When Justine Damond was shot by a Somalian police officer in Minneapolis, there were no riots or protests in her name.

Damond, a white woman, had called the police for help, but when they showed up, she was shot instead. The Somalian officer who fired his weapon claimed to have been spooked.

“For these people — for Black Lives Matter, for these left-wing agitators — it’s never about the victims. It’s not really about violence or injustice. It’s about the system. It’s about the belief that these activists have that America and its institutions are oppressive and unjust,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey comments on “Relatable.”

“And anyone who upholds these institutions, like the church — especially the Protestant church in America, who is still overwhelmingly conservative — is seen as an enemy,” she says, explaining that this was the entire reason former CNN anchor Don Lemon alongside Black Lives Matter activists stormed a church in protest of the ICE shooting of Renee Good.

“This demonstration … was not about Renee Good, or even the Somalians, or even any of the illegal aliens there. These were just — the exposing of the Somalian fraud, the killing of Renee Good — they were the trigger incidents used by these activists to justify terrorizing Christians and conservatives and anyone who stands in their way,” Stuckey explains.

“2020 wasn’t about George Floyd. 2026 is not about Renee Good. Understand this. It is about intentionally sowing chaos to ultimately weaken America and Western civilization. That is what George Soros and all of his funded initiatives and groups want to do,” she says.

Stuckey points out that the protest at Cities Church was livestreamed by Black Lives Matter — a group that received $90 million from the Soros-backed Tides Foundation just a few years ago.

And according to the New York Post, the Invisible Twin Cities group, which received $7.8 million from George Soros Open Society Foundations between 2018 and 2023, is behind the anti-ICE protests in Minneapolis.

“They’re not good people,” Stuckey says. “So you have to think: Why would they fund anti-ICE protests? It’s because they hate America. America stands in the way of what they want to do.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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Republican lawmakers, the Arizona Police Association, and the Trump administration castigated Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) this week over her suggestion that it may be reasonable to shoot masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Mayes made no secret of her contempt for ICE in her interview with KPNX-TV’s Brahm Resnik, suggesting, for instance, that ICE officers are engaged in “thuggish, brutish behavior” and causing chaos, confusion, and anxiety in Minneapolis.

‘How do you know they are a peace officer?’

“It’s a combustible situation, let’s be clear about that,” said Mayes. “It’s a combustible situation being caused by ICE right now, wearing masks.”

After noting that she was “outraged and sickened” to see ICE agents outside her building and claiming that “real cops don’t wear masks,” the Democrat — who is seeking re-election — made a point of stressing that Arizona is a “stand your ground state.”

“We also have a lot of guns in Arizona,” she said with a smile.

“You know, it’s kind of a recipe for disaster because you have these masked federal officers with very little identification, sometimes no identification, wearing plain clothes and masks, and we have a stand your ground law that says that if you reasonably believe that your life is in danger and you are in your house or your car or on your property, that you can defend yourself with lethal force.”

Resnik pumped the brakes and said, “I want to be careful with that and understand what you are saying because you know how that could be interpreted.”

RELATED: Anti-ICE radical who took credit for the invasion of Minnesota church ARRESTED by feds

(Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Image

“But it’s the fact,” said Mayes.

While Mayes clarified that you still cannot gun down peace officers in the Grand Canyon State and that she was not giving anyone license to start doing so, she appeared to give would-be killers an excuse, stating, “How do you know they’re a peace officer?”

“If there’s a situation where somebody pulls out their gun because they know Arizona is a stand your ground state, then it becomes ‘did they reasonably know that they were a peace officer?'” said Arizona’s top law enforcement officer.

When Resnik once more pressed her for clarification that she was not “telling folks you have license if you are threatened,” Mayes said, “Well,” and smirked.

“No,” she continued, “but again, if you’re being attacked by someone who is not identified as a peace officer, how do you know?”

Republican Arizona Rep. David Schweikert noted, “Let’s not pretend this was some careful legal seminar.”

“This was the attorney general of Arizona freelancing a scenario where bullets start flying and then shrugging it off as ‘just the law.’ That is reckless on its face,” wrote Schweikert. “If your job is to enforce the law, you do not go on TV and hand out a permission structure for violence, then act surprised when people hear it as a green light. Words matter. Especially when they come from the state’s top lawyer.”

Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R), who is running for state attorney general, noted, “Mayes should be fully aware of her dangerous rhetoric — and how people will construe, apply, and execute her comments. Mayes’ comments were reckless, dangerous, and disqualifying.”

The Arizona Police Association also condemned Mayes’ remarks, emphasizing that “words from elected officials matter.”

APA Executive Director Joe Clure stated that the Democrat’s framing was “deeply troubling and dangerous” especially as “law enforcement officers at every level including state, local, and federal agencies do not always wear traditional uniforms” — including members of Mayes’ own investigative teams.

“This does not diminish their legal authority or status as law enforcement,” said Clure. “Publicly speculating about how someone might legally justify shooting an ICE agent sends a dangerous and irresponsible message, particularly in an already tense and polarized environment.”

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the New York Post, “This is [a] direct threat calling for violence against our law enforcement officers — this kind of rhetoric is going to get someone killed.”

Blaze News has reached out the Justice Department for comment.

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​Us immigration and customs enforcement, Ice, Arizona, Kris mayes, Attorney general, Murder, Subversion, Insurrection, Ice agents, Dhs, Politics 

I had been living in New York for several years, writing young adult novels. But I wanted to move to Los Angeles. I needed a change of scenery, and I wanted to try screenwriting.

A friend connected me to a guy who had spent several years in L.A. pursuing film and TV writing. I called the guy and told him my plan.

The hair dye felt like it was burning my scalp. After I rinsed it out, my whole head glowed. Did it make me look younger? I guess it did. But it also made me look like a clown.

He said: “How old are you?”

I said 49.

He said, “That’s too old. You can’t be 50 in Hollywood. You’ll need to lie about your age.”

Then he asked me if I had gray hair. I said I did. He said I would need to dye it.

I said, “But George Clooney has gray hair. Doesn’t it look distinguished?”

He said I would definitely want to dye it. “Everyone dyes their hair in L.A. Get a good hairdresser.”

*******

He continued relating his experiences. He listed the dangers of Hollywood. They steal your ideas. They lie. They pretend to be your friend. I would need a good lawyer, and a manager, and an agent.

Most of this I already knew. But the “you can’t be 50 in Hollywood” part: I hadn’t heard that before.

Reelin’ In the Years

After we hung up, I thought about the age problem. I had already “adjusted” my age once while I was writing young adult novels.

I did this after attending a book festival, where I saw that all the other young adult authors were generally in their 20s and 30s. I was at least a decade older than most of them.

So I shaved five years off my Facebook age. Just in case anybody looked. And then I did the same thing when I filled out the publicity questionnaires for my publisher.

But the age problem got worse when I arrived in L.A. The first screenwriter I met with was 24 and looked like he was in high school. When I got home from that meeting, I went on Facebook and shaved three more years off my birthday.

When I did this, a little notice popped up, informing me that this would be the last time I would be allowed to change my birthday on Facebook.

So now, I was 41 according to Facebook, 44 according to my New York publisher, and 49 according to my driver’s license and the IRS.

This was a lot to keep track of. It made for some awkward moments on first dates.

Gray matters

It didn’t take long to realize that in Hollywood — where lying is considered “self-care” — what people really judged you on was your looks.

So then I considered my appearance. My hair was pretty gray. Should I try dyeing it?

I went to Ralphs and bought a box of Clairol Nice’n Easy hair dye. I went for espresso brown, which seemed closest to my original hair color.

I set up shop in my bathroom. I put on the gloves and followed the instructions on the box, mixing the chemicals and smearing them onto my head. It was a messy business.

The hair dye felt like it was burning my scalp. After I rinsed it out, my whole head glowed. Did it make me look younger? I guess it did. But it also made me look like a clown.

*******

I flew back to New York soon after, and a female friend immediately noticed the change. She said: “It’s true what they say; you look 10 years younger!”

That was nice to hear. But I was alarmed that she noticed it instantly. From 50 feet away.

Another friend didn’t believe me when I told her it was dyed. She had to look closer and touch it until she saw that I was telling the truth.

I was still trying to get used to it myself. Every time I saw my reflection, I startled myself. Who’s that guy with the dye job?

RELATED: The left wants to ‘reclaim’ the American flag; did they run out of lighter fluid?

Blake Nelson

Pro tips

Back in L.A., I spotted a sign in a hair salon near my apartment: “Dye and Haircut $80.” Maybe this was the solution: getting your hair dyed by a professional.

