August 26, 2015: WDBJ reporter Alison Parker, along with cameraman Adam Ward, shot and killed on live TV at Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, VA. Parker’s fiance, Chris Hurst, ran for office and is now a member of the House of… Read More ›
Issues
One Person, One Vote, in Congressional Elections
For a very brief two years, 1933–35, Virginia was gerrymander-free, as its nine congressional representatives were elected at large, i.e., by the entire voting population of the Commonwealth, not from particular districts. In addition, since passage of the 17th amendment in… Read More ›
Insuring Shooters?
Virtually everyone is familiar with the success of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in defeating gun control efforts and expanding gun ownership of firearms. This effort has been accompanied by the NRA’s relentless state-by-state activities to encourage legislatures to broaden… Read More ›
BOOK REVIEW: The Fifties, by David Halberstam
Reviewed by Jim McCarthy Readers should recall Halberstam’s seminal volume The Best and the Brightest,… Read More ›
On This Date in History . . .
August 20, 1968: Soviets invade Czechoslovakia August 22, 1950: Althea Gibson becomes first African-American on US tennis tour August 24, 1932: Amelia Earhart becomes first woman to fly nonstop across the US, from Los Angeles to Newark, in just over… Read More ›
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
In some parts of the South, the White community merely intends to prevail—that is all. .… The central question . . . is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary… Read More ›
Gerrymander on Your Own Dime
By Jim McCarthy and Michael Fruitman On March 1, 2017, SCOTUS remanded Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Board of Elections back to the Eastern District of Virginia, having ruled that the lower court had employed an incorrect legal standard in determining that race… Read More ›
Are Unions Making a Comeback?
In 2016, Virginia voters defeated a referendum, 53–47 percent, to amend the state’s constitution to include a right-to-work [RTW] provision. In Missouri last week, voters passed a referendum by a 2–1 margin overturning a similar law previously enacted by a… Read More ›