Virginia has fallen.

[GOYABEAN]

Attachment 123678

[bogey1]

Attachment 123678

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Morrissey

Joseph Dee Morrissey[2] (born September 23, 1957) is an American politician[1] and former lawyer from Henrico County, Virginia.

Formerly he served as Commonwealth's Attorney of Richmond, Virginia 1989-93 and was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in November 2007. He served in that capacity until December 18, 2014, when he resigned after admitting to having sex with a minor (and again until March 25, 2015, after winning back his own seat upon release from prison), he represented the 74th district, made up of Charles City County and parts of Henrico and Prince George Counties and the cities of Hopewell and Richmond.[3]

He was an unsuccessful Independent nominee for mayor of Richmond in the 2016 election. He finished in third place behind Democratic opponents Levar Stoney and Jack Berry.

In 2019, Morrissey successfully ran for a seat on the Senate of Virginia, representing the 16th district.[4]
Contents

1 Early life and education
2 Gun on the floor
3 Legal troubles
3.1 Disbarment and law license revocation
3.2 Conviction for delinquency of a minor
3.3 Second law license revocation
4 Bids for higher office
5 Personal life
6 References
7 External links

Early life and education

Morrissey, the son of William F. and Jean Morrissey, claims he is a descendant of John "Old Smoke" Morrissey, a 19th-century U.S. Congressman and one-time bare-knuckle boxer.[5] He and his five siblings grew up in Annandale.[6]

Morrissey received a B.A. in economics at the University of Virginia in 1979, and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1982. He taught government as a high school teacher, and was in private practice as an attorney from 1993-2000.[7]

He was a lecturer of Law at Portobello College in Ireland from 2001–02, and taught in the law school at the Dublin Institute of Technology for two years (2001–03) and in Australia at the University of Adelaide and the University of Western Sydney in 2003 until he was fired for failing to disclose the fact he had been disbarred.[8]

The New South Wales Bar Association on April 26, 2006, found Morrissey was "not a fit and proper person to be admitted as a legal practitioner".[citation needed]

Morrissey taught at Bishop O'Connell Highschool in 2006 for one semester before he was fired.

Morrissey earned a master of laws degree with honors at Trinity College, Dublin in 2003.[9]
Gun on the floor

Morrissey attracted national attention in January 2013, when during a debate on gun control he pulled an unloaded AK-47 from under his desk and flourished it on the floor of the House of Delegates, after a Republican-controlled subcommittee had killed a bill of his that would have tightened gun controls in the commonwealth on weapons such as AK-47s. He announced, "A lot of people don't know that in many locations in the commonwealth, you can take this gun, you can walk in the middle of Main Street loaded and not be in violation of the law."[10][11][12]
Legal troubles
Disbarment and law license revocation

As an attorney, Morrissey was cited for contempt of court ten times and was jailed or arrested five times.[13] Records from the Virginia State Bar indicate that Morrissey received a public reprimand in March 1992, and had his law license suspended twice: once in December 1993 and then again in December 1999.[14]

On December 21, 2001, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Morrissey was disbarred and on April 25, 2003, his license to practice law was revoked by the Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board.[2]

"Frequent episodes of unethical, contumacious, or otherwise inappropriate conduct mar Joseph D. Morrissey's career as prosecutor and private defense attorney," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit noted in September 2002. The court said, "Evidence … demonstrates Morrissey's 15-year history of contempt citations, reprimands, fines, suspensions, and even incarcerations arising from unprofessional conduct mostly involving an uncontrollable temper, inappropriate responses to stress, and dishonesty."[8][15]

On December 16, 2011, the Supreme Court of Virginia approved a petition for his reinstatement to the bar.[16] However, Morrissey remains ineligible to practice in the federal court.[citation needed]
Conviction for delinquency of a minor

In August 2013, Morrissey was found by police to be in his home in Henrico County with a 17-year-old girl, now his wife, who was an employee of his law office. Morrissey, the girl, and her mother, denied any impropriety. But subsequently, a Henrico County court convened a grand jury to investigate a possible improper sexual relationship between Morrissey and the girl.[13] On June 30, 2014, Morrissey was indicted on felony charges of indecent liberties with a minor, possession and distribution of child pornography, and electronic solicitation of a minor, in addition to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, for which conviction he served three months of a 12-month sentence. After being convicted, Morrissey resigned as a delegate at the Virginia House.[13]

