Real Censorship
I started DWT on blogspot.com and kept publishing there until late in 2020. I can’t recall why I left exactly but I harbor them no ill will— at least I didn’t until this week. Out of the blue they deleted this post (based on some mysterious complaint almost 6 years after it was published on October 27, 2017). And they put warning notices up on dozens more. More of that below. Here’s the one they censured, as though they think they’re Ron DeSantis. This is no longer on the DWT site:
A Dangerous And Corrupt Political Dynasty In Virginia Beach
Ever hear about a county sheriff's race being more important than state legislative races? We have a situation in Virginia Beach... Virginia Beach is key to state politics in purple Virginia and the top dog Republican rules the roost with an iron hand and is so dominating that even Democrats dare not oppose him. Fortunately we have a local-- a classics professor and activist since Vietnam War days-- to help us understand this very unique and disturbing situation.
Fighting The Good Fight In Virginia Beach
-by Aleurophile
Virginia Democrats are working hard so that our elections this year will be the beginning of the Blue wave that surges through Congress in 2018 and makes impeachment-- and every other good thing we need to do-- truly possible. Energy and enthusiasm are high as we take on districts where Republicans haven’t been challenged in years.
Virginia Beach is one of those areas. There are six good Democrats running for state delegate seats: Kelly Fowler, Kimberly Anne Tucker, Leigh Anne Bowling, David Rose-Carmack, Veronica Coleman, and Cheryl Turpin. Two city-wide races are of particular importance, since bringing voters out for them will also help the delegate candidates; our candidates are Susan Hippen for Treasurer (facing an incumbent who is responsible for the city's owing the state more than a quarter million dollars that has since been spent) and John Bell for Sheriff. Today we're going to focus on the pivotal Sheriff’s race.
These candidates are up against an entrenched political machine run by the Stolle (rhymes with “dolly”) family, an entrenched Republican political dynasty. (See the diagram up at the top of the page.)
The capo dei tutti capi is Ken Stolle, a former State Senator and the current Sheriff, running for re-election. Ken Stolle’s brothers and two employees (Sheriff’s Captains, who serve at the pleasure of the Sheriff) hold an astonishing number of powerful positions in Virginia Beach; his sister, Siobhan Stolle Dunnavant, is a state Senator in the Richmond area, a couple of hours away.
Nothing shows the Stolle grip on Virginia Beach quite so well as this year’s sample ballot for the 83rd Delegate District (everyone in Virginia Beach will have Ken and Colin Stolle on their ballots, but the citizens of the 83rd are super lucky and have THREE jolly Stolles on theirs).
It is not illegal for the Stolles to do this, of course-- it just stinks. You have a complaint about the jail or the Sheriff so you go to your delegate; oops! He’s the Sheriff’s brother or employee. So you try the Commonwealth’s Attorney (i.e., the county prosecutor), but wait! He’s a brother, too. Conflict of interest in Virginia Beach is spelled S-T-O-L-L-E. It’s no surprise that this political incest has led to some rather fishy financial dealings, some of them recounted in this excellent Daily Kos article by SemDem.
But there’s tragedy, too. On November 7, 2010, Mr. Douglas Poole died in the Virginia Beach jail. He had spent ten days there after being arrested for driving with a suspended license. Mr. Poole suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure and had his medications with him, but was denied both his blood pressure medication (and, initially, his insulin) and medical treatment by jail and medical staff. Douglas Poole was 54 years old, the father of three and grandfather of five.
The medical staff were employees of a for-profit medical care company, Conmed Health Management, which had been awarded the Virginia Beach contract by Ken Stolle in 2010 after donating to his campaign.
Here’s a description of Douglas Poole’s suffering and death from the decision in the lawsuit filed by his sister.
Plaintiff has pleaded sufficient facts to show that jail employees may have violated plaintiff's constitutional rights. Indeed, that Mr. Poole had known serious medical issues, that he was never provided his blood pressure medication, that he was turned away after complaining of headaches, sudden blindness, and an inability to walk, and that his care was so direly neglected that he ultimately died from lack of treatment may be sufficient to satisfy the low threshold of Rule 8(a)(2) in proving that jail staff acted indifferently toward Mr. Poole's serious medical need.
Conmed, which according to the same legal decision, had retained nearly all of the medical and nursing staff of the prior healthcare company, which itself had also come under scrutiny for providing sub-par medical care to inmates, ended up settling with the family out of court for $300,000. In 2011 and 2012, Conmed increased its annual donations from $1,000 to $2,500. That’s right, Douglas Poole’s days of suffering and entirely preventable death did not cause Stolle to end the contract or refuse donations from Conmed.
Now contrast the Douglas Poole tragedy with the crime of Kenneth Stolle, Jr., Ken Stolle’s son and a Sheriff’s Deputy in nearby Chesapeake. He was arrested for a DUI hit-and-run in Virginia Beach and got off with a $250 fine. Dad’s the Sheriff, Uncle Colin's the county prosecutor: Connections can be the difference between life and death in Virginia Beach.
