Bacon's Rebellion

  • More Free-Expression Suppression at Virginia Tech

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Kiersten Hening on the soccer field. Photo credit: Virginia Tech athletics

    by James A. Bacon

    In five years, the United States has gone from a country in which football quarterback Colin Kaepernick fought for the right to kneel during the national anthem into a country where Virginia Tech soccer player Kiersten Hening is fighting for the right to stand.

    During their opening match in 2020, women of the Tech women’s soccer team bent the knee during the pregame reading of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s unity pledge, a show of support for the social justice movement and Black Lives Matter. Hening, a 21-year-old native of the Richmond area, and one other player remained standing. Hening says she “supports social justice and believes black lives matter” but “does not support the BLM organization.”

    Chugger Adair. Photo credit: Free Lance-Star

    During halftime, Coach Chugger Adair berated her for her stance. “He singled her out and verbally attacked her, pointing a finger directly in her face,”  according to a lawsuit Hening subsequently filed. “He denounced Hening for ‘bitching and moaning,’ for being selfish and individualistic, and for ‘doing her own thing,”

    (more…)

  • Mentally Ill in Jail, Part 2 — State and Local Efforts to Address the Issue

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    (Note:  This is the second installment of a discussion on mentally ill people in Virginia’s jails. Part 1 of this series set out the scope of the problem.)

    Although senior policymakers are aware of the large number of mentally ill people in jails and acknowledge the seriousness of the problem, the state has taken only tentative steps to address the issue. Furthermore, the approach has been somewhat disjointed, primarily because of the involvement of agencies from different disciplines. Mental health, local community corrections (jails), and the courts all have a role to play  And, as is typical with government agencies, each goes off in its own direction, with little coordination among them. No one at the state level has stepped up to provide coordination and sufficient funding to support a statewide policy.

    Diversion. The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) has come the closest to providing leadership at the state level. Beginning in 2007, the agency’s Office of Forensic Services has supported programs that attempt to divert individuals diagnosed with serious mental illnesses away from the criminal justice system and connect them with treatment as soon as possible. As of 2017, the agency provided grant funds totaling approximately $2.5 million annually to 14 community services boards to support the diversion efforts. In FY 2017, these programs screened 4,505 individuals and enrolled 1,102 for services. (more…)

  • Journalism, Confirmation Bias and the Presumption of Racism

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    James A. Bacon

    Windsor police officer Joe Guttierez addresses Caron Nazario after their infamous confrontation. Presumed racist until proven innocent.

    by James A. Bacon

    People believe what they want to believe. They seek information that affirms their worldview, and they downplay or ignore evidence that conflicts with it. Psychologists have term for this proclivity: “confirmation bias.”

    Confirmation bias is extremely well documented in the psychological literature. Everyone falls prey to it. It doesn’t matter how smart you are. It doesn’t matter how well educated you are. Indeed, the higher a person’s IQ and education level, the more adept one is at explaining away data that does not conform with his or her beliefs.

    As a facet of human nature, confirmation bias has been with us always. But the rise of social media and cable news has compounded the problem by making it easier than ever for people to find views and facts they find comfortable and to not only dispel disconcerting information but to avoid even hearing it in the first place.

    The scholars, journalists, artists, and politicians who dominate the cultural discourse in the United States are prone to confirmation bias like everyone else. But their views carry more weight because they control most of the news media, social media platforms, book publishers, academia, social-scientific research, television, movies, museums, nonprofit advocacy groups, and increasingly, K-12 schools. To the extent that there is no escaping the anecdotal facts and images that they highlight and project as reality, their confirmation biases become society’s confirmation biases. Their narratives become society’s narratives. (more…)

  • When Will Virginia Re-start Enforcement of Truancy Laws?

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    sherlockj

    Really? That’s the policy?

    by James C. Sherlock

    COVID has interrupted the enforcement of Virginia’s truancy statute (Code of Virginia  § 22.1-254. Compulsory attendance required).  

    The purpose of that law is offered by Virginia Department of Education regulations.

    Students who attend school regularly beginning in kindergarten are more likely to succeed academically. Academic achievement, especially in math, is affected by attendance. Moreover, student nonattendance affects standardized test scores, graduation rates, and dropout rates.

    The law requires:

    “every parent, guardian, or other person in the Commonwealth having control or charge of any child … shall, during the period of each year the public schools are in session and for the same number of days and hours per day as the public schools, cause such child to attend a public school or a private, denominational, or parochial school or have such child taught by a tutor or teacher of qualifications prescribed by the Board of Education and approved by the division superintendent, or provide for home instruction of such child as described in § 22.1-254.1”.

    (more…)

  • Public Sector Collective Bargaining Could Impose Massive New Costs

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    James A. Bacon

    by F. Vincent Vernuccio

    While local governments in Virginia debate whether to allow public sector collective bargaining, many are already pointing to the high cost of implementing the process.

    Fairfax County is forecasting a combined $1.6 million for administrative costs surrounding collective bargaining for both the county and the Fairfax school district, just as a start.

