Bacon's Rebellion

  • Factoid of the Day: It Still Pays to Work in Virginia

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    In three states — Washington, Massachusetts, and New Jersey — a family of four can earn more than $100,000 annually in equivalent government benefits, according to a study, “Paying Americans Not to Work,” published by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. The earned income equivalent for the state of Washington is a mind-boggling $122,653 a year, or $31 hourly wage equivalent for both parents working.

    For a family of two parents and two dependent minor children, 14 states pay benefits that potentially exceed median wages earned by school teachers, machinists, electricians and truckers.

    Virginians who believe in reinforcing the work ethic can take some consolation that the Old Dominion is pretty far down the list — 36th. Maximum potential benefits amount to $57,744, the equivalent to paying $15 an hour. That’s less than school teachers, building inspectors, electricians, firefighters, truck drivers, and machinists make — more than retail associates.

    — JAB

  • Will Loudoun Cancel Frances Hazel Reid?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Frances Hazel Reid. Photo credit: Loudoun Times-Mirror

    by James A. Bacon

    Frances Hazel Reid began working for the Loudoun Times-Mirror in 1921, and remained an employee until shortly before her death in 1994 at the age of 94. Starting out as a secretary in an era when the majority of women did not work outside the home, she rose through the ranks as reporter, treasurer and associate publisher. She founded the Loudoun Business and Professional Women’s Club, and was appointed director of the Loudoun County Historical Society in 1970. She was held in such high regard in her community that an elementary school in Leesburg was named after her in 2003.

    Now she may be canceled.

    Frances Hazel Reid Elementary School is one of nine schools in Loudoun being considered for a name change as part of the school board’s effort, in the words of the Times-Mirror, “to reckon with systemic racism in a county that didn’t integrate its schools until 1968.”

    Reid’s sin: she was one of 14 women who founded the Purcellville chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (DOC) in 1924. (more…)

  • When the Pursuit of “Equity” Cheats High Achievers

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Imagine for a moment that you’re a top student in a highly competitive science and technology high school.

    In your junior year you take the PSATs and enter the prestigious National Merit Scholarship Program competing against the elite students in high schools from coast to coast. Imagine that in mid-October of your senior year your school principal is notified that you are a “Commended Student” in that competition, meaning that out of roughly 1.5 million entrants, you scored in the top 3%.

    Applications for early decision to the most selective colleges and universities close on October 31 and this sort of distinction could be the difference between an acceptance or a rejection.

    Now imagine that your school sat on your award and didn’t bother informing you that you are a Commended Student until mid-November, when it was too late to add that to your resume.

    Oh, and instead of announcing your name over the school’s public address system or holding a ceremony to honor you, your teacher simply slapped your certificate on your desk.

    You see, school administrators in your high school are apparently more concerned with “equity” and equal outcomes for all kids than in singling out high achievers.

    Sucks to be you.

    This really happened. At Fairfax County’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, perhaps the most prestigious public high school in the country. (more…)

  • Afghan Immigrants and Their Children in Virginia – Part 2 – the Afghan Adjustment Act

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Courtesy of Virginia Department of Social Services

    by James C. Sherlock

    When I wrote Part 1 of this series, I promised further investigation into immigration of Afghan allies into Virginia.

    The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS), a hero in this story, has been entirely forthcoming in answering my inquiries. I will recount in a follow-up post their work so far. But the federal government has much more to do.

    As a retired Naval officer, I strongly support the bi-partisan Afghan Adjustment Act (the Act) sitting in committees in the House and Senate. We must do the right thing for allies who fought alongside us.

    Neither the House nor the Senate acted upon the bill in 2022.

    The VDSS Office of New Americans, funded by the federal government, is doing terrific work, but needs the help that the Act would bring.

    VDSS is assisting 5,161 Afghan parolees.

    Parole offers only limited, temporary benefits and — unlike refugees and Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders — parolees have no clear path to permanent status. Instead, those thousands of parolees live in Virginia uncertain about their options or their future in the United States.

    There are 2,123 additional Afghans in the Commonwealth that already have SIV designation.

    Only California and Texas host more Afghans who have fled their country since the American withdrawal.

    Both SIVs and parolees who qualify as SIVs but await very limited numbers of authorized visas are welcome with our thanks for their service. They can be expected to make major contributions to Virginia.

    We owe them the chance to do that. That is why the Act is so necessary. (more…)

  • If This Doesn’t Get You Admitted to UVa, What Will?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    @limmytalks

    did you get them right? #collegeapps #collegeadmissions

    ♬ original sound – Limmy 💛

    The producer of The School of Limmy, a Korean-American neuroscience major at Duke University, posts short videos about college admissions on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. One of his schticks is reading the qualifications of student applicants and listing the colleges that accepted and rejected them.

    The applicant described in the video above was valedictorian of his class, scored perfectly on the ACT exams and 1550 on the SAT, took several AP and Honors courses, had a 4.7755 grade point average, was captain of the lacrosse team, wrestled, ran cross country, was a Boy Scout troop leader, was a youth council leader, served on student council, and belonged to a math club… which he founded.

    The applicant was accepted to eight universities, including Princeton and Washington & Lee University (which he ended up attending), but was rejected from several others… including the University of Virginia.

    This makes you wonder what UVa is looking for in a student applicant. Obviously, it’s more than SAT scores, the submission of which is now voluntary, and good grades. (more…)

  • Dominion’s Planned Offshore Wind Farm Need Not – and Must Not – Be Built Where Planned

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    I am referring in the title, of course, to Dominion Power’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project to be located in the hatched area below.

    It is planned for one of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DI) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) offshore wind farm lease areas. Lease areas that have been rendered obsolete by operational modern floating turbine technology.

    The area for which CVOW construction is proposed is overlaid below on an operational graphic of Atlantic international maritime vessel density. Red indicates highest density.

    There are only a half dozen expanses of water that reach that international vessel density on the entire U.S. Atlantic coast. They are, of course, the approaches to the East Coast’s major ports.

    See the Atlantic Coast Port Access Route Study Final Report Appendix III Fig. 18 below for an operational rendering of international shipping flow at the location proposed for CVOW.

     

    See the coastal shipping traffic chart below.

    The nearest point is 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach and the furthest 42 miles offshore. The lease area occupies 112,800 acres. One seventh the size of Rhode Island.

    Undersea noise propagation characteristics will not be known unless and until it is built.

    CVOW, if built, will threaten:

    • the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay;
    • the point at which international maritime traffic funnels to and from the ports of Norfolk and Baltimore;
    • the point at which coastal maritime traffic on the east coast is most dense; and
    • the point at which Navy warships and logistics vessels enter and depart the world’s largest naval base.

    You might reasonably ask “Of the entire Atlantic Coast, why there?” Or you might put it somewhat less gently. Net of all the risks and rewards, there is no reasonable answer to that question. Never was.

    But the facts have also changed. (more…)

  • A Conservative Fiscal Proposal

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    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Governor Youngkin has proposed tax reductions that would reduce state revenue by about $1 billion in this biennium.

    I have an alternative proposal on how to use that billion dollars, one that should appeal to the instincts of conservatives on this blog—reduce the Commonwealth’s outstanding debt balance.

    The Debt Capacity Advisory Committee has reported that, as of June 30, 2022, the Commonwealth had a balance of $4.0 billion in authorized but unissued tax-supported debt. Using the $1 billion in general fund revenue that Youngkin proposes to forego in the form of tax reductions to supplant bond authorizations for capital projects instead would save the Commonwealth a significant amount in interest payments over the course of the term for which those bonds are now authorized. I do not have all the data needed to project the savings, but it could easily be several hundred million dollars over the course of 20 years.

    Financial advisors often urge individuals to pay down debt balances whenever possible. It seems that would be a prudent move for the state as well.

  • Best Gift This Christmas…

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Best shot glass ever came in my stocking!
    –KAB

  • Jeanine’s Memes

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant

  • Special Christmas Edition of Bacon Memes

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Click on “Leave a Comment” to see more Bacon memes!

  • Offshore Wind Turbines and Submarine Warfare

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Courtesy U.S. Navy

    by James C. Sherlock

    Upon investigation of open source literature, I find that offshore wind turbines are less noisy than I imagined. But they present obstacles nonetheless, both physically and acoustically.

    United States submarine and anti-submarine efforts, operationally, in Navy labs, and in industry are led by some of our best and brightest.

    That is true also, unfortunately, of most navies, including those of China and Russia.

    The primary vulnerability of submarines is the noise they make, however minuscule. Submarine and antisubmarine technical and operational efforts are a constant cat-and-mouse game to minimize noise on the one hand and exploit it on the other.

    The frequencies of the noise in the water from sea life, from shipping, from submarines and now from enormous turbine blades and the vibrations they cause in their supports are relatively discrete. That can help, or hinder, both submarine and anti-submarine warfare.

    Weapons use against submarines presents other challenges. Attacks require targeting quality solutions, often from brief active-sonar transmissions. Again, noise.

    Offshore wind turbines have complicated both offensive and defensive submarine operations.

    Turbines are typically grouped about 500 meters apart in wind farms and generate noise in the water from individual turbines and group effects. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the turbine blades, the higher the noise generated. Bad weather exacerbates noise conditions.

    The waters off of Norfolk and the nation’s other major commercial and military ports are of primary concern here. We expect and hope that the Navy is at the table in the design and location of each turbine field. (more…)

  • A Primatologist at The Washington Post

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Snowflake, the only known albino western lowland gorilla, as seen in the Barcelona Zoo. Died in 2003.

    by James C. Sherlock

    And they wonder why they are hated by people outside the bubble.

    A story by Stephanie McCrummen in The Washington Post, “In rural Georgia, an unlikely rebel against Trumpism,” comes across as an attempt at Hillbilly Elegy as written by a primatologist.

    Primatologists study primates in order to understand their evolution and behavior.

