Bacon's Rebellion

  • Is it time for Virginia to cut back on studies and commissions? Lawmakers are weighing it.

    Posted on

    by

    Todd Truitt

    Virginia lawmakers consider limiting state studies and commissions following similar actions in other states to streamline government, reduce bureaucracy, centralize oversight and cut regulatory barriers.

    by Nathaniel Cline

    The Virginia government is sponsoring around 200 interim studies and commissions created through various actions by the state legislature and governor’s office, and that number is expected to grow with pending legislation. But several lawmakers are now saying there are too many of these initiatives.

    Shortly before the session ended last Saturday, state leaders, including Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, told the Mercury that the number of studies and commissions has become “ridiculous.”

    “People need to stop turning legislation into studies, and that’s what’s been happening,” Locke said. “These pieces of legislation get into a committee and get turned into a study, and that’s why you get the proliferation of the studies. Just kill the bill.”

    Senate Pro Tempore Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, recently criticized members of her own party and committee chairs for failing to reject unpopular bills, which often morph into studies. Legislators should “grow a backbone and kill bills that they don’t feel worthy of passage instead of sending them all to me to kill for them,” Lucas posted on X, formerly Twitter.

    (more…)

  • Dorothy McAuliffe Bigfoots Fellow Democrat Dan Helmer

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A man in a suit riding a large lobster on the beach, waving to the camera as waves crash in the background.
    Dan Helmer riding lobster district to victory? Image credit: Grok

    by Kerry Dougherty

    I almost feel sorry for Democrat Del. Dan Helmer. OK, not really.

    He desperately wants to go to Congress and his twice-thwarted dream seemed within reach when Democrats drew a lobster-shaped district just for him in their new gerrymandering scheme. 

    Now it looks like Helmer’s going to get his teeth kicked in.

    Again. 

    You see, he was bigfooted last week by Dorothy McAuliffe, wife of former Gov. Terry  McAuliffe, who jumped into the race and brought along a squad of Democrat women.

    Helmer ran for Congress twice before: In 2018 when he lost to Jennifer Wexton and in 2024 when he lost to Suhas Subramanyam.

    Helmer’s an unapologetic abortion and gun-control enthusiast, you’d think he’d be a winner.

    The delegate who’s been tirelessly campaigning for a YES vote in this spring’s gerrymandering referendum, appeared to have a district drafted just for him. You know, that lobster-shaped monstrosity.

    A reward, if you will, for his loyal service to the Democrat party. Continue reading.

  • Is a Casino the Answer to Fairfax County’s Genteel Decline?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A comprehensive road map of Fairfax County, Virginia, with a red die and a white die placed on top.
    Image credit: Nano Banana

    by Chap Petersen

    A few things are certain in life. Death, taxes and UVA losing to Duke in the ACC men’s basketball final. (No, I’m not bitter).

    Another one is well-funded interests getting their way in the Virginia General Assembly.

    A mere decade ago, our battle was with Dominion Power who sought to avoid customer refunds through the deceptively named “rate freeze” bill (ed. note: today’s corollary would be bills for “fair elections”).

    The “rate freeze” fight later morphed into the perennial struggle to ban Dominion — a public monopoly — from making donations to the same Virginia lawmakers who decided its profits. Year after year, I filed the bill. And year after year, the GA defeated it. (Thank you Danica Roem for carrying on the struggle!)

    Flash forward to 2026. The economy of Fairfax County is in a genteel decline. The Federal government is contracting. There is a major office vacancy problem. Small businesses are being hit by higher taxes and regulatory burdens, e.g. European-style “paid sick leave” laws. There is no open space for data centers to fill the revenue gap.

    The answer: a Casino in Tysons!

    (more…)

  • Betrayal 2 – The Virginia General Assembly

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    sherlockj

    Betrayal 2 – The Virginia General Assembly

    by James C. Sherlock

    People, including our elected representatives in the General Assembly of Virginia, might not know that the Commonwealth is subject to a permanent federal court injunction requiring compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The “Commonwealth of Virginia” is enjoined, not just the executive branch.  

