Bacon's Rebellion

  • Why Is Anne Holton Claiming the Length of Virginia’s School Closures Didn’t Matter? (Part 1)

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    Anne Holton

    by Vernon Taylor (a pseudonym)

    The Virginia Board of Education meeting on December 12th, 2023 had a rare moment of must-see TV (22:50 – 29:27). In an attempt to gaslight parents, students and educators everywhere as she ignored the preponderance of data from COVID-era and post-pandemic studies, Board Member Anne Holton proposed an amendment striking the following words from the Board of Education’s 2023 annual report:

    These [learning] losses were most severe among low-income and minority students and students whose schools were closed longest.

    Board Member Holton reasoned (emphasis added):

    The evidence for it is in my estimation inconclusive at best. The Virginia evidence is very sparse and it disappears if you control for poverty…. The international evidence, the PISA report, just came out saying the countries that opened sooner did not perform significantly better in the pandemic than those…who stayed closed longer.

    Finally, and most importantly, our school board leaders and other local education leaders had very, very tough challenges in the pandemic. We were operating under so many unknowns. They were trying to manage so many priorities, keeping their staff safe and alive, keeping their students safe and alive and protecting against learning loss. They were all doing the best they could in my opinion under very difficult circumstances with so many things we just didn’t know at the time and to me these words are unnecessarily picking a fight with those who closed schools longer. Nobody in Virginia closed schools very long frankly, and most of them were open by March ‘21.

    (more…)

  • Virginia Legislation Would Penalize Lack of Diversity in Firms Seeking Economic Development Aid

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Hans Bader

    Recent Virginia legislation raises interesting constitutional issues under the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. Virginia legislators have introduced bills that would make corporate board diversity a factor in whether to give corporations tax incentives for economic development. In deciding whether to approve tax incentives to a company, the MEI Project Approval Commission would have to consider whether “at least 30 percent of [its] board of directors consists of women and historically underrepresented groups.” The requirement is contained in House bill HB 212 and Senate bill SB 393.

    The legislation doesn’t strictly require a quota, but there are instances in which courts have struck down state laws that merely encouraged the consideration of race and gender, without requiring quotas. One example is when a federal appeals court struck down a California law that required general contractors to either subcontract percentages of the work to minority, women, and disabled veteran-owned subcontractors, or demonstrate good faith efforts to do so. The required “goals” were not particularly onerous — “not less than” 15% for minority business enterprises, 5% women, 3% disabled veteran. And companies merely had to try to meet them (not succeed).

    But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the law, because even though “the statute does not require set-asides” based on race or gender, “it encourages them.” (See Monterey Mechanical Co. v. Wilson, 125 F.3d 702 (9th Cir. 1997), striking down California Public Contract Code § 10115(c)).

    So, the fact that the Virginia legislation does not impose a rigid quota for women and historically underrepresented groups does not insulate it from a constitutional challenge. A desire to help historically underrepresented groups doesn’t give government officials broad leeway to promote race or gender in selection, even as one of many factors, as the Supreme Court illustrated last year in striking down admissions policies at the University of North Carolina and Harvard University that were designed to promote racial diversity, and open doors to historically underrepresented groups like African-Americans.  (See Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181 (2023)).
    (more…)

  • A Nice Story Turns Out Not to be Such a Nice Story After All

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Mary Jane Burton

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    A recent podcast produced by VPM, Richmond’s public radio station, is both fascinating and disheartening. Admissible: Shreds of Evidence deals with the early days of the use of DNA as forensic evidence. In particular, it is the story of Mary Jane Burton, a long-time serologist for what is now called the Department of Forensic Science (DFS).

    It may come as a shock to some of this blog’s readers, but, in the 1990’s, Virginia was a national leader in the use of DNA for solving crimes. In 1989, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that DNA could be used as evidence in trials. The 2001 General Assembly enacted legislation to allow offenders to request testing of any biological evidence that had been collected during the investigations of the offenses for which they had been convicted before the techniques for DNA testing had been developed.

    Three people submitted requests in 2001 to test any DNA evidence in their cases. The first case taken up by DFS was that of Marvin Anderson, who had been convicted of rape in 1982 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Although he had been on parole for several years by 2001, he was anxious to clear his name, if possible.  In looking through his file, the DFS director discovered the tip of a cotton swab taped to a page of the report. Including the evidence in the file in that manner was against the protocols of the agency. When the DNA of the fluid on the swab was tested, it ruled out Anderson as the perpetrator. The other two offenders who had requested testing of evidence in their files were similarly exonerated. (more…)

  • A Modest Suggestion

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    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Gov. Glenn Youngkin has taken a tough stance toward the Chinese. He has prohibited state agencies from using the TikTok platform. He wants to ban the use of TikTok by Virginia residents under 18. He championed legislation prohibiting the sale of Virginia farmland to Chinese buyers. Finally, he scuttled the location of a major electric car battery factory in Southside Virginia because one of the owners was a Chinese company.