    Loudoun County proposed almost $1 million in their planned FY 2022 budget just for increased staffing and overhead. However, with a $2 million funding shortfall some are starting to rethink the proposed expenditure.

    The city of Alexandria estimates administrative costs alone will cost between $500,000 and $1 million per year. This amount varies depending on the scope of bargaining and how many individual unions they need to negotiate with.

    Since there is no statewide infrastructure set up, each local government will be on its own. (more…)

  • A Day Late — Jeanine’s Sunday Memes

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    James A. Bacon

    I forgot to link to Jeanine’s Sunday memes on the Bull Elephant yesterday. But letter late than never! — JAB

  • COVID Panic Porn and the American Left

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Last month I gave blood at a local church. As I was leaving, I struggled with my raincoat and a very nice woman standing nearby said she’d like to help, “…but with Covid…”

    I said “thanks” and felt sorry for her. She honestly believed that grabbing the sleeve of my twisted jacket might kill her.

    As we walked out of the church, masked and 6-feet apart, she said the thing she missed most during the pandemic was singing in the church choir,

    “Oh, you’ll be singing again this Christmas,” I said, smiling under my grungy mask.

    “I doubt it,” she sighed. “I’m not sure we’ll ever sing in choirs again. It’s so dangerous. It’s the most effective way to spread germs.”

    I was dumbfounded. Harmonizing in church choirs is “so dangerous” that it may never come back? Who in the world believes that? (more…)

  • If Only Robes Could Talk

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    James A. Bacon

    Portrait of John Marshall with robe

    “To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well.”
         — John Marshall

    by James Wyatt Whitehead V

    John Marshall, fourth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, wore the same judicial robe for 34 years. Preservation Virginia, which maintains the John Marshall House on Marshall Street in Richmond, displays the garment, one of the greatest relics of the U.S. Supreme Court, since 1911, when Marshall’s great granddaughter donated it.

    Wear, time, light, temperature, and humidity  took a toll on the artifact, but a 12-year preservation campaign to “Save the Robe” resulted in success. On April 15th via a webinar, Marshall’s robe was revealed to the public once again. (more…)

  • Mentally Ill in Jails, Part 1–The Scope of the Problem

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    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    By Dick Hall-Sizemore

    (Note:   This was not intended to be a long post, but, during its development, it grew like Topsy.  Being painfully aware of my tendency to be wordy and the limitations of a blog regarding long essays, I have broken the post into three parts or installments.  The first examines the extent of the problem; the second looks at what the state and local and regional jails are doing about it, and the third discusses recently-enacted legislation that represents a positive step forward.)

    In meeting after meeting over the previous years, the most common lament of sheriffs has been the number of mentally ill people in their jails.  They point out that their facilities were not designed to house the mentally ill, their officers have not been trained to deal with the mentally ill, and they have not been adequately funded to provide treatment to these inmates.  In short, the mentally ill do not belong in jails.

    The numbers bear out the sheriffs’ concerns.  In June, 2018 (the latest date for which data is available), there were at least 7,852 people known or suspected to be mentally ill housed in the Commonwealth’s local and regional jails.  That was almost 20 percent of the total number of inmates housed in jails that month.  Of the total number of female inmates (6,946), more than a third (2,395) were deemed mentally ill.  More than 16 percent of the male inmates were reported as mentally ill. (more…)

  • Here’s What You Look Like to a Traffic Cop

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    After a recent incident in which two Windsor policemen stopped black army officer Caron Nazario, pepper sprayed him, and forced him out of his car and onto the ground, the driving-while-black phenomenon is back in the news. Most people would agree that the behavior of the senior officer, Joe Gutierrez, was highly unprofessional, indeed egregious, but no tangible evidence has surfaced to suggest that the behavior was racially motivated. That hasn’t stopped the media from treating it as a racial incident and accusing the Windsor police department from profiling and halting black drivers.

    I will have more to say about the Windsor traffic stop in a later post. For now, I want to make a prefatory point: It’s a lot harder to determine the race of a motorist while driving than one would think. Indeed, it is usually impossible.

    I spend a lot of time walking around my neighborhood. People are friendly. When they drive by in a car, they often wave. Even though they are driving slowly — the speed limit on our streets is only 14 miles per hour — I can almost never identify the person inside the car. I wave back, but I almost never know whom I’ve waving to. That got me to thinking… (more…)

  • Detached, Clueless, Pedantic and Non-Responsive

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    sherlockj

    UVa’s Beta bridge offers a “divergent viewpoint” concerning Young Americans for Freedom

    by James C. Sherlock

    A series of communications among Nickolaus Cabrera, a first year student at the University of Virginia, President James Ryan of the University and the University’s Rector, James Murray, has come into my possession. 

    I have posted them here. I will offer here my assessment, but I urge each reader to access the documents and open the links therein to get a full view of the exchange.

