Bacon's Rebellion

  • We Have Your Files. To Get Them Back, Send Money

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Tried to get into the Legislative Information System lately? If you did, you were likely greeted by the following message:

    We’re experiencing a service outage with some of our servers. The Budget Portal, Law Portal, Reports to the General Assembly, and some other data may not be accessible. Our team is currently working to restore the service. We apologize for any inconvenience.

    This is not a case of servers acting up. As reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the legislature has been hit by a ransomware attack. The malware has shut down systems used by the legislative branch; most problematically, the system used by the Division of Legislative Services to draft and submit bills.  This is their busy season. For some reason, only some features of the Legislative Information System have been affected. The bill-status system is working.

    The attack has not affected agencies in the executive branch. The two branches have separate IT systems. However, the Dept. of State Police and VITA (the executive branch’s IT agency) are providing assistance to the Division of Legislative Automated Systems (DLAS).   (more…)

  • We See Their Lies

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Former Lee statue in Charlottesville.

    by Phil Leigh

    Confederate Heritage defenders see the truth. Statue destruction is not about a racial reckoning promoted by justice-seeking blacks and their awakened white allies among the social elite. It is all about Southern cultural genocide.

    Consider the recent vote by Charlottesville City Council to donate an equestrian bronze statue of Robert E. Lee to a black group that will melt it down to create a new “racial reckoning” sculpture. By giving the statue away, the city is probably foregoing over a million dollars that it could have received by putting the statue up for auction. A similar statue in Dallas was sold for $1.4 million.

    By forfeiting such funds, councilmen are deliberately trying to anger anyone who wishes to honor the memory of General Lee. Foregoing the auction opportunity is merely another form of looting taxpayers like the looting in the summer of 2020 or the flash looting more recently on the West Coast. Given the civic responsibilities of the councilors, their looting is even more immoral than that of the thugs I saw going from store-to-store on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue last year. (more…)

  • Dodging a Bullet

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Virginia voters have swept Terry McAuliffe into the dustbin of political history, so one might reasonably ask if there is any point in re-hashing more of the GreenTech Automotive story than Bacon’s Rebellion has already detailed in a recent five-part series. The answer is yes. One part of the tale is still worth retelling — how employees of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) acquitted themselves when confronted by the GreenTech Puffery machine. — JAB

    by Carol J. Bova

    Terry McAuliffe’s proposal in 2009 to build an electric-vehicle manufacturing facility in Virginia did not come through normal economic-development channels. The idea landed first in Governor Tim Kaine’s policy shop, which forwarded it to the state’s economic-development professionals at VEDP.

    McAuliffe was spinning his plan to build hybrid and electric vehicles as a potentially multibillion-dollar economic-development opportunity. While approaching Virginia, however, GreenTech officials also were engaged in talks with Mississippi about locating an electric-vehicle manufacturing plant in the Magnolia state. The apparent goal was to get the two states into a bidding war over incentives. (more…)

  • Northam Blinks: State Tax Cuts Coming

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    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    First published by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.

    Virginia’s leaders are no longer debating whether to cut state taxes. The argument now will be over how to cut state taxes.

    Outgoing Democratic Governor Ralph Northam announced Tuesday that his final introduced budget will include $2.1 billion in lower taxes, created by a one-time rebate to all taxpayers, a one-time tax break for certain businesses, and two small changes with long term benefits.

    Incoming Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, on the other hand, has proposed a similar one-time tax rebate to all taxpayers. But his other tax proposals are far broader and deeper than Northam’s and will probably require some trimming in parts of the introduced budget coming from Northam. The actual budget proposal is to be released later this week.

    Youngkin had asked Northam to include tax reform in his package, and to his credit Northam did. It is the 2022 General Assembly which will make the big decisions on how and by how much taxes will go down, and for whom, but they now enjoy a $2.1 billion head start. (more…)

  • UVa’s Thought Police Have Taken Control

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    The University of Virginia is becoming a modern-day reeducation camp where the views of faculty and staff must conform to the dictates of Leftist ideology regarding social justice issues. Not only must employees adopt the Woke rhetoric of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), they must engage in activist behavior. Between the indoctrination and compulsory participation, UVa’s requirements are reminiscent of a 60s-era Maoist-style reeducation camp. Although in fairness, it must be said that UVa does not administer beatings.

