Bacon's Rebellion

  • Virginia Beach School Board Holds Virtue-Signaling Vote at 2:15 a.m.

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Wanted: One more member with common sense for the Virginia Beach School Board. Unfortunately, that won’t happen until the next election in 2024.

    In the meantime, the narrow woke majority that did its best to keep masks on kids, keep schools closed, dumbed down the city’s public schools and pandered to special interests, will continue to virtue signal and hold pointless, anti-parent votes under the cloak of darkness.

    At 2:15 in the morning to be precise.

    Perhaps you heard, the Beach school board held a marathon meeting Monday night that stretched into Tuesday morning. Not because the members were desperately trying to find ways to improve academics or test scores, but to grant LGBTQ+ students special protected status that isn’t extended to any other minority, including children with disabilities.

    Oh, and there is another, more insidious reason the board passed this resolution: to extend a defiant middle finger to Gov. Glenn Youngkin whose Department of Education has prepared policies guaranteeing parental rights regarding trans students.

    The Beach’s ill-conceived resolution passed by a vote of 6-5.

    One more member, folks, and we can put an end to this late-night lunacy. (more…)

  • The Problem Isn’t Guns, It’s Richmond

    Posted on

    by

    Robin Beres


    by Shaun Kenney

    Do you ever sit around and wish that a public figure would actually stand up and call out a problem for what it is? Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears is out there doing just that when it comes to Richmond’s rising tide of violence.

    Virginia Democrats have responded to last week’s tragedy at Monroe Park, which killed 2 and wounded 17, with the usual tropes. Blame guns — which if one believes other leftist tropes about fearful gun owners clinging to their firearms and Bibles, you might wonder why all of rural Virginia isn’t some dystopian hell scape.

    Instead, the dystopian hell scape seems to be centered in polities where Democrats are imposing their own utopian visions of a safe and secure society only to discover their policies are delivering neither safety nor security.
    (more…)

  • Probing UVa’s Gender Gap: Is It an Admissions Problem?

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    First-time, first-year applicants, offers and yields by gender, 2016-2021. Click for more legible image.

    by James A. Bacon

    As highlighted in our last post, the University of Virginia admits significantly more women than men. The split in the undergraduate student body is roughly 54/46. My aim in pointing out the disparity was not, as some readers presumed, to argue for special preferences for men; admission to UVa should be based on merit. I was exploring the question of whether the goal of achieving “equity” (whether defined as equal “outcomes” or equal “opportunity”) applies to all under-represented groups, including men, or just to so-called “marginalized” groups favored by progressive ideology.

    Having documented that males are comparable to females in academic aptitude, at least among those who take the SATs, I suggested that some other factor might account for the disparity in their numbers at UVa. One possibility is that more women than men apply to UVa. All other things being equal, one would expect more women to be admitted if more women applied. Another possibility, which I raised in a previous post, is that UVa is suffused with subtle but systemic anti-male bias.

    In this post, we’ll examine the role of the admissions process. I will delve into the issue of campus culture in a future post. (more…)

  • Virginia Nursing Home Regulations and Inspections – A Strategic Improvement Recommendation

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    By James C. Sherlock

    Those who read this blog know that Virginia has far more than its share of bad nursing homes. They just do not know what can or should be done about it.

    This third in a current series on Virginia nursing homes will take on a problem that is self-inflicted – the state’s nursing home regulatory structure.

    Virginia’s nursing home regulations, upon which Virginia licensing inspections are based, are promulgated by the Board of Health.  They are at best redundant to federal requirements.

    At worst they are different than federal standards, with no discernible gain in nursing home quality.  Operators follow the federal rules anyway, because they are almost inevitably stricter than those of the state.

    Virginia can improve its nursing home regulations by conforming them precisely to federal regulations.  State law already requires them to be in “substantial conformity.”

    This change, if accompanied by the combining of federal and state inspections which it would enable, would make everybody happy.  It would also go a long way towards fixing the staffing problems at Virginia’s inspection agency by reducing significantly their required efforts.

    (more…)

  • Along the Back Roads –the Rise and Demise of a Town

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    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Let’s take a break from DEI; the shortcomings of UVa, W&M and the rest of higher education; and all the other issues that get us riled up.

    Virginia is an interesting state to travel and see.

    I have always liked to travel the back roads.  It is slower than the interstates and the primary highways, but these byways can be so much more interesting.

