Bacon's Rebellion

  • The Left’s New DEI Bureaucracies at Virginia’s Colleges and Universities – What Do They Do All Day?

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Dean Stephanie Rowley, UVa School of Education and Human Development

    by James C. Sherlock

    We are left to imagine what Dean of the University of Virginia School of Education and Human Development Stephanie Rowley would possibly do without the assistance of LaRon Scott, her Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

    How in heaven’s name without Mr. Scott could she keep reactionaries like Catherine Bradshaw, Nancy Deutsch, Scott Gest and Stephanie van Hover and the Center on Race, Public Education, and the South and Youth-Nex Center to Promote Youth Development from preaching white supremacist doctrine and organizing torchlit marches on NAACP offices?

    I am not singling out UVa for special criticism. I just know a lot more of the details about my alma mater than other schools. Virginia Tech reportedly has a very aggressive program.

    Virginia has 41 public colleges and universities, so we are paying for a lot of DEI personnel.  UVa alone has 84 DEI staffers.  Let’s estimate 1,000 statewide.

    The point is that we have to try to figure out why modern American universities in 2021 suddenly needed large and growing DEI bureaucracies. And what they do all day?

    And if we need them, how many is enough?

    The left had won the war in academia before DEI. It would be unkind to think the DEI apparatchiks are formed as a paramilitary wing to execute enemy survivors.

    So, if not that, what do they do? (more…)

  • Last Gasp for Masks

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    A friend of mine went to the dermatologist yesterday. The medical office was in the Sentara Leigh medical complex in Norfolk and she was required to wear a face diaper.

    Hey, there were a total of 5 cases of covid yesterday in Norfolk. That’s 2 cases for every 100,000 residents. There may have been more cases of TB. Of leprosy. But you can’t be too careful, am I right?

    Of course if my pal had waited one more day to see the skin doctor she could have bared her pretty face. In a joint announcement from the region’s megalith health companies: Sentara, Bon Secours, Chesapeake Regional, Riverside and CHKD declared that beginning today face masks were no longer required in their facilities.

    It’s about time. (more…)

  • The Registered Nurse Shortage

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    I have reported often about the severe and increasing shortages of nurses both in Virginia and nationally.

    At some point in nearly everyone’s life, we literally will not be able to live without the help of a nurse, whether for injury or illness or just declining overall health.

    We need both the nurses and ourselves to be safe when that happens. We will have to fill the shortages, first by recruitment and retention. Perhaps simultaneously by increased legal immigration of qualified nurses from other countries.

    This article will focus first on what RNs were paid in 2021, both in Virginia and nationwide. We will examine it in absolute and in relative terms. Virginia in 2021 was competitive on pay in relative terms. But wages may be insufficient in absolute terms to address the shortages.

    Then we will discuss what else needs to be done to recruit, train and retain more nurses. I mentioned in an earlier article that RN instructors in training programs are one of the biggest needs.

    The Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics have captured the large increases in registered nurse (RN) pay across the board and the doubling of the pay of travel nurses in 2021. Those pay surges were driven by COVID supply and demand and funded partially by federal emergency money.

    You will see that, by what I consider a useful calculation, Virginia RN’s median wage compensation is 18th among the states when adjusted for each state’s cost of living index. Virginia is the top-paying state among adjacent states and the District of Columbia.

    Regardless of the reason, it was past time that we paid them more. We need the pay raises to stick. It is the only way over the long run to begin increasing the supply.

    I say begin because there are other factors driving nurses away. Safety is a huge factor. (more…)

  • Marion Smith: a Thinker-Activist with a Global Perspective

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    James A. Bacon

    *** Sponsored Content ***

    In The Jefferson Council’s meeting on April 4th, you will hear how the Council is fighting for free speech and intellectual diversity at the University of Virginia, and how our struggle is just one front in a nationwide alumni rebellion to reclaim America’s universities from the left. From Marion Smith, president of the Common Sense Society, you’ll hear how the crusade to restore American universities is part of an even larger war of the woke on Western Civilization.

    As president of the Common Sense Society, which is dedicated to the defense of liberty, prosperity and beauty, Smith believes that ideas matter. He has recruited an all-star roster of conservative intellectuals – of whom a previous Jefferson Council speaker, Douglas Murray, is just one – in the defense of our way of life. A liberty-loving doppelgänger of George Soros, he has built an international organization with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Hungary.

    In his address to The Jefferson Council, “American universities and the battle for Western civilization,” Smith will make the case that nothing less than democracy, market capitalism, and Enlightenment thought is at stake.

    Click to view the full program.

    Click to see the speakers’ biographies.

    And click here to register.

  • Another Virginia National Champion

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Because I have been highlighting Virginia collegiate teams that have been in the national spotlight lately, here is another one to add to the list:

    The UVa women’s swimming and diving team won its third consecutive national Division I championship over the weekend.

