Bacon's Rebellion

  • Transportation Carbon Tax Debate Starts Again

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.

    By Steve Haner

    Having imposed a carbon tax on Virginia electricity generation in 2020, the General Assembly starting in January 2021 will consider adding a similar tax on every gallon of gasoline and diesel sold for vehicle use. The Transportation and Climate Initiative, an environmentalist dream for a decade, is finally ready for its close up.

    Advocates in the 12-state region that would make up the proposed interstate compact held two webinars in September, one focused on additional modeling on the project and the other discussing all the racially and environmentally just ways they believe states can spend the billions in new taxes.

    The new modeling results did not change the basics of the program. TCI is a cap, tax and trade system that imposes a dollars-per-ton cost on the carbon dioxide emissions released by burning the fuels. The tax rate is set by an interstate auction, and the tax itself is imposed on the fuel wholesalers. The amount of fossil fuel emission credits that wholesalers may bid for will be capped and then will shrink a certain percentage every year.  (more…)

  • Virginia Beach’s Nutty Local Elections

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Last week, a friend who was voting early couldn’t decide whom he should vote for in the At-Large race on the Virginia Beach ballot. So he texted me.

    “Who’s your pick?” he asked, adding, “I don’t need the names for Centerville, Kempsville or Rose Hall Districts because I don’t live in those districts.”

    Oh no, I thought. Not again. This happens in every damn local election.

    Even smart, engaged Beach voters don’t understand the city’s nutty hybrid voting system.

    No wonder. It makes no sense.

    The Beach doesn’t have a simple ward system, nor does it have a pure at-large system. Instead, Virginia Beach has an 11-member city council, made up of a mayor, three at-large representatives and seven district members. (more…)

  • Why Do We Have Public Schools in Virginia? For the Children or for the Adults?

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    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    The title of this piece is meant as a serious question, and not one to be answered lightly.

    The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) would dismiss the question by calling both the children and the adults “stakeholders.” Besides, Secretary of Education Qarni and the state Superintendent of Instruction have been very busy with two consuming issues:

    • inventing and slaying structural racism; and
    • what Qarni considers too many Asians in Governors schools.

    They clearly have been too stressed holding those two utterly conflicting ideas simultaneously to be able to worry about whether kids get educated. That is one of the many reasons why we would be better off without a state department of education.

    So, time is up. Why do we maintain schools? Virtually all of you answered “for the children.” So let’s see how that is working out for them.

    (more…)

  • Structural Racism in VDOE Leadership?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane:  white male. One of many in senior leadership.

    by James A. Bacon

    Under the Northam administration, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has taken the lead in pushing for racial “equity” in public schools: hiring more minority teachers, funneling money to under-performing schools, and rewriting admissions policies for elite governor’s schools to admit more minorities. But it turns out that the senior ranks of the VDOE itself are almost exclusively white.

    As the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) reports in its review of VDOE administrative effectiveness (my highlight):

    As of July 2020, all 13 staff in senior leadership positions—primarily the assistant superintendent level or higher—were white (seven of them are male). Eight of nine hires for these positions since VDOE’s reorganization in 2018 have been white applicants (one minority applicant was hired but has since left the agency). A member of the superintendent’s cabinet is a person of color, though that person is an office director.

    VDOE staff expressed concern to JLARC that the lack of diversity in senior leadership might “hurt perceptions” of the agency and not allow VDOE leadership to “fully understand the challenges facing school divisions with higher proportions of student populations.”

    But VDOE has an excuse: Darn it, it’s hard recruiting minority candidates for senior positions. But we’re trying. (more…)

  • Newspeak for a Racial Spoils System

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Letters from disgruntled alumni continue to pour into the office of University of Virginia president Jim Ryan. Bacon’s Rebellion is privy to some of them, and when letter writers add something new to the ongoing discussion, I will endeavor to publish the relevant passages in the blog. In this post, I’m extracting from a letter written by Walter L. Smith, of Glen Allen. After dedicating much of the letter to illuminating the greatness of Thomas Jefferson, he gets down to brass tacks, addressing the disconnect between the UVa administration and its alumni. (You can read the full letter here.) — JAB

    How did this alumni disconnect happen?

    Over the years I think alumni have become inured to politics coming out of our academical village, in line with a Jeffersonian belief in free speech. But that creeping politicization has now become an obsession which seems to have reached a peak with the Unite the Right rally and stayed at that level since, to the
    detriment of actual intellectual inquiry and reasoned discourse. Since the Unite the Right rally it seems all the alumni hear from the people in charge of the University is racism and contextualization – ponderously named Committees to study “controversial” topics and make recommendations which seem aimed at wiping out history in the name of “racial equity.”

