Tag: Elliot Kline

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Coronavirus News

In brief: Happy (socially distanced) graduation, Memorial Day, and more

Joslyn Grimes (center) poses for a picture with her family after graduating at Albemarle High School on Saturday, May 23, 2020. Students filtered into the parking lot in five-minute intervals to experience the modified ceremony due to social distancing guidelines. PC: Zack Wajsgras

Rad grads

Charlottesville’s 2020 high school graduates imagined they’d be walking across a grand stage right about now, with “Pomp and Circumstance” blaring as an auditorium applauded. That’s gone, of course, but the virus hasn’t stopped our schools from showing love for their seniors. Districts around town have held variations on the traditional graduation ceremony, providing graduates with a chance to do more than just fling their caps toward the family’s living room ceiling.

Although school was originally scheduled to run through June 5, county schools decided to end “remote learning” on May 22, and held graduation events this week. At Albemarle High, students could make an appointment to walk across a tented, outdoor stage and receive a diploma while families and photographers looked on.

In the city, where lessons are (at least theoretically) continuing for the next two weeks, Charlottesville High put on a “victory lap” event—students donned their caps and gowns and drove around the school with their families, while teachers and staff stood by the roadside hollering congratulations and holding signs. The lap concluded at the front of the school, where graduates walked across the “stage” and received their diplomas. On the originally scheduled graduation day, the school will stream a congratulatory video, featuring footage from the victory laps.

In the past, most of the area’s public high schools have held their ceremonies at the John Paul Jones Arena. This year’s celebrations are far less grand, but they show the creativity, resilience, and sense of humor required in this moment—and they’re certainly as memorable as a valedictory address.

______________________

Quote of the Week

“I’ll tell you what—I think it’s been a spectacular success.”

—Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer on Memorial Day weekend. According to the city’s police, there were no major social distancing
violations on the area’s jam-packed beaches.

______________________ 

In brief

Pay up

The neo-Nazis who helped organize Unite the Right have, unsurprisingly, behaved poorly throughout the ensuing court case against them. On Monday, three defendants in Sines v. Kessler were ordered to pay $41,300 as a penalty for violating orders to turn over evidence related to the case, reports Integrity First for America, the organization backing the suit. Earlier this year, defendant Elliot Kline was charged with contempt of court and faced jail time as a result. The case is ongoing.

In the hole

After furloughing more than 600 employees with little notice, UVA Health System executives provided staff with more information on the institution’s deficit of $85 million per month. In a virtual meeting between School of Medicine faculty and Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Dr. Craig Kent earlier this month, Kent explained that the health system had a budget margin for this past year “of essentially zero” and had low reserves compared to other institutions, reported The Daily Progress. Naming several other money troubles, Kent admitted the institution hasn’t “run very efficiently over the years,” and promised it would make major financial changes.

Goodbye generals?

Years of debate (and violence) over the city’s infamous Confederate statues could soon come to an end. Four days after Governor Ralph Northam signed bills allowing localities to remove or alter Confederate monuments last month, Charlottesville City Manager Tarron Richardson told City Council via email that he would like to hold 2-2-1 meetings to discuss the removal of the Lee and Jackson statues, reported The Daily Progress. Richardson asked for the meetings, which would not have to be open to the public, to be held after council approves the city’s fiscal 2021 budget, which is expected to happen next month.

Hydroxy hoax

In a Sunday interview with “Full Measure,” President Trump admitted he was no longer taking daily doses of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug he claimed could prevent or treat coronavirus, despite mounting scientific evidence to the contrary. Just last week, he dismissed the findings of a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and UVA, which concluded that the drug had a higher overall mortality rate for coronavirus patients in Veterans Administration hospitals, calling it “a Trump enemy statement.” Trump has yet to apologize for those remarks, still claiming in the interview that “hydroxy” has had “tremendous, rave reviews.”

Respectful distance

With social-distancing regulations in place, traditional ceremonies were off limits this Memorial Day, but some locals still found ways to commemorate the holiday. An enormous American flag floated over the 250 Bypass, thanks to the fire department, and residents showed up at the Dogwood Vietnam Memorial to pay their respects throughout the day, including a trumpet player who joined in a nationally coordinated playing of “Taps.”