    The Governor is correct in his concern about the Chinese government. That country poses a major threat to the United States. But let’s be honest — none of those actions will have any effect at all on the Chinese government.

    If the governor wants to go beyond political grandstanding and issuing toothless edicts, he could take the next step: prohibit state agencies from purchasing anything made or assembled in China. The large appetite of American consumers over recent decades for products made in China was undoubtedly a major factor in the growth of its economy and power.

    Granted, the loss of the Virginia government agency market may not be much more than a drop in the ocean of the Chinese economy. However, it would be a substantive step by the governor. He could also use his “bully pulpit” to encourage Virginia citizens and businesses to avoid buying and selling products made in China. Constitutionally, that is as far as he could go, but these steps would put some substance behind his calls of concern.

  • Jeanine’s Memes

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

  • Virginia Bill Would Redefine Revenge Porn to Include Non-Porn, Making It Easier to Prosecute Politicians’ Critics

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    Susanna Gibson

    by Hans Bader

    Virginia’s revenge-porn law may soon be expanded to punish people for posting embarrassing, revealing images of public figures, such as politicians, if Virginia’s legislature approves HB 926. Doing so would violate the First Amendment, and invite lawsuits by civil-liberties groups like the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression or the Institute for Justice.

    In 2023, the media and blogs covered the fact that a Democratic legislative candidate performed live sex acts on the pornographic web site Chaturbate. That information was leaked to the media, including The Washington Post. Blogs posted images of the candidate showing that she was undressed, but not showing her private parts or anything pornographic. The candidate, Susanna Gibson, lost a close race for the Virginia House of Delegates, but not before arguing that the leak of her porn to the general public was a “sex crime” for which people should be prosecuted under Virginia’s revenge porn statute. “Daniel P. Watkins, a lawyer for Gibson, said disseminating the videos constitutes a violation of the state’s revenge porn law, which makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor to ‘maliciously’ distribute nude or sexual images of another person with ‘intent to coerce, harass, or intimidate.’” But no prosecution was ever brought, perhaps because doing so would violate the First Amendment, and because it might be hard to prove the leak was done with the “intent to coerce, harass, or intimidate,” as opposed to educating voters about a candidate’s past.

    Now, Delegate Irene Shin (D-Herndon) wants to rewrite the revenge porn statute so broadly that prosecutors will be able to prosecute not just the leaker, but also bloggers or journalists who posted publicly available images of Gibson showing that she was in a state of undress during her performances at Chaturbate. (more…)

  • The War Over Robert E. Lee Never Ends

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    First they came for the equestrian statues of Robert E. Lee.

    Then they removed his name from Lee Chapel at Washington & Lee University, where he is buried.

    Then they came for the memorial to his horse Traveller.

    Now they want to remove him from Virginia license plates.

    A bill introduced by Del. Candi King, D-Woodbridge would direct the Department of Motor Vehicles to prohibit the issuance of license plates that make reference to the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, or any other prominent Confederate leader. (more…)

  • Public Health Covid Rules Were Nothing But Voodoo

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    Ralph Northam

    by Kerry Dougherty 

    We tried to tell you. Those of us with common sense were attacked for it though.

    Back in 2020, when we were being accused of wanting to kill grandma because we knew the “rules” coming from our public health officials were — for lack of a better term — unconstitutional bullshit, we were voices in the wilderness.

    Everywhere we looked, previously intelligent people were running around with silly bandanas on their faces — if they were crawling out from under their beds at all. They were acting like you had leprosy if you stood closer to them than six feet and they were begging the government to stomp on even more civil rights.

    Their wishes came true. Most Americans complied with insane rules like wearing masks into restaurants, taking them off to eat, putting them on to walk to the restroom and taking them off when seated again.

    Those of us who pointed out that it was as if the entire country was part of a silly SNL skit were vilified.

    (more…)

  • There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills!

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    As staff members of the General Assembly start looking to “find” money in Gov. Youngkin’s proposed budget bill that can be used to fund priorities of their committee members (and they will be looking—that is a major part of their jobs during the Session), a good place to look would be capital maintenance reserve. There is at least $200 million in that budget item that could be taken without adversely affecting any of the agencies involved.

    As defined by the Dept. of Planning and Budget (DPB) in its reporting instructions to agencies, a maintenance reserve (MR) project is “a major repair or replacement to plant, property, or equipment that is intended to extend its useful life.” A typical MR project would be repair or replacement of built-in equipment such as in HVAC systems; repair or replacement of building or plant components such as roofs or windows; and repair of existing utility systems such as steam lines or water systems.

    The cost for an MR project must exceed $25,000 but be no more than $2.0 million for a non-roof replacement project and no more than $4.0 million for a roof replacement. DPB may grant exceptions to these dollar amounts and agencies must submit annual reports to DPB on MR expenditures. (more…)

  • As Dominion and APCO $oar, NOVEC Drops Rates

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative’s territory within the greater Northern Virginia region.

