Bacon's Rebellion

  • Not About Aaron Rouse

    Posted on

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    James A. Bacon

    The growing habit of being great to be here.

    by Gordon C. Morse

    Steve Martin, meet Aaron Rouse.

    Early in his career, Martin would walk out onto the stage and say, “It’s great to be here.”

    Then he’d move a few feet away and say, “It’s great to be here, too.”

    He would keep shifting about, as the laughter grew, finally saying, “And, wow, it’s really great to be here.”

    This was meant to be funny and it was, very.

    At the risk of sounding narrow-minded, however, the same approach to political office-holding is less amusing. Hop-scotch through elective office enough and you abuse the trust you’ve been given by the electorate.

    Once upon a time – not very long ago – Aaron Rouse won an at-large seat on Virginia Beach City Council and said, in effect, “It’s great to be here.” That was 2019 and Rouse had been elected to represent nearly half a million residents in Virginia’s largest city.

    Soon after, he wanted to be mayor, but then withdrew. “As a global pandemic put almost everything in our lives to a complete halt,” Rouse said, “it’s not the time for me to ask for your support and vote.”

    Was being mayor of Virginia Beach really Rouse’s object of desire? It hardly seems so. In 2022, Republican state Sen. Jan Kiggins won Virginia’s 2nd District Congressional seat and Rouse immediately found a new love, announcing his bid to replace her in a special election.

    (more…)

  • Heck No to Data Centers? Really?

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Cheryl Cullers

    Rural Virginia localities enjoy a historic opportunity to augment declining tax bases by courting solar farms and data centers. Remarkably, some local leaders regard the opportunity as a threat. They have convinced themselves that the critical infrastructure for the AI age threatens their rural quality of life.

    I can understand peoples’ reservations about massive solar farms that can alter the landscape and potentially cause serious runoff, even though those concerns can be mitigated. But I am downright baffled by the resistance to data centers, which have a tiny geographic footprint and a minimum impact on farms, woodlands, and scenic vistas.

    Thinking that perhaps I have been missing something, I read with interest an interview of Warren County Supervisor Cheryl Cullers. According to The Royal Examiner, she proclaims “heck no” to data centers, and “yes” to Smart Growth and tourism. “I have no intentions of voting for a data center, and I have not heard anybody else say they were either,” she told interviewer Mike McCool.

    I still don’t get it.

    Cullers, a nurse by profession, comes across as a nice, public-spirited lady who hasn’t thought things all the way through. She describes data centers as a “distraction” from more pressing community issues… as if building the tax base to pay for things like, oh, schools, law enforcement, social services, public works, and the like, weren’t a pressing issue.

    (more…)

  • Youngkin Has the Better Message

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    James A. Bacon

    Dems think they have a winning issue in decrying layoffs of federal workers. Don’t count on it.

    by James A. Bacon

    Governor Glenn Youngkin is looking like a pretty darn good steward of the public fisc these days. Bucking a slowdown in the national economy, Virginia’s General Fund revenues increased 8.8% in April, tracking $220 ahead of the state’s official forecast. Instead of spending the money, the Governor is adding the surplus to reserves set aside to weather cutbacks to the federal spending that sustains much of the commonwealth’s economy.

    Predictably, Democrats are in a snit. They want to spend more money to address an inexhaustible well of “unmet needs” and also to tar Youngkin by association with President Trump’s moves to slash the size of the federal workforce. Youngkin has refused to distance himself from DOGE initiatives.

    “I think what bothers me the most is, he isn’t stating what all of us know to be true,” Del. Joshua Cole, D-Fredericksburg, told NOTUS. “He knows what is going to happen down in Washington is having impacts already.”

    Likewise, Democratic candidates for statewide office have adopted the strategy of running against President Trump. “There’s no one I trust more to stand up to Trump and Musk than you, Jay,” says former Governor Ralph Northam to Jay Jones, candidate for Attorney General, in Jones’ latest ad.

    We’ll see how that plays out. If I were a Republican candidate, I would double down in defense of Youngkin’s fiscal policies and in support of restructuring unsustainable federal deficit spending, even if it means short-term pain for Virginians. Moody’s, the bond rating firm, has joined S&P and Fitch in downgrading U.S. federal debt — once seen as the world’s safest — from AAA to AA1. It is far better for Virginia to emancipate itself from federal spending now than wait until the inevitable reckoning forced by merciless bond vigilantes.

    (more…)

  • Good Grief. Who Would Campaign with Ralph Northam?

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    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    I’m not in the business of offering advice to political candidates. But I’m making an exception this time.

    Message to former Del. Jay Jones: Campaigning with Ralph Northam is a bad idea. 

