Youngkin wants to be Meatball Ron in the worst kind of way. I mean who wouldn’t want to be the American Mussolini? So Youngkin is picking fights that are going to destroy him… basically because Virginia doesn’t have as many morons in the electorate as Florida does. While Virginia has been evolving, Florida has been rapidly devolving. I’m sure Youngkin is looking at the new Quinnipiac poll and seeing that 31% of Republicans and 50% of Republican-leaning independent voters say they would vote for Meatball Ron president, while not even 1% of Republicans or Republican-leaners would vote for Youngkin. Harsh!
So Youngkin wants to be as outrageous as Meatball Ron,who decided to ban Black history from Florida schools, waiting for Black history month to come around to do it. Meatball Ron’s Stop Woke Act bans the teaching of eight categories of concepts, including concepts that suggest that ‘a person, by virtue of his or her race, color, sex, or national origin, bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish or other forms of psychological distress because of actions, in which the person played no part, committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, national origin, or sex.’… These laws have been represented by many as a ‘culture war.’ This framing is a dangerous falsification of reality. A culture war is a conflict of values between different groups. In a diverse, pluralistic democracy, one should expect frequent conflicts. Yet laws criminalizing educators’ speech are no such thing– unlike a culture war, the GOP’s recent turn has no place in a democracy… Democracy involves informed decision-making about policy. These laws are intended to render such deliberation impossible when it comes to minority groups… It is clear that the chief agenda of the GOP is to advance a set of speech laws that criminalize discussion in schools of anything but the white heterosexual majority’s perspective. The media’s portrayal of these laws as moves in the ‘culture wars’ is an unconscionable misrepresentation of fascism.”
And Youngkin’s contribution? Kannan Srinivasan is a candidate for the House of Delegates from Loudon County. Yesterday, he told me that Youngkin had “blocked the bipartisan Senate bill that would protect private healthcare data from subpoenas and from law enforcement agencies. We are at a dangerous crossroads where medical data from apps and software services not covered by HIPAA could be used to criminalize reproductive rights. Elections have serious consequences and it’s essential that we stop these draconian actions and and protect reproductive rights.”
Heidi Drauschak is a state Senate candidate for the Springfield seat in Fairfax County. This morning she noted that “Youngkin thwarted a bill that would have restricted law enforcement's ability to access personal menstrual data. The only reason law enforcement would ever need this data would be to surveil women and criminalize them for seeking reproductive care. As a pregnant woman, this issue is personal. Governor Youngkin has jeopardized the fundamental right to privacy for millions of Virginians across our Commonwealth. The Governor's decision is part of a broader trend by Republicans to limit reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, especially since the Dobbs Decision.”
Earlier today we heard from Jessica Anderson. She weighed in on this too— with the video up top and the one below. “Imagine the simply act of tracking your monthly menstrual cycle, being used as evidence in a crime,” she said in horror. “Well if Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, and his Republican cohorts, have their way, that’s exactly what they intend to do. The day before Valentine’s Day, Virginia AG, Jason Miyares (a father to 3 daughters I might add), made his intentions known to the House legislatures, that SB 852, needed to be dead on arrival. In response, the Republican-led House subcommittee did just that.
“The bill was intended to keep menstrual data out of the hands of law enforcement, protecting privacy rights of the app users, and ensuring that data could not be subpoenaed for criminal reasons, So let’s ask ourselves, WHY, why would they want access to this data for criminal prosecution? The clear answer is they believe they will win the Republican majority, in the General Assembly, this November’s elections, and they will waste NO time enacting abortion bans on the uteruses of Virginia.
“Now, Governor Youngkin will have you believe you have no reason to worry, saying how he would never criminally charge the pregnant indivdual, but he doesn’t need too. See, he knows if he can use your data to go after your healthcare provider instead, the healthcare provider will STOP providing for YOU, the patient. This is a systematic attack and they’re playing the long game, to not only remove our privacy rights, but inevitable our bodily autonomy. We can’t let them regain a majority this November or come 2024, we will no longer be a sanctuary state of the south for reproductive rights!”
Victoria Luevanos is the progressive Senate candidate on the eastern shore. This morning she said, "Thank goodness for Democrats, the party that is continuing to protecting civil liberties and privacy for Americans. It really is slightly amusing for Youngkin and Miyares to scare their voting base with allegations of Democrats trying to turn Virginia into California but they continue to push legislation out that Florida and Texas has lobbied for, trying to turn us into another extreme conservative state. Women's menstrual histories don't only center around abortions as Republicans would like to believe, and any medical history should continue to be protected from any agency that tries to use it to abuse their power of Americans. Bills like these turn hard working people into criminals overnight, targets minors and women, and a whole field of workers."
Heidi Drauschak was surely speaking for all of our Virginia candidates for the General Assembly when she said that “the upcoming elections will be critical in determining the future of reproductive rights in Virginia. Democrats must retake the House of Delegates and expand our majority in the Virginia Senate. I look forward to serving in the Virginia Senate next legislative session, when we will block attempts by Republicans to regulate bodily autonomy."
You can contribute to Heidi, Kannan, Victoria, Jessica and our other Virginia candidates here Or by clicking on the thermometer above. Even a small contribution of $5 or $10 this early in the campaign is absolutely crucial, especially for candidates like these who do not sell themselves to corporate interests the way their opponents do. Remember, the bill the Senate passed and that Youngkin killed was agreed to by every single Democrat and by half the Republicans as well!