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Bacon Meme of the Week
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Youngkin Takes Off Gloves, Puts on Brass Knuckles
by James A. Bacon
Governor Glenn Youngkin, not known for his political pugilism, punched back today against Senate Democrats who nixed six of his nominees for the boards of George Mason University, the Virginia Military Institute and the state School Board.
For his first three years in office, Youngkin eschewed contentious rhetoric — at least regarding the issues that I was tracking. Perhaps he’s concluded that adopting a temperate political tone has gotten him absolutely nowhere.
“For three years, my administration has stood for excellence by appointing outstanding leaders to Virginia’s university and state boards,” he said in a press release issued late this afternoon. “And yet today, Senate Democrats rejected highly qualified, nationally recognized individuals who have already been serving with distinction on a volunteer basis. What reasons did they offer for their actions other than their own extreme partisanship? None. Repeatedly, they could not articulate a single substantive reason to reject them.”
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Dems Delete Six Youngkin Appointees
by James A. Bacon
Last August, Governor Glenn Youngkin submitted the names of hundreds of appointees to state government boards and commissions for confirmation by the General Assembly. Traditionally, legislators accommodate the wishes of the chief executive, but occasionally they flex their political muscles by nixing someone they especially dislike.
This year the Democrat-controlled Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections pushed the delete button for two nominees to the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors, three to the George Mason University board, and one to the Board of Education.
Unless Senate Joint Resolution 275 is amended to add new names, Youngkin’s other appointees to Virginia’s public colleges and universities — and that includes five appointees to the University of Virginia board — likely will survive the legislative session intact.
Senate Dems gave only the vaguest of reasons for deep-sixing the six board members, all of whom have been actively serving pending their confirmation or rejection.
“We found their nomination to be inconsistent with the expectations, goals and values we hold for those boards,” said Senator Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria of the rejected nominees. When pressed repeatedly by Republican members of the subcommittee, Ebbin repeated the same phrase without further elucidation.
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Virginia’s New Jersey Problem
Updated Jan 27 @ 16:30
by James C. Sherlock
New-found evidence points to New Jersey-operated business plans that may result in severe threats to patient health and safety in up to 56 Virginia nursing homes. At least one person has already died.
Current government allegations in the wrongful death scandal surrounding Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (Colonial Heights) specify that a patient, lying helpless with cerebral palsy and diabetes, was criminally neglected at Colonial Heights (Medicare view) resulting in her death. She died in late October last year after prolonged suffering from sepsis alleged to be a result of that neglect. Criminal charges were filed in December against 18 members of Colonial Heights staff.
This month a physician with responsibilities at that hell hole has been arrested and charged with abuse and neglect of a vulnerable adult.
Strong evidence in both cases points to deliberate operating decisions made by the New Jersey private-equity firm and owners that control Colonial Heights. Colonial Heights is the harbinger of a much broader problem.
Those 56 facilities are operated by small New Jersey groups using a business model that maximizes profits by severe understaffing.
- Affiliated entities (chains) and their investors/owners in the towns of Lakewood and nearby Brick in central New Jersey control 37 including Colonial Heights;
- another chain headquartered and owned in Lakewood controls four; and
- yet another with managers and owners in Montvale and Clifton controls fifteen more.
Virginia has 291 nursing homes certified for Medicare and Medicaid. Those guys control almost 20% of our total state portfolio.
They run absolutely awful nursing homes in Virginia and elsewhere.
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The Endless Appetite for Giving Away Free Stuff
“Hey, kids, free food for everyone!” Image credit: ChatGPT by James A. Bacon
Last week I highlighted calls for state-funded grief counseling as an example of the potentially limitless demand for mental health services. If your vision for society is “no more sad people,” that requires an open-ended commitment from the commonwealth. Today I bring your attention to another case of infinitely elastic demand for government succor: free breakfasts for all. Including rich kids.
This initiative, as I shall make clear, is not about addressing hunger. It’s about addressing self-esteem. The vision: no more sad children.
