Category: Civil Rights, Individual Liberties
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Rolling Back “Protections” — What Does That Even Mean?
by James A. Bacon “He who controls the language controls the masses,” left-wing activist Saul Alinsky famously wrote in his 1971 book, “Rules for Radicals.” A modern-day example is how cultural elites have smuggled their language about the transgender movement into popular discourse. Axios Richmond had this to say this morning about a change in…
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Hat’s Off to UVA Student for Keeping His Hat On
by James A. Bacon Simon Goldstein, a fourth-year computer science major at the University of Virginia, grew up in a non-religious family. His father’s family was Jewish and his mother’s background was Christian, but they didn’t practice their ancestral faiths beyond celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas. As he got older, some Christian friends challenged him to…
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Norfolkโs Creepy License Plate Cameras in Court
by Kerry Dougherty In an age when it seems every house has a Ring-style doorbell, every business has closed circuit cameras both inside and out, it seems almost futile to argue that drivers shouldnโt expect to go through a digital license plate line-up every time they leave their driveways. Yet two modern day Don Quixote-types…
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More Nitwittery at UVA
by James A. Bacon Ben Doherty, a librarian for the University of Virginia School of Law, was arrested in May during the break-up of the pro-Palestinian encampment, one of 26 detained after defying repeated orders to disband. The trespassing charges against him were dropped, and he suffered no administrative sanction from UVA itself. But he’s…
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Cuccinelli Takes a Stand for Prosecutorial Integrity
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Ken Cuccinelli, a former Virginia state senator, Attorney General and candidate for governor, has long been the bแปte noire of Democrats.ย Nevertheless, he deserves a lot of credit for his recent stand. In a guest essay in yesterdayโs New York Times, he reminds us of a legal concept that is often forgotten. In…
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Teachers Behaving Badly
by James A. Bacon Palestinians and Israelis may be locked in a death struggle in the Middle East, but that’s no excuse for their sympathizers to behave poorly in the United States. People — and that includes teachers — need to get a grip. No matter how passionate your views, you don’t have the right…
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Do We Want a Color-Blind Society or Not?
by James A. Bacon A University of Virginia mentorship program for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) students discriminates against White people on the basis of race, contends a complaint filed Tuesday by the Equal Protection Project. The BIPOC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program provides up to 25 UVA students in the School of Education and…
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Tackling Sexual Violence with Woke Bureaucracy
by James A. Bacon Every perceived problem in America today seems to require a bureaucratic response — either a new government program or, in the case of higher education, a new university program. Accordingly, Virginia Tech is addressing the challenge of sexual violence by creating a Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Office. Virginia Tech seeks…
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UVA Board Endorses Institutional Neutrality
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia adopted a resolution Friday backing a statement of institutional neutrality on events taking place outside the University. “The University of Virginia should express no opinions about social and political questions except as those questions directly affect its mission or operations,” said the key paragraph of the statement,…
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The Case Against Assault Rifles
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Pop quiz.ย Who said the following about assault weapons?ย โThey are military-style weapons designed for sustained combat operations that are ill-suited and disproportionate to the need for self-defenseโฆ[and] which have become primary instruments of mass killing and terrorist attacks in the United States?โ OK.ย So, it is a trick question. The correct answer is โnone…
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Bravo For Sweet Briar College!
by Kerry Dougherty Well done, Vixens! Officials said they made the move to comply with recent changes to the Common Application, used by more than 1,000 higher ed institutions, which now lists four legal gender options. That change, Sweet Briarโs leaders said in a message to the campus community, โpresents a challenge both for students…
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Richmond Planned Parenthood in Expansion Mode
by James A. Bacon Richmond City Council voted Monday night to sell the old Brookhill School to the Virginia League of Planned Parenthood (VLPP) for $10. The nonprofit organization, which provides abortions among other reproductive services, plans to construct a $6 million, 10,000-square-foot womenโs facility on the property, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. In the wake…
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Virginia Supremes Limit Sovereign Immunity in Portsmouth Case
by James A. Bacon H. Cliff Page, an artist, sculptor, Vietnam vet, merchant mariner, civic activist and former candidate for Mayor of Portsmouth, won a victory for individual property rights when the Virginia Supreme Court ruled unanimously in his favor July 3 in a dispute with the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority (PRHA). “This is…
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Rambling: A Reminder of the Beginnings of Religious Freedom
by Dick Hall-Sizemore This is one of the most attractive church buildings I have seen. It is Mathews Baptist Church, located on Rt. 198 in Mathews County at the intersection with the road leading to Gwynnโs Island. The sign above the door says the church was organized in 1776. In the years leading up to…
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Lies, Damn Lies, and Presidential Debates
by James A. Bacon Virginia played prominently in the disinformation spewed by President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump in their first 2024 presidential debate last night. Biden brought up the seemingly unkillable canard that Trump referred to the White supremacists in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville as “good people.” Meanwhile,…