Bacon's Rebellion

  • Virginia on the Brink

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    With Virginia’s top two Democrat females mud wrestling in Richmond, it’s time to think about what a Virginia state government shutdown might look like.

    With 13 days to get a budget, the unthinkable may actually happen: Virginia government may shut down because the Democrats fundamentally don’t like each other.

    None of us know exactly what to expect because it’s never happened before. Best of all, according to news reports, Gov. Abigail Spanberger has not made plans for the looming shutdown.

    This is what passes for Democrat leadership.

    It’s actually delicious. Democrats control both houses of the General Assembly and the Governor’s Mansion and it turns out they can’t govern.

    Frankly, I’m here for every minute of the rancor. The primary division is on the issue of tax breaks for data centers. The governor supports them, so does Speaker of the House of Delegates, Don Scott. Continue reading.

  • Virginia Democrats Are in Serious Trouble

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    State Senator Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth) announces a Democratic “Civil War” over the budget, while nationally Democrats aren’t exactly pivoting well.

    A giant blue donkey with a radioactive symbol stands menacingly in a chaotic urban setting, while panicked people flee from it in terror.
    Image credit: Chat GPT

    by Shaun Kenney

    Let’s start with the basics.

    As of this moment, the generic congressional ballot is D+5. Which isn’t great for Republicans. Yet when compared to other midterm elections? Democrats enjoyed a D+10 environment in 2018 and a D+11 environment in 2006.

    This is the problem with the race to the bottom. For as radioactive as Democrats have made Trump in the public eye, ignored is the fact that the only thing more unpopular than Trump in the eyes of the American public are the Democrats themselves. Unwilling or unable to sideline their own progressive base, Democrats have to hope that they can convince enough people that Republicans are slightly more dangerous and crazy.

    Which is — of course — dangerous and crazy.

    In the pages of The Atlantic, whose contempt for intellectual insight is seconded only by its devotion to the partisan screed, the navel gazers are still amazed and in wonderment that the tagline “save democracy!” simply isn’t convincing middle America:

    (more…)

  • Blue on Blue: Scott vs Lucas

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    by

    James A. Bacon

  • Judge Denies Motion to Compel Abigail Spanberger to Testify in Defamation Case

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Tyler O’Neil

    A Richmond judge denied two motions against the Democrat Party of Virginia and Gov. Abigail Spanberger Monday in a defamation case, and the plaintiff told the Daily Signal that he plans to appeal the decisions.

    “I will be appealing these decisions,” Thomas Speciale, a retired Army intelligence officer and a former Republican U.S. Senate candidate, told the Daily Signal outside the courtroom of the Richmond City Circuit Court.

    Speciale sued the Democratic Party of Virginia for allegedly defaming him. The party issued a press release on Nov. 3, 2022, claiming that Speciale “attacked the U.S. Capitol” on Jan. 6, 2021, and suggesting that he “bloodied and beat law enforcement officers.” Speciale, who vehemently contests both claims, sued in 2023, and in the course of discovery, he found that then-U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s 2022 reelection campaign had drafted the press release.

    “The press release defames me, stating that I was a ‘notable insurrectionist who attacked the United States Capitol’ and that I ‘bloodied and beat law enforcement,’” Speciale previously told the Daily Signal. “The truth is the exact opposite—I was warning the government of possible violence at the National Counterterrorism Center and the FBI, and I was there trying to stop potential violence on January 6th.”

    (more…)

  • Teacher Pipeline Programs Infiltrated by the Southern Poverty Law Center

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A workforce solution has been turned into a social justice factory to indoctrinate children.

    "Woke" Indoctrination written in white chalk on a blackboard.

    by Victoria Manning

    Grow Your Own (GYO) teachers’ programs around the nation that receive federal funding have been hijacked by leftist extremist groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). To tackle the national teacher shortage, school districts have implemented teacher training programs in high schools often in partnership with local colleges. Many of these programs have been infiltrated by outside groups with social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agendas.

