Bacon's Rebellion

  • Victory for Zywicki

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    George Mason University has granted Todd Zywicki a medical exemption from its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. The law school professor had sued the university, which had denied him an exemption, on the grounds that, as a COVID survivor, he had acquired natural immunity to the virus and that a vaccination would expose him to unnecessary medical risks.

    GMU has assured Zywicki that he will not be subject to disciplinary action, and that he will be allowed to hold office hours and attend in-person events provided he maintains six feet of distance, said the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), which backed his lawsuit, in a press release. However, the professor must get tested for COVID-19 once per week.

    “Thanks to NCLA, we have increased public awareness that vaccinating the naturally immune is medically unnecessary and presents an elevated risk of harm to COVID-19 survivors,” said Zywicki. “I speak for tens of millions of Americans in the same circumstances I am in, and I call on leaders across the country to develop humane and science-based approaches as opposed to one-size-fits-all policies.โ€ (more…)

  • The Goochland Revolution: Fiscal Edition

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Goochland Supervisor Ken Peterson

    by James A. Bacon

    In February Goochland County Supervisor Ken Peterson and top county officials met with New York bond raters in the hope of winning a coveted AAA bond rating for their small, exurban county west of Richmond. Only a hundred or so counties in the United States have AAA ratings. None of them had Goochland’s tiny population, only 23,000. Indeed, to Peterson’s knowledge, of Virginia’s twelve AAA-rated counties, none had a population smaller than 60,000. Moreover, only a decade previously, Goochland had nearly defaulted on its water-sewer bonds. It didn’t even have a bond rating then. Winning Standard & Poor’s stamp of approval would represent an extraordinary turnaround.

    The Goochland team gave its pitch. The S&P bond raters were quizzical. They’d never seen a county’s numbers like Goochland’s. Not only did it have an incredibly low base property tax rate and a steadily growing revenue stream, it had built financial reserves equivalent to 60% of its annual budget. Such reserves were unheard of, the bond raters said. Fifteen percent is recommended.

    The county had a 25-year capital investment plan, Peterson explained, and it made a practice of setting aside funds for future building and maintenance needs. Astonished, the S&P team quipped that the company needed to create a separate bond rating for Goochland — AAA+. (more…)

  • Med Student Sues EVMS on Free Speech Grounds

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Edward Si, a student at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, has filed a lawsuit to stop the institution from blocking his effort to establish a local chapter of the Students for a National Health Program. The Student Government Association denied the club’s application for recognition on the grounds that it “does not want to create clubs based on opinions, political or otherwise” — despite recognizing other opinion-based groups such as Medical Students for Choice and the Christian Medical and Dental Association.

    โ€œI decided to sue in order to uncover the truth and to stand up for my basic constitutional and human rights,โ€ said Si, who is backed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). โ€œWithout freedom of expression, there can be no student activism and political advocacy.โ€ (more…)

  • What Does Northamโ€™s Masking Order Mean for 70,000 School Kids with Disabilities? Does Northam Even Know?

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Governor Ralph Northam…. Oh, our bad, that’s a weasel.

    by James C. Sherlock

    My own preferred policy for schools is mandatory vaccination for school staff, recommended vaccinations for the kids and voluntary masks for everyone.

    One of the advantages of that is that it is executable.

    One of the disadvantages is that I have no influence whatever over the governor or health commissioner. Pretty big disadvantage.

    But Virginiaโ€™s currentย order for schools is purposely garbled when addressing accommodations for disabled children, and the health commissioner understood that when he signed it for the governor.

    The authors of that document had no idea how to handle theย mask issue for the over 70,000 kids in Virginia public schools were labeled as โ€œdisabledโ€ last year.

    So they punted. (more…)

  • Shots and Masks in Richmond Schools

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Why is this man smiling?

    by James C. Sherlock

    Belt and suspenders?

    Vaccinations and masks now are both mandatory in Richmond Public Schools. Vaccinations because the school board ordered it last night. Masks because the Governor ordered it last week.

    The vaccination order, though many oppose it, has science behind it. Vaccinations work. For the vaccinated, though, the mask wearing mandate is purely political – and political theater. The mask mandate did not presume vaccination mandates.

    Cue the squeaking from the โ€œyeah, butโ€ crowd.

    Letโ€™s look a these one at a time.

