Bacon's Rebellion

  • A Revolt in Williamsburg

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    By Dick Hall-Sizemore  (Class of 1970)

    While some participants on this blog have been busy trying to foment an alumni revolt at the The University, there has been a real alumni revolt at The College. The alumni won.

    On the surface, the turmoil was over sports. But, at its core, it was over what should be the values and priorities of the College of William and Mary.

    The story started with the appointment of Samantha Huge as athletic director in the spring of 2018. That fall, the beloved football coach, Jimmye Laycock, announced his retirement. That could have been a coincidence, however, and not related to Huge. After all, Laycock had been the coach for 39 years.

    In the spring of 2019, Huge fired Tony Shaver, the long-time (16 seasons) men’s basketball coach. Admittedly, Shaver’s career won/lost record was not sterling (226-268). But he was well-liked, his players graduated, and there had not been even the hint of a recruitment scandal. In recent years, his teams had been competitive and had gone to the final game in the conference tournament four times, more than any other school.

    All these arguments in Shaver’s favor were offset by one factor, as far as Huge was concerned: W&M had never made it to the NCAA basketball tournament (March Madness). In her announcement, she made no bones about her motivation: “We have high expectations for our men’s basketball  program, including participating in the NCAA tournament, and we will not shy away from setting the bar high.” (more…)

  • Profanity Proliferates on the Lawn

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    After a resident of the Lawn at the University of Virginia posted signage saying, “Fuck UVa,” outraged alumni raised a stink in a series of letters to UVa President Jim Ryan. For the time being, said Ryan, Lawn residents’ free speech is protected by the First Amendment, but the administration is working on a longer-term solution. In the meantime, at least one other Lawn resident has joined the first in using the same profanity to express his/her/their/zir/its antipathy to the university (in the sign seen at left).

    Rob Schilling, a talk radio host at WINA radio in Charlottesville, photographed that sign, as well as several others displayed on Lawn doors, and displayed them on a videocast. (No direct link, but you can find the videocast on The Schilling Show blog.) (more…)

  • Is DMV Hiding 26% of Virginia’s Fuel Tax?

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    DMV Table.  Missing is the additional 7.6 cents per gallon collected in every county and city as a “wholesale tax” but still passed on to consumers. Oversight?

    By Steve Haner

    The Division of Motor Vehicles website is not honestly reporting fuel taxes in Virginia on that table above. This cannot be an oversight.  (more…)

  • 778 Virginia Hospital Patients Discharged to Nursing Homes

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Source: “COVID Utilization and Hospitalization Trends,” PowerPoint presentation by David Vaamonde, vice president-data analytics.

    by James A. Bacon

    A large majority of the patients treated for COIVD-19 and released from a Virginia hospital between April and June this year went directly home. But a significant number — 778 — were transferred to a “skilled nursing facility,” according to data contained in a Virginia Hospital and Health Care Association webinar delivered yesterday.

    That raises a question. What were the protocols for discharging and transferring patients to nursing homes? What assurances were there that transferred patients were no longer infectious?

    (Update: A commenter suggests that I may be improperly conflating “skilled nursing facilities” with “nursing homes,” so the reality may be more complicated than I have portrayed in this post.)

    We know that an order by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo compelled hospitals to release elderly COVID patients into nursing homes early in the epidemic, resulting in a catastrophic spread of the disease among the state’s elderly. I know of no such order given by Governor Ralph Northam, and it is entirely possible that none of the patients released to long-term care facilities were infected. I’m simply asking the question. (more…)

  • Older Virginians Account for Three Quarters of COVID Deaths. What Is VDH Doing?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Carol J. Bova

    We’ve seen reports that close to half of the COVID-19 deaths are from outbreaks in long term-care facilities (i.e., nursing homes, assisted living or multi-care facilities, group homes). There’s another story though, when you compare COVID-19 facts by the age ranges the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) uses in its reports.

    The first age range in the table below covers birth-to-29 years because the number of deaths is so low. The next two cover twenty years each, and the last is for everyone over 70. That group has experienced only 9.2% of all COVID-19 cases but 73.5% of all COVID-19 deaths in Virginia.

    In spite of VDH point-prevalence testing in the summer and federal distribution of testing equipment and supplies, the outbreaks in long term care facilities have risen to 442, affecting a total of 11,200 residents with 54 new outbreaks, 1,849 cases and 279 deaths since September 1. Unfortunately, more of those recently infected will die. (more…)

  • Bags of Undelivered Mail Found in Virginia Beach Dumpster

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    More mail shenanigans. This time in Virginia Beach.