Senator Danica Roem, D-Manassas, and Delegate Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, D-Alexandria, submitted bills to provide free breakfast to public school students across the state, according to The Virginia Mercury. Schools would be required to join the federal National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, explains the Mercury. Free breakfast would be offered at no cost to any students who request it.
“Children cannot learn if they are hungry. This bill is an investment in their education and would maximize all of the other education investments we are making,” Bennett-Parker said during a House Education subcommittee meeting Tuesday.
“We know that when a child shows up to school and is able to have a full belly, they are able to learn better,” said Emily Moore, a senior policy analyst for Voices For Virginia’s Children. (This was the same outfit plugging for Medicaid-funded grief counseling.)
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AI Guardrails Will Shape Society. Here’s How They Work.
Image generated by ChatGPT 4o You know Artificial Intelligence has reached critical mass when the politicians start trying to regulate it. (See The Virginia Mercury’s summary of Virginia bills here.) As citizens, we need to pay close attention. John Farmer, a Richmond intellectual-property attorney, provides a helpful primer. — JAB
by John Farmer
You will be hearing a lot about AI guardrails. There will be intense political battles over what they do and whether they must be disclosed publicly. My mission today is to tell you why they matter greatly and how they work.
Prominent venture capitalist and computer scientist Mark Andreessen recently said, “AI is highly likely to be the control layer for everything in the world.” It will likely become the control interface between humans and computers. Technology providers are already pushing this, such as the “AI Overview” in Google search results and “Apple Intelligence” being featured in iOS 18 in recent iPhone models.
AI guardrails are becoming powerful tools that will shape societal thought. We already have had political fights, new state laws, and litigation over curating what goes on social media, with conservatives accusing some social media sites of censorship, sometimes at the behest of government officials, and progressives demanding the deletion of information they deem false and harmful.
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Disgraceful
by James A. Bacon
Geoffrey Sills with rescue dog. Aw, what a nice guy. Except for the assaulting-the-police-officer-with-a-baton part. Geoffrey William Sills, of Mechanicsville, was found guilty of wresting a police baton from a Capitol police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and using it to “repeatedly strike at officers in the police line.” He received clemency under President Trump’s blanket pardon of individuals who participated in the mayhem. So reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Disgraceful.
It is possible to hold two thoughts in one’s head at the same time: that the Justice Department went overboard in prosecuting people who strolled peacefully into the Capitol building and wandered about as curiosity seekers while it was justified in throwing the book at people who committed violent acts.
Last time I heard, Republicans were not normally sympathetic to people who assault the police.
According to the RTD, Trump’s clemency extended to Farhad and Farbod Azari, a Richmond father and son who rammed a metal bike rack into a line of Capitol police and used a flag to strike an officer.
What’s the saying? You do the crime, you do the time.
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The Expensive Triple Whammy If Dominion Wind Dies
By Steve Haner
On its face the executive order President Donald Trump signed to bring a halt to future offshore wind turbines on federal ocean leases did not target the Virginia project underway. Dominion Energy Virginia is reporting it has all the federal permits it needs and will continue pushing toward its late 2026 completion date for Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW).
A brave face and soothing reassurance are not enough. The reality is the project is in jeopardy. The EO calls upon the new federal bureaucracy to hunt for an excuse to cancel even the leases or permits for projects already underway, “identifying any legal bases for such removal,” and present those options to Trump.
Because of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) and its mandates to generate renewable energy credits or pay financial penalties, the cost of a cancellation is even higher than most realize. This is one more reason for Virginia to retreat from this unachievable law.
It has been previously explained that under the traditional rules for monopoly utilities, any costs incurred for a cancelled project of this nature could fall totally on the ratepayers. The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) has approved this project with its $9.8 billion price tag (not including financing). Having gotten that approval, the utility is entitled to recover its costs. The potential stranded costs a year ago were $4 billion and must be far more now.
A residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of power is already paying $8.63 a month to build the plant and Dominion has an application pending to raise that to over $11 starting in July. That routine update on the project could become the forum for a debate on its future. If nothing else, the total of the potential stranded costs could be determined.
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The Baucom Resignation Could Set Off a Power Struggle at UVA
by James A. Bacon
Ian Baucom Ian Baucom will step down as provost of the University of Virginia in March to become president of Middlebury College in Vermont. UVA will launch a national search for his replacement, the university announced today. His departure will likely set off a power struggle between President Jim Ryan and members of the Board of Visitors appointed by Governor Glenn Youngkin.
As the chief academic officer of UVA, the provost is arguably the most important position in the university power structure second only to President Jim Ryan. Indeed, the provost may do more to set the cultural tone and strategic direction of the university than the president, much of whose time is tied up with fundraising.
Ryan has asked Brie Gertler, deputy provost and senior vice provost for academic affairs, to serve as interim provost during the search process.
Educated at Wake Forest University and Yale, Baucom taught at Duke University for 17 years before joining UVA in 2014 as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences where he oversaw the overhaul of the curriculum. Upon the departure of UVA’s previous provost Liz Magill for presidency of the University of Pennsylvania, he was Ryan’s choice for the No. 2 position and appointed in 2022 without controversy.
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Bobby Scott Plays Hamlet: A Theatrical Review
by Paul Goldman
With apologies to Bobby Scott. Try as I might, I could get neither ChatGPT or Grok to render an image resembling the congressman. Some versions were of white dudes. And every image had a beard! — JAB Poor Denmark: As if the threat of losing Greenland to President Donald Trump isn’t enough. Now Hampton Roads Congressman Bobby Scott as Hamlet? Such are the indignations the Danish people must endure today. Bobby is clearly not whom William Shakespeare had in mind for the princely role in 1600. He is a tad old for the part. But I ask you, who better to play a prince than a member of Congress? They get the royal treatment for sure.
There’s no denying that “to be or not to be” is the question hanging over Virginia’s gubernatorial race. Democratic Congressman Scott keeps saying he hasn’t ruled out running for governor in the Democratic primary. He has until late March to submit the required nomination materials.
The real Bobby Scott Richard Burton’s Hamlet set the record with a 137-day run on Broadway. It’s fair to say Scott’s been at this a lot longer. This isn’t his first time he’s auditioned to play Hamlet.
Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger is understandably getting tired of Scott not making up his mind. Spanberger’s people are saying privately Scott is a wuss and knows Abigail would clean his clock in a primary fight. (I’ll discuss this later.)
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Bobby Scott Helped Free Notorious Cop Killer Peltier
By Steve Haner
Rep. Robert Scott Congressman Robert “Bobby” Scott, a long serving Democrat from Newport News once in the Virginia Senate, joined several congressional colleagues late in 2024 to petition President Joe Biden on behalf of one of the most notorious of cop killers. Biden agreed and granted clemency to Leonard Peltier, popular with leftists around the world because he claimed he was acting on behalf of America’s oppressed indigenous peoples.
What Scott did needs to be noted and reported because he continues to toy with the idea of running for governor as a Democrat, appealing to Democrats who fear Abigail Spanberger is not sufficiently true to The Cause. Well, she was smart enough not to sign this letter on Peltier’s behalf, so maybe they’re right about her.
Scott’s action wasn’t reported in Virginia at the time of Peltier’s inclusion on Biden’s long list of pardons and commutations. Peltier’s release was the focus of a Wall Street Journal editorial today, which mentioned the letter from 36 members of Congress and then provided a link. Scott was the only Virginian who signed. It reads in part:
Nearly 50 years ago, Mr. Peltier, a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, was arrested and later convicted for his alleged involvement in the murder of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Since that time, Mr. Peltier has maintained his innocence, and serious concerns have been raised regarding the fairness of his trial and incarceration. Calls for his release have also received sweeping support from civil liberties and human rights organizations – including the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch; faith leaders and other respected voices – including Pope Francis, Saint Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and Coretta Scott King; and even those previously involved in his prosecution.