    Senior Kate Douglass won three individual events in NCAA, American, and U.S. Open record times.  She can add those medals to the bronze she won at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.

    I am aware of how much time in practice and daily workouts college swimmers have to put in, which is true for all sports.  Anyone who has the discipline and perseverance to do that, while carrying a full class load, and graduate from a college or university, has a lot going for her.

  • Lower Bills? Green Energy Keeps Them Climbing.

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    Customer cost projections for compliance with the Virginia Clean Economy Act have increased again from the first such estimates made in 2020.  The bill for 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity from Dominion Energy Virginia to power a home for a month may rise almost $100, or 83%, by 2035.

    Dominion residential customers were already paying $288 (21%) more per year for 1,000 kilowatt hours per month by December 2022, compared to May 2020, just before VCEA became law.  That will cost another $547 annually by 2030 and $878 more by 2035.  Cost projections are even higher for commercial and industrial customers.

    After all the hyped discussion coming out of the 2023 General Assembly that regulatory changes it made will “lower electricity bills,” it is important to face reality.  Ignore claims from any incumbents who say they voted to “lower bills.”  VCEA compliance is still going to be very expensive, and nothing just passed changes any of that.

    The most recent figures are very similar and slightly higher than those reported in 2020.  They were filed last year by the utility as part of the annual VCEA compliance plan, outlining its planned conversion from fossil fuel generation to massive amounts of wind and solar power over the next two decades. (more…)

  • Rosalyn Dance Can Help Interpret Democratic Election Laws

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    by

    sherlockj

    Rosalyn Dance – courtesy Daily Press

    by James C. Sherlock

    Governor Youngkin has appointed former state Senator Rosalyn Dance, D-Petersburg, as vice chairman of the state Board of Elections.

    As vice-chair, she is the highest ranking Democrat on the board.

    She will perform an absolutely vital role.

    She will be asked to help interpret the complete overhaul of Virginia’s election laws conducted by Democrats who controlled state government in 2020 and 2021.

    While Sen. Dance was not in office for that revolution, interpreting it for the purpose of developing regulations will require experience, a Democratic mindset and a strong stomach.

    She qualifies. (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant

  • CNU Wins National Championship!

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    The Christopher Newport University basketball team is the national Division III champion!

    It was an exciting finish.  With the game tied and 4.3 seconds left, Trey Barber of CNU drove about 60 feet into the lane and put up a shot.  The game-ending buzzer sounded just after the ball left his hand on its way to banking into the net.  The winning shot can be seen here.

    Not to be outdone, the CNU women’s basketball team won its semi-final game and will be in the championship game to be held April 1.

  • Virginia Republicans Should Run in the Fall on the Virginia Senate Silencing of Suparna Dutta

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Suparna Dutta – Courtesy Yahoo.com

    by James C. Sherlock

    Virginia Republicans, not noted for organization, common approaches or dexterity, have been granted a gift by Democrats if they will accept it.

    The Democratic majority in the General Assembly rejected the appointment of Suparna Dutta, a mother, engineer and an immigrant from India, to the Board of Education.

    This happened because Senate Democrats, stalwarts of the left flank of the culture wars, were badgered and finally whipped into a unanimous vote against Ms. Dutta by a strange but tight-knit political relationship between leftists and Muslim activists centered in Northern Virginia.

    Leftists, led by Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers outpost, Virginia Educators United, considered Ms. Dutta too patriotic. And anti-socialist.

    The Muslim cabal, led by the Virginia Council of Muslim Organizations and Gov. Northam’s notorious (too many Asians) Secretary of Education Atif Qarni, considered her, well, too Hindu.

    The Virginia Council of Muslim Organizations, vocal in support of freedom of speech for the highly controversial Abrar Omeish, does not offer the same to Ms. Dutta.

    Her offense? She had been in a board meeting with Anne Holton, the wife of Sen. Tim Kaine. They were discussing the K-12 History Standards of Learning.

    Ms. Holton said that she was “not comfortable” with calling the Constitution and the Declaration remarkable documents without qualifiers. And she defended strong central government planning and socialism as compatible with democracy and freedom.

    Ms. Dutta debated her on those points.

    That led, as such things do in modern America, to Ms. Dutta being called a “white supremacist” by progressives.

    And officially designated as one by the unanimous vote of General Assembly Senate Democrats. (more…)

  • RVA 5×5: Heard the Noise, Seen The Light

    Posted on

    by

    Robin Beres

    by Jon Baliles

    Well, it seems Mayor Levar Stoney has finally picked up on a problem on Richmond’s streets that many of us have known about for three-plus years. If you live downtown, or in the Fan, Oregon Hill, Jackson Ward, the Museum District, Randolph, Scott’s Addition, Byrd Park, Malvern Gardens, parts of Northside, Monroe Ward, or several other neighborhoods, the sound of jet-like roaring from annoying packs of motorcycles has permeated the air at night (usually on weekends) in a way that would wake Rip Van Winkle with ease.

