Bacon's Rebellion

  • Political Polarization and Data Centers

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    The Town Council of Warrenton has big regrets after issuing a special-use permit allowing Amazon to build a data center in the town. Council finds itself embroiled in litigation from a citizen lawsuit to block the Amazon project as well as a FOIA request to release thousands of emails and documents, according to the Fauquier Times.

    Council fired its old town counsel and hired former state senator Chap Petersen, an old-school New Deal Democrat who was ousted by the new generation of “progressive” Democrats. Judging by his recent autobiography, “Rebel,” this new role is just right for Petersen, who, though appalled by the progressives’ woke brand of “social justice,” still enjoys standing up for the little guy…. especially when the big guy is Dominion Energy.

    It is fascinating to watch the politics of data centers unfold. There is nothing inherently pro-Republican or pro-Democrat about building Artificial Intelligence-enabling data centers. But the tribalistic instincts driving polarization in our society seem to be pushing the parties into opposite camps.

    Data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity. A projected surge of demand for electricity in Virginia threatens to derail the push toward a zero-carbon electric grid. Dominion, which once endorsed that goal, now says it will need to build natural gas plants to offset the intermittency of wind and solar power. Therefore, progressives are aligning with the anti-data center protesters.

    (more…)

  • Bacon Bits: The Irresistible Impulse to Regulate

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    James A. Bacon

    If it moves, regulate it… Democrats and civil libertarians are gearing up to restrict the use of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) by law enforcement. A bill submitted by House Majority Leader Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, would restrict police use of the readers to specific instances such as missing person cases, outstanding warrants, human trafficking or stolen vehicles, reports The Virginia Mercury. Law enforcement authorities say ALPRs also can help locate track down wanted individuals and produce evidence for use in courts. Dems raise privacy concerns and, of course, the potential for “disparate impacts on minority communities.” For such a simple device, ALPRs raise a lot of questions: What data is collected, how long is it retained, does it require a search warrant to access, and who gets to say where the devices are placed on public rights of way?

    If it flies, regulate it… Meanwhile, spooked by an incident in which a 25-year-old Chinese national flying a drone over Newport News Shipyard, Sen. Mamie E. Locke, D-Hampton, has submitted a bill that makes it a felony to knowingly fly a drone over defense contractors’ sites, reports The Virginian-Pilot. The FBI charged the Chinese student with four misdemeanors. Locke’s bill would impose more prison time. There is a gap between punishments allowed under current law and what’s needed to establish an “enhanced deterrent,” Locke opines. The ability to see the connection between punishment and deterrence is a refreshing perspective for Locke, a “progressive” critic of traditional law-enforcement theories.

    If it pulsates, regulate it… The wave of technology sweeping the nation offers endless opportunities for legislators to substitute their own judgment for those of citizens and businesspersons. Take, for example, Delegate Bonita Anthony, who has submitted a bill prohibiting landlords from using pricing algorithms to assist in rate setting. The bill would grant tenants an opportunity to file a written complaint with the Office of the Algorithmic Rent Pricing Ombudsman. You can’t make that up! Heaven forbid that landlords would automate their research into what’s occurring in the rental marketplace. Far better to have imperfect pricing based on ignorance of supply and demand!

  • Oh, Don’t Worry About the Law

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    It seems our incoming President is willing to disrupt millions of lives and families by rounding them up and deporting them because they violated a law when entering this country, but is willing to disregard a law, overwhelmingly passed by Congress and unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court, judged to be essential to the national security of the country. I suppose that means he will have his fingers crossed tomorrow when he takes that oath of office.

  • Yes, Deficiency Payments May Happen, Dominion Reports to SCC

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    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner

    Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) in his State of the Commonwealth Address last week described the Virginia Clean Economy Act as a “quagmire.” Later that same day, the director of his Department of Energy warned that the state’s premier electric utility might soon begin making “deficiency payments,” in effect paying fines for failing to comply with VCEA.  

    In testimony to a Virginia Senate committee, Director Glenn Davis claimed Dominion Energy Virginia has “budgeted” up to $450 million to make such deficiency payments for 2025 and also forecasts deficiency payments in 2026 and 2027. Should such payments be made, the utility would just pass the cost along to its ratepayers.

