Bacon's Rebellion

  • Three Ideas for Protecting Civil Dialogue at UVa

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    On Oct. 11, 2023, journalist Abigail Shrier engaged in a Q&A session at the University of Virginia discussing the transgender movement in the United States. Offended by her views, transgender militants and their allies sabotaged attendance of the event, abrogated an agreement with university authorities restricting where to hold their protest, crowded the entrance to the venue at Minor Hall, berated attendees entering the event, and harassed attendees leaving the event.

    Responding to a letter from Jefferson Council President Tom Neale, the administration characterized some of the behavior as “disappointing,” but noted that there were “no arrests or injuries, and no property damage.” The administration found no grounds for follow-up action.

    The Jefferson Council vigorously takes issue with the administration’s spin. We believe that protesters should be held to a higher standard than not causing injury or property damage. We have published a report detailing the events surrounding the Shrier event and offer three tangible recommendations for upholding the right of members of the UVa community to hear speakers free from disruption and intimidation. (more…)

  • Spanberger’s Low-Energy Launch

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Shaun Kenney

    Long rumored and much anticipated, Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) announced her intention to run for Virginia governor in 2025 just weeks after Republicans led by Governor Glenn Youngkin fell short of re-capturing leadership of the General Assembly.

    Spanberger’s announcement — being panned as “low energy” by most observers — came just days after Virginia Republicans fell a few thousand votes short of capturing the Virginia State Senate and gaining parity in the House of Delegates — with just one vote dividing both chambers:

    “The greatest honor of my life has been to represent Virginians in the U.S. House. Today, I am proud to announce that I will be working hard to gain the support and trust of all Virginians to continue this service as the next Governor of Virginia,” said Spanberger. “Virginia is where I grew up, where I am raising my own family, and where I intend to build a stronger future for the next generation of Virginians. As a former CIA case officer, former federal law enforcement officer, and current Member of Congress, I have always believed in the value of public service. I look forward to serving the Seventh District through the end of this term and then pursuing the important work of bringing Virginia together to keep our Commonwealth strong.

    Meanwhile, all eyes turn towards Richmond as Mayor Levar Stoney — former chief of staff to Governor Terry McAuliffe — is anticipated to launch his own run for the Governor’s Mansion in 2025. (more…)

  • William and Mary and the Chinese Communist Party – Dangerous Allies – Part 2

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    sherlockj

    Courtesy U.S. – China Economic and Security Review Commission

    by James C. Sherlock

    The College of William and Mary first contracted with the Chinese Ministry of Education’s Confucius Institute (CI) Program in 2012. Despite all of the public warnings about the dangers listed in Part 1, it extended that contract in 2016 and did not cease until 2020, when threatened with sanctions by the federal government.

    W&M’s hosting of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) continues today.

    This is Part 2 of a series that will explore those dangerous alliances and recommend changes in that college’s approach to what the United States considers the biggest foreign threat our nation faces, China.

    The creation of the new William and Mary Confucius Institute (WMCI) was unfortunately timed.

    In 2012 Xi Jinping took full control of both the Chinese Communist Party and the Peoples Revolutionary Army. The CI’s became part of Xi’s United Front Work Department.

    The Worldwide Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community in 2012 never saw it coming. The intelligence community, seemingly always fighting the last war, was late to an understanding of the true China threat, at least publicly.

    So it would be unfair to criticize William and Mary for not having done so.

    But by 2016, when William and Mary signed the renewed contract with Hanban, there were plenty of warnings. See Part 1 for a list. The University of Chicago closed its CI in 2014.

    WMCI. WMCI was not an informal arrangement, but a contractual one. The WMCI was under dual governance that gave the Chinese authority over the appointment and firing of the American director of that organization.

    The director was Dr. Hanson, whose rosy view of Hanban and the Chinese government we watched on a YouTube video in Part 1. (more…)

  • William and Mary and the Chinese Communist Party – Dangerous Allies – Part One

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    sherlockj

    By James C. Sherlock

    The faculties of America’s elite universities, among which William and Mary (W&M) would eagerly self-identify, are the beating heart of the anti-American radical left in this country.

    It would defy nearly impossible odds to fail to expect that some, perhaps many, of the William and Mary faculty join them.

    But we taxpayers expect the Presidents and Boards of Visitors of our state-supported schools to tamp down their worst excesses.

    That has not happened at W&M.

    That school has ignored multiple warnings from multiple authoritative sources over the years about the dangers of partnering with the Chinese Ministry of Education’s Confucius Institutes (CIs) and the Foreign Ministry’s Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSAs).

