• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu RVA Mag Logo
  • community
  • MUSIC
  • ART
  • EAT DRINK
  • GAYRVA
  • POLITICS
  • PHOTO
  • EVENTS
  • MAGAZINE
RVA Mag Logo
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Sponsors

The Best (or weirdest) Political Ad of the Mid-Term Season Has Just Arrived

Landon Shroder | September 20, 2018

Topics: Attack Ad, Bigfoot, congress, Creative Agencies, Democrats, Mid-Terms, Political Ads, politics, Republicans

While Virginia had its own political controversy with the mysterious cryptozoological phenomenon earlier this summer with the great Bigfoot Erotica scandal of 2018, peak Bigfoot has now been achieved in the contest for Minnesota’s 3rd District. Apparently all that was needed for the creature to reveal its existence to the world was the ongoing political climate. The ad, released by Democratic challenger, Dean Phillips, uses the North American Yeti to make the point that his challenger, incumbent Republican Erik Paulson, is more elusive and harder to find than Bigfoot himself.

The ad starts with Bigfoot wondering out loud: “I thought I was good at hiding,” before saying “Then Erik Paulson comes along.” The arc of the story only grows more ironically hilarious from there as Bigfoot opines: “How can you have tens of thousands of people looking for you all the time, and not one of them find you. I started to wonder, does Erik Paulson even exist?” From there Bigfoot sets out on a quest to find the Republican Congressman, armed with nothing more than a classic Ford T-Bird, a roller cooler, and an old school VHS video camera. Narrating the video in first person, Bigfoot tells the viewers his plan, “Paulsen takes piles of money from big pharma and votes to erode essential healthcare protections. So the most likely place to find him is at a big pharmaceutical company.” Staking out the lobby of one such company, Bigfoot eventually finds his man, telling the audience that he was prepared to stay there for weeks, but that “it took seven minutes,” before coyly smiling at the camera.

The ad has already been viewed 48, 358 times on YouTube and an additional 144,000 on Phillips’ Facebook page and has been widely lauded in marketing and advertising news, and even more conservative publications like Forbes, who called it, “fantastic”. According to Ad Week the campaign video was made on something of an ad-hoc basis with volunteers from the campaign and various agencies pitching in creative direction. There is no doubt that this campaign ad will be remembered as one of the greats, and in an age of visceral attack ads that are often deeply personal; this combination of film making, thematics, and irony was an interesting reimagining of how attack politics can be done in a way that is light-hearted and contemporary.

So, #2018.

Virginia Politics Has Now Hit Peak Weird with Bigfoot Erotica

Landon Shroder | July 30, 2018

Topics: Bigfoot, Bigfoot Erotica, congress, Democrats, Denver Riggleman, Leslie Cockburn, Mid-Terms, Republicans

Virginia politics has now entered a new phase. Bigfoot erotica, a new subgenre of cryptozoological inquiry in which the elusive creature is pictured in sexual situations, has popped up on the Instagram account of Republican Congressional Candidate for the 5th District, Denver Riggleman. While Riggleman’s account is apparently set to private, his Democratic challenger, Leslie Cockburn, allegedly found the images and they do not disappoint. Cockburn has now taken to Twitter questioning the candidate’s suitability in running for high office, saying, “He has been exposed as a devotee of Bigfoot erotica. This is not what we need on Capitol Hill.”

While Bigfoot erotica makes for questionable credentials for high office, Cockburn, in the same Tweet, also claimed that Riggleman is an acolyte of Republican Senatorial Candidate, Corey Stewart. “My opponent Denver Riggleman, running mate of Corey Stewart, was caught on camera campaigning with a white supremacist.”

The Bigfoot erotica of Denver Riggleman

According to The Daily Progress, which broke the story, Riggleman has penned at least one book on Bigfoot called, “Bigfoot Exterminators Inc. The Partially Cautionary, Mostly True Tale of Monster Hunt 2006.” The campaign manager for Cockburn, responding to the viral tweets, has said, “Leslie has been traveling throughout the district meeting with real people about real issues that matter to them…Meanwhile, Mr. Riggleman is home scrubbing his social media of ‘Bigfoot erotica’ and who knows what else.”

