Bacon's Rebellion

  • Youngkin Veto of AI Bill Praised by Louisiana Group

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Reprinted from the Pelican Tech & Innovation Center

    Artificial intelligence (AI) is progressing rapidly and powering solutions previously unimaginable. At the same time, AI legislation is on the rise and a patchwork of state restrictions looms over the momentum of innovators and US leadership. This Monday, HB 2094, the High-Risk Artificial Intelligence Developer and Deployer Act, was vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin (R-VA). HB 2094 epitomized the perils of restrictive legislation and Governor Youngkin’s prudent courage is an investment in Virginia’s future. 

    HB 2094 sought to regulate “high risk systems,” technology that is involved in important decisions like hiring and loans. Companies could be held accountable for the decisions their AI makes, and must go to great lengths before, during, and after using their technology to ensure compliance. The sheer amount of paperwork involved in enforcing and following this law was enough to make it unworkable. Furthermore, the legislation was inconsistent in its application; not all businesses using tech to make high risk decisions were included.

    The Center for Data Innovation provided an example that captures the contradictions within HB 2094:

    Consider that an insurer who uses AI to determine who gets a home loan would likely not be subject to the bill’s requirements but a housing association using AI to screen tenants would be. Both decisions affect access to housing and both sectors are already subject to anti-discrimination oversight. Drawing a bright line between them makes no sense.

    (more…)

  • Bacon Bits: Crime and Immigration Edition

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    James A. Bacon

    Cracking down on MS-13. Yesterday law enforcement authorities arrested  Henrry Josue Villatoro Santos (yes, two “r”s in Henrry and a “u” in Josue), a top member of the MS-13 gang who had been living in Virginia for 10 years. He was charged with illegal gun possession after a search of his home. State police and the Virginia Department of Corrections cooperated with federal authorities, Governor Glenn Youngkin said, according to Fox News. Santos’ arrest was just the latest in a string of busts that have swept up 28 MS-13 gang members, 19 Tren de Aragua gang members, and dozens of other organized crime members. “Virginia is not a sanctuary state,” Youngkin said. “We are working to get the bad guys out of here.”

    But Virginia still has sanctuary cities… and 200 protesters marching at the University of Virginia yesterday would like UVA to become a sanctuary university. In response to the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a native of Syria and a Palestinian activist who organized anti-Israel rallies at a Columbia University, the protesters demanded UVA protect students from federal immigration officers by not permitting federal immigration officers on Grounds without a valid warrant, reports The Daily Progress. Khalil, a 30-year-old student, is charged with omitting his employment with problematic groups in the Middle East from his green card application. My best advice to UVA students: don’t work for groups that play handsies with terrorist organizations, fill out your green card applications accurately, and don’t intimidate American citizens of Jewish faith when you get here, and chances are pretty good that you’ll not get in trouble.

    Maybe people will start riding the Metro again. Washington, D.C., metro leaders have approved a plan to ban riders from the system for up to a year if they are arrested more than once for an assault or sex offense inside a Metro station, train or bus, reports The Washington Post. The implication, I guess, is that you get one freebie assault, but after that you’re really in trouble. Insofar as bad guys pay no heed to state lines, the move should make the Metro a tad safer for Northern Virginia riders. The move comes on top of hundreds of arrests for fare evasion. In an extraordinary coincidence that baffles criminologists (just kidding about the criminologists), crime in the Metro system is the lowest in seven years– down about 65% from 2023. It seems that criminalizing crime and enforcing the law actually helps reduce crime. Who knew?

     

  • Buckle Up, Virginia Beach. City Hall Mid-Wits Are Coming For Your Money.

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    I tossed former Virginia Beach Councilman, John Moss,  a multiple choice question when I talked to him yesterday: Is the proposed Virginia Beach budget better, worse or about the same as what we’ve come to expect from the fools at City Hall?

    “Worse,” he replied. “I’d say much worse. “

    Due to unexpected windfalls in the real estate assessments and state funds, every person in Virginia’s largest city ought to get a tax break this year, Moss said.

    Dare to dream, suckers.

    The city is hiking taxes again. Taxpayers are getting fleeced. But at least we’re getting a new wave park.

