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RICHMOND, VA – Senator Mark Obenshain (R-Rockingham) issued the following statement today in response to the shooting at Bridgewater College.

“The events this afternoon at Bridgewater College are devastating and heartbreaking. I join countless others in our community and across Virginia as we pray for peace and comfort for the families of those affected by these events, their loved ones and for our community.

I do not know what evil is responsible for this terrible and heartbreaking event. It is clear that something is wrong in our society when tragedies like this occur. Whether it is hate, drugs, mental illness or some other underlying factor, these are urgent priorities on which we must work together. The Shenandoah Valley is a caring, God-loving and supportive corner of Virginia, but this event is a terrible reminder of the evils that can lurk in the shadows of any community,” Obenshain said.

Senator Obenshain represents the twenty-sixth district in the Senate of Virginia. The district includes the city of Harrisonburg and the counties of Warren, Shenandoah, Page Rappahannock and Rockingham (part).  He is a member of the Senate Judiciary; Commerce & Labor; Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources; and Transportation Committees.

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Friends,

We are one week into Session and it has been an eventful week here in Richmond. On Saturday, I was joined by my colleagues and hundreds of supporters and friends at the State Capitol to participate in the inauguration of our 74th Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin. We also witnessed the swearing in of our new Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares. 

I tell you what – watching these three conservative leaders and public servants take office was one of the most satisfying occurrences in recent memory. We all worked so hard this past election season to elect these three fine individuals and I am excited to get to work in partnering with them to legislate effectively.

I am proud to bring a host of bills this year to protect our liberties and advocate for efficient, limited government.

First, I am working with Governor Youngkin on a bill to help expand Virginias’ access to charter schools. It’s time for Virginia to open its arms and embrace public charter schools. Who could oppose giving more flexibility to schools and teachers and more choice for families? It’s an honor to partner with this new administration in this important effort. To read more about my Senate bill 125, click here. 

I am also carrying two bills to increase voter confidence in the integrity of our elections.  My first bill, Senate bill 390 (click here to read it), would require the local electoral boards and general registrars to annually conduct a post-election audit of at least one fifth of all ballot scanner machines. This measures will undoubtedly help restore confidence in our elections – a confidence that has been eroded by Democrat policies over the past few years.

The second bill had to do with voter identification. Democrats here in Virginia repealed the mandate requiring a photo identification to vote. There’s no doubt this repeal undermined voter confidence in the fairness of our elections. My Senate bill 127 (click here to read it) would have reinstated the mandate to require a photo ID to vote. Unfortunately that bill met a quick death by “PBI” (an acronym that stands for “passed by indefinitely”) in the Democrat-controlled Senate Privileges and Elections committee.

I am deeply concerned with the increase in the financial exploitation of elderly and vulnerable adults. Preventing this exploitation has been a priority of mine for years and this year I have introduced two bills to address it. First is, Senate Bill 124 (click here to read it), which creates a new class 1 misdemeanor for someone who knowingly or intentionally abuses power of attorney to financially exploit an incapacited adult. Seocnd is, Senate Bill 126 (click here to read it), to expand the definition of “incapacitated adult” in the law to provide more financial protection for the elderly.  I’m proud to say that both these bills are supported by our Attorney General Jason Miyares.

If you wish to see the full list of the bills I am introducing this year, click here.

In addition to sponsoring legislation, I am also responsible for voting on my colleagues’ proposed bills in the committees on which I sit. These include Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources, Commerce and Labor, Judiciary, and Transportation. From time to time in this weekly update, I will highlight bills of note on which I voted in committee. This morning, the Judiciary committee met for the first time.

One bill in particular worth noting from Judiciary this morning was SB 105 that effectively eliminates ALL mandatory minimum sentences from the Code of Virginia. Mandatory minimums have long since provided closure and security to victims of crimes and their families as well as Virginians as a whole. This blanket repeal will make our streets and communities less safe.

