Bacon's Rebellion

  • Woke Bloat at Virginia Universities

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    James A. Bacon


    by James A. Bacon

    Step aside California! Public universities in Virginia have built larger diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bureaucracies than taxpayer-funded universities in any other state, concludes a new backgrounder by The Heritage Foundation. The DEI bureaucracy at the University of Virginia includes 94 employees listed on its website, says the report. Virginia Tech has 83 DEI personnel, while George Mason University has 69.

    Expressed as a ratio of DEI bureaucrats to tenure-track faculty members, GMU earned the top spot as DEI top-heavy, with a ratio 0f 7.4 to 100. UVa was close behind with 6.5, while Tech was 5.6. In comparison, uber-woke Cal Berkeley has a 6.1 per 100 ratio.

    (I’ll have to stop making quips about UVa being the Berkeley of the East Coast. From now on I’ll describe Berkeley as the UVa of the West Coast.) (more…)

  • Navy Ditches Drag Queen Recruiting Videos

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    Bob Rayner

    Norfolk naval base

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Whoa. Stop the presses. Big news out of Washington.

    Navy brass has confirmed that it’s scrapped its ingenuous recruiting tool. You know, the one we wrote about last spring: drag queens.

    Yep, Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley, a non-binary sailor who likes to dress up like a woman and prance around on stage as drag queen Harpy Daniels, will no longer be featured in Navy recruiting videos.

    We wrote about this sailor last May.

    This is a stunning about-face. Who could have predicted that fishnet stockings and lipstick wouldn’t be an irresistible lure to bring in the sort of sailors we need in the modern American Navy? Who knew that drag queens would rather be reading to pre-schoolers than twerking to serve their country? (more…)

  • By the Way, What Is Virginia Tech’s View on Parental Rights?

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    James A. Bacon

    Catherine Cotrupi

    Virginia Tech’s interim dean of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion has been accused of violating Tech’s email policy by forwarding a message that slammed local conservative school board candidates as “hateful,” according to The Daily Signal. In responding to an email sent to her Tech account blasting the local candidates for their “anti-trans” and “anti-woke” outlook, Catherine Cotrupi forwarded the email with the notation, “Sharing in case you’re interested.” One of the school board candidates is contemplating a lawsuit.

    Undoubtedly, Cotrupi deserves a hand slapping, but it’s not as if she originated the email chain. One can interpret her action as careless, not a commandeering of state resources to advance a political agenda. Of far greater concern is her implicit endorsement of the representations in the email, which is indicative of a mindset that informs her DEI work at Tech.

    The local school board candidates, it appears from the Daily Signal article, are guilty of the cardinal sin of supporting Governor Glenn Youngkin’s “Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students,” upholding parental rights in transgender issues at public K-12 schools. One wonders if Cotrupi believes Virginia Tech parents have any right to be informed of, or involved in, life-altering decisions — hormone therapy, surgery, etc. — made by their children with the university’s knowledge and consent. (more…)

  • Giant Utility Rejects Net Zero Power; Big Fight Follows

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    Bob Rayner

    by David Wojick

    Dominion Energy, Virginia’s big electric utility, is telling the state it does not foresee complying with the 2045 net zero power target in the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA). The preferred option in Dominion’s latest Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) retires no fossil-fueled power generators, other than the few old ones that are already in the process of retirement. In fact, it adds a lot more fossil juice.

    Up front in the IRP, Dominion puts it this way: “Due to an increasing load forecast, and the need for dispatchable generation, the Alternative Plans show additional natural-gas-fired resources and preserve existing carbon-emitting units beyond statutory retirement deadlines established in the VCEA. The law explicitly authorizes the Company to petition the SCC for relief from these requirements on the basis that the unit retirements would threaten the reliability or security of electric service to customers.”

