I probably agree 99% of the time with Peter Galuszka of Bacon’s Rebellion, which is why I found his latest headline, A New, Improved Ken Cuccinelli?, so puzzling. At first I thought that Galuszka was going to write an Onion-style satire or just a “yeah right!” But no, this appears to be serious.

Is one-time conservative firebrand Ken Cuccinelli undergoing a makeover?…

…The hard line former Virginia attorney general who lost a bitter gubernatorial race to Terry McAuliffe in 2013 is now helping run an oyster farm and sounding warning alarms about a rising police state.

…Yet on March 31, Cuccinelli was the co-author with Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia of an opinion column in the Richmond Times Dispatch. Their piece pushes bipartisan bills passed by the General Assembly that would limit the use of drones and electronic devices to read and record car license plate numbers called license plate readers or LPRs.

A few thoughts on this. First, you might have noticed that I did NOT link to the aforementioned opinion column in this morning’s news clips. That was intentional, as Ken Cuccinelli is an extremist, bigot, and paranoid nutjob who doesn’t deserve one drop of ink (or pixels), except to mock him and to expose his extremism/bigotry. Why anyone would want to team up with or associate themselves in any way with this extremist is beyond me, but to each their own.

Second, to the question posed by Peter Galuszka, the short answer is “no, Cuccinelli is most certainly NOT ‘new and improved.'” A few examples of his recent ravings include: Mitch McConnell Surrenders on Amnesty (urges a shutdown of Homeland Security over immigration policy), House Abandons Pro-Life Bill (criticizes the GOP for not passing an unconstitutional 20-week abortion bill), 25 Republicans Oppose Boehner for Speaker (opposes John Boehner because he’s supposedly too liberal), hung out with Ted Cruz on St. Patrick’s day, continues to promote crazy climate science denial/conspiracy theories, has engaged in “creepy Hillary Clinton bashing”, posted this beyond-heinous cartoon on his Facebook page mocking climate science and showing Hillary Clinton about to be beheaded by an ISIS terrorist, started a “gun rights” firm, continues his rabid homophobia and gay bashing, etc, etc. In short, meet the new Crazy Cooch, same as the old Crazy Cooch.

Finally, with regard to Cuccinellii’s concerns for civil liberties, government surveillance, etc., that’s nothing new whatsoever. The problem is that, although this is a serious issue, Cuccinelli is coming at it at least in part from a deeply non-serious place. For instance, see Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli Worried about the Government Tracking His Son – Told Crowd He Might Not Get Social Security # from March 2010. But even if you discount Cuccinelli’s paranoia/lunacy, obviously civil liberties and personal privacy issues are VERY serious ones, and for whatever reason(s), Cuccinelli has talked about them for a long time (e.g., see FreedomWorks Joins Rand Paul, Ken Cuccinelli in NSA Spying Class Action Lawsuit. So, yet again, this is nothing new or improved for Cuccinelli.

Bottom line: I’m not sure why Peter Galuszka, who I agree with 99% of the time, thinks that Ken Cuccinelli might be “undergoing a makeove,” but it’s simply not true. Unfortunately, he’s the same right-wing “firebrand” that he ever was…

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, March 31.

*Ind. to ‘clarify’ new law decried as anti-gay (How about repealing it?)

*Poll: Majority of Americans back nuclear deal with Iran

*Eroding Freedom in the Name of Freedom (“Indiana already had strong constitutional protections for religious belief and that the new law seemed to result more from fear of same-sex marriage than from any demonstrated need.”)

*Toughest Issues in Iran Nuclear Talks May Be Deferred (“As a deadline neared, negotiators appeared to move closer to a preliminary political accord to limit Tehran’s nuclear program, but several of the most difficult issues could be deferred for a final agreement in three months.”)

*Editorial: ABC agents drunk with power?

*McAuliffe invites Indiana firms to ‘open and welcoming’ Virginia (Of course, we do still have the Marshall-Newman amendment in our constitution, not to mention mandatory ultrasounds and other idiocies…)

*Town: Rising legislative tide (“The Clean Power Plan and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative are right for Virginia. It’s time to move toward a clean energy economy and away from the carbon-intensive energy policy responsible for endangering our coastal communities.”)

*Jewish group presses Virginia bar to reverse decision to drop Israel trip (“Jewish legislators blast Virginia State Bar for ‘disparaging’ language toward Israel.”)