For his part, Riggleman denies any association with Bigfoot erotica and claims the posts were a joke played on him by his military friends, claiming he never thought they would be used against him “politically”; clearly misreading the political climate of 2018. One of the erotic images had a big black box covering the elusive forest creature’s penis and was captioned with, “Cover art for #matinghabitsofbigfoot almost complete. I hide nothing in this magnificent tome. Don’t erase the censor box…”

Cockburn’s tweets have now gone viral, being shared over 4,000 times, and were met with some colorful commentary from the Twitter-verse, the best of which can be found below:

For more on Bigfoot Erotica, check out this article by Buzzfeed. Don’t ever say RVA Mag didn’t do anything for you, Virginia.

Bigfoot’s New Mate by Soichiro Irons
Bigfoot Depravity by Robyn North

Nazis and Anti-Semities Now Openly Running on Republican Tickets Ahead of Midterms

Landon Shroder | July 25, 2018

Topics: Anti-Semities, GOP, Holocaust Denial, Mid-Terms, Nazis, politics, Republicans, white nationalism, white supremacy

Incidents of anti-Semitism are on the rise in the US, up 57 percent in 2017, the largest single increase on record since the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) started tracking incidents in 1979. The ADL classifies anti-Semitism as, “The belief or behavior hostile toward Jews just because they are Jewish. It may take the form of religious teachings that proclaim the inferiority of Jews, for instance, or political efforts to isolate, oppress, or otherwise injure them. It may also include prejudiced or stereotyped views about Jews.” According to their most recent audit, the majority of incidents have appeared at schools and on college campuses and have doubled for the second year in a row.

What is driving these incidents? The report draws conclusions that should be obvious to just about anyone who has been alive since President Trump has been elected, but among other things, Jonathan A. Greenblatt, Chief Executive of the ADL gave the New York Times three main reasons: the divisive state of US politics, an emboldening of extremists, and the adverse impacts of social media. All of which culminated last summer during the Unite the Right rally when white supremacists marauded through Charlottesville chanting, “Jews will not replace us” and “blood and soil” (a Nazi slogan).

While these incidents would have been an outlier in a previous political era, the full Republican embrace of President Trump has normalized the kinds of racism and anti-Semitism now on the rise. His claims that there were some “very fine people on both sides in Charlottesville” (one side being the Nazi side), gave agency to white supremacists and nationalists who’s anti-Semitism directly comprises their core ideology, and has empowered a new group of GOP candidates to run for office, namely Nazis and anti-Semites.

So here we are, in a political age where white supremacy, nationalism, and anti-Semitism is becoming normative and mainstreamed as a political tactic to ensure Trump’s base stays ever loyal. Have a look at some of the mid-term contests this season where the GOP ticket is actually being held by a Nazi, anti-Semite, or someone who has been in direct support of white nationalists, supremacists, or anti-Semites.

Arthur Jones: 

Arthur Jones is a member of the American Nazi Party who is running in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District and has referred to Jewish teachings as “satanic”. On his campaign website he legit has a section titled “Holocaust?”, and refers to the death of six million Jews as a “racket” and claims, “This idea that ‘six million Jews,’ were killed by the National Socialist government of Germany, in World War II, is the biggest, blackest, lie in history.”

In June he told  told Politico that he “snookered” the Republican Party into winning the nomination. “I played by the rules, what could I say?” Some notable Republicans denounced his candidacy including Senator Ted Cruz who tweeted, “To the good people of Illinois, you have two reasonable choices: write in another candidate, or vote for the Democrat. This bigoted fool should receive ZERO votes.” While the Illinois GOP was publicly aghast with horror at what their party has become – refusing to endorse Jones – he still ran unopposed and collected 20,681 votes from Republicans in his district. Fox News claims the Illinois GOP will start a campaign for a write in candidate–don’t hold your breath waiting.

Arthur Jones

Regardless, this only highlights the continued disconnect between what the GOP base has come to assume their political agency is in the age of Trump versus the normative conservative policies preferred by status-quo Republicans, yet impossible to have it both ways in this new era of extremist politics.

John Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald is running in California’s 11th District against an incumbent Democrat. After capturing close to quarter of all votes in California’s “jungle primary” he qualified for the state’s GOP primary. However, soon after his ascension to the hallowed ranks of the GOP, his anti-Semitism and holocaust denial started to become somewhat an unmanageable open secret – thanks to a section on his campaign website – basically just the top post of his website –  offering $3,000 to anyone who can prove the holocaust actually happened.