I would like to say this was a luxurious, pampering experience. It was not. The hairdresser roughed me up pretty good. And then I had to sit there for 40 minutes, in sight of people walking by the window, with a giant plastic covering over me and my thinning hair wrapped in tin foil.

And then, after all that, it looked no different from the Clairol dye job I had given myself for $9.99!

*******

Still, I stuck with it, re-dyeing it every six weeks — like it said on the box — for most of a year.

During this time, I kept a watchful eye out for other men with dyed hair. I was definitely not alone. At the beach, you would see aging “surfer dads” with dyed blonde hair and a skateboard under their arms. It wasn’t a terrible look. As long as you wore Vans and board shorts.

And of course, men who were on TV or acted in movies always dyed their hair. I’d see these men everywhere. Or I’d see guests on late-night talk shows who looked like they had just had it done an hour before. Their hair had that blurry, fresh-dye glow.

I became skilled at spotting dye jobs on either sex. I hadn’t realized how many women dyed their hair: basically all of them, after about 30.

The good news was that nobody thought less of a man for dyeing his hair. This was Los Angeles. Dyeing your hair meant you had a job.

All is vanity

This wasn’t the case on the East Coast. New York City was the land of the silver fox. Being a well-dressed, gray-haired, 50-year-old male was highly desirable. It meant you were rich!

In fact, it was in New York that a couple of female friends intervened and informed me that the hair-dye thing wasn’t working. I looked better being gray.

After that, my vanity took over, and when I returned to L.A., I shaved my head and released myself back into middle age.

Once I let myself go gray again, another Los Angeles acquaintance told me she thought I looked much better. She said the dye job made me look untrustworthy, like a used-car salesman.

*******

So that was a relief. But the real relief didn’t come until many years later, when I retired from writing and went back home to Portland and returned to total normalcy.

In retirement, I didn’t have to be young; I didn’t have to be cool. I could just be an old, gray-haired person like everybody else.

Though on Facebook — thanks to its birthday-changing restrictions — I remain a slightly younger and livelier version of myself.

​Hollywood, Lifestyle, Culture, Screenwriting, Writing, Aging, Blake’s progress 

A Chicago female recently was arrested in connection with an alleged string of beatings that took place after she allegedly failed to appear in court for an earlier battery case, CWB Chicago reported.

Records show that 37-year-old Diamond Miller failed to appear in court on a pending misdemeanor battery charge on Dec. 2, the outlet said, adding that court records show that Judge Peter Gonzalez ordered the court clerk to send Miller a postcard reminding her of her court dates rather than issuing a warrant.

Miller allegedly struck the woman in the face with a broken beer bottle, the outlet said, adding that the woman began bleeding immediately and suffered cuts to her face and a deep cut to her bottom lip.

Later that month, Miller allegedly went on a physical attack spree.

Prosecutors said that while she was “in AWOL status” from the pending misdemeanor battery case, Miller allegedly attacked three people within minutes near Pulaski Road and Cermak Road around noon on Dec. 21, CWB Chicago reported.

The first attack occurred on a southbound CTA #53 Pulaski bus after a 33-year-old man asked Miller to quiet down so he could hear his wife during a phone call, the outlet said, citing prosecutors during a detention petition.

Miller approached the man and struck him in the face “with great force,” causing him to experience “pain and dizziness,” CWB Chicago said, citing the filing. The bus driver stopped at Pulaski and Cermak and called police and EMS, the outlet noted.

RELATED: NYC subway rider pays brutal price after asking fellow passenger to stop talking loudly on cell phone

Diamond Miller. Image source: Chicago Police Department

Prosecutors said Miller exited the bus and walked to a nearby bus shelter, the outlet reported.

At 12:17 p.m., a second victim and her friend approached the shelter, where Miller was acting erratically and telling them to give her space, the outlet said, citing prosecutors. The victim and her friend walked away — but Miller allegedly followed them, CWB Chicago said. The victim told police that while she stood on the sidewalk with her back turned, Miller approached from behind and struck her in the face with a white plastic bag that contained a hard object that felt like ice, the outlet said, adding that the victim called 911.

Miller returned to the bus shelter minutes later, when a 54-year-old woman — the third victim — and her 74-year-old mother approached while switching bus lines, CWB Chicago said, citing prosecutors. The detention filing said Miller yelled at them and accused them of following her, according to the outlet. The daughter helped her mother — who uses a walker — away from the shelter, but Miller allegedly followed them and continued yelling, CWB Chicago said.

