Category: Uncategorized
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Where Does Virginia Most Need Charter Schools?
by James C. Sherlock Discussing failing schools in Virginia, people tend to speak in generalities. When an example is needed, the City of Richmond Public Schools is chosen — an uncontested layup. But failed schools are not a problem just in Richmond. And bad public schools in Richmond are not limited to RPS. They are…
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K-12 Debacle Update: Richmond Teacher Shortage
by James A. Bacon The Richmond Public School System is facing a teacher shortage after 25% of the system’s teaching staff resigned at the end of the 2021-22 school year. RPS is trying to fill 176 positions before the school year starts in August, reports WRIC television. RPS has formed a teacher retention task force…
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Seven Years for Shooting a Guy Eight Times. Sounds Like a Pretty Good Deal.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore For all those folks on this blog who are concerned about “woke” prosecutors, leniency toward murderers, and enforcement of gun laws, here is a case to consider. A 17-year-old Black kid goes to a house to purchase four ounces of marijuana for $400. While meeting with the 19-year-old seller, the kid pulls…
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About Those 30 Police Shootings in Virginia Last Year…
by James A. Bacon Police shootings generate an inordinate amount of attention in the media, but the number of incidents is remarkably rare. Of the millions of interactions in 2021 between police and citizens here in Virginia, including 187,000 arrests, there were 30 police shootings resulting in injury or death, according to the Crime in…
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Richmond Cops Say a Mass Shooting Was Foiled By a Concerned Citizen
by Kerry Dougherty In the wake of the horrific mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, it’s clear that the massacre might have been avoided if the suspect’s parents had done their part to keep weapons out of the hands of their clearly deranged son. The suspect, Robert Crimo III, has reportedly confessed to the atrocities…
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What About That Price of Gas?!!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There was much wailing — on this blog, in Virginia, and in the nation — as gas prices approached and then exceeded $5 per gallon recently. Governor Youngkin and President Biden used those price levels to call for suspension of gas taxes. And what was the reaction of the general populace to…
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Those Progressive Prosecutors: The Sky Hasn’t Fallen
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There has been much concern expressed on this blog that the policies of newly elected “progressive” prosecutors in the Commonwealth would lead to increases in crime in those jurisdictions and, perhaps, a dissolution of society. See here, here, here, and here. Based on data in the recently released Crime in Virginia 2021,…
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Virginia Headline in the Associated Press
by James C. Sherlock The Associated Press published an article by the always-reliable Sarah Rankin yesterday. It was headlined: Virginia law stops early inmate releases, angering families Let’s conduct a contest. Take a minute and guess to whose families the headline refers, victims or convicted criminals. Time’s up. It seems we have a unanimous set…
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Happy 4th, Everyone!
And the rockets’ red glare The bombs bursting in air Gave proof through the night That our flag was still there I’ll be taking a day off from the culture wars to remember — and appreciate — what all Americans have in common. Have a great 4th. Drink real American beer and eat real hamburgers,…
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The Stakes are High in Reform of Higher Education
by James C. Sherlock I exposed in detail yesterday the ironclad control of the University of Virginia by the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) bureaucracy at that school. Maoist-like insistence on radical progressive ideological purity is overseen there by the Red Guards of DEI in every school in the university. To claim otherwise is to…
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A New Classic on Thomas Jefferson and Public Education in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock On April 29, 1962, President John F. Kennedy addressed a group of Nobel Prize winners at a dinner in their honor at The White House. Kennedy, raised patrician, classically educated and fired in war and politics graciously toasted another such man. I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent,…
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Beach Politicians Want Personal Assistants
by Kerry Dougherty Keep an eye on Virginia Beach City Council. They have a habit of shoving aside controversial matters only to bring them back when they think no one’s looking. This week, the conscience of the council, John Moss, embarrassed his colleagues by shaming them for wanting “personal assistants.” They put off the vote…