Bacon's Rebellion

  • How Discount Power For Poor Will Raise Your Bill

    Posted on

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    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner

    Virginia’s two major electric utilities estimate that as many as 150,000 of their poorest residential customers will see their monthly bills reduced next year using money extracted from all their other customers on their own power bills.

    Appalachian Power Company projects about 30,000 of its low income customers will receive subsidies of $500-$600 per year. Dominion Energy Virginia projects bill subsidies to about 120,000 households of about $750 per year.

    Both companies told the State Corporation Commission recently that to pay for this, about $1.12 will be added to the cost of every 1,000 kWh of electricity used by homes, businesses, and industries in Virginia. The cost per kWh is the same for all customer classes, and thus represents a larger percentage price increase for the commercial and industrial users.  (more…)

  • Cancel One More Good Man

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    by

    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock. Updated Aug 3, 9:50 AM

    Just another day in the neighborhood here in Virginia Beach.

    The Virginian-Pilot, which used to be based in Norfolk, is a shadow of its former self.  It has combined with the peninsula-based Daily Press.

    The paper announced on May 4, 2020:

    The Virginian-Pilot has officially moved out of the downtown Norfolk building that it had occupied for more than 80 years.

    The newspaper reported Sunday that its owners turned the keys over to a developer who plans to turn the building into apartments.

    The Pilot will move to offices in Newport News that are already being used by its sister paper, the Daily Press.

    Mostly these days it consists of a very thin mess of Associated Press articles, rehashes of local press releases, old sports stories, a crossword puzzle, paid obituary postings and short opinion pieces and letters.

    But the Virginian-Pilot crossed the water on Sunday to headline on the front page two articles “Discussions about RACISM.”  The paper’s capitalization, not mine.  The word racism, and that word alone, was in an enormous font. (more…)

  • Justice at Last for Rojai Fentress

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    It would be entirely understandable if Rojai Fentress were angry and embittered by the miscarriage of justice that convicted him of a 1996 murder and kept him imprisoned until July of this year. But in a recent Encorepreneur Zoomcast, he expressed nothing but joy at his new-found freedom, gratitude toward those who had fought to liberate him, and enthusiasm for the new life that awaited him.

    Fentriss and Deirdre Enright, a University of Virginia law school professor with the Innocence Project, described the flawed investigation, trial and conviction of the 16-year-old Fentress for the slaying of a white addict in a drug deal gone bad. He spent the next 24 years rotating through more than a half dozen institutions in the state prison system before establishing his innocence and winning a pardon.

    When asked what it would take to compensate him for his experience, the gentle, sweet-tempered Fentress said, “I don’t regret a thing. I don’t think God makes mistakes.” He grew up in a tough neighborhood where many of his friends ended up dead. “The worst thing that happened to me turned out to be the best thing that ever happened.”  (more…)

  • Striking a Balance Between History and Diversity at VMI

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    James A. Bacon

    J.H. Binford Peay III

    by James A. Bacon

    The Virginia Military institute will not purge monuments to Stonewall Jackson and VMI cadets who fought at the Battle of New Market, Superintendent J.H. Binford Peay III announced last week in a letter to the VMI community.

    But the retired four-star general said the military college will intensify efforts to achieve diversity among staff and cadets, and it will alter its Cadet oath ceremony, which involves a reenactment on the New Market battlefield where VMI cadets helped win one of the last Confederate victories of the Civil War. In the future, he added, the college, which was founded in 1839, will emphasize recognition of leaders from its second century.

    Peay justified retaining memorials to Jackson and the cadets who fought at New Market:

    Unlike many communities who are grappling with icons of the past, VMI has direct ties to many of the historical figures that are the subject of the current unrest. Stonewall Jackson was a professor at VMI, a West Point graduate who served in combat in the Mexican War, a military genius, a staunch Christian, and yes, a Confederate General. Throughout the years, the primary focus on honoring VMI’s history has been to celebrate principles of honor, integrity, character, courage, service, and selflessness of those associated with the Institute. It is not to in anyway condone racism, much less slavery.

    (more…)

  • Meanwhile, In the Capital of the Confederacy (of Dunces)…

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    James A. Bacon

    Assault rifle near Lee Monument uncovered by Richmond police Thursday.

    by James A. Bacon

    Coincidence or not? You decide.

    First this: After weeks of a hands-off policy, Richmond police moved July 30 to enforce state laws and city ordinances in what had been a law enforcement-free zone around Lee Circle. An amorphous band of left-wing activists and radicals had seized the circle, where the graffiti-defaced statue of Robert E. Lee still stands, and ran it as a leaderless collective. They set up tents, took electrical power, engaged in commerce without permits, displayed videos on the monument base, and played loud music.

    When RPD officers removed illegal items, said Chief Gerald M. Smith in a prepared statement, they were assaulted, suffering minor injuries. Pepper spray was deployed, a “conducted electrical device” (stun gun) deployed, and two individuals were arrested and charged with assault on a law enforcement officer.