The daughter saw a CTA bus idling on the corner and asked the driver if her mother could board and wait until the next bus arrived, but the driver declined, the outlet said, citing the filing. As the woman and her mother walked away, Miller allegedly struck the woman in the face with a broken beer bottle, the outlet said, adding that the woman began bleeding immediately and suffered cuts to her face and a deep cut to her bottom lip.

The second victim saw the attack on the third victim and recorded part of it with her phone, the outlet said, citing prosecutors.

The first victim — the man from the bus — was taken to St. Anthony Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, CWB Chicago said, adding that prosecutors said the third victim received five stitches.

Police said they arrested Miller at 12:50 p.m. the same day and charged her with three felony counts of aggravated battery and one misdemeanor count of aggravated assault of a person older than 60.

Judge Robert Kuzas detained Miller, CWB Chicago said.

Records indicate Miller was booked into Cook County Jail on Dec. 24, and she has no bond. Her next court date is Feb. 19, jail records say.

CWB Chicago said Miller spent three days in jail in connection with four retail theft cases in October. A fifth retail theft case was dropped in November, the outlet said, even though Miller didn’t appear in court. However, records indicate the store’s representative didn’t show up for court, either, the outlet noted. A separate misdemeanor battery case was dropped in August, CWB Chicago added.

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​Physical attacks, Unprovoked attacks, Chicago, Arrest, Jailed, Aggravated assault charges, Aggravated battery, Police, Cook county jail, Crime 

Liberals will often claim Christians are not acting in line with their religion when they support strict immigration laws — but that claim could not be further from the truth.

“Remember Romans 13, that the government was instituted by God to reward those who do good and to punish those who do evil. Those who think that it is immoral or it is unjust to deport people who are here illegally have no problem locking their own doors, having their own walls, dead-bolting their own fences,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey says on “Relatable.”

“And the truth is, nations are like families. The government is supposed to put the interest in the well-being and the safety of our people first. Just because you lock your door and you don’t let any stranger come into your home doesn’t mean that you hate your neighbors,” she says.

“It doesn’t make you bigoted. It means that you love your children. If you allowed people that you don’t know, that you haven’t vetted into your home to sleep in your kid’s bed and to eat your kid’s food, you wouldn’t be a good neighbor, you would be a bad parent,” she continues.

And the same could be said for our government.

“If they were not sending ICE into these cities to deport illegal aliens who are not only here illegally, that would be enough to deport someone, by the way. Every government has that right and responsibility to maintain that sovereignty that we just talked about but also to deport the worst people in the world. We’re talking about people who raped a child. And you want to impede that justice,” Stuckey says.

“That is the God-given and righteous responsibility of any government. And Christians should be for that because we serve a God of peace, not a God of disorder. We understand that disorder and chaos are curses for a nation. And that God is a God of order who placed us in a garden, not a jungle,” she continues.

“Tough immigration policy is good,” she says, adding, “It would have been good for Laken Riley … it would have been good for all of those children who were raped or assaulted or kidnapped or harmed. The people who were killed, the people who have died because an illegal alien was driving under the influence. If we had tough immigration policy, those people would be alive.”

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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In the tumultuous wake of Renee Good’s death, a video from Minnesota’s Becker High School is going viral on social media.

The footage captures social studies teacher Dr. Heather Abrahamson heatedly arguing with a student about the fatal shooting of Good — the 37-year-old anti-ICE protester who struck ICE agent Jonathan Ross with her vehicle while deliberately impeding an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis on January 7.

On a recent episode of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” Sara played the footage and discussed the radical politicization of our teachers’ unions and the leftist indoctrination of our youth with Teacher Freedom Alliance CEO Ryan Walters.

In the clip, Abrahamson insists that Officer Ross should have de-escalated the situation.

“Your job as a police officer is to de-escalate,” she spat, gesturing dramatically at the dissenting student, who fired back, “He had a split second.”

“Watch the video! He was not in danger,” Abrahamson retorted, ignoring the fact that footage from the incident captures Ross being propelled backward as Good’s vehicle makes contact with him and numerous reports that Ross suffered internal bleeding following the incident.

“Just because you’re yelling doesn’t mean you’re winning an argument,” the student said, refusing to bend.

