YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A DICTATOR-LOVING WACKALOON TO BE A REPUBLICAN, BUT IT HELPS

A Virginia state senator is spreading bizarre conspiracy theories on behalf of the Assad government.

Fresh off a sit-down with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Virginia state Sen. Richard H. Black turned up on an Arab TV channel last week making an extraordinary claim about one of the United States’ closest allies.

Black said Britain’s MI6 intelligence service was planning a chemical weapons attack on the Syrian people, which it would then blame on Assad....

Black (R-Loudoun) said later that he meant the British were planning not to carry out an attack themselves, but to either direct rebels to do so or stage a phony attack, with actors posing as victims.

Black also said some chemical attacks previously reported to have occurred in Syria were British fakes, pulled off with help from volunteer first responders known as White Helmets.

“From what I can tell, they have been planning a fake attack, not a genuine one, but one where they actually move people out of a town and they have trained people to portray victims of a gas attack,” Black said Friday in an interview with The Washington Post. “And the plan is to use the White Helmets who have always been involved in these notorious deceptions, to portray an attack.”

The meeting with Assad that preceded these statements was Black's second -- he also met with Syrian dictator in 2016. Prior to that, in 2014, he wrote a letter to Assad calling him “heroic” and praising him and Syria's military for “extraordinary gallantry in the war against terrorists.”

Black is in the Virginia state senate because he beat his 2016 Democratic opponent -- Jill McCabe, wife of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, one of President Trump's bêtes noires. During the campaign, Black posted an insulting tweet about McCabe that he subsequently deleted under pressure:

Black’s tweet was a response to his opponent, Jill McCabe (D), labeling him a career politician. The tweet included an image that listed accomplishments by both candidates. On one side, Black listed his accomplishments: senator, delegate, accountant, juris doctor, Marine major, Army colonel, home builder, herpetologist, factory manager, career prosecutor, construction engineer, pilot and flight instructor, library board member, father of three and grandfather of 14.

On the other side, he listed McCabe’s: doctor and mother. The difference was “experience,” he tweeted.

McCabe is a pediatric surgeon.

In addition, Black tried to smear both McCabe and Planned Parenthood:

Black's campaign tweeted an image appearing to show a Planned Parenthood survey indicating McCabe's support for late-term abortions. It also tweeted that McCabe "supports selling late term abortions for bigger body parts." The campaign then tweeted in August that such parts "are more profitable." McCabe's campaign denied any support for late-term abortions but said that "she does understand that there are unfortunately circumstances where a pregnancy proceeding to full-term is not in the best health interest of either a mother, or child." The fact-checking organization PolitiFact gave Black's statements a "Pants on Fire" rating.

Black is notorious in Virginia for having enclosed pink plastic fetuses in letters he sent to legislators regarding an abortion bill.

Also:

In 1998, he tried to pass a law to require doctors give anaesthetic to foetuses before late-term abortions and another that "tried to effectively ban gay people from adopting children in Virginia".... In late 2000, in the wake of the Columbine High School massacre, Black proposed legislation that would require students to address their teachers as "Ma'am", "Sir", "Mr.", "Miss" or "Mrs."...

... during the 2001 session, Black opposed a bill that would allow the "morning-after pill" to be dispensed at pharmacies.... "This is a baby pesticide we're looking at. It's a toxic method of eliminating a child," said Black....

In February 2002, Black opposed making marital rape a crime, saying that it was impossible to convict a man "when they're living together, sleeping in the same bed, she's in a nightie, and so forth." ... In late 2002 and early 2003, Black opposed erecting a statue of Abraham Lincoln and his son Thomas at the Tredegar Iron Works to commemorate Lincoln's visit to Richmond on April 4, 1865, 10 days before his assassination. Black said, "Putting a statue to [Lincoln] there is sort of like putting the Confederate flag at the Lincoln Memorial." ...

In July 2003, Black proposed legislation that would prevent unmarried and gay couples from applying for low-interest home mortgages, saying that the state was "spending $90 million to subsidize sodomy and adultery..."

Oh, and for good measure, he once desceribed Toni Morrison's Beloved as "moral sewage."

On his recent overseas trip, in addition to meeting with Assad and accusing the British of planning a fake or false-flag chemical attack, he gave an interview to the Russia propaganda network RT. Black frequently appears on RT, and said this about the network last year:

... you listen to RT news and they present very accurate information that is verifiable when you go and you and you actually research it. [...] RT news [...] has been a source of accurate information about NATO's provocations; their military provocations and their aggressive actions towards Russia in Europe. [...] too many Americans have been saying you know what, what we're seeing on RT news seems to be much more factual than what we're seeing on CNN and some of these other broadcast media sources. [...] I hope that RT remains a very robust source of news because I rely on it, and I will tell you millions of Americans have come to rely on RT news.

Black is up for reelection in 2020. It's time to send the reprehensible whack job packing.