    Then this: The following day, July 31, Chief Smith assigned police to a security detail for Mayor Levar Stoney, citing “serious, credible, and ongoing threats to Mayor Stoney.” No details of the threats were provided. Stoney spokesman Jim Nolan said that the mayor had traveled to hundreds of public and private events in the past without police protection. However, “recent events have made it clear that we are now in different times.” (more…)

  • Atlantic Coast Pipeline Necessity and the FERC

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Peter Galuszka’s piece earlier today in this space made two claims the greens offer endlessly trying to achieve what I call truth by repeated assertion:

    1. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) either did not review or did not review properly (he inferred both) the wisdom and necessity for natural gas pipeline projects in general and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) in particular.
    2. That if it had done so, the FERC would have discovered that there is no market for additional natural gas in the markets to which the pipelines would have brought it.

    These claims appear from the usual sources every time any discussion of the ACP is had on this blog. They are both false. I hope this is the last time we will need to read about them.

    Mr. Galuszka clearly did not understand the facts.

    He wrote:

    “So Dominion and its partners could make billions of dollars, some of it paid for by electricity ratepayers, for a project whose public need was always in doubt”

    and (more…)

  • Failing Diversity Grades for Virginia Public Colleges

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    James A. Bacon

    Source: Education Trust, “Segregation Forever?”

    by James A. Bacon

    Virginia’s most selective public universities get failing grades in a report by the Education Trust for under-representation of African-American students, and most get failing grades for the enrollment of Latino students. But, then, the track record of higher-ed institutions nationally is discouraging, too. While roughly 40% of the nation’s most selective public colleges and universities increased the percentage of black students since 2000, 60% saw a decrease. The higher-ed institutions did a better job of increasing Latino enrollments, but still fell short of the Education Trust’s proportional-representation standards.

    The report, “Segregation Forever?” has many grave flaws. The study holds universities accountable for “systemic inequities” in the educational pipeline, starting in preschool, in which blacks and Latinos are less likely to receive college-preparatory educations. The institutions, says the report, “cannot continue to hide behind biased admissions standards, such as high-stakes standardized testing.” Furthermore, the study ignores the fact that public institutions are competing against elite private universities, often with large endowments, for a limited pool of minority candidates. Its recommendations would intensify the competition for the top minority applicants while doing nothing to enlarge the pool.

    Still, the report does highlight how, despite the sea change in ideology and rhetoric about race in the top public campuses, no progress has been made since 2000. (more…)

  • Big Problems with Dems’ No-Harm-No-Foul Assault Law

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    James A. Bacon

    Richmond mob. Photo credit: Richmond Times-Dispatch

    by James A. Bacon

    Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, has a point: Virginia needs to reform its law declaring that any “assault” on a law enforcement officer be treated as a felony. It is absurd that people are charged with felonies, as has happened in Virginia, for throwing onion rings and brownies, spilling water on shoes, or bumping a school resource officer while trying to get to class. Clearly, the law has been applied too broadly. Surovell and other Senate Democrats propose making it a felony to assault a law enforcement officer only if the victim experiences a visible injury.

    Just one problem: The proposal does not take into account the tactics of protesters who have perfected the art of “non-violent” violence.

    How would Surovell’s proposal treat the intentional aiming of  lasers for the purpose of blinding police officers?

    How about throwing bags of urine and feces?

    How about attempting but failing to injure a police officer by throwing rocks? (more…)

  • Ouch!

    Posted on

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    James A. Bacon

    Thomas F. Farrell

    Dominion Energy announced today a $1.2 billion loss in the quarter ending June 30, largely reflecting the cost of writing off its spending on the defunct Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. Operating earnings (before write-offs and other adjustments) were $706 million.

    The difference between reported losses and operating earnings for the first three months, states the company in a press release, “was primarily attributable to impairment-related charges associated with the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Supply Header projects and net gains on our nuclear decommissioning trust funds.”

    That would put the loss from the ACP on the order of $2 billion. The press release did not go into details. But aside from massive legal and P.R. expenses, Dominion had pre-ordered large volumes of specialty steel and lined up union construction crews in anticipation of commencing work on the project.

    In a separate announcement, the company said that Thomas F. Farrell II, 66, will step down as CEO to serve as executive chairman. He will be replaced as CEO by Robert M. Blue, executive vice president and co-chief operating officer. Farrell took the job as CEO in 2006.

    — JAB

  • What Needs To Be Done After the ACP

    Posted on

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    Peter Galuszka

    By Peter Galuszka

    For six long years, Dominion Energy and its partners in the $8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline have waged war against Virginians as they have pushed their way forward with the 600-mile-long natural gas project.

    Their strong-armed methods have created untold misery and expense  for land-owners, members of lower income minority communities, nature lovers, bird watchers, fishermen, and many others.

    When some declined to let the ACP to trespass on their property for survey work, they ended up in lengthy and expensive lawsuits. Others spent hundreds of hours on their own time and dime fighting Virginia regulatory agencies who all but seemed to be in the pocket of the ACP.

    And so it goes. For what? So Dominion and its partners could make billions of dollars, some of it paid for by electricity ratepayers, for a project whose public need was always in doubt. On July 5, the ACP threw in the towel.

