FISHY STORY REDUX: VIRGINIA MENHADEN SANCTUARY

VoxFairfax previously alerted readers (APB for Commonwealth Menhaden, 11/18/2019, https://wp.me/p9wDCF-NY) to the plight of the Commonwealth’s menhaden (forage fish), which were being shanghaied by a Canadian company, never to see the Chesapeake Bay again.

Following investigation of willful and flagrant violation of international agreement limiting harvesting of the piscatorial beauties, the federal government may intervene to bring an end to the pirating venture. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in a statement, declared that the Canadian company’s violations would result in a shutdown of menhaden harvesting in the Chesapeake Bay by June 17. Conservationists reported a palpable sense of peace beneath the surface of Chesapeake waters as the menhaden burbled with joy at not becoming fish oil.

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GOLDEN STATE PROMOTES GENDER EQUALITY

Quietly in October 2018, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a requirement that every publicly traded company in the Golden State must have a women on its Board of Directors before the end of 2019. The statute also provides that boards with five members must seat two women by the end of 2021.

Judicial Watch, a well-known conservative advocacy organization, has challenged the statute as “brazenly unconstitutional,” said President Tom Fitton, who it is believed is male. It is likely that California could have avoided litigation had it a state, unwritten policy similar to the Commonwealth’s Virginia Way. As it is, this affirmative action will be tested in the courts.

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VIRGINIA WOMAN CROWNED MISS AMERICA 2020

Camille Schrier, who immigrated to the Commonwealth from another commonwealth, Pennsylvania, was crowned Miss America 2020 at the pageant’s 99^th event held for the second year in Connecticut. The 24-year-old is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a dual major in biochemistry and systems biology.

The pageant no longer requires a swimsuit competition appearance for participants, relying instead upon more personal accomplishments. The VTech grad performed an onstage chemical experiment demonstrating the catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. The new Miss America is bold testimony to the benefits of immigration and science for competitive jurisdictions such as Virginia.  Given her photogenic looks, perhaps the new Miss America could become Miss Science with a TV show.

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WACKOS WAX AND WANE – GRATEFULLY

In last week’s Brief Cases, VoxFairfax reported upon a Trump Administration official in the State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance whose warlike views on the use of nuclear weapons set our heads shaking and hurting. Now, however, from out of the woodwork appears Matt Shea, a six-term GOP representative in Washington State accused of domestic terrorism.

An investigation by the state’s House found that Shea had been pursuing such activities since November 2015 with the Patriot Movement in at least three states outside of his home jurisdiction. The report noted his association with Ammon Bundy in the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife park. The GOP state leadership suspended Shea from House activities, banned him from his office, and removed his name and picture from the party’s website. Unrepentant, he posted to Facebook that the investigation was a “sham” meant to “disarm and destroy our great country.” Defiantly, he vowed not to “back down,” “resign,” or “give in,” citing “unalienable rights.” Far more feverish than a mere second amendment sanctuary resolution.

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