Tag: virginia

Breaking: FBI Raids Office of Virginia Democrat Behind ‘Ten F—in’ One’ Gerrymander Map

There’s a big story breaking in Virginia this Wednesday morning as reports are surfacing on social media that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is raiding the offices of Democrat Sen. Louise Lucas, who is president pro tempore of the Virginia state senate and the chief architect of the gerrymandered map that could possibly steal four congressional seats currently held by Republicans.

Bill Melugin of Fox News posted on X that the FBI is in the process of raiding Lucas’s Portsmouth office “in connection to a major corruption probe” and noted that federal law enforcement was “serving multiple search warrants, approved by a federal judge, at her office and a next door cannabis dispensary.”

BREAKING: @FoxNews is on scene in Portsmouth, VA where the FBI is raiding the office of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L Louise Lucas, a Democrat and close ally of VA Governor Spanberger. Fed law enforcement sources tell FOX this is in connection to a major corruption probe, and the FBI is serving multiple search warrants, approved by a federal judge, at her office and a next door cannabis dispensary. More to come with correspondent @AlexHoganTV, who reports that Lucas just showed up on scene as the FBI searches her office.

In addition to her role in the state Senate, Lucas is well-known for running a cannabis shop in Portsmouth and for her foul-mouthed and low-class tweets.

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More Bad News From Virginia That Gives Another Major Blow Against The 2nd Amendment And Against Pardoned J6er.

The U.S. Fourth Circuit has Upheld Hatchet Speed’s Ridiculous Conviction for Possessing Three Firearm Silencers (which were actually Solvent Drip Containers).

The case originated with a search over January 6, so Speed should be pardoned anyway! But Speed’s case has been forgotten.

Hatchet Speed of Virginia holds several records among J6ers. He is the only J6er who was subjected to THREE (3) trials and the only remaining J6er whose J6 pardon has never been applied to his clearly related case outside Washington, D.C.

Now the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers federal courts in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia) has issued a disgraceful ruling against Speed, the Second Amendment, and common sense. The 4th Circuit has upheld Speed’s “silencer” conviction and ruled that the Second Amendment does not apply to silencer possession.

Speed’s case has profound impacts on the status of the Second Amendment and firearm regulation nationwide.

Prior to Speed’s case, Americans have been able to purchase gun-cleaning solvent containers which can be threaded onto the barrels of firearms to catch and filter gun-cleaning fluids. Several manufacturers make variations that resemble firearm silencers in appearance. A purchaser could, with enough tools and ingenuity, drill and convert such containers into firearm silencers. The BATFE under the Biden Administration issued an “open letter” proclaiming a new interpretation that many solvent traps qualify as “firearm silencers” in November 2023. This means that every similar device must be registered, or its possessor faces up to five years in federal prison.

Despite Hatchet Speed’s case, these solvent traps are still sold over the counter at gun stores and online. Untold thousands of them are certainly in people’s drawers and on people’s shelves today. Little do the owners know that they can now be imprisoned for up to five years under the Fourth Circuit’s new ruling.

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Democrat Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger Responds to FBI Raid on Office of Ally State Senate Pro Tem L. Louise Lucas

Democrat Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger on Wednesday afternoon responded to the FBI raid on her friend and ally L Louise Lucas.

The FBI on Wednesday raided the office of Virginia’s Democrat Senate President Pro Tempore L Louise Lucas in connection to a major corruption probe, Fox News reported.

Federal agents served multiple search warrants, approved by a federal judge, at Lucas’ office and the cannabis dispensary next door, Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported.

Lucas is a close ally of Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger.

Fox News reported that Lucas showed up on the scene as the FBI raided her office.

Fox News and The New York Times are reporting that the corruption probe into Lucas was opened by the FBI during the Biden Administration.

Federal officers raided the cannabis dispensary with their weapons drawn.

Three people from the cannabis dispensary were taken into custody.

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FBI Raids Virginia Senate Leader’s Office Amid Probe

The FBI executed a search warrant Wednesday morning at the Portsmouth office of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, part of an ongoing federal corruption investigation.

The FBI confirmed it was conducting a court-authorized search warrant in Portsmouth, but did not provide details on the scope or targets of the investigation.

Federal agents were seen at Lucas’s district office on Wednesday morning. Agents also entered a nearby cannabis dispensary identified as The Cannabis Outlet, which she opened in 2021.

Several entrances to the Cannabis Outlet parking lot were blocked by unmarked vehicles with flashing blue lights, as was an entrance to the senator’s office. Agents carried boxes and bags out of the shop’s back door.

“Today’s actions by federal agents are about far more than one state senator; they are about power and who is allowed to use it on behalf of the people,” Lucas said in a Wednesday evening statement. “What we saw fits a clear pattern from this administration: when challenged, they try to intimidate and silence the voices of those who stand up to them.”