    I put together this commentary in The Washington Post suggesting what might be done to prevent this from happening again: (more…)

  • A Low-Cost, Binge-Learning Model for Higher Ed

    Posted on

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Perhaps the most interesting company headquartered in Virginia today is Herndon-based Strategic Education Inc. The company made a brief splash in the news yesterday when it announced a deal to acquire two Australian investor-funded universities for $643 million in cash. But the company, which generates roughly $1 billion a year in revenue and is poised to disrupt the higher-education sector, has generated remarkably little media attention.

    The for-profit company owns Strayer University, which enrolls more than 5,000 students at its Virginia campuses; Capella University, an online college; the Jack Welch Management Institute, which delivers online business education; an engineering school for women; software coding schools; and Sophia Learning, which delivers low-cost, self-paced courses for college credit, among other enterprises.

    Like nonprofit colleges and universities, Strategic Education is being forced to re-evaluate its business model in the era of COVID-19. The epidemic has negatively impacted both Strayer’s and Capella’s summer academic-term enrollment. However, the company is far more flexible and decisive than nonprofit institutions, many of which are still dithering over whether to hold classes this fall or switch to online learning. (more…)

  • About those Boogaloo Boys…

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Hawaiian-shirt clad Boogaloo boy Mike Dunn addressing a crowd July 4th. “We don’t do that Nazi s***!” Source: Twitter.

    by James A. Bacon

    After a small riot last weekend that resulted in the torching of a dump truck, dumpster fires, shattered windows, and two dozen arrests, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney blamed… white supremacists.

    “Last night shows that the real hate comes from the racism that is still very much alive in our commonwealth,” Stoney said in a press conference. “And some have used this moment to still express that hate.” Police Chief Gerald Smith confirmed that a few white men in Hawaiian shirts — an emblem of the so-called boogaloo movement, which incites violence to accelerate society’s plunge into civil war — were spotted in the crowd. Smith did allow for the fact that others among the rioters were involved with or influenced by the left-wing antifa movement.

    Just one problem with Stoney’s narrative: He has no direct evidence showing that white supremacists organized the protest, encouraged violence, or participated in property damage. That’s the conclusion of Graham Moomaw with The Virginia Mercury, a left-leaning online publication. Moomaw and the Mercury deserve credit for publishing a well-researched article that runs counter to the liberal/progressive narrative. My esteem for the publication has increased a notch. Maybe two notches. (more…)

  • Let the Young Be Stupid. Focus on the Outbreaks

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Carol J. Bova

    Governor Ralph Northam is cracking down on a surge in COVID-19 cases in Hampton Roads by limiting the serving of alcohol in the region. He’s attacking the wrong problem. You can’t fix stupid, and you can’t make young people listen to advice. Irresponsible youthful behavior will spread the COVID-19 virus, but it won’t overburden hospitals because most young people will weather the illness on their own at home without serious complications.

    What do the numbers look like for all of Virginia for the past four weeks?

    Yes, the Eastern District had twice the number of new cases the Northern District had, but the Northern District’s 5,000 wasn’t exactly a goose egg on the charts. Richmond, Henrico, Chesterfield threw in their share to the nearly 3,700 in the Central District, and the more outlying Southwestern and Northwestern Districts shared another 5,400 between them.

    Take a look at the cases by age group. No surprise that older teens through 30-somethings had some high numbers. (more…)

  • Stop Tolerating the Intolerable

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Have we gotten to the point where mobs of anarchists can rampage through Richmond as they did last weekend, setting fires and assaulting police officers and firefighters while the governor, the attorney general and others basically shrug?

    I can answer that: Yes. That’s exactly where we are.

    Last weekend’s riots in Richmond drew national news attention. But little interest from state officials.

    In a blistering editorial,“Where Is The Leadership?”The Richmond Times-Dispatch demanded to know how much longer these insurrections would be tolerated.

    “Let us be clear: Saturday night’s violence was a planned riot,” they began.

    The editors are correct. Have a look at the flier on social media asking people to meet at 9:30 p.m. Saturday to “eff” things up: (more…)

  • Clueless

    Posted on

    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    City dump truck set on fire outside Richmond Police Department headquarters, July 25 Photo Credit: Richmond Time-Dispatch

    By Dick Hall-Sizemore

    As noted recently on this blog, Virginia’s capital city experienced some semi-organized violent activity last weekend. This was not a peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration that escalated. Rather, it was a mob, with some members armed, seemingly bent on confrontation, violence, and general mayhem.

    This event brought about a rare confluence: Bacon’s Rebellion and the Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial page both agreeing on something: the lack of leadership from city and state officials.

    Beyond the lack of leadership, I was struck by the cluelessness of city officials regarding the origin or, more likely, origins of this event, which was well advertised on social media in advance. At first Mayor Levar Stoney said that white supremacists had infiltrated the ranks of Black Lives Matter demonstrators in order to undermine the cause. The Chief of Police, Gerald Smith, said that Antifa was also involved, an assessment Stoney later agreed with. In other words, they had no idea who instigated the violence. (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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