Bacon's Rebellion

  • Anti-Bias Training… or Government-Mandated Indoctrination?

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    In September President Trump issued an executive order banning bias and diversity training in the federal government that inculcates divisive concepts such as the idea that some people, by virtue of their race or sex, are inherently racist, sexist or oppressive.

    Three days ago, Virginia’s attorney general, Mark Herring, joined a coalition of attorneys general in urging the president to rescind the order on the grounds that it could be “misconstrued” to roll back implicit bias training for federal contractors and federal grantees.

    “Government should expand and increase its commitment to training centered on understanding and combating racial injustice,” said Herring in a press release. “Now is the time for greater communication and support for diversity, equity and inclusion, not less.”

    Looking ahead the 2021 General Assembly session, Herring says Virginia police should undergo training to eliminate “implicit bias” and “racial bias,” among other topics meant to further racial justice. Meanwhile, the Virginia Department of Education and local school boards across the state are implementing “implicit bias” seminars and training sessions for teachers, administrators and even students. (more…)

  • Fairfax School Board Should Focus on Schools, Not Environmental Policy

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    James A. Bacon

    Fairfax County Environmental, er, School Board

    by Emilio Jaksetic

    Not content with running the county’s public school system, the Fairfax County School Board now is involved with developing strategies and recommendations for county environmental policy. The results can be seen in the Final Report of the Oct. 1, 2020, Fairfax County Joint Environmental Task Force (JET).

    In April 2019, the JET was established “to identify areas of collaboration between Fairfax County Government and [Fairfax County Public Schools] to further county efforts in energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, developing implementation strategies. and making recommendations to the [Board of Supervisors and School Board].” During the period April 2019-October 2020, five members of the board served as members of JET’s Executive Committee.

    The JET was tasked to “provide a forum for informing, advising, collaborating and addressing Countywide issues and aligning institutional policies and practices pertaining to climate change and environmental sustainability through the lens of One Fairfax and to appointing bodies.” (more…)

  • Initial Observations on the Virginia Election Results

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Nobody asked, me, but I offer my Wednesday morning initial assessment of the elections in Virginia. In no particular order, here they are.

    Until there is a Republican Party of Virginia, not the current Republican Party of me, the party candidates will remain eclectic to the point of statewide incoherence. Not sure who has the juice to pull that together.

    It looks at this point like Abigail Spanberger lost to Nick Freitas by about 3,000 votes with 100% counted. I suspect there will be a recount. The rest of the House races were pretty one-sided. Redistricting by the new commission established by the new constitutional amendment will be crucial.

    Northern Virginia is the bedroom of the federal government. It has been a long time since there were a significant number of Republicans in the career bureaucracy. Dispersing the offices of those bureaucrats around the country, generically a good idea, may not help the Republicans in swing states.

    One question with a potential huge impact on Virginia legislation: Will the Virginia Supreme court take cases that result in an assertive role for that court in assessing new laws for constitutionality?

    (more…)

  • Virginia’s New Political Landscape

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    James A. Bacon

    2020 presidential election map. Source: Virginia Public Access Project

    by James A. Bacon

    So, where do yesterday’s elections leave us?

    We don’t know who won the presidential election, and we probably won’t know for days, if not weeks. Still, we can draw some meaningful conclusions.

    Virginia remains a solid blue state. The Democrats’ political dominance has jelled. With 98.44% of votes reported, Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the presidential election by 53.7% to 44.5% — a nine-point margin. Democratic Senator Mark Warner trounced his Republican opponent Daniel Gade by an eleven-point margin. And Democrats won, or were poised to win six of eleven House seats, with only the election between incumbent Abigail Spanberger and challenger Nick Freitas too lose to call.

    Northern Virginia has transformed the demographic equation. Not only do a handful of Northern Virginia localities dominate Virginia’s electorate in the absolute number of voters, NoVa is lopsidedly blue. Biden’s margin of victory was 64.7% in Arlington County, 62.% in Alexandria, 41.9% in Fairfax County, 28.7% in Prince William County, and 24.7% in Loudoun County. (more…)

  • Biden, Birx and COVID Lockdowns in Virginia

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    djrippert

    by DJ Rippert

    Sine wave. The third wave of COVID-19 has been spreading across the world and has come to America.  As should have been expected it has also come to Virginia. Many European countries have enacted lockdowns that would be considered draconian by most Americans. Several U.S. governors have also dramatically reversed the re-opening of their states’ economies in order to thwart the spread of the virus. Federal infectious disease experts are sounding the alarm. “We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic . . . leading to increasing mortality,” said the Monday report from Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force. Birx predicts that the US will see more than 100,000 new cases per day this week.

    In the Old Dominion, as WAVY reported yesterday, “Virginia’s [7-day] daily average of 1,306 cases per day is more than 100 cases per day above previous highs in August and May, mostly spurred by spikes in Southwest Virginia, and a notable increase in Northern Virginia. Virginia’s case incidence rate per 100,000 residents is now 15.3, which is considered especially high.” WAVY further reports that Virginia’s case per day total will reach 2,000 by the end of January per UVa’s COVID-19 model. Meanwhile, our governor is unconcerned, citing historical statistics that prove (to him) that Virginia has no real need for concern.

