Bacon's Rebellion

  • Two Virginia Wind Energy Grants Cancelled by Trump’s DOT

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    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    President Donald Trump’s war on the offshore wind industry has finally reached Virginia with the cancellation of two U.S. Department of Transportation grants intended to help develop Hampton Roads as a hub for that now-endangered industry. The decision was announced Friday.

    There still has been no attempt, and not even any public discussion, of the Trump Interior Department seeking to alter or cancel the permits or leases it granted under President Biden to Dominion Energy Virginia’s $11.3 billion wind turbine construction project. Nor has there been any indication from Washington that the project is safe from interference.

    If it is, it would seem to be almost alone in enjoying that protection. Recently the Trump Administration cancelled a New England wind project that was past the halfway point in its construction phase and has indicated it will kill a project off Delaware by simply siding in a lawsuit with the project’s opponents. That second project was not yet under construction. 

    A New York-based project poised for construction was also terminated, but the Trump Administration reversed its decision and allowed it to proceed. It has been reported a deal was struck with New York authorities to proceed with some long-opposed natural gas pipeline proposals in exchange for relenting on the wind cancellation. 

    The 176-turbine. 2.6-gigawatt Dominion project is the largest offshore facility proposed so far in the United States and is one of the few (if not the only one) with the active support of a Republican governor and his administration. It is also the only one owned by a monopoly utility and financed by that utility’s ratepayers, who could bear the full $6-8 billion stranded cost of its cancellation. 

    The other projects targeted are owned by merchant generators planning to sell the electricity, but with the risk carried by their investors. Many are foreign-based.  One legal pathway they may take is to sue for full compensation for their losses from the government by claiming the actions were a taking. 

    Now Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy has announced that $679 million in federal funding for several projects around the United States, mostly shore-based facilities in support of offshore wind, was being withdrawn or cancelled. Of that, $427 million was for a proposed facility to support a floating wind project off Humbolt, California.

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  • One Down

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    sherlockj

    One Down

    by James C. Sherlock

    For the first time ever, a Virginia nursing home, Princess Anne Health and Rehabilitation Center (Princess Anne) in Virginia Beach, has been evicted from the Medicare and Medicaid programs.  

    Before I get to it, I want to acknowledge and thank those who have been working to improve nursing facilities in Virginia.  

    Federal.  Medicare is administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under Dr. Mehmet Oz.  The federal HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) under Juliet Hodgkins investigates wrongdoing in Medicare. Most chains operate in more than one state, making full owner accountability a federal matter under the investigative responsibility of the HHS OIG. 

    Virginia. In this Commonwealth, acknowledgements start with Governor Youngkin, his team and the General Assembly.

    The Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Secretariat led administration efforts under both John Littel, now the Governor’s Chief of Staff, and Janet Kelley. The Departments of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS), Virginia’s Medicaid agency, under Cheryl Roberts and the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) led by Health Commissioner Dr. Karen Shelton have earned the gratitude of all Virginians.  

    The Virginia Department of Social Services’ Adult Protective Services under Paige McCleary was responsible for the raid on Colonial Heights Rehabilitation and Nursing Center (Colonial Heights that woke up both the citizens and the General Assembly.  

    The legacy media, TV and print press, did its job well. Reporting on Colonial Heights by Tyler Lane of WTVR CBS 6 in Richmond has been particularly dogged and superb.

    The General Assembly had been the place where nursing home oversight legislation went to die for nearly five decades. I have repeatedly skewered them here for it. But after the Colonial Heights scandal and its publicity, bipartisan support emerged for 2025 legislation that has provided more authority and money to supplement VDH inspection efforts.  

    Special thanks to OLC.  Most of all, I acknowledge the work of VDH’s Office of Licensure and Certification (OLC) under both previous Director Kim Beazley and Acting Director James Jenkins.  

    OLC inspections teams, understaffed and underpaid, have doggedly and professionally inspected Virginia’s nursing homes for decades. It is their work that I most often quote here. It is that office that finally this year, after four decades, was given authorization and funding by the General Assembly to staff their activities properly.  

    OLC this year shot the arrows that finally finished off Princess Anne. Here is their complaint inspection report from February and revisit report from June.  Apparently, the final straws.

    (more…)

  • Richmond Justice: From Gun-Safety Class to Murder

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    James A. Bacon

    An illegal alien plea bargains firearms and narcotics offenses down to therapy and a gun safety class — and goes on to commit murder.