The elimination of these mandatory minimums hits close to home for those of us who have lived in the Shenandoah Valley for a few decades. It arose from the case of Daniel Lee Zirkle, who was executed in 2002 for the killing of his 4-year-old daughter and her 14-year-old half sister (read about the murders here). Zirkle committed these heinous acts in a fit of rage, after being released from jail days after violating the terms of a protective order for the 4th time. That minimum sentence would have kept Zirkle in jail longer allowing him to cool off and may have prevented these awful deaths. 

While I would consider the elimination of some mandatory minimums, this blanket repeal goes way too far. Take for example, it repeals the sixty-day mandatory minimum sentence for the repeat violation of domestic violence protective orders. This mandatory minimum was adopted in 2009 by unanimous vote in the House and Senate and it was signed into law by then-governor Tim Kaine.

The passage of this bill out of committee this morning was lauded by liberal groups like the Progressive Prosecutors of Virginia who proclaimed it as an “excellent moment in Virginia history.”  This liberal driven approach represents a missed opportunity to review some mandatory minimums that should be reconsidered.

The one silver lining about the passage of this bill is that Republicans in the Virginia Senate are no longer the last line of defense for liberal bills like these (like we have been for two years). I’ve said for years that elections have consequences and a positive one of the 2021 elections was that we now have a Republican majority in the House of Delegates and a Republican governor in Glenn Youngkin who will have an opportunity to veto liberal bills like these.

This week, we were honored to welcome a number of individuals to our office – both in person and virtually. Some of our visitors included advocates from the Virginia Citizens Defense League and members of the Virginia Federation of the Blind. If you would like to meet with me or my office, please email me at [email protected] or come by our office in the Pocahontas Building, office 502E.

I’ll continue to provide regular updates throughout the session so stay tuned!

Best,

Mark Obenshain

Friends,

Happy New Year! I hope that you and your families had a safe and healthy holiday and that you are starting 2022 off on a positive note.

2021 certainly was full of highs and lows.  In November, Virginia sent a very loud and clear message that we need new leadership for our Commonwealth to get moving in the right direction once more. The House of Delegates is now back to a Republican majority.   Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Governor-elect Sears and Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares will be sworn into their new posts this Saturday.  I am looking forward to working with them over the course of the next four years to bring about positive changes to critical issues like education, public safety, the business climate, and more.  One thing is for sure, they are ready to go to work for you on Day One.  It’s a very exciting and refreshing time for Virginia!

This year’s General Assembly Session began today and will continue for the next 60 days. During that time, the legislature will be working on a new state budget for the next two years along with about three thousand bills that will be filed and debated over the coming weeks.  Committee meetings and floor debates will get underway in full next week and the pace for the next two months will be fast moving.

You will remember that last year’s session was like no other.  Due to the pandemic, the Senate met in person but it was at the Science Museum of Virginia where we could spread out. The House of Delegates, however, had completely virtual meetings. Testimony from the general public in support of or in opposition to all bills in both chambers was done via Zoom. I did not support the lack of transparency this process afforded but am happy to report that this year, it will be back to business as usual – live and in person – at the Capitol.

The Senate will hold committee meetings in person at the Pocahontas Building and the daily floor sessions will be held in the Senate Chamber in the state Capitol.  The Pocahontas Building will be open to the public again (maximum capacity limits will be monitored by the Capitol Police).  Testimony from the general public on bills will be allowed in person, and a virtual option will be available for those not able or comfortable to come to Richmond.

I promise you that I will continue to stand up for our conservative ideals for you and your family.  While the Democrats still have a slim majority in the Senate, we have a Republican House and Republican Governor.  After two years of complete Democrat control, there is a lot that needs to be corrected.  We will work to roll back many of the liberal policies that have detrimental to our Commonwealth – burdensome business regulations, pro-labor union bills, so-called social justice reforms that actually make our most vulnerable communities less safe, and climate change policies that make Virginia look more like California than the Commonwealth that we know and love.  It is a new day in Virginia.  The core values on which my viewpoint on the world is built – small government, lower taxes, less regulation and the freedom to bear arms and worship – will continue to guide my voting and actions this session. 