    I don’t know if this is true of other states, but throughout the countryside of Virginia there are a lot of official markers showing place names, but seemingly there is nothing there. Sometimes the markers appear on the state highway map distributed by the Virginia Department of Transportation; sometimes, not. These “named places” are not random and, if one is willing to dig a little, there is often a story behind them. They were used to designate distinct places in rural Virginia that nearby residents could use as a reference point and sometimes as a place to gather. The reference point could be a building, intersection, store, etc. Eventually, the names were used to denote the surrounding community and often are in use today. (more…)

  • A Supplement to James Sherlock’s Post

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    James Sherlock has done yeoman’s work on this blog with his pointing out the failure of state government to adequately regulate the nursing homes in the Commonwealth. I commend him for his perseverance on this issue.

    In doing some research on the budget issues related to this topic, I encountered enough additional information to warrant a separate article, rather than a comment. Therefore, this article should be regarded as a supplement to the recent articles posted by Jim. It also provides me the opportunity to acknowledge that I unfairly criticized the House Republican majority in a comment to one of his earlier posts. (more…)

  • Post Attacks Homeschooling Because It Succeeds

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Derrick Max

    by Derrick Max

    Over the last few years, homeschooling has grown in Virginia by almost 40 percent. In fact, homeschoolers in Virginia now account for almost 60,000 students — making homeschooling the fifth largest school district in the Commonwealth. Because homeschoolers are self-funded, this saves Virginia’s state and local governments almost $800 million per year.

    More importantly, homeschoolers outperform public school students in almost every measurable category. Homeschoolers score significantly higher on standardized tests, have higher college graduation rates, lower rates of depression and anxiety, and succeed at higher rates as adults.

    Yet, The Washington Post reported in The Revolt of the Christian Home-Schoolers (May 30, 2023), based almost solely on one couple’s experience, as a “conscious rejection of contemporary ideas about biology, history, gender equity and the role of religion in American Government.” The article, with scant evidence, concludes that there is an “unmistakable backlash” of formerly homeschooled children denouncing homeschooling.

    Riddled with references to “indoctrination” and “abuse,” homeschooling is painted by The Washington Post as a fringe and dangerous educational option. These homeschoolers “could not recover or reconstruct the lost opportunities of their childhood” as “there were so many things they had not learned.” (more…)

  • Darkness Comes to Hokietown

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Wokeness is so all-pervasive in Virginia higher-ed that I cannot possibly keep readers abreast of it all. Today I settle for quoting the thoughts of others.

    Today The Wall Street Journal op-ed section highlights litigation surrounding Virginia Tech’s Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT).

    The advertising catchphrase “see something, say something” calls to mind suspicious packages that might be bombs. At Virginia Tech, that slogan applies to the school’s official Bias Intervention and Response Team, or BIRT. Hokies are encouraged to report one another’s ill-considered opinions or crass jokes. On May 31 the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to end this, but a dissent by veteran Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III is a persuasive signal flare for the Supreme Court to take the case and defend free speech.

    Read the whole editorial. Even better, if you have the time, read Wilkinson’s minority opinion on the litigation. Some excerpts: (more…)

  • No New Law or Regulation is Needed for VDH to Sanction Bad Nursing Homes

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    By James C. Sherlock

    This is Part 2 of this series.  Part 1 is here.

    I will offer here a deeper sense of Virginia’s bad nursing homes.  And of the historic lack of adequate regulation by the state.

    Start with the fact that even the worst of them are still open.

    Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) conduct and update at least quarterly a system of nursing home (and other facilities) assessments that is worthy of your trust.  I am cautious with all things government, but it has earned mine.

    Nationally, 20% of nursing homes are rated one star overall by CMS.  In Virginia, 34% of nursing homes have that rating.

    Don’t be mollified by the official designation of such facilities as “well below average.”  Many are places persons as vulnerable as nursing home residents should not be permitted to reside.

    We are disgraced by having let that happen.   Virginians, through our state government, need to assure it does not continue.

    (more…)

  • The Incoherence of DEI Ideology: the Gender Gap

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon


    by James A. Bacon

    Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at the University of Virginia is incoherent in theory, arbitrary in practice, and riddled with contradictions. Nowhere is DEI policy more muddled than UVa’s treatment of men and women. UVa’s long-term goal is to recruit a student body that “looks like Virginia” in its racial/ethnic composition. Yet UVa leadership has expressed no qualms about the persistent imbalance of men and women.