    Deficiency payments in these earliest years of VCEA were not anticipated, but it may be true they are about to start. A deep dive into the company’s October 2024 VCEA compliance filing, pending at the State Corporation Commission, failed to turn up that specific number of $450 million. (Not all of the many hundreds of pages were examined.) However, there was this in one Dominion executive’s testimony:

    …it is possible the Company will have to start paying the deficiency payment as early as next year (2025) to satisfy its compliance for calendar year 2024.  The Company is currently one of the largest purchasers of RECs (renewable energy certificates) in PJM where the demand for RECs continues to increase. While the Company’s VCEA requirements are contributing to the increasing demand, REC supply is not increasing at the same pace.

    As a result, REC prices in PJM continue to increase and are currently $39 per REC for PJM Tier I. Further, beginning in 2025, 75% of the RECs the Company retires for RPS Program compliance must come from sources within the Commonwealth, which will greatly restrict the Company’s supply.

    Indeed, 2025 will be a key and difficult year for Dominion in seeking to comply with the 2020 green energy mandates, first because of the move to requiring 75% of RECs be from Virginia energy sources but also because the required target for using non-carbon emitting energy sources jumps to 26%. It could also be a year when energy demand exceeds the forecasts because of this cold winter and because of the exponential data center growth. 

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  • One Man’s Fight for Transparency

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    James A. Bacon

    by Walter Smith

    The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (“Act” or “FOIA”) has wonderfully high aspirations, ensuring the people of the Commonwealth have “ready access to public records.” All public records are presumed open, unless an exemption is properly invoked. Any exemption shall be narrowly construed. All public bodies shall make reasonable efforts to reach an agreement with a requester concerning the production of the records requested. All of that warmth and fuzziness is contained in the short title and policy – 2.2-3700 – of the Act.

    All of Virginia’s public universities qualify as “public bodies,” subject to FOIA. Given the ties to the Commonwealth — the students, the alumni, the citizens, the Commonwealth itself and its monies — one might expect ready compliance with the Act. Surprisingly, one school in particular that brags about its “unequivocal” support for free expression and free inquiry hands over as few documents as it can, contrary to the broad aspirations expressed in 2.2-3700.

    My FOIA journey began in 2021, soon after the University of Virginia released its “free speech” statement. I was disappointed with it, thinking it lukewarm and empty of enforcement – a fig leaf resulting from the alumni outcry arising out of the poor handling of the F UVA Lawn door.

    To broadly summarize my experience, JMU, Va Tech and VCU have been cooperative, even helpful, going so far as to call me to explain why documents might not exist, or how the format isn’t exactly what I requested. Admittedly, these might only be 10 requests, while I have made hundreds of requests to UVA. UVA, however, seems determined to use every possible trick to avoid turning over documents requested. Even if I were to make all of my requests in bad faith (I haven’t), it would not obviate UVA’s duty to comply with the Act.

    (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

  • The Limitless Demand for Mental Health Services

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    James A. Bacon

    I asked Bing Image Creator to create an image based on the words, “a world of no sad people.” It came up with this creepy illustration. Bing’s AI might know something we don’t know.

    by James A. Bacon

    Mental-health advocates in Virginia are making the case for more money for… what else? … mental health. An article by Radio IQ illuminates a disturbing example (I find it disturbing, not Radio IQ) of how the alleged need for mental- health services expands relentlessly to cover ever more of life’s travails.

    Now activists are pushing the idea that people should be able to call upon mental-health professionals — often at public expense — for help in dealing with one of humankind’s most ancient and universal of emotions: grief.

    Voices for Virginia’s Children, a nonprofit advocacy group, held a press conference earlier this week, in which CEO Rachael Dean acknowledged that Governor Glenn Youngkin’s “Right Help, Right Now” program implemented in 2022 “made some improvements in the mental health space,” as Radio IQ put it, but Virginia’s children need more help in schools.

    The story was told of Marcus Lynch, a track star, father and husband who struggled with mental health issues after the death of his father. When Marcus was murdered in 2022, his wife Amanda turned to the care and support of their surviving children.

    “Grief is an injury to the heart, mind, body and nervous system. And like any injury, it requires specialized care,” Lynch said. “Yet funding for these essential programs remains limited.”

    Death and grief are human universals. Every culture in the history of mankind has developed means to deal with them: usually family, faith, and friends. No need for “specialized care.” Only in modern-day America does anyone see the need to professionalize, institutionalize, and fund with tax dollars the means to help people cope with inevitable life tragedies.

    (more…)

  • Celebrate Even Small Wins Over the Green Madness

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    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner

    Dominion Energy Virginia is in the process of modernizing and upgrading the remaining natural gas fired generator at the controversial Possum Point power plant in Prince William County, seeking to squeeze out an additional 44 megawatts of output in addition to the existing 660 megawatts. Dominion claims it needs the power to serve the growing data center industry.