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Virginia Governor Gets Bad News on Background Check Bill

Since the Virginia General Assembly approved a revised version of the bill last week, there’s been a whole lot of confusion about Virginia’s HB 1525, which raises the age to purchase handguns from 18 to 21 and requires the Virginia State Police to resume conducting background checks on private sales. Governor Abigail Spanberger’s amended version contained language that declared the act an emergency, which would allow it to take effect immediately, but the legislature did not approve the changes with a 4/5ths vote, which is supposedly what’s required in order for that “emergency” provision to be adopted. 

The Virginia legislative website lists the effective date for HB 1525 as July 1, but the Virginia State Police put out a notice on Tuesday that declared the law is already in effect. That was the good news for Spanberger. 

The bad news? The VSP won’t be resuming background checks on private sales of firearms anytime soon… at least not without a court order. 

Gun Owners of America and VCDL had threatened to seek contempt charges against the head of the VSP if they abided by Spanberger’s edict, and it looks like the VSP didn’t see that as an idle threat. 

Keep in mind that there are three parts to HB 1525; a ban on those under 18 from possessing handguns and “assault firearms” except under limited circumstances, the ban on handgun and “assault firearm” sales to adults under the age of 21, and the edict to the VSP to start enforcing the enjoined universal background check law. The only portion of the law that the state police say will not be enforced is the section of law regarding background checks on private sales of firearms, and as far as the agency is concerned it’s now against the law for a 20-year-old to purchase an AR-15 in Virginia, even through a private sale. 

Of course, as of July 1 it will be illegal for any adult over the age of 21 to purchase an AR-15 too. The sale ban wasn’t the primary motivation for HB 1525. It was the restoration of the state’s universal background check law, and the VSP just said that isn’t happening until a judge tells the agency it can resume enforcement. 

So what will that take? The case cited by VSP has concluded, with then-Attorney General Jason Miyares declining to appeal the decision. Current AG Jay Jones attempted to intervene before he took office, but the Virginia Court of Appeals shut down that effort fairly quickly. 

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REPORT: Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger Considering a New Tax on GYM MEMBERSHIPS

Shortly after winning the Virginia governor race by running on a campaign about affordability, it was widely reported that Virginia Democrats were gearing up to create a slew of new taxes for their constituents.

Now it is being reported that Spanberger is considering a new tax on gym memberships and possibly on streaming networks as well. Wehere does it end and how is any of this considered part of affordability?

More importantly, why is cutting the size of the state government not even a consideration?

The Daily Mail reports:

Virginia’s new Democrat governor teases possible tax on GYM MEMBERSHIPS and streaming services

Virginia’s new governor has teased that she may sign a new tax on gym memberships and streaming services if the bills ever reach her desk.

Democrat Abigail Spanberger refused to give a straight answer when asked about the so-called liberal wish list of taxation opportunities that Democrats are attempting to pass in her state.

Spanberger, a former intelligence officer who became governor in January, has made clear she is looking for unorthodox ways to create new revenue streams in Virginia.

New bills were introduced in the Virginia state legislature that proposed expanding taxes to include storage facilities, counseling, dry cleaning, vehicle repair, website design, data storage and digital subscription storage.

A tax on retail sales of services was also floated as an idea under bill HB978 – which would include fitness memberships and athletic club services.

The controversial tax bills never got through the General Assembly before the session’s end on March 14, meaning that it never reached Spanberger’s desk – but that may change in the future.

It’s remarkable how quickly Spanberger and her Democrat cohorts moved to create new taxes.

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Small-Town Virginia Mayor Arrested for Showing Up Drunk to Train Derailment

A small-town Virginia mayor was arrested this week after he allegedly showed up intoxicated at the scene of a train derailment.

The derailment and arrest happened this past Tuesday near the West Virginia border, where emergency crews were responding to a Norfolk Southern derailment.

According to WSLS-TV, Rich Creek Mayor Paul Morrison was taken into custody at the scene.

Jail records showed the 57-year-old was arrested by deputies from the Giles County Sheriff’s Office on a public intoxication charge.

Authorities have not released further details about what led directly to the arrest.

Morrison was later released on his own recognizance.

According to the New York Post, Morrison was cuffed and booked after allegedly arriving inebriated at the derailment scene.

The derailment itself involved a train that spilled soybean oil into the Bluestone River.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said the oil was not hazardous.

Morrison was elected mayor this past November through a write-in campaign.

He won 77 out of 106 votes cast in the town of roughly 700 residents, according to WSLS.

Morrison issued an apology for the arrest on Thursday.

“To my Family, the First Responders, the Town’s Employees, Town Council and the residents of Rich Creek, I would like to offer apologies for my state and any actions on 04/28 at the railroad incident,” the mayor said.

He added that he regretted “any inconvenience as well as embarrassment this may have caused.”

“I am truly sorry to have let you down and can assure you that nothing like this will happen again,” Morrison said.

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How Interstate Licensing Agreements Became Shadow Governments Policing Your Job

This month, Virginia became the 18th state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). This provoked an agitated response because, if the agreement ever goes live, it will deliver all the state’s Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the most votes nationwide, rather than the person Virginia voters selected.