According to statements from the prosecutor in court documents, Morrissey had sex with the girl multiple times in his law office in August 2013, and possessed a nude photograph of the girl, which he also sent to a friend.[13] Morrissey allegedly continued the relationship with the girl after she left his law office in August 2013, and the two allegedly shared a hotel room overnight in October 2013.[13]

Morrissey denied the charges, saying the girl came to him for advice about family problems and was being abused by her father, and that the special prosecutor was out to get him because of a personal vendetta. Morrissey said he rejected a plea bargain for a single misdemeanor in December 2013.[17] He vowed to fight the charges in court, declaring that he would be vindicated, and rejected calls to resign his House seat.[18]

Morrissey's case made national headlines in July 2014 when he used an obscenity on live television while reading a text message he claimed was planted on his phone by hackers.[18] He entered into a plea agreement in which he made an Alford plea to one misdemeanor charge and received an active jail sentence. News reports indicated that Morrissey would be eligible to attend sessions of the legislature on work release.[19]

Leading members of the Virginia Democratic Party, including Governor Terry McAuliffe, called for Morrissey to resign his seat.[20] Morrissey resigned his seat on December 18, 2014,[21] but ran in the special election to fill the resulting vacancy. On January 13, 2015, while serving a six-month jail sentence, he won that election to reclaim his seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.[22]

William Neely, the special prosecutor appointed to investigate the Morrissey case, secured new felony indictments January 21, 2015, against Morrissey for perjury and for presenting forged documents during his sentencing hearing.[23]
Second law license revocation

In March 2018, the Virginia State Bar brought new charges of misconduct against Morrissey. A three-judge panel convened on March 26, 2018 to hear three separate allegations of misconduct. First, the Bar contended that Morrissey's criminal conviction and improper contact with his 17-year-old intern violated rules regarding criminal conduct by an attorney, and that Morrissey had destroyed evidence relating to the criminal case against him.[24] On March 28, the panel found that though the Bar had not shown that Morrissey destroyed evidence, they did find that the Bar had successfully demonstrated that Morrissey's relationship with his intern was "a criminal or deliberately wrongful act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness to practice law."[24]

On March 29, the panel considered charges stemming from Morrissey's representation of former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder and the United States National Slavery Museum in a tax matter.[25] Despite being subpoenaed, Wilder failed to appear, and so the disciplinary panel found insufficient evidence as to these charges. Wilder would later contest this decision, arguing that service of the subpoena had been improper.[25][26]

Finally, on March 30, the panel found that Morrissey had also violated legal ethics rules when he allowed another member of his firm to appear in court on behalf of one of the firm's clients.[26] That employee had passed the Bar Examination a short time before, but had not yet been sworn in by the Virginia Supreme Court. This made her ineligible to represent clients as an attorney, and as a result, Morrissey was found to have violated rules that require a lawyer to ensure that anyone under his or her supervision also follow ethics rules. The panel also noted that Morrissey had not informed his client that someone else would be present, itself a violation of the Bar's rules.

Based on the violations that it found Morrissey had committed and considering his prior disciplinary and legal difficulties, the panel ordered that Morrissey's law license be revoked effective June 15, 2018.[26]

Morrissey applied to the Virginia Supreme Court on June 13, 2018, for a stay of his revocation as he perfected an appeal to the Richmond Circuit Court ruling. In a three-paragraph ruling, the Virginia Supreme Court denied the stay on June 14, 2018. Morrissey's law license was revoked for the second time on June 15, 2018.[27]. Morrissey's appeal of the revocation was denied by the Virginia Supreme Court on July 18, 2019.[28]
Bids for higher office

In March 2015, Morrissey was disqualified from the House of Delegates after filing to run for a state Senate seat outside of his district.[29][30] He dropped out of that race in September, allowing incumbent Rosalyn Dance (D) to win reelection without active opposition.[31] In 2016, he began a campaign for mayor of Richmond,[32] which he did not win, but secured 21% of the vote. In 2019, he again ran for Dance's seat in the Virginia Senate, and this time he defeated her in the primary, earning 57% of the vote. [33][34]
Personal life

Morrissey married Myrna Pride on June 11, 2016, in Varina, Virginia. It is his first marriage but he has fathered a total of six children by four different women (including his current wife).[35]

Morrissey initially denied paternity of his son, who was born in March 2015, to his then law office intern, Myrna Pride, who was 17 at the time of the internship.[36] On May 20, 2015, he confirmed paternity of the boy.[37]

Although Morrissey admitted having sexual relationships with Pride, then 17 years old, in a plea agreement following a conviction for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, both continue to maintain that no sexual activity occurred before she was of legal age.[38][39]

Raised as a Catholic, Morrissey worships at New Kingdom Christian Ministry in Henrico County, a Baptist church.[40]

[eagleclaw]

According to this article in the Washington Post resistance is building against anticipated gun legislation in VA .