    In recent months, Bacon’s Rebellion has documented the use of the following at the University of Virginia:

    • Diversity statements. Job applicants must fill out “diversity statements” detailing how their academic research, committee assignments and/or community service have contributed to DEI. Their responses are evaluated by those who hire them.
    • Employee evaluations. Once hired, faculty members are subjected to “peer reviews,” in which their “contribution” to DEI is an integral part of the evaluation. Faculty members must demonstrate their commitment to DEI not just by saying the right things but by actively participating in DEI activities.
    • Employee training. Under the “Inclusive Excellence” framework, faculty and staff are required to undergo “training” sessions that can include Maoist-style indoctrination of DEI dogma and (for Whites) acknowledgement of their racism.

    (more…)

  • Diversity Statements Snuff Out Academic Freedom

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Allan Stam

    Why should you care about faculty review policies at the University of Virginia and other public Virginia universities? You should care because they affect which faculty are likely to stay at a university and which faculty are likely to move on. In other words, they affect who will teach your children and grandchildren. 

    You should want universities to keep professors who conduct state-of-the-art research and excel at teaching their scholarly discipline. But that’s not what you’re going to get with the new guidelines issued by the UVa College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. (See the previous post.)

    Pay raises and the annual reviews that affect them are powerful administrative tools that universities use to incentivize faculty efforts. Given that there are only so many hours in a day, faculty allocate their time towards areas that their employers reward and away from those that they do not. (more…)

  • Virginia State and Local Agencies Must Spend Federal Coronavirus Relief Funds by December 31

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    State and local governments are awash in billions of dollars of federal funding with various federal expiration dates if not spent.

    The General Assembly set its own deadline.

    Recipients have to spend federal money allocated by the General Assembly by Dec. 31 or lose it back to the Governor for repurposing. That is not as easy as it sounds. It represents in many cases far more money that any of them have ever handled.

    The budget bill from 2021 gave the outgoing Governor two weeks before the end of his term to shift unspent federal funds from the purpose for which they were allocated by the General Assembly to “other qualifying expenses.”

    Thus, a Democratic majority General Assembly ensured that a Democratic governor could make the political decisions of re-allocation. Fair enough. Hard to blame them. They had already seen Terry McAuliffe. Risky bet.

    We don’t know how much of the billions of dollars from multiple federal relief acts will be unspent by Jan. 1.

    But we can be reasonably assured there is a scramble going on to get it spent before it has to be turned over for reclassification by the Governor. (more…)

  • Enforcing the New Diversity Dogma

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    This month University of Virginia departments embark upon a four- to five-month “peer review” of faculty members. The stakes are high. Scores from the review will affect merit raises and prospects for promotion.

    New this year: twenty percent of the scores will be awarded on the basis of the faculty member’s contributions to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI).

    In theory, the “guidance” issued by the dean’s office of the College of Arts & Sciences allows individual departments some latitude in how they conduct their peer reviews. But the language, though bland and formulaic, is clear: professors who fail to enlist in social-justice activism will have a less-than-promising future at UVa.

    Evaluations of each faculty member’s “performance” will be shared with other faculty members. There is no uniform standard for weighting the scores, but if departmental reports don’t specify otherwise, the “default” mode is 40% teaching, 40% research, and 20% service. (more…)

  • Countdown to Freedom: 32 Days

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Oh look.

    California’s dopey governor is following New York’s crazy executive. They’re both re-instituting what didn’t work the last time that COVID cases began to rise: Sweeping mask mandates and more restrictions.

    There, but for the wisdom of the electorate, goes Virginia.

    Oh, I suppose lame duck Ralph Northam — in an explosive display of tyrannical behavior — could impose another mask mandate on the commonwealth or tell us to be home by midnight as he did last Christmas. He could close bars again, order us not to have more than five people in our homes over the holidays and close schools.

    But even the Governor knows none of those measures made a bit of difference last time and they’d be wildly unpopular today.

    Gov. Glenn Youngkin will be inaugurated on January 15th and Virginians will be safe from any more sudden and erratic mandates from Richmond. (more…)

  • Virginia No-Limit Campaign Laws = Tax Exemptions for Partners in Venture Capital Firms

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Updated Dec 14 at 10:19 AM

    I just spent some spare time browsing through the Virginia tax code. (I know, get a life.) Lots of interesting items in there. Some tax exemptions make sense for the best interests of the state. Some don’t.

    This case benefits a very few people a lot.  It is harder to figure out what is in it for the state.