    Come Monday, when the deepest Arctic blast to hit this part of the US in years sets in, another reason to continue investing in the old (1948) plant on the Potomac River will be evident. Once again, and as will be the case for decades to come, hydrocarbons will be keeping you warm and brewing your coffee. 

    The new equipment at Possum Point was reported the other day by the Prince William Times, which gave many of the column inches over to various folks still upset that the power plant has not totally shut down (Piedmont Environmental Council, Potomac Riverkeepers). It stopped burning coal in 2003 and only one of the six generation units it once ran is still operating, but that one unit is humming along on gas.

    Adding 44 megawatts doesn’t sound like much, but keep in mind it would take about a 300-acre solar facility to produce that much power, and it would only do so about 25 percent of the time. Dominion would have to add several monster offshore wind turbines to the first (and probably last) giant wind facility being built off Virginia Beach. That might operate 40-45 percent of the time.

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  • A Horrible Death in Colonial Heights – Part Four. Dangerous Chameleons

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    sherlockj

    A Horrible Death in Colonial Heights – Part Four. Dangerous Chameleons

    by James C. Sherlock

    Virginia authorities have criminally charged 18 employees of Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (CHNRC) with criminal acts in the terrible suffering and death of a woman from sepsis alleged to have occurred because of negligence in that facility.

    In Part 3 of this series we discussed who else may be responsible.

    We introduced the sister chains (affiliated entities) Medical Facilities of America (MFA) and Innovative Healthcare Management (IHM), owners of CHNRC and 43 other nursing facilities in Virginia and North Carolina.

    That assessment is no longer accurate with yesterday’s release of new CMS ownership data. 

    IHM is gone. Virginia SCC records show it as inactive. It lingers now only in historical records. We can only speculate at the reason for its demise and that decision’s relationship, if any, to the Colonial Heights death.

    But all of the former IHA nursing facilities including Colonial Heights today show MFA logos (the sprig of leaves) on their websites. They advertise “New Ownership, New Leadership, New Vision.” Really. That is what they wrote.  But it is not actually new leadership, just a new flag.  Somehow MFA is never named in the website.

     MFA and IHM have long been run by the same leaders under fluid corporate structures.

    (more…)

  • Whose Kids Are They Anyway?

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    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    It’s official.

    Virginia Democrats have declared war on families. And they’re just warming up.

    So far, in the nascent General Assembly session, they’ve introduced two appalling anti-family measures. More to come, no doubt.

    The first is a proposed constitutional amendment that’s an abortion enthusiast’s wet dream. It would enshrine in Virginia’s constitution an unlimited right to abortion. From my reading of it there are none of those pesky restrictions that ban killing viable unborn babies in the 8th or 9th month of gestation. This is an all-out abortions-until-birth amendment.

    Oh, and the amendment seems to allow minors — who can’t legally buy lottery tickets — to secure abortions without any interference from meddling parents.

    Read it. See what you think:

    ARTICLE I

    BILL OF RIGHTS

    Section 11-A. Fundamental right to reproductive freedom.

    That every individual has the fundamental right to reproductive freedom. This right to make and effectuate one’s own decisions about all matters related to one’s pregnancy shall not be denied, burdened, or infringed upon, unless justified by a compelling state interest and achieved by the least restrictive means that do not infringe an individual’s autonomous decision-making. A state interest is compelling only when it is to ensure the protection of the health of an individual seeking care, consistent with accepted clinical standards of practice and evidence-based medicine. The Commonwealth shall not discriminate in the protection or enforcement of this fundamental right. Continue reading.

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  • Kaine Beclowned Himself at Hegseth Hearing

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    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Pete Hegseth

    Few television productions are more harder to watch than Senate confirmation hearings.

    Given the virulent strain of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has infected the left, yesterday’s Pete Hegseth hearing was a festival of Democrat histrionics.

    We watched leftist women reduced to unstable, screaming harpies. The men – led by Tim Kaine – showed themselves to be classless hypocrites.

    Senator Tim Kaine

    Sickening. All of them.

    Let’s start with Kaine since he not only beclowned himself yesterday, but the entire commonwealth of Virginia.

    The rumpled Kansas native was in such a rush to pant over prurient details of Hegseth’s personal life that he apparently didn’t have time to comb his hair. Kaine proceeded to spend a creepy amount of time peppering the veteran with questions about marital fidelity, marriage vows and sexual behavior before delivering his coup de grace, a humiliation of Hegseth’s 7-year-old daughter.

    Shame on this swamp creature. 