Since the Republican Party in California finally uncovered Fitzgerald’s not so subtle anti-Semitism they have rescinded their endorsement, which has led him to only increase his Jewish resentment. According to the New York Times, the GOP Candidate has appeared on numerous podcasts spewing holocaust denial. In one such instance he told Andrew Carrington Hitchcock, a known anti-Semite, that, “Everything we’ve been told about the Holocaust is a lie,” going on to further say, “my entire campaign, for the most part, is about exposing this lie.”

John Fitzgerald

The GOP in California claimed that it was their policy to automatically endorsed their candidate and that they conducted minimal vetting on Fitzgerald. But in the age of Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, and the mainstreaming of the alt-right, which is heavily intoxicated on anti-Semitism, this no longer seems like a solvent policy. What do they say about assumptions? The mother of all anti-Semitic fuck ups?

Paul Nehlen

This Republican is making his second attempt to to fill the largely diminished shoes of soon to be retired Speaker of the House Paul Ryan in Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District seat. In a not unfamiliar twist of GOP identity politics, Nehlen has described himself as a “pro-white” candidate who supports banning all Muslims and tweeted a deeply racist and offensive picture of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, where she is photoshopped, according to Ballotpedia, to look like a “dark-skinned prehistoric man nicknamed Cheddar Man.” Shortly thereafter on a subtweet he posted an article about “disappearing whites”, the whole incident led him to be banned from Twitter.

Paul Nehlen

Nehlen’s anti-Semitism, however, is rooted in the age old conspiracy theories of Jews controlling global media. As far back as January this year, Buzzfeed uncovered communications on private Twitter DMs where he is lamenting the “Jewish media” and fake conservatives who “happen to be Jewish.” A short time later he essentially doxxed Jewish executives at leading media organizations, along with Tweeting out a meme of said executives with the star of David next to their image. Nehlen wrote, “Do the people pictured seem to have anything in common?” before deleting the tweet.

The Atlantic has also covered his fusion of anti-Semitism with Christian identity politics, reporting, “And he loves making odd generalizations about what Jews are like. ‘”Poop, incest, and pedophilia. Why are those common themes repeated so often with Jews?'” he tweeted. One of Nehlen’s 89,000 followers declared that “@pnehlen is one of the few American Christians courageous and honest enough to defend the Faith against Islamists and Talmudic Pharisees alike even when it’s unpopular. God bless you, Paul!” Nehlen hit retweet.”

Corey Stewart

Last and of course not least, there is the Commonwealth’s very own Corey Stewart, who is running against incumbent Senator Tim Kaine. Stewart’s stances on Confederate culture, immigration, and his public appearances with Jason Kessler, the organizer of Unite the Right, makes his candidacy the embodiment of the kinds of racism and anti-Semitism that has now overtly taken over the GOP.

Stewart and Kessler. Photo by Community Ideas Station

And in a strange twist of fate, CNN reported that Stewart actually engaged Wisconsin’s Nehlan (mentioned above) to act as a “fundraising commission” according to reports filed with the Virginia Department of Elections. Additionally a video surfaced of the GOP contender praising Nehlan, calling him “one of my personal heroes”. Stewart has since dialed back his support, which is clearly an attempt at political expediency claiming, “When he started saying all that crazy stuff, I wanted nothing to do with him after that.” He also made similar claims about Kessler telling the New York Times, “Nobody knew who Kessler was back then…Certainly I didn’t. I didn’t know he stood for all those horrible things. I want nothing to do with those things.”

Given Stewart’s long history of support for racists, xenophobes, and anti-Semitic provocateurs only changing direction after they have been exposed, it is hard to imagine a scenario where he is not a believer in the underlying ideologies that govern this growing political menace. Stewart is a shrewd operator only touching the fringes of anti-Semitism without jumping in full-stop, yet the implication and dog-whistles remain the same.

Anti-Semitism is one of the world’s oldest forms of hatred and one that has been used over the millennia to justify some of the most repressive and brutal policies, ending in gross atrocities like the holocaust. Anti-Semitism does not exist in a vacuum, however, and the mainstreaming of holocaust denial, conspiracy theories, and overt attacks against Jews and Jewish symbols by candidates running for high office is a harbinger for anyone concerned with how this political age is shaping up.