    It seems that the stage is set in Virginia for a set of knee-jerk proclamations that will send our state’s economy back into the tail spin we experienced this spring.

    (more…)

  • StoryCorps Seeks to Pierce “Culture of Contempt”

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    James A. Bacon

    Dave Isay, founder, StoryCorps

    by Dave Isay

    We are in the throes of what has been called a “culture of contempt,” a nation so divided that some families may not be able to endure another Thanksgiving around the same table. Passing the yams might well come with an earful… or more. Comity has given way to scorn. Division is seen as not only a national issue but one that has cost people personally, too.

    Cable news and online media – and to be sure, social media – are stoking and accentuating our differences. We aren’t listening to each other. We are at a point where we must ask: Have we reached a moment in our nation’s history when we are unable to recognize our neighbors for the genuine people that they are? Is the light around us to be perpetually refracted through a prism of red and blue? Above all else, have we lost our sense of humanity, of seeing each other as people first and not as “Uses” and “Thems?”

    We can do better. We must do better. Even if that starts with One Small Step.

    That is the name of a new initiative that we at StoryCorps are scaling in this critical moment in our nation’s history. It’s based on a premise that we know a bit about – conversation and listening can be an act that brings two people together. (more…)

  • The University of Virginia Eastern Virginia Medical School

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    With additional information and thoughts generated by responses to my original posts on this matter, I offer this post as a final proposal before the November 15 release of the Sentara-funded “study” of what I call the Sentara Plan for Eastern Virginia Medical school.

    The nation is short of doctors and shorter yet of good doctors. The nation has to produce more of both or the situation projects to worsen.

    There is an opportunity here in Virginia to deal with both objectives.

    But the Sentara Plan is not it.

    (more…)

  • A Tale of Two Professors

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    James A. Bacon

    David Walsh

    by James A. Bacon

    On the one hand, we have David Astin Walsh, a left-wing University of Virginia PhD student specializing in far-right politics, who taught a class at George Mason University last year.

    On the other hand, we have Jeffrey Leopold, an assistant professor who teaches the Foundation of Commerce course at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School.

    Jeffrey Leopold

    Let’s compare and contrast injudicious words uttered by each man, the ensuing institutional responses, and their responses to the responses.

    Walsh, whose Twitter tag is “David ‘That’s *Dr.* Commie F*ck’ Walsh,” posted the following statement on Twitter last week: “Here’s the thing: if the worst-case scenario happens next week, American’s don’t need to just ‘protest.’ They need to actively try to topple the government.” In a follow-up tweet, he said, “Also worth noting that the military has already made it clear that in such a scenario, they’re not going to back Trump.” (more…)

  • Northam’s Tax Hikes Keeping Virginia Budget Afloat

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    James A. Bacon

    This column was published originally in the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy newsletter. Steve normally re-publishes it on Bacon’s Rebellion himself, but he is volunteering at the polls today, so I am posting for him. — JAB

    by Steve Haner

    One quarter into the new fiscal year, despite the ongoing COVID-19 recession, Virginia state government is blowing the roof off its revenue estimates. Thank tax increases Governor Ralph Northam has signed.

    Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne recently reviewed the July through September 2020 results with state legislators, offering his standard slide presentation. Compared to the year before – before COVID — the state’s total General Fund revenue was up 9.9%, sales tax revenue was up 7.5%, corporate income tax receipts up 36% and estimated individual tax payments (those not withheld from paychecks) up 59%.

    Now more tax increases are being proposed for the 2021 General Assembly. The Transportation and Climate Initiative in particular is a new carbon tax on gasoline and diesel. The proposal to restore a state inheritance tax on large estates is back. Virginia’s leading progressive group is actually hiring a “revenue campaign manager” to lead the 2021 and 2022 fight “to secure expanded progressive revenue options.” The tax changes already in place will see our revenue “progress” quickly. (more…)

  • Could Virginia Flip Red Today?

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    James A. Bacon

    Photo credit: Rawpixel

    by James A. Bacon

    I put little stock in the election prognostications of professional pundits, the vast majority of whom are guilty of wishful thinking and confirmation bias. But it is election day today, and the conventional wisdom is that the Virginians will vote handily for Joe Biden as president, Mark Warner will spank his Republican challenger for the U.S. Senate, and Democrats might even gain a House seat. So, when I see a contrary analysis, I take a look. I don’t necessarily give it any credence, but I like to chew it over.

    The following analysis originates from Bob Marshall, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates known as the most conservative elected official in the legislature at the time. So, insofar as wishful thinking and confirmation bias factor into his thinking, they push Marshall toward favoring a Republican outcome. Take his observations with a grain of salt.

