw up...

The hometown newspaper for failed vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine is raising questions about his comments to Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos at her confirmation hearing last week.In an editorial published Sunday, The Richmond Times-Dispatch accused the Senator from Virginia of sexism in his line of questioning for DeVos during the Jan. 17 confirmation hearing.From the Times-Dispatch: Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine raked Betsy DeVos over the coals during the recent hearing over her nomination to head the Education Department. That’s fine: Asking tough questions is exactly what a good senator should do. …But one of Kaine’s questions in particular seemed out...

Donald Trump may have thrown fuel on to his feud with the Central Intelligence Agency, through what he apparently intended as a peace offering. Traveling to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia in what the White House pointed out was Trump’s first official act in office, Trump stood before the agency’s memorial to its dead officers and delivered an often self-referential and highly political speech that included an untruthful claim that his inauguration was better attended than those of Barack Obama.

GREENSVILLE COUNTY, Va. -- Ricky Javon Gray was put to death by lethal ejection at 9.42 p.m. Wednesday at the Greensville Correctional Center in Greensville County. Gray’s last appeal was denied hours before his execution when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Gray's request for a stay of execution. When officials asked Gray if he had any final words, he replied “nope,” according to CBS 6 reporter Jon Burkett, who observed the execution in the death chamber. Burkett reports Gray declined his final meal before the execution. Gray and his nephew Ray Dandridge shocked the Richmond community in January 2006 --...

Conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham confirmed Tuesday that she is considering a Senate bid against Sen. Tim Kaine in Virginia in 2018. Ingraham confirmed the Washington Examiner's report that she is open to a campaign, saying that she is "considering" launching a bid against Kaine and that she hasn't made a decision yet. She pointed to her past service in the judicial and executive branches, adding that it "might be something I'm interested in."

By Craig Johnson This weekend marks the 88th anniversary of the birth of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929).  It also marks the 119th anniversary of the famous letter, “J’accuse!” It was written by influential French writer, Emile Zola, and published in the French newspaper, L’Aurore, on January 13, 1898. Zola wrote the open letter to Felix Faure, President of France.  “J’accuse” is French for “I accuse”.  Zola accused President Faure of antisemitism in the unfair charging and convicting of French Army staff officer Alfed Dreyfus.  The charge was espionage, which carried a sentence of...

By the time students enter college, they want to focus on their specific area of study or proposed career. Educators should dictate what’s best for the curriculum, not legislators.

The queen of conservative talk radio, Laura Ingraham, is eyeing a Senate run in Virginia and a challenge to Hillary Clinton's running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine. Knowledgeable sources said that several party insiders have approached the media giant to run and that she is considering it. In preparation for a bid, her business partner, Peter Anthony, has begun buying website domains for Ingraham to use should she decide to move forward. It includes: ingrahamsenate.net, ingrahamsenate.com, ingrahamforvirginia.com and ingraham2018.com. Ingraham wouldn't comment on any run. While it would be considered an uphill fight, Ingraham brings her well-known personality and several influential...

January 11th is the first day of the 2017 legislative session for the Virginia House of Delegates, and our members want to hear what's important to you. Every year we conduct a legislative survey, then share the results with our members so they know the issues and priorities you have for 2017. Please fill out our legislative survey at this link: http://bit.ly/2017VALegislativeSurvey