I have a number of bills that I will be introducing this session that will deal with charter schools, small businesses, right to work, elections, elder abuse prevention and public safety.  I will be covering these more extensively in future updates along with other bills of interest the legislature takes up. To follow my legislative package, click here.

Even though this session still may look and feel a bit different, one thing that remains unchanged is my stellar legislative team.  We will again have two offices operating during General Assembly:

Richmond Office- Room 502E Pocahontas Building

Connor Smith

[email protected]

804-698-7526

Harrisonburg District Office

Jenni Aulgur

[email protected]

540-437-1451

If you have scheduling requests, constituent concerns or would like to let me know what you think about a piece of legislation please reach out to my office at the contact information above or email me at [email protected]  As always, I appreciate hearing from my constituents on issues that are important to you.

I am grateful for the privilege of serving the Shenandoah Valley in the Virginia Senate!

Best,

Mark Obenshain

Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin announced his intention to make energy more affordable for Virginians by withdrawing Virginia from the controversial 11-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. 

He recently told the Hampton Roads Chambers of Commerce he’ll remove Virginia from the initiative by executive action once he enters office in January. 

“RGGI describes itself as a regional market for carbon, but it is really a carbon tax that is fully passed on to ratepayers. It’s a bad deal for Virginians. It’s a bad deal for Virginia businesses,” Youngkin said. “I promised to lower the cost of living in Virginia, and this is just the beginning.” 

On the merits, Youngkin is correct. A timely withdrawal from this flawed carbon market, which isn’t inherently market-based, will benefit all Virginians given its vast shortcomings. 

The most notable problem with RGGI is its overall negligible impact on carbon emissions. In 2019, the Congressional Research Service observed that nine partner states “account for approximately 7% of U.S. CO2 emissions and 16% of U.S. gross domestic product” and called carbon emissions reductions “arguably negligible” at best. 

When those numbers are broken down, it only accounts for a measly 1.4% in total U.S. emissions reductions. And even this reduction is largely attributable to the transition from coal to natural gas in the state. 

Not only will RGGI membership fail to reduce carbon emissions in a meaningful way, it will raise costs for Virginians. The CATO Institute assessed electricity demand between non-RGGI and RGGI-participating states and concluded the former added more wind and solar generation than the RGGI states while having lower electricity price increases during the same time. 

When the market sets prices, demand for renewable energy naturally happens, and consumers pay lower prices for clean energy. Ultimately, the CATO Institute found “no added reductions in CO₂ emissions, or associated health benefits, from the RGGI program.” 

Virginia’s continued participation in RGGI will result in residents paying more for their electricity bills. According to recent State Corporation Commission filings, participation in the RGGI program will raise energy costs to $4.37 a month, or $52.44 per year, if enacted on Sept. 1. When paired with the new — and costly — Virginia Clean Economy Act, the net-zero law slated to raise energy bills $800 a year by 2030, this spells disaster for Virginians currently paying more to heat and power their homes. 

Additionally, as Youngkin aptly noted, RGGI levies a carbon tax on all carbon-intensive goods. This added cost associated with carbon emissions is meant to disincentivize producers and consumers from making and using carbon-intensive goods, respectively. 

But here’s the catch: Virginia’s economy, still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, could suffer setbacks and lose its No. 1 Top State for Business ranking if discouraged from producing carbon-based goods. Due to the demands required of RGGI, Virginia businesses could ultimately shift their operations out-of-state — or worse, overseas. That’s terrible for our state’s economy. 

RGGI proponents are similarly dishonest about the impact of carbon taxes on consumers. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation says these taxes don’t just affect producers; the costs are ultimately passed down to consumers who purchase carbon-intensive goods. When prices of goods and services increase under a carbon tax, taxpayers’ incomes reflexively diminish as well. 

Virginians would see diminished purchasing power because they already pay a premium on electricity and gas. Worse, carbon taxes would disproportionately hurt lower-income Virginia households since they rely and depend on carbon-intensive goods and energy sources for sustenance. Electricity costs would skyrocket in more economically depressed regions of the commonwealth, including southwestern Virginia. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, Virginia’s electric grid is primarily powered by natural gas (61%), nuclear energy (29%) and coal (4%). The reality is demand for solar and wind isn’t here yet. 

