Three are dead after a shooting at Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia on Thursday night. All the victims were Marines, including the shooter, who took his own life. Early reports indicated that after the first person was shot around 11 p.m, authorities and the gunman -- believed to have been a staff member at the base’s officer-candidate school -- engaged in a standoff, with the suspect barricaded in the barracks. When the authorities finally entered the barracks early Friday morning, they found the shooter and another victim dead inside.

NBC News reports:

"The assailant and both victims, a man and a woman, were staff members at the school and not students, a senior defense official said. The official called the incident "isolated," adding: "There was nothing random here."'

"The names of the dead were being withheld for 24 hours pending notification of next of kin."

"Military police and Prince William County, Va., Sheriff's Department officers responded to a report of gunshots around 10:30 p.m. local time and were on the scene within five minutes, base commander Col. David W. Maxwell said at a press conference on Friday."

"They found one Marine dead and the shooter inside the barracks, a Marine official said. At 3 a.m., officers entered the barracks and found two more bodies, including that of the shooter, the official said. The three, all active duty Marines, were pronounced dead at the scene."

Updated reports Friday morning say that authorities did not fire any shots and did not hear any shots fired, and there was no standoff or barricades.

"Why officers hesitated before entering the barracks remained unclear Friday morning."

The assailant appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to base officials.

At this time it is believed that a "relationship dispute" was the motive behind the shooting, according to a Marine official.

As Mitt Romney spoke at a campaign rally in Virginia on Thursday, a protester began shouting, “What about climate? That's what caused this monster storm!” The protester, holding a sign that said “END CLIMATE SILENCE,” was escorted out, as the crowd booed and broke out into chants of 'USA, USA.' Romney looked on with an odd, half-smirk on his face.

Undeterred by the interruption, Mitt Romney urged the crowd in Doswell, Virginia to back his bid for the White House, saying he was the candidate offering to take the country in a new direction.

"I don't believe status quo is the right course for America, I believe that America finally needs real change. It was promised and we are going to give it to the American people," he said.

"We are going to give it to the American people," yeah, that's what we're afraid of, Mitt.

President Obama, spoke in Fairfax, Virginia on Friday, and had the chance to address one important issue that didn’t come up in the debate – the way that Obamacare, and supporting women’s decisions about their health care, is not only better for women’s health, but for women’s lives, families, and as a result, the economy.

"Governor Romney said he would get rid of Planned Parenthood funding. Apparently, this, along with Big Bird, is a driving the deficits," Obama said to much laughter from the crowd.

"And he would have supported an extreme measure in Massachusetts that would have outlawed some forms of contraception. He joined the far-right of his party to support a bill that would allow employers to deny contraceptive coverage to their employees."

"I mean think about that. Your boss telling you what’s best for your health and safety. Let me tell you something, Virginia, I don’t think your boss should control the care you get. I don’t think insurance companies should control the care you get. I definitely don’t think politicians on Capitol Hill should control the care you get. We’ve seen some of their attitudes. We’ve read about those. I think there’s one person who gets to make decisions about your health care. That’s you."

No long story of personal opinion, or religious beliefs, just straight to the point and sensible. More than a little refreshing in this long campaign that has exposed a lot of backwards, and dangerous thinking in regards to women's health and reproductive rights.

Activists gathered Sunday in Leesburg, Virginia, to protest covert negotiations of the Trans Pacific Partnership. "People think Citizens United was bad?" one demonstrator said. "You ain't seen nothing yet. The TPP is the most dystopian agreement that could possibly exist."

The TPP, a so-called "free trade" agreement, represents a threat even greater than the Citizens United ruling. Of the agreement's 30-something chapters, only two have to do with trade and the rest are a list of corporate giveaways. The TPP is being negotiated in secret and not even members of Congress and the Senate have access to the text. If implemented, this agreement will hardcode corporate dominance over sovereign governments into international law that will supercede any federal, state, or local laws of any member country. This document should set alarm bells ringing.

Mitt Romney is going to have some unwanted company on his upcoming bus tour across several swing states.

The Democratic National Committee announced on Thursday that it will stage its own four-day bus tour alongside the Romney campaign’s trip through Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio. The tour, called “Romney Economics: The Middle Class Under the Bus Tour,” will begin on Friday with a news conference in Alexandria, Virginia.

Organizers said they will highlight Mitt Romney’s record of failure as Governor of Massachusetts, the lack of support small businesses received from Governor Romney’s Administration and Romney’s proposed tax hike on middle-class families to pay for massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. The DNC’s latest tour represents a reprise of the successful tour by the same name that the DNC conducted in June to respond to Mitt Romney’s tour at the time, which included stops in NH, PA, OH, IA, WI and MI.

“Throughout Mitt Romney’s career, middle-class families have frequently found themselves thrown under the bus as a result of his failed record and top-down economic policies,” the committee said in a news release. "When Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, the number of business start-ups fell by 10 percent and hit its lowest point during his last year in office. Massachusetts ranked 47th out of 50 in job creation, and Romney hiked taxes and fees by $750 million a year in addition to saddling the Commonwealth with the highest debt per person in the country."

The committee further stated that "Policies Mitt Romney has embraced as a candidate would only further erode middle-class security. Mitt Romney would hike taxes on the middle class to pay for massive tax cuts for wealthy Americans like Romney. Independent economists found that Romney’s plan would raise taxes on the average middle-class family with children by $2,000 in order to give hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires."

