Bacon's Rebellion

  • Woke Liberalism Is a Dead End for African Americans

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Earlier this month the Isle of Wight School Board passed a resolution declaring, “There is no systemic racism or bigotry perpetuated by the United States or any governmental entity.”

    Timothy Sullivan, a former president of William & Mary, James W. Dyke, a former state Secretary of Education, and Alvin J. Schexnider, president of Thomas Nelson Community College, took exception to the statement. In a column published by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, they noted that Isle of Wight was a leader in the 1950s-era Massive Resistance to school desegregation, and proceeded to draw a straight line to Virginia schools that are “racially isolated and underserved” today.

    Part of the remedy to segregation, the authors argue, is teaching about slavery, segregation, and racism in Virginia schools.

    We believe the entirety of Virginia’s history must finally be addressed in our curriculum so that our children understand that intentional racism and discrimination have detrimentally affected all aspects of Virginia life, from opportunities for education, advancement and the concomitant accumulation of wealth resulting in the average Black family’s wealth being one-eighth the average white family’s, to the physical and mental health of generations of children, both Black and white.

    A proper teaching of racism, they argue, will “[prepare] our students and our future workforce to function effectively in a global economy that is multiethnic and multicultural.”

    The op-ed is dismaying in so many ways. (more…)

  • Crime in Virginia — the Statistics of Race and their Causes

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Crime, especially violent crime, is a constant topic in private conversations and in public politics, and thus here on Bacon’s Rebellion.

    Comments on BR crime-related articles turn quickly to race, often without basis in fact.

    I will offer below the actual crime statistics by race from 2021, the latest available year, in an attempt to cure that.

    Then I will write about the causes.

    I will almost certainly be called a racist. (more…)

  • An Open Letter to Sen. Louise Lucas About Funding New Richmond Schools

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth

    Editor’s note: Paul Goldman, a Richmond attorney and former chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, asked us to publish the letter below, which he sent last week to state Sen. Louise Lucas of Portsmouth, a fellow Democrat who serves as president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate. As of today, Sen. Lucas has not responded.

    TO: State Senator Louise Lucas

    RE: Why Richmond citizens, long concerned about the decrepit, shameful condition of the school facilities serving the city’s overwhelming black and brown public-school students, deserve to be allowed to have a Second Casino Referendum in 2023 as promised them by last year’s budget deal.

    Dear Louise,

    I write today not merely because you are the Pro Tempore of the State Senate. Not merely because you are the key to any new Senate action on the Casino issue. But I write today because you and I have long fought hard, against great odds, to remedy the many injustices suffered by the poor children of Virginia from the legacy of segregation. Especially the Black and Brown kids in cities like Portsmouth and Richmond. (more…)

  • Flee Any Public School Resisting Parents’ Rights

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    Loudoun County parents pack a School Board meeting. Photo credit: Idiocracy News Media

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Four years ago no one was talking about parental rights.

    Now everyone is.

    It all began with the covid lockdowns. Once schools were closed parents got a look at what was and wasn’t being taught in public schools.

    And the scales fell from their eyes.

    Parents began to see school administrators and some teachers not as allies who were trying to educate their kids and fill them with a love of country, but as indoctrinators filling their heads with gender theories and a skewed view of American history through a modern prism of critical race theory.

    The Founding Fathers were no longer taught as enlightened men of their times determined to create a country where individual liberties were protected from the heavy hand of the state, but they were made small, reduced to nothing more than slaveholders.

    On top of that, parents found that some middle and even elementary school libraries contained graphic books that celebrated masturbation, sex, gay and trans lifestyles. They learned that some school administrators – in Loudoun, for instance – were not reporting cases of sexual assault but were covering the incidents up. Even from parents.

    The outrage in Virginia was so widespread that voters in what had become a reliably blue state elected Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares, who ran on a GOP platform of restoring parents’ rights.

    Democrats lost by doubling down on the exclusion of parents from schools. On the eve of the election Terry McAuliffe blundered by campaigning with the loathsome teachers’ union boss Randi Weingarten, who almost single-handedly was responsible for lengthy and damaging school closures during covid.

    As public school enrollment plummets and more parents than ever are homeschooling, the parents rights movement has gone national and mainstream.

    Last week the GOP-led House of Representatives passed a Parents Bill of Rights on a vote of 213-208, without the support of a single Democrat. (more…)

  • Who Are the Real Fascists?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Bad things happen to fascists like Mussolini and… Matt Walsh?

    by James A. Bacon

    A familiar tactic of the left has come to Virginia: accuse your enemy of being fascist… while acting like a fascist yourself.

    A movement has surfaced to disinvite conservative journalist Matt Walsh from Washington & Lee University on the grounds, according to a petition signed by more than 600 students and faculty members, that his words “represent a very real threat of physical violence against trans and nonbinary people specifically, but also to all women, queer people, and people of color.”