Protestors Gathered Today to Roast Congressman Dave Brat on Supporting “Zero Tolerance Immigration” Policies

Jo Rozycki | June 24, 2018

Topics: Activist, Dave Brat, henrico, immigration, Mid-Terms, Protestor, Republican, richmond, virginia, Zero Tolerance

Activists in the Richmond area came together near Congressman Dave Brat’s office today to protest his support for President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies. Standing across the street from the business park that houses Brat’s office, protestors created a stir along West Broad Street close to Short Pump in Henrico. 

Organized by Together We Will Henrico, the protest boasted around 200 protesters. This protest joins many other protests planned across the Commonwealth as a response to Trump’s immigration policy and the children separated from their parents and placed in detention centers across the border. “We are encouraged to hear that Trump has a short-term solution to a problem he created — ripping children away from their families — but find it unacceptable that there is no plan to reunify already separated children with their parents,” said Melissa McKenney, a steering committee member of Together We Will Henrico. “We will be showing up [ Sunday] to demonstrate to Dave Brat that we will not be silent about these atrocities or his eagerness to use young children as political pawns.”

McKenney went on to say that she expects Brat to represent the values of his constituents and to “work across the aisle to create humane immigration policy. And we want those babies back with their families now.”

Handmade signs, American flags, and rainbow umbrellas were among the dozens of protesters who broke out into chants over immigration or ousting Brat; passing cars honked, firing up the crowd with a supportive thumbs up or a raised fist. The occasional middle finger was given as well. One 65-year-old woman saw this and commented, “I’m 65. What’s that going to do to me?”

Nonetheless, people of all ages were in attendance, including families with children, some as young as toddlers. One child held a sign with a direct quote from the recording of children being held in detention centers: “Donde esta mi mama y mi papa?” When asked about whether he and his siblings understood what was going on, their mother, Christy, explained that after she told them about the protest they were going to, her children were worried Dave Brat was going to take them away from her.

Many parents spoke about setting an example for their children. Candace Taylor discussed the representation in the media and the impact on the nation’s children. “It doesn’t set a good example for the youth either because we want our youth to have somebody they can look up to,” she said. Aleta Strickland, a child psychologist and member of Indivisible Louisa, highlighted the irreversible trauma the detained children would receive. “These children, these families who are seeking asylum, are escaping trauma,” she said. “They’ve already been traumatized. Now you are compounding [it]. Compound or complex trauma is very difficult to treat.”

She mentioned that the very young children were the most vulnerable, especially the ones at the pre-verbal stages, since this sort of trauma affects the conscience.

Strickland had received a letter from Brat on June 8, explaining that the “children being separated from their families have been substantially misrepresented by many on the left.” He explained that this sort of practice and legislation of separating children has “been in place for over a decade.” He confirmed that the Office of Refugee Resettlement did not know the whereabouts of 1,475 children at that time. Finally, he reiterated that information has been spread falsely in order to back up his claims.

Veena Lothe, a first-generation Indian American, immigration and civil rights lawyer, and Democrat running for State Senate in the 12th District spoke comprehensively about how her job drove her to attend the protest. “I want to get Dave Brat out of office,” she said. “I think he lacks the understanding of immigration law, and he’s not willing to learn.”

She emphasized the language used by Republicans surrounding immigration is incorrect and divisive. When asked about what must change, her answer was simple: “First and foremost, the rhetoric has to change. It’s just spreading hate in the population. It’s nationalism and is designed to be hateful and to divide people. Nationalism is a cop-out.”

On Wednesday, June 20, the President signed an executive order ending the separation of immigrant families from their children through detention after they cross the border. This came as a response to the backlash surrounding the thousands of children surviving harsh conditions in detention centers, women being threatened by ICE agents for protection in exchange for sexual favors, and other human rights atrocities in relation to immigration.

Brat joined FOX @ Night’s Shannon Bream on June 19 to comment on a video of National Homeland Security Secretary Kristjien Nielsen being booed out of a Mexican restaurant by Metro D.C. Democratic Socialists of America, as well as some immigration policy after his meeting with the President.

Brat began by quoting the President saying, “I’ve got your back” in reference to an immigration bill penned by Virginia Representative Bob Goodlatte that Brat supported. The Goodlatte Bill would end chain migration and mandate the e-verify program, requiring employers to check the immigration status of future employees. Brat cited examples of House Republicans attempting to compromise with Democrats on legislation for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and, more recently, family separation bills, but said, “[Democrats] just want a political issue. What’s changed is the left have gone way left.”

Brat called the Goodlatte bill “compassionate” in another interview with FOX News on June 18. But both the Goodlatte Bill and Speaker Ryan’s compromise bill cuts the visa lottery and family-based immigration rules, and significantly affect asylum seekers, both current and future. While Brat never explicitly said he supports separating families, he does stand for beefing up America’s immigration policies, to “put an end to the chaos at the border,” and to avoid being like London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Germany.

The Friday before the protest, RVA Mag spoke with Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic candidate who is challenging Brat in the mid-terms, about her thoughts on the situation and the thousands of children that remain separated from their families. “I think that [Brat’s] assertions do not take into account the fact that Democrats have tried in years past and made a lot of forward momentum on immigration issues [and] immigration reform.”

Spanberger asserted that supporting legislation that separates families at the border is a conscious choice and a policy that was implemented under Trump. According to her, using children as a bargaining chip in order to pass legislation is “just inappropriate.” Brat, along with other Republicans, have claimed that Democrats are pursuing a globalist agenda at the expense of an American first policy. Spanberger responded to this messaging by saying, “Democrats are Americans and Democrats are working to pursue policies that will positively impact American workers, American citizens, people who someday dream of being Americans. Doing that in the global economy is absolutely among the most American things you can do.”

Some other photos from today’s protest can be found below:

John Donegan contributed to this report. Photos by Landon Shroder.

Republican Candidate Corey Stewart Tweets He’s Going to Kick Tim Kaine’s Teeth In

David Streever | June 14, 2018

Topics: Commonwealth, Corey Stewart, Democrat, election, Mid-Terms, Republican, Senate, Tim Kaine, virginia

Fresh off a disastrous appearance on CNN, GOP Senate candidate Corey Stewart took to Twitter to claim his primary win as a mandate to “kick @timkaine’s teeth in.”

Virginians wanted someone to kick @timkaine's teeth in.

I'm honored to have been selected for such a high honor. #VAsen #VAPolitics#FireKaine#TakeBackVA

— Corey Stewart (@CoreyStewartVA) June 14, 2018

Stewart is the current chair of the Prince William Board of Supervisors, but has struggled to win office outside of his county. He notably lost the Republican primary for the office of Governor to Ed Gillespie in 2017 by a slim margin, which Gillespie supporters ascribed to Stewart’s caustic, aggressive tone. After his narrow victory in the Tuesday primary over Nick Freitas, Stewart seems to have doubled-down on the often violent rhetoric he employs on the campaign trail.

On a CNN appearance last night with Chris Cuomo, the candidate struggled to answer questions about his support for and from anti-semites and white supremacists. In 2017, he received an endorsement from Paul Nehlen, an anti-semite who Stewart described as “one of my personal heroes.” Although he tried to deflect when Cuomo asked him about Nehlen and other white supremacist supporters, Stewart eventually said, “I take support from whoever wants to give it to me. That doesn’t mean I support their views.”

After his failed GOP primary run for Governor last year, Stewart was singled out for praise by Steve Bannon, a one-time President Donald Trump advisor who associates with white supremacists under the title the “alt-right.” Bannon described Stewart as the “titular head of the Trump movement” in an interview with the Washington Post, where he maintained Stewart would have prevailed over Northam, and predicted he’d bring national attention to the race for Kaine’s Senate seat.

Northam had a different take on his victory that invoked both Michelle Obama’s “We go high” mantra and “The Virginia Way,” the idea that elections in the Commonwealth are won by candidates who maintain a positive image and platform. While Bannon’s prediction about national attention has come true, ultimately, it will be up to Virginia voters to decide between two candidates who for many exemplify opposite ends of the spectrum: Tim Kaine for Democrats and “The Virginia Way,” and Corey Stewart as a bellicose, Trumpian member of the GOP.

Photo from Corey Stewart FB

sidebar

sidebar-alt

Copyright © 2021 · RVA Magazine on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Close

    Event Details

    Please fill out the form below to suggest an event to us. We will get back to you with further information.


    OR Free Event

    CONTACT: [email protected]