Free Republic

The Virginia Board of Elections rule allowing officials to count ballots that arrived without a postmark up to three days after the election was illegal, a state judge ruled.

NEW YORK (AP) - A former CIA software engineer charged with leaking government secrets to WikiLeaks says it’s cruel and unusual punishment that he’s awaiting trial in solitary confinement, housed in a vermin-infested cell of a jail unit where inmates are treated like “caged animals.” Joshua Schulte, 32, has asked a Manhattan federal judge to force the federal Bureau of Prisons to improve conditions at the Metropolitan Correction Center, where he has been held for over two years under highly restrictive conditions usually reserved for terrorism defendants. In court papers Tuesday, Schulte maintained he is held in conditions “below that...

The Virginia House Committee on Privileges and Elections approved legislation Wednesday to mandate polling places throughout the state be gun-free zones. The NRA-ILA reports the legislation, House Bill 2081, “prohibits firearms within 40 feet of a polling place,” whether that polling place is on public property or private. NRA-ILA notes:

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) is about to become the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), and regardless of his current disposition the deepest part of the deep state will have full blackmail control over every aspect of his activity. To understand just how severely compromised Senator Warner is it becomes necessary to review why, when and how his corrupt legislative engagements with the intelligence apparatus took place. Keep in mind all dates connect. All dates are important. “You’ve got Bill Priestap on Feb. 15th, 2018, with four other people from the FBI briefing this Senate Intel Committee,...

A Virginia man who showed police an unauthorized inauguration credential at a checkpoint along the perimeter securing downtown Washington, D.C., ahead of Inauguration Day was arrested after a gun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition were found in his vehicle, police said. Wesley Allen Beeler, of Front Royal, pulled up to a security checkpoint at North Capitol Street and E Street Northwest about 6:30 p.m. Friday in a white Ford 150 truck with Virginia tags and gun-related decals, according to U.S. Capitol Police records. The truck Beeler was driving was decorated with firearm decals, including ones that said "Assault Life"...

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) released new coronavirus guidance Thursday, as President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration approaches, insisting “schools need to be open.” State agencies are now prioritizing in-person instruction, reported Richmond.com, after months of the Trump administration urging states to reopen schools.

What is Lobby Day? VCDL has been holding Lobby Day since 2002 and it has always been on Martin Luther King Day. This day was chosen because it is in the beginning of the General Assembly Session, many people are off work, street parking is free, and the Delegates and Senators are in their offices. At least normally. This year, with COVID-19, things will be a little different, so we've adapted our plan to work with the current situation. Here are some scenes from previous years. CDL's Lobby Day is a day when normal, everyday Americans go to the Virginia...

Dear Fellow Virginians, At the direction of the Virginia General Assembly, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) was instructed to develop model policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools. As you read through a small sampling of the proposed policies listed below my signature line, keep in mind that there are no religious exceptions or accommodations for those in the faith community. The model policies are far-reaching and will have untold impact on our children and grandchildren. Parental authority and religious freedom are under attack. Now is the time to make your opinion heard....

***NOTE: Mailchimp has just blocked VCDL from putting out VA-ALERTS, so we are sending this alert out to VCDL members only using our membership system. This email will repeat, hopefully very soon, once we have moved over to a new system so that everyone gets a copy. In the meantime forward this to others if you can do so.*** 1. VCDL statement on Lobby Day 2021, January 18 2. Exact location for the Hampton main-caravan starting point 3. Roanoke hearing on local gun-control postponed 4. Virginia Citizens Armory in Purcellville is doing a sub-caravan to Fairfax County main-caravan starting point...

Virginia man Tommy Cook was reunited with his 1969 Camaro when he spotted it in a Maryland garage 17 years after it was stolen. Cook said the vehicle had been painted green and given a fraudulent VIN to disguise it Dec. 28 (UPI) -- A Virginia man whose 1969 Camaro was stolen 17 years ago was reunited with the vehicle after spotting it in a garage while helping a friend buy another vehicle. Tommy Cook said the Hugger Orange Camaro was stolen from his auto repair lot in Woodbridge in 2003, and after reporting it stolen he kept renewing the...

hat does a local pizza restaurant and Christmas trees have in common? They’re both working to fight erosion. This is the 3rd year in a row Chicho’s Pizza in Virginia Beach is collecting trees from community members in order to protect beaches in the Outer Banks. “We started off the first year, we thought we were going to get 100 trees it was kind of just a little fun thing to do. We wound up getting a thousand trees. Then last year really blew up the community really liked it and we wound up getting 2500 trees last year,” said...