    W&M continues to support the CSSA and has transitioned the CI to a relationship with the same Chinese university.

    The New York Times published investigative reports in 2012, 2017, and since then have laid out the threat in great detail.

    The BBC published “Confucius institute: The hard side of China’s soft power” in 2014.

    The American Association of University Professors in 2014 warned in On Partnerships with Foreign Governments: The Case of Confucius Institutes:

    relationships with Confucius Institutes “sacrificed the integrity of the university and its academic staff”.  “Confucius Institutes function as an arm of the Chinese state and are allowed to ignore academic freedom. Their academic activities are under the supervision of Hanban, a Chinese state agency which is chaired by a member of the Politburo and the vice-premier of the People’s Republic of China.

    The U.S. – China Security Review Commission, an agency of the U.S. government, published China’s Overseas United Front Work in August of 2018.  Listed there under Other Organizations Involved in United Front Work are: (more…)

  • An After-Action Review of the ’23 Election

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    Bob Rayner

    by Scott Lingamfelter

    Years ago, when I was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, we would conduct force-on-force training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California. It’s a vast complex in a high desert environment where training was quite realistic. We would conduct maneuvers against what was termed “the world-class OPFOR” or opposition forces, who mimicked Soviet war doctrine while we used the new “AirLand Battle” tactics to defeat them.

    In many cases units who fought the OPFOR came up short, not due to our doctrine, but due to our execution of it. That’s the point: you can have the best plan in the world, and if it is poorly executed, you lose.

    After each operation, we would gather with the observer controllers (OC) to evaluate our performance. It was brutally honest. Why? Because in combat, people die and that is a brutal reality. So, you train hard to win and bring your team home. That means you take inventory of your mistakes to get better the next time you execute the mission. And when you do, you focus on what occurred on the desert floor during the battle; you don’t critique the personalities of the players.

    But even when focused on the raw facts of the performance, the After Action Reviews (AAR) were sometime tough to swallow. Fortunately, we had a legendary OC who made things a bit easier to digest by beginning each AAR by saying of our results, “It ain’t good, it ain’t bad, it’s just what happened.” So, let’s begin taking inventory of a recent battle for the legislature in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

    Republicans had a very disappointing Election Day 2023, especially at the state level. It was an important battle for the GOP to secure majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly so that our Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin could advance an agenda he felt was best for the Commonwealth. We failed. And just as we did at the NTC, let’s set personalities aside. Playing the “blame game” doesn’t produce future victories. But addressing performance honestly can help produce future victories. (more…)

  • Anyone Know Where Sen. Ghazala Hashmi Lives?

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    mmm. Looks like things just got interesting — instead of merely horrifying — in last Tuesday’s election.

    If Luke Rosiak of The Daily Wire is correct, one Democrat member of the Virginia State Senate may be fighting to stay out of jail rather than taking her seat in the Capitol come January.

    In a story headlined “Virginia Dems Could Lose Control of State Senate Because One Of Its Members May Have Lied About Her Residence,” Rosiak claims that Ghazala Hashmi may not live in the 15th Senate District, rendering her ineligible to occupy the seat she won just last week.

    Worse, Rosiak reports that Hashmi may have lied on the Certificate of Candidacy Qualifications that she signed last March. In it, she claimed to live in an apartment in Chesterfield while she may have been living in the $600,000 home in Midlothian where she has resided for decades. If these accusations are true, Hashmi could be facing a maximum fine of $2,500, up to 10 years in prison and she could lose the right to vote.

    Rosiak reports that, before redistricting, Hashmi’s Midlothian home was in District 10. She represented that district when she was elected in 2020. When the boundaries moved, however, Hashmi found herself living in District 12. Oddly enough, instead of running for that seat, Hashmi entered the race for District 15 and listed an apartment there as her dwelling place.

    As it happens, District 12, where Hashmi reportedly DOES live, is a GOP stronghold, which was won by Republican Glen Sturtevant, who garnered 54% of the vote. (more…)

  • Delusion and Dogma in Virginia Tech’s Admissions Office

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    sherlockj

    Juan Espinoza, Virginia Tech
    Associate Vice Provost for Enrollment Management
    and Director of Undergraduate Admissions.  Official photo.

    by James C. Sherlock

    Showing once again that people can convince themselves of anything, the Collegiate Times, Virginia Tech’s student newspaper, published on November 5th a story titled:

    “Record low ACT scores not a concern for Virginia Tech admissions”

    The opening sentences:

    Virginia Tech admissions are unbothered by the lowest reported ACT scores in 31 years and say that there are other application metrics for determining college readiness.