    The author herein informs the General Assembly, the Governor, and Virginia’s Attorney General, who is responsible for defending the action in federal court, that a bill passed this year and another one left in the House Appropriations Committee combine to carry profound human and legal implications.

    2026 HB 1380 

    The House of Delegates was presented this session with House Bill 1380 (HB 1380) to authorize the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Disability Services (DBHDS) to:

    1. adopt regulations requiring providers of services for individuals with developmental disabilities to conduct regular emergency medical drills; and
    2. impose sanctions on providers for human rights violations that threaten the health, safety, or life of individuals receiving services.

    The Fiscal Impact Statement for that bill reported no fiscal impact for part 1 and an annual impact of $663,048 to fund part 2. But the FIS revealed far more than that.

    (more…)

  • Assembly Found Nine Ways To Make Electricity More Expensive

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    A 600-megawatt hour battery storage facility in California. The legislation would mandate up to 200 times that much capacity in Virginia.

    The 2026 General Assembly has passed at least nine separate new laws that will increase the cost of your electricity.  Not one of the bills creates a single megawatt of additional energy for our use. 

    Most of the bills create new ways for the utilities to take money from all their ratepayers and spend it to benefit a small set of their customers, mainly based on their low income. Those will be praised by advocates as “affordability” measures, at least for those beneficiaries, but for the vast majority they will mean added cost.  

    Few of these bills have cost estimates. The list:   

    #1. Over the next twenty years, the largest increase in customer cost will come from the expansion of the Virginia Clean Economy Act to include construction of huge battery storage complexes, perhaps as much as 140 gigawatt hours of storage. The battery bill, also passed in 2025 but vetoed, will create a ratepayer revenue requirement in the tens of billions of dollars, much of it profits for utility investors as the plants are amortized over decades.  

    #2. Right behind the battery construction mandate in customer cost impact will be the return of Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which imposes a carbon tax on any power plant that uses natural gas, coal, oil or biomass as fuel. Based on the recent carbon auction price of about $25 per ton, Virginia’s many such plants will pay more than $550 million in carbon taxes starting no later than next winter.  

    (more…)

  • Off the Interstate: An Old Church Still Serves its Community

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    A brick building with a peaked roof and white windows, set against a cloudy sky, surrounded by trees and a parking lot.
    Mangohick Baptist Church, King William County

    Along Rt. 30 in King William County is the community of Mangohick.   There is not much to see there, except a very old church whose congregation is still very much active.

    The Mangohick Baptist Church was built between 1730-1732. It is listed on both the Virginia Historic Landmarks register and the National Register of Historic Places. According to the nomination form submitted to the National Park Service by the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission, Mangohick Church was begun in 1730 as a “chapel of ease.” Those buildings were meant to serve members who lived in remote areas of the parish. Thus, its “architecture is much plainer than the larger more elaborate parish churches of the era.” It got its name from nearby Mangohick Creek, a tributary of the Pamunkey River.

    Sign for Mangohick Baptist Church established in 1732 on a brick wall above double doors.

    The church continued to serve the Episcopal parishes in the area until the Revolutionary War. After the Episcopal Church was “disestablished” as the official church of Virginia, the Episcopalians abandoned the Mangohick Church. It then became a “free church” for use by any denomination. After the Civil War, the Union Baptist Church, consisting of both white and Black congregants was organized. By the latter part of the nineteenth century, however, the congregation was made up entirely of Black members, who received legal possession of the property in the 1920’s. At some point, the current name was adopted.

    The 1730-1732 original building with its fine Flemish bond brickwork with the glazed header pattern”, along with a modern addition, still serves the community.

