Bacon's Rebellion

  • Youngkin Seeks Phone-Free Classrooms

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Governor Glenn Youngkin has issued an executive order ordering the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to draft guidance for public school divisions to restrict the use of cell phones in schools.

    Executive Order 33 directs VDOE to develop guidelines that balance cell phone restrictions with parents’ desires to contact children in emergencies. VDOE will issue draft guidelines by August 15, solicit feedback, and publish final guidelines September 15. The hope is for local school boards to adopt them effective January 25, 2025.

    A statewide cell-phone initiative is long overdue. I’ve been beating the drums since publishing, “At This School, the Cell Phones Rule,” more than two years ago. Several Virginia school districts — Hopewell, Charlottesville, Virginia Beach, Fredericksburg — as well as individual schools have already acted. In his book published earlier this year, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” social psychologist Jonathan Haidt gave impetus to a growing national movement by tying cell phone use to the alarming increase in mental illness among teenagers. One of Haidt’s top recommendations for reversing the trend is banning cell phones in schools.

    In 2023 Florida restricted students from using cell phones in class; Indiana and Ohio followed soon after with similar measures. Oklahoma, Vermont and Connecticut have introduced legislation. Approaches vary from blocking phone use in classrooms only to prohibiting access at any time during school hours.

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  • A Playpen for Social-Justice Activists

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Jim Ryan’s vision for the University of Virginia is to build an institution that is both “great and good,” an institution that strives for excellence while also advancing the common welfare. There are many paths to achieving the common good — entrepreneurship, economic development, effective government, strong families, vibrant civic life, for instance — but UVA’s president has settled on something else. He defines a good community as one that strives for social justice.

    In 2020 the UVA Board of Visitors adopted most of the recommendations of the Ryan-appointed Racial Equity Task Force, which called for spending $700 million to $950 million to rectify the University’s historical racial injustices. The University has since ramped up its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion bureaucracy and poured millions of dollars into the hiring of far-left faculty who embrace Critical Theory and the intersection-oppression paradigm.

    But Ryan has greater aspirations for UVA than merely to be an incubator of social-justice theory. He wants to export that thought into the world at large, starting with UVA’s home communities of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. To advance that aim, he created the Equity Center.

    What does the Equity Center do? A core goal, in its own words, is to bring about “racial and socioeconomic equality.” A review of the Center’s website suggests that its 19 employees (one position is vacant at the moment) engage in a lot partnering, collaborating, coordinating, liaising, and awareness creation. But what have they actually accomplished? Has the Center done anything tangible to close the racial equity gap or is it just a playpen for social activists and community organizers?

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  • Democratic Dumpster Fires

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    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Words matter.

    And here’s one handy litmus test – if any are needed – to unmask news outlets that are in the bag for the left.

    It’s the use of the verb “pounce” to describe conservatives reacting to any Democrat act.

    Here’s an example from our local newspaper:

    Buckle up, I’m going to pounce!

    Continue reading.

  • Senator Warner vs the Congressional Black Caucus

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    James A. Bacon

    by Paul Goldman

    After the stories about Senator Mark Warner trying to be the John Hancock of the revolution against President Joe Biden hit the national news wires, a leading member of the Congressional Black Caucus called me on my cell phone.

    “Is this Warner the guy who the Virginia Democratic Party claims ran Doug Wilder’s campaigns?” he asked. “How could a guy who ran Doug Wilder campaign be so brain dead about Black politics?”

    Then he asked, “Paul, are you sure you told the truth about Warner in your book Remaking Virginia Politics?“

     I did what I could to defend Mark whom I consider a friend of many years. But it was of course clear to me he had made a terrible blunder in thinking he could be the face of any coup against President Joe Biden. And, yes, the attempt by Warner, the nation’s media and the Hollywood elites to drive Joe Biden off the Democratic ticket is the first presidential nomination coup in American history.

    Even Republicans back in the Watergate scandal days treated President Richard Nixon better than Democratic lawmakers are treating Joe Biden. Mr. Biden’s detractors in one breath praise him for his policies, and then in the next publicly humiliate him by saying he lacks the mental and physical ability to run a presidential campaign much less serve in the Oval Office four more years. So, yes, the CBC member has a legitimate question: what the hell was Mark Warner thinking and why did he think it?

    (more…)

  • How Do Immigrant Children Fare in Virginia Schools?

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Based on an analysis of 2019 data, the Migration Policy Institute estimates that 250,000 “unauthorized” immigrants reside in Virginia. Two out of five (39%) of these unauthorized residents have children. These children attend Virginia schools.