    Really bad.

    Virginia has had many good governors, both Republican and Democrat. Couldn’t you convince one of them to campaign with you? Terry McAuliffe, for instance. He’s funny, engaging and has boundless energy. Doug Wilder is one of the best retail politicians in the country, an elder Virginia statesman and an iconic figure.

    Both are charismatic. But Northam?

    The Times-Dispatch reports that the Jones campaign is launching a “six figure ad buy” featuring the former governor.

    Need I remind you of those blackface photos of Ralph? (Or was he the person in the Klan costume? I was never quite sure.)

    This man demonstrated poor judgment over and over. Continue reading.

  • Bacon Bits: Nothing-Works-Anymore Edition

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    James A. Bacon

    We need more money. Leaders of the mendicant Washington Metro system met last week to discuss how to keep alive the regional rail and bus system. Abandoning the pipe dream of adding more money-losing routes to the money-losing system, the emerging consensus is to make the existing system more efficient. “Automation is how we get world-class transit,” said Nick Donohue, a former Virginia deputy secretary of transportation who held run the discussion. Such thinking is a step forward conceptually. Just one problem: Automation would cost $5.6 billion, with half coming in theory from federal grants and the rest funded by local jurisdictions over 15 to 20 years, according to the Washington Post. Good luck with that. Especially when the president of the Amalgamated Transit Union called the plan “dangerous, expensive and reckless.”

    We don’t want your stinkin’ money. According to Inside Climate News, grassroots opposition to tax-generating data centers has blocked $900 million in projects in Virginia and delayed another $46 billion. Yes, billion with a b. The newsletter notes that data-center foes have teamed up with other conservation groups called the Virginia Data Center Reform Coalition. Data-center facilities themselves are innocuous. The problem is that they consume massive amounts of electricity, which will requiring upgrades to generating capacity and the electric grid, which in turn will mean higher electric bills for everyone (not to mention more transmission-line upgrades that everyone in their path hates). Virginia is already home to 13% of the world’s data-center capacity, and continued expansion of the industry represents a once-in-a-generation economic development opportunity. But geographically, the tax-revenue and employment benefits of data centers are highly concentrated, while the cost of electricity upgrades are dispersed. Until the unequal distribution of costs and benefits can be worked out, expect opposition to grow.

    Speaking of things that will never happen… Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate for governor, opined in a commencement address at the Fishburne Military School that she wants to give Virginia parents as many educational options for their children as possible. That includes more charter schools (of which Virginia has only seven), more virtual schools, and more home schools. “Parents should be able to make the decision,” she said. “They know their children. The American dream is about options.” I agree 100 percent. Unfortunately, Democratic legislators and the educational lobby don’t. They are committed to maintaining public schools’ near-monopoly with all the opportunity they create for political patronage, social engineering and student indoctrination. In a February press release, Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger called for more funding, more staff, and higher teacher pay — rewarding a key Democratic Party constituency while doing nothing to address collapsing standards and low expectations. It’s fine for Earle-Sears to advocate alternatives to failed schools, but public schools still educate roughly 90% of Virginia students. She needs to push harder on what Dems are doing wrong and what she would do differently.

  • Remembering George Rogers Clark

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Chap Petersen

    George Rogers Clark

    I spent this weekend in Charlottesville celebrating the graduation of my daughter Mary Walton. Very proud of her.

    In the colonial era, the town of Charlottesville and surrounding Albemarle County was the western frontier of Virginia. Beyond it lay the Blue Ridge mountains, the Shenandoah Valley and the fierce Shawnee Indians. 

    In 1777, in the midst of War with the British King, the Virginia legislature raised an army under George Rogers Clark, a militia captain and noted frontiersman. The mission was simple: protect the American settlers in far western Virginia (modern-day Kentucky) from the pillaging Shawnee, acting at the behest of the British general Henry Hamilton, who was called “the Hair-buyer” due to the sums he paid for American scalps, including women and children.

    The ensuing campaign was one of the most impactful in American history. Clark’s small army tramped through the wilderness of western Virginia, then floated up the Ohio River till they reached the Wabash River in the winter of 1778. Deep in enemy country, holding their rifles above the freezing water to keep the powder dry, Clark’s men waded up the river. Reaching Hamilton’s fort at Vincennes, they attacked without warning, driving off the British and capturing the fort. Soon they controlled the entire Northwest Territory, beyond the Ohio River. 

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  • Peay Breaks Silence to Defend VMI Board Member

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    James A. Bacon

    Ever since he resigned in 2020 as superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute under pressure from then-Governor Ralph Northam, J.H. Binford Peay III has refrained from commenting on the furors raging at the military institute. Even as his 17-year legacy was being trashed and VMI was depicted as a racist, sexist institution, he held his tongue.