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Bacon’s Birthday (Sir Francis’, That Is)
Sir Francis Bacon It’s high time we begin celebrating the birthday, January 22, of the most consequential individual surnamed Bacon in history: Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626). A proponent of empiricism and skepticism in the pursuit of scientific inquiry, Bacon is widely regarded as the philosophical founder of the scientific revolution. As a member of parliament, according to Wikipedia, he became known as “a liberal-minded reformer, eager to amend and simplify the law. Though a friend of the crown, he opposed feudal privileges and dictatorial powers.” All in all, he was much to be admired and should be regarded as one of the great benefactors of mankind. (Hat tip to Paul Blumstein.)
— JAB
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Trump 2.0 Should Be Good for Virginia
But will Virginians vote GOP in November ’25?
by Ken Reid
Donald Trump is back in office. Trump 2.0 has begun. Will this be good for Virginia and the country?
As a free-market conservative and GOP activist and former elected official in Loudoun County, I believe it will be. However, Trump and the GOP Congress have to deliver on promises to lower inflation, tackle illegal immigration, crime and improve the U.S. standing in the world.
And, all those executive orders he signed in this first hours of his 2nd non-consecutive term, and future EO s, can be overturned when a new president takes over in four years. With a stroke of a pen Monday, Trump revoked 78 executive orders Joe Biden signed during his term.
But Trump 2.0’s effort to cut the size of the federal government and workforce, while necessary, might not be good politics for the Virginia 2025 elections for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and House of Delegates.
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Dominion Sells Solar Power at a Loss Just to Earn the RECs
By Steve Haner
To avoid the financial penalties included in the Virginia Clean Economy Act, Dominion Energy Virginia has sometimes sold solar energy at a loss to earn the related renewable energy credit. It has been paying the regional PJM wholesale energy market to accept the electrons, rather than PJM paying it for the power.
This practice of selling solar power even when the market value is negative is revealed in testimony on file at the State Corporation Commission, part of Dominion’s pending application to add additional solar and battery energy assets and to increase the monthly charge for them imposed on consumers. Dominion files an application for new assets annually to meet the renewable mandates in the VCEA.
As previously explored, the key element of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) is its requirement that a covered utility must meet certain renewable energy production targets, a renewable portfolio standard. If it does not do so with its own assets, it must either purchase outside renewable energy credits or pay a fine. The RPS target percentage of its annual electricity sales goes up year after year (26% now, 41% in 2030.)
The sales of solar at a negative price was revealed in testimony filed by the environmental activist group Appalachian Voices, which has hired a former SCC expert now in the private sector. Gregory Abbott’s recommendation to the SCC is that Dominion’s stockholders, not its customers, cover the financial losses incurred.
I recommend that the Commission put Dominion on notice that, going forward, if the Company dispatches its solar units at negative hourly LMP energy prices that exceed the proxy value of RECs … or, alternatively, the deficiency payment, then the excess costs above the REC proxy value or deficiency payment will be recovered from shareholders instead of customers.
The goal of this recommendation is not to punish shareholders but rather to properly incent Dominion to establish operational protocols and to develop the technical capabilities to overcome the operational constraints that are allowing this to happen.
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A Vindictive Bill that Invites Retaliation
by James A. Bacon
I can’t decide which is more appalling. The fact that Delegate Alex Askew, D-Virginia Beach, would introduce a bill to revoke tax-exempt status for several Confederate heritage groups, or the fact that the measure won the support of 12 Democratic legislators to pass through the House Finance Committee.
Playground bully. ChatGPT Both chambers of the General Assembly passed a similar bill last year, but Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed it on the grounds that it was unnecessary and divisive.
That’s putting it mildly.
The bill is vindictive. It sets a terrible precedent for using the state tax code as a weapon in the culture wars. And it invites retaliation. Virginia Democrats apparently can’t imagine themselves ever being in the minority and having Republicans wield the tax code to bully them.
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