Youngkin’s critics allege he’ll upend environmental policy. But he’s on-record pledging to pursue practical all-of-the-above energy policies, coastal resiliency, and fight sea-level rise and flooding. 

Virginia shouldn’t rely on RGGI membership to achieve its emissions goals. Instead, our state can continue to innovate and develop technology — including carbon capture — without embracing more burdensome taxes and regulations. 

Gabriella Hoffman is a visiting fellow with Independent Women’s Forum and the host of the District of Conservation podcast. She lives in Alexandria.

By Stephen D. Haner

12/10/2021 — Virginia’s automotive sales market is now officially controlled in Sacramento, with the likelihood that no new internal combustion engines can be sold in the Commonwealth after 2035.

The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board, acting not with discretion but on orders from the General Assembly, voted December 2 to adopt Advanced Clean Cars Program regulations that delegate ultimate control to the California Air Resources Board. Virginia will simply follow Sacramento’s lead in dictating an ever-increasing percentage of new car sales be certified as low emission or zero emission by the CARB. 

Legally it would be similar to Virginia being forced to comply with federal regulations, except these rules will come from and be amended by California and its governor, regulators and legislature. Who in Virginia gets to vote for them? No one.

Legislation in 2021 directed the Air Pollution Control Board to adopt these rules with no deference to the regulatory processes. If you missed the usual public notices or hotly-contested public hearings, it may be because they didn’t happen.  Media coverage has also been sparse.

Low emission (think hybrid) and zero emission (generally electric) vehicles are popular with many buyers already and will likely continue to be subsidized in various ways. Their prevalence was going to grow regardless. But it is California’s goal to ban the sale of internal combustion vehicles and perhaps even low emission hybrids by 2035, as expressed in an executive order from its governor.

If and when that happens, under this new regulation it also happens in Virginia. No local action is required. Perhaps that explains this ecstatic quote from the meeting reported by the Virginia Mercury:

“That is a very significant regulation. It will have a very positive impact on Virginia’s environment,” Mike Dowd, chief of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s Air Division, told the board after the measure’s passage. “If it wasn’t against state personnel regulations, I’d be popping a bottle of champagne now.” 

It was the language in the 2021 bill that overrode the Administrative Process Act’s required reviews and public input that made this rocket adoption possible. That and Section 177 of the federal Clean Air Act, which made it possible for a) California to adopt fleet emissions standards more stringent than federal rules and b) other states to piggy-back on California’s program. 

The Transportation and Climate Initiative, no longer under consideration in the key states, was an effort to control the supply of motor fuels. The CARB program seeks to reduce the burning of fossil fuels by limiting the supply of internal combustion engines. A good explanation of how it works can be found here.  Several of the northeastern states that were to join TCI have already aligned with CARB before Virginia did.

The CARB program applies to the manufacturers, grants them “credits” for the sale of certified LEV and ZEV new cars, and then demands they must expend credits in order to sell uncertified cars. Over time, the number of allowed uncertified internal combustion cars is to ratchet down. If a manufacturer doesn’t need credits for gasoline cars (think Tesla), they become a commodity which can be sold for profit. 

The Virginia regulation, which can found on pages 5 through 19 of the agenda for the recent meeting, exempts the sale of used cars, transfers of existing cars, emergency vehicles, military vehicles, or a car sold in Virginia for registration in a state outside the CARB’s reach. Basically it covers new cars and light trucks under 14,000 pounds.

The General Assembly also adopted a state-funded subsidy program for the purchase of electric vehicles but didn’t identify a funding source.  With the generous customer rebates on the table, Virginia’s auto dealers joined in pushing for both the subsides and the alignment with CARB. Auto Dealers Association President Don Hall put its arguments in a guest column for the Richmond Times-Dispatch during the session, and also advocated tax-funded charging infrastructure.