    So, in effect, this is a notice to Virginia’s utility regulator, the State Corporation Commission (SCC), that Dominion is prepared to petition for permission to not comply with the net zero power generation mandate in the VCEA. (more…)

  • Fear and Loathing in Harrisonburg

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    Bob Rayner

    by Joe Fitzgerald

    Fifteen months ago, I wrote the following about last year’s Harrisonburg City Council elections:

    We need people, independent or party, who value pragmatism over ideology. And we need people who know the difference between pragmatism and cynicism, and the difference between opportunity and opportunism. This would be the year for people who are concerned, in the words of an ancient Greek poet, about what is right and good for their city, and are willing to sacrifice the time, treasure, and energy to work for those concerns.

    The Harrisonburg Democratic Committee reacted by kicking me off a database I’d been using to help candidates for 20 years, and continued a nomination process marked by two deeply flawed caucuses. The year ended with a council dominated by ideological opportunists. (The reference to the database is thrown in to highlight absurdity; you get it or you don’t.)

    Next year three out of five City Council members will be on the ballot. Mayor Reed, elected eight years ago as “Everywoman,” has since grown to become the moral center of the council. The other two are a man with the personal behavior of a person half his age and a woman who, in the immortal words of Jed Bartlett, has turned being un-engaged into a Zen-like thing.

    In that same West Wing scene, Bartlett says, “We should have a great debate. We owe it to everyone.” Wouldn’t it be pretty to think so?

    There is a class of people in the city, from the serious to the absurdist, who have managed to keep up with or remain engaged in local politics even with the diminution of local journalism. Many would probably like to see that great debate about the city’s future. Right now they’re asking questions like “What are the Democrats going to do?” and “Will the Republicans run anybody?” (more…)

  • Alumni Groups File Amicus Brief in Virginia Tech Free Speech Case

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    The Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA) and alumni groups from nine colleges and universities, including The Jefferson Council, submitted an  amicus curiae brief to the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday urging the court to hear a case brought by Speech First over the issue of bias reporting practices and procedures at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

    “The use of bias reporting systems has become pervasive across American college and university campuses and these systems create a climate of fear and intimidation that causes many students to self-censor and discourages constitutionally protected speech,” said AFSA President Charles Davis. “These bias reporting systems have no place at a university whose defining purpose as a place of learning and human fulfillment can only be achieved through a steadfast commitment to free speech.”

    From the brief:

    Rather than adopting explicitly punitive speech codes or conditioning participation in university life on acceptance of prevailing views, colleges such as Respondent created “bias response” systems. (more…)

  • Factoid of the Day: Speeding in Virginia

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    James A. Bacon

    Maniacs. Image credit: Washington Post

    Virginia has the third highest rate of fatal crashes in which someone was driving faster than the speed limit or too fast for road conditions, according to personal injury law firm Heninger Garrison Davis in an analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data.

    Virginia recorded 906 fatal crashes; speed figured as a factor in 240. The speeding rate of 26.5% is more than 50% higher than the national average. The press release did not specify the year these figures are based upon, but a web search reveals that the most recent NHTSA crash data comes from 2020. 

    I blame out-of-state drivers on Interstate-95. — JAB

  • Thunder in the Pulpits

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    Bob Rayner

    by Michael Giere

    “But this was not always so. In fact, for much of our history, it has been just the opposite. Godly men and women who were fearless, bold, strong, and savvy have been central to the American experience.”

    There has never been anything in history like the US Constitution, signed on September 17, 1787. It is the crown jewel of human advancement and bids freedom not for some but for all. It stands alone, enshrining and paying homage to the core reality of man’s existence – that the dignity and rights of every person and their personal freedom don’t come from the word or works of an impermanent ruler, a mob, or government but from the permanent promise of the Creator.

    The Constitution began with a convention and 55 delegates from the newly-free Colonies called to modify the Articles of Confederation. It became a convention that would reshape history. Influential members such as James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington, among others, were convicted that the Confederation needed a stronger national government, and the Convention settled on Mr. Madison’s Virginia Plan as a starting document to replace the Articles of Confederation. (more…)

  • Will Dove Get the Bud Light Treatment?

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    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Does the name Morgan Bettinger sound familiar?

    Perhaps not.

    She’s just another victim of fake hate at the University of Virginia. A girl who was wrongly labeled a racist and who suffered as a result of a relentless, mean-spirited campaign to drive her out of school.