RUSSELL Co., Va. (WWBT) - Virginia State Senator Augustus Benton (Ben) Chafin, Jr. died of COVID-19 complications on New Year’s Day. “The family of Senator Chafin thank the VCU Medical Center in Richmond for its vigorous care and heartfelt support during his two weeks of medical services there,” a release said. Chafin (R-District 38) first served in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2013 and was elected to the state senate in 2014. “He had a distinguished legislative record and a very high rate of passed legislation. He advocated jobs in his district, particularly in the coalfields where the decline...

Brian D. Hill of USWGO news files Petition for Rehearing in Virginia Supreme Court; again argues Actual Innocence as Exception to Default Procedural Denial – Your opinions: @LLinWood @SidneyPowell1by Laurie AzgardBrian D. Hill, formerly of USWGO alternative news who had filed his petition with the highest Court in Virginia, had his petition for appeal refused by the writ panel in the Virginia Supreme Court for his state writ of habeas corpus petition after making his oral argument on Dec. 1, 2020. One day before New Years Eve, Brian had filed a petition for rehearing saying the writ panel had erred...

A high school student held onto a 2016 video of a young girl saying a racial slur, then posted it online after she had chosen to attend her dream school, the New York Times reported. “I wanted to get her where she would understand the severity of that word,” 18-year-old Jimmy Galligan told the New York Times. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation. In 2019, Galligan was sent a three-second Snapchat video of fellow Heritage High School student Mimi Groves saying “I can drive” before uttering a racial slur. When...

Virginia’s new driver privilege cards for noncitizens bring a mix of relief and anxiety to advocates of immigrants rights. Immigrants that have entered the U.S. unlawfully can apply for these cards starting Jan. 1, 2021, according to Virginia’s Department of Motor Vehicles. For years activists have been pushing for the permit, arguing it was a matter of public safety, according to WTOP news partner NBC Washington. The first General Assembly controlled by Democrats in a generation passed the legislation back in March...

Gov. Northam says decision to revisit a gun ban in 2021 would be 'up to the discretion of the legislature'Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and other state Democratic lawmakers have appeared to slow their efforts to ban assault weapons in the state.Virginia's Democrat-controlled Senate last January rejected Northam's bill to ban assault weapons, including some semiautomatic rifles, and voted to take up the matter again in a year.Nearly one year later, Northam, whose term expires in 2022, told WRIC on Monday that he'll leave the decision to revisit a gun ban "up to the discretion of the legislature.""Whatever they do,...

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly love, generosity and devotion exist and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy...

A statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed overnight from its perch in the US Capitol where it has stood next to George Washington for 111 years and will be replaced by one honoring a civil rights icon from Virginia.

Here, life has felt incredibly normal. It's also revealed how abnormal the lifestyle I followed in Virginia really was.OCALA, Fla. — Last Sunday I plopped a steaming hashbrown casserole and a bowl of freshly sliced oranges down on one of a row of endless folding tables covered in those flimsy plastic tablecloths you get at the dollar store. The casseroles were outnumbered only by the pans of homemade cinnamon rolls, and the fruit section was meager: it was a good Southern Baptist potluck. Church ladies buzzed around, removing tin foil from tin pans and putting serving spoons in each dish,...

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Governor Northam announced that Virginia’s statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was removed from the U.S. Capitol overnight. A representative from the governor’s office was present for the removal along with United States Senator Tim Kaine and Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton. For 111 years, the Confederate statue has stood along with America’s first president George Washington as Virginia’s contributions. The two statues were added in 1909, which was 44 years after the Confederacy rebelled against the United States and was defeated.