  • No “Global Boiling” in Virginia This Winter

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    The news media won’t bother to show you that chart, because it undercuts the narrative of a dangerous climate crisis upon us. The three winter months of December 2025 through February 2026 in Virginia were well below average in temperature for the past 100 years, with 60 of those years colder than the past three months. The previous year was also below the century average, with 53 years warmer. The warmest recent winter was 2022-23, hyped by the climate panic crowd as the warmest year on record — but it wasn’t for those three months. That honor goes to 1932, with 1949 and 1950 basically equal to 2023. You can also see the years in the mid 1970s that led to all the stories about a looming ice age. Is there a slight warming trend in that data? Looks like 2 degrees Fahrenheit per century, “global boiling” indeed.  — SDH

  • If the FBI Investigates, She Might Not Like the Answer

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Question asked: How was a man convicted on terrorism charges and spent time in federal prison carry out the horrific attack at Old Dominion University?

    Question answered:

    But wait, there’s more!

    (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A tweet expressing observations about cleanliness and social issues in Japan compared to the United States, highlighting zero homelessness, litter, and loitering.

    See more memes at The Bull Elephant.

  • Yard Signs in an Older Middle-Class Henrico Neighborhood

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

  • Say NO to Deceptive Ads

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Campaign postcard urging voters to return their mail ballots, featuring a message against gerrymandering and a photo of a woman in professional attire.

    What’s this? Governor Abigail Spanberger opposes the gerrymandering amendment to the state constitution? That’s sure what it looks like in this mailer from the Justice for Democracy PAC that arrived in my mailbox yesterday.

    The flier never actually says that she opposes the amendment, which is slated for a referendum vote in April. Indeed, look at the barely legible print encircled on the image above, and it says, “6/17/19 Post on X.” So, I suppose the authors of this abomination can say that, technically, they didn’t lie.

    But they did deceive.

    Look, I’m going to vote against the amendment, which I see as a disgraceful power grab. But you know what else is disgraceful? Fliers like this. This kind of garbage pollutes the public discourse. And it’s so unnecessary! How hard would it have been to say, “In 2019, Abigail Spanberger opposed gerrymandering. Why does she favor it now?”

    I hate it when the other team disseminates falsehoods. I hate it even more when my team does. I’d like to think that we’re better than that. If we’re not, what’s the point? — JAB

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A bowl filled with strips of crispy bacon, humorously labeled as a salad with a small green leaf on top.

  • Betrayal

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    A joyful man and woman with developmental disabilities embracing and smiling together, showcasing a moment of friendship and happiness.
    Credit: Healthy Place https://www.healthyplace.com/neurodevelopmental-disorders/intellectual-disability/intellectual-disability-causes-and-characteristics

    by James C. Sherlock

    This will be the first of a series of reports on the scandalous failures of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) in its stewardship of Virginia’s compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in matters affecting the safety and health of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

    The programs that started in 1991 in response to the ADA serve more Virginians daily than Virginia’s nursing homes do.

    Virginia and DBHDS have been subject to a series of federal court orders aimed at improving compliance with the ADA in these programs, beginning with a 2012 settlement agreement.  DOJ returned to court to seek enforcement with performance measures in 2020.  Settlement-compliant Virginia regulations were enacted that same year.  A permanent injunction in 2025 dissolved the settlement agreement and required compliance with the performance measures going forward. Failure continues today.  

    Readers will see three pieces of evidence against DBHDS and thus the Commonwealth:   

    1. a Fiscal Impact Statement for a bill currently before the General Assembly that reports what DBHDS does not currently do;
    2. a December 2025 report on unexplained deaths in the system by the disAbility Law Center of Virginia; and
    3. A report issued that same month by the court-appointed federal monitor showed that, after 14 years since the settlement agreement, DBHDS has met the specified goals for just three of the Consent Decree and Permanent Injunction’s 29 Terms.  And that report did not even mention the deaths or the failures to levy sanctions.