    It’s often difficult to measure the impact of illegal immigration on American society, but the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) collects statistics that give us a sense of the challenge faced by Virginia’s public school system. According to VDOE data, 137,000 students were classified as “English Learners” in the 2023-24 school year, while another 46,000 were described as “former” English Learners. Whether or not they came to the U.S. legally is impossible to discern from VDOE data, but given the influx of illegal border crossings in recent years, it is likely that a significant percentage is “unauthorized.”

    Here is one inescapable conclusion that can be drawn from the VDOE enrollment database: The number of English Learners in Virginia public schools has tripled over the past 20 years. The number surged from 60,000 in the 2003-04 school year to 137,000 in 2023-24, as seen in the graph above and detailed in the table below.

    One in nine students in Virginia public schools today is an English Learner.

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  • We Need to Listen

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    James A. Bacon

    Mark Warner has raised the discussion of Biden’s future to a whole new level.

    by Joe Fitzgerald

    Virginia Senator Mark Warner is a cautious man. That’s not a negative in a world where public figures seem to have magazines full of tweets ready to load at a moment’s notice. He also trusts his own judgment. He’s got half a billion dollars in the bank, so maybe he should. When he makes a major move in a year he’s not on the ballot, he’s likely not doing it for the money or the votes.

    That’s why his concerns about President Biden should carry more weight than, just for instance, the NYTimes editorial page. He doesn’t want the job himself but, even if he does, he’s smart enough to know he has less chance than Harry does of being king. He’s smart enough to know that he has enough political capital to affect the conversation, and that he may not have as much when this is all over. So, the question becomes what’s in it for him.

    It’s hard to find an answer that doesn’t come down to duty and love of country. He’ll still be a rich United States Senator regardless of who’s president. He doesn’t have a personal stake in whether Biden or Trump wins, except for the desire to live in a country that’s not run by a felonious, adulterous, lying megalomaniac. But your mileage may vary. Maybe you just can’t believe in patriotism. You love your country and you don’t want to live in the one Trump will create, but you can’t quite give the benefit of the doubt to any elected officials.

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  • Jeanine’s Memes

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    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant

  • A Confessed Killer is Found Innocent

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Christopher Harper, age 3. He was murdered in 1975. His murder is now unsolved. Photo credit: Richmond Times-Dispatch

    Marvin Grimm spent 44 years in jail and prison for sexual abuse and murder of a three-year old boy, to which he confessed and pleaded guilty. However, the Court of Appeals of Virginia recently said that there is no evidence he committed the crimes and fully exonerated him.

    Grimm’s case is largely an illustration of the utility of forensic tools that were unavailable until relatively recently. It is also an illustration of the reality of false confessions and their role in the criminal justice system.

    In November 1975, three-year old Christopher Harper (designated as “C.H.” in the Court of Appeals opinion) was reported missing by his mother. His body was found four days later in the James River. An autopsy and forensic analysis reported that he died of asphyxiation. There was sperm in this mouth and throat and a significant amount of ethanol, chlorzoxazone (a muscle relaxant), and acetaminophen in his blood, liver, and stomach.

    There was considerable coverage. The police went weeks without solid clues or a suspect. Eventually, they came to focus on the 20-year-old Grimm, a laborer, because he had had two arguments related to the little boy with the boy’s father prior to his disappearance; the boy’s mother had said she felt “Grimm was odd in his actions;” and Grimm lived in the apartment across the hall from the boy’s family.

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  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

  • At Least He’s Taking His Punishment Like a Man

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    James A. Bacon

    Miles Adkins

    by James A. Bacon

    In Frederick County, Marine Corps veteran Miles Adkins pleaded guilty Monday to two federal misdemeanors and was sentenced to 12 days in jail, fined, and ordered to pay restitution for offenses he committed during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

    According to DC News Now, Adkins waved other rioters into the building and helped one person climb into the building through a broken window. Later, he was seen on social media with a canned beverage, “bragging that he drank a Coors Lite beer in the U.S. Capitol building.”

    Adkins committed misdemeanors, and he’s paying the legal penalty. He may pay a political price, too, as calls are mounting for his resignation from the Frederick County School Board. Voters have every reason to reject an elected official who egged on January 6 rioters and desecrated the Capitol. But Adkins does have one saving grace: He’s not whining about being mistreated.

    Contrast that to students in Charlottesville who were arrested during the pro-Gaza protesters for refusing police orders to disperse.