Since 2015, when they began donating to Ken Stolle’s campaign committee, NaphCare has been the company providing medical care to Virginia Beach Jail’s inmates. NaphCare has contributed $7,500, and its president, Byron Harrison, $15,000 to Stolle in nice regular annual donations of $7,500.
But healthcare for inmates isn't the only area where there are suspicious donations; as SemDem notes:
"Stolle’s other big donors include Global Tel-Link ($21,000) which provides phone service for Virginia correctional facilities and Catering by Marlins ($30,000), which of course manages food service for correctional facilities."
Ken Stolle has received nearly $600,000 in donations since 2009-- though he usually runs unopposed. Given the pattern above, these would bear closer scrutiny.
I question, too, whether Ken Stolle is physically fit to serve as the Virginia Beach Sheriff. This video, taken at a recent candidates’ forum, and this radio interview of a few weeks ago, reveal quite pronounced physical fragility (see this informative article). Voters have the right to the authoritative assessment of a medical specialist-- not Stolle’s own declaration-- as to whether he’s up to the stresses of being the Sheriff of a major metropolitan area, never mind of carrying a gun.
Residents of Virginia Beach have, however, a fantastic alternative in John Bell, who rose through the ranks of the Virginia Beach Police Department to become Deputy Chief of Police. He was awarded the Silver Medal for extraordinary bravery and has numerous other awards and commendations. One of John’s priorities is to disrupt the school to prison pipeline and he understands the need to educate the police force to deal with teenagers differently from adults. You can get a sense of where he’s coming from in the video below.
Supporting the Democratic candidates who’ve taken on the Stolle Machine is a worthy cause. They are fighting the good fight and we need to support them as we can. Each and every one deserves financial support, and helping Susan Hippen for Treasurer (donate here) and John Bell for Sheriff (donate here) will help get out the vote for all. Please do what you can to help us throw a spanner into the Stolle Machine! Thank you!
There was also a video but that is now inaccessible. The notice one gets when one clicks on where the video was is “The post was unpublished because it violates Blogger community guidelines. To republish, please update the content to adhere to guidelines.” I have no clue what those violated guidelines were and there is no way to contact them. The e-mail has no replay address. And now for the posts with the warning notices on them (after someone complained about them and the censorship board found the complaints valid).
Your post titled THIS IS WHAT MICHAEL MOORE AND SOME CONCERNED CITIZENS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. IMAGINE WHAT THE RACIST, CLASSIST PIG OF A THIEF IN THE WHITE HOUSE COULD DO has been put behind a warning for readers.
Your post titled ARE ALL RIGHT WING HOMOPHOBES CLOSET CASES? has been put behind a warning for readers
Oh, I just figured out that not all of them have warning signs. Some others have been unpublished entirely, like these two: Your post titled DIEBOLD TAKES OVER CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT!! BRUCE McPHERSON MUST BE RECALLED has been unpublished. And California: The State Of The Races
Your post titled Should Chimpy the Prez be impeached—and our Veep-from-Hell with him? No question. But will it happen? No. It stinks, but maybe it's just as well has been put behind a warning for readers.
Your post titled IS EVERYONE WRONG BUT CHENEY? NO... AND MORE EX-PAGES HAVE COME OUT TO SAY FOLEY TRIED-- AND EVEN SUCCEEDED has been put behind a warning for readers.
Your post titled Steve Scalise Admires Patrick McHenry's "Judgment" has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Punch A Gay Child? Beat Him Up? Kick Him Out Of The House? Is That What Jesus Teaches? Or Is That Satan's Work? has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Most Conservatives Screaming The Loudest About Hating Gays Are Repressed Homosexuals Or Self-Loathing Closet Cases has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Obama's Payroll Tax Break-- Right In The Crappy Middle has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled A DWT Exclusive: We Have The First Draft Of Comrade Trump's Inauguration Speech! has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Tennessee Is Finding Out Why One Party Rule Doesn't Work Out Well has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Right-wingers get away with scumbaggery because they can usually count on other right-wing scumbags to cover up for them has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Looking Back at 2010: Justice Elena Kagan 1, Crackerjackass Newt 0 has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled The Tyranny Of Hate has been put behind a warning for readers
And as if by magic, while I was writing this post, 6-- no 7-- more notices came in from the mysterious Blogspot staffer who is busy undoing the archives of DWT:
Your post titled Ever Wonder Why So Many Big-Mouthed Far Right Republicans Fit Those Big Mouths Around Phallus? has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Ever Wonder Why Fox News Always Poo-Poos The Republican War On Women? has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Family Of Secrets- Part 2: Poppy has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled But Now They Only Block The Sun... has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Deep Throat is doing WHAT??? has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Your Rights And Quality Of Life When Republicans Rule: It’s Republican World! 2015 In Review-- Chapter Nine has been put behind a warning for readers
Your post titled Breaking News: "Obama, Boehner Come to Agreement That Cantor Is Douche" (The Borowitz Report) has been put behind a warning for readers
Now I've stopped even reading their e-mails, which just keep flooding in. Since I wrote the above, these messages showed up:
sucks don't it? dcrapguy. who YOU censored often.
this is everyone's future under the nazis. you should be used to it by now.