    As usual, expect local pols to lie about what they’re doing

    No doubt they’ll try to gaslight the public again by bragging that they “didn’t raise property taxes,” this year.

    Not true.

    Continue reading.

  • Jefferson Council Statement on Bert Ellis

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Joel Gardner

    “For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead.”

    — Thomas Jefferson

    The Jefferson Council is deeply disturbed by Governor Youngkin’s decision to remove Bert Ellis from the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors.

    At a time when UVA is confronting some of the most serious crises in its recent history—including the ongoing investigation into the tragic murders of three students and mounting allegations that senior leadership concealed critical patient safety issues at UVA Health—this decision is both troubling and ill-timed. Bert Ellis has been the Board’s most consistent and vocal advocate for transparency, accountability, and responsible governance. Removing him now sends the wrong message to students, faculty, alumni, and the broader UVA community.

    Until recently, the Board of Visitors had largely served as a rubber stamp for the administration at UVA, with meetings resembling scripted showcases rather than forums for real oversight. That changed this year when the Board reasserted its governance authority, culminating in a unanimous vote to dismantle UVA’s sweeping DEI bureaucracy. Leading that effort was Bert Ellis, who—despite relentless stonewalling from an entrenched administration backed by a multimillion-dollar PR machine—worked tirelessly to expose the truth and push for change. No one on the Board has shown greater dedication or determination.

    (more…)

  • I’ve Got Your Back…

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    James A. Bacon

    With a knife

    by James A. Bacon

    What kind of message does it send when a general shoots one of his own troopers in the trenches?

    To extend the analogy, what kind of message does it send when the governor cashiers one of his own board appointees for vague, unspecified and contested allegations of non-collegial behavior?

    To be more specific, what kind of message does it send to the dozens of men and women appointed by Governor Glenn Youngkin to the governing boards of Virginia’s public universities when he fires Bert Ellis, whom he had appointed in 2022 to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors and who led the charge to enact the Governor’s agenda on free speech, spending cuts and the dismantling of DEI?

    What misconduct did Ellis engage in? Did he sexually harass someone? Did he dip his hand into the till? Was he abusive to colleagues or employees? Does he have a conflict of interest? Did he sabotage the Governor’s agenda? Has he done anything remotely unethical? No, no, no, no and no!

    Can the Governor even articulate what Ellis said or did that was heinous enough to justify his firing? Apparently not, because he has supplied no details.

    (more…)

  • Tax on Money Almost Revived, But Got One Year Reprieve

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    Steve Haner

    In this tumultuous market environment, alternative investments are proving popular. But the 2025 Virginia General Assembly came very close to foolishly returning the sales tax on some of the most popular: physical gold and silver and legal tender coins. 

    Ending this tax on money ten years ago was the subject of one of my earliest Bacon’s Rebellion columns. Virginia is one of almost 40 states that grant full sales tax exemptions on these very portable assets. These items are so easy to ship that returning the tax (7% in some locations) would create a huge incentive to buy them in another state. 

    The bills I helped shepherd through in 2015 and 2017 for some Virginia numismatics firms had sunsets, later extended but set for removal on July 1, 2025. Two bills this year to extend the sunset failed. House Bill 2336 was killed in subcommittee and Senate Bill 1321 couldn’t even get a hearing in the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.

    A reprieve was granted in the budget, however.  A provision at the back extends the tax exemption one year, through June 2026. This is just another example of the growing abuse of the budget process to make policy decisions.

    What was going to be column saying you had a few months to rush to your Virginia dealer is now a column about 15 more months of opportunity. Finding the failed legislation gave me an excuse to call my previous client, who told me in the past decade the exemption really did boost Virginia sales and bring back customers who had been using out-of-state dealers.

    He also told me that Virginia Beach has added a new company with a large staff that does the grading of investment level coins, and a publishing firm that produces numismatic trade publications. Without question, he said, Virginia is collecting way more taxes on these businesses than it did when the sales tax drove away customers. One day a national trade show will come and produce a bonanza of cash, but returning the sales tax will scotch that.

    Add the “tax on money” to the growing list of questions we need to put to the 2025 candidates for governor. 

