A State Pony, Bicycle Stops, and Acknowledging Virginia's Grave-Robbing History
IN THE NEWS:
The Idaho Stop: Senator Deeds proposed legislation that would give local governments authority to adopt local ordinances giving cyclists more leeway at stop signs--something that would benefit cyclists, drivers, and pedestrians alike. But the momentum of the legislation stalled after House Republicans voiced their concerns.
A bill to make the Chincoteague pony the official state pony of Virginia has faced opposition from the Southwest delegation, whose members also have wild ponies roaming their districts.
A new Democratic resolution would have Virginia acknowledge its sordid past of grave-robbing Black cemetaries for medical experimentation in the 1800s. But a Republican-controlled House panel rejected the bill last week.
At the Watercooler:
The casino bill is dead for now, which is good news for the potential of a Richmond casino.
In the absence of formal abortion legislation, Democrats are attempting a rules-change maneuver to force floor discussion of abortion and put both Republicans and Democrats on the record for where they stand.
Trivia: The end of the General Assembly session is known as “sine die”. That’s a Latin expression for what?
Episode Transcript
Michael Pope
On this episode of Pod Virginia.
Thomas Bowman
The Idaho Stop comes to Virginia.
Creigh Deeds
The momentum makes it very difficult to come to a stop and actually more dangerous in some situations come to a stop.
Michael Pope
Virginia gets an official State Pony.
Robert Bloxom
It's a major tourist attraction for years, just brings attention to Virginia all over the world.
Thomas Bowman
And an unacknowledged skeleton is in our closet.
Phillip Thompson
They were looking for cadavers to do experiments on, so you go to the Black cemeteries and take them.
Michael Pope
Plus, we play a round of trivia and read your tweets.
Thomas Bowman
You're listening to Pod Virginia; stick around.
Michael Pope
I'm Michael Pope.
Thomas Bowman
I'm Tom Bowman.
Michael Pope
And this is Pod Virginia, a podcast that is so ready for sine die. Thomas, are you ready for the end of this General Assembly session?
Thomas Bowman
It is both too long and not long enough. But I know everyone looks forward to sine die.
Michael Pope
Yeah, we'll get into that a little bit later in the podcast. I know one of the traditions in the press corps is the pizza party that happens right after the adjournment. So sadly, I won't be able to be there Saturday for the pizza party. But I know that all of Virginia's dedicated journalists are already planning for the pizza party. So if you're around the Capitol after adjournment, stop by the press room and have a slice of pizza. There might even be some beer there. All right. Let's get to the news.
What happens when a cyclist approaches a stop sign? Senator Creigh Deeds is a Democrat from Charlottesville, who says cyclists, should be able to proceed through intersections without stopping, provided that they slow down to a reasonable speed and yield to the right away.
Creigh Deeds
A lot of people that ride bikes just tell me that the momentum makes it very difficult to come to a stop and actually more dangerous in some situations to come to a stop. But, from my perspective, I mean, I still thought a statewide bill would probably be a difficult pill to swallow and particularly for some rural areas.
Thomas Bowman
Senator Deeds proposed legislation that would give local governments the authority to adopt local ordinances giving cyclists more leeway at stop signs. But the momentum of the legislation stalled after a Republican Delegate, Tim Anderson of Virginia Beach, voiced his concern.
Tim Anderson
it's crazily dangerous, inherently dangerous, to leave it up to the judgment of a bicyclist to decide if it's safe to go through an intersection. I just wouldn't want to encourage a bicyclist to say, yeah, you don't have to stop at this stop sign.
Michael Pope
So Senator Deeds's bill failed in a Republican-controlled House Committee last week. So Virginia will not be getting the Idaho stop. But I can guarantee you, Thomas, that cyclists across Virginia will continue to slow down at all the stop signs instead of coming to a full and complete stop because nobody wants that to happen. I mean, this is the thing. A lot of people, when they get into this debate, think they're so rigid in their thinking they think cyclists must stop at stop signs. But in reality, nobody wants that to happen. The cyclists don't want that to happen because they lose all their momentum. And guess what the other cars on the street also don't want that to happen because it slows everything down for everybody, including the people driving the cars. So the Idaho Stop is not coming to Virginia yet. But the Idaho Stops will continue to happen in Virginia.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, I think of a city like Richmond where I am, and there's some cyclist infrastructure, but not It's not great there. They don't often have the ideal situation like a divided bike-only lane, kind of like what you have on Four Mile run in Arlington. But, Michael, cyclist safety is actually a really pressing issue in this state. And lawmakers do need to consider measures to prioritize that. And regarding Idaho Stop, everybody, as far as the stakeholders go, actually wants this. Cyclists, drivers, and pedestrians, and providing those cyclists with more leeway at stop signs, are going to reduce traffic congestion and frankly give a more sustainable transit option because it's not as much of a pain in the butt for everybody participating.
