Bacon's Rebellion

  • The Trophy in the Middle of the River

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    Bob Rayner

    by Jon Baliles

    Some great news this week about the one thing most everyone can agree on: the James River is awesome, and the heart of the City just got a LOT more awesome. Or at least it is pointing in that direction. Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense reported that The Capital Region Land Conservancy (CRLC) is under contract to buy Mayo Island with the ultimate goal to create public green space. The “CRLC has made an initial security deposit on the island and is currently in the due diligence phase” and expects to close on the property next year.

    “If successful … Mayo [Island], that has been long-discussed and long-envisioned for a public space, can now become that in the future,” CRLC Director Parker Agelasto said. “…Mayo is truly going to be the green space that everybody has been yearning for, with a nice walkability from the Hull Street corridor.”

    Agelasto added that the CRLC is waiting to hear back from the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation about a grant it applied for that would help fund the purchase. The grant money would come from the state’s Community Flood Preparedness Fund.

    “It’s not a guarantee,” Agelasto said. “[But] we feel very good about where we are at the moment.” (more…)

  • Dead Students, UVa, and the Virginia Freedom of Information Act – Part One – Only One Client

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    sherlockj

    Clifton M. Iler
    University Counsel and Senior Assistant Attorney General at the University of Virginia

    by James C. Sherlock

    Updated Dec. 18 at 16:30

    The deck is stacked against the press, at least in the first step.

    The University of Virginia, unsurprisingly, considers it not in its interests to release information to the press about the work of its threat assessment team in the case of Christopher Darnell Jones.

    Mr. Jones, after that team failed to act, shot five people, killing three.

    UVa’s Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA, the Act) Officer works in the University Counsel’s office. The University Counsel’s job under Virginia law in civil matters is to defend the University. Protect it from things inimical to its interests.

    The fact that this office also fields FOIA requests is and must be informed by that primary responsibility. That office will never knowingly break the law, but it will search it for provisions favorable to its client’s interest.

    The office has only one client: the University.

    Virginia’s FOIA law is dense. Most of its 48 pages are occupied with exceptions to the general duty to release information requested.

    Agency attorneys are thus positioned to find an exception to repulse attempts at getting information that government agencies don’t want made public. Even if there is another part of that same law that arguably supports the request. The key modifier is “arguably.”

    Such as information responsive to my FOIA request, which has been denied by the University Counsel’s office. I don’t blame them, I just disagree. They may prove right in the end. But the end is not yet here.

    I will appeal to the FOIA Council, which contains Members of and works for the General Assembly. Different client.

    If the information is ultimately to be released, we then will fight the next battle. Agencies get another bite of the apple. They get to make redactions they deem appropriate under the law.  

    The University’s FOIA office has done nothing wrong.

    Rather, I find a structural problem with a FOIA system that requires the press to ask an agency’s defense attorneys for information inimical to the interests of their clients.  And then lets those same attorneys redact prior to release.

    It cannot work in favor of the freedom of information, so it doesn’t.

    I am going to publish a series about my takeaways from this experience.

    That at least you can read about. (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant

  • Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness — No Longer Applicable?

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    In Virginia, registered voters are not identified by political party affiliation. Political parties do not like this provision because it allows non-party members to participate in their primaries.

    Parties try to discourage this incursion by non-members into their primaries by requiring various sorts of pledges, either to support the eventual nominee of the party or that participants consider themselves members of the party holding the primary. For the upcoming unassembled caucus, or “firehouse primary,” being held to choose the Democratic nominee for the upcoming special election in the Fourth Congressional District seat, Democrats are requiring people wishing to participate to sign a statement declaring themselves to be a Democrat.  Republicans have had similar requirements in the past. See here, here, and here.

    According to The Washington Post, conservative radio host John Fredericks, who was chairman of Trump’s Virginia campaigns, has made a radio ad urging Republicans to participate in the Fourth Congressional District Democratic firehouse primary to be held on Tuesday and to vote for Joe Morrissey. As for the statement declaring the participant to be a Democrat, Fredericks said, “Sign their stupid pledge — it means nothing — and stick it to them.”

    Is this what conservatives and Republicans have come down to in the Commonwealth: publicly urging their members to lie and make false promises?

  • Shootout At the Fourth District Corral

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    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Sen. Jennifer McClellan Photo Credit: Richmond Times Dispatch

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    For Bacon’s Rebellion readers who do not follow politics in the Richmond area, you are missing a real donnybrook. The tussle is over filling the Fourth Congressional District seat held by the late Donald McEachin and the most in-fighting is over the Democratic nomination. Because the district is solidly Democratic, there is a reasonable assumption that the Democratic candidate will be the winner in the special election for the seat.