    (more…)

  • State Spending Outstrips Inflation, Population Growth and Economic Growth

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    State spending has increased rapidly in Virginia over the past decade — by 2.6 % annually — even when adjusted for inflation and a growing population, according to a recently published Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report, “State Spending: 2020 Update.” In Fiscal Year 2020, the budget reached $62.6 billion. (more…)

  • Someone’s Vandalizing Mailboxes

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Great. It’s 2020, Virginia just scrapped Lee-Jackson Day, replacing it with an Election Day holiday and now hundreds of thousands of Virginians are afraid to celebrate by voting in person.

    I get it. We’re in the midst of a pandemic and one million Virginians have already requested absentee ballots to avoid busy polling places on Election Day.

    Shoot, at this rate the polling places may be empty this year.

    There is nothing wrong with absentee voting. Despite deliberate attempts to conflate absentee with mail-in balloting, the two are very different. Absentee ballots are sent to voters who request them. Mail-in ballots are posted to all registered voters.

    Dead and alive.

    But with news that six mailboxes in the Richmond area were vandalized over the weekend, the security of the U.S. Mail is an issue. Again. Federal investigators are on the scene and The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that authorities believe mail from these boxes was stolen. (more…)

  • Dominion Green Energy Costs Continue to Grow

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Dominion Energy Virginia’s major capital projects, listed in its pending integrated resource plan. The SCC staff added the lifetime revenue requirement, the total dollars extracted from ratepayers over time which includes financing costs and the company’s current profit margin. Source: SCC

    by Steve Haner

    As sobering as they were, the initial estimates of how a green energy conversion will explode Dominion Energy Virginia rates have now been revised up. The State Corporation Commission staff now sees it costing an additional $800 per year for a residential customer to purchase 1,000 kWh per month by 2030, an increase of just under 60%.

    The main drivers of the higher costs will be all the offshore wind and solar generation Dominion proposes to build, as outlined in its most recent integrated resource plan. That plan is now being reviewed by the SCC, and the staff filed its analysis late last week, summarized here on pages 4-5.

    The separate cost analysis by Carol Myers of the SCC’s Division of Utility Accounting pushed up the utility-issued estimate by disputing assumptions the utility made. Staff disagrees with the utility projection that by 2030 less than half of its electricity will be used by residential customers. It is now about 55%. Should the portion shrink as Dominion projects, more of the project costs would be imposed on commercial users.

    Myers reported it is also unrealistic to assume most residential households use 1,000 kWh per month, when the history show usage at or above 1,100 kWh.  Plugging that into the data would increase the projected cost to families even beyond $800. Myers’ testimony also shows huge increase in commercial (60%) and industrial (65%) power costs by 2030, even larger on a percentage basis than residential. For the state’s economy, they also matter. (more…)

  • UVA Legal Counsel Opines on Free Speech

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    The “F— UVa” sign on the door of a University of Virginia resident of the Lawn violates no university policy and is protected by the First Amendment, concluded University Counsel Timothy J. Heaphy. However, a new policy banning all signs on lawn room doors could pass constitutional muster if applied prospectively instead of retrospectively.

    “A new policy banning signs would also maintain the historic character of the Lawn, consistent with its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site,” Heaphy opined in a letter addressed to university Rector James B. Murray Jr. on Sept. 29. “Students would have ample other opportunities to exercise free speech even if they could not post signs on their doors.”

    However, he warned, “a blanket rule against all posters would be overinclusive, as it would remove the ability of any lawn resident to use his or her prominent
    residence as a forum to promote events, highlight activities, or show support for particular perspectives or ideas.” Read the full BOV Statement in support of Ryan.

    Bacon’s bottom line: Heaphy’s argument against restricting free speech makes sense to anyone who reveres the U.S. Constitution. I just wonder how long the logic would hold up if someone posted “Blue Lives Matter” or “Make America Great Again” on a door sign on the Lawn. Can anyone be found to do such a thing? It would make an instructive experiment. (more…)

  • Amanda Chase and Mark Herring: the Odd Couple in Constitutional Deception?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Paul Goldman

    The Virginia Bill of Rights – Article I of the Virginia Constitution – grants you and me the right to cast an informed vote free from government manipulation. When considering this right, I cannot decide who is the bigger phony: Republican gubernatorial hopeful Senator Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, or Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring.

    According to Chase, the gun on her hip and leadership role in the “Transparency Caucus” mean citizens can trust her to protect them against being manipulated by the political elite. As for Herring, he is seeking re-election as legal gunslinger whose leadership role in bringing federal lawsuits against outside special interests shows he can be trusted to protect Virginians from the financial elite.

