News

Visit with Students at Freeman Highschool

Elizabeth visited Freeman Highschool in Henrico and got the chance to speak with students about the midterms and her campaign. She was honored to have been invited to their “Donuts with Delegates” series where they meet with local candidates and elected officials. Elizabeth spoke at length about issues relating to veterans affairs, the Iran War, college affordability and the uncertain future young adults face. A special thank you to Nahyla for the invitation and helping set this up!

Iran Death Toll Rises

News broke this week that a seventh American soldier has passed away during the ongoing US-Israel conflict. Army Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky, died Sunday the 8th after being wounded during a March 1 attack on the Prince Sultan Air Base, in Saudi Arabia, a Pentagon statement said. Pennington was assigned to the 1st Space Battalion, 1st Space Brigade of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command based at Fort Carson, Colorado.

This war is now in its twelfth day. Seven American soldiers have died, and hundreds have lost their lives in Iran and across the Middle East. On Friday, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations put the number of dead at over 1,300. This war is unjust, illegal, and is draining American taxpayer resources. Energy bills and oil prices are skyrocketing, and Trump doesn’t care. He’s not fighting to lower prices so Americans can afford to fill up their tanks to get to work, and he’s not fighting to protect the lives of American service members. 

This war is getting personal. Elizabeth knows what it’s like to wait to hear about the status of military personnel abroad, waiting to know if they’re safe. Her heart goes out to the families and friends of the seven service members who’ve passed away, and will continue to unequivocally condemn the invasion of Iran.

Suspicion AI Responsible for Strike on Elementary School

Reports suggest that Anthropic’s AI tool, “Claude”, was used in the initial attacks on Iran hours after President Trump called for a ban on the use of Anthropic across all federal agencies. Trump’s ban came after it was revealed that the US military had used Claude in Venezuela to assist in the operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The US Military struck 1,000 targets over the first 24 hours of the attack on Iran, it is believed that Claude helped achieve this. It is suspected that Claude was responsible for a number of miscalculated strikes on civilian targets and among these was the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls elementary school in Minab which killed over 150 students.

This should warrant an immediate investigation. Instead the Pentagon won’t admit when and where Claude was involved. Just last week Trump met with a number of big tech companies and several signed on to his pledge that big tech companies will be responsible for their own power, allowing data centers to be fast tracked with disregard for local regulations. We know that big tech companies use these data centers to power their AI tools. This begs the question, are we allowing big tech to build these data centers to power the military strikes that end up killing innocent civilians in far away lands?

Elizabeth has first hand experience in the military and recognizes that mistakes happen. However, when there are civilian deaths that are occurring on a massive scale, something’s got to change. Just like with the proliferation of data centers, Elizabeth believes that AI should be handled carefully and should be regulated with America’s best interests in mind. Killing innocent civilians is not in the best interest of the American public.

Trading in ICE Barbie for a MAGA Warrior

Trump fired Kristi Noem in the first major change to Trump’s cabinet in his second term. It is impressive that it took this long considering the mayhem that was Trump’s first term. In fact, it really probably should have come sooner. Noem led the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the mass deportation of millions just looking for a better life, the continued wrongful, unlawful and cruel detentions of thousands, the murder of two American citizens by ICE and an atrocious, egotistic, horseback advertisement scandal that cost American taxpayers $200 million. It was the fact that Noem was under attack by both parties about the pricey ad campaign that ultimately forced Trump’s hand (oddly, the republicans didn’t seem to care too much about the  2 dead US citizens). Amid Noem’s ouster, as if the ad scandal wasn’t enough, it was recently revealed that one of Noem’s deputies had spent millions of US tax dollars on new DHS vehicles with ICE logos on the side. ICE agents refuse to use them. It seems that the masked gestapo don’t want to be easily spotted on their stakeouts.

Noem will now be appointed to the newly created position of special envoy for the Shield of the Americas. Trump announced that Noem will be replaced by Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin who will likely takeover leadership of the DHS in the coming weeks. Trump praises Senator Mullin as a ‘MAGA warrior’, but will he bend and mold to Trump’s will in ways that ICE Barbie couldn’t? Elizabeth applauds the removal of Kristi Noem but acknowledges that the Trump Administration’s immigration policies are cruel and inhumane. Elizabeth has voiced that ICE needs to be abolished and replaced with a bipartisan solution that works to protect our borders while also providing legal avenues to citizenship. Elizabeth is committed to the return to due process, developing systems to allow immigrants to enter the US legally and pursue naturalization without excessive hassle and harassment.

Meet and Greet

This weekend Elizabeth will have a Meet and Greet at the Bookshelf on Church in Kilmarnock. Lisa, the owner, graciously invited Elizabeth to host an event at her lovely bookstore! If you live in the Northern Neck or the Middle Peninsula, we’d love to see you! Stop by on Saturday from 4-6PM! Click here to RSVP

Raise Your Voice and Dropkick Murphys

The Dropkick Murphys are an awesome Irish American Celtic punk band from Massachusetts. They are very supportive of veterans and foster parents. In preparation for Elizabeth for Virginia’s Raise Your Voice Night of Protest Music planned for April 30th, Elizabeth reached out to see if Dropkick Murphys would be able to attend. They replied that they sadly could not attend but invited Elizabeth to their show in Norfolk last night. Elizabeth was honored to be invited to join them on stage, they gave her a shout out during their show and provided some merch that will be featured in our Raise Your Voice event. Thank you to the Dropkick Murphys!

Find out more about the Raise Your Voice event here.

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