Michael Pope
Yeah, I've always thought there was something a little bit deeper to the psychology here of people having such an attachment to their cars. Something is going on there. In terms of bike lanes being the enemy, I'm sure we talked about it on the podcast several years ago here in Alexandria. There is a four-way road called Seminary road, and the Seminary is on Seminary road. And the City of Alexandria decided to make it a two-lane road with bike lanes on either side, and people lost their shit. I mean, it was the hugest controversy. The city council meeting went on for hours, and, hours, and hours, and there were hurt feelings. Even after the vote, the Vice Mayor was trying to do a reconsideration. And it's likely to be the number one campaign issue in the next city council election. So I mean, people have such an attachment to their cars and the automobile way of life and roads being built for cars. And they just don't want to give it up. And I think that's like something that's lurking underneath there. That's a psychology of the automobile mindset, and that's probably not healthy for anybody.
Thomas Bowman
Well, granted, I say, this is a car owner myself; there's nothing more convenient. That's the problem that we haven't prioritized building modern, updated, convenient solutions for smaller intra-city distances, right? So from my neighborhood to downtown, I shouldn't need to take a car or bike in. But the bus isn't necessarily convenient, depending on the time that you need to be there, especially if you're trying to meet a deadline or whatever. The bike lanes in my side of town are not safe, and the bridges are not safe to bicycle over. So there's not a great solution that isn't just car-oriented. So some of that is on the city planners themselves. Some of that is, of course, the car lobby that convinced us to go all roads. To the average individual, though, Michael, it's about convenience. And there's nothing more convenient if I could get up. If I could just walk out of my road and walk to the end of my street and hop on a PRT (Personal Rail Transit) option, which I think, is in Marshall, West Virginia? The point is that it's like within a neighborhood. So like in Richmond, for example, it'd be great for Scott's Addition, or within Alexandria, it'd be great for downtown. And you can call a car, or there can be a central station. It can work like an app or whatever. Or it can work more like a wired-in ground switchboard. And you can basically call this car, it's on streetcar rail networks, and it just kind of goes all over. And you don't need your personal vehicle to get around town. That would be a really cool way to do things.
Michael Pope
Yeah, yeah, and on this topic, before we move on, there is a book that I would recommend to our listeners called The Power Broker by Robert Cairo that details the history of this guy, Robert Moses, who created the New York highway system. And outlines the horribly racist motives for destroying Black neighborhoods here. I was talking earlier about, like, there's something deeper to the psychology of people loving their cars. And as with many things in Virginia, the origin is probably racism.
Thomas Bowman
It's funny how it happens that way.
Michael Pope
Funny how it always happens that way. Moving on to our next story. The wild ponies of Chincoteague are known all over the world, and the annual pony auction brings thousands of tourists every year. And that's why Republican Delegate Robert Bloxom of academic county introduced a bill to make the Chincoteague pony the official state pony of Virginia.
Robert Bloxom
It brings 60,000 people to an island of 3,000 every year. It's been a major tourist attraction for years, ever since I can remember. It just brings attention to Virginia from all over the world.
Thomas Bowman
This bill has some opposition from the Southwest delegation, whose members have wild ponies running their districts as well. But those ponies are not celebrated in the boxes bill, so Delegate Israel O'Quinn, a Republican from Washington county, voted against the bill and said this.
Israel O'Quinn,
We have wild ponies in Grayson County, up on Mount Rogers, White Top area. And I think we felt like if we're going to designate a state pony that, they should at least be included. So we all voted no on a symbolic measure, naming one set of ponies as the official state pony.
Michael Pope
Okay, Thomas, so admittedly, this is not the most important thing going on in the session this year. However, this is really interesting because most of the time, when you get these designations of the official state insect, or the official state tailgating game, that sort of thing. There's not really this kind of opposition. This is a regional opposition here based in the Southwest saying hey, like the Chincoteague pony is great, and let's celebrate it, but what about our pony? We have a wild pony too. And by designating the other pony as the official state pony. You're really insulting our local wild state ponies.