    Marvin Ramos, murder victim. Photo credit: WTVR News

    by Victoria Manning

    New documents obtained by Restoration News show four violent illegal alien criminals were charged with murder over just two years in Richmond, Virginia, while multiple others were charged with unlawful firearm possession.

    Richmond’s Democrat Sheriff Antionette Irving, who oversees a sanctuary city, refuses to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while the city’s progressive prosecutor, Colette McEachin, goes easy on gun-toting illegal aliens.

    McEachin, who is seeking reelection this year, is endorsed by Abigail Spanberger, the former Democrat congresswoman now running for governor and Ghazala Hashmi, running for lieutenant governor.

    Sheriff Irving confirmed she has not turned over any inmates to ICE this year, and ICE told Restoration News that Richmond does not cooperate with its officers. While Democrats push for more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners, they won’t take unlawful guns out of illegal aliens’ hands.

    Prosecutor gives illegal alien ridiculous plea deal

    Police pulled Yonathan Zelaya-Beltran over for a traffic violation on Feb. 10, 2023. Beltran failed to produce a driver’s license or identification, and a search revealed he had a concealed firearm in his pocket. He was also in possession of narcotics.

    Richmond prosecutors agreed to a plea bargain for Beltran requiring him to complete community service, substance abuse treatment program, and a firearm safety course.

    (more…)

  • Data Industry Giants Split on Proposed Future Rates

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    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner

    Facebook data center
    Facebook data center in Henrico County

    Dominion Energy Virginia’s proposed changes to how and how much it charges data centers for electricity appear to have divided the industry, based on testimony filed at the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC).

    The utility’s ideas are in general being supported — with some caveats — by the Office of the Attorney General and the staff of the SCC, both of which are charged by law with watching out for consumers.

    Several state legislators have also filed letters supportive of Dominion’s application with the State Corporation Commission, but they avoid taking positions on the many specific provisions that the data centers have complained about. If the typical SCC case is as complex as rocket science, this one borders on high energy particle physics. 

    “I support the idea of a separate class for such customers, agree with the need for significant minimum charges, and believe that Dominion’s proposal should be a floor, not a ceiling,” wrote Senator Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, chair of the legislature’s Commission on Electric Utility Regulation. The prize for understatement goes to Senator Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, who put in her letter: “I acknowledge that consensus may be elusive.”

    One of the strongest statements in opposition to the proposal was filed by Google, which just this week stood beside Governor Glenn Youngkin to announce another $9 billion in Virginia capital investments. A state media that was paying any attention might have picked up some of the controversy to ask about in the news conference. 

    Amazon Data Services, on the other hand, filed testimony generally supportive of Dominion. Microsoft’s expert is closer to the middle, focused on major amendments to Dominion’s proposal but not calling for rejection  Three 800-pound economic and political gorillas, three different positions for the SCC to ponder. The file contains many more.

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  • Northern Virginia’s Five-Ring Gender-Bender Circus

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    James A. Bacon

    Three clowns performing in a circus setting, with one clown juggling colorful balls while riding a unicycle, surrounded by a cheering audience.
    Image credit: Bing Image Creator

    by Stephanie Lundquist-Arora
    Republished with permission from IWFeatures

    Step right up, moms and dads. If you’d like to coparent with public school teachers, counselors, and administrators, then Northern Virginia’s Gender-Bender Five-Ring Circus is just the place for your children. 

    On July 25, with good reason, the United States Department of Education found five Northern Virginia public school districts in violation of Title IX, as they are still allowing opposite-sex students into what are supposed to be single-sex, intimate facilities on the basis of so-called “gender identity.” 

    Despite their federal funding being under threat, leaders in these districts continue to defy federal law, all while shirking their responsibilities to students and parents.

    In Alexandria City Public Schools, for example, a middle school teacher gave her students an invasive questionnaire last week regarding their gender identity and preferred pronouns without their parents’ knowledge or consent.  In addition to asking 12-year-olds their preferred names and pronouns during the first week of class, which is ridiculous enough to begin with, the survey actively pits students against their parents by asking:

    • “May I use your class name when I contact caregivers?”
    •  “May I use these pronouns when I contact caregivers?”
    •  “If you answered NO to any of the above, which pronouns should I use instead?”
    •  ”If you answered NO to any of the above, what name should I use instead?”
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  • Be Careful What You Wish For

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Wren Building, College of William and Mary

    President Trump has directed the Secretary of Education to expand the reporting requirements of institutions of higher education in order to determine if any of those bodies are still using race as an admissions criterion.