    Governor Youngkin set Feb. 21 as the date for the election, with Dec. 23 being the last day for candidates to file.

    Del. Lamont Bagby Photo Credit: Richmond Times Dispatch

    Early on, the most prominently mentioned Democratic candidate was Delegate Lamont Bagby, who represents Henrico County in the House of Delegates. The chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, Bagby presented himself as a mentee of McEachin and vowed to carry on his legacy.

    From the beginning, another name frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for the Democratic nomination was that of Senator Jennifer McClellan, who represents Richmond in the Virginia Senate. A longtime member of the legislature, in both the House and Senate, she is a widely respected legislator. Because Democrats have only a two-seat margin in the Senate, there was some initial speculation that she might not run. However, she quickly dispelled any doubts.

    Sen. Joe Morrissey Photo Credit: Richmond Times Dispatch

    On Monday, December 12, Bagby announced his candidacy.  On the next day, McClellan announced hers. Also announcing his candidacy on Tuesday was Sen. Joe Morrissey, a somewhat surprise late-comer to the race.  Morrissey, a colorful and controversial character, represented Richmond and Henrico in the House for many years. His current Senate district includes Petersburg and he has aligned himself with that jurisdiction. (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

  • Now It’s a Party: Local Elections May Be Decided in June for a While

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    by

    Robin Beres

    by Joe Fitzgerald

    It looks like 12 percent of people voting in Harrisonburg’s Nov. 8 City Council election cast a vote for only one of the four candidates instead of the two they could have voted for. But that number needs more asterisks on it than a home run record.

    Single-shot votes are difficult to count. Count isn’t even the right word. Estimate, maybe. Guess, certainly. And although there were three local races, the same guesses and estimates don’t apply to all three, since one was for a single seat, one for two seats, and one for three seats.

    All that means no exact numbers, but some clear trends.

    One of those trends is that the city’s voters won’t vote against someone just because they’re Black. Nor will the electorate vote for someone just because the candidate is Black. There will be a three-person African-American majority on City Council come January 1, with one of them elected this year and one re-elected unopposed. But in the School Board race, two Black candidates lost, one of them an incumbent.

    Each of the contests was apparently decided based on issues and personalities more than on race. We’re a century away from any southern city being color-blind, but this is as close as we’ll get for a while.

    But if race wasn’t an issue, party was. Even without a race for Senate or president at the top of the ballot, the Democratic candidates won the city with almost two-thirds of the vote. The African-American candidates for City Council won with Democratic nominations, while the two running for School Board lost to three candidates endorsed by the Democratic committee.

    That means the observation above about issues and personalities may be half-right. They mattered more than race, but less than party. That’s in keeping with my frequent claim about my political predictions and analyses: I’m right more often than anybody in the city and I’m wrong more often than I’m right.
    (more…)

  • Alumni Free Speech Alliance to Safeguard VMI Campus Free Speech

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    Robin Beres

    The Cadet newspaper and The Cadet Foundation were honored, by unanimous acclimation, to become full members of the Alumni Free Speech Alliance (AFSA). By this honor, Virginia Military Institute (VMI) cadets, alumni, faculty. and staff at VMI now join a prestigious collection of alumni groups representing Ivy League and other major institutions of higher education across the United States. These include Bucknell, Cornell, Davidson, Harvard, Lafayette, Macalester, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton, Stanford, University of North Carolina, University of Virginia, Washington & Lee, Wofford, and Yale.

    Tom Rideout, AFSA co-chairman and president of The Generals Redoubt at Washington & Lee (W&L) University, issued the following statement on behalf of ASFA: “The Alumni Free Speech Association (AFSA) is thrilled to announce that The Cadet Foundation will represent the Virginia Military Institute as its fifteenth group member.

    “AFSA was created in October 2021 for two purposes. One was to serve as an umbrella group to gather a strong nucleus of higher education alternative alumni associations with a shared mission of supporting free speech, academic freedom, and viewpoint diversity. It seeks to provide a variety of forums for information exchange and operational methods to pursue them. AFSA is building a tool kit, developing communications channels and content, and acquiring strategic allies to allow its members to pursue these goals on their specific campuses. The association also recognizes that its member groups will have unique collections of campus battles to wage, some with free speech issues and others without. So there exists an embedded goal to provide a place for information sharing on a range of broad problem-solving issues and capabilities. (more…)

  • The Perry Family Lawyers Up

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    In a news conference yesterday the parents of D’Sean Perry, one of three University of Virginia football players slain in a mass shooting last month, called for changes to gun laws and faulted UVa for failing to boot their son’s killer off campus. Said D’Sean’s father Sean Perry: “(We want) to make sure another family will never, never go through this again.”