    If you are a partner in a venture capital company, you get a large and controversial federal tax break for what is called carried interest. Great being you.

    Since 2018 Virginia does not tax income, including investment services partnership interest income (that same carried interest income) attributable to an investment in a Virginia venture capital account.

    A Virginia venture capital account is defined as an account with half of the money in Virginia companies, including those in target-rich Northern Virginia. Even better being you.

    Is America a great country or what? (more…)

  • Operation Shoe Drop

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Photo credit: Daily Caller

    Operation Shoedrop, profiled in The Daily Caller, is a brilliant protest. The sign in the picture above speaks for itself and needs no commentary.

    Hopefully, the U.S. Department of Justice won’t feel triggered enough to investigate. But the demonstration is not without risk. Uber-woke Loudoun County Commonwealth Attorney Buta Biberaj may have grounds for prosecuting the organizers, “Citizens for Freedom,” for violation of the county’s litter ordinance!

    — JAB

  • Now EMT Workers Are in Short Supply

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Image credit: News & Advance

    by James A. Bacon

    Bedford County, an 800-square-mile county in Central Virginia, is theoretically staffed to operate six medic units. Based on call volume, the county could justify maintaining eight units, reports the News & Advance. But on most days one or two of the six are out of service because of insufficient staff to fill them. One day recently, the county had only one paramedic on duty.

    The result: longer response times. Delays are potentially a matter of life and death.

    The likely root causes of EMT shortages are overwork and insufficient pay, although COVID-related disruptions to training programs have also been a factor in the past year. It is not uncommon for emergency services personnel to work more than 100 hours of overtime a month, sometimes in 72-hour shifts. EMT Jason Morgan says he has not seen a merit increase or cost of living increase since 2004 or 2005. Nationally, shortages are most acute among paramedics, who require more years of education and training.

    The chronic teacher shortages in Virginia have gotten considerable media attention, as has the shortage of police officers. It should surprise no one that emergency service personnel are in short supply as well. (more…)

  • Tornadoes: December Devastation

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    https://twitter.com/bclemms/status/1469815153780793347?s=20

    by Kerry Dougherty

    It’s the drone footage that gets you.

    Those silent video clips showing mile after mile of unimaginable devastation. Flattened homes and factories, overturned railroad cars and trucks, trees reduced to toothpicks and debris fields full of the colorful remnants of ordinary peoples’ lives.

    And wandering through the Armageddon are people, eyes down, slowly searching. Are they looking for loved ones, mementoes or pets? Impossible to know from the drone’s eye view. (more…)

  • Our Media Trusts “The Smart Ones”

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    Not every policy imposed by government is subject to public hearings or votes. That’s one reason to vote for smart candidates who have the country’s best interests at heart and not for those who rant about personal liberty without accepting any social responsibility for individual decisions.

    That was part of a response I received by email from somebody who read Friday’s post on the Air Pollution Control Board’s new regulation which ties Virginia’s auto market to emissions rules promulgated by California. I had noted how the state’s usual and statutory requirements for notice and comment had been bypassed on the orders of the General Assembly.

    Clearly this reader thought that was just fine, which floored me. My respondent was a member of the working news media. If anybody should be standing up for transparency and public participation, it would be news reporters, editors and producers, right? Not this person, not on this issue. (I’ll withhold the name.)

    The comments from a “journalist” about “smart candidates” versus “those who rant about personal liberty” speak for themselves. Note they would apply equally to COVID mitigations and efforts to eliminate carbon dioxide, with disdain poured on skeptics in either case. It was a refreshingly honest admission that explains the selective coverage we must wade through on so many issues. It came at a time when I was already shaking my head over the media coverage of Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin’s proposal to exit the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. (more…)

  • Virginia Tech Student Punished for Booing at a Soccer Game

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    The “Shirtless Boys” at a Virginia Tech women’s soccer game. Sean Lohr wears the green bandana. Photo credit: The Roanoke Star.

    Republished by arrangement with The Roanoke Star.

    The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) says that Virginia Tech is out of bounds. On penalty of suspension and a ban on attending athletic events, the university punished student Sean Lohr after an athletic administrator took offense to his booing during a soccer game.

    The Foundation is now calling on Virginia Tech to stop violating its legal obligations and clear Lohr’s disciplinary record.

    “The Virginia Tech administration was completely out of line,” said Lohr. “It is out of line for everyone’s voices to be suppressed because one person was offended by something.” (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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