With a war to cover, the news cycle moved on. While the country breezes past the question of whether states can compact away the Electoral College, the same loophole is being used to build compacts arguably more invasive.

A network of professional licensing agreements that would govern not just how Americans vote, but how they work, what they’re taught, and what ideological commitments they must demonstrate to keep their careers. In states where professional compacts have been enacted, there’s no need to ask for further consent.

The Constitution’s framers must have eyed compacts with suspicion, because they limited state authority to enter such agreements without congressional approval unless they were being actively invaded. Looking at the NPVIC, their concerns were justified. The Supreme Court relaxed those restrictions to facilitate states solving shared problems, such as coordinating water supplies or managing forest fires. But the risks remain.

The NPVIC isn’t an agreement to solve a shared problem. It is a mechanism for accomplishing, via compact, what Article V reserves for the amendment process. And professional licensing compacts are exploiting that same loophole to achieve a quiet revolution in governance.

Private Rules with the Force of Law

Professional licensure compacts achieve the worst of their outcomes by distributing rulemaking authority to private industry bodies through required exams or accreditation. This is how privately crafted codes of ethics or educational standards now bind practitioners on a national level with the force of law. Should one of these private bodies require professionals to understand the pervasive impact of white supremacy, or affirm gender identity, that sticks. 

There is no pathway to adjust these compacts through elections or legal accountability. This is rule without consent, delivered through one’s licensed career.

The details of how these compacts function are a significant part of the problem. The American social contract is based on consent, but these compacts destroy it on three levels.

First, they’re run by unelected industry insiders. Second, they hand rulemaking to professional associations and private bodies. Third, they give those private bodies’ codes and standards the weight of law. The result is a parallel government structure that sidesteps the Constitution to govern practitioner behavior.

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ICE Nabs Illegal Alien Pedophile In Virginia; Sanctuary Officials Ignored Detainer

ICE has arrested an illegal alien child sex predator in Abigail Spanberger’s Virginia. Authorities there tried to protect him by declining an ICE detainer last year and releasing him back into the community.

Of course they did.

The suspect, Roni Mendez-Escobar, a Guatemalan national, faced charges including multiple felony counts of possession of obscene material and child pornography with intent to distribute.

Fairfax County’s refusal to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement allowed him to remain free despite the detainer – exactly the outcome sanctuary policies are designed to produce.

This isn’t an isolated failure. It’s the predictable result of Virginia Democrats turning the state into a magnet for criminal illegal aliens while American families bear the cost. Spanberger ran as a “moderate,” yet her administration’s moves to limit cooperation with ICE have repeatedly put Virginia children and residents at risk.

Just weeks ago, ICE urged Spanberger not to release another criminal illegal alien from Guatemala, Misael Lopez Gomez, who allegedly bludgeoned his own three-month-old daughter to death with blunt force trauma in Fairfax.

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VA Gerrymander Language Is So Dishonest, Dems Refuse To Defend It In Court

Attorney General Jay Jones, D-Va., attempted to defend the commonwealth’s redistricting ballot initiative in an appeal to the state Supreme Court, while doing his best to dance around the amendment’s misleading language.

In a spring special election Democrat legislators presented Virginians with a constitutional referendum to gerrymander the state’s 11 U.S. House districts, shifting the balance of power in the delegation from six Democrats and five Republicans to 10 Democrats and one Republican. Democrats sold their proposal using the following language: “Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?” (Emphasis added.)

Virginia voters voted in favor of gerrymandering, based on that language.

A blanket ruling from the circuit court in Tazewell County nullified the vote and blocked the referendum from being officially certified the day after the redistricting measure passed. The court noted that the language Democrats used on the ballot was “flagrantly misleading” and did not “accurately describe the proposed amendment as it was passed by the General Assembly.”

Jones appealed to the state Supreme Court, but in his motion to stay, he made no effort to address the central language question on the ballot — the phrase “restore fairness in the upcoming election.”

“It asks voters whether to amend the Constitution to allow the General Assembly to ‘temporarily adopt new congressional districts,’ while ‘ensuring Virginia’s standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census,’” Jones’ motion states.

As Republican state Del. Wren Williams noted, Jones “quotes the words before that line. He quotes the words after it. But he selectively skips the eight words that are the entire reason we are in court to begin with.”

“If the language were defensible, he would have defended it. A lawyer who believes in his ballot question quotes his ballot question. What is there to hide from those reading your Motion? Or may be reading the ballot question for the first time,” Williams added.

Jones only makes reference to the “fairness” language once, where he brushes it off as “rhetorical choices,” stating that “reasonable observers may disagree about whether the accompanying reference to ‘fairness’ reflects persuasive framing.” “Rhetorical choices,” however, are a means by which people understand language and ideas, and “rhetorical choices” are the very things that can make something misleading or clear.

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