    According to CNN, the Perrys said they wanted unspecified reforms to “gun laws” (CNN’s words), although it was unclear from the article what remedies they sought. “The red flags were there, and (the suspect) was still able to purchase a firearm,” said D’Sean’s mother, Happy Perry. Here’s the background provided by CNN: (more…)

  • A Christmas Guide to De-Bugging Virginia

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    by Kerry Dougherty

    This is not a sponsored post. I wish it were; I could use the loot. This is just my gift to you, a last-minute Christmas shopping tip. You’re welcome.

    I don’t know why more people don’t do their Christmas shopping at truck stops. These friendly joints stock loads of items you can’t find at Macy’s. Like those chubby little baseball bats to crack the craniums of would-be carjackers. Plug-in seat heaters to keep your buns toasty on the interstate in February. And matching camo pj’s for the whole family.

    In fact, a truck stop is where I stumbled on my go-to Christmas gift a few years ago.

    It was late November and I was driving to a college football game in Mississippi. I stopped, as usual, at the Kenly 95 in North Carolina, the Nordstrom of truck stops. A vast emporium featuring fried food, ball-cap boutiques and clean bathrooms.

    When I walked in, a colorful display caught my eye: a pyramid of yellow guns and a video loop touting something called the Bug-A-Salt: a sort of pump-action air rifle for killing flies and other pests.

    “Insect hunting is now officially a sport!” enthused the narrator.

    I stood transfixed as this gadget came to life on the screen. A yellow air gun that fired table salt. At bugs. In slow motion, you could see flies vaporized by a single shot.

    Best of all, no messy marks on walls or screens. No more bugs fleeing the flyswatter at the last minute.

    Probably doesn’t work, I thought, as I headed to a little coffee stand.

    Something drew me back, though. I sipped my coffee and watched the infomercial again.

    I left Kenly a few minutes later 40 bucks lighter, with a Bug-A-Salt under my arm. (more…)

  • Junior ROTC – Important to Students, High Schools, Society and the National Defense

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    by

    sherlockj

    Cadet Andrea Ellerbe, Richmond N.C. Senior High School JROTC

    by James C. Sherlock

    Richmond Senior High School (RSHS) is a 1,200-student grades-10-to-12 school in the Sandhills Region of North Carolina.

    Its mission, vision and belief statements genuflect at none of the shrines of progressive dogma. Not a single one.

    Minority enrollment is 57% of the student body (majority Black), which is higher than the North Carolina state average of 54% (majority Black).

    RSHS is ranked in the top 10% of high schools in North Carolina for math proficiency. That is after, as is a practice in the North Carolina system, the best students have been skimmed off to Richmond Early College High on the same campus, but whose school is graded separately.

    All RSHS students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Nearly 90% of students and parents surveyed agreed the school was competitive. That still, at least to those parents, seemed a good thing.

    The school features its Army Junior ROTC program.

    It is a source of pride, as is highly awarded and accomplished scholar and athlete Cadet Major Andrea Ellerbe, pictured above.

    Ellerbe’s future plans include attending East Carolina University in fall of 2023 as part of the ROTC program majoring in business and accounting.

    The New York Times (NYT) literally cannot imagine any of that.

    Dismayed by JROTC and playing to its base, The New York Times published an article headlined “Thousands of Teens Are Being Pushed Into Military’s Junior R.O.T.C.”

    Cue the progressive rending of garments. Tears were shed on the Upper East Side for the micro aggressions suffered both in the research for the article — and in reading it.

    They don’t get it. Never will.

    They have never met Cadet Major Ellerbe. (more…)

  • SCC Drops Wind Energy Performance Standard

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    The 14.7 megawatt turbines to be used in CVOW. Click for larger view.

    by Steve Haner

    The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) has abandoned its push for an offshore wind performance standard fiercely opposed by Dominion Energy Virginia. It agreed instead to some capital cost limitations for its project that the utility has endorsed . 