*Cook: Virginians deserve stronger protection from toxic chemicals

*Virginia officials have a chance to add teeth to ethics reform legislation (The problem is, corrupt politicians like Tommy Norment and Dick Saslaw don’t want to do that.)

*Supreme Court remands in 3rd District gerrymander case (“The U.S. Supreme Court sent Virginia’s 3rd District gerrymander case back down the pipe on Monday, a move that brings Virginia another step closer to a redraw of its congressional map.”)

*Virginia Tech raises tuition, prepares for larger freshman class

*PolitiFact: Dave Brat gets mostly false on claim about Obama red tape (Just about everything Brat says is mostly or totally false.)

*McAuliffe signs bill allowing schools to sell doughnuts (Homer Simpson is happy today! LOL)

*Va. school board prevents trans student from using girls’ restroom (Good for the Washington Blade for picking up this story!)

*Amherst Co. attorney seeks to block Sweet Briar College closure

*Newport News to challenge Virginia Living Museum in fundraising

*Local group to study unexplained child deaths in Hampton Roads

*Portsmouth council to consider 17-cent tax hike

*Mostly sunny and warm today, but cooler tonight with rain likely

If you dislike racial packing, this SCOTUS decision looks like good news.

The U.S. Supreme Court sent Virginia’s 3rd District gerrymander case back down the pipe on Monday, a move that brings Virginia another step closer to a redraw of its congressional map.

The nation’s highest court vacated and remanded a three-judge panel’s decision in the case, which alleges that state leaders focused on race when drew lines for the 3rd District. The district is represented by U.S. Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, and it meanders back and forth across the James River, taking in minority populations in Hampton Roads.

[…]

Given the plaintiff’s initial victory, and last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of plaintiffs from a similar case out of Alabama, Monday’s remand will likely lead federal judges here to re-affirm their initial order, according to Marc Elias, lead attorney for the plaintiffs.

“The Alabama decision supports our position,” Elias said in an email. “We expect the three judge panel to reach the same result now that Alabama has been decided.”

All in all, I’m told by someone (an attorney) with a lot more legal acumen than I’ve got that this is probably a good thing in the long term, “because the Eastern District Court of Virginia (EDVA) had a broad interpretation of the Voting Rights Act, and the SCOTUS case strengthens their case.”  In turn, that “definitely helps when [the case] gets to the 4th circuit again. I think there was a good chance the 4th circuit was going to reverse the EDVA opinion before the SCOTUS opinion came down.” Also, this “establishes a much firmer legal foundation for Rep. Scott’s case (I thought the previous EDVA opinion was weak). But it does push the timeline back because the EDVA has to hear the case again before it inevitably gets appealed to the 4th circuit.”

Bottom line: “I think it will get through the 4th circuit by the middle of next year. Whether the GOP wants to waste more money and appeal it to the Supreme Court, who knows? I think it makes political sense for them to push it back as late as possible, but it will cost a ton of $ in legal bills and SCOTUS would almost certainly refuse to take the case since they just adjudicated a very similar case last week.”

UPDATE: Del. Scott Surovell says, “Voting Rights Act redistricting cases are heard by three-judge DISTRICT COURT panels.  Appeals go directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Federal appeals courts such as the Fourth Circuit play no role in these cases.”

UPDATE #2: My main source for commentary on this article emails, “I should have been more precise: parties can appeal directly to SCOTUS in these cases, but circuit courts can be involved when there is no constitutional claim.”

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise for Monday, March 30.

*Iran talks intensify with final-hour attempt to reach agreement

*Iran Backs Off Key Point in Nuclear Energy Negotiations (“With a negotiating deadline on Tuesday, Iranian officials have backed away from a critical element of a proposed nuclear agreement, saying they are no longer willing to ship their atomic fuel out of the country.”)

*What to Worry About in an Iran Nuclear Deal (“A good deal makes the Middle East a safer place. A bad one makes matters worse. Here are some issues to keep in mind if nuclear talks lead to a provisional agreement.”)

*Apple’s CEO: Discriminatory ‘religious freedom’ laws are dangerous

*Krugman: Imaginary Health Care Horrors

*Editorial: This is no time to stand in the way of solar power (“Like every other industry, Dominion’s business model evolves over time. It must adjust to the growth of small-time net-metered solar energy without penalizing its producers.”)