    Walsh, who has billed himself “Transphobe of the Year,” has written extensively about the excesses of the transgender movement, focusing particular attention on the dangers of “gender-affirming” hormonal treatments and sex-change surgery. Following Walsh’s accusations that Boston Children’s Hospital was “mutilating” children through surgery, the petition charges, the hospital said its workers were harassed and faced threats of violence.

    Adding fuel to the controversy, Blake Ramsey, a student and former vice president of the W&L Democratic Party, posted on Instagram an image of the hanging of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. The caption read, “Because Matt Walsh is now apparently speaking at this school, I thought I would post an important reminder of what happens to fascists.” (more…)

  • Did Southern Poverty Law Center and James Madison Museum Team Up to Put ‘Anti-racist’ Curriculum in Virginia Schools?

    Posted on

    by

    Robin Beres

    by Brenda Hafera

    The Albemarle County school district in Virginia has been subjected to two lawsuits related to its implementation of an “anti-racist” curriculum, which one parent said was “incubating a culture rooted in grievance, discord, and victimhood.” But parents in the school district near Charlottesville may be alarmed to discover that it is not just the school board that is working against them.

    Powerful political organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and one of Virginia’s own beloved historic sites may be involved. The Albemarle County anti-racist curriculum appears to have originated at President James Madison’s home, Montpelier, an historic site that has ties to the SPLC.

    Montpelier, which is owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and operated by the Montpelier Foundation, has been reconstructed and converted into a museum. While some of Madison’s accomplishments are discussed during part of the main house tour and through a brief video in the visitor center, there are currently no exhibits focused on his importance as the Father of the Constitution, according to Montpelier’s website.

    Staff members have also reportedly said that they have no interest in honoring a “dead white president and a dead white president’s Constitution.”
    (more…)

  • The Governor’s Tutoring and Special Ed Services Initiative

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    VDOE has provided me a concise and clear description of the Governor’s initiative to provide tutoring and special education services to struggling Virginia school kids.

    The program seems both on point and appropriately careful.

    The input describes the sources of the money, where it was originally targeted, where some of it is being re-targeted for tutoring and special ed services, how  soon it will be spent and the services made available to parents, who will receive vouchers variable by household income to purchase them.

    The plan for this initiative spends $30 million out of a total of $68 million available.

    That money is available because:

    • the schools to which it was originally targeted with Emergency Assistance for Non-Public Schools (EANS I & EANS II) funding were not able to use it all within guidelines; and
    • it reverted to a more broadly usable fund, Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER).

    The supply of tutoring and special education service providers nationwide and in Virginia who are qualified under federal guidelines for expenditure of the money under GEER has fallen far short of demand.

    This program is making a major attempt to organize supply at the state level.

    If this attempt proves successful, and additional qualified suppliers become available, demand will exceed what $30 million will buy. If that happens,  I expect the allocation of funds to be quickly increased.

    But it remains difficult to provide such services legally, efficiently and effectively. All of it is tax money, or borrowed money that taxpayers will have to repay.

    We want value for the money and for the students. (more…)

  • UVa Takes Steps to Protect Students from Increasing Crime in Charlottesville

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    University Police Department officer Wallace Goode patrols along the Corner district on March 14th. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)

    by James C. Sherlock

    The University of Virginia has to be careful what its officials say because of the ongoing lawsuits over the November massacre. But the school is taking concrete steps to address the spike in violent crime in Charlottesville.

    I congratulate them.

    UVA Today ran an article on those initiatives on March 15th.

    In the early morning hours of March 18, a UVa contractor was shot and killed across the street from the Rotunda.

    More needs to be done, but carefully. (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

  • Men Model Climate, God Laughs

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    This is an ode to modeling and the inevitable contretemps in the comment section that followed Steve Haner’s article yesterday.

    1.Time Magazine, April 8,1977. Two great modeling stories:

    • “Why we can’t beat the Soviets;” and
    • “How to Survive the Coming Ice Age”.

    Perhaps we did all 51.

    2. Cover of Science News March 1. 1975 

    • ”Our Ice Age Cometh.”

    (more…)

  • Virginia’s Community Banks, Under Stress, are Crucial to the Economy, Small Business and Small Communities

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Back of America locations in Virginia

    by James C. Sherlock

    In general, I do not write enough about Virginia small businesses.

    Small business is both the heart and soul of the Virginia economy.

    I have no personal financial interest in Virginia’s community banks, but all of us need them to be healthy.

    Because community banks disproportionately fund small business.

    The Federal Reserve reported in its 2023 Report on Employer Firms: Findings from the 2022 Small Business Credit Survey

    As pandemic-related funding programs ended, the data show an accompanying rise in the share of firms that sought traditional financing in the form of loans, lines of credit, or merchant cash advances. The share of these applicants that were fully approved rose year-over-year but lags prepandemic levels.

    But the banking industry, trying to reestablish itself as the economy’s primary funding agent after the COVID federal money tsunami receded, is under stress not seen in 2022.