    Builder Joseph T. Garganus was taking two homeowners on a walk-through of their new Cape Cod home in the 3200 block of Colechester Road on Thursday afternoon when the owners asked if there were any extra pieces of siding that they could keep.

    Garganus headed to the construction dumpster on the property for a look.

    The general manager of Custom Builders Express was fishing out a few lengths of siding when something caught his eye. In one corner of the dumpster there were three clear bags – 50 gallons each – filled with something that looked like mail.

    “If they’d been black bags I probably wouldn’t have even looked,” Garganus told me Thursday. (more…)

  • Is a Mighty Storm Coming?

    Posted on

    by

    Peter Galuszka

    By Peter Galuszka

    November’s election is coming during one of the most dangerous and deeply divisive periods in American history. There are some clear warning signs that a contested election could lead to significant unrest and violence and perhaps worse.

    Race-related demonstrations, the COVID-19 pandemic and the constantly polarizing rhetoric from Donald Trump have all contributed to a spike in domestic terrorism, white supremacy groups and direct threats against public officials.

    This week, some 13 hard-right terrorists were charged in connection with the planned kidnapping of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat. According to the accusations filed by the FBI and state law enforcement, the group intended to take the captured governor to another state, hold a “trial” and perhaps execute her.

    (Update: recent news reports say that six were charged in connection with Gov. Whitmer’s planned kidnapping and seven people were charged for planning violent acts, perhaps instigating a civil war).

    In Virginia, meanwhile, gun sales have hit new records in the run up to the Nov. 3 election. Data from the Virginia Firearms Transaction Center, which has tracked mandatory background checks on buyers since 1990, shows estimated firearm sales have spiked in 2020, a year rocked by the global pandemic and protests across the country, WRIC-TV reported.

    (more…)

  • Marxist Educational Strongholds at the University of Virginia – A Course Guide

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Karl Marx

    by James C. Sherlock, University of Virginia, College of Arts and Sciences, 1966

    This essay will present a survey of left-wing educational opportunities at the University of Virginia by means of a review of courses offered in its Marxist critical theory strongholds. 

    It does not presume the reader favors or rejects Marxism, but provides a course roadmap for those who think Marxism is a path to the future and a cautionary tale for those who don’t.

    First a brief background, and then we will offer the course guide. (more…)

  • VA COVID Deaths Drop Again. Distrust the Data.

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner

    The Google satellite photo shows Rhine River cruise boats parked recently at Basel, Switzerland, probably including the one that my wife and I would have been boarding tomorrow morning. Losing a scheduled cruise is of no concern against all the other human and economic costs of this pandemic, but it provides a slightly different illustration for a COVID story.

    It’s time for another check on how Virginia is doing.    (more…)

  • A Reasoned Approach to Neck Locks

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Del. Carroll Foy and the Democratic id.

    by James A. Bacon

    Democrats may control both the state Senate and the House of Delegates, but it is increasingly apparent that there are significant differences between the two chambers. The House, to borrow Freudian symbolism, reflects the id of the Democratic Party, the subconscious urges welling up from the reptilian brain. The Senate functions as the ego: the conscious, thinking part of the personality that moderates between the id, the superego (internalized values and morals), and reality. As a consequence, some of the crazier legislative ideas emanating from the House have been killed or watered down in the Senate.

    A case in point is the initiative to ban the police use of chokeholds.

    In a response to the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis, the House passed a bill, HB 5069, which declared that any police officer in Virginia using a “neck restraint” in the performance of official duties was guilty of a Class 6 felony with provisions for increase in periods of imprisonment.

    This was a Pavlovian, id-like response to a tragic killing (which may have been a murder, although that has not been determined yet). I am willing to lay long odds on the fact that the bill’s author, Del. Carroll Foy, has never herself been faced with a situation in which had just managed to wrestle an adrenaline- and meth-fueled criminal suspect to the ground. (more…)

  • Yes, the General Assembly is Still in Special Session

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    The Virginia Senate in its spread formation

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    It is time to check in on the progress of the endless session of the General Assembly. It is apparent that it was a mistake for the House to meet virtually. If the Delegates had been required to stay in Richmond the whole time, rather than being able to “attend” committee meetings and floor sessions from the comfort of their homes, they would have finished much quicker. But, maybe it is not endless; leaders of both houses are predicting they will be able to finish up by the end of next week.

    Budget. The legislature has not gone through the formal process of getting the budget bill into conference and appointing conferees. Nevertheless, the chairs of the two money committees, Del. Luke Torian, D-Prince William, and Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, report they are close to a final budget deal, according to today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch.

