Archives November 2021

Dwarves, Fairies, and Mermaids might sound like a strange way to teach a history and geography lesson, but John Hood took this challenge head-on and achieved the objective in spades with his book, “Mountain Folk”.

John is a newspaper columnist, historian, and foundation executive with a deep passion for both the American Founding and speculative fiction. In this book, he brings it all together in a thrilling tale that not only appeals to a person’s desire for fantasy but also keeps them grounded in intellectual honesty and curiosity.

In the podcast, we deep-dive into the book, its genre, why it’s important, why use fiction to illustrate history, mythology – including that which is uniquely the U.S., historical people, geography, his inspiration, and, of course, ties to Virginia.

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• Mountain Folk

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Election 2021 is almost behind us and, if two recounts in races for the Virginia House of Delegates hold for the Republicans, they will return to the majority in the House and will have won all three statewide offices (governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general).

However, as sweeping a victory as that sounds, it’s not.

Those two recounts go in favor of the Democrats, the House is split at 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats.

Additionally, the largest margin for victory in the statewide elections is less than 70k votes – 2.4% in the gubernatorial race. Meaning that the LG and AG races are even closer.

Virginia is very much still a swing or “purple” state.

Helping explain how Republicans managed to come together following a contentious nominating process and earn these victories is chairman of the Virginia GOP, former Del. Rich Anderson.

In episode 100, Anderson shares with us his thoughts on

• Virginia as the standard-setter for races across the country in 2022
• The strength of the GOP candidates as campaigners
• The importance of money and message
• If this campaign victory signals underlying racism among voters, as some have claimed
• Why campaigning everywhere across the commonwealth matters
• How redistricting now will impact campaigns in 2022. Will we have to redo the House races?
• Focusing on three key U.S. House of Representative races – 2nd, 7th, and 10th – and whether the GOP has a chance to win. And,
• The 2021 Republican Advance. It is being held December 3-4 at the Homestead and party cohesion.

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Learn more:

• Republican Party of Virginia
• Virginia Public Access Project – Election Overview
• RNC chair Ronna McDaniel says ‘successful’ Virginia get-out-the-vote effort a ‘test run’ for 2022 midterms

“Virginia was a great test run for next year and it was successful,” McDaniel said in an interview with Fox News on Friday night, as she attended the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas.
“We had 120 staff on the ground. We had 13 offices and we were really, really, effective at finding unexpected votes. We found 100,000 unexpected voters, which was a key factor in winning.”

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Meagan LoBuglio, Regional Program Manager, Southwest Region, Virginia Values Veterans (V3) Program joins the show to celebrate Veterans’ Day with us, as well as to explain the great work being done by V3 throughout the state.

LuBuglio, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, not only explains the V3 Program and its importance, but she also uses her personal story to explain some of the great traits most veterans have making them strong candidates for potential employers.

Some of the topics we discuss during the podcast include:

• The difference between Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day
• Making the decision to leave military service
• The V3 Program and how it relates to the Department of Veterans’ Services
• How companies work with the V3 program, what it means to become a V3 certified company, and where these companies are located
• The makeup of the veteran population and how V3 is helping break stereotypes about veterans (ex. PTSD, suicidal ideations, extremist activity, etc.)
• How V3 supports veterans and military spouses, as well as a description of the V3 Transition Program
• The impact of COVID-19 on the program and lessons learned from it
• The economic development of Roanoke and southwest Virginia, including job opportunities and new companies in the region

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Learn more:

• Viginia Values Veterans (V3) Program
• Meagan LoBuglio – Bio

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If you liked this podcast, please support it by subscribing either on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts,  Spotify  TuneIn, or Stitcher– and please leave a review. It helps!

Listening to a Podcast:

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2) Go to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts,  Spotify  TuneIn, or Stitcher– Subscribe to the podcast to automatically download new shows to your device when they are uploaded.
3) Added tip: Connect your device via Bluetooth, USB, or even 3.5mm to your car radio, select the aux or media input on your radio for your device, and press play on your device for the show either on the post or through Apple Podcast/Google Play/Spotify/TuneIn/Stitcher.

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Dr. Stephen Farnsworth is an award-winning professor of political science for the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va. His focus area is American Government: The Presidency, Media and Politics, Elections. He joins the podcast today to discuss the results of the 2021 Virginia Election.

On the show we talk about single-party voting, demographic trends, the role of the presidency on state elections, issues that mattered to voters, whether prejudice motivated the electorate, campaign spending, and more.

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Learn more:

• Dr. Stephen Farnsworth
• Progressives Cry ‘Racism’ to Excuse Democratic Losses in Virginia
• VPAP: 2021 Election Results
• AP VoteCast: Youngkin win built by small gains in key groups

“Thirty-five percent of Virginia voters said the economy and jobs was the most important issue facing the state, while 17% named COVID-19 and 15% chose education. Health care, climate change, racism, immigration, abortion and law enforcement were all lower. Voters who ranked the economy and education as the top issues were more likely to back Youngkin over McAuliffe.”

Subscribe to the show!

If you liked this podcast, please support it by subscribing either on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts,  Spotify  TuneIn, or Stitcher– and please leave a review. It helps!

Listening to a Podcast:

1) Click the player and listen to it via your device
2) Go to Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts,  Spotify  TuneIn, or Stitcher– Subscribe to the podcast to automatically download new shows to your device when they are uploaded.
3) Added tip: Connect your device via Bluetooth, USB, or even 3.5mm to your car radio, select the aux or media input on your radio for your device, and press play on your device for the show either on the post or through Apple Podcast/Google Play/Spotify/TuneIn/Stitcher.

Watch the podcast on YouTube: