July 6, 2018

Protesters return as The Red Hen quietly reopens its doors

LEXINGTON -- The protesters didn't deter Arlene White from going to her favorite restaurant in Lexington.

She walked past a row of them holding signs and waving American and Virginia flags to enter The Red Hen and inquire about how to get a table.

“It's our neighborhood restaurant, and it's the best food in town,” White said.

The restaurant quietly reopened its doors Thursday to customers, 13 days after the owner declined to serve White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, setting off a national debate about civility and treatment to government officials. The episode has resulted in small protests nearly every day outside the restaurant.

Those who went into the restaurant said it was only accepting reservations and that there appeared to be a private gathering happening inside.

Read more: https://www.roanoke.com/news/virginia/protesters-return-as-the-red-hen-quietly-reopens-its-doors/article_085ba23e-182e-58a8-80b9-1fd4a7876fe9.html

July 6, 2018

Health care provider agrees to ban from Medicaid program and $1 million settlement

Civil fraud allegations against a Glen Allen woman and her Richmond-area medical support companies have been settled in a $1 million judgment and a lifetime ban from the Virginia Medicaid Program.

The settlement was approved Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson between Dawn Sykes, 43, and the federal and state governments.

From 2010 to 2017, Sykes owned and operated Open Arms Family Support Services LLC, Open Arms Family Day Treatment Support Services LLC, and Open Arms Mental Health Support Services LLC.

The government alleged “multiple fraud schemes” during that period, including submitting Medicaid claims for reimbursement for services that were not provided, Sykes’ payment of kickbacks to win client referrals and submitting claims for reimbursement for services provided to ineligible recipients.

Read more: https://www.richmond.com/news/local/crime/health-care-provider-agrees-to-ban-from-medicaid-program-and/article_f48739e7-d3ee-5c68-b1be-6f42bb934e35.html

July 6, 2018

Virginia Supreme Court upholds pipeline survey law, but with dissent

The Virginia Supreme Court has upheld, for the third time, a hotly debated state law allowing natural gas companies to enter private property without landowner permission to survey possible routes for new pipelines.

But the court delivered the 6-1 decision on Thursday after a linguistic battle with Justice Arthur Kelsey in a biting dissent that challenges the 2004 law's central premise of allowing gas companies to enter private property without permission and a federal permit that allows them to exercise eminent domain.

While the majority opinion written by Justice Cleo E. Powell said the General Assembly clearly intended "to grant natural gas companies access to private property for the purpose of conducting certain activities related to the possible construction of a natural gas pipeline," Kelsey's 23-page dissent contends the ruling turns private property rights upside down.

"It subordinates the ancient common-law rights of private property owners to the commercial interests of a pipeline company that is under no legal requirement to enter onto another's land," he said.

Read more: https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/general-assembly/virginia-supreme-court-upholds-pipeline-survey-law-but-with-dissent/article_c9df380f-0ae8-55be-a010-45195bcd69d3.html

July 6, 2018

Judge rules against group seeking details of Koch Foundation's gifts to George Mason University

FAIRFAX — A judge has ruled against a group seeking details of the Koch Foundation's gifts to George Mason University.

The Koch Foundation has given tens of millions of dollars over the years to the Northern Virginia university, more than any school in the country. The relationship faced increased scrutiny after the university named its law school for conservative jurist Antonin Scalia in 2016, in conjunction with a Koch Foundation donation.

Student-led group Transparent GMU sought details of donor agreements with the George Mason University Foundation, the school's philanthropic arm.

On Thursday, Judge John M. Tran ruled that the GMU Foundation is not a public body and not subject to freedom of information laws.

Read more: https://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/judge-rules-against-group-seeking-details-of-koch-foundation-s/article_a6634440-be8e-5f04-9933-a50c957e240b.html

July 6, 2018

Annapolis shooting suspect sent letter to a Virginian-Pilot editor, police say

NORFOLK -- A Virginian-Pilot editor who was harassed for years by the man charged in the killings of five journalists in Maryland received a letter Thursday that police believe was sent by the suspect.