    -SDH

  • One Last Effort to Let Some Escape from School Failure

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    By Derrick Max,

    Derrick A. Max

     

    To say that there is a crisis in Virginia’s education system would be a gross understatement. As the Thomas Jefferson Institute’s Hannah Schmid recently wrote:

    This terrible performance is despite the extra $7 billion in direct aid to public education that Governor Glenn Youngkin has approved since the pandemic — a 50% increase. Spending more money, for the same failing results, cannot be the answer.

    Governor Youngkin, in the budget actions he returned to the General Assembly this week, reinstated his proposal to create the Virginia Opportunity Scholarship Grant Program — a bold approach to fund parents, instead of systems. This proposal represents a pivotal step toward enhancing educational opportunities for low-income families across the Commonwealth. 

    The Governor is seeking to restore $25 million of the $50 million he originally sought to use from the state’s General Fund to provide scholarships to students from households earning up to twice the federal income eligibility for free school meals. These funds can be used for private school tuition, fees, uniforms, textbooks, transportation, and other educational expenses, thereby broadening the spectrum of educational options to those struggling the most.   

    (more…)

  • What Does This Tell You?

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    James A. Bacon

    After the University of Virginia Board of Visitors passed a resolution abolishing the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and banning racial preferences at the university earlier this month, it took a week or longer for the University administration to take down the DEI web page — and only after the newly-fired board member Bert Ellis had made an issue of it with senior administrators.

    It took three-and-a-half hours at most, probably less, for the administration to remove Bert Ellis’ profile from the Board of Visitors page.

    Time stamp of Youngkin’s press release: 4:53 p.m.

    Time stamp of The Washington Post article noting that Ellis’ profile had been scrubbed: 8:28 p.m.

    — JAB

     

  • Youngkin Fires Ellis

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Bert Ellis

    by James A. Bacon

    Governor Glenn Youngkin has fired Bert Ellis from the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, terminating the most outspoken member of the board supporting his goals of reining in tuition, promoting free speech and intellectual diversity, and eliminating Diversity, Equity & Inclusion from the university’s policies and practices.

    The Governor asked for Ellis’ resignation several says ago, but Ellis made it clear he would not resign — the Governor would have to fire him. The Governor repeated his request in a meeting with Ellis yesterday, and Ellis declined again.

    “It is with sadness that I remove you as a member of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors,” Youngkin wrote in a brief statement explaining his action. “While I thank you for your hard work, your conduct on many occasions has violated the Commonwealth’s Code of Conduct for our Boards and Commissions and the Board of Visitors Statement of Visitor Responsibilities.

    Update: This evening Ellis issued a press release warning Youngkin, who had declared last week that “DEI is done” at UVA, that the battle to eliminate Diversity, Equity & Inclusion from the University was far from over. “Governor Youngkin should reverse his decision so we can hold the University President Jim Ryan accountable, ensure that common sense returns to UVA by ending DEI for good, stopping antisemitism, and reducing costs at the university.” (See the full statement below.)

    Update: An hour later, Youngkin announced that he intended to appoint former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cucinelli to the board in Ellis’ place. (See full text below.)

    The state code gives Virginia’s Governor power to remove board members from office for “malfeasance, misfeasance, incompetence, or gross neglect of duty.” It also states that the Governor shall set forth his or her reasons in a written public statement. “The governor is the sole judge of the sufficiency of the cause for removal.”

    The letter did not cite any actions or statements that warranted firing. When asked for specifics, Youngkin spokesperson Peter Finocchio said he did not have anything to add to the Governor’s letter.

    However, in breaking the story Monday of the Governor’s intentions, The Washington Post referred to police body-cam videos showing Ellis haranguing University of Virginia police in 2023 for not maintaining a more visible presence on the Corner, the retail strip across the street from UVA. The community was in an uproar at the time from a string of homicides in Charlottesville, including a murder and other incidents near the university grounds. I argued yesterday that someone in the Ryan administration at UVA or the Governor’s Office tipped off the Post to the videos as part of a campaign to discredit Ellis.

    (more…)

  • Ethiopians, Unite!

