Bacon's Rebellion

  • Facebook Update

    Posted on

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    James A. Bacon

    As Bacon’s Rebellion readers know, Facebook has begun rejecting the most anodyne of ads promoting our website on the grounds that they address “social” or electoral issues. But the social media giant does have a mechanism for people to prove they are not bots. I am in the process of jumping through the necessary hoops, and I will keep you posted on my success — or failure.

    I am not a bot. But how about these “friend” requests I keep getting from beautiful young Chinese women? Are they bots?

    I have accepted none of these friend requests, so it’s not likely that I have unwittingly put myself on some list of dupes. The young woman above lists a Hong Kong residence and goes by a name rendered in Chinese characters, which I cannot read. Her Facebook page shows photos of her dining out, playing golf, and posing in gardens. We have no mutual friends. (more…)

  • Top State for Business… Or Most Woke State for Business?

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    As corporate America becomes more woke, placing ever greater emphasis on the diversity of its workforce and executive management ranks, it should come as no surprise that CNBC, which is part of the NBCUniversal corporate media complex, has incorporated wokeness into its annual ranking of Top States for Business.

    “We have expanded our measures of inclusiveness, looking more deeply at protections against discrimination, as well as at voting rights and current efforts to expand or restrict access to the polls, based on legislation enacted as of June 1, 2021,” says CNBC in explaining its methodology for ranking the 50 states — in which Virginia scored the top spot for the second year in a row.

    Democrats and their allies in the media are crowing about Virginia’s No. 1 ranking this year, the top spot nationally for the second year running. “Virginia Republicans have been warning Democratic control was bad for business,” states the headline of a Virginia Mercury article this morning. “CNBC disagrees.” It turns out that legislation criticized by Republicans as bad for business, continues the story, “actually helped the state’s business reputation.”

    I am skeptical. But it’s a hypothesis that Republicans, conservatives, and free marketeers need to consider. Have corporations become so woke that they are adjusting their capital-allocation algorithms in favor of politically progressive states? Or is CNBC so encapsulated in the left-wing media bubble that it has become unplugged from reality? (more…)

  • Community College Libels the Man It Was Named For

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Lord Thomas Fairfax

    by John Thomson

    Present-day controversies on renaming institutions are often about whether we judge the worth of our historical figures by the singular issue of slave-owning.

    One particular controversy needs a referee to call a foul: over a historianโ€™s error in a biography of the English lord, Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1693-1781).

    Fairfax lived at Greenway Court, one mile from White Post, Virginia. He had moved from England to manage 5 million acres of an inherited land grant. He resided here, became a part of local history, and was buried in Winchester.

    Several decades after the biography was published, the error was unearthed and recently used to justify effacing his name from the local 50-year-old Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC). (more…)

  • VMI a Hell-hole for Women, Says… the Washington Post

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    If you want a case study in why much of the public believes nothing emanating from the mainstream media, read The Washington Post’s latest smear job on the Virginia Military Institute. Staff muckraker Ian Shapira slams the Institute for the misogyny and sexual assault that he, like the Barnes & Thornburg report published in June, alleges to be pervasive there.

    I shall delve into the particulars in a moment, but bear in mind a few key points. First, Shapira indicts an entire higher-ed institution on the basis of interviews with “more than a dozen women” who attend or attended VMI in the recent past and implies that their experience is typical. Second, he presents only their side of the story. Third, he does not quote a single woman who describes having had a positive experience at VMI, although there are many who would have gladly obliged. Fourth, he seeks to hold the VMI administration accountable for the fact that young adult males express misogynistic views — in other words, for the administration’s failure to function as thought police. Fifth, he omits statistical evidence showing that assault and rape are less prevalent at VMI than at other higher-ed institutions.

    In short, Shapira’s article can be considered journalism only to the extent that he actually talked to some real people instead of making stuff up. His framing of a pre-determined narrative, his cherry picking of anecdotal evidence to support that narrative, and his exclusion of perspectivesย that would contradict his narrative (other than responses to specific allegations from VMI) can better be classified as propaganda. (more…)

  • Why Is Northam Doling Out Public Cash at Partisan Events?

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Shaun Kenney

    Michael Martz with the Richmond Times-Dispatch writes on Governor Ralph Northamโ€™s hamfisted attempt to use the public trust for partisan gain with a $350 million rescue package paid for by John and Jane Q. Taxpayer.

    The proposed package also includes the help requested by Virginia Tourism President Rita McClenny, who appeared before the House and Senate budget committees this year to make the case for aid to the tourism and hospitality industry.

    Those businesses employ about 10% of workers but represent 45% of the jobs lost during the pandemic, she told Senate Finance in May. “We want to prepare our communities to open their doors to visitors.”

    Of course, the commonwealth is awash in federal COVID relief to the tune of $4.3 billion dollars. One might even be encouraged to think that Northam โ€” true to the spirit of pandemic โ€” might even be inclined to treat the public relief as a public opportunity to show public solidarity with all Virginians.