Eric Hartley, who once worked for The Capital in Annapolis, Md., found the pink, card-sized envelope in his newsroom mailbox on Thursday. On the envelope was written “anonymous source” in the top-left corner with his name and the Pilot address in the middle. It was postmarked June 28, the day of the shooting in Annapolis.

The letter was turned over unopened to the Norfolk police .

Police told Hartley that the envelope contained an unsigned card along with a compact disc. Police did not indicate what was on the CD. The unsigned, store-bought congratulatory card said, “Smile, you’re on camera” and “It’s your big day. All eyes are on you,” Hartley said.

Police also told Hartley that they found no messages in the envelope that directly threatened him.

Read more: https://pilotonline.com/news/local/crime/article_f69d5ddc-8071-11e8-820c-679ce87548d5.html

July 5, 2018

Inciting words: Kessler gets a win and $5

In a civil suit against an angry activist, Unite the Right rally organizer Jason Kessler has won $5.

The man who planned the August 12 event where neo-Nazis and counterprotesters clashed in the streets, leaving three people dead by the end of the day, said his suit was intended to bring “decorum.”

He sued Donna Gasapo, who called him every name in the book outside of Charlottesville General District Court in March. In a string of about 30 insults, “murderer,” “racist,” “asshole” and “goddamn crybaby” made the list.

“They are the exact words I said,” Gasapo told the judge. It was during DeAndre Harris’ assault trial, when community activists rallied outside the courthouse in support of him, and Kessler showed up to report on the trial for vdare.com, which appears to be an alt-right news source.

Read more: http://www.c-ville.com/kessler-wins/#.Wz6tWtVKjRY

July 5, 2018

Democrats Lining Up to Take on Rabidly Anti-LGBT, Anti-Choice, Extremist State Sen. Dick Black

Democrats Lining Up to Take on Rabidly Anti-LGBT, Anti-Choice, Extremist Virginia State Sen. Dick Black Next Year


Who is far-right, extremist State Sen. Dick Black (R; pictured with just-as-extreme-bigoted-and-crazy Eugene Delgaudio)? For a short sampling of Dick Black’s lunacy, see: Video: Far-Right Virginia Republican Rants About Long-Acting Contraceptives “Rendering” Women Infertile, Targeting “the Wrong KIND of Children”, Video: Virginia State Sen. Dick Black, Friend of Bashar Assad’s, Goes on Long, Rambling Tirade About “False Flags,” Nuclear Armageddon, etc., What Is It With Loudoun Republicans?!? Dick Black on Spousal Rape, “Nighties,” etc., The Truth About Dick Black (e.g., called birth control pills “baby pesticides,” passed out “pink plastic fetus dolls to state lawmakers in 2003 in a creepy campaign to win votes for various anti-abortion measures,” called “An Embarrassment to us all” by John Feegel, a former Chief of Staff to the Republican Leader in the Virginia House of Delegates); Republican Loudoun-sanity Continues: Dick Black Rails Against Gays in the Military (“there was a young fellow who went to the showers at night, there were two homosexuals lurking — they were also basic trainees – and they strangled him with a towel and forced him to submit to, you know, things that we won’t talk about”); Sen. Dick Black (R-Homophobia): Polygamy “just more natural” than homosexuality; VA Sen. Dick Black (R) Praises “Extraordinary Gallantry” of Syrian Armed Forces, GOP Candidate Who Made Marital Rape Remarks Drops Out of Congressional Race, etc, etc.

Had enough? I sure have. And hopefully in 2019, voters in SD-13 (Loudoun, Prince William) – which just went 55%-44% for Ralph Northam in November 2017 – will have had enough of this embarrassment as well.

So who might Democrats have to run against Black and defeat him in November 2019? I’m not sure how many candidates we’ll end up having, but I’m already hearing about a bunch, including one (Lucero Wiley) who just announced yesterday.

First, here’s an abridged version of the announcement by Lucero Wiley.

Today I would like to announce that, tired of living in a world full of discrimination and injustice, I can no longer sit down and do nothing. I cannot watch children being held in cages, I cannot turn a blind eye on discrimination and abuse, and I will not stay quiet while I see my people, OUR people, be object of denigration in this country… So I have chosen to stand up. To no longer resist, to no longer condone. Enough is enough. It is time for us to take our power back and to fight for what is right. To speak up and let our voices be heard.