    The Post, having returned Ms. McCrummen from assignment covering East and Central Africa, sends her this time to the wilds of the South to examine the animals.

    To northwest Georgia. Marjorie Taylor-Greene’s district.

    She found, in his native habitat!, a 33-year-old white! veteran electrician (he has a beard! And a brutal father! Left home at 15!) who voted against! Donald Trump, Ms. Greene and Herschel Walker.

    She examines him as if he has three arms and describes the local landscape with as much amazement as if it was the dark side of Mars. Green Hills of Africa without Hemingway’s talent.

    It is “long form” for your reading pleasure. Condescension drips from every paragraph.

    The natives are presumed too ignorant to understand.

    Probably don’t even read the Post.

  • Why Does Princeton Have All the Luck?

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Cavalier Daily, where are you?

    There is an article in The Daily Princetonian that is, end-to-end, utterly beyond satire.

    It’s title: “3 Princeton DEI staff members resign, alleging lack of support.”

    Where to begin?

    The “Prince” offers in a single posting Homeric tales of the peripatetic journeys of three school officials that led to their resignations. Three from among Princeton’s 70 (not a typo) Diversity, Equity and Inclusion staffers.

    We find in that article indignation; tears; allegations of macro-aggressions; an HIV-positive Chair of the University Health Services Transgender Health Team; a self-proclaimed “Black queer non-binary person (is BQNBP an acronym?)” overseeing DEI in the athletics department; fears of monkey pox; claims of burnout; statements of support by the University; a Vice Provost for Institutional Equity and Diversity; an Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion; promotion politics; assorted levels of despair; claims and rebuttals relative to structural issues in DEI at Princeton; and more acronyms than you can count.

    Like The Pentagon Papers and almost as long, it is exhausting, but you will not be well read until you work through it.

    You will be informed that

    employees at the University have participated in more than 6,000 learning opportunities across 150 DEI-related classes and that more than 400 managers have been trained on Mitigating Bias in the Hiring Process.

    Employees have also engaged in training regarding LGBTQ Allyship; Bias, Power, Privilege and Workplace Communication; Psychological Safety; and more.

    One might conclude there may be burnout among the audiences of those “learning opportunities,” too. But it is a very safe bet they do not express it.

    We can only imagine the travails of the DEI staff at the University of Virginia.

    The Cavalier Daily, challenged, will surely be on it.

  • Empty Pews in America

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Of all the disheartening news this week, the piece that hit me hardest was this story in The Hill:

    “Churchgoing and Belief in God Stand at Historic Lows, Despite a Megachurch Surge.”

    The Hill cited studies that showed a dramatic drop in church attendance and – more alarmingly – a loss of belief in God during the pandemic.

    Any wonder? Here in Virginia, the governor closed churches but kept the liquor stores open. His priorities were clear.

    I regret that masses of people didn’t protest – peaceably, of course – such unconstitutional government-ordered church closures. Those emergency orders clearly violated the First Amendment, which, last time I checked, did not have a virus clause.

    Instead, folks who’d been faithful churchgoers their entire lives, sat home on Sundays until THE GOVERNOR gave them permission to return. By then many had lost the churchgoing habit. Others had lost their faith.

    In-person church attendance plummeted by 45 percent in the pandemic, according to an ABC News analysis. Most churches have reopened, but not all congregants have returned.

    “People are not getting together much, generally speaking. Not just in church, but in the village,” said Thomas Groome, a professor in theology and religious education at Boston College. “People are staying home. They’re on their cellphones. They’re on the Internet…” (more…)

  • You Support Free Speech? Show It.

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    We support free speech… unless it’s hate speech… and hate speech is anything that offends us.

    by James A. Bacon

    The leaders of Virginia’s colleges and universities are sensitive to the public’s distrust of higher-ed’s ability to protect freedom of speech and “cultivate robust and divergent viewpoints.”

    “Today’s students may hesitate to discuss difficult topics for fear of retribution or ostracism,” write four Virginia higher-ed presidents in an op-ed published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “Yet free expression and academic freedom are essential to the tripartite mission of learning, discovery and engagement.”

    To address these fears the Virginia Council of Presidents has issued a statement expressing support for free expression:

    As presidents of Virginia’s public colleges and universities, we unequivocally support free expression and viewpoint diversity on our campuses. Free expression is the fundamental basis for both academic freedom and for effective teaching and learning inside and outside the classroom. Our member universities and colleges are bound to uphold the First Amendment. We are committed to promoting this constitutional freedom through robust statements and policies that are formulated through shared governance processes and through actions that reflect and reinforce this core foundation of education. We value a scholarly environment that is supported by a diversity of research and intellectual perspectives among our faculty and staff. We pledge to promote and uphold inclusivity, academic freedom, free expression, and an environment that promotes civil discourse across differences. We will protect these principles when others seek to restrict them.

    Noble words. But I won’t believe the presidents’ commitment to “free speech and viewpoint diversity” until I see massive changes in the way they run their institutions. (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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