Thomas Bowman
You know, this is a case where no good deed goes unpunished. And it's a case in point why sometimes legislation that's obvious to one person is very controversial to other people. No disrespect to either Grayson or Chincoteague state ponies. Does Virginia really need a state pony at all? I don't know, what do you get out of it?
Michael Pope
So the Chincoteague ponies are a huge tourist attraction. Bloxom was sort of saying that.
Thomas Bowman
sure.
Michael Pope
I doubt the grace and ponies are such a tourist attraction. I will say that until I was researching the story, I was totally unaware that there was a wild pony on it in Grayson County. And then I did a little research, and there was a little tourism; it's associated there because people will go to do sightseeing on the Blue Ridge Parkway. So I mean, there is a little bit of tourism that comes to the Grayson County wild ponies, but it probably is nowhere near the huge, huge following the Chincoteague ponies have all over the world. I mean, if the question is, where did they get out of it? I would imagine pressing. I mean, we're talking about here on this podcast media attention. And then maybe they can even use that in their marketing materials.
Thomas Bowman
What was the conclusion of our Game Show episode? With the super panel, this was a buy, sell, or hold question. Where were you on this buy, sell, or hold? I guess we're buying if it's gonna stampede through the Senate. Right. And the governor may or may not sign up.
Michael Pope
I mean, the General Assembly is clearly buying the idea of the Chincoteague pony. Actually, when I was doing my reporting about this weekend. I actually made a press inquiry to the governor's office to say hey, is the governor going to amend the bill to make the Grayson County wild pony also a state pony? Because he could do both. So the governor actually could make an amendment here to say it's the Chincoteague pony, and the Grayson pony is the state of the official's wild ponies of Virginia. But then the press office sent me a letter from Mrs. Youngkin about this issue and how amazing the Chincoteague ponies are. So I think it's pretty clear that the governor is fully in support of the Chincoteague pony being the official state pony, and the lawmakers are about to send them that bill. So in terms of Virginia, the Commonwealth is a strong buy on designated and the Chincoteague pony, the official state pony, so that's kind of where we are right now.
Thomas Bowman
All right. Well, I guess we're off to the races.
Michael Pope
Alright, well, then, let's move on to our next story. Grave robbers, so back in the 1800s, the Medical College of Virginia had a hard time finding cadavers, so they hired grave robbers to supply Black bodies for medical experimentation. Phillip Thompson is a former President of the Loudoun NAACP, and he came to Richmond to ask lawmakers to approve a resolution acknowledging this dark chapter in Virginia history, with profound regret.
Phillip Thompson
When the COVID vaccines first came out in my community, a lot of African Americans did not want to take those vaccines because they thought, hey, this is something; this is the Tuskegee experiment, back in the 30s and 40s. Young kids were told, hey, don't stray too far because the body snatchers will get you.
Thomas Bowman
Nine of the 53 bodies that were discovered abandoned in Richmond East Marshall Street Well back in the 1990s were Black children. The details are laid out in a resolution introduced by Senator Jennifer Boysko, a Democrat from Herdon. But a Republican-controlled House panel failed to take any action on it.
Jennifer Boysko
When we don't address past wrongs, we are not going to learn from them. There's actually been a number of bills that have been passed by, for the day, or killed without having a hearing or any sort of presentation at all. It's starting to feel a little bit like Junior High School.
Michael Pope
Feelings week, that's what she said on feelings week. It was starting to feel a little bit like junior high. That was Jennifer Boysko after the House Rules Committee failed to even take up her bill. So it's not like they voted it up or down. They just failed to take it up by the way it coded into that discussion. Later in the week, they did take it up and killed it. So they were really clear in their logic; Speaker Gilbert, actually specifically, was very clear in the logic for not acknowledging this wrong. Which is that if you think about the history of humankind, this is Speaker Gilbert's logic here, not mine; Speaker Gilbert is saying, if you think about, you know, the long story of human history, there are a lot of horrible things that were done. And so the General Assembly cannot. Does not have the time or bandwidth to acknowledge every wrongdoing that has ever happened on the planet, and then even if you get into racial problems, like horrible racist things that were done in Virginia history. Well, there's a lot of that too. And so House Republican leadership says, there's just not the time or the bandwidth to do this. People on the other side of this issue would say, look, dude, this is just a resolution, pass the resolution acknowledging the wrongdoing, and move on with your life.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, to push back slightly on Speaker Gilbert here. Nobody's asking Virginia to recognize every wrong thing that's ever happened, much less within its borders. It was a resolution, specifically asking it to recognize this specific wrong. The dark history of medical experimentation on Black bodies is obviously a stain on America's past, on MCV has passed. And we've got to acknowledge this, and Virginia lawmakers do have a responsibility to address past wrongs. Michael, I think, especially when it comes to injustice, is committed against communities of color. And failing to acknowledge and address grave robbing Black bodies, it does perpetuate a cycle of systemic racism and oppression. And preventing people from learning about it makes it more likely to happen again in the future.
