Richard Wilcox

*Groundhog Day pitch meeting* You know how some rodents are clairvoyant?

Instead, thousands of voices cry out, including my own, when the patrols are really more dangerous than the people they are supposedly protecting us from.

Tens of thousands of people do not line the streets in 20 degree below weather in order to protect murderers and rapists. Hundreds of clergy do not protest the lawful apprehension of a violent criminal. They would welcome their communities being made safer.

One Friend from Goose Creek Friends was asked about being in fear of the Blacks, and didn't they want the slave patrols to protect them? The Friend answered, "In our neighborhood, among the Friends, there was no fear or uneasiness. The patrols sent out were really more dangerous than the slaves."

Resources were poured into slave patrols which would ride around the countryside looking for trouble... and they often found it. Virginia Quakers had long forbid their members from serving in or supporting the slave patrols (since 1740).

The legislation to end slavery in Virginia was voted down 65 to 58. Just seven votes. Once that legislation failed, the Assembly passed all sorts of legislation forbidding teaching, free assembly, free movement... of all Blacks, free or enslaved.

In the Summer of 1831, about 30 miles from where I live, there was a revolt led by Nat Turner, an enslaved Black. Panic spread among the slaveholders. The Virginia Assembly considered legislation to end slavery, encouraged by Virginia Quakers like those at Somerton.

"If you say we murdered one person, we'll have no choice but to murder you all."

I'm not sure who needs to hear this, but today is Thursday.

From bird droppings to holiday kisses: How we ended up under the mistletoe The etymology of mistletoe — a plant with small, oval evergreen leaves and waxy white berries — may strike some as repugnant.

The etymology of mistletoe — a plant with small, oval evergreen leaves and waxy white berries — may strike some as repugnant.

Trump Announces 5,000% Increase In All Numbers WASHINGTON—Touting his latest executive order as a historic win for the U.S. economy, President Donald Trump announced Friday that he was mandating a 5,000% increase in all numbers nationwide. “Effect...

Trump Announces 5,000% Increase In All Numbers

The Trump administration believes that the rich and powerful should be pardoned for their crimes, even after judges and juries determined their guilt.

But if you’re a non-white guy in a fishing boat, there’s no need for a trial or even an arrest. Murder from above, no questions asked.

One reason you can’t win over authoritarians with appeals to America’s best traditions is that they hate America’s best traditions.

Steve Bannon: If we lose the midterms and we lose 2028, some in this room are going to prison, myself included.

WOW. 81% of women 18-29 voted for Mamdani, 80% for Sherril, and 78% for Spanberger.

Gen Z women aren't playing around.

Looks like the Dems will pick up 12 seats in the VA House of Delegates, which will go from 51-49 to 63-37 D-R. That's an honestly shocking result.

The Trump administration is offering $60K in student loan forgiveness as a recruitment tool for ICE, which just proves fighting Biden on student loan relief was never about the loans or “paying your own debt.” It was about who was offering it and who it would’ve helped.

👇👇

They keep losing in court because everything they’re doing is illegal

i beat the devil in a fiddle contest behind a chili’s. here’s why the changes to the sizzlin’ fajita menu are a travesty,

Walked in Chippokes State Park in Surry County, Virginia, and discovered this colonial beauty.

the USA built a system of higher education so good that smart/rich people from across the world came here, spending billions to learn here, subsidizing education for Americans while spending money to live in our cities and towns. our government arbitrarily decided we should stop doing that

The name of my rock band in high school.

Republican Gets Seat on House Foreign Affairs Committee on the Same Day He Says of Gaza: “Starve Away” Rep. Randy Fine cheered a report saying that Palestinian children had died of starvation.

Rep. Randy Fine cheered a report saying that 15 Palestinians in Gaza, including four children, had died from famine in a single day.
“Release the hostages. Until then, starve away,” Fine said. Using starvation as a military tactic and targeting civilians are war crimes.

Sick and tired of Republican Senators coming to me privately saying, “Mark, keep speaking up, you’re our conscience.”

I don’t want to be their damn conscience.

I want them to vote their conscience.