    In a decision released today, the two commissioners accepted in full a stipulation put forward several weeks ago by Dominion, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, Walmart and several environmental groups. Should the capital costs of the project and related transmission lines exceed $10.3 billion, customers will only have to finance a portion of the excess. Beyond $11.3 billion the utility will finance the excess. (more…)

  • Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    I’m so confused. We’ve been hearing for years that air pollution from fossil fuel plants disproportionately impacts minorities. Take, for example, a 2018 Environmental Protection Agency study which found that African-Americans faced a 54% higher health burden from particulate air emissions like soot compared to the overall population. Systemic racism was the culprit. Numerous other studies have reached similar conclusions.

    To address the systemic racism embedded in the U.S. energy system, greenies have touted the generation of electricity from non-polluting energy sources such as wind and solar. (Let’s set aside the fact that air pollution is displaced in many cases to unregulated mines in Africa, not known for their health and safety conditions, which produce the materials used in wind turbines and solar cells.)

    Now comes a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which finds that the health benefits of wind power could quadruple by dialing down production from the most polluting fossil-fuel-based power plants when wind is available. But the study, published in Science Advances, had a disturbing caveat: only 30% of the benefits would reach disadvantaged communities.

    “We found that prioritizing health is a great way to maximize benefits in a widespread way across the U.S., which is a very positive thing. But it suggests it’s not going to address disparities,” says MIT co-author Noelle Selin. (more…)

  • Ranked-Choice Voting in Virginia? Not Yet (Except Maybe Primaries)

    Posted on

    by

    Robin Beres

    by Ken Reid

    A ranked-choice voting system (RCV) is an alternative electoral process that allows people to vote for multiple candidates on a ballot in order of the voter’s preference. RCV has been adopted in at least 60 jurisdictions across the nation, including statewide and federal elections in Maine and Alaska.

    Should Virginia counties and cities adopt RCV for upcoming November elections, or should this newfangled system of voting be used only in primaries?

    My answer to that question is “no” — but RCV may have some benefit in open primaries where both Democrats and Republicans select a nominee. It is definitely not suitable for local races.

    I’ll go into more detail later, but my main concern is that it would be unwise to introduce RCV at a time when polls show some four in 10 voters already do not trust our elections. The majority of those skeptics are pro-Donald Trump Republicans who believe the 2020 election was stolen from him. However, in addition to former President Trump’s bellyaching about his 2020 loss, there are also activists on the left who believe there is ongoing voter suppression. Ranked-choice voting could feed into that belief.

    Ranked choice voting (which was also used by the Republican Party of Virginia in its last two statewide drive-thru conventions and by the 10th District’s congressional convention last spring) means the candidates are ranked in order of the voters’ choice. It is being touted for use in primaries to ensure nominees are confirmed by a majority; by states that have runoff elections to obviate people voting twice (as happened in Georgia); and in town and city council “multiple candidate” races where voters are asked to vote for up to three nominees for council and one for mayor.

    In 2020, Virginia’s Democrat-controlled General Assembly passed legislation allowing ranked-choice voting and requiring the State Board of Elections to issue regulations on its implementation. The law presently allows ranked-choice voting only for “elections of members of a county board of supervisors or city council.” It cannot be used in elections for constitutional offices, school boards, or mayoral and town council races. So far, Arlington is the only Virginia county to approve ranked-choice voting for its primaries in 2023. It has not approved the method for general elections.

    (more…)

  • Virginia Beach Throws Millions At the Family of Donovon Lynch

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Oh, look.

    Virginia Beach just agreed to make the family of the late Donovon Lynch millionaires. The city announced Tuesday that the Lynch estate is getting $3 million. The city council approved the payout.
    You remember Lynch, don’t you? He was the 25-year-old who was shot and killed by a police officer during an oceanfront orgy of violence and gunfights on the night of March 26, 2021.

    That bloody Friday night left the Beach resort strip looking like a “war zone” and saw 10 people shot, two fatally, including Lynch.

    Lynch was African-American and so was the officer who shot him, so there’s no unarmed-black-man-killed-by-white-cop narrative for local members of the media to push.

    The officer who was involved claimed that he believed Lynch was racking a gun at the time he fired his service revolver in self-defense.

    Lynch’s father sued the city for $50 million in a wrongful death suit that alleged the officer’s actions amounted to gross negligence and that he used excessive force.

    It’s worth noting that the special grand jury that investigated the shooting disagreed. In fact, the grand jury determined that no crime had been committed and furthermore that the officer acted “in justifiable self-defense.” (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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