    Accordingly, the Secretary has directed the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to collect the following data from each higher ed institution, disaggregated by race and sex:

    For applicants and admitted students:

    1. Standardized test scores
    2. Final grade point averages
    3. First-generation-college student status

    For enrolled cohorts:

    • Graduation rates
    • Financial aid offered
    • Financial aid provided

    In her directive, the Secretary directed NCES “to develop a rigorous assurance process for reported data” in order to “ensure the information collected by the Department is accurate and reliable.”

    These directives raise a host of questions and policy issues.

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  • Restoring Arlington Cemetery’s Reconciliation Monument

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    James A. Bacon

    The restoration of a monument in Arlington Cemetery may serve as the spiritual portal that brings America back to its origin in greatness.

    A statue on a pedestal surrounded by white gravestones and pink cherry blossom trees in Arlington Cemetery.
    Arlington National Cemetery photo by Rachel Larue

    by Scott Powell

    The attack on normalcy, traditions, and history in America intensified in 2020 with Covid-19 lockdowns and the riots catalyzed by the death of George Floyd. When destruction then turned under the Congressional Naming Commission to the icons associated with the Confederacy of the Civil War period, the Reconciliation Monument in Arlington Cemetery came into the crosshairs. It was removed from Arlington on Dec. 16, 2023, despite longstanding traditions and laws against desecrating gravesites. The Reconciliation Monument was the last work of the sculptor Moses Ezekiel, and he chose the monument’s location as his burial ground, making the monument his headstone. 

    Now with the Trump administration’s priority to revive Americans’ appreciation of their heritage, this somewhat obscure monument is in the spotlight. And for good reason, because the Reconciliation Monument can serve as the catalyst and spiritual portal that bring America back to its origin in greatness as the nation of “e pluribus unum” — meaning one out of many.

    In a recent post on X, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated that the reinstatement of the 1914 Reconciliation Monument, which celebrates the bringing together of the South and the North after decades of post-Civil War division, was important because it fosters the unity of America, and its removal by “woke lemmings” in 2023 was inconsistent with honesty and openness about the past. The secretary added: “Unlike the Left, we don’t believe in erasing American history — we honor it.” The Reconciliation Monument is projected to be restored to Arlington in 2027.

    Most Americans may not realize the full cultural and spiritual significance of restoring this monument to its rightful place in Arlington Cemetery. In this time of intense spiritual warfare against traditional values and constitutional America, we certainly need to preserve and restore historical monuments. But we also need to go on the offense and uphold the American values that inspired these great markers of history. And the Reconciliation Monument compels such action better than any other monument in Arlington and beyond.

    (more…)

  • Miyares Excoriates “Utter Travesty” Against Women Swimmers

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    James A. Bacon

    by Scott Dreyer

    A man in a navy suit and striped tie standing in front of a blue backdrop, appearing to speak or address an audience.
    Attorney General Jason Miyares at Aug. 25, 2025, press conference in Salem.

    At 10:30 a.m. on August 25, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares held a press conference at the Salem library to reveal his office’s investigation into alleged abuse by Roanoke College officials against members of the 2023-24 women’s swim team.

    About twenty people attended the event, including five Roanoke County elected officials, some local media, and members of Miyares’ office and campaign staff. No one from Roanoke College administration was present.

    Bill Bock, attorney for two members of the swim team, opened the conference by pointing out the unfairness the lady swimmers had faced. “Publicly available data indicates that about 54.4% of Roanoke College’s full-time students are female. Yet some 58% of varsity athletic roster spots at Roanoke College are on male teams. That means that males at Roanoke College have more than one hundred more varsity roster spots than do females, even though about 45% of the entire student population is male.”

    Bock added that two members of the team “filed discrimination claims with the Virginia Attorney General because in 2023, not only did Roanoke College have far fewer varsity athletic roster spots for women than men, but that year Roanoke College actively supported a former swimmer from the (…) men’s swim team moving over to the women’s swim team, merely because this man claimed a female gender identity.