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Image credit: UNITE HERE Local 23

    Who knew that many of the unarmed security guards at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport are of Ethiopian origin? For that matter, who knew there were so many Ethiopians working in any capacity at Reagan National and Washington Dulles International? Or that many have worked there as long as 15 years? Or that many are not yet fluent in English?

    And who knew that that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) intercepted 145 firearms in Virginia airports last year — 41 of them at Reagan National?

    Apparently, the Trump administration pronunciamento that English be made the official language of the United States has prompted authorities to require that all security officers pass an English-language proficiency exam. Now Democratic Reps. Gerry Connolly, VA-11, and Don Beyer, VA-08, have intervened on behalf of the Ethiopians. So reports DC News Now.

    The new exam, the congresspersons write in a letter to the chairman of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, “threatens to displace skilled, experienced workers who have provided invaluable service to our airports for many years.”

    (more…)

  • DEI and the First-Gen Dodge

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors has joined the University of Virginia and Virginia Commonwealth University in voting to dismantle its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion program. Of course, local media found minority students who are unhappy with the decision.

    “I’m here on a scholarship for first-generation students, so I find these kinds of programs are super important to ensure that these voices are visible and heard,” Kaitlyn Guzman, a senior from Leesburg studying political science and Spanish, told The Virginia Cardinal. 

    It turns out, according to a revealing figure in the Cardinal article, that 40 percent of Virginia Tech students are from so-called “under-represented” groups: primarily first-generation students (the first in their family to attend college).

    Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court restricted the use of race in admissions, it seems that every public university in Virginia has discovered the virtue of increasing “first-generation” admissions. VCU, a much less selective institution than UVA or Tech, has defined its niche in Virginia’s higher-ed system for many years as serving first-gen students. Now everyone wants in on the first-gen action.

    (more…)

  • Taking a Knife to the Democrats’ Green Energy Dream

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    by

    Steve Haner

    By Steve Haner

    Wielding irony like a razor-sharp butcher’s knife, Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) has proposed a series of amendments on bills intended to mandate renewable energy that basically reverse the impact and do just the opposite.  One amendment would even repeal the 2020 Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA), which is central to Virginia Democratic climate politics and future utility profits.  

    Youngkin opened the 2025 session calling the VCEA a “quagmire,” but had not proposed his own bill to repeal it. Now he has placed an opportunity for repeal on the table.   

    Many of the energy bills identified earlier by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy as unwise were vetoed outright by the Governor. For others, he offered the changes that remove the harm they would do. Youngkin’s deadline for actions was Monday at midnight, but many of the substitutes were not available for review until Tuesday afternoon. 

    The General Assembly returns on April 2 to consider overrides of the vetoes, but that motion requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers. With only narrow Democratic majorities, the vetoes are likely to stand. There are enough Democrats, however, to reject the Governor’s amendments and substitutes, so the new proposals described below are unlikely to pass.  If the General Assembly rejects his changes, the Governor gets a final opportunity to veto the underlying bill.   

    The worst energy legislation to reach his desk was two matching bills to completely revise the monopoly utility’s integrated resource process, incorporating a mandate to consider the social cost of carbon in all analyses, among other changes detrimental to consumers.  House Bill 2413 and Senate Bill 1021 were vetoed.   

    (more…)

  • Disassembling the Post’s Latest Hit Piece

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Who leaked police-cam videos meant to embarrass Bert Ellis to The Washington Post? If we knew the answer to that, we could get a clearer view of the behind-the-scenes power play to shape the future of the University of Virginia.

    Governor Glenn Youngkin has asked Ellis to resign from his position on the UVA Board of Visitors, and Ellis has so far resisted. The objection to Ellis cited in the Post — which is consistent with what I have heard — is that his outspoken manner conflicts with the gentlemanly demeanor that Youngkin would like to see on the UVA board. The two men are scheduled to hash out their issues in a meeting this afternoon.

    But there is more going on than a difference of style. Ellis is a hate object for the left. Just read the comments on The Washington Post article that broke the news of the requested resignation, for a taste of the venom. Ellis was the victim of a character assassination campaign when Democrats almost blocked his nomination to the board in 2022, and his enemies could be dusting off the same playbook.

    Sources are leaking. Their identities and motives remain obscure.