Frozen out

Laid off workers looking for a new position amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic won’t have an easy time of it, as several of the city’s major employers—including the City of Charlottesville, the University of Virginia, and Albemarle County Public Schools— have announced hiring freezes. Among the positions on hold in city government are the heads of the departments of Parks & Recreation and Public Works (both currently being run by interim directors), along with traffic supervisor, centralized safety coordinator, and others.

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News

In brief: Constitutional choices, banned from Grounds, $4-million manse and more

The Rivanna River flooded in May and edged near homes in Woolen Mills. Skyclad ap

But wait, there’s more on the ballot

While congressional candidates are getting all the attention, they’re not the only choices that need to be made at the polls November 6. Virginia likes to ask voters to weigh in on additions to its constitution, such as the now-unconstitutional marriage-is-between-a-man-and-a-woman amendment. A repeal of that will not appear on the ballot, but there are two other constitutional amendments for voters to consider on Tuesday.

One expands a property-tax exemption to spouses of service members who were killed or totally disabled in action to allow the spouse—as long as he or she does not remarry—to relocate and still claim the exemption. A “yes” on this amendment means approving the exemption.

The second, more controversial amendment, allows localities to offer property tax breaks to owners who make improvements to flood-prone properties. That means people who put money into protecting their property against rising waters can get a real estate tax break.

Critics say such breaks mean people who don’t live on the water are subsidizing the cost of waterfront living for others, and that they encourage building on flood-prone land. Supporters say the tax relief provides an incentive for owners to make expensive fixes to protect their properties.

A “yes” vote on this amendment means you support allowing localities to offer the property tax break.

Earlier this year, Delegate Steve Landes, who represents western Albemarle, voted against the flood amendment in the House because of concerns about the increasing number of constitutional amendments providing “more and more exemptions from property taxes.” But he says he supports both amendments now, and notes that while the flood amendment allows localities to provide this exemption, “it does not require them to do so.”

Quote of the week

“I don’t need thoughts and prayers—I need change.”—Jordan Bridges, a UVA third-year and president of Jewish Voice for Peace, at an October 27 candlelight vigil for the 11 people shot to death in a Pittsburgh synagogue earlier that day, according to the Cavalier Daily.

In brief

Unite the Right organizer Richard Spencer will not be welcome at his alma mater the next four years. Eze Amos

Banned from UVA

Ten people associated with last year’s August 11 march through Grounds are banned from university property for four years. The list includes alum Richard Spencer, whose wife filed for divorce last week, alleging assault; Elliott Kline, aka Eli Mosley, former Identity Evropa leader in charge of Unite the Right security; former Marine Vasillios Pistolis; the Daily Stormer’s Robert “Azzmador” Ray, and four members of California-based Rise Above Movement arrested in early October.

Fields files charge

James Fields, the man charged with driving his car into a crowd on August 12, 2017, killing one person and injuring many others, was allegedly attacked by another inmate at the local jail earlier this month. Fields filed an assault charge against Timothy Ray Brown Jr, but he showed no physical signs of being beaten up at his October 29 motions hearing,

Too young to drink—and buy handguns

Two UVA students filed a lawsuit challenging a federal ban on the sale of handguns to those under 21 (18-year-olds can legally buy rifles and shotguns, but not handguns). Tanner Hirschfeld, 20, and Natalia Marshall, 18, are suing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, its acting director, Thomas Brandon, and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, claiming the age limit is unconstitutional.

George Allen’s old house on the block

staff photo

Social Hall, the circa 1814 house once owned by the former Virginia governor and U.S. senator on East Jefferson Street, is for sale for nearly $4 million. Janice Aron bought it in 2006 for $1.1 million, and extensively renovated the 6,500-square-foot manse, which features five bedrooms, a lap pool, and an unparalleled view of Market Street Park and the statue of General Robert E. Lee.