    Among UVa’s 16,700+ undergraduate students, 54.5% were female and only 45.5% were male — a nine percentage-point differential. The disparity exists across racial/ethnic groups. Only among foreign students are males enrolled in a slightly higher percentage than females.

    Why does the disparity exist? Given the university’s commitment to “equity,” why isn’t the ratio close to 50/50? UVa officials never talk about the gender enrollment gap, which is not surprising given that the disparity cuts against the oppression narrative that undergirds the university’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives. To the contrary, university officials are in a state of perpetual angst over the fact that some disciplines, particularly engineering and the sciences, enroll more men than women. Yet no one is distressed about insufficient male enrollment in the social sciences and humanities. (more…)

  • Prediction: General Assembly Elections*

    Posted on

    by

    Robin Beres

    by D. J. McGuire

    Election Day is five months out; early voting begins in a little more than three months. Primary Day isn’t for another week and a half. Still, yours truly is ready to make my first asterisk-heavy prediction on who will win the General Assembly in November. The prediction is based on assumptions driven by current facts. Should those facts change, the assumptions and the prediction change. Hence the asterisk(s). The prediction itself comes from my belief that the assumptions will hold up.

    The GOP Case for Optimism
    I begin with what happened in 2021 (Republican +7 House of Delegates seats, flipped chamber), and examine the differences from then to now that would impact the 2023 result. For the Republican Party of Virginia, two factors argue for a change in their favor.

    First, Glenn Youngkin has gone from largely unknown candidate to minimally successful governor. That change is impactful: no incumbent governor of Virginia has seen their party suffer a genuine mid-term loss in 20 years — and even that — Mark Warner losing a State Senate seat – came as he picked up a few delegates in 2003. To find a governing party suffering serious losses in a Virginia mid-term, you have to go back to 1991.

    To some extent, many of Youngkin’s predecessors had the advantage of a politically unpopular foil in the White House. That said, so does Youngkin (538), which is the second factor in the GOP’s favor.

    Assuming Youngkin can maintain his approval rating at about 50 percent (probably) and keep his party together (not so likely, see below), he would expect to keep the House of Delegates under GOP control at least. (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant

  • School Boards, Model Policies and Parental Rights in the Raising of Children

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    The Virginia Beach School Board will vote tomorrow.

    The announced subject will be transgender rights in schools.

    It is couched by The Virginian-Pilot as the school board defending transgender students against “unnecessarily cruel policies.“  As opposed, one supposes, to necessarily cruel policies.

    The local paper refers, of course, to the Youngkin administration’s “Model Policies” on the subject. Which, like their predecessors from the Northam administration, are not mandatory, so need not be debated at all.

    The School Board debate is at its core constitutional.

    You will note that the Youngkin Model Policies linked its constitutional interpretations to court decisions. The Northam version did not. Northam’s just asserted what the constitution meant. Must have been an oversight.

    My take:

    • Families are responsible for shaping the values, beliefs, and personalities of children;
    • Government is required to protect children from abuse and neglect. But government schools are not allowed to substitute their judgements on values and beliefs for those of the families;
    • They are most certainly not permitted to define parental moral or political disagreements with school personnel as emotional abuse at home. Or as harassment of government schools or teachers;
    • And government schools, absent evidence of abuse or neglect, must never be allowed to substitute their own moral judgments for those of parents.

    But that’s just me. Not a lawyer. (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

  • Scandal in Plain Sight – Virginia’s Failed Regulation of Law-Avoiding Nursing Home Owners

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    One of the most important and heart-wrenching decisions families make for their elderly loved ones is whether they are able to keep them in their homes as they get older and sicker.

    Sometimes that is not feasible for a long list of reasons in each case.

    More than 30,000 Virginians live in nursing homes.

    Both the federal government and Virginia regulate them.  The Virginia Department of Health, for both the Commonwealth and the federal government, inspects.

    We should be able to expect patients to receive at least basic standards of care. A high percentage in Virginia have not .

    In a five-star system, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rates 98 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes at one star – defined as much below average. More than a third.

    Nationwide, only the worst 20 percent receive a one-star rating.

    The last time I reported, in October of 2021, those figures were 54 one-star facilities out of 288. Nineteen percent.  So some of our nursing homes have gotten precipitously worse.

    The ratings are backward-looking a couple of years, so the measured declines discussed here did not start recently.   By definition of the way that Medicare compiles records and assigns scores, some have been bad for a long time.

    People have suffered and died from the lack of proper care and effective oversight. (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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