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  • The Inherent Conflict of Interest in Bargaining with Public-Sector Unions

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    James A. Bacon

    A group of men in formal attire gathered around a table filled with stacks of money, engaged in discussion. Behind them, several signs with political messages can be seen, indicating a focus on labor and economic issues.
    Image credit: Bing Image Creator

    by J. Kennerly Davis

    In the spring of 2020 — with Democrats controlling the Senate, the House of Delegates, and the Governor’s mansion – the General Assembly narrowly passed and Governor Northam signed HB-582, now set out in Section 40.1-57.2 of the Code of Virginia. That law, enacted during the widely disorienting onset of Covid, marked a dramatic change in Virginia labor law, and it represents gross legislative malfeasance that cries out for repeal.

    Prior to the enactment of HB-582, public employee collective bargaining was prohibited by state law. This prohibition was consistent with long-established practice across the country.

    The 2020 law significantly altered the landscape in Virginia. It repealed the state prohibition on public-sector collective bargaining and now allows localities – counties, cities, and towns – to formally recognize labor unions and other employee associations as bargaining agents and to enter into collective bargaining agreements with those agents.

    If a local government does not adopt an ordinance recognizing a bargaining agent, employees of that government can form a unit, request collective bargaining, and force the local government to vote on recognition within 120 days.

    Since the law took effect on May Day 2021, public sector unions and their supporters have pressured local governments across the commonwealth for recognition of bargaining agents. Several cities and counties, including Alexandria, Richmond, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William, have adopted ordinances or resolutions allowing public sector collective bargaining, and union activities in those localities are steadily advancing.

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  • Married Moms Twice as Likely to Be “Very Happy”

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    James A. Bacon

    Married women receive more physical touch and are less lonely than single or childless women

    Bar graph showing the estimated share of U.S. women ages 25-55 who report being 'very happy' across different categories: married with children (19%), married without children (11%), unmarried with children (13%), and unmarried without children (10%).

    Press release from the Charlottesville-based Institute for Family Studies:

    A new YouGov survey, sponsored by the Institute for Family Studies with the Wheatley Institute, finds that married women are more likely than their unmarried counterparts to report feeling deep connection and meaning in their relationships and are less likely to report being lonely.

    The 2025 Women’s Well-being Survey (WWS) of 3,000 women in the US aged 25-55 found that married mothers reported higher levels of happiness and physical touch, as well as less loneliness, than their unmarried or childless counterparts.

    (more…)

  • Punish Perverse Beltway Counties by Cutting Transportation Funding

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    James A. Bacon

    Northern Virginia counties that let students use the opposite sex’s bathrooms and locker rooms can pay to pave their own streets. We won’t.

    A sign for an all-gender restroom on the left and a congested highway filled with traffic on the right.
    Image credit: Restoration News

    by Jacob Grandstaff

    President Donald Trump’s administration should pull all Department of Transportation funding from counties and cities whose school boards continue to push far-left gender ideology. A good place to start would be in the heart of the swamp—the Washington, D.C. suburbs.

    The school districts in Alexandria, Prince William, Fairfax, Arlington, and Loudoun County continually defy the Department of Education’s order on required gender norms and policies. These leftist-controlled districts prioritize radical gender ideology over student safety and biological reality, allowing boys who identify as girls into female restrooms and locker rooms, and vice versa. This perversion not only endangers students but mocks commonsense protections under Title IX, which was meant to safeguard women’s spaces.

    As a result, the Department of Education announced it will pull all federal funds from these school districts. This is a start, but it’s insufficient. Federal education funding makes up a tiny proportion of local school budgets, and certainly not enough to force compliance in wealthy areas like the D.C. suburbs. To truly force change, Trump must hit them where it hurts—their roads, bridges, and transit systems funded by the Department of Transportation.

    (more…)

  • Hey, Virginia Beach, Check Your Begrudgery

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    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    There I was, tiptoeing back into the news on Sunday afternoon when I stumbled on an alarming WVEC 13 News Facebook post: “State Police Probe ‘Sensitive’ Situation in Virginia Beach, Urge Public To Avoid Bay Colony Area.”

    There I was, tiptoeing back into the news on Sunday afternoon when I stumbled on an alarming WVEC 13 News Facebook post: “State Police Probe ‘Sensitive’ Situation in Virginia Beach, Urge Public To Avoid Bay Colony Area.”

    Facebook post from WVEC 13 News alerting about a 'sensitive' situation being investigated by state police in Virginia Beach, advising the public to avoid the Bay Colony area.

    Wait. What? 

    It was an oddly worded headline. A “sensitive situation”? Who writes these things? As it turned out a 40-year old homeless man was shot to death when he attempted to break into the home of a State Police Special Agent who lives on Lee Road in Bay Colony.