    But Kaine wasn’t finished. This dirtbag also dragged Hegseth’s mother into his unhinged tirade and implied that Hegseth had engaged in physical abuse of his former wives, something that has never been alleged. Continue reading.

  • Surovell is Wrong About School Vouchers

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax), Senate Majority Leader

    As much as I generally respect Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax), Senate majority leader, he is mistaken in some recent comments about Governor Youngkin’s proposed Opportunity Grant program.

    As reported in the Virginia Political Newsletter, Surovell declared, “Private school vouchers are expressly prohibited by the constitution of Virginia. The language was inserted when they wrote the Constitution in 1970 to prevent exactly what happened during massive resistance when the General Assembly funded students going to the Prince Edward Academy and other schools to avoid desegregated public schools.”

    According to A.E.Dick Howard’s, Commentaries on the Constitution of Virginia, the language prohibiting the “appropriation of public funds to any school or institution of learning not owned or exclusively controlled by the State or some political subdivision thereof” was added to the Virginia constitution at the infamous 1902 convention. As our frequent commenter, tmt, can attest, it was aimed at parochial schools. The provision was amended in 1956 to provide for an exception for tuition grants intended to get around desegregation requirements, but that provision was ultimately struck down by federal courts.

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  • Will Sunlight Fall on Stoney’s Selfish Severances?

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    James A. Bacon

    by Jon Baliles

    Image credit: ChatGPT

    Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water in Richmond, another scandalous legacy of Levar Stoney has been tossed in Mayor Avula’s lap, and he is just barely two weeks into his term. The cesspool of corruption and inefficiency that has returned to City Hall in recent years is one Avula will have to decide in short order if he want to be different and clean it up by being transparent, or if he wants to maintain the veil of obscurity that Stoney left behind.

    The new mayor has handled the water crisis relatively well (with some issues) and people are relieved the water is flowing again. They will be watching to make sure it keeps flowing and that the problem is fixed for the long term; but this latest story is likely (to rightly) enrage a lot of fair-minded people, but comes with an easy solution.

    Samuel Parker from the Times-Dispatch has reported on his Twitter/X feed that on Mayor Stoney’s way out the door, 32 severance packages were authorized that were collectively worth over $950,000. He also wrote, “But officials won’t disclose documents or answer questions on which employees, specifically, received those severance packages and how much each employee received.”

    Read that paragraph again. And again.

    (more…)

  • A Whisper of Fresh Air

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    James A. Bacon

    Christa Acampora, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences

    by James A. Bacon

    In December the University of Virginia College of Arts & Sciences emailed faculty members with a new form to use in their annual assessments. Much to the wonder of a correspondent who conveyed the details to me, missing were the usual boxes requiring expositions of professors’ contributions to diversity in teaching, research, advising and so forth.

    To be sure, a diversity question has survived any winnowing of wokeness in the Student Experience of Teaching Evaluations, in which students evaluate their courses and professors. Students are still asked if they agree/disagree with the statement, “The instructor created an environment that respected difference and welcomed diverse perspectives.”

    Still, our interlocutor expresses delight: “Someone has smelled the coffee, and it [the diversity-state requirement] is all completely gone!”

    Many universities are scrapping their diversity statements. Critics have condemned the requirements as a form of compelled speech — an ideological litmus test of sorts. The University of Michigan Board of Regents, for instance, voted recently to drop diversity statements in hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions. So have several other universities.

    (more…)

  • Avula Engineers Transition in Richmond Waterworks Leadership

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    James A. Bacon

    Richmond Mayor Danny Avula

    by James A. Bacon

    April Bingham, Richmond’s director of public works, has stepped down in what Mayor Danny Avula described as a voluntary and amicable parting of the ways. In the wake of the cutoff of water supplies to residents of Richmond and neighboring counties last week, Avula said, “there probably are other skills that have emerged as what we need in terms of oversight at the water treatment plant.”

    Bingham, who had previously run the customer-service operation, had no engineering background. Her interim replacement, Anthony “Scott” Morris, does. Morris, currently a chief deputy for Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality, spent four years working in wastewater plant operations in Richmond.

    It is notable that Avula managed the transition with a minimum of recrimination. Nobody had asked Bingham to resign, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Asked whether he would have fired her, Avula said he and Bingham had had “a lot of conversations over the last two weeks as we (thought) about the next phase of leadership.”

    “We’re really grateful for … the work she’s put in,” he said.

    Bingham was allowed to resign with her dignity intact, which seems appropriate under the circumstances.

    (more…)

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.

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