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in...ocid=chromentp

In Virginia, and elsewhere, gun supporters prepare to defy new laws

AMELIA COURTHOUSE, Va. —Families, church groups, hunt clubs and neighbors began arriving two hours early, with hundreds spilling out of the little courthouse and down the hill to the street in the chilly night air.

They were here to demand that the Board of Supervisors declare Amelia County a “Second Amendment sanctuary” where officials will refuse to enforce any new restrictions on gun ownership.

A resistance movement is boiling up in Virginia, where Democrats rode a platform on gun control to historic victories in state elections earlier this month. The uprising is fueled by a deep cultural gulf between rural red areas that had long wielded power in Virginia and the urban and suburban communities that now dominate. Guns are the focus. Behind that, there is a sense that a way of life is being cast aside.

In the past two weeks, county governments from the central Piedmont to the Appalachian Southwest — Charlotte, Campbell, Carroll, Appomattox, Patrick, Dinwiddie, Pittsylvania Lee and Giles — have approved resolutions that defy Richmond to come take their guns.

It mirrors a trend that began last year in western parts of the United States, where some law enforcement officials vowed to go to jail rather than enforce firearm restrictions, and has spread eastward. In New Mexico, 25 of 33 counties declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries after the state expanded background checks. In Illinois, nearly two-thirds of its counties have done the same.
“My oath of office is to uphold the Constitution of the United States,” Amelia Sheriff Ricky L. Walker said Wednesday night as he waited for the supervisors to meet in this rural county west of Richmond.

If a judge ordered him to seize someone’s guns under a law he viewed as unconstitutional, Walker said, he wouldn’t do it. “That’s what I hang my hat on,” he said.
Some of the unrest is fanned by gun rights groups, such as the National Rifle Association and the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which have used social media and old-fashioned networking to offer boilerplate language for resolutions. But the movement is speaking to the anxieties of many who are unsettled by a state that has shifted from red to blue with shocking speed.

All of the top leaders in the new Democratic-controlled legislature hail from urban or suburban districts in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and Richmond. The liberal suburbs outside Washington have the largest delegation in the legislature. And the status of lawmakers from rural red parts of the state has never been lower.

“We need to send a signal to Richmond about Northern Virginia. We don’t want their influence to affect us down here. We’re very different people,” said Clay Scott, a 25-year-old construction project manager whose family has lived in Amelia for generations.
Democrats won control in the elections on the strength of suburban districts where gun violence was a central issue, amplified by a May 31 mass shooting at a Virginia Beach municipal building that left 12 people dead.

When the General Assembly convenes in January, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has promised to move quickly with Democratic leaders to pass measures such as universal background checks, limits on the types and numbers of firearms that can be purchased and a “red flag” law allowing authorities to seize weapons from someone deemed a threat.

The proposals “were essentially on the ballot in November,” said Brian Moran, Northam’s secretary of public safety. “And the people have spoken through their votes.”
'Gun owners are awake'

The resolutions rocketing around the Virginia countryside all have similar language. Philip Van Cleave of the Virginia Citizens Defense League said he drafted one for Amelia to consider, along with about 30 other counties — out of 95 total — also taking it up. The matter was added to the Amelia agenda too late for it to be advertised so, by law, the board cannot vote on it until next month. Yet, a crowd of 300 or more turned out after hearing about it through word of mouth.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Van Cleave said of the outpouring of interest. “Everything has exploded right now. Gun owners are awake.”
A similar resolution that passed Monday in Appomattox County pledged to oppose any efforts to “unconstitutionally restrict” the right to bear arms. It said the county would do this “through legal action, the power of the appropriation of public funds, and the right to petition for redress of grievances, and the direction to the law enforcement and judiciary of Appomattox County to not enforce any unconstitutional law.”

The concept is modeled after the “sanctuary city” stance that some localities have taken in response to federal immigration enforcement efforts. In those cases, local law enforcement officials decline to take voluntary steps to help the federal government detain or deport undocumented immigrants.
In theory, a Second Amendment sanctuary would be different. Refusing to carry out a judge’s order to seize weapons from someone would be breaking the law. That could mean jail time. Local agencies receive funding from the state, so even adopting the stance is provocative.
“The notion that law enforcement would not follow the law is appalling,” said Lori Haas, a longtime activist with the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “I suspect that many of these counties and their elected officials are posturing in front of certain voters.”