    Meanwhile, the person who accused her of racism, Zyahna Bryant, went from BLM activist to the spokeswoman for the Fat Liberation Movement who just landed a partnership with Dove. (more…)

  • Voyeurism Isn’t Good for the Soul (or Politics)

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    Bob Rayner

    Susanna Gibson, Democratic nominee for the 57th District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.

    by Shaun Kenney

    The scandal of the week involving Susanna Gibson is an indictment of our politics. Shame on us all for participating in it.

    HAMLET Get thee ⟨to⟩ a nunnery. Why wouldst thou be
    a breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest,
    but yet I could accuse me of such things that it
    were better my mother had not borne me: I am
    very proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offenses
    at my beck than I have thoughts to put them
    in, imagination to give them shape, or time to act
    them in. What should such fellows as I do crawling
    between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves
    ⟨all;⟩ believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.

    — William Shakespeare, “Hamlet” Act 3, Scene 1 (1601)

    Ophelia has given herself to Hamlet. Yet having placed her trust totally in men — her father, her brother, her lover — she is told by her beloved to remove herself to a nunnery. Or in the context of the Elizabethan age? A brothel — thus exchanging the ideas of nobility and love for pure utility and momentary pleasure.

    Realizing the world for what it is — or at least, the world of Hamlet, Laertes, and Polonius — drives Ophelia insane. Having relied upon a branch made of willow, she drowns in a shallow pool, able yet unwilling to save herself and face such a world. (more…)

  • A Race to the Bottom Everywhere

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    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Great news!

    Beginning today, members of the U.S. Senate will be indistinguishable from bums.

    Axios reports that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is “relaxing” the dress code for members, allowing them to be on the floor of the Senate dressed like they’re headed to Walmart. Or rather, like John Fetterman of Pennsylvania who has the sartorial taste of a hobo and finds putting on a suit and zipping his fly too much trouble.

    Instead of censuring the jerk from the Keystone State and barring him from floor votes until he puts on business attire, Schumer is scrapping hundreds of years of tradition and decorum to allow this fool to continue to disrespect the people who elected him, and his colleagues. (more…)

  • Want to Save the World? Teach a Kid to Read.

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    James A. Bacon

    (Image credit: Salon.) Who does more to promote social justice — these guys? Or…

    Reading skills among Virginia’s public-school children as measured by Standards of Learning (SOL) test scores are dropping through the floor. Among the remedies that Governor Glenn Youngkin proposes to address the threat of mass illiteracy is requiring under-performing students to receive three to five hours of tutoring per week.

    …this guy? (Image credit:ETFO Voice)

    Good luck finding the tutors, warns The Washington Post. The teacher shortage is getting worse — about 4.8% of teaching positions were vacant at the start of the school year, up from 3.9% the previous year. And half of schools responding to an Institute of Education Sciences survey reported that their tutoring programs were constricted by lack of funds or inability to find staff.

    Here’s an idea: recruit the social justice warriors to teach kids to read. (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

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    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant.

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

  • Virginia Colleges Fare Pretty Well in 2024 FIRE Rankings

    Posted on

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    James A. Bacon

    In case you’re wondering how all Virginia institutions scored in the 2024 FIRE free speech rankings, here is a summary of the universities included in the survey. For perspective, I’ve included the top and bottom scorers. Liberty University is listed separately, as it is one of six that prioritize other values over free speech. Remember, the rankings reflect an assessment of formal written policies, not actual practice or campus climate. — JAB

    2024 FIRE Free Speech Ranking
    Rank Institution Score Speech Climate
    #1 Michigan Technological University 78.01 Good
    #6 University of Virginia 68.00 Above Average
    #8 George Mason University 67.67 Above Average
    #20 Washington & Lee University 62.99 Above Average
    #26 James Madison University 58.83 Slightly Above Average
    #59 College of William and Mary 53.69 Average
    #160 Virginia Tech 42.17 Slightly Below Average
    #184 Virginia Commonwealth University 39.23 Below Average
    #248 Harvard University 0 Abysmal
    Liberty University 35.62 Warning, No Rank

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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