    Move over Oscar and Felix: Here come Amanda and Mark. They are the Odd Couple selling the biggest constitutional scam in Virginia since 1902.

    Back then the General Assembly, backed by the Attorney General, enacted the “white supremacist” Constitution disenfranchising 90% of African Americans and 50% of white voters (this latter statistic is seldom cited). The political elite in Virginia have long feared a free and informed vote of all the people. The actions of Chase and Herring here in 2020 demonstrate the continued existence of this bipartisan disdainful elitist element in Virginia politics. (more…)

  • More Evidence that Virginia is Becoming New Jersey….

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Governor Ralph Northam is one of seven governors earning an “F” grade for fiscal policy by the Cato Institute in its 2020 “Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governors” report. With that score, he enjoys the company of such gubernatorial luminaries as Governors Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Andrew Cuomo of New York, and J.B. Pritzker of Illinois.

    Cato, a libertarian think tank, grades the governors on the basis of seven metrics reflecting taxes and spending during their tenures. Here is Cato’s commentary on Northam: (more…)

  • The Fraudulent Concept of an “Asian” Race

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    “Asians”

    by James A. Bacon

    Fairfax County Public School (FCPS) officials ritually proclaim their support of “diversity” in public pronouncements regarding the admission policies for the elite Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. In the minds of FCPS leaders, the race-blind, test-based admissions policy that resulted in a study body comprised of 71.5% “Asian” students, 19.5% white, and only two percent African-American in the 2019-20 school year is not sufficiently diverse. The proposed remedy is to introduce a lottery to spread the admissions around.

    There are many ways to critique the educrats’ obsession with racial numbers, but the one I want to focus on today is the utter absurdity and uselessness of the “Asian” racial classification. There is no such thing as an “Asian” race — it is a purely political construct with no basis in genetic, historical, linguistic, or cultural reality. (more…)

  • Loudoun’s “Anti-Racism” Discriminates against Whites

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Loudoun public school administrative building

    by Hans Bader

    The Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) are planning to impose illegal racial preferences in student discipline, and have already made changes to school admission policies that are being challenged in court. The district also plans to restrict teachers’ out-of-school speech, by punishing them for speech that disagrees with school policies, and by punishing teachers who fail to report such speech by their peers. These speech restrictions are vague, viewpoint-discriminatory, and violate the First Amendment. Some of the speech they restrict is also protected against discipline by civil-rights laws. Yet, they may be adopted on October 12.

    The schools’ “Action Plans to Combat Systemic Racism” focus on the “disruption and dismantling” of school systems, such as discipline, that fail to generate “equitable outcomes.” “Equitable outcomes” does not mean equal treatment, but rather, each racial group receiving the same statistical outcome. For example, discipline processes that lead to a higher proportion of one racial group being disciplined than another are not considered “equitable” even if each individual student is treated the same. (more…)

  • A Public Service – Watch Angela Davis Speak at UVa

    Posted on

    by

    sherlockj

    Angela Davis 2010

    by James C. Sherlock

    The University of Virginia did all of us a favor when it hosted and recorded a speech by the Marxist Angela Davis through its Excellence in Diversity Series from September 2017 through March 2018.

    The credit on the UVa web page below the video states:

    Angela Davis’ work as an educator – both at the university level and in the larger public sphere – has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice. She has authored 9 books and has lectured throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. She draws upon her own experiences in the early seventies as a person who spent eighteen months in jail and on trial, after being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List.”

    The Angela Davis event was supported by the University of Virginia Bicentennial with funding provided by the Alumni Board of Trustees, and by many UVA PARTNERS.

    (more…)

  • Free Speech Guaranteed — Except When You Disagree with Us

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    The Loudoun County School Board expects public school employees to conduct themselves in a professional manner. A draft policy for professional conduct contains all the usual things one would expect. Teachers and other employees should treat students and peers with dignity, respect and civility. They should not bully people, consume alcohol or drugs in the workplace, use racial slurs or insults, or engage in inappropriate or sexual relations with students.

    But the proposed policy, which the board is scheduled to vote on Oct. 12, contains something extra. It would curtail what school employees can say outside of school. Specifically, it would prohibit anyone from making speeches, social media posts or any other “telephonic or electronic communication” that is “not in alignment with the school division’s commitment to action-oriented equity practices.”

    In other words, if you are a public school employee who disagrees with the leftist social-justice agenda of the Loudoun County Public School system, shut up or face the consequences. (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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