Category: Democracy and Western Civilization
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Hey, Virginia Beach, Acknowledge THIS!
by James A. Bacon The City of Virginia Beach is crafting a statement to “acknowledge” the Native Americans who lived there before the English settlers. Last week a draft presented to City Council proclaimed: “We, the City of Virginia Beach, acknowledge that the present-day land on which this city exists is situated on lands that…
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Globalism, Wokeness and the Great Political Realignment
by James A. Bacon Phillip and Tanja Thompson aren’t ready to join the Republican Party, but their patience with Democrats is wearing thin. Once upon a time, they write, the Democratic Party stood up for working people. “Today, we’re left wondering if there’s room for the values we cherish,” they write in a Richmond Times-Dispatch…
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Mortification of the Spirit
by James A. Bacon In the 14th century, a popular movement known to historians as “flagellants” spread across Europe. Followers practiced “mortification of the flesh” by publicly pummeling themselves with knotted whips. By practicing self-denial and imitating the scourging of Jesus, they hoped to hasten the second coming and end of times. A similar movement…
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Honoring Sacrifice
The Battle of the Bulge took place almost 80 years ago to the day. (The last-ditch German assault began December 16.) Roughly 75,000 Americans were killed, wounded or went missing. They fought, suffered, and died to defeat the scourge of Nazism and uphold our freedoms. We remember their sacrifices – and the sacrifices of hundreds…
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What Would You Have Done in 1861?
by Donald Smith โThe past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.โ — British writer L.P. Hartley โBeing woke is like a magic moral time machine, where you judge everyone [who lived in the past] against what you would have done in 1066, and you always win. Presentism is just a way to…
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Down the Memory Hole
by James A. Bacon “How do you squeeze the essence of Wahoowa into 90 seconds?” So asks an article in UVA Today. Here’s what UVA’s video producers came up with: ๏ปฟ What’s missing from the video? There are 50 scenes, including shots of the Rotunda and the Lawn, but no mention of their designer. Apparently,…
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Virginia Is Not California. Or New York.
by Kerry Doughertyย By pro-Hamas standards, the protests at the University of Virginia were anemic. Estimates placed the size of the โcrowdsโ that began gathering on Grounds – as they say in Charlottesville – last week ranged from about 12 to perhaps as many as 50. The Hamas fan club was clustered near the chapel…
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A Hostile Environment for Jews
by James A. Bacon Matan Goldstein is a rarity at the University of Virginia — a Jewish student unafraid to openly defend Israel in its war with Hamas and oppose Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a pro-Palestinian group that praised Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks on Israeli citizens. The Israeli student has appeared on…
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Virginia Child Victims in the Leftโs War on the Enlightenment and Science
by James C. Sherlock Modern progressivism is religion, defined by Webster as โa cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.โ The critical theory progressive, that is to say the modern American progressive, rejects proudly and publicly, root and branch, both the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolutions of the 16th through…
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Sorry, Senator. Zalenskyy is No George Washington
by Kerry Dougherty Tim Kaine jumped the shark. Get a load of the nonsense this United States Senator – from VIRGINIA – Tweeted on Tuesday: President Zelenskyy spoke to the Senate today about the critical role of American support for Ukrainian democracy. He stood beneath a portrait of George Washington, who helped birth an America…
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Bari Weiss: “You are the Last Line of Defense”
by James C. Sherlock Video courtesy of the Free Press. ย See that link for a full transcript. ย I recommend it to everyone. Bari Weiss recently delivered a speech that will be long remembered. She offered eloquence in the service of experience, sorrow and determination. ย And defined the internal, and existential, threat to America. I will…
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UVaโs “Community Crisis Resourcesโ for Israel/Hamas War Tensions on Campus Has Strange Players
by James C. Sherlock The University of Virginia has not lost all sense of perspective. They know exactly what they have been doing. For this they had to try to thread a needle. They missed. From the University of Virginia Division of Student Affairs: “Our Divisionโs focus remains on supporting and caring for our students…
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Yes, Virginia, There is a TikTok, and Itโs Chinese
by James C. Sherlock From the NY Post: “TikTok shredded as influencers promote Osama bin Ladenโs โterrorist propagandaโ tirade dubbed โLetter to Americaโ after 9/11 attacks” Virginia bans porno sites. How did we miss our kidsโ favorite (Chinese) app TikTok?
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Virginia Must Investigate and Control the Relationships of Its State Institutions of Higher Learning With the Government of China
by James C. Sherlock The title of this article seems at first glance axiomatic. After all, the power “to conduct … all intercourse with other and foreign states” is granted in the state constitutionย to the Governor. Yet that power has been assumed by some Virginia state institutions of higher education (IHEs) with the apparent approval…
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William and Mary and the Chinese Communist Party – Dangerous Allies – Part 2
by James C. Sherlock The College of William and Mary first contracted with the Chinese Ministry of Education’s Confucius Institute (CI) Program in 2012. Despite all of the public warnings about the dangers listed in Part 1, it extended that contract in 2016 and did not cease until 2020, when threatened with sanctions by the…