    Mr. Cabrera provided President Ryan well-documented evidence of severe personal harassment and threats he had received from members of the University community for his political views. 

    • The evidence included a video of a student council meeting in which any he was harassed directly and profanely for his opinions. 
    • He reports that he subsequently was blocked on Twitter by his Resident Advisor.  
    • He was subjected to a Student Judiciary Committee trial for appearing in a photo off grounds without a mask.  Seriously.  It was clearly the context of the photo that resulted in the SJC trial, not the fact that he was not wearing a mask.  
    • He reported that he gets a ride from members of the local Young Americans for Freedom club from his dorm to class to avoid confrontations. 
    • He provided screenshot evidence of extensive harassment. 
    • He named names and provided direct evidence of their links to his harassment.

    One would think that President Ryan, offered this evidence, would have ordered an investigation by University Police leading to banning from the Grounds those found guilty of such harassment.  

    Instead, Ryan’s anodyne, non-responsive email reflected his habit when he does not wish to engage.  His opening sentence:

    “Thank you for reaching out, and I was sorry to read about your year.”

    One could be forgiven for thinking Mr. Cabrera’s cat had died instead of the fact that he so reasonably feared for his personal safety that he was considering a transfer. (more…)

  • School-Discipline Statistics Straight out of an Opium Fog

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    James A. Bacon

    State administrator dreaming up race metrics for school discipline… Oh, no, sorry, that’s an addict in an opium den.

    by James A. Bacon

    Several years ago, the Obama administration, the ACLU, and social-justice groups took a look at the disparate rates at which black and white students were being suspended from school or referred to law-enforcement authorities. The notion of the school-to-prison pipeline was born, and a movement took hold — first in select localities subjects to lawsuits and then from top-down pressure from the Virginia Department of Education to “reform” student discipline procedures in public schools.

    School discipline has been heating up as an issue in Virginia since 2014 at least, and the first localities began altering their disciplinary guidelines around 2016. Since then, all school systems have been brought to heel to a greater or lesser degree. The old system system, organized around meting out punishments, taking offenders out of class, and referring the worst cases to law enforcement, was replaced with one built around the therapeutic approach of coaching, de-escalation, “restorative justice,” and returning discipline-challenged students to the classroom.

    But a funny thing happened. Despite the overhaul and a dramatic decline in the number of punishments dished out, disciplinary disparities did not disappear. A new report to the State Board of Education, “Discipline Disproportionality: Measurement and Reporting,” indicates that black students still comprise 22% of all student enrollments but 54% of all students suspended. (more…)

  • GOP and Virginia Election Laws, Part II

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    by

    Steve Haner

    Sunday “Souls to Polls” voting is legal in Virginia now? Impossible to predict which political party will benefit more from that.

    by Steve Haner

    With the 2021 General Assembly receding in the rear view mirror, the voting rules for this year’s Virginia elections are set. Republicans who are whining that the deck has been stacked against them are making a mistake. Every change the Democrats see as a benefit to them is of equal benefit to Republicans.  (more…)

  • Virginia Leaders Reject the Very Concept of America

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    sherlockj

    Soon to be banned?

    by James C. Sherlock

    This blog is dedicated to tracking, reporting and assessing the political culture of Virginia. Our authors, right, center and left, report and assess individual events.  

    But as we track the legislation, executive orders, regulations and rhetoric coming out of Richmond and the rogue actions of every state board the Governor appoints, we cannot but conclude that Virginia, by fair elections, is now run by people who reject the very idea of America. 

    They see themselves as counter-culture warriors and the American culture a prison from which they need to provide an escape. They consider themselves uniquely enlightened and are thus utterly intolerant of dissent. 

    They have not come to grips with the fact that their mindset opposing everything that made America great now commands the heights of American culture. Conflicting opinions have been banished from colleges, K-12 school faculties, most of the dominant media, government, social networks, executive suites, and the entertainment industry.

    The fact that disagreement with their views persists despite that wall of noise frustrates them beyond measure. They believe that it requires further active suppression.

    They are loudly and unrelievedly stricken by what they see as America’s fundamental failings and are deploying strategies to deal with them. I offer a few of those strategies for your consideration. (more…)

  • Update: UVa Freezes Undergraduate Tuition One Year

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Jim Ryan

    by James A. Bacon

    The University of Virginia is freezing undergraduate tuition in the next school year, but increases in student fees, room, and board will total about $392, or about a 1.1% increase in the cost of attendance in the College of Arts & Sciences.

    The board had considered boosting tuition as much as 3.1% this year, based on the national cost of providing a college education plus 1%, reports the Daily Progress. While the Board held steady on tuition this year, UVa President Jim Ryan warned, that the respite likely would last only one year.

    “If there were ever a year to raise undergraduate tuition, it would be this year, given the large and unexpected costs and the loss of revenues because of COVID,” Ryan said. “At the same time, if there was ever a year to not raise undergraduate tuition, it would also be this year, given the pandemic and the financial hardship facing a lot of our students and their families.” (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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