by Kerry Dougherty
Buckle up, folks. Nick Shirley’s blockbuster report on massive fraud in the daycare and healthcare industries in Minnesota may just be the tip of the Somali iceberg.
Investigations are underway in Washington State where more than 500 licensed daycares are run by Somalis. Many without physical addresses.
Uh-oh.
by James C. Sherlock
The Trump administration has announced that Virginia will receive $189,544,888 for 2026 alone to improve rural healthcare. That figure is based on an application made by the Youngkin Administration that specified how it would be spent.
That is just a down payment. The Rural Health Transformation Program’s $50 billion in funds will be allocated to approved states over five years, with $10 billion available each year from 2026 through 2030.
While the program includes federal-level guardrails, nearly a billion dollars over five years represents a significant investment in rural healthcare in this state. The administration and the General Assembly will be lobbied vigorously to direct the funds.
The General Assembly would be wise to ensure that the Inspector General and JLARC closely monitor:
One undeniable challenge will be monitoring new and existing nonprofits that are already seeking shares of that funding, regardless of the state planning that has already occurred. Their costs can primarily be overhead in programs like this.
In a one-party state with no limits on campaign contributions, the blogs and TV networks, given the withered state of our print media, will need to pay particularly close attention to those same matters.
by Chap Petersen
In a few days, our country will enter its 250th year. Some of us are old enough to remember the “Bicentennial” of 1976, which was the celebration of a younger, less introspective, nation.
But America is no less greater. Indeed, the achievements of our Founding Fathers grow more noteworthy with time as our nation becomes less Euro-centric and more global in its constituency and its outlook.
With that in mind, here are my list of Great Americans from colonial times to 1876 —
And then there are guys like this…
But that’s nothing. Wait until you see what this guy is teaching!…
(more…)
The number of law enforcement employees declined slightly (1.2 percent) in 2024 compared to the year before, according to Virginia State Police Crime in Virginia data. The number of both civilians and officers was almost identical to that in 2022 when homicides were roughly 25 percent higher. If the number of law-enforcement personnel is a critical variable for explaining the violent crime rate, it’s not evident from these numbers.
Arguably, law-enforcement morale and policing tactics are more important than raw numbers. Unfortunately, the Crime in Virginia contain no data reflecting upon morale. Turnover and early retirement in police officer ranks might be useful indicators of morale, but those numbers are not captured in the crime reports. — JAB
Even as homicides and violent crimes declined in 2024, according to the Virginia State Police Crime in Virginia 2024 report, the number of assaults on Virginia police officers continued at roughly the same rate as in the previous two years. The 727 injuries to officers did represent a 10-percent decline from 2023, however. One police officer was killed in the line of duty; 679 injuries were classified as “minor.”
It’s not clear if the data reflect a real increase in the number of assaults on police officers or a statistical artifact. States the report: “A new method of data aggregation reflects a higher number than reported in previous years.” The report does not say what the number would have been under the old methodology.
— JAB
See more memes at The Bull Elephant
Yours truly was quoted by The Washington Post as asking how Scott Beardsley, new president of the University of Virginia, differs from former president Jim Ryan when it comes to his commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. The Post also quoted my comrade in arms Stu Smith, a popular conservative social media poster, as calling Beardsley a DEI ideologue. And it quotes Joel Gardner, president of the Jefferson Council, as withholding judgment on Beardsley, suggesting that he promoted DEI at the Darden School when he was dean because it’s what he had to do to survive.
I think the reporter Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff represented everyone’s position fairly (although I made it extremely clear to him that I was not speaking with any authority on Beardsley’s appointment). My problem is not with Rozenzweig-Ziff but the headline. If you’re quoting two conservatives on social media questioning the logic of Beardsley’s record on DEI, and quoting one conservative withholding judgment, and that’s all you’ve got, it’s insane to have a headline suggesting that a conservative “backlash” is “brewing.”
If there’s a story, it’s that Beardsley’s selection as UVA president has prompted so little questioning by conservatives. The “backlash” is nonexistent. But that wouldn’t have made a very exciting headline. — JAB
Affordability is a goal that everyone can get behind. I eagerly await an informed and dispassionate discussion by legislators of Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger’s 17-point agenda to achieve that goal.
Just a couple of reminders: Redistributing wealth from Group A to Group B might make life more affordable for Group B, but not Group A. More regulations might make one thing more affordable, but they often have unintended consequences that make something else less affordable.
I invite readers to comment on Spanberger’s proposals with those reminders in mind.
Charlottesville, VA, Eliminating Use of Camera Systems Because Feds Might Track Illegal Aliens
From David Strom with Hot Air: “The Charlottesville police department will drop its use of the Flock license plate reading camera system due to concerns that the federal government might find illegal aliens it is looking for if it gets ahold of the data.”
Money quote:
Now, a city council has decided that solving murders and reuniting children with their families is all well and good, but when compared to saving an illegal alien gang member from being deported, it’s nothing.
The number of homicides in Virginia declined in 2024 for the second year in a row after peaking in 2022 — down 24.5 percent during the two-year period — according to Virginia State Police data, including the just-published Crime in Virginia 2024 report.
The 109 murders and non-negligent homicides with White victims fell in 2024 to a significantly lower level than in the pre-COVID/George Floyd years. The overall homicide surge that followed the social upheaval beginning in 2020 was marked by a detectable but temporary increase in White homicides, although it was less marked than that for Blacks. (The number for Asians has been negligible all along.) The number of excess homicides (above 2019 numbers) for Whites in Virginia has been about 70.
The 305 homicides recorded for Black victims in 2024 also represented a big decline from the peak, although the number still remained significantly above the pre-COVID/George Floyd years. The number of excess (above 2019) deaths for Blacks in Virginia from 2020 to 2024 has been about 660.
The irony is that the cultural, rhetorical and criminal-justice changes that occurred during the “Black Lives Matter” era coincided with an estimated 660 excess Black deaths in Virginia. Perhaps it is time for the authors of those changes to be held morally and politically to account. — JAB
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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