    Crime isn’t non-existent in this upscale area, but shootings? Rare. Very rare. 

    No surprise there were hundreds of comments on Facebook. What WAS surprising was the tone. 

    Looks like Virginia Beach suffers from a rip-roaring case of begrudgery. Continue reading.

  • Former Swim Team Captain Exposes Abusive, Vengeful Staff

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    A young woman wearing a Roanoke College swimming shirt stands at a podium during a press conference.
    Roanoke College Swim Team Captain Lily Mullens Oct. 5, 2023. (WSLS/YouTube screenshot)

    by Scott Dreyer

    On August 25, Attorney General Jason Miyares held a press conference at the Salem library to share the findings of his office’s investigation into how Roanoke College treated members of its women’s swim team, a controversy that first erupted in the fall of 2023 and went on to make national headlines. Miyares claimed that not only did his office find that Roanoke College violated the swimmers’ civil rights, but also violated the Virginia Human Rights Act and federal Title XI, which was created in 1972 to guarantee equal access to sports for females.

    Cady Mullens read a statement on behalf of her daughter Lily Mullens, one of the complainants in the Attorney General’s investigation of Roanoke College, who could not attend the conference due to work obligations.

    “I am Lily Mullens, the former captain of the Roanoke College Women’s Swim Team. I’m here today with a heavy but hopeful heart, sharing an experience that’s honestly been the hardest thing I’ve ever gone through. Two years ago, my teammates and I returned to campus with college dreams of an amazing swim season. But that optimism was shattered when we learned a male swimmer was joining our women’s team, and we realized that instead of focusing on training and our studies, we would be entering into a battle against our own school and the NCAA for our very basic rights, to compete fairly with and against other female swimmers and to speak freely in defense of our own fair treatment.

    “What followed was a grueling ordeal that took a tremendous toll on my mental health, physical well-being, and emotional strength. My teammates and I faced anxiety, sleepless nights, and a sense of defeat and abandonment, knowing biology stacked the odds against us. The leaders responsible for ensuring a safe and lawful educational experience were not only indifferent to our discrimination but actively retaliated against us, upset that we wouldn’t prioritize a man’s feelings above our own rights and accomplishments. At times, the backlash on campus left me so fearful, I became a prisoner in my own dorm room.

    (more…)

  • The Future of News?

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Restoration News has a thoughtful essay by Matt Wolfson about Jeff Bezos’ makeover of The Washington Post, the largest provider of state/local news in Virginia. Although Bezos is pushing the Post’s op-ed section to embrace liberty and free markets, Wolfson sees the Amazon CEO’s moves as a deep-state power play.

    His conclusion: “This is media-as-cartel: A monopolization of information by a small number of connected players who can set the terms of its release, and even stop some information from being released at all. It is an unprecedented threat to America’s constitutional republic and the free flow of public opinion on which our founders knew it to depend.”

    In this view, state/local news reporting is very much the tail of the dog — indeed, hair on the tail of the dog. How that coverage is structured and resourced likely hinges largely upon decisions made for strategic reasons that have nothing to do with Virginia’s wellbeing. — JAB

  • Our Family Survived Four Days Without Cell Phones!

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    A historic building with multiple balconies, surrounded by a vibrant garden featuring various plants and flowers.
    Shrine Mont

    They say that when people look back on their happiest children experiences they rarely reminisce about the big trips or visits to plastic theme parks like Disney World.

    Nope. Our fondest memories center around the time we spend relaxing with loved ones.

    It’s the small moments, the quality family time that stick with us.

    That sounds right.

    My happiest childhood memories almost always settle on our annual family camping trips: the Jersey Shore, Niagara Falls, Maine, West Virginia.

    It wasn’t the destinations that I remember. It was the long car rides where we played license plate games, sang, told stories to pass the time. I don’t remember any fancy meals, but I do recall the food we shared at splintered roadside picnic tables.

    With that in mind, my daughter and I decided to plan a four-day last-gasp-of-summer getaway for five adults and three kids, who range in age from four months to nine years.

    Where do you go to spend a couple of days of relaxation – with an infant – without breaking the bank?

    “What about Shrine Mont?” I suggested.

    Last summer a friend and I spent a weekend in Orkney Springs, Va. at a quirky, old-fashioned church retreat center. We weren’t there for spiritual growth. We were there for a pickleball camp.

    We came away enchanted and vowed we’d be back with our families. Continue reading.

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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