    In GYO programs, high school students can take dual-enrollment courses that give them a boost toward a degree path to becoming a teacher. Often local districts will guarantee a job to these students who successfully complete their program and go on to earn a degree.

    It’s a great idea that’s gone astray from its original purpose. Instead, teachers are being indoctrinated in social justice and political agendas that are then used in K-12 classrooms across the country.

    (more…)

  • Perhaps the Governor Can Lead Campaign Finance Reform

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    sherlockj

    Perhaps the Governor Can Lead Campaign Finance Reform

    by James C. Sherlock

    Organizing for Virginia Seniors, a pop-up PAC formed by New Jersey nursing home chain owners with uniformly awful facilities in Virginia, gave Gov. Spanberger $100,000 with a check written to her “Inaugural Committee” the day before the General Assembly met.  

    This author wrote about that donation in January and asked that she return it because of its source. Good luck with that.

    It appears that Virginians are inoculated against outrage at corruption among our state politicians. The politicians are, in turn, inoculated against caring what we think. They believe that campaign finance reform is for losers. Losers don’t get to have Inaugural Committees.

    November 4 was election day. Spanberger Inaugural Committee 2026 was established on November 5.  

    Once everyone knew who had won, the biggest donors to the Inaugural Committee were a different group from the biggest donors to Spanberger for Governor. The newcomers clearly felt the need to back a winner and correctly figured there was a list somewhere that they needed to be on.

    (more…)

  • Fairfax Schools’ Pricey Legal Advice Disguised as ‘Independent Investigation’

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Stephanie Lundquist-Arora

    Foggy view of the Fairfax County Public Schools Administration Center with flags in front.
    Fairfax County Public Schools main office. Image credit: Grok

    Earlier this year, 13 girls attending Fairfax High School told school administrators that Israel Flores Ortiz, a 19-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador attending the school as a junior, groped their genitals in the hallway as they were transitioning between classes.

    In April, Ortiz was sentenced to 360 days in jail for multiple counts of assault and battery. 

    Following Ortiz’s arrest and the U.S. Department of Education’s announcement of a Title IX investigation into the district, Fairfax County Public Schools leaders hired McGuireWoods to conduct a comprehensive review of this matter. As the district signed a contract with the law firm agreeing to pay lawyers up to $1,850 per hour, Superintendent Michelle Reid—who earns $445,353 this year—told the public that the district retained “an independent outside law firm to conduct a comprehensive review of this matter.”  

    The district’s contract with McGuireWoods, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, suggests that the investigation is not “independent” nor for the purposes of public accountability.

    (more…)

  • Spanberger Administration Wants Your Energy Input

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    The Spanberger Administration is preparing to draft the state energy policy required by law and has created a public survey form to seek your individual or corporate input. You will find the survey form here. It is five pages, with not a lot of depth, but there are plenty of open panels to provide comments on the many issues not directly mentioned, such as the Virginia Clean Economy Act and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative carbon tax.

    The news release on the process is here. The text below is from that release:

    Because energy touches every part of state government, the 2026 VEP is being developed in coordination with secretariats across the administration:

    (more…)

  • A White Elephant, Perhaps. But Not the Ratepayers’ White Elephant.

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Actually, ratepayers are not at risk for Charybdis — Dominion shareholders are. The ship was funded by Blue Ocean Energy Marine, a non-regulated utility. Dominion investors have every reason to question the business decision to build the vessel. Ratepayers should focus on the offshore wind farms Dominion is building and wants to build. Ratepayers will be on the hook for those. – JAB

  • DSA Fighting “Fascism” in the Bluest City in Virginia

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Translations for the uninitiated: DSA – Democratic Socialists of America.

    Read Stu Smith’s deep dive on DSA radicalism.