    And for three-plus years, nothing has been done. I have talked to those in public safety who have been told for years that these insanely loud gatherings of cyclists, noisemakers, and idiots — whatever you want to call them — are off limits for stopping or arresting, even if they gather by the dozens (even during the day) and violate the city’s un-enforced noise ordinance or dozens of traffic laws in and around Bryan Park, Byrd Park, or on Broad Street.

    But this past Thursday afternoon, several noisy riders caught the mayor’s attention in Shockoe Bottom. He not only called the police chief to track them with an airplane, but he also later made sure that all the local media outlets (all three TV stations and the Times-Dispatch) knew about it. The result was three young men from the Tri-Cities area were arrested (ages 19, 18, 17), one stolen gun was recovered, and one teen escaped.
    (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Day

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

  • Public School Climate Lessons Terrorize Virginia’s Children

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Courtesy of the BBC

    by James C. Sherlock

    A headline from the home page of Save the Children:

    “Climate Change Is a Grave Threat to Children’s Survival.” 

    Climate change is thus not a “challenge.” Not a threat to children’s happiness. But rather a threat to their “survival.”

    That is what children are being taught in many Virginia public school classrooms. Kids, being sponges, have learned that lesson, and are understandably severely depressed about it.

    Parents and the Board of Education, take note. That cannot be allowed to continue.

    For years, studies have shown the existence of psychological distress about climate change that has dimensions within feelings, emotions, cognition and behavior. That stress has been demonstrated to disproportionately affect young people.

    The largest and most international study of climate anxiety in young people was peer-reviewed and posted in The Lancet in December 2021.

    Regardless of one’s personal feelings about climate change, no caring adult would want, as revealed in that study, children feeling “very or extremely worried” (46% of children in the United States) or, worse, negatively affected in their ability to function (26% of children in the United States).

    None would want near half or more than half of children reporting feeling “sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless and guilty” and “betrayed” about anything, much less a phenomenon that is measurable as a current event with which we are dealing but arguably is overstated by progressives as a future prospect.

    Climate change can, and should, be taught to children. But it must be done without terrorizing them. That cannot be too much to ask.

    Scaring children to turn them into political activists is child abuse per se.

    It must stop. (more…)

  • A Virginia Team in the Championship Game

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    CNU guard Jahn Hines.  Photo credit: CNU Athletics

    by  Dick Hall-Sizemore

    During this time of year, the sports world is fixated on the NCAA Division I basketball tournament. Richmond fans give the VCU Rams a big sendoff.  Hokie fans cheer their top-seeded women’s team. UVa. alumni die a little bit inside when the Cavaliers lose to Furman in the last seconds. Despite being assured in 2019 by the administration that, upon the firing of long-time basketball coach Tony Shaver, it was time for a “new chapter” in  Tribe basketball to include participation in the NCAA tournament; William and Mary alumni and fans are still waiting.

    However, there is another basketball venue in which two Virginia schools are powerhouses: Division III. Last year, Randolph-Macon College in Ashland won the national championship. Before its defeat in the Sweet Sixteen earlier this month, it had compiled a record 64-home-game winning streak. Talk about giving the fan base some excitement!

    The other Virginia college in top of the Division III tournament is Christopher Newport University in Newport News. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams made the Final Four. This was the fourth time in the programs’ history that the men’s and women’s team have made the Final Four (although not in the same year until now). The men’s team made it to the Elite Eight last year. The women’s team was undefeated this year. Yesterday, the men’s team won its semi-final game to make it to the championship game for the first time. (more…)

  • “Cheap” Solar Costs More Than Offshore Wind?

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Whether Dominion is building the solar farm or just buying its output makes a huge difference in cost.

    by Steve Haner

    In preparing for the latest round of new additions to its solar generation assets, Dominion Energy Virginia rejected eight privately- developed projects which were substantially cheaper than the projects it wanted to build on its own with ratepayer money. Just how much more expensive the company-owned projects will be is not clear, but the higher costs will be locked in for decades.

    It is the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act which is driving the massive solar buildout, and one part of the statute is being read one way by the utility and another way by most of the other stakeholders. Dominion believes the law requires it to provide a fixed 35% of the new renewable electricity from third-party providers under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs). It claims the law dictates that it must own 65% of the generation assets directly.

    Just about every other party to the most recent application for new solar believes that 35% is a floor, a “no less than” target, and a higher percentage could be from PPAs. Entities taking that position include the Office of the Attorney General,  environmental activists, and even large electricity users such as Walmart. The issue dominates final arguments on the application filed this week at the State Corporation Commission.

    What is the solar price differential? As with far too many of these disputes, most of the key financial information is confidential, available only to case participants who have filed a promise to maintain secrecy. But in its final brief, the staff for Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) provides some dramatic comparisons. (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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