*State moving ahead on transformation of General Assembly Building, Old City Hall (“Gov. Terry McAuliffe allowed the state to issue bid requests this month for architectural and engineering design on the projects.”)

*Putting brakes on predatory lenders (“Attorney General Mark Herring announced last week that his office will work in tandem with the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect customers sucked into the debt trap laid by predatory short-term lenders.”)

*Webb tiptoes into spotlight, considers 2016 campaign

*Virginia State Bar cancels Israel trip, citing ‘discriminatory’ border policies (“Politicians described the legal group’s decision as an ‘outrageous’ move that ‘sends the wrong signal.'”)

*State Bar: Israel trip not fully thought out, cancelling not a boycott

*Virginia State Bar cancels Israel trip, citing ‘discriminatory’ border policies (“Irving Blank, a past president of the Virginia State Bar and member of the bar committee planning the trip, said the episode had been blown out of proportion, placing much of the blame on an online opinion piece posted on the Volokh Conspiracy blog on The Washington Post Web site that used the word ‘boycott’ in the headline.”)

*As Fairfax grows more diverse, candidates for office mostly don’t

*Rain or shine: Prince William County opens new recycling facility at landfill

*A bit more like spring this week; a few morning showers today

From Arlington County Clerk of the Court Paul Ferguson:

Dear Fellow Supporter of Arlington’s Environmental Programs,

This piece has run as an op/ed in newspapers in my very red congressional district.

Here’s what I bet that historians will say was the No. 1 political battle in the America of our times.

Not the national debt, or abortion, or Obamacare, or immigration, or gun rights.

Instead, historians will say the most important fight was over whether the government of the United States would be the democracy our founders gave us, or whether Big Money would succeed in changing us into a different kind of society altogether.

Most of us are aware that our politics are awash in money like never before. The cost of our campaigns – from state legislatures to the presidency – has vastly increased. This avalanche of money – especially since the Citizens United decision – comes mostly not from ordinary citizens but from billionaires and giant corporations.

As a result, more and more of the decisions made – in Congress, in the White House, at the Supreme Court – favor the rich and powerful at the expense of average Americans.

Right before our eyes, our government – which is supposed to be by and for the people – is being stolen from us.

We need to look at this battle in strategic terms, asking: How is Big Money going about its effort to take over?

It is clear, for example, that it serves the interests of the plutocrats to divide the people against each other.  

The more we are at each other’s throats, the less able we will be to unite in defense of the gift our founders gave us. The more we can be made to focus on issues that divide us, the more we will be distracted from the most essential battle on which we must join forces.

We saw this, for example, in the depth of our recent Great Recession, when citizens of all political stripes clamored for action to create jobs. In many states, what we got instead, was a focus on an issue on which Americans’ differences are least reconcilable – abortion.

If two halves of America fight each other, they cancel each other out. That leaves the plutocracy free to work its will.

Consider the various voter suppression bills passed in many states. Voter ID laws claim to be about preventing voter fraud. But study after study shows these laws prevent only a handful of wrongly cast ballots while stopping hundreds of thousands American citizens from having a voice in our elections.

Some Americans don’t see a problem if most of those unfairly disenfranchised would vote for the “other side.” Just seems like good politics.

But if the real battle is not over the issues that divide us, but over The People versus Big Money, then those being disenfranchised are not on the “other side.” They are part of “We, the People,” who must join forces to save our great heritage.

There is a long-term strategy of divide and conquer: Take power from the most vulnerable – who are also least likely to side with the interests of Big Money – and there will be that much less for the plutocracy to contend with down the line, when another slice of The People can be targeted.

We saw this in Scott Walker’s Wisconsin.

Several years ago, Governor Walker stoked the resentment of workers in the private sector against public workers for having better pensions. Having divided those groups of average Americans, he stripped the public workers of their powers. This year, he has worked to weaken workers in the private sector as well.

A German pastor wrote these famous words about how ordinary Germans let terrible things happen in their country, during a dark time:

    First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-

    Because I was not a Socialist.

    Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-

    Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

    Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-

    Because I was not a Jew.

    Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me.

We are all in this together. If we allow the strategy of “divide and conquer” to succeed, we will have proved ourselves unworthy of the treasure passed on to us from our founders. And we will have failed to protect our children and grandchildren.

