Tag: Mark Herring

POLITICS: TRUMPISM LOSES IN VIRGINIA! — GOP’S INJECTION OF ANTI-IMMIGRANT THEME & WHITE IDENTITY POLITICS REBUFFED — TRUMP’S BOORISH REACTION! — “Bathroom Bob” Also Goes Down!

In a sharp rebuke of President Trump’s brand of divisive, hate-promoting, anti-immigrant, white identity politics, Virginia voters backed Democrats for all three of the hotly contested statewide offices.

Democrat Lt. Governor Ralph Northam bested GOP challenger Ed Gillespie for Governor. The nearly 9-point margin of victory exceeded most polls which showed Gillespie running closer to Northam. Northam’s victory was also a further put-down of racist provocateur Corey Stewart who ran a reprehensible campaign against Gillespie in the GOP primary and boasted that he had forced Gillespie to move closer to his his White Nationalist, anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic agenda.

Democrat Justin Fairfax defeated State Senator Jill Vogel to succeed Northam as Lt. Governor, thus becoming the second African-American to hold statewide office in the Commonwealth.

Incumbent Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring beat John Adams to retain his position.

The low point of Gillespie’s campaign was undoubtedly his bogus attempt to link Northam to the MS-13 criminal gang — a “Trump type tactic” that obviously failed.

Then, in an amazingly inappropriate and totally boorish move, Trump proceeded to blame Gillespie for losing the election by not being “Trump-like enough” — ignoring the “drag effect” of Trump’s own unpopular Presidency and the backfiring of the White Nationalist pitch promoted by Trump, Bannon, and others. Really, is there even a smidgen of grace or self-reflection in this Dude?

In other good news, the embarrassing, reactionary, hate-mongering, homophobic GOP State Delegate Robert “Bathroom Bob” Marshall was sent into a long overdue retirement by Democrat Danica Roem, who smashed him by 9 percentage points.

Roem, who will become the first transgender legislator in Virginia history, and reportedly the first openly transgender elected legislator in the US, impressed voters in her district by sticking to local issues like traffic congestion rather than engaging BB in his never-ending culture wars (for example, Marshall refused to debate Roem and dissed her by publicly referring to her as “he” — what a total slimeball).

”Bathroom Bob” gained national notoriety earlier this year by introducing a bill intended to humiliate transgender individuals — particularly vulnerable students — by denying them the use of bathrooms corresponding to their current sex. Some of the ludicrous comments by BB’s supporters trying to put Roem down — and having nothing to do with real issues facing the district — show just what a “sicko” this guy is and how he “brings out the worst” in some others.  Good riddance!

All in all, Virginia voters did the right thing by striking a note of decency and commitment to our Constitutional form of government — moving forward to better things rather than trying to turn back the clock to a troubled (and in the case of Bathroom Bob downright ugly) past.

PWS

11-08-17

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BREAKING: Judge Brinkema (EDVA) Issues Preliminary Injunction Against Parts Of Trump Travel Ban — Finds “National Security” A Pretext For Unconstitutional Religious Discrimination! (Updated With A Copy Of Judge Brinkema’s 22-Page Order, Courtesy Of Politico)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/judge-in-virginia-grants-preliminary-injunction-against-travel-ban/2017/02/13/a6164bfe-f255-11e6-a9b0-ecee7ce475fc_story.html?utm_term=.99968d12d9cf

The Washington Post reports:

“The executive order, Judge Leonie M. Brinkema concluded, probably violates the First Amendment’s protections for freedom of religion.

Brinkema’s order applies only to Virginia residents and students, or employees of Virginia schools. A nationwide freeze has been in place for several days, having been issued in Washington state and upheld by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

In her opinion, Brinkema wrote that the Commonwealth of Virginia “has produced unrebutted evidence” that the order “was not motivated by rational national security concerns” but “religious prejudice” toward Muslims. She cited Trump’s statements before taking office, as well as an interview in which former New York City mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) said that the president wanted a “Muslim ban.”

“The ‘Muslim Ban’ was a centerpiece of the president’s campaign for months, and the press release calling for it was still available on his website as of the day this Memorandum Opinion is being entered,” Brinkema wrote.

The case against the order in Virginia is being litigated by the state’s attorney general, Mark R. Herring (D). It was originally brought by lawyers for the Legal Aid Justice Center who were representing two Yemeni brothers turned away after landing at Dulles International Airport. The brothers have since been allowed into the country.

“I saw this unlawful, unconstitutional and unAmerican ban for what it is, and I’m glad the court did too,” Herring said Monday night. He said the decision “lays out in stunning detail the extent to which the Court finds this order to likely violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, an attorney for the brothers, Tareq and Ammar Aziz, said the judge was “calling out the ban for what it really is, a Muslim ban.”

The decision is significant, he noted, because a preliminary injunction requires a higher burden of proof than the temporary restraining order issued in Washington.

. . . .

Brinkema rejected that [the Government’s] argument. “Maximum power does not mean absolute power,” she wrote. “Every presidential action must still comply with the limits set by Congress’ delegation of power and the constraints of the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights.”

She also dismissed the idea that a halt on the ban would cause any harm. On the other hand, she said, the Commonwealth produced evidence that the ban is having a negative impact on students and faculty who can no longer leave the country for fear of losing their visas or who are no longer sure they can study in the state.

“Ironically, the only evidence in this record concerning national security indicates that the [order] may actually make the country less safe,” Brinkema wrote, a reference to a letter from a bipartisan group of national security professionals decrying the impact of the ban abroad.”

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Here is Judge Brinkema’s 22-page order granting the preliminary injunction issued yesterday, Feb. 13, 2017 in Aziz v. Trump. (courtesy of Politico).

http://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000015a-3a0e-d784-a5fb-3ebe82c60000

 

PWS

02/14/17

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