    Vaccinations – Richmond

    After a vote last night by the school board, nearly all employees of Richmond Public Schools (RPS) must be vaccinated by Oct. 1.

    I wish them godspeed.

    This policy, with which I agree, is a major experiment with a very short time horizon, an unknown baseline and an unknown outcome. (more…)

  • The Goochland Revolution

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    The “Goochland Revolution” might be the most under-appreciated political upheaval in recent Virginia history. In the early years of the Obama administration the Tea Party movement energized small-government conservatives against the big-government policies of President Obama. The populist surge petered out in Virginia, as it did elsewhere, and it had little lasting institutional impact — except in one place, Goochland County, an exurban locality of 23,000 inhabitants west of Richmond.

    Flocking to the polls in record numbers in 2011, the Goochland revolutionaries voted to throw the bums out. And when I say “throw the bums out,” I mean they swept the Board of Supervisors clean of every member but one (who was allied politically with the insurgents) and tossed out every member of the School Board.

    After taking over, the board demanded the resignation of the entire Planning Commission, and replaced the directors of public utilities, community development, human resources, andย  economic development. The school board hired a new school superintendent. And for good measure the county treasurer was convicted of embezzlement and sent to jail. But the changes didn’t end with personnel. The new crew implemented far-reaching changes in fiscal policy. (more…)

  • Covid Benefits – Yet Another Massive Government Program Gone Awry

    Posted on

    by

    djrippert

    Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

    Stolen without a gun. NBC News is reporting that hackers and scammers have pulled off “an epic theft” of COVID benefits. Foreign and domestic criminals have looted tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars. As reported, “The federal government cannot say for sure how much of the more than $900 billion in pandemic-related unemployment relief has been stolen, but credible estimates range from $87 million to $400 billion โ€” at least half of which went to foreign criminals, law enforcement officials say.” In other words, more money could have been stolen from the jobless benefits program than the U.S. spends on K-12 education in a year. (more…)

  • How to Promote the Home Healthcare Revolution

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Before the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and outpatient clinics accounted for 99% of all medical visits. That share has dropped during the pandemic to about 90% as emergency conditions stimulated the adoption of telemedicine and in-home treatment. As the epidemic recedes (assuming it does recede), medical care could well shift back to traditional settings in medical facilities.

    Two George Mason University professors with the Mercatus Center argue that digital technologies are making it possible — and desirable — to push more care out of medical facilities and into the home.

    “In an increasingly distributed, digital world, providing an overwhelming share of health care in a highly capital-intensive environment makes less and less sense,” write Philip E. Auerswald and Justin Leventhal in a new policy brief.

    By nature, capital-intensive environments are burdened by high fixed costs. … Centralizing services in a hospital makes sense for procedures and types of care requiring bulk equipment, a sterile environment, or both, but advances in technology and the evolution of consumer habits now permit a larger share of healthcare to be delivered in the home, in retail clinics, and in other nonhospital and non-outpatient settings.

    The shift to non-traditional settings could make healthcare more accessible and less expensive. But it will require making many regulatory changes, most of them at the state level. Whether Virginia’s powerful hospital and insurance lobbies will permit these changes to take place is an open question. (more…)

  • 2020 Census: 8.2% of Virginians Classify Themselves as Multiracial

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Percent change in Virginia multiracial population. Source: Virginia Public Access Project

    The share of Virginians who identify as more than one race nearly tripled during the 2010s to 8.2% of the population, reports the Virginia Public Access Project. Some of the surge was driven by demographic trends, but some might be attributed to modifications of the Census reform, which was designed to capture more nuance in ethnic identity. Whatever the case, the numbers demonstrate that racial barriers are dissolving for the most fundamental of all human relationships — sexual union, childbearing and family formation.

    So, what do we conclude from the fact that about one out of twelve Virginians considers themselves multiracial? That fact that Americans care so little about racial identity that they form unions with people of other races lasting enough to have children does not square with the dogma that the Unites States and Virginia are racist. Indeed, the data suggests quite the opposite: that the U.S. is the most pluralistic, least racist country on the planet. (more…)

  • A COVID Report From Southside

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    With the exception of Carol, the contributors to Bacon’s Rebellion (and, I am guessing, most of the commenters) are in the NoVA, Richmond, Hampton Roads bubble. Therefore, I thought it would be enlightening to bring in some COVID news from my home area, Halifax County, in Southside.