*********************

Andy Schmookler is the author of the forthcoming book, WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST: The Destructive Force at Work in Our World — and How We Can Defeat It

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, March 29. Also, check out that photo of the supposedly “moderate” Republican, Hal Parrish, who’s running for Chuck Colgan’s State Senate seat, posing happily with one of the craziest, most extreme politicians in Virginia…or anywhere in the country, really.

*Arab summit vows support for Yemen’s leader

*Co-pilot who crashed jet reported feeling pressured

*When to expect more 2016 announcements

*McAuliffe: A loftier vision for public service (“I am firmly committed to taking a meaningful step forward on ethical government every year of my term until we reach our goal.”)

*Schapiro: Ethics debate could ripple into the fall (“Republicans don’t want to give McAuliffe a victory. But they’re leery about handing him a defeat. They worry that rejecting the amendments when the General Assembly returns for its spring session April 15 will supply Democrats with a potent talking point in the fall elections and beyond.”)

*Challenge to Howell illustrates GOP split (“Dave Brat’s stunning primary defeat of U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor last year has emboldened the Virginia GOP’s conservative wing to rise against the party’s establishment.”)

*Cigarette trafficking spawning other crimes and possibly violence

*Smoking pot in D.C. could cost Va. workers their jobs (That’s ridiculous.)

*A silver lining at U-Va. (“Rolling Stone’s failings notwithstanding, the uproar caused needed soul-searching about the university’s approach to sexual assault cases.”)

*In Virginia ABC arrest numbers, tilt is toward buyers rather than sellers (Should definitely be the other way around.)

*Virginia State Bar boycotts Israel (Not sure what to make of this, but doesn’t sound good.)

*Time for courage on light rail plans (“Virginia Beach’s City Council has spent too long cowering before a loud but small group whose blinkered vision for the city involves time travel to the 1960s. Or the 1950s.”)

*Racial disparities exists in probation violation penalties, reports show (“More whites than blacks who are charged with probation violations get a break when they go before circuit court judges, case status records from 2014 suggest”)

*In the path of Route 460: New route likely to displace homes, businesses

*Tech Board of Visitors to take up tuition and budget issues

*One more chilly day before temperatures turn springlike

To introduce this photo montage of extremist insanity, let me just remind you of who Virginia State Senator Dick Black is and what he’s said/done over the years. A few “highlights” include: 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 Rac, etc, etc. So who in their right mind would have this extremist maniac speak at their campaign events or pose for photos with him?  In the montage below, clockwise from the top left, you’ve got bat****-crazy Sen. Ted Cruz, “stupid party” epitome Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Gainesville District (Prince William County) Supervisor Pete Candland, and last but not least supposed “moderate” (guess not!) Manassas City Mayor Hal Parrish. Yep, those are Dick Black’s BFFs, and I think it goes without saying that none of them should ever be elected to anything, let alone higher office, going forward.

From House Minority Leader David Toscano:

Dear Friend,

Last year, under pressure from tens of thousands of their users, Google decided to drop their support of the extreme right-wing organization ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).  The reasoning was based on ALEC's denial that climate change exists – Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said:  “Everyone understands climate change is occurring and the people who oppose it are really hurting our children and our grandchildren and making the world a much worse place.  And so we should not be aligned with such people — they’re just, they’re just literally lying.” (1)

Of course, you and I know that ALEC has been “literally lying” about a lot more then climate change!  In response to Google's decision, 234 right-wing Republican legislators signed a letter to Google attempting to shift blame to climate activists.  If you read the letter, you'll notice that 7th on the list of 234 names is none other then our Speaker, Bill Howell. (2)  And ALEC constantly uses the Virginia House of Delegates as testing ground for the next round of conservative initiatives.  We must stop this.

I need your help to make sure we make significant gains this November.  We have a crucial reporting deadline Tuesdaynight at midnight.  Can you please make whatever contribution you can today to help us fight back against Speaker Howell and the right-wing Republican caucus this year.  Your contribution, be it $10, $100 or $1,000, is going to go straight to beating Republicans this November, and I think we can all agree, that's a good deal.

Lets win!

Delegate David Toscano
House Democratic Leader

Sources:

1: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/09/22/3570463/google-says-alec-lies-about-climate-change/

2: http://www.alec.org/google-letter/