“Just because you’re alive doesn’t mean you are intelligent,” Abrahamson clapped back.

The recording of this chaotic encounter, distributed by Libs of TikTok, has amassed nearly 4 million views on X and sparked intense debate over political indoctrination in classrooms.

“This is a very pervasive issue,” Sara says, displaying the following memo recently distributed by the National Education Association arguing for increased anti-ICE activism.

This kind of left-wing activism poisoning America’s classrooms, Walters says, is “a coordinated effort from the teachers’ unions.”

“‘Tell your students that the police are the enemy, that ICE is the enemy’ — and this is exactly what they’re pushing into our schools,” he says. “It’s not a one-off. It’s not, well, you know, here’s some crazy left-wing socialist teacher. No, this is the teachers’ unions utilizing their foot soldiers to … undermine this country through the classrooms.”

Sara brings up a recent Fox News article that exposed the NEA — the largest teachers’ union in the United States and the largest labor union overall in the country — for funneling millions in union funds during the 2024 fiscal year to various far-left and social justice-oriented groups and ballot initiatives.

“In a lot of these places, the teachers don’t have a choice. They have to join the union. They have to pay the fees,” Sara says. “I mean, it’s adding insult to injury that you’re essentially stealing from someone because they want to have the occupation as a teacher and then you’re using it to fund [left-wing] causes.”

Walters says that it’s paramount that we stop them.

“We have to defund them. Every teacher, you should opt out. Go to optouttoday.com. Get out of the union. Quit paying union fees to destroy this country. … And every state should be passing legislation to rail back on the union’s power. There shouldn’t be teachers’ unions,” he says.

“What you have in the teachers’ union is this huge apparatus of power. They have a ton of money. They have a ton of resources. They are embedded in the Democrat Party. They are one of their biggest funders,” he continues.

Walters warns that if we fail to defeat teachers’ unions, the consequences are potentially massive: “They’re going to gear up all this before the congressional elections, just like they did for Kamala Harris when over $400 million went from the teachers’ union to her presidential campaign. Same thing’s going to happen in this election cycle.”

But the money is just the weapon — the real war is in our classrooms.

Teachers’ unions, Walters says, have been instrumental in brainwashing younger generations into becoming America-hating, die-hard Democrats.

“We didn’t just wake up one day … [with] millions of kids that sit here and think we’re an evil, racist country. They think cops are bad guys. That didn’t just happen. It happened because of a coordinated attack,” he says.

The viral video of Dr. Abrahamson insulting a student’s intelligence because he refused to condemn an ICE agent he believes acted in self-defense is merely one thread in a vast tapestry of proof.

“We’ve got to turn this around 180 degrees in the other direction and go back to a patriotic education, love of country, love of American values. We’ve got to get back to that,” Walters urges.

To hear more of the conversation and see the viral video, watch the episode above.

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​Sara gonzales, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Ryan walters, Ryan walters oklahoma, Woke teachers, Progressivism, Woke education, Blazetv, Blaze media, Ice, Anti ice, Indoctrination in schools, Viral video, Renee good, Ice protests 

Virginia’s new Democrat governor was inaugurated just six days ago, but already the safely ensconced Democrat legislature has a plan: more than 1,000 bills to supplement the administration’s already aggressive agenda of executive orders.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger campaigned as a pragmatist — a moderate former CIA agent fighting for an “Affordable Virginia” and giving the increasingly blue state a reprieve from President Donald Trump and her own predecessor, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

It’s a brave new world out there, folks. And ‘moderation’ is coming for the rest of this country, as soon the voters get in line.

Spanberger sold voters “moderation.” Her party intends to legislate like it never heard the word.

The new blue majority have been in power in this once-red state for less than two weeks, and already they’ve reminded Americans their view of “pragmatism” is discarding the notion as soon as they assume power. Taken as a whole, their agenda provides provided a blueprint for exactly what other purple-state voters can expect under any unified Democrat government — and why it’s so dangerous.

Virginia’s executive and legislative branches have already unveiled plans to decriminalize heinous crimes, protect and pay for illegal aliens, end investigations into massive fraud against taxpayers, empower radical and failing public school bureaucrats, raise taxes across the board, meddle in private lives and businesses in the name of climate change, restrict firearms, obscure shady elections, and make housing more affordable — for government employees.