    By Steve Haner

    The major “rural” electric cooperative serving very urban Northern Virginia is drastically lowering its rates as of this month, because the cost it is paying for bulk power purchases has dropped. The contrast with what is happening with Virginia’s two major investor-owned electric companies may be telling Virginia something if anybody wants to listen.

    NOVEC, or Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, will be charging its residential users just under $114 for each 1,000 kilowatt hours of usage, down more than $26. The commercial and industrial users among its 175,000 customers are seeing comparable reductions. (more…)

  • Virginia Bill Could Define Student Bullies by Race

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Hans Bader

    Should students be defined as bullies partly based on race? A confusingly-worded bill just introduced in Virginia’s legislature seemingly classifies students as bullies partly based on racial differences between “the aggressor” and the victim, such as a “real or perceived power imbalance between the aggressor or aggressors and victim, including on the basis of the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, religion, or other distinguishing characteristics of the victim.”

    That language is found in HB 536, a bill introduced by Delegate Joshua Cole (D-Fredericksburg). It would add the language in italics to Virginia Code § 22.1-276.01, so that it reads:

    “Bullying” means any aggressive and unwanted behavior that is intended to harm, intimidate, or humiliate the victim; involves a real or perceived power imbalance between the aggressor or aggressors and victim, including on the basis of the actual or perceived race, color, national origin, sex, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, ethnicity, religion, or other distinguishing characteristics of the victim; and is repeated over time or causes severe emotional trauma.

    If Virginia adopted such legislation, it would create legal risks for school systems. If schools enforce a race-conscious definition of bullying, which applies (or not) based on the “race…of the victim,” that could be deemed by the courts to violate the rights of students defined as bullies based on racial considerations. School systems could end up being sued under the Constitution’s equal protection clause, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and 42 U.S.C. 1981. Even rules designed to help historically-disadvantaged groups are subject to legal challenge when they classify students based on race or gender, as the Supreme Court made clear last year in striking down the race-conscious admissions policies of Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. (more…)

  • Congress, Commission Renounce Reconciliation

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    The Confederate Memorial in Arlington.
    (Arlington National Cemetery photo by Rachel Larue)

    by Donald Smith

    ‘In passing the 2021 William M. “Mac” Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act, the United States Congress determined that Confederates and the Confederacy no longer warrant commemoration through Department of Defense assets.’

    ***

    At such a time and under such conditions I thought it eminently fitting to show some token of our feeling, and I therefore instructed my subordinate officers to come to the position of ‘salute’ in the manual of arms as each body of the Confederates passed before us.

    The first statement is from the Naming Commission, the body Congress created to review Confederate names and iconography on DOD installations. It appears to be the commissioners’ interpretation of Congress’ intent behind Section 370 of the FY 2021 National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA), which established the Naming Commission and outlined its mission.

    The second is from Union General Joshua Chamberlain. Chamberlain commanded the detachments of the Union Armies of the Potomac and James which received the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The “such a time and under such conditions” Chamberlain found himself confronted with, was the approach of the surrendering Confederate infantry on April 12th, 1865, at Appomattox Court House.

    Apparently, Congress has chosen to agree with the Naming Commission, instead of Chamberlain. In so doing, it has chosen to play Jenga with American heritage and culture. (more…)

  • The Fighting Editor

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Alexander, Ann Field. Race Man:  The Rise and Fall of the “Fighting Editor” John Mitchell Jr., University of Virginia Press, 2002

    Review by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    John Mitchell, Jr. was a major figure in Richmond and Virginia public affairs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Over the course of this career, he was a nationally known newspaper editor, a member of Richmond City Council, president of a bank, and a gubernatorial candidate.

    In her well-researched biography, Ann Alexander tells Mitchell’s story in fascinating detail. In the course of following the life of Mitchell, the book provides insight into the political and social lives of middle-class Blacks in Richmond’s Jackson Ward in the late 19th century. There is also a discussion of the effects of the Readjuster movement and the subsequent defeat of the Readjusters and rise of the Democratic party in the city and state.

    John Mitchell, Jr., the child of slaves, was born July 11, 1863, at Laburnum, an estate in Henrico County on the outskirts of Richmond. His parents were house servants of James Lyons, a prominent Richmond attorney. After Laburnum burned to the ground less than a year after Mitchell’s birth (the result of suspected arson by a disgruntled slave), the Lyons family eventually relocated to one of Richmond’s finest houses, a Greek Revival mansion on Grace Street near Capitol Square. (more…)

  • God Made Nikki Haley, Too

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner

    On or before March 5, I will cast a vote for former Governor and Ambassador Nikki Haley for the GOP nomination for president. She edges out Governor and former Congressman Ron DeSantis with me mainly on questions of temperament and foreign policy. I am not an isolationist.

    There are six names on that Virginia ballot for the Republicans, and three for the Democrats. There is no reason at this point to believe, or even hope, that the outcome will be something other than victories here for Donald Trump and Joe Biden. If that is the matchup in November, the betting at this point would have to be Virginia’s electoral votes go blue again. (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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