They also hammered Romney for favoring a tax plan that benefits millionaires and billionaires like himself while raising taxes on the middle class, as he continues to refuse to release more of his own tax returns. The DNC tour organizers insist that "Americans have a right to learn more about why Romney had a Swiss Bank Account, how low a tax rate he has paid and if he even paid taxes at all some years, and what his finances looked like while he was outsourcing jobs, offshoring his own money and laying off workers in the private sector."

Speakers on the tour include Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the committee, Ed Rendell, a former Pennsylvania governor and Chet Culver, a former governor of Iowa. Two state representatives from Massachusetts will speak at the opening news conference: Kathi-Anne Reinstein and David Linsky, both long-serving Democrats.

The Romney campaign announced its bus tour earlier this week, leading to speculation on what the itinerary might say about his pick for vice president. The final stop is in Ohio, the home state of the rumored front-runner, Senator Rob Portman.

The side of the committee’s bus features tire tracks over the words “Middle Class” and the slogan: “Romney Economics: Outsourcing, Offshoring, Out of Touch.”

This is Bob McDonnell's Virginia: The Virginia state capitol was the scene of an enormous women's rights protest. A peaceful protest, with young, old, and everything in between, men and women alike. The overreaction by the police was appalling and shows the extent to which the Republican party is willing to use police power to suppress peaceful dissent.

The Richmond-Times Dispatch reports:

Thirty-one women's-rights demonstrators were arrested this afternoon in a protest at the state Capitol that drew hundreds of protesters and Virginia State Police in riot gear.

Capt. Raymond Goodloe of the Virginia Division of Capitol Police
said 17 women and 14 men were arrested. He did not have a breakdown on charges but said those arrested were likely accused of either trespassing or unalawful assembly.

The arrests took place after some protesters, who had marched on downtown streets before entering Capitol Square, refused to leave the south steps of the Capitol. They were hauled off by officers and taken away in a bus parked nearby while other armed officers held protesters at bay with riot shields.

The demonstration came after the General Assembly approved hotly disputed legislation that requires women to have an ultrasound before getting an abortion.

The Washington Post reports:

The group had a permit to rally at the Bell Tower on Capitol Square earlier in the day, but Goodloe (The Virginia Capitol Police Captain) said rallies are not allowed on the Capitol steps. The group had planned to march to the Executive Mansion where Gov. Bob McDonnell lives after the rally.

Another report from the Washington Post, or rather a Washington Post fail. This is the headline:

"More than 30 arrested at abortion rally in Richmond"

What the hell is an abortion rally?!?

An update from the Richmond-Times Dispatch:

Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond, tonight spoke out against the arrests of 31 women's rights demonstrators in a protest at the state Capitol earlier today that drew Virginia State Police in riot gear.

She said the arrests "are just the latest example of government overreach that we’ve seen in recent weeks."

"The men and women who marched on Capitol Square have a right to peacefully protest without the threat that they will be arrested for exercising that right," McQuinn said in a news release. "At several recent women’s rights events, there has been an overabundance of police presence. In fact, the Capitol Police tactical team has been at all of the events," she said.

McQuinn said she had "never seen a similar police presence when guns rights advocates assemble on Capitol Square on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday."

McQuinn called the arrests "a sad reminder that our progress towards equality for all Virginians has not been achieved.”

Much, much more at Daily Kos - including more videos, photos and details from a Virginia blogger. Interesting note, that Washington Post headline fail that I mentioned? It seems that was an attempt to correct the original headline! Info on that at Kos as well.

2012 Feb. 20 • Silent Protest for Women's Rights • Virginia State Capitol • Richmond, Virginia from Silver Persinger on Vimeo.

Update: Lawmakers in Virginia put off a final vote Tuesday on a highly contested bill that would require women in the eastern US state to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound prior to an abortion.

Republican Governor Bob McDonnell, a Roman Catholic father of five, was poised to swiftly sign the so-called "informed consent" bill -- adopted by the state senate earlier this month-- into law.

But a day after 1,000 protesters descended on the state capitol in Richmond, the House of Delegates held off on third and final reading of the legislation, leaving open the possibility it might yet be amended or dropped altogether when it comes before the chamber again on Wednesday.

====================================
Over 1,000 demonstrators assembled outside of Virginia’s Capitol on Monday. Standing silently in the cold, they lined the walkway used by the legislators who have been voting on -- and voting away -- women's rights in Virginia.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that a bill to require ultrasounds of women about to undergo an abortion was scheduled for passage on Monday, but was pushed back by the House:

With hundreds protesting outside the Capitol, the House of Delegates delayed multiple contentious bills that appeared poised for final passage today.

The chamber pushed back votes on a measure that would require an ultrasound of all women considering an abortion as well as adoption- and gun-related legislation.

`From their Facebook page:

The Capitol ground rules say that we cannot assemble, hold signs, chant, yell or protest. We think silence in the face of this struggle and their unconstitutional rules presents the strongest response to their assault on women. Please come out and stand up for our rights and for the rights of all women in VA to choose the best reproductive route for themselves. These people are used to signs, yelling, chanting etc. It is not new. They are not used to silently being stared at and having to look us in the eye. It gives us the power.

Tuesday, reports indicate that even as women continue to protest at the Capitol, the ultrasound bill is now headed to the Governor:

After garnering national attention and jokes at the state's expense, a bill to require ultrasounds of women about to undergo an abortion will likely head to Gov. Bob McDonnell after final passage in the House of Delegates today.

On Monday, about 1,000 people appeared at the Capitol to oppose the measure as part of a women's rights rally that came together quickly through social media and word of mouth.

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