    “When you look at standardized testing as a predictor on how students will do once they’re in college as a standalone variable, it’s never been a very strong predictor,” said Juan Espinoza, director of undergraduate admissions at Virginia Tech. [Emphasis added.]

    He is just wrong about that, as we will show.

    We also note that

    Juan led Virginia Tech’s international admissions and recruitment efforts.

    So, he may be the man to see about why the PRC-run Chinese Students and Scholars Association is still on campus keeping tabs, and pressure, on Tech’s one thousand Chinese students.

    Institutions need to make temporary adjustments to their admissions criteria to mitigate coronavirus impact on applications and enrollment.

    They should not, as in the case of Tech’s admissions head, pretend they have found new facts in the process that make ACT and SAT unnecessary metrics in admissions. (more…)

  • Some Virginia State Colleges and Universities Host Chinese Government Student Control Organizations

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Courtesy U.S. – China Economic and Security Review Commission

    Virginia Tech’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association

    is the largest international student society at Virginia Tech, with more than 1,000 Chinese students and scholars and their families. It is also one of the largest Chinese student and scholars organizations in the United States. [Go to link and click “translate” in URL window.]

    Good to know.

    More than 350,000 students from mainland China out of about 1 million total international students are enrolled in America’s colleges and universities in 2023.

    The financial incentives for the schools are huge.

    All of those students pay full-sticker out-of-state tuition as well as room, board and student fees – $58,750 annually for undergraduates.  So Tech realizes about $60 million for its full-time Chinese Hokies.  That does not include summer students, another big program.

    In associated programs, Chinese universities provide Mandarin language instructors to American faculties and accept U.S. students.

    But the institutions who accept Chinese Student and Scholars Associations (CSSAs) know they monitor and control Chinese students and spread the official dogma of the Chinese state to their campuses.

    The Chinese don’t even try to make it a secret.

    CSSAs have closed at UVa, VCU, James Madison and George Mason without apparent effect on their Chinese student inputs.

    Yet Virginia Tech, William and Mary, and ODU continue to host them.

    It makes no sense. (more…)

  • Rumblings Among House Republicans

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), Minority Leader

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), the current Minority Leader in the House of Delegates, seems to be on a smooth glide path to making history by being elected Speaker when the General Assembly convenes in January. The fate of the current Speaker, Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), is less certain.

    Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), currently Speaker

    One might logically expect a Speaker to maintain leadership of his party caucus after it moved from the majority to minority. But it seems that some members are unhappy, and that Del. Terry Kilgore (R-Scott), the current Majority Leader, is campaigning to be the Republican floor leader in the next Session, rather than Gilbert. The Virginia Political Newsletter reports that the unhappiness of some members stems from feeling that “the talking point of a new 15-week restriction was forced upon them by House leadership and Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s PAC, Spirit of Virginia.” One Republican delegate told the newsletter, on the condition of anonymity, “Many of us understood that the messaging and focus on the abortion issue was wrong from the start, and would hurt Republicans, especially in competitive districts.”

    Del. Terry Kilgore (R-Scott), currently Majority Leader

    It is not uncommon for legislators to rebel against their leadership when their party loses its majority status. In fact, Scott owes his current position to a coup he led two years ago against then-Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) after the Democrats were toppled from the majority.

  • Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

  • Sam Rasoul and Jewish Democrats in the General Assembly – An Uneasy Alliance

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    James C. Sherlock

    Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, speaks at a pro-Palestinian rally in Roanoke. 
    Credit: David Hungate, The Roanoke Times

    Salam “Sam” Rasoul is a Democrat delegate from Roanoke.

    He still publicly blames Israel for an explosion at a Gaza hospital that the western world’s intelligence services have blamed on an errant Hamas rocket.

    Even The New York Times changed its story after jumping the gun on that report.

    At the rally (pictured), The Roanoke Times reported:

    Rasoul, a Palestinian … used his speech to call for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, and for the U.S. to stop funding Israel’s war effort.

    Apparently he did not consider that wearing his team’s colors in a war might not be well received by some in his party.

    He will find that his words and actions will cause, at best, discomfort within his caucus in January.

    (more…)

  • A Red Wave in Roanoke County

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Scott Dreyer

    In contrast to some big Democrat wins in the eastern part of the state giving them control of both houses of the General Assembly, the Roanoke and NRV experienced a regional red wave in the November 7 elections.

    Of particular significance, the GOP won both of the most competitive, high-stakes races in our area for General Assembly seats.