Today I answer the call to run for office: I am running in the primary to challenge Senator Dick Black in the 2019 general election for one of the top targeted seats in the Virginia Senate. Because today is the day I say ENOUGH…For everyone who believes that families belong together. For every immigrant that got banned. For everyone who’s got PRIDE and believes that #lovewins. For every DREAMer. For everyone that said #metoo. I am asking you to stand up…It will not be easy but I can promise you, it will be worth it. It is time to fight for what is right. It is time we take a stand and help the American Dream become the American reality…and plant the seeds of progress in the land of hope.

Read more: https://bluevirginia.us/2018/07/democrats-lining-up-to-take-on-rabidly-anti-lgbt-anti-choice-extremist-state-sen-dick-black-next-year

July 5, 2018

In 2017, Texas Union Membership Rose at the Highest Rate in Over Three Decades

Even as union membership flatlined nationally in 2017, something surprising happened in the Lone Star State. Texas had its biggest surge in union membership since 1983, the first year that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) began collecting state union data.

According to the BLS, Texas union membership grew by 80,579 people in 2017. Union density, the ratio of union members to the total workforce, grew modestly from 4 percent to 4.7 percent – the biggest jump since 1993.

The union boomlet corresponds with economic growth and shifting political affiliations in Texas cities. In progressive cities such as El Paso, elected officials have helped public-sector labor organizers put down roots. And in some conservative, rural parts of the state, private-sector unions have been able to attract members with apprenticeship programs that guarantee higher wages.

Other red states are also seeing measurable union growth. Over the last year, union membership density grew in other southern right-to-work states such as Virginia, Arkansas, Georgia and Louisiana.

Read more: https://www.texasobserver.org/in-2017-texas-union-membership-rose-at-the-highest-rate-in-over-three-decades/

July 5, 2018

Lloyd Doggett Sandbagged the Unveiling of Trump's Not-So-Simple Tax "Postcard"

It was supposed to be a publicity slam-dunk for President Trump: an unveiling last week of a new, postcard-sized form touted as a way to simplify Americans' taxes. In theory, it should have been good news before the July 4th holiday and something to pull attention away from those embarrassing family separations down on the border.

Only it didn't happen that way.

A staffer on the House Ways and Means Committee supplied the new form to the Associated Press and other news organizations ahead the big unveiling. And the press, as they do, quickly seized on the fact that to use the new "postcard," taxpayers would need to fill out and attach as many as six accompanying worksheets to claim some popular deductions.

In other words, it sure didn't seem like the streamlined approach the White House promised.

"We did kind of a preemptive strike by it getting out there," said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, a member of Ways and Means and a vocal critic of the divisive tax overhaul Trump signed into law. "As a result, (the administration) ended up not putting much attention on it."

Read more: https://www.sacurrent.com/the-daily/archives/2018/07/02/lloyd-doggett-sandbagged-the-unveiling-of-trumps-not-so-simple-tax-postcard

July 5, 2018

Two Words: F-k Giuliani

By Susan Bankston, aka JuanitaJean


Do whatever it is you do to prepare yourself for crazy crap, because some-damn-body has opened up the weird spigot full blast.

Last month, we learned that Ambien can make you a racist, and that it probably also makes your inauguration crowd appear larger than it really is. We also learned that our president went to North Korea with all the good intentions of a flaming dumpster possum.

We learned that WalletHub ranked Texas 47th on its list of the safest states to live in. The study compared various safety indicators across all 50 states, examining data on assaults, mass shootings, thefts, murders, traffic fatalities, climate disasters, catfish attacks, feather boa accidents, Christmas-decoration glitter overdose, lethal whiffs of Eau de Redneck, and more.

Texas came in 47th, just above Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Mississippi. So, not only are we unsafe, we are surrounded by places even more risky than we are. That’s not comforting in the damn least.

Read more: http://www.outsmartmagazine.com/2018/07/two-words-f-k-giuliani/