That may sound like your typical partisan attack, worth glossing over in our ever-shriller news-smothered lives. But every proposal below is either an authentic executive order or a true piece of legislation introduced in the Virginia House or Senate for consideration in the coming days and months.

Lawless by design

Democrats want softer sentencing rules. House Bill 244 would weaken guidelines that judges use to sentence convicted criminals, giving even more discretion to Democrat judges already inclined toward leniency for robbers.

That’s child’s play next to HB 863, a 28-page bill to reduce mandatory minimum sentences on a whole host of crimes, including rape, possessing or distributing child pornography, repeat violent crime, and attacking law enforcement officers.

House Bill 1070 goes farther, restricting how prosecutors can refer to a suspect’s prior convictions during the phase when the judge or jury decides guilt.

After conviction, Senate Bill 21 would shift juvenile crime oversight toward the Virginia Department of Health and Human Services, sidelining the Department of Juvenile Justice and reframing ultraviolent juvenile crime as a “health” crisis.

Then comes the cultural haze. The governor’s allies want Virginia to host 350 marijuana shops within four years, while preventing local communities from saying “no thanks” and allowing stores to operate within 1,000 feet of schools and churches. SB 62 would even retroactively reduce sentences for some marijuana-related crimes, including transportation and distribution.

Democrats do have a taste for toughness — when it targets the wrong people. House Bill 7 would bar law enforcement agents from wearing masks, inviting activists to identify and harass them at home. Senate Bill 137 would criminalize coming within eight feet of someone who stands within 40 feet of an abortion clinic.

RELATED: ‘Place your left hand on the Quran’: Foreign-born lieutenant governor does not swear in on Bible

Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images

Benefits for illegal aliens

Not everyone will be upset about the new laws, of course. Illegal immigrants have reason to celebrate, starting with the new governor’s immediate move to declare Virginia a sanctuary state and end an order compelling local cooperation with federal law enforcement.

House Bill 650 would block arrests at courthouses and bar federal agents from showing up there for that purpose. House Bill 912 would expand access to Virginia’s K-12 public schools for illegal aliens, funded by taxpayers. House Bill 553 would require language programming for inmates — a bill sponsored for Virginia Rep. Jessica Anderson, who gained a little local notoriety for TikToking herself peeing in public.

Virginia employers who make a pretty penny employing illegal labor need not worry either — unless they don’t pay illegal aliens enough. HB 675 wouldn’t hold them accountable for undercutting American workers but will be sure to fine them if they try to skirt minimum-wage laws.

Those aliens would be suckers to work for low wages when they could open a day care, though. No joke. That same pee video rep’s HB 1369 would protect fraudsters taking federal money, barring the state from “determin[ing], verify[ing], or otherwise requir[ing] proof of eligibility … for such public benefits.”

Don’t everyone rush to start a nonprofit at once, though. There’s plenty to go around. HB 259 would send more money toward starting at-home child-care programs.

Call it the Minnesota dream, imported to the Old Dominion.

Public schools: Parents and kids last

Virginia’s public schools already struggle with basics. Democrats want them to absorb more bureaucracy and more ideology.

House Bill 614 mandates history and social science instruction through the lens of “marginalized” identities. It includes traditional categories such as black Americans, women, immigrants, and the disabled. It also explicitly requires emphasis on “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer” experiences — plus whatever additional categories “the Board deems appropriate, in order to affirm such communities.”

Some might not want all that for their kids, so HB 359 makes it more difficult to homeschool or use any state benefits to attend private school.

And no matter where you send your kids, you’ll be paying for public school breakfast, which HB 96 mandates for all students through high school.

If you’re good at something, never do it for free, so HB 382 will give school board chairmen a nice raise.

Meanwhile, HB 355 would impose mandatory mental health screenings for students. It does not impose them on the lunatics who run the system.

Taxes on everything

Virginia Democrats inherited a nearly $3 billion budget surplus. They plan to raise taxes anyway — not just on billionaires, but on nearly everyone.

There’s no limit on what you can tax when you go for goods, labor, and now the services of that labor. House Bill 978 taxes services: gym memberships, laundry and dry cleaning, pet-sitting, repairs, mechanics, landscaping, storage, deliveries, travel services, décor services, and digital services. If what you’ve read so far makes you anxious, I’m sorry to say that therapy makes the list too.