“If Virginia wants to emulate California, the commonwealth also must match California’s investment. A conservative estimate of California’s financial commitment to the EV market — primarily through incentives and infrastructure — roughly is $3.5 billion,” Hall wrote. He said Virginia needs to spend $720 million over five years.

Long-term operating costs may or may not offset the bite, but these hybrid and all-electric vehicles right now sell for a premium price over internal combustion vehicles. The financial benefit to auto dealers of forcing manufacturers to build more of the former and fewer of the latter is obvious.

The expected increase in electricity demand and related transmission expansions is not exactly breaking hearts among utility executives, either.  

The added gasoline taxes from the abandoned Transportation and Climate Initiative might have paid for the proposed Virginia electric vehicle subsidies or that charging infrastructure. Governor Ralph Northam, who embraced the subsides and this delegation of regulatory control to California, has one more budget to propose next week. Massive federal funds for those purposes are part of the Biden Administration “Build Back Better” proposal languishing in the U.S. Senate.

Northam could use his budget to propose a way to start paying the subsidies with state or federal funding. It will actually be telling if he fails to do so. But no additional state funding is needed to begin to implement the California vehicle fleet rules. It would take new legislation now to prevent it. 

Stephen D. Haner is Senior Fellow with the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. He may be reached at [email protected]. 

While Election Day is not until Tuesday, November 2, 2021, in-person early voting begins Friday, September 17th. Your in-person early voting location is most likely different from your usual polling place on Election Day. To find out more details and where you need to go to vote early in-person here is the information for the localities in my district: 

Harrisonburg 

You may vote early in City Hall (409 South Main St.) beginning 45 days before Election Day and ending the Saturday before Election Day. To vote absentee in person you must be a registered voter of Harrisonburg, provide your name and address, and show an acceptable form of ID. Early voting is open Monday through Friday, 8:30am until 4:30pm, and the last two Saturdays from 8:30am until 4:30pm.

*Curbside voting is also available in the main parking lot of City Hall. When you arrive call the Registrar’s office at 540-432-7707 to let us know that you need curbside service.

Learn more: https://www.harrisonburgva.gov/absentee-ballots

Rockingham

In-person, early voting for Rockingham County voters will be available at the locations, dates, and hours listed below beginning Friday, September 17, and ending Saturday, October 30.

20 East Gay Street, Harrisonburg 22802

Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM-4:00 PM.

This Voter Registrar’s office will also be open on Saturday, October 23, and Saturday, October 30, from 8:00 AM-4:00 PM, for in-person, early voting.

Learn more: https://www.rockinghamcountyva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/17219/Public-Notice—November-2-2021-General–Special-Elections

Page

In-person, early voting for Page County voters will be available at the following location beginning Friday, September 17, 2021, and ending Saturday, October 30, 2021, from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Voting will not be available on Monday, October 11, 2021, because offices will be closed due to Columbus Day.

103 South Court Street, Luray (County Government Center) lower level. Watch for signs. If you need assistance, please call 540-743-3986 and someone will be available to help you.

Learn more: https://www.pagecounty.virginia.gov/204/Voter-Registration

Shenandoah

In-person early voting will be available at the following location for the Nov. 2, 2021 General & Special Election:

Office of Voter Registration & Elections, 600 N. Main Street, Suite 103, Woodstock, VA 22644

Early voting will begin Friday, September 17 at the office and will continue Mon-Fri 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM until Oct. 30

Voting will not be available on Monday, October 11, 2021, because offices will be closed due to Columbus Day.

Learn more: https://shenandoahcountyva.us/voting/

Warren

In-person, early voting will be available at the following location for the November 2, 2021, General and Special Elections:

OFFICE OF ELECTIONS AND VOTER REGISTRATION 465 W 15TH STREET, SUITE 800, FRONT ROYAL, VA

In-Person Early No-Excuse Voting will begin on September 17, 2021 at the Office of Elections and Voter Registration. The hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, until Saturday, October 30, 2021.