    J.H. Binford Peay III

    But the 85-year-old veteran of the Vietnam War and Desert Storm felt moved to speak up when the reputation of his former chief of staff — a current VMI board member — was under attack.

    The Institute remains embroiled in political conflict in the wake of the board declined to renew the contract for Peay’s successor, Cedric T. Wins, an African-American alumnus with a distinguished military career. Legacy media has implied without evidence that Wins’ race was a factor in the decision, although Wins’ implementation of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion policies at VMI undoubtedly was.

    E. Sean Lanier, a former board member, sparked the latest controversy by issuing a letter criticizing the board on a variety of grounds, including its vetting and appointment processes for three current board members. He specifically noted that board member Jamie Inman had been “removed from his role as Chief of Staff at VMI under the prior administration for insubordination involving the delivery of sensitive materials to then-BoV President Bill Boland ’73.”

    Peay issued this statement regarding Inman: “Jamie Inman was never removed from his role as Chief of Staff under my administration. Col (Ret.) Inman served me and VMI for over a decade, and his performance was superlative. This is just another case of disinformation.”

    (more…)

  • Jeanine’s Memes

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    James A. Bacon

    From The Bull Elephant

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    by

    James A. Bacon

  • Virginia Tax Math

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Bill Tracy

    Readers will recall that back in 2017 the Trump administration enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) which fundamentally changed U.S. tax policy.  The maximum allowable SALT (state and local tax) deduction was lopped off at $10,000, forcing many taxpayers to stop itemizing deductions.  

    Offsetting the SALT deduction cap, the TCJA allowed a larger Standard Deduction. Overall TCJA reduced federal income taxes for most Americans.  

    Locally however, both Virginia and Maryland — I believe uniquely among all states — used the TCJA as an excuse to increase state income taxes. This was accomplished passively by no longer allowing residents to deduct their federal itemized deductions from income calculated for state taxes.    

    Enter President Trump’s proposed new Big Beautiful tax bill. Among other things, the bill reportedly considers allowing the SALT deduction to increase up to $30,000 or possibly even more. Presumably, this means that more Virginia residents will be able to take itemized deductions yet again.   

    (more…)

  • Racial Favoritism at Darden

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    James A. Bacon

    The Consortium program helps women and minorities gain preferential access to internships and recruitment opportunities.

    image from the Darden Consortium web page.

    by James A. Bacon

    Gerritt Jenkins, a married White male, was a first-year student at the Darden School of Business with an interest in making a career in i-banking. But he was frustrated and resentful. His study teammates seemed to be on the fast track for coveted summer internships with big-name companies while he was still spinning his wheels.

    One day he took a break from a study session and went down the hall to take a phone call. Two study mates, Diya Bhargava and Monica Hance, followed behind to get a snack but stopped short when they overheard part of his conversation.

    “Do you know what I heard last night?” Jenkins was saying. “I was at an i-banking networking event at King Family Vineyards and the managing director said offhandedly, ‘We’re looking to hire one woman and one Black student from Darden this year.’ I couldn’t believe he said that out loud to a group. How am I supposed to feel about that?”

    “Like, I know I shouldn’t take this personally, and I should run my own race like you always say, but Monica in my learning team makes more sense now to me, you know?” he continued. “I mean, I love her. Don’t get me wrong, she’s really smart, but everyone at Darden is, right? She’s also Black and a woman. Recruiting is easy for her. Not for me. Nothing is. No wonder they gave her an offer so early.”

    The encounter is fictional. The characters and scene were created for “pedagogical reasons” in a June 2024 document, “MBA Recruiting Dynamics,” written to stimulate discussion. The authors were five Darden school officials, one of whom was the then-assistant dean for Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. (Her position has been retitled to Chief Connection and Community Officer.)

    (more…)

  • Sediment-Like Materials Spur Emergency

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    James A. Bacon

    The only thing muddier than the water is the prose

    What AI imagines when given the phrase, “high turbidity in the water.” Image credit: Bring Image Creator

    by Joe Fitzgerald

    When I declared a local emergency when a hurricane was threatening to come across the hill 22 years ago, the city manager had made it reasonably clear that a local emergency didn’t mean that much. Mostly buying up bottled water, he said, although he also went on to list a couple of other things the city could do during an emergency. I polled the other City Council members to be on the safe side, but probably stopped calling when I had two others agreeing. I don’t remember specifically, but that’s usually what I did. You couldn’t get unanimity from that group on crunchy versus smooth.