    The first is an article from one of the local papers (surprisingly, there are still two local newspapers) about how the local hospital is suddenly filling up with COVID patients, most of them unvaccinated. The county’s vaccination rate is 37%. (Yes, Mr. Sherlock, unfortunately the hospital is one of those long-standing local hospitals that got swallowedย  by Sentara. But, that is another story.) Note that the hospital’s chief medical officer has been vaccinated despite having a serious autoimmune disorder (Guillain-Barre syndrome).

    Second is a similar article from the other newspaper. (What makes it interesting and fun is that one newspaper has had a very conservative editorial viewpoint for generations, while the editor and publisher of the other is decidedly liberal.)

    Finally, here is an article from the first paper about a young couple, both unvaccinated, who died from COVID within hours of each other.

  • Are We Willing to Require Health Care Workers to Get Vaccinated If There Are No Replacements?

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Sometimes reality trumps policy. The headline asks a question for which I do not have an answer.

    My personal position is that all health care workers and all school workers should get vaccinated.ย Reality suggests that changing the verb from โ€œshould” to โ€œmust” depends on the availability of replacements, the necessity of the service and risks and rewards of both options.

    Replacements are the problem in Virginia.

    The Washington Post published an article “Get the vaccine or get fired? In Shenandoah Valley, some nurses choose terminationโ€.

    So, there it is. The stark choice.

    But Nurse Journal reportsย that Virginia has the 9th lowest number of nurses per 100,000 people of all the states/D.C. at 10.52 per 100,000. (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    …from The Bull Elephant

  • Virginia Beach and Afghanistan

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    It was never a Navy war.

    But in this Navy town, it was brought literally home to us again and again. We are home to nearly half of the Navy SEALs, including SEAL Team 6.

    Something like 4,000 to 5,000 total plus their families.

    SEALs are Americaโ€™s special operations forces specially trained for undersea, coastal, river and swamp operations. They train on our beaches, in our swamps, bays and ocean. Some of us can hear their live gunfire at night.

    Folks in the Navy flight paths hear big transports take off at 4:00 in the morning, guess thatโ€™s them going God knows where, wish them well, and try to go back to sleep.

    About 15 years ago, I went through physical rehab in a civilian facility here with one of them, a Chief Petty Officer who you would not have recognized as a sailor. He and I were there for different types of injuries.

    I was retired and rehabbing a knee operated on for arthritis. He was rehabbing muscle damage from a bullet wound. Affected his trigger finger. (more…)

  • Herring Sues Minority Gas Station Owners for Price-Gouging

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Attorney General Mark Herring has filed a lawsuit against the owners of a Springfield gas station for charging “unconscionable” prices for gasoline after the temporary shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline in May.

    “Bad actors will take advantage of times of crises to unreasonably increase prices for necessary goods, like gasoline,” said Herring in a press release. “During a disaster or crisis, Virginians should never have to worry about whether they are paying a fair price for something they truly need.”

    That’s one way of looking at Herring’s action. Here’s another way: he is persecuting a minority-owned small business enterprise in order to score a talking point in his re-election campaign.

    Here follow the facts. You decide which interpretation is more plausible. (more…)

  • Supreme Court Refuses to Block Vaccination Mandate; Judicial Review Generally

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Justice Amy Coney Barrett
    Photo credit: Politico

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    The U.S. Supreme Court has flatly turned down a request for an injunction against the enforcement by Indiana University that all students and staff be vaccinated against COVID-19. This request was an appeal of a unanimous decision of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denying the request.

    The order was issued by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who is assigned to review petitions from the circuit in which the university is located. She did not give any reasons in her order. According to Adam Liptak, a long-time New York Times reporter covering the Supreme Court, โ€œShe acted on her own, without referring the application to the full court, and she did not ask the university for a response, Both of those moves were indications that the application was not on solid legal footing.โ€ So much for the issue of the constitutionality of vaccination mandates.

    Regarding the recent discussion on this blog about the โ€œwaiverโ€ of constitutional rights, that notion is nonsensical. It presumes that constitutional rights are clearly spelled out and are absolute and therefore cannot be waived. First of all, the Supreme Court has never ruled that any right is absolute. Even freedom of speech has some limitations. Second, many provisions of the Constitution are less than crystal clear. The prime example would be the guarantee of โ€œdue process of law.โ€ (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.

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