  • The Cultural Purge Continues

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    We can be grateful, I suppose, that this action won’t melt down the statues and recast them into disfigured artifacts for anti-colonialist museum exhibits.

  • Jeanine’s Memes

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Quote by Isabel Paterson on the extent of arbitrary power in education and parental rights.

    View more memes at The Bull Elephant.

  • Why NextEra Wants to Buy Dominion, What it Gets

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    Scott Hempling

    Dominion Energy Virginia and NextEra Energy are expected to file the necessary Virginia application for the sale of Dominion to the Florida company soon, probably in early July. Under present Virginia law, the State Corporation Commission will have six months to say yea or nay.

    Readers should first understand this is an acquisition more than a merger. Dominion is being sold to the larger entity. It is a voluntary sale, assuming Dominion’s stockholders approve it.  

    Last week the legislative Energy Commission of Virginia got a briefing on the proposal from Dominion President Ed Bain, who basically stuck to data slides and talking points already on the record. Then it heard from a veteran lawyer and economist with deep experience in this kind of proposal. If you have any real interest in what his coming, read these notes he shared. They are less than a dozen pages in bullet format, easy to follow. (Links to the company sales pitch were included in this earlier post.)

    Scott Hempling is an attorney and economist now teaching at Georgetown University after a long career in the power generation industry. He served for a while as an administrative law judge for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and has been an expert witness or consultant on a host of previous merger or acquisition debates.

    The six-month statutory deadline for a decision by the SCC is also causing quite a bit of angst in many circles. That would have the case be decided before the General Assembly is back for the 2027 session, assuming Dominion files in early July. To its credit, the SCC is not waiting for the application and is already hitting the companies with questions. 

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  • Widespread Inaccuracies of Records on Autism Treatment Providers

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Widespread Inaccuracies of Records on Autism Treatment Providers

    By James C. Sherlock

    The author has completed a detailed survey of individual Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) providers in New Jersey licensed by Virginia Medicaid to provide services to children with autism.  He picked New Jersey for reasons familiar to readers of his work on nursing home chains. The survey revealed that most of those providers live in Lakewood and surrounding Ocean County.

    In this case, record-keeping, the fundamental building block of government business, and oversight have failed to meet even this skeptic’s low expectations.  

    The overall implication of the survey is that licensing out-of-state providers located far from Virginia’s borders to deliver ABA services in Virginia may not be worth the risk.  The other major failing shown by the full survey is that, while neither government tracks nor oversees ABA companies, they must do so.  While individual providers make errors in submissions, companies that employ them have been proven to be the primary source of fraud.

    The implications of the full survey will be discussed in two parts: records and out-of-state providers.  This is about the effects of record inaccuracy.

    (more…)

  • Memphis Pork with Attitude

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A vibrant neon sign featuring a cartoon pig wearing sunglasses, with the text 'PIG' on top and 'PORK WITH AN ATTITUDE!' below, set against a brick building background.
    As seen on Beale Street
    A plate of crispy cooked bacon strips placed on a black countertop.
    Bacon served in giant stacks at a wedding party. But that’s nothing. You should see the breakfast buffets!

    I spent the last weekend attending wedding celebrations in Memphis, Tenn. The city sells itself as the birthplace of the blues, an honorific to which it has a justifiable claim. The biggest tourist attractions are Graceland (Elvis’ abode), Beale Street (where BB King and other blues musicians played in nightclubs), the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel (where Martin Luther King was assassinated), and the duck march at the Peabody Hotel.

    Memphis has another attribute for which it could be famous if it played its cards right: bacon.

    Memphians are proud of their pork barbecue, which is excellent but not unparalleled. By contrast, the bacon is the crispiest and most delicious I’ve tasted anywhere. Trust me, I play close attention. Moreover, the rashers are served in bountiful quantities unseen anywhere else on the planet.

    I’ve seen Graceland, the Lorraine Hotel and the duck march. Been there, done that. But I’d go back any time for the bacon. — JAB

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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