    But, Governor Northam is not happy with the approaches the two houses have taken and is threatening to throw cold water on any deal and veto it. He does not like the contingency spending that was in both the House and Senate versions of the budget bill, because those provisions commit funding that he wanted to keep in reserve due to uncertainty over the fiscal effects of the pandemic. He also does not like the legislature designating how most of the federal CARES money should be spent on COVID issues, thereby decreasing his flexibility over that $1 billion pot of money. (For a more detailed discussion of these issues, see my previous post here.)

    Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne repeated his earlier position, “We do not need a new budget for financial purposes.” That remark leads to the obvious question: “Then why did the governor call the special session?” (more…)

  • AP Urges Reporters to Sugar Coat the News

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Well, this is alarming. At a time when trust in the media is cratering, the Associated Press Stylebook wants journalists to replace the word “riot” when describing mayhem in the streets with “milder” terms such as “unrest.”

    It seems reporters who accurately describe what they see when the streets are filled with looting, shootings, fires and lawlessness make some people uncomfortable.

    The AP believes it is better to examine the roots of the, ah, unrest, than to tell the ugly truth.

    This is the state of modern journalism. Any wonder most newspapers are circling the drain?

    Let’s back up.

    Wikipedia describes the AP Stylebook this way:

    The AP Stylebook, also known by its full name The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, is an English grammar style and usage guide created by American journalists working for or connected with the Associated Press.…rules for usage as well as styles for capitalization, abbreviation, spelling and numerals. (more…)

  • Signs of the End Times

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Virginia forestry officials are warning the public to stay away from a hairy caterpillar spotted in a some eastern Virginia Counties. Although the so-called “puss caterpillar” looks almost cute enough to pet, do not. It is one of the most venomous caterpillars in the U.S. The “hairs” are venomous spines that can cause intense pain, rash, nausea, fever, muscle cramps, swollen glands and shock. If you encounter the caterpillar, reports WAVY TV, give it a wide berth and let its natural enemies control the population.

    When caterpillars start emerging in the guise of Rod Blagojevich’s hair piece, you know we are reaching the end times.

    — JAB

  • Racial Equity vs. Anti-Racism

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Ibram Kendi, Author of “How to be an Anti-Racist”

    by James C. Sherlock

    I have noticed some understandable confusion in the meanings of key words in the lexicon of the left.

    If you have not read the writings of anti-racist “scholars” such Ibram X. Kendi, Robin DiAngelo, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Glen Singleton and others — multi-millionaires all on the back of their anti-racist writings and speeches — you don’t have a chance.

    Without the reading, there is no way on God’s earth to accurately describe their philosophy. Much less understand it. It is a masochistic mission to which I have sentenced myself. So here goes.

    In current usage racial equity and anti-racism have two entirely different meanings.

    • Racial equity requires equal opportunities;
    • Anti-racism requires equal outcomes.

    (more…)

  • Fraternities as Bastions Against the Cultural Totalitarians

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    The University of Virginia’s fraternity row. Photo credit: Daily Mail

    by James A. Bacon

    Back when I attended the University of Virginia many moons ago, I was a GDI — an acronym for a God-Damned Independent. During the fall rush my first year I attended two fraternity parties on Rugby Road and found nothing entertaining about hanging out with people whose sole purpose seemed to be getting sloshed. Those two experiences were all I needed to needed to convince me that I would never join a fraternity. 

    As much personal disdain as I had for the Greek system, it never occurred to me to want to abolish it. It never occurred to me to insist upon imposing my values upon others. My philosophy has always been to live and let live. If the frat boys wanted to spend their colleges years in a drunken stupor, that was their choice and nobody’s business but their own (and their parents).

    But we live in a different time now. We live in an era in which cultural totalitarians presume to tell everyone else how to live. And the cultural totalitarians are taking aim at fraternities and sororities as evil institutions that reinforce class stratification, elitism, discrimination and cultural appropriation, and, thus, must be abolished. I now find myself in the anomalous position of defending them. (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.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

About

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.

Fund the Rebellion

Shake up the status quo! Your contributions will be used to pay for faster download speeds and grow readership. Make a one-time donation by credit card or contribute a small sum monthly.

Can’t wait until tomorrow

For your Bacon’s Rebellion fix?

Enter your email address to receive immediate notifications of new posts by email.

SUBSCRIBE

Search Bacon’s Rebellion

Categories

Archives

The Jefferson Council

Protecting Thomas Jefferson’s Legacy at the University of Virginia

Forgot Your Password?

Shoot me an email and I’ll generate a new password for you.

Latest