But if it gives you a heart attack and you’re already on Obamacare, HB 405 would help cover the skyrocketing costs of that Democrat boondoggle. And there are real costs to health insurance. HB 1182 would require your Virginia insurance plan to cover condoms.

Then come new taxes on hotels (HB 524), events (HB 550), deliveries (HB 900), heavy car use and highway use (HB 1179), and landscaping tools (HB 557). House Bill 881 would ban gas-powered leaf blowers. Welcome to California East.

Blowing your brains out will cost you more, thanks to HB 919’s increased taxes on guns and ammunition.

HB 334 would add more local sales taxes. HB 378 targets investment taxes. HB 188 hikes taxes 74% for those making $1 million or more.

The new slush funds

What else are we going to pay for with all this free money? Saving the planet, for one. You might have thought global warming doom-whispering hasn’t been in since Al Gore checked out, but in Virginia it’s back, baby.

HB 324 would establish a new slush fund for electric vehicle infrastructure. And if you’re doing any business with local public schools, HB 1340 lets you take a little off the top to buy yourself a new Tesla.

HB 1230 sets aside $100 million for “sustainable aviation fuel,” whatever that means. HB 920 expands offshore wind subsidies fivefold — but not necessarily for white male-owned energy firms. HB 61 mandates preferential treatment for women- and minority-owned businesses in state contracting, even if costs rise.

Cities and localities can get in on the game too. In fact, they’re required. House Bill 256 would mandate that localities submit “environmental justice strategies.”

Own some land? HB 1091 treats solar panels as “agriculture.” If you’re an actual farmer, though, watch out: HB 950 elevates environmental enforcement so high that it removes the need for a warrant before flying camera drones over private property.

So much for self-defense

Of course, the rich men down in Richmond can’t have you shooting those drones down, so access to firearms is about to be severely restricted in a state once celebrated for sportsmanship and self-defense alike.

Want to shoot on private land? Better buy more, son. HB 926 would restrict shooting unless you own at least five acres.

It’s a noisy sport, after all. But HB 207 would add a $500 tax for suppressors.

Some weapons are scarier than others, so HB 217 bans “assault weapons.”

And HB 969 would establish the Virginia Gun Violence Prevention Center — another bureaucracy that will not stop criminals but will surely harass lawful owners.

RELATED: Trump’s agenda faces a midterm kill switch in 2026

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Housing relief — for bureaucrats

Democrats did think about affordability. They just defined the beneficiaries carefully.

House Bill 1130 would steer “surplus” city buildings toward housing for government employees, while House Bill 164 removes a $25,000 cap on grants for government employees buying homes, opening the door to far larger taxpayer-funded assistance for the big American purchase.

But that’s not all. During government shutdowns, federal employees whose votes have made so many Democrat dreams come true would get extra time to pay their taxes, thanks to HB 915. The state is deeply determined to show its thanks to those loyal voters especially. HB 494 grants special treatment in state hiring to federal employees laid off under the Trump administration.

Entrenching the machine

If you’ve made it this far, you might be thinking “Well, by golly, I’ll vote these bastards out in two years’ time.” But hold on, old buddy. Democrats have bills for that, too.

HB 82 allows absentee ballots to arrive and be counted three days after Election Day is “over.” HB 773 would provide a week to “cure” incorrect ballots, while HB Bill 1244 would allow for “emergency absentee ballots” to be made available shortly before elections.

Other innovations include ranked-choice voting (HB 630), voting by internet (HB 493), and a total ban on Virginians challenging suspected fraud at a polling place (HB 640).

You won’t have to raise any money from local citizens and businesses to run, thanks to HB 162, which would let candidates raid the taxpayer for their campaign costs. They might not even need to really live in the commonwealth after HB 835 hides their addresses from even irritating reporter FOIA requests.

To make sure everything runs above board, Senate Bill 52 would block cleanup of voter rolls in the three months before an election. And since we live in the future now, HB 968 bans hand-counting ballots.

Virginia’s new leadership campaigned on “Affordable Virginia.” To get there, somehow, SB 22 mandates racial bias training for nurses, HB 858 would rename Columbus Day as “Indigenous Peoples Day,” HB 994 allows localities to install as many speeding and crosswalk cameras as they want, and HB 415 makes the long-neglected pawpaw the official state fruit.

It’s a brave new world out there, folks. And “moderation” is coming for the rest of this country, as soon the voters get in line.

​Politics, Virginia, Spanberger