By Paul O’Shea: For the first time in Virginia’s history, capital punishment, a grim and tragic legacy, may finally be abolished. That was the theme of the recent annual awards luncheon of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP). Currently, with a Democratically-controlled Virginia General Assembly and growing support from conservatives and libertarians, death penalty abolition legislation could be…
By Karen Kirk: It’s time to take the “Virginia miracle” into America’s mainstream and win back the Senate and the presidency, said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro at the Fairfax County Democratic Committee’s Jefferson Obama Annual Dinner Sunday night in McLean. DeLauro, D-Conn., said that she is optimistic about what is about to happen in America because “of the story that…
By Brad Swanson: It’s unusual for an ex-governor of national stature to endorse local candidates in primaries, but as Terry McAuliffe acknowledged in a recent interview with The Blue View, “These are special circumstances.” The popular former governor, who served in Richmond 2014-18, has put his seal of approval on three candidates in northern Virginia’s upcoming Democratic primaries on June…
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…
By Paul O’Shea: The last person executed in Virginia was mentally ill. Yet Virginia, which has executed more people than any state except Texas, has no law protecting the mentally disabled from capital punishment. It’s time to change that. When Virginia completed the task of executing William Morva at 9:15 p.m. on July 6, 2017, it had killed a disturbed…