    Instead, Northam and the Virginia Democrats chose to turn a taxpayer-fueled bailout into a partisan romp. (more…)

  • Digging Beyond the #1 Ranking

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    James A. Bacon

    by Steve Haner

    Virginia ranks #1 in theย โ€œTopย States for Business 2021โ€ ranking produced by the business network CNBC, but it is important to dig into the ten measurement categories. They are not weighted evenly. Changing the former โ€œQuality of Lifeโ€ measure to โ€œLife, Health and Inclusion,โ€ and adding more points to that category, sealed the deal for Virginiaโ€™s latest recognition at the top of that chart.

    Virginiaโ€™s Cost of Living score remains abysmal, number 32 among the 50 states.ย Cost of Doing Business, the category with the most weight, had Virginia right in the middle of the pack at number 26.ย The other overweight category is Infrastructure, and again Virginia had a middling rank at number 24.

    Where Virginiaโ€™s total score shot past the other top states was in the revised Life, Health, and Inclusion score. At number eleven, it was way ahead of the number two through number five states, North Carolina (ranked 37 in that area), Utah (27), Texas (49) and Tennessee (46).

    Virginiaโ€™s best rankings, and these have buoyed us all through the history of this report, were Education (number 2) and Workforce (number 3).

    Governor Ralph Northam will take and enjoy the victory lap that comes with this recognition, the fifth time Virginia has topped the list in the 14 times it has been published. Fellow Democrat and former Governor Terry McAuliffe -โ€“ now seeking another term — will try to share the spotlight, although his term produced drought years with Virginia always out of CNBCโ€™s top five and twice out of the top ten. (more…)

  • Mamma Mia! CNBC Says Virginia #1 for Business, but Chief Executive Mag says #13.

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Chris Saxman

    Beauty, the Greeks started saying back in 3rd century BC, is in the eyes of the beholder.

    CNBC announced today that Virginia is the Top State for Business in 2021. Thatโ€™s great news!

    They rank their top 10 states:ย Virginia – North Carolina – Utah – Texas – Tennessee – Georgia – Minnesota – Colorado – Washington – Ohio.

    Chief Executive Magazine in April ranked their top 10 states thusly:ย Texas – Florida – Tennessee – North Carolina – Indiana – South Carolina – Ohio – Nevada – Georgia – Arizona. Virginia comes in at #13 for them.

    Waitโ€ฆwhat?

    13?

    Forbes in 2019 had Virginia at #4 and US News had the Commonwealth at #7 back in March of this year.

    If you take the four rankings and then rank those? (No, you donโ€™t add and divide by 4 which would get Virginia to 6.25.) (more…)

  • Canโ€™t Read This? Thank Your Favorite “Top 20” Ed School

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    sherlockj


    by James C. Sherlock

    The Washington Post published an informative article on poverty and education.ย It recognized early on that:

    “Educators and policymakers have spent decades โ€” and billions of dollars โ€” trying to figure out how to make it easier for students like Alexa, bright young people who face a cascade of challenges linked to poverty, succeed in school. Almost nothing has stuck.”

    How that got past the editors will be the subject of protests in the newsroom later today.

    Anyway, it was about the economic and educational struggles of immigrants in Californiaโ€™s central valley. A worthy topic.

    The Post didnโ€™t mean poverty in areas like Wise County. You know, coal country Republican voters. Not ever going to be on their radar.

    But anyway, thanks for the nod to reality, WP. (more…)

  • Psst! We Have Some Beds for You

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Something just does not seem right about this.

    The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports today that the state has temporarily halted admissions to its mental health hospitals. In addition to being overcrowded, on Friday, Central State Hospital in Petersburg had more patients than beds, the hospitals have lost a significant number of staff and are struggling to replace them after COVID outbreaks in the hospitals.

    But, wait! The private sector is coming to the rescue! The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association has announced that a private health system (unidentified) will make available 58 unused mental health beds (40 for adolescents and 18 for adults) to the state. Oh, yes, and, in exchange for $8.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to pay for staff for those beds.

    I could understand the state contracting with the private sector on a per diem basis to take in these patients. But, a $8.5 million payment up front seems a bit brassy. The state would be better off using that $8.5 million to pay recruitment and retention bonuses to bolster the staff in its own facilities.

  • UVa Offers Social Warrior Lesson Plans to Virginia Kindergarten Teachers

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    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    In case anyone thinks the left ever rests, the University of Virginia ed school has struck another blow to educate children as social warriors through its โ€Educating for Democracyโ€ project.ย ย 

    โ€œDemocracy is not a spectator sport; it requires our participation, andย this participation must be oriented towardย justice. To create a more just democracy, citizens must be able to critically assess systems of inequity and work collaboratively to redress inequity and create lasting change. Dialogue is central to the process and can be transformative. Frequent and effective dialogue can engender equity and inclusion for everyone.โ€ย 

    โ€œWe believe that K-12 students across the country have the power to embody these principles and shape America into the just democracy we all desire and deserve.โ€

    So, since “we all desireโ€ America to be shaped into a “just democracyโ€ from itโ€™s current, presumptively pitiful status, the Educating for Democracy project offers teachers free online lesson plans designed to create social justice warriors.

