By Holly Hazard: NEW ORLEANS — “Republicans are clearly looking for new grassroots groups making campaign finance mistakes and filing complaints and we need to watch for these tactics,” said U.S. Rep. Graig Meyer, N.C., on Thursday on the Netroots Nation Conference panel, “Navigating Partnerships with the New Democratic Party and the New Grassroots.” One mistake mentioned was witnessing a…
Category: Issues
Fairfax activists represented at Netroots Nation Conference
By Holly Hazard: Netroots Nation, the largest gathering of progressive political activists in the nation, convened its annual meeting in New Orleans on Wednesday, August 1. Offering over 100 workshops with 565 panelists and trainers to over 3,000 attendees, and keynote speeches from Cory Booker, Kamila Harris, Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren, it promises to inspire and engage progressive Democrats…
College students need to apply for absentee ballot
If it’s August, it’s time to start getting ready to send your college student back to school. The No. 1 item on the To Do List: Have them apply for an absentee ballot or register to vote ASAP and wait a week or two until they are registered and then have them apply. It’s fast. It’s easy. Go to: Register…
We depend on volunteers — join the welcome team!
By Kimberly Davis: Fairfax County Democrats are rolling out a new volunteer coordination program and need about 6-12 members to join the team. With new volunteers signing up daily, excitement is building and we need to support these highly motivated people in the goal of the organization – getting Democrats elected! As we all know, volunteers are the true engine…
School board limits police role in schools, cooperation with ICE
By Brad Swanson: The Fairfax County School Board endorsed a new policy Thursday that limits the role of police officers in schools and that restricts, but does not completely bar, cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The board heard moving pleas from Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) students and former students to prohibit immigration agents from entering school grounds or obtaining…
Protect immigrant students in Fairfax public schools from ICE
By Diane Burkley Alejandro: Fairfax County is poised to improve its policy governing law enforcement in schools significantly, but the current draft fails to protect immigrant students, and must be changed. The matter is urgent because the policy on deployment of armed police School Resource Officers (SROs) to all public middle and high schools in the county is being considered…
New policy for police in Fairfax schools: law enforcement, not discipline
By Matthew Dunne: The policy governing roles and responsibilities of armed police officers who patrol the hallways of every public middle and high school in Fairfax County is about to be improved, after a community panel submitted more than 50 pages of comments in a wide-ranging review. Although universal agreement was not reached, the policy review, the first in several…
Be ready for Comstock to use smear tactics against Wexton
By Rob Abbot: As the race between Jennifer Wexton and Barbara Comstock to represent Virginia’s 10th district in Congress heats up, we need to be ready for Comstock to revert to her usual vicious and false campaign tactics. To see her modus operandi clearly, you need look no farther than her last contest. Just last month, she faced a relative…
Republicans steal the American dream
By William Berkson: Many of us feel cheated of the American dream of growing prosperity. But we should target our anger appropriately. Since 1980, whenever Democrats resided in the White House, poverty declined and middle class incomes rose, on the average. But the opposite is true during Republican administrations – poverty rose and middle class incomes stagnated. Two charts (see…
Kavanaugh will support Trump’s march toward autocracy
By Judith Shamir: Donald Trump has always made it abundantly clear that his choice for the Supreme Court would be someone who, like him, is staunchly determined to overturn abortion rights as well as many other civil and human rights. In picking Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee, he is fulfilling that promise. Kavanaugh’s pick is the most frightening of all…
Fairfax County struggles with high level of hoarding
By Susan Laume: Imagine sitting on your porch enjoying the gentle breeze of a pleasant summer evening… then being driven inside by odors when your neighbor opens his garage door… He’s a hoarder. What can be done? That’s a difficult question, but state Del. Mark Keam (D – 35) is committed to finding an answer. Americans are curious about hoarding,…
Trump is out of step with Republican voters on environmental protection
By Vivian Thomson: My mother, who passed away in May at the age of 100, was a lifelong Republican. But she was also a conservationist and environmentalist who was deeply concerned about climate change. She could not abide pollution and the waste of resources. She was horrified by Scott Pruitt and by the president’s blinkered support for coal. It turns…
Fairfax NAACP Recognized as Best Branch in USA
By M. J. O’Brien: The Fairfax County NAACP has been named the top branch in the country by the national organization. The branch will receive the prestigious Thalheimer Award, given annually to the branch with the most outstanding achievements, next week at the NAACP’s Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas. “Fairfax County is the home of the best branch in the…
Review group questions police role in Fairfax schools
By Brad Swanson: What should be the role of cops in schools? Should armed police officers even be allowed in schools? These were among the issues that rose to the surface in a tense meeting Monday night of a community group charged with reviewing the terms under which police officers are assigned to high schools and middle schools throughout the…