Michael Pope
And as Philip Thompson pointed out, we're at this moment in our modern history where a lot of people in the African American community were really skeptical of the COVID vaccine when it came out. So this sort of touches on so much of what's happening in our current modern-day conversations, to just dismiss this out of hand, as well; we can't acknowledge every wrongdoing that has ever happened in the history of Virginia. Seems like it might be a little short-sighted. That's the perspective of people who want to see this wrong acknowledged. And there has been some journalism recently about this, what happened at Virginia Medical, the Medical College of Virginia in particular. And that has got a lot of people up in arms about all of this. And as well, they should be this is a horrible thing. Grave robbers are digging up Black cemeteries. I
Thomas Bowman
Right. And look, by going these resolutions aimed at recognizing historical injustice is the Virginia lawmakers here, they're just contributing to a culture of silence and further erasure. And the struggle to acknowledge and address the past is not just about historical accuracy, even. Michael, it's about repairing damage caused by centuries of exploitation and trauma, and this is just a really small minuscule first step.
Michael Pope
All right, well, let's move on to our next topic on our show. All right, it's time for some trivia. So last week, we asked you about the history of the Mace that's that blinged-out medieval weapon that's paraded up and down the center aisle of the House of Delegates every session.
Thomas Bowman
The Mace has a long history going back to colonial days. But then, after the Revolutionary War, they decided that the Mace was a bit of royalism they wanted to ditch, so at some point, however, House leadership decided to bring it back. So here's the trivia question. When did the house bring back the Mace?
Michael Pope
The answer is 1974. That's when the Jamestown Foundation, now known as the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation, acquired that Mace used currently; they acquired that Mace from an art dealer. So it was in use in time for the 1975 General Assembly session. Okay, so here is a fun fact about Mace. We actually know nothing about its history before that art dealer got his hands on it. So we don't know who this was created by, and we don't know what purpose it was created for. We do know that it was made in Birmingham, England, which apparently is known throughout the world as a jewelry center. So there are lots of jewelers in Birmingham. So it makes sense that an item like this would have been created in Birmingham. If you closely examine the Mace, you will find a British coat of arms on it, which is interesting for two reasons. One, I mean, think about the history of Virginia; they got rid of the Mace because it was too royalist, and so now we have a mace that has the British coat of arms on it. I mean, that seems a little weird.
Thomas Bowman
That is weird.
Michael Pope
And then the other thing is, so we don't know why it was created, who created it, and what it was used for before the art dealer got a hold of it. I'd be willing to bet; this is just suspicion on my part. And I'd love to see if I could, or we could track this down at some point that it was probably created for a local council. So like, Birmingham has a local council bath has a local council. And I would imagine a lot of those government bodies probably have Mace, like a maze, that they use to begin and end their sessions. So that's just a guess. I think that's probably what it was used before the art dealer got his hands on it. But the big mystery is that we don't know the history of that Mace or what it was used for.
Thomas Bowman
You know, Michael, like, that's bizarre because, like, while it could have this, like, interesting, prestigious legacy. It also could just be a piece of junk that some art dealer picked up at an antique mall.
Michael Pope
It could be a piece of junk. Yeah, we don't know. But I think some legwork would be involved here, but like, in fact, I tried to get a hold of the Jamestown Yorktown foundation this week successfully. But if they had records to show who specifically was the art dealer that they worked within 1974. Maybe there's a paper trail of that art dealer, and like how that, I mean, maybe this is an institution that you could look at the records for to see where that art dealer got it. But who knows, maybe one day we'll solve the mystery.
Thomas Bowman
All right. Well, what's our trivia question for next week, Michael?
Michael Pope
Well, as everybody knows, this weekend is the end of the General Assembly session. So our trivia question for next week is going to be about that Latin phrase everybody's always thrown around sine die. What the heck does that mean?
Thomas Bowman
I know this one, Michael, finally. If you think you know the answer to this and you're really excited about sine die. Go ahead and drop a comment in one of our tweets for this and hit us up on social media.
Michael Pope
Alright, well, let's head over to the water cooler. Thomas, what's the latest you hear around the water cooler?