    It is not possible for most to imagine the lengths that radicals will go to take control of the minds of very young children, so I will provide two directly-quoted examples below. (more…)

  • Virginia Wins No. 1 Top-State-for-Business Ranking

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Congratulations are due the Northam administration. For the second straight year, Virginia ranks No. 1 in CNBC’s list of the top states for business. There are many best-business rankings, but CNBC’s is the most prestigious. Hopefully, the Old Dominion will see increased interest from corporate investors as a result.

    Some will say that the No. 1 ranking vindicates the spending and regulatory policies of the Northam administration and Democratic-dominated General Assembly, which we have described as anti-business on this blog. I disagree. Bacon’s Rebellion will explain why shortly.

    But I don’t want that discussion to cloud the good news. Let’s spend a moment basking in the PR bonanza.

    — JABย 

  • Stop the Presses: It’s July, and It’s Kinda Hot

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    As I was walking my dog yesterday morning a neighbor who was climbing into his car greeted me with this weather warning:

    โ€œItโ€™s going to be 96 today!โ€

    Yep, itโ€™s hot around here. Humid, too.

    We’re withering in the heat. Sizzling in the sun.

    Smothering in the humidity.

    How bad is it? Well, when I ventured outside last Friday when the mercury was climbing into the mid-90s I had to wipe the fog off my Ray-Bans.

    Next, I started my car and it took almost a full minute for the AC to kick in. I thought I was going to pass out.

    As I drove around town I could see heat waves shimmering off the pavement. The sight made me so thirsty that I stopped at a 7-Eleven only to find a line by the Slurpee machine.

    How much more must we suffer?

    Honestly.ย What is it about us and the weather? Let the mercury stray a few degrees outside the normal range and we become mildly deranged. (more…)

  • What’s Youngkin Afraid Of?

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    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Judy Woodruff
    Photo credit: PBS

    By Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Glenn Youngkin, the Republican nominee for governor has declined to participate in what has become a traditional kick-off for gubernatorial candidates, a debate at the annual meeting of the Virginia Bar Association.ย  His reason — the moderator gave $250 in 2010 to a Haitian disaster relief fund run by the Clinton Foundation. Never mind that the proposed moderator, Judy Woodruff, is a prize-winning journalist and has moderated Presidential debates, as well as several of the VBA debates.

    So far, the two candidates have both agreed to participate in only one debate.ย  McAuliffe has accepted invitations to four other debates and Youngkin, one other. The McAuliffe campaign says that it has not declined to participate in the one other debate that Youngkin has accepted (sponsored by Liberty University, Hampton University, and the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce). The Youngkin campaign refuses to say whether it has declined any of the other four that McAuliffe has accepted. (For full story see here or here.)

    As Steve Haner pointed out recently, it is not that long before early voting starts. Youngkin needs to get out and introduce himself to voters. Or maybe he is hoping that, with all his money, he can rely on advertising.

  • Transgender Medical Care for Children – Do not Parents Have a Role?

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    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Yesterdayโ€™s two-part column, I responded to the Virginian-Pilotโ€™s assertion that transgender rights are being conflated by conservatives with critical race theory in schools.ย 

    I agree that they are, and I find it appropriate. ย 

    Child instruction in CRT and transgender affirming psychological and medical interventions for children without parent participation are being advocated by the same people.

    Some of our progressive commenters professed shock — shock — that I would characterize VDOEโ€™s Model Policies for the Treatment of Transgender Students in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools as child transgender advocacy. ย 

    A motion for immediate reliefย from Model Policiesย filed in Lynchburg circuit court offered some of the legal objections. Amicus briefs have been filed on both sides. So fair enough to disagree with me.

    I will relate two contrasting viewpoints, one expressed in The Washington Post and the other by the the American Academy of Pediatrics.

    The first minimizes the role of parents; the other considers parents as partners.

    That is the primary political bone of contention in both the CRT in K-12 public schools and transgender student model policies controversies. The rest is details.ย To argue otherwise is sophistry. ย So pick a side. (more…)

  • Where Does It End?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    The George Rogers Clark statue was removed Sunday. Photo credit: Daily Progress

    by James A. bacon

    The city of Charlottesville took down its Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson statues in Charlottesville from their plinths over the weekend. But the purging of Virginia’s past went far beyond the excising of Civil War generals from the public square.

    The statue of Governor Harry F. Byrd, a segregationist and architect of the mid-20th century Byrd machine, was removed from Capitol Square in Richmond four days ago. And statues erected to honor Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Sacagawea as well as George Rogers Clark (a different Clark) were taken from their Charlottesville perches on the grounds that that some native Americans deemed the portrayal of Indians as offensive.ย 

    So, where does it end? The extirpation of politically incorrect statues and memorials started with Civil War generals because it could be argued that they were traitors to the United States who battled to uphold slavery. It was but a small step to purge anyone, even conscripted soldiers, who fought for the Confederacy. And then to anyone who owned a slave, and the another to anyone associated with segregation. And then to anyone associated with the conquest of native Americans. (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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