As the sanctuary movement has spread around the country, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence found that it generally has not led to active resistance. “As a practical matter, these are largely symbolic,” said Adam Skaggs, chief counsel and policy director at Giffords. “We haven’t seen cases where there are folks that are outright defying the law.”

Skaggs said the trend means that authorities in such states as Washington, Oregon, Colorado and New Mexico might be neglecting to use legal tools that could help prevent gun violence and suicide. “While this is largely a political or symbolic gesture, I still think it’s quite troubling,” he said.
At Amelia on Wednesday night, Del. John J. McGuire III (R-Henrico) took the opportunity to show up and announce that he is seeking next year’s GOP nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.).

“I don’t understand what part of ‘shall not infringe’ they don’t understand,” he proclaimed on the courthouse steps as a darkness settled on the throngs who couldn’t get in. “I’ll fight my ass off for you.”

McGuire just won a second term in the House of Delegates in a nearby rural district. But he’ll be in the minority now, with Democrats posting a 55-to-45 advantage in the House and a 21-to-19 edge in the Senate.

Moran, the public safety secretary, didn’t attend the Amelia meeting but has been monitoring the phenomenon. He held town halls on gun control around the state over the summer, discussing solutions ahead of a special legislative session that Northam called in July to take up gun-control bills. Republicans adjourned that session after only 90 minutes, enraging Democrats and handing them a campaign issue in the fall.

“All of his proposals have been vetted in the courts,” Moran said. “The courts have determined that they do not violate the Second Amendment. We feel confident that law-abiding citizens should not be concerned that their rights will be violated.”
But to many residents in Amelia, any kind of gun restriction feels personal. They’ve heard that some proposals would prevent kids under 18 from owning guns and say people who would ban assault weapons don’t understand what they are.

Tony Easter, 60, said he learned about the proposed sanctuary resolution last week and spent four days driving to hunt clubs and friends’ houses around the county to drum up support. “My jaws are hurting from trying to explain this to people,” he said.
Easter grew up hunting in Amelia and has worked as a hunting and fishing guide. He’s active with the NRA and raised his daughters and son “in the woods,” he said.
“I live out here in the country; I’m a rural citizen,” Easter said. “We don’t agree with how Fairfax and Newport News and now even Chesterfield have dominated the state.”

He realizes, he said, that people in those places see guns differently — and that he doesn’t understand their circumstances any more than they understand his. But solving their problems shouldn’t mean changing his way of life, he said.

“What goes on in Fairfax can stay in Fairfax,” Easter said. “We just want to live our life the way we have been raised to live.”

Again and again at Wednesday night’s hearing, residents rose to speak about their first shotgun, about the hours spent stalking game with a father or grandfather.
Hannah Davis said she grew up hunting with her dad and eating what they killed. “The only reason I’m standing here today is because I was fed by wildlife,” she said.
Others said they feel safer in Amelia than in the city, specifically because so many people carry guns and know how to use them. And some warned of the need for protection in case of a government that goes too far.

“I am a proud descendant of a Revolutionary soldier that fought four and a half years to free our land,” said Troy Carter. “Our forefathers bled on this very ground in Virginia for this very reason. The Second Amendment is ours. Our forefathers fought for it. I’m sending this message to Ralph Northam because Virginia is here, and we are awake.”

Only one person out of the dozens who spoke expressed a different point of view. Allison Crews, 44, rose initially to thank residents for electing her to the Piedmont Soil & Water Conservation District, but then mentioned that she is a member of Moms Demand Action and believes in “sensible gun legislation.”
She drew light, polite applause. Afterward, Crews said she grew up in a family of hunters and thinks the urge to block all gun restrictions is misguided. “You can lead with fear or lead with love,” she said. “For me, love always wins.”

The main thing that impressed her about the public hearing, she said, was the number of people who showed up — far beyond anything she had seen in years of attending county meetings.

“I wish we’d see those crowds for things like water quality in the town, or the school system,” she said.

Amelia’s supervisors will vote on a resolution Dec. 18. The meeting has already been moved to the high school auditorium in anticipation of a big turnout.
gregory.schneider@washpost.com

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/in...ocid=chromentp

[JenniferG]

All the government employees turn out to vote and gun owners stay home then cry about losing their gun rights. Simply amazing to watch the stupidity.

[wanneroo]

A lot of the rural areas are not going to listen to all the Whole Foods shoppers in Short Pump, VA about what to do about guns.