Thomas Bowman
Well, Michael, that casino bill that we spent so much time researching and educating ourselves on is now dead. And that's good news for people who support a Richmond Casino.
Michael Pope
Richmond, of course, already had the referendum where they denied the casino. And the people who want a casino in Richmond believe that the existing law allows them to have a second referendum within a certain period of time; I think it was five years. Regardless of what period of time it is, the people in Richmond who wanted another casino referendum believe that the existing law already gives them the ability to have a second referendum. And so the status quo is just fine for them. They actually did not want the law to be passed at all. So the fact that the Petersburg referendum effort is now dead is a victory for people who want another casino or who want to casino in Richmond.
Thomas Bowman
And John Bell had alluded to some drama going on with the labor unions. I got more context about that, too. So the Petersburg casino, which apparently there was a deal with the Seafarers Union. And you and I were both sitting there wondering, like, why in the world would the Seafarers Union be involved in this? Well, apparently, they got their start doing casino boats, Michael, and so, of course, the Petersburg casino, not on a riverboat or anything like that, but they got the deal. Nonetheless, for the long term, permanent jobs, staffing the casino floor, at the exclusion of the construction and building trades, where more of that money, like building this thing, would have been like millions, hundreds of millions of dollars. So more of that money would have gone to local community workers. So that didn't happen. So the Richmond casino may or may not have another referendum now for it, and I don't think the people of Richmond want it, but some interested parties of Richmond are really keyed in on having it happen. Sounds like they might get another shot.
Michael Pope
Casino boats are really popular in terms of ways to evade the law. So if you're on a boat and you go a certain distance out into the water, you know, the laws of whatever state you're in no longer apply, or maybe the laws of a different state apply. Or maybe it's a no man's land, no man's land where no laws apply. Where I live in Old Town Alexandria, Alexandria was famous for having floating brothels. So if there's a houseboat, and the houseboat goes just a few feet into the water, you're no longer in Virginia. And so the laws of Virginia no longer apply.
Thomas Bowman
Floating brothels?
Michael Pope
Floating brothels, yeah. By the way, if listeners want to know more about floating brothels, you can read the final chapter of a book called Wicked Northern Virginia, which goes into great detail about the era of floating brothels and Old Town Alexandria.
Thomas Bowman
What about you, Michael? What's the latest you're hearing around the water cooler?
Michael Pope
Well, people are buzzing about this effort of House Democrats to force a vote on this constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights.
Thomas Bowman
And what's going on here?
Michael Pope
Well, you know, the Republican House leadership decided that all those bills the Republicans introduced to roll back abortion rights that none of them would be documented. So all those Republican bills that had to roll back abortion rights, none of them received a hearing. None of them were presented. None of them had a vote. So nobody's on the record for or against any of these things. The Democrats, of course, really want this constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, and so they're trying to do this procedural thing Delegate Marcus Simon, of course, is behind this, where, you know, you, I don't know all the details about this, but you have to introduce the rules change for like a number of consecutive sessions. So I think it's five. And so this is actually an up, so every time every House Session that you know, they once again introduced these rules change. And then an interesting thing happens, Thomas, everybody debates abortion for like a set amount of time, and they all give their pro-abortion speeches, and other Republicans give their anti-abortion speeches. And I think, eventually, they might take a vote. And so everybody's on the record one way or the other about how you feel about this amendment, codifying Virginia's existing abortion laws.
Thomas Bowman
But they're doing it as a rule. So they're really voting for or against a change to the House rules. So that's an interesting tactic because you get a chance to talk about it, frankly, on the floor in front of the cameras, and then also put some people on record or you can spin it as being on record, although it's not really on record. Do we have any idea what's gonna happen here?
Michael Pope
Well, I think this is headed toward some kind of a vote. And as you, as you mentioned, it's not a straight up or down vote on the amendment. It's more of a procedural vote on what your opinion of the rules change is. But as far as I know, that vote will eventually happen this week.
Hey, you know, let's open up our listener mailbag. Thomas, what are our listeners talking about?
Thomas Bowman
We got a message from a listener who heard our discussion of a bill to make sure that people incarcerated in prison aren't victims of predatory telephone bills. And we used some audio from Delegate Nick Freitas and Michael; incorrectly, you said he is a Virginia Beach Delegate. So he's actually from Culpeper.