    Later, when the taxi company, the official one in those pre-Uber days, called to ask if they could close. I gave the vice mayor a quick call, and he agreed that would be a good idea. But then he laughed and said, “But it’ll be you doing it, Joe.”

    Later I was reminded that during a declared emergency, the mayor was the only spokesman for the city. It became relevant in the wee hours when a bunch of students launched a canoe into the torrent Blacks Run had become, and naturally one of them died. I stopped on the way to the site and bought ten large coffees, and the manager of the all-night Hardee’s decided as I was reaching for my wallet that they should be free for the people on-site. I don’t remember if we called them first responders yet. Emergency personnel, maybe. It took a couple of minutes to void the ticket for the coffee and ring it up on the gratis button, but the coffee was still hot when I got to the site. I miss all-night Hardee’s.

    As one of their many cheap shots at me, similar to kicking Deb off Planning Commission for marrying me, my council colleagues changed the rules after that to say that only the full council could declare an emergency, and not just the mayor.

    So, the full council will meet today at noon to declare an emergency because mud has clogged the filters at the water treatment plant. The city’s publicist in his press releases hasn’t said mud yet. He calls it turbidity, which is the quality of muddy water, but that quality, along with its brother metaphor, turgidity, is what official press releases have instead of clarity.

    (more…)

  • UVA Board Keeping Close Eye on Provost Search

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    The search at the University of Virginia to replace outgoing provost Ian Baucom is well underway. The outcome will reflect the shifting balance of power between President Jim Ryan and a Board of Visitors determined to bring a measure of intellectual diversity to an institution whose faculty and campus climate have been transformed under Ryan and Baucom in line with leftist “social justice” principles.

    The last time the provost’s office was vacant — when Elizabeth Magill left the post to become president of the University of Pennsylvania — there was no need to hire a search committee. Ryan hand-picked Baucom, who was then serving as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, and the Board of Visitors confirmed him with a minimum of fuss.

    The provost, who functions as a chief academic officer, is arguably the most important person, second only to the president, in setting the direction and tone of the University. Previous boards dominated by Democratic appointees were comfortable giving Ryan and Baucom a free hand. The new board, dominated by appointees of Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, is not.

    In a series of votes in recent months, the Board has signaled its intention to provide much closer oversight than Ryan has been accustomed to. The Board’s assertion of authority has been slow but remorseless, like an anaconda tightening its coils around its prey. In off-the-record conversations, multiple Board members have told me that any candidate for the provost selection must meet board approval, and to win that approval the candidate must be committed to ending racial preferences and expanding intellectual diversity.

    (more…)

  • ODU Med School Discriminates by Race, Goldfarb Contends

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    James A. Bacon

    Eastern Virginia Medical School

    by James A. Bacon

    Stanley Goldfarb, a former associate dean at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, served a half year on the Old Dominion University Board of Visitors before his nomination by Governor Glenn Youngkin was torpedoed earlier this year by General Assembly Democrats.

    He had made a national name for himself as founder of Do No Harm, a nonprofit that opposes the takeover of the nation’s medical schools and medical profession by social-justice advocates. He quickly made himself unpopular at ODU by asking questions about the university’s implementation of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion that no one wanted to answer.

    ODU’s friends in the General Assembly struck Goldfarb from the board, but he hasn’t gone away. In an article just published in National Review, he detailed the scope of racial preferences in admissions to ODU’s medical school, the Eastern Virginia Medical School.

    Despite the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling severely restricting the consideration of race in college admissions, ODU “made no meaningful attempt to stop discriminating,” Goldfarb writes.

    The MCAT scores prove it. Overall, accepted black students had average scores in the 77th percentile, while Hispanics were in the 83rd percentile. The average white student had to score in the 88th percentile, while Asians had to clear 90 percent. In fact, the average MCAT score of Asian students who weren’t admitted is higher than the average score of accepted black students — an unmistakable sign of discrimination. 

    (more…)

  • Jefferson Council: UVA Needs New Leadership

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    James A. Bacon

    ***** sponsored content *****

    Charlottesville, VA — In a new call to action appearing in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Jefferson Council is appealing to the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors to take urgent action in restoring principled leadership to the University.

    The full-page advertisement declares that The Time Is Now for New Leadership at UVA and outlines seven serious leadership failures under President Jim Ryan’s tenure — failures that have, in the Council’s view, undermined the University’s integrity and founding ideals.

    “The damage to UVA’s values and traditions is not theoretical—it is palpable and measurable, and is the result of leadership that has failed the entire University community,” said Joel Gardner, President of The Jefferson Council.

    The advertisement outlines seven critical leadership failures under President Ryan’s administration and directs readers to ResetUVA.com for supporting evidence and detailed documentation. The failures include:

    (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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