    The Post cites at least “two people familiar with the matter” for its article this morning laying bare the controversy. The reporters, Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Laura Vozzella, do not identify their sources, but they provide clues. One is probably a senior Youngkin administration official. The identity of the second is uncertain, but some evidence points to someone senior in the UVA administration.

    (more…)

  • What Would T.J. Say About Trump, Columbia and DEI?

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Image credit: ChatGPT

    by Kim Acquaviva

    At the University of Virginia (UVA), we stand with our feet firmly planted in two worlds: the world of our founding and the world we now inhabit. The tension between those two worlds is an alchemical force, capable of transforming memory into momentum and history into hope. It is this very tension that propels the university ever forward.

    UVA’s Board of Visitors also straddles two different worlds, per se. According to the “Statement of Visitor Responsibilities — Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia — December 7, 2018,” members of the Board of Visitors are expected to serve “… as conduits for conveying the interests of citizens and political leaders of the Commonwealth to the University.” At the same time, they are expected to “…actively safeguard principles of academic freedom for the University and its faculty and endeavor to protect the University from outside influences seeking improperly to shape it.”

    Considering the recent BOV resolutions designed to compel UVA to carry out President Trump’s executive orders (consistent with directives from Attorney General Miyares and, by extension, Governor Youngkin), the BOV must grapple with a question that strikes at the heart of our identity as an institution: should BOV members prioritize serving as the conduit for conveying the interests of the Governor and AG over protecting the University from outside influences seeking improperly to shape it?  Put another way: should the University abandon Thomas Jefferson’s call to “follow truth wherever it may lead” and instead allow elected officials to define truth on our behalf?

    The news regarding Columbia University agreeing to President Trump’s list of demands increases my sense of urgency that UVA’s Board of Visitors needs to grapple with these questions sooner rather than later. The University of Virginia cannot fulfill its mission if the scope, focus, or direction of scholarly inquiry is restricted to align with the ideology of the sitting President—regardless of party affiliation. Students and faculty alike cannot follow truth freely if the price of federal funding is compliance with a political agenda.

    (more…)

  • What Madness Is This?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Bert Ellis. Photo credit: The Washington Post.

    Having bragged on national cable news that “DEI is done” at the University of Virginia, Governor Glenn Youngkin now is asking for the resignation of the man most determined to ensure that DEI is, in fact, laid to rest.

    Youngkin is worried that Board of Visitors member Bert Ellis’ “outspoken and sometimes combative manner,” to use The Washington Post’s words, could undermine his efforts to reshape the university.

    Ellis has declined to oblige the governor, and the two men are scheduled to meet Tuesday to discuss the matter.

    The Post cites two unidentified sources for its story. I don’t know who those sources are, but it’s safe to describe the piece as part of a larger effort to neutralize Ellis, who was the object of a previous smear campaign in 2022 after Youngkin nominated him to take the lead against DEI, administrative bloat, and rising tuition.

    The tip-off is the Post’s reference to April 2023 videos in which Ellis harangued two University Police Department officers for their invisible presence on the Corner retail strip adjacent to UVA. The Post reporters obtained the police-cam videos through a highly specific Freedom of Information Act request that could only have been fed to them from a source familiar with the incident. In a sure sign that the newspaper is a willing tool in the effort to discredit Ellis, the reporters left out critical exculpatory context. (More on the Post article in a follow-up post.)

    Ellis narrowly survived an effort by Virginia Democrats to derail his appointment two years ago after a character-assassination campaign depicted him as racist, homophobic and a physical danger to the UVA community. Since then, he has emerged as the one member of the Board of Visitors willing to openly confront Northam appointees who, until this year, controlled the board. In one showdown with Rector Robert Hardie, he insisted that the board discuss openly, not in closed session, the wave of antisemitism arising from pro-Palestinian rhetoric and demonstrations on Grounds. More recently, he has been voting solo against new spending requests until the Ryan administration presented a budget with major spending cuts and tuition relief.

    Excepting only the confrontation with Hardie, Ellis has been restrained and respectful during board meetings. Outside the board, he has been blunt, plain-spoken and colorfully quotable. In a recent interview with The Daily Progress about the University, he said that “every aspect of DEI is to be ripped out, shredded and terminated.”

    (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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