Michael Pope
He's from Culpeper. Okay, Nick Freitas is from Culpeper, not Virginia Beach; I screwed that up; I was just writing the script too hastily on my way back to Alexandria from spending a week in Richmond. So I blame it on the lack of sleep. But, on this issue of salutations in terms of where people are from, there's an official list I got from the Clerk's office at the beginning of the session. That says the official salutations that are supposed to be mentioned on the floor. And this is actually really important to keep up with because sometimes they change. Like, Senator Creigh Deeds used to be the Senator from Bath County, and now he's the senator from Charlottesville. So it's really important to know the salutations and where these people are from, and for the radio, how do I mention these people in terms of their geography? So I had an interesting conversation with Delegate Danica Roem today, who was bragging about how she had memorized all their salutations. And so I said, hey, let's put that to the test. So, Thomas, I tried to stump her. I threw in every I was looking at my official salutation list, and I threw every name I could think of. And I was especially just concentrating on the Republicans that are from areas that I thought she might not be able to name. She got them one after the next I went through dozens of names before I finally got to one that she couldn't name off the top of her head. That's impressive. That's not easy to remember. It was very impressive. In fact, by the time I got through all 100, there were only two that she could not name the salutations for. So Delegate Danica Roem, memorizing the salutations. Okay, so also weighing in, in our episode about the predatory cost of calls from prisons was Shawn Weneta of the ACLU. He said, quote, another great episode. So thank you, Shawn Weneta, the ACLU.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, thanks. We're glad you liked it. And somebody who didn't like one of our episodes, Delegate Marcus Simon, offered this commentary regarding our most recent episode with the all-star panel from last week. He said today's episode of Pod Virginia is passionately the worst one, yet don't listen to it.
Well, you know, Michael, I agree. I was not on that. And I had to listen to you just try to herd some of these guests.
Michael Pope
Herding cats.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah. Especially delegate Mark's assignment.
Michael Pope
Especially Simon.
Thomas Bowman
And, you know, it's interesting that he just, he told us, he really liked the sound of his own voice. But not once we publish it. And I gotta say, like, I didn't like it either. Michael.
Michael Pope
We also got a message from a listener who wanted to call attention to a bill introduced by Senator Barbara Favola that would prohibit search warrants for the search and seizure of menstrual health data. So the listener said, many advocacy groups are concerned that menstrual health data could be sought by governments to prosecute abortions in the Commonwealth should Republicans manage to ban abortion in the coming years. So yeah, Thomas House Republicans killed that bill last week. And people are really interested in this topic of menstrual health data and its availability and the potential for wrongdoing there.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, that's a really interesting issue. And I hear Senator Favola is pretty livid after that went down. But I think it's important to know what the current status is, right? So the current status is that cops can execute a search warrant on anything data-wise that is relevant to their investigation of a crime that they suspect you might be involved in. And so sometimes, hypothetically, that might be mental health data. I can't possibly understand why they would ever need that because there are no crimes on the books that I can think of that make that relevant. And also, there are certain violations of HIPAA that comes into play here that you can't just get from a medical provider due to HIPAA with, I guess, perhaps a subpoena. It's got to be relevant to the case for a magistrate or a judge to write a warrant to authorize a warrant a search warrant on it. So it's probably never going to happen. But what this was supposed to do, but intended to do, is to make it so they could never execute a search warrant on it as a back-end way of protecting that data if Republicans are ever able to outlaw abortion in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Michael Pope
Well, the theme here is Pod Virginia has some really smart and talented listeners who listen to our podcast very carefully. So keep listening and keep your thoughts coming in.
Thomas Bowman
All right, well, let's celebrate those birthdays. This week. Micahel, what do we got?
Michael Pope
Yeah, let's celebrate some birthdays. So today, Monday, February 20th, is the birthday of Delegate Kathleen Murphy of Fairfax County. So happy birthday. And then later this week, Sunday, February 26th, is the birthday of Senator Tim Kaine. So happy birthday there, and also, Thomas, we missed a birthday a couple of weeks ago. We missed a birthday, so we're gonna go back and correct the record now. February 12th was the birthday of Delegate Kelly Convirs Fowler. So happy birthday Delegate Kelly Convirs Fowler. We apologize for missing your birthday. But you know, hopefully, we've made amends by coming back to it now. Happy Birthday Kathleen Murphy. Senator Tim Kaine and Delegate Kelly Convirs Fowler.
Thomas Bowman
Yeah, happy birthday, all. And that's it for this week's episode of Pod Virginia. Don't forget to check out our website. Follow us on social media for more updates and discussions of Virginia politics.