    Based upon its analysis of early voters, Target Smart, a Democrat-leaning, Washington, D.C.-based election data firm, has concluded that President Trump can win Virginia, Marshall writes. (more…)

  • Kerry’s Election Day Picks

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    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    To endorse. Or not to endorse.

    That was the question here at kerrydougherty.com. In the past, we announced our favorites in local races, because you asked for them.

    This year, with early voting, it seemed fruitless. But a number of emails came in over the weekend requesting our picks, so here we go.

    Disclaimer: We accept political ads on the website. We don’t seek them out, but we don’t discriminate. If a candidate strokes a check, we’ll give him or her a place on the page. In the past we’ve run ads from both Republicans and Democrats. They don’t influence our picks.

    Congress, Second District: Scott Taylor

    When he was in Washington, Taylor was a superb congressman. Responsive to constituents, a strong supporter of the military and veterans and unafraid to break with President Donald Trump, as he did on the ban on transgendered members of the military. In 2018 members of his campaign staff attempted to help a 3rd party candidate get on the ballot by forging signatures. They’re in trouble. He’s not, despite a rash of negative ads from Rep. Elaine Luria indicating otherwise. (more…)

  • Virginia K-12 School Re-Openings: Now Is Not the Time

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Rajesh Balkrishnan

    by Ryan Chou and Rajesh Balkrishnan

    In the weeks and months preceding Virginia school re-openings, parents, teachers, and students speculated about what distance learning would be like. Following the onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, many districts had hastily shut down schools to protect students and teachers from the virus and had implemented distance learning plans, resulting in technological mishaps, decreased communication, and an end to many student opportunities. Thus, many students and parents were hesitant to accept continued distance learning in the fall.

    Ryan Chou

    Thankfully, virtual school re-openings in Virginia more closely resembled in-person schooling than the chaotic version from a few months ago. Extracurriculars made an attempt to resume virtually, and sports began conditioning.

    Despite this, the majority of students and parents ultimately cited declining mental health and difficulty learning, especially for younger students, as the reason to push for an in-person reopening. As a result, many school systems in distance learning mode have drawn, and are now implementing, plans to open in-person in small groups or as a whole, within the next month or two.

    However, it’s clear that we cannot open our schools up. (more…)

  • Who Owns the Streets?

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    James A. Bacon

    How the culture wars are waged these days: Passenger in a Trump Train car records a protester running through the street on Monument after after snatching a yellow insignia from one of the cars.

    by James A. Bacon

    A rag-tag assortment of leftists, anarchists and Black Lives Matter protesters have occupied Lee Circle on Richmond’s Monument Avenue for months now. Mayor Levar Stoney has given them de facto control over the small but prominent piece of real estate, and police have refrained from responding to any but the most urgent of calls by neighbors complaining about graffiti, firecrackers and gunshots at night, or people defecating in their yards. Now a new question arises: Who controls Monument Avenue itself?

    Michael Dickinson, a candidate for Richmond City Council, put that question to the test yesterday. He organized a “Trump Train,” a caravan of of cars honking horns and waving Trump regalia similar to other pro-Trump manifestations around the country. He promoted the event on social media, and the opposition found out about it. When Dickinson’ Trump Train approached Lee Circle in the late afternoon, Leftists poured into the street, forced the cars to slow to a crawl, and snatched insignia from the cars.

    Claims vary crazily about how many cars were in the train — from 15 to 350, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Whatever the precise number, lefties accused the Trumpsters of using pepper spray and trying to run people down. Trumpsters accused Lefties of beating on the cars, throwing a liquor bottle and in one case breaking a window. One gunshot reportedly was fired and a unoccupied vehicle struck by a bullet, but no one was injured. (more…)

  • Positive Energy in Jackson Ward

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    James A. Bacon

    Founders of the Jackson Ward Collective: (from left) Rasheeda Creighton, Kelli Lemon, and Melody Short.

    by James A. Bacon

    Alisha and Lamont Hawkins thought it would take 10 days to renovate their Inner City Blues barbecue restaurant in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood. Their effort tuned into a three-month “skirmish” with city regulators as they went up a painful learning curve. Hoping never to repeat the experience, Alisha joined the Jackson Ward Collective, an organization geared to connecting black entrepreneurs and promoting self help, writes the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

    Founded by three black businesswomen in mid-September, the Collective has already reached its 150-member capacity. Members who join pay either $19.99 a month or an annual fee of $200. What they get in return is mentoring, networking, access to community resources through partnerships with established organizations. A top priority is helping members gain access to capital. (more…)

  • UVa Medical School Takeover EVMS – A Real Opportunity for A Lot of Good

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Hampton Roads

    I recommend the transformation of healthcare and physician training in the Hampton Roads.

    I reject both the presumptions and the terms of the current study of a merger of ODU, EVMS, Norfolk State and Sentara to improve EVMS.

    That study is funded by the organizations involved and the outcome is pre-ordained.

    But it embarrassingly assesses a combination of some of the poorest performing institutions in Hampton Roads. From that baseline, it cannot possibly offer the best outcomes for the Commonwealth or the people of Hampton Roads. (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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