    (more…)

  • Somebody Call a Waaambulance!

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Four students who participated in the pro-Gaza encampment protest May 4 are complaining that the University of Virginia is withholding their degrees pending the outcome of University Judiciary Committee hearings into their cases.

    Go ahead and berate me for my cold, cold heart but I feel zero sympathy for their plight. When you engage in civil disobedience — the protesters defied repeated orders to break up the encampment — you take the consequences.

    In this instance, it appears that the consequences have been exceptionally light: Local lefty prosecutors have declined to press charges against a single protester in the municipal courts. The problem is that school is out and the student judiciary is not in session, and it may not be able to adjudicate university complaints until students return in August.

    The Daily Progress article exudes sympathy for the four protesters, among 11 whose fates are in limbo, because they can’t get a sheepskin. It is difficult, the newspaper avers, “to find work in a job market in which employers often require a bachelor’s degree.”

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  • “Founders March”

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    James A. Bacon

    Today is the 4th of July, and I’m too lazy this holiday morning to expend the mental energy to compose a tribute to our nation’s independence. So, I’m letting AI do it for me.

    At my prompting, Suno has composed a patriotic song in praise of Virginia founding fathers George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. The lyrics are a tad insipid — though probably better than I could compose — and the melody and orchestration remarkably good. I nominate the “Founders March” for the state song of Virginia!

    (Thank you Bing Image Creator for the image above. I bow down to our AI soon-to-be masters.)

    — JAB

    Listen to the song, and read the verses:

    [Verse]
    Washington brave led the way
    Liberty’s dawn shining day
    Across the fields battle cries
    Freedom’s flame never dies

    (more…)

  • The Cesspool Is Back

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    James A. Bacon

    by Jon Baliles

    When former Governor Doug Wilder ran for Mayor in 2004, his theme was that City Hall had become a “cesspool of corruption and inefficiency.” His promise to clean it up and his tough, no-nonsense reputation led him to win 78+% of the vote in a 4-person race. People were begging for change and leadership after repeated scandals perpetrated by those who were supposedly running the government under the old Council-Manager form of government.

    City Council members were arrested for various charges in the five years preceeding the change of government; one for taking a bribe for their vote, one for defrauding a legal client, and one for a fraud and tax scheme. The then-City Assessor resigned after it was discovered he lowered the assessment for his own house and billed the city for gas for a trip from Miami to Key West.

    The real whopper was when the then-Assistant City Manager was busted in 2002 for a mail scheme in which he sent more than $500,000 of city money go to firms he created for work that was never done. Two of the things that finally brought the fraud to light occurred when someone noticed that two phony invoices from two of his fake companies both included the word “debris” misspelled as “debre;” the other tip off was that some invoices were signed by Council members who were no longer serving on the Council. Of course, $500,000 went out the door before it was discovered.

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  • COVID’s Baaaaack! (Not Really)

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    July is the hottest month of the year in Virginia, and Virginia public health officials are warning that a tendency for people to seek cooler temperatures indoors will boost their exposure to the COVID-19 virus.

    “We went through a period where we really saw great decline,” Heather Harmon-Sloan, chief of the Virginia Department of Health’s COVID-19 unit, told WRIC-TV. “And now, we’re starting to see those diagnosed cases of COVID-19 start to creep back up slowly.”

    Public health officials don’t sound terribly worried, though, and you shouldn’t be either. The uptick in COVID cases is what you might call a dead cat bounce. The rate of COVID incidence in the population, according to the state’s COVID tracker, is less than one in 100,000, way down from this winter.

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  • The Porridge-Too-Cold Economy

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    James A. Bacon

    Back in January Harvard economist Paul Krugman wrote that the U.S. enjoys a “Goldilocks” economy where “where “growth, inflation, and unemployment are all at levels that look “just right.” Well, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has released 1st-quarter numbers for the Gross Domestic Product, and it turns out economic growth nationally was 1.4%.

    Remember, the federal deficit as a percentage of the GDP was 6.1% in fiscal 2024, which ended June 30. Six-percent deficits to buy 1.4% economic growth is not fiscally sustainable. This looks more like a porridge-too-cold economy to me.

    If this is Goldilocks, I’ll take the three bears.

    Fortunately, the numbers look a little better for Virginia. The Old Dominion’s economy grew at a 2.1% rate in the first quarter. We’re growing slower than our peers on the South Atlantic Coast, but at least we’re growing faster than the national average.

    (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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