The Warren County Office of Elections and Voter Registration will also be open on Saturday, October 23, 2021 and Saturday, October 30, 2021 from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.

Learn more: https://www.warrencountyva.net/images/VoterRegistrar/EarlyVotingNotice_November2021.pdf

Rappahannock

N-PERSON ABSENTEE (EARLY) VOTING
Located at 262A Gay Street Washington VA 22747

Monday – Friday, September 17 – October 29, 2021: 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Saturday, October 23 & October 30, 2021: 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

Saturday October 30, 2021: Last day to vote an In-Person (early) absentee ballot at the Rappahannock County Voter Registration Office.

 Learn more: http://www.rappahannockcountyva.gov/voter.html

Other important election related dates to remember: 

October 12:  deadline to register to vote or update an existing registration

October 22:  deadline to apply for a ballot to be mailed to you. Not that your voter registration office must receive your request by 5:00 p.m.

October 30:   last day of in-person early voting

SEP 7, 2021 | VA Scope

In an election season reversal, a powerful Democrat in the House of Delegates now says repealing Virginia’s right-to-work law is a priority to him. This comes just months after he voted to kill the legislation that would have repealed the law earlier this year.

House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian D-Prince William said in a newsletter sent to supporters on Labor Day that repealing Virginia’s right-to-work law is a priority for him. But that opportunity was before Torian earlier this year when Del. Lee Carter D-Manassas was able to get the bill on the House floor for a vote. The legislation was eventually killed on a vote of 83-13, with Torian being one of the 83 who voted against it.

The news of Torian’s reversal was first tweeted by Ben Paviour of VPM News. 

“It’s an incredible turn-around from chastising me for introducing the bill in 2019 to campaigning on it in 2021,” Carter said in an interview Tuesday. 

Carter is a self-described socialist and was defeated in his House primary earlier this summer by a more moderate candidate. He pushed for repealing the right-to-work for most of his two terms in the House. “I’m glad so many people are coming around,” he said Tuesday. 

But even after leading the charge for repealing right-to-work and losing his seat, Carter says the law still needs to be thrown out. “The law was designed to exploit racial tensions to stop working people from cooperating to fight for a better life,” Carter said. “It was terrible 70 years ago, it’s terrible now, and it’s got to go.”

Right-to-work is not a concept that is necessarily easy to grasp due to the misleading name. The law keeps unions from requiring membership at a place of employment which prevents the employees from effectively unionizing. Employees can still form a union, but they are not compelled to and employers are always free to hire non-union workers. 

28 states have right-to-work laws on the books. 

The House Republican Caucus sent out a statement Tuesday afternoon denouncing the statement from Torian. “When the Chairman of Appropriations speaks, members of the majority listen. This is a clear signal that if they hold the majority, House Democrats will push through Right to Work repeal, creating compulsory union membership for Virginians,” said Garren Shipley, a spokesman for the House Republican Caucus. “Workers who want to make their own choice on union membership should vote accordingly.”

Torian is a powerful Democrat in the House, chairing the committee that decides which legislation receives funding in the General Assembly. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment. 

The office of Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn also did not respond to questions. 

“Luke Torian made clear that Virginia House Democrats are poised to repeal right-to-work if they win in November,” said Cally Perkins, a spokesperson for the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC). “The Democrats who voted against right-to-work repeal in February should stop pandering to their fringe base and denounce Torian’s new position.”

AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the United States, says that this law makes life harder for working families. “The real purpose of ‘Right to Work’ laws is to tilt the balance toward big corporations and further rig the system at the expense of working families,” they say on their website. 

Torian also stated in the email to his supporters that he will prioritize paid leave for all, collective bargaining for employees, paid sick days, and increasing the minimum wage to $15/hr. He is facing a second challenge from Republican Maria Martin this November after defeating her by 47 points in 2019. 

All 100 House seats are up for election this November as well as governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general. Early voting begins in less than two weeks on Sept. 17. 