    The Fed’s rapid rise in interest rates to combat inflation, driven by federal spending, has lowered the value of banks’ fixed rate collateral.

    Community banks, not the source of the problem, are bearing the brunt of the reaction.

    Depositors need to understand how important Virginia’s 42 community banks are to Virginia’s economy — and many of their own jobs. (more…)

  • Rebutting Climate Alarmism With Climate Alarmism

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner

    Nothing beats being able to expose the sleight of hand behind one climate alarmism claim by using the data from another climate alarmism claim, with both from the same source:  the Richmond Times-Dispatch.  It also provides a teaching moment about some of the advocates’ favorite ways to deceive.

    Concerned you might not get the message that “climate change” is responsible for making you miserable with allergies, the newspaper offered up two stories on the same topic this month.  First, we had this, followed by a second story today.   The basic premise that an early spring means that allergies hit earlier is correct; and then the claim is early springs are getting, in a word, earlier.  Finally, predictions follow that worse is yet to come.

    But two different charts are used t0 illustrate the issue, basically counting the number of days between the last spring and first fall frost.   One covers a long time period (more honest) and the second uses an intentionally short time period, resulting in a knowing exaggeration intended to deceive. (more…)

  • The Wild Thing — Will Glenn Youngkin Run for President?

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Chris Saxman

    The most often asked question I get these days is whether or not Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin will run for president.

    *Pro tip* — Until they’re out, they’re in.

    If ever there was a next-generation Republican that checks enough boxes to get nominated and elected president, that Republican is Glenn Youngkin.

    Do you know that reaction among women (especially girls) when a very attractive woman walks in a room? Sometimes it’s audible…

    They can have NO idea who that woman actually is, but they instantly form this well-constructed opinion:

    “Bitch.”

    And after meeting the prejudged, some will admit — very rarely mind you — “Damn it. She’s actually really nice. Just don’t make me stand next to her in a picture!”

    “Wait, are you calling the Governor of Virginia A BITCH?”

    Of course not.

    I will admit that it would have been a great clickbait headline and I did consider going viral; HOWEVER, the point is that Glenn is — now brace yourselves everyone — a good guy. (more…)

  • Why Shouldn’t Virginia’s Felons Have To Ask Their Voting Rights Restored?

    Posted on

    by

    Robin Beres

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Lemme make sure I understand this: Virginia’s ACLU, that left-wing organization that sat on its derriere during Gov. Ralph Northam’s unconstitutional closure of churches and businesses, is suddenly active again.

    Its lawyers want Virginia’s convicted felons to automatically get their voting rights back, even if they haven’t made restitution to their victims or paid their court costs. No matter how heinous their crimes or how repentant or unrepentant they are.

    The priorities of this group are fully on display: they’re more worried about rapists and child molesters and carjackers being able to vote than they ever were about people of faith who simply wanted to attend worship services, or ordinary decent Virginians who simply wanted to earn a living during Covid.

    Some of us waited in vain for those who claim to hold the U.S. Constitution dear to stand up to the dictatorial Gov. Northam, but the civil liberties crowd sat those battles out.

    Yet now that a Republican governor is doing what the Virginia Supreme Court has ordered — that is, to review every felon’s request for a restoration of rights individually — they’re back in action.

    The great defenders of civil liberties. For criminals, anyway.
    (more…)

  • Correction on Departure of Balow

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Jillian Balow, ex-Superintendent of Public Instruction

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    In comments to the post about the resignation of Jillian Balow as Superintendent of Public Instruction and her severance pay, I asserted that her appointment was subject to the pleasure of the Governor.  I was wrong.

    The heads of almost all agencies, by law, serve at the pleasure of the Governor.  (There is one exception, but more on that later.) However, the position of Superintendent of Public Instruction is established in the Virginia Constitution, which provides that the appointment shall be “for a term coincident with that of the Governor making the appointment.”  The constitution does authorize the General Assembly to modify the term of office.  However, the Virginia Code section mirrors the language in the constitution.  Accordingly, as The Washington Post noted, Balow may have had grounds to sue if she had been fired.

    The agency head who is not appointed by the Governor and does not serve at his pleasure is the Director of the Department of Wildlife Resources (formerly Game and Inland Fisheries).  That person is appointed by the Board of Wildlife Resources.  The story on that goes back into the mists of time (early 1970s).  Suffice it to say that hunters and fishermen in Virginia were a strong lobby.

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.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

About

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.

Fund the Rebellion

Shake up the status quo! Your contributions will be used to pay for faster download speeds and grow readership. Make a one-time donation by credit card or contribute a small sum monthly.

Can’t wait until tomorrow

For your Bacon’s Rebellion fix?

Enter your email address to receive immediate notifications of new posts by email.

SUBSCRIBE

Search Bacon’s Rebellion

Categories

Archives

The Jefferson Council

Protecting Thomas Jefferson’s Legacy at the University of Virginia

Forgot Your Password?

Shoot me an email and I’ll generate a new password for you.

Latest