[OwnTheRide]

2A Sanctuaries are nothing to celebrate. They're politically, physically, and temporally ineffective. The phrase "too little, too late" comes to mind.

[rckeystone]

A guest post from a Virginian yesterday on survivalblog.com

https://survivalblog.com/reader-lett...ions-virginia/


Dear SurvivalBlog Readers:
I live in New South Maryland, formerly known as Virginia, where our black-face-sporting Governor Northam is brewing gun control legislation plans with the other liberals. In anticipation, 22 Virginia counties have adopted second amendment sanctuary resolutions. My county was among them. I went to the recent public hearing regarding this matter and was joined there by several hundred patriotic Americans in support of their right to keep and bear arms. Many speakers boldly noted to the Board of Supervisors that the Second Amendment is not about hunting, but maintaining an armed citizenry to inhibit government tyranny. The turnout and knowledge level of these fellow citizens is encouraging and makes me hopeful that freedom will be defended, that many will not simply capitulate to socialism or worse.

However, I must temper the enthusiasm of my fellow patriots. The Supervisors in my county have at times taken breathtakingly spineless actions in order to raise taxes, to have someone else to blame. And our county is poorly run by a good old boy network of people growing government for their own benefit. These people protect their own hind ends at all costs, and they commit to no position that will cost them a dime or any credibility with the sleepy voters. Let’s not think that all of a sudden these wimps have awakened to the reality of militant liberalism and are ready to fight. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The resolutions being adopted have no force of law or regulation. The Supervisors in Virginia counties have no authority over local sheriffs, and they have no sway over the State Police, National Guard, Federal law enforcement, or anyone else who might be tasked with gun confiscation. Right before passing the 2A resolution, our Board recognized some EMS personnel for good work, and the 2A document has just as much legal weight as the certificates of appreciation handed to the firemen.

The sheriff stood up in our meeting and proclaimed loudly that he was not going to ignore enforcement of any law, but he is hearing our concerns. He qualified his support multiple times, while sounding like he is on our side. Only time will tell.

Look, when the order for gun confiscation comes down, any sheriff who does not comply will eventually be removed by force by the feds or State Police. If any county politician stands up against them, they will be removed as well. I’ve long believed that gun confiscation will not be practical to implement until food rationing is in place, where the government will have leverage over the population and law enforcement through selective food distribution. Just like in Connecticut and New Jersey today where outlawing firearms/magazines has resulted in embarrassingly few surrenders of hardware, gun owners are not going to give up their firearms without either a fight, or being starved out.

What these 2A sanctuary counties are doing is great, as far as it goes, but don’t expect your local sheriff’s deputies to block the Fed’s access to your home when the order happens. This is the order you may not even hear about until that knock comes at your door. All politicians do everything to serve themselves, all the time, without exception.

Signed, Vigilant in Virginia

P.S.: Jeffrey Epstein didn’t kill himself!

[Walleye Hunter]

A guest post from a Virginian yesterday on survivalblog.com

https://survivalblog.com/reader-lett...ions-virginia/

That blogger failed to mention NY's failed Safe Act, something that everyone should familiarize themselves with, it makes for a fine example as to how ineffective any new laws will be.

I passed through VA on Monday and Tuesday whilst delivering a truck to Ashville, NC and saw a couple of things that caught my attention. First was a 'Don't Tread on Me' vanity license plate on a pickup truck. I feel bad for that patriot. Second was on the news they were covering one of the locales who are declaring themselves as 2A sanctuaries. They had an old giddy on there crying that guns don't need sanctuaries, I got a kick out of it.

[Hodgie]

[eagleclaw]

I agree that the problem with the sanctuary areas is that it is mostly symbolic. Sure, they might get a hand shake agreement with the sheriff who promised to ignore any new gun laws. However the state police and state LEOS from the state’s AG office could fill the void. What if they write new gun laws with a clause that mandates any law enforcement officer in the state to enforce gun laws or face removal from office in the case of a sheriff, job loss and even a criminal penalty? If you think they can’t arrest a LEO for failure to take action remember they arrested the police resource officer who failed to take action in the Parkland shooting even after he retired. Of course money speaks all languages maybe the state will promise extra money and overtime pay for local and county departments to enforce gun laws. Then to top it all off they can write and exemption in any gun ban exempting current and retired law enforcement.

What these people should be doing is planning strategy to convince moderate legislatures to vote no on the gun legislation, get better candidates for the next election and to get legal representation fight any gun laws in the courts. Then again we should be doing more of this in PA. “ I not going to comply “and “ come and take them” are just slogans.