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News

Federal judge to rule on motions to dismiss in August 12 victims’ case

Jim Kolenich, who represents Jason Kessler, "Crying Nazi" Chris Cantwell, Elliott Kline and multiple others in Sines v. Kessler, addresses the media outside the federal courthouse while his co-counsel Elmer Woodard gives a rare interview to a Washington Post reporter in the background. Staff photo

In a lawsuit filed on behalf of 10 alleged victims of last summer’s deadly August weekend in which hundreds of white supremacists and neo-Nazis descended upon Charlottesville, a federal judge is now considering whether to grant several of the defendants’ motions to dismiss the case.

Attorneys Roberta Kaplan and Karen Dunn claim that 25 individuals and groups named as defendants in the suit premeditatedly conspired to commit violence at the August 12 Unite the Right rally.

Plaintiffs include victims of the Fourth Street car attack, other white supremacist violence and extreme emotional distress, including Elizabeth Sines, Marcus Martin, Marissa Blair, the Reverend Seth Wispelwey and Tyler Magill, who suffered a stroke after being beaten on August 11.

“There is one thing about this case that should be made crystal clear at the outset—the violence in Charlottesville was no accident,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants spent months carefully coordinating their efforts, on the internet and in person.”

The document quotes Unite the Right promotions that stated, “If you want to defend the South and Western civilization from the Jew and his dark-skinned allies, be at Charlottesville on 12 August,” and “Next stop: Charlottesville, VA. Final stop: Auschwitz.”

The suit further quotes one rally organizer Elliott Kline (aka Eli Mosley), who allegedly declared, “We are going to Charlottesville. Our birthright will be ashes and they’ll have to pry it from our cold hands if they want it. They will not replace us without a fight.”

Ohio-based defense attorney Jim Kolenich, who represents Kline and nearly a dozen other high-profile Unite the Righters, including Jason Kessler and “Crying Nazi” Chris Cantwell, argued in United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia today that Kaplan and Dunn failed to prove that his clients conspired to be violent at the rally.

“There is no specific allegation in those paragraphs,” he said, adding that the only conspiracy was one “to come to Charlottesville and be provocative with their political speech.”

“Yes, they are provocative people,” Kolenich said, and noted that defendant Jeff Schoep, the neo-Nazi at the helm of the National Socialist Movement, has said if he could meet Adolf Hitler today, he’d thank him, as also referenced in the complaint.

Northern Virginia-based John DiNucci, who as of yesterday is representing Richard Spencer in the suit, made the same claim that no specific evidence pointed to Spencer’s premeditated conspiracy for violence. As did Brian Jones, a local lawyer who’s representing Michael Hill, Michael Tubbs and the League of the South.

Mike “Enoch” Peinovich,  the New Yorker who founded The Right Stuff, a right-wing media hub, and podcast The Daily Shoah, is the only defendant representing himself in the case.

“I have many opinions that people may find shocking,” he told Judge Norman Moon, but he also said there’s no evidence that he was planning to be violent at Unite the Right, and though the lawsuit points out that he announced the rally on his podcast and his name appeared on rally fliers, Peinovich said that’s “just First Amendment stuff.”

To combat the claims that the suit’s defendants weren’t the ones who conspired to do harm, Kaplan told the judge, “We carefully chose the 25 defendants we did. …We went after the leaders.”

She said her team is still gathering evidence from sites that alt-right leaders used to plan for the rally, such as Discord, where they often use screen names to conceal their identities.

When she gave the real-life screen name example of “Chef Goyardee,” Peinovich shook with laughter. She also referred to internet conversation about running counterprotesters over with vehicles, which she said the alt-right has since denounced as an “edgy joke.”

“We believe that what we have here is just the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

Kolenich, who admitted during the hearing that he doesn’t know which Confederate general’s statue is causing such a ruckus in Charlottesville, said outside the courthouse that the judge should have a ruling within 30 days.

Beside him, his co-counsel gave a rare interview with Washington Post reporter Ian Shapira.

Said Elmer Woodard, the Blairs, Virginia, attorney who’s recently spent quite a bit of time in Charlottesville defending white supremacists at the state level, “I represent murderers, drug dealers and perverts, but I’m not one of them.”