Student employees were taught oppressors have the power to define reality for themselves and others

By Jessica Chasmar| Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: James Madison University in Virginia is training student employees to recognize that people who identify as male, straight, cisgender, or Christian are “oppressors” that engage in the “systematic subjugation” of other social groups.

According to documents obtained by Fox News, student employees in charge of facilitating orientation for first-year students this fall at JMU underwent training in recent weeks to learn about social justice and inclusion. 

A training video mandated for student staff, hosted by coordinators Jessica Weed and Jennifer Iwerks, described oppression as “the systematic subjugation of one social group by a more powerful social group for the social, economic and political benefit of the more powerful social group.”

The video defined an “oppressor” group as one that has the power to define reality for themselves and others, and in turn, the “target” groups “take in and internalize the negative messages about them and end up cooperating with the oppressors (thinking and acting like them).”

The presentation defined privilege as the “unearned social power accorded by the formal and informal institutions of society to ALL members of a dominant group at the expense of targeted groups.” It also said members of both the oppressor and target groups are “socialized to play their roles as normal and correct.”

The JMU training materials listed the various races and nationalities they considered “privileged” or “agents” and those they characterized as “oppressed” or “targets.” Among the privileged, according to the presentation, are people who identify as male, cisgender, heterosexual, heteroromantic, Christian, White, Western European, American, upper to middle class, thin/athletic build, able-bodied, or ages 30s to early 50s.

Among the oppressed groups, according to the presentation, are people who identify as Black, Asian, Latinx, non-Western European, LGBTQ+, homoromantic, Muslim, Jewish, working class, overweight, or disabled, among others.

After the training was completed, student employees were sent an email instructing them to “not share these materials with others.”

A JMU spokesperson told Fox News in a statement that the training was an “opportunity” for students who work in the Office of Student Affairs. 

“The training was held to help ensure that every student guide for freshmen orientation had the tools and understanding to work with incoming students, who might have a different background than their own,” the statement read. “At JMU, we strive to create an inclusive and welcoming community for all students. We also seek feedback on the training to constantly work on improving how we communicate and train student staff members.”

Friends,

You may have seen in the news recently that CNBC ranked Virginia as the top state in which to do business.

If you’re like me, your eyebrows rose when you read it. My mind immediately went to all of the liberal priorities that Governor Northam and his allies in Richmond have pushed through since taking control in 2019.

Higher taxes, increased minimum wage, burdensome regulations, higher energy costs, California style green energy mandates, more liability for employers…the list goes on and on.

So how – in spite of all of these anti-business policies adopted over the past year – can we still be the best state to do business? Steve Haner, from the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy wondered the same thing. In a column he wrote this week, he pointed to other factors adding to his perplexity, including Virginia’s cost of living and the cost of doing business rankings, which clocked in at numbers 32 and 24 respectively. Virginia ranked a mediocre 19 in job growth. Our “Business Friendliness” score also dropped from the top three in 2019 to eleventh this year. Not great trends if we want to grow Virginia’s economy. Steve decided to take a deeper dive into Virginia’s #1 ranking and what he found was enlightening.

It seems that Virginia was saved by a brand-new ranking category introduced by CNBC’s into its calculation. It’s a category called “Life, Health and Inclusion.” I guess we should have expected something like this from the sister network to MSNBC. There had to be a way to reward states like Virginia for their embrace of the woke and liberal initiatives now so in vogue among the media and liberal elite. In an effort to explain this new category, CNBC says “we have expanded our measures of inclusiveness, looking more deeply at protections against discrimination, as well as at voting rights and current efforts to expand or restrict access to the polls, based on legislation enacted as of June 1, 2021” As Steve point out in his column, the data shows that the “preference of actual businesses seems significantly at odds with CNBC’s rankings.”

Maybe Steve can do us the further favor of letting us know where Virginia would rank using last year’s criteria. It will not provide any cause for celebration.

If you’d like to help out our cause in the fight to stand up for our conservative values and common sense policies, click below to donate securely online or send a check payable to Friends of Mark Obenshain to P.O. Box 555 Harrisonburg, VA  22803.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Best,

Mark Obenshain