    Sen. David Suetterlein (R)
    (photo/Tennesseestar.com)

    In the highest-profile race, Sen. David Suetterlein defeated Roanoke City Councilwoman Trish White-Boyd for the newly-created Senate District 4. Some have erroneously claimed this race was for “retiring Sen. John Edwards’ seat.” Actually, however, the grossly-gerrymandered district Edwards long represented–nicknamed “The Johnnymander”— was dissolved in recent redistricting. That old district lumped Democrat-heavy Roanoke City with the Virginia Tech area, so that both it and the surrounding GOP-heavy rural areas surrounding it were not competitive seats.

    The new District 4, however, has the advantage of including most of the Roanoke Valley as a “community of interest.” It covers all of Roanoke City, Salem, and parts of Roanoke and Montgomery Counties. As can be seen in this district map, White-Boyd racked up wide margins in the City and narrow margins in two Montgomery County precincts just east of Blacksburg. However, she lost everywhere else in Montgomery County, Roanoke County, and Salem. Suetterlein carried seven precincts in Roanoke City: Preston Park, East Gate, Hollins Road, Southeast, Garden City, South Roanoke, and Deyerle. (more…)

  • It Wasn’t About Youngkin

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Joe Fitzgerald

    Deep in the hills of Southwest Virginia is a state Senate district where nobody works because the coal industry is increasingly mechanized. The district has all or part of eight counties. In Northern Virginia is a county where nobody works because they’re all employed by the federal government. The county includes all or part of eight state Senate districts.

    Every four years, national political  writers combine this into a cohesive entity called Virginia and use it as a bellwether for the presidential election that follows the state Senate election by one year, every single time. The state’s economics and politics are shaped by, among other things, the coal industry and the federal government (see above). The state’s boundaries are shaped by rivers, a bay, a mountain range, and a southern line that’s straight except for a zig-zag south of Abingdon caused by a drunken surveyor.

    Most of the national political writers don’t know that our districts were drawn by the courts, our counties and cities are separate entities, and our precincts are drawn by processes that vary by district, county, and city. And every four years, regular as clockwork, they write about how the General Assembly races will impact the ambitions of George Allen, Jim Gilmore, Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Bob McDonnell, Terry McAuliffe, or Glenn Youngkin for president, vice president, or U.S. senator. (more…)

  • In Loudoun, Some Good News for Republicans

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    The exquisite Loudoun County countryside

    by Jeanine Martin 

    I feel sorry for Governor Yougkin. This has to be one of the worst nights of his life. After doing 100 campaign events, he lost the state Senate and House of Delegates.

    Youngkin may need to rethink his future in politics. Although this election wasn’t about him. It was about abortion, always the Democrats’ most important issue. They lied saying Republicans would ban ALL abortions, and probably birth control too. Scaring Democrats always works to get them into the voting booth.

    The newly-elected Senate is now 19 Republicans and 21 Democrats. The new House of Delegates is currently 51 Democrats and 48 Republicans. The one outstanding race is expected to go Republican, giving the party a total 49 Republicans. It doesn’t get much closer than that, in both Houses. Results can be found here.

    There was some good news for my Loudoun County friends. Our awful commonwealth’s attorney, who won with George Soros’ funding, Buta Biberaj, has been defeated by Republican Bob Anderson, who is currently ahead of her by 1,000 votes. (more…)

  • Virginia Election Reflections

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    So, boys and girls, what did we learn Tuesday night?

    I’ll go first.

    First, we learned never to underestimate the Democrats’ devotion to abortion. To them, it’s a sacrament. Something not to be touched. Every woman, they believe, has the right (I’d say God-given, but it seems blasphemous) to abort her baby right up until birth.

    They want unfettered access to abortions more than they want good schools, a booming economy, or world peace.

    Shoot, they nearly elected a woman who engaged in slutty online sex acts with her lawyer husband while they begged for tips from an audience of masturbating voyeurs over abortion. This mother of two convinced more than 16,000 Virginia Democrats that spreading her legs and who knows what else for an online camera was simply bodily autonomy. An extension of a woman’s right to choose.

    Did those voters think this sex worker had the judgment and character to serve in the same chamber than once housed Patrick Henry? Yeah, baby. She supports abortion!

    Moving on, we also learned that there is a downside to holding off-year statehouse elections when almost no other states have contests.

    It means there are tractor-trailer loads of loot that can be dumped from out-of-state special interests into Virginia campaigns undiluted by needs in other places.

    It also means that Virginia’s elections take on an exaggerated national importance.

    Virginia is not a swing state. It’s a blueish purple state that elected a likeable businessman as governor, along with his running mates, during a time when parents were harboring raw resentment toward public schools that closed during covid and then hid sexual assaults once they opened. It was a type of harmonic convergence, unlikely to be repeated any time soon. (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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