    The overwhelming impression is malfeasance.  The author has no other idea how these things can be true.  The scope and details of the betrayal of the court orders, the IDD community, and taxpayers portrayed below are stunning.   

    Finally, the bill for these programs has been paid entirely by Medicaid since 1991.  Most of Medicaid money comes from the federal government.  Virginia Medicaid’s stewardship of those funds is clearly in question.

    The author expects the Commonwealth to be summoned to federal court in Richmond for violating the injunction.  The Attorney General will have to defend.  He is also responsible for investigating Medicaid fraud.  In this case, it is hard to see how he can do both.

    (more…)

  • March RGGI Carbon Tax Jumped 26% in One Year

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    We can use this RGGI member map again, with Virginia now back in as soon as can be arranged.

    The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) held its first carbon allowance auction of 2026 Wednesday and the price came in at just under $25 per ton of emissions, 26% higher than a year ago. There should be no doubt now about predictions that imposing this carbon tax on Virginia electricity plants will cost them $550 million or more per year once Virginia is again a full member.  

    What the tax costs the electricity producers will then be paid by their customers, one way or another. In returning Virginia to this interstate trading compact the General Assembly imposed no barrier on the utilities or independent producers simply passing the cost on to energy buyers. Raising the price of hydrocarbon-fueled power is the whole point of RGGI.

    The price of an allowance has basically doubled since Virginia last participated in this exercise, from 2021 through 2023. If Dominion Energy Virginia goes back to collecting the tax with a direct charge on its monthly bills, what was just over $4 per month three years ago for a 1,000 kilowatt hour user will likely be $7 per month or more in 2027.

    The $24.99 auction price was slightly lower than the $26.73 bidders paid in the December 2025 auction. March’s price was held in check by RGGI releasing 7.8 million allowances it had held back in a cost containment reserve (CCR). It did the same a year ago, releasing more than 8 million allowances from the CCR in the March auction, draining its reserve for that year.

    The acceleration in the allowance price, really a tax per ton of emissions, is bound to continue. It happens by design. It was $7.60 per ton during Virginia’s first auction just five years ago and was $24.99 per ton Wednesday. If that trend continues (almost 230% growth in five years), in March 2031 the auction price will be approaching $60 per ton of CO2. 

    (more…)

  • Albemarle Schools Policy Violates Free Speech

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Last night the Albemarle County School Board voted 5 to 1 to adopt a policy prohibiting student organizations said to promote or endorse violence, harassment or hatred. Critics noted that the policy would be used to ban noncurricular student organizations. including TPUSA, from hosting guest speakers during the school day. Here follows a letter (minus footnotes) submitted yesterday by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression to the school board. — JAB

    A young man with short hair and a surprised expression, wearing a white shirt and a tie, has his mouth gagged with a piece of cloth.
    Image credit: Grok

    The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a nonpartisan nonprofit that defends free speech nationwide, is concerned by proposed revisions to the Albemarle County School Board’s policy governing student activities and organizations. As written, the amended policy would violate the First Amendment, which protects students’ right to free expression. The
    proposal also follows controversy surrounding a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) club’s speaker invitation, raising serious concerns that the Board is targeting the group because of its views or the views of its guest speakers. FIRE calls on the Board to reject the proposed revisions and to respect and uphold students’ First Amendment rights.

    I. Factual Background

    Last September, the TPUSA chapter at Western Albemarle High School (WAHS) arranged to host guest speaker Victoria Cobb, president of The Family Foundation, at a regular lunchtime meeting for an event titled “Two Genders, One Truth.” WAHS Principal Jennifer Sublette initially ordered
    the club to cancel the event because the topic was too “complex,” “controversial,” and “mature.”

    The Founding Freedoms Law Center then wrote Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) to object to the cancellation, explaining that it constituted unlawful viewpoint discrimination. The letter observed that another student organization—the Gender and Sexuality Alliance club—was permitted to hold lunchtime meetings addressing related issues from an opposing perspective.

    (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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