Author: James A. Bacon
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A Lesson from Amsterdam
A transportation infrastructure built around the primacy of bicycles works OK for the Dutch, but Virginians would never accept it. by James A. Bacon Amsterdammers love their bicycles. They ride their two-wheelers in the sun, in the drizzle and in the rain. They bedeck them in flowers and deck them out with baskets. Like the…
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Why We Can’t Build Anything Anywhere Near Anything
Is there a creative solution that would preserve the historic site of Powhatan’s birthplace while allowing development to proceed? Or will this become a zero-sum game like everything else in our society? Press release from the Southern Environmental Law Center: Today Preservation Virginia named the site of WaHลnSeNaKah (Powhatan)โs birthplace one of Virginiaโs most endangered…
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Housing Costs and Fertility Rates
From the Institute for Family Studies: The US fertility rate hit a record low in 2025. But fertility rates vary significantly across states, ranging from under 1.4 children per woman in states like Vermont and Oregon to over 1.9 in Nebraska and South Dakota. IFSโsย Family Structure Indexย found that housing affordability explains 25% of this variation…
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Do Democrats Really Believe in a Constitutional Republic?
The meltdown over the Virginia Supreme Court striking down Democratsโ illegal gerrymandering shows how far they’ve fallen from America’s constitutional foundations. by Jacon Grandstaff The childish meltdown Democrats have had in reaction to the Virginia Supreme Courtโs striking down their unconstitutional gerrymandering shows they donโt know much about our republican form of government or simply…
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Spanberger Isn’t Moderating, She’s Muddling
Vetoing the collective bargaining bill, observing court orders, and honoring MOUs on data center tax exemptions isn’t pivoting to the center — it’s muddling through. by Shaun Kenney The Washington Post โ alternately condemned for being a fascist propaganda machine now that it no longer reflexively agrees with the political left, alternately praised as defending democracy behind…
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Is Targeted Tax Relief Just The First Step?
by Jon Baliles While running for Mayor in 2024, candidate Danny Avulaโs top priority in the โThriving neighborhoods and affordable housingโ section of his platform stated: As Mayor, he will: His third bullet point in that part of his policy platform claimed he would โstrengthen protections and resources available for our most vulnerable residents.โ Somewhere between…
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Virginia Dems Turn Their Ire on U.S. Supreme Court
by Kerry Dougherty When you attempt to do something illegal and the courts stop you, thereโs only one thing to do: Attack the court and try to eliminate judicial independence. Thatโs a very dangerous game. And itโs the game Democrats are playing right now. Here are a few fun facts about the recent Democrat debacle…
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The More Things Change at UVA, the More They Stay the Same
Despite the shake-up in leadership at the University of Virginia, at least one senior administrator regards Thomas Jefferson with antipathy. Kenyon Bonner, chief student affairs officer at the University of Virginia, delivered the keynote address to the graduating class of 2026 during Final Exercises. The Daily Progress provided this excerpt: โGraduates, you symbolize the possibilities…
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When Business Packs Up and Leaves
by Chris Saxman A Warning for Seattle, Olympia โ and Richmond Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz opens his Wall Street Journal op-ed by celebrating Washington stateโs extraordinary economic rise โ built over half a century by Microsoft, Amazon, Costco, and Starbucks into a global hub of technology, innovation, and logistics. That era succeeded, he argues, because civic…
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Lies, Damned Lies, and VPAP: the Myth of Nonpartisan Institutions
There’s a reason why nonpartisan anything is the most partisan voice of all, because it always defends a status quo. — โIf everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.โ — Hannah Arendt by Shaun Kenney Iโll start with WTKR 6…
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Fairfax Prosecutor Torched in Capitol Hill Hearing
by Kerry Dougherty Itโs time we talked about building a wall. A big, beautiful wall. No, not on the southern border. Around Fairfax County. If Fairfax voters are determined to elect and re-elect officials who coddle violent illegal aliens and shield them from deportation, let them live with the consequences. We donโt want their deportable…
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Back in the Saddle
I’m back from vacation and playing catch up. Some of the articles I post on the blog may be a few days behind the news cycle but still are worth reading. If I have time, I may post a couple of my own stories based on impressions from Northern Germany and the Netherlands. Thanks to…
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How Bad Is Surovell at His Job?
by Joe Fitzgerald The first was a plan to put a casino in Fairfax County, despite the objections of the local government there. He knew better than the county supervisors. The governor vetoed it. Scott Surovell has had three major failures in his third year as leader of the state Senate Democrats. The second was…