Bacon's Rebellion

  • VanValkenburg Takes Another Crack at Affordable Housing

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    I’m beginning to think that Senator Schuyler VanValkenburg, D-Henrico, is my favorite Democrat. Admittedly, my list of Democrats whose policies I like is a short one, so it’s not a high bar to clear. But I’d go one step further. VanValkenburg is generating ideas to address affordable housing that could be — should be — coming from Republicans but aren’t.

    The Henrico senator’s latest proposal is to encourage infill housing development by rethinking a regulation in the state building code that requires two staircases for mid-rise apartment buildings. Eliminating the second staircase would help developers maximize space on smaller parcels, making it easier to add new housing in dense areas, reports The Virginia Mercury.

    I’ll get to the logic behind VanValkenburg’s proposal in a moment. But first let me stress how unconventional it is among Democrats, whose instinct for addressing every social problem in the universe is to (a) create a government program, (b) spend more money, and/or (c) enact more regulations.

    A case in point is a bill (SB812) sponsored by Senator Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, to extend rent-payment grace periods. If signed by Governor Glenn Youngkin, the bill would increase the mandatory waiting period from five days to 14 days after landlords notify a tenant of nonpayment before pursuing termination of a rental agreement.

    (more…)

  • Check the Mirror, Senator Hashmi

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    By Chris Braunlich

    Sen. Ghazala Hashmi

    State Senator Ghazala Hashmi (D-Powhatan) has written a Richmond Times-Dispatch commentary proclaiming Governor Glenn Youngkin responsible for Virginia’s education declines, a commentary astonishing for the breadth of its amnestic qualities.

    Senator Hashmi, who seeks the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor, correctly notes “Virginia’s fourth-grade math scores have plummeted, dropping us from fifth place in 2019 to 22nd today. Students with disabilities and Black students have suffered some of the worst declines nationwide. And in reading, Virginia’s fourth-grade recovery is the third worst in the country.”

    And then she gets political, blaming Youngkin for the decline. But that’s a little like blaming the farmer who buys acreage his predecessor planted with bad seed. The “seeds” of Virginia’s education decline were planted by previous administrations with ineffective policies Senator Hashmi was quick to support.

    In fact, one of Youngkin’s first actions was to produce a 2022 report to determine where Virginia stood and to make it clear that Black, Hispanic, and low-income students were suffering most under the existing system. For his honesty, the teachers union called it a “blatant manipulation of data” and the Senate Democratic leader called it a “joke,” “dog-whistle talking points”, “outright lie, supported by cherry-picked data and warped perspective.”

    After two years of resisting or voting down Youngkin’s reform proposals, this supposed “lie” is now substantiated by the Education Recovery Scorecard developed by experts from Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth. School divisions with high concentrations of at-risk students, like Petersburg and Richmond have suffered the worst losses, as the Youngkin report said.

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  • VMI at a Crossroads: Integrity vs Politics

    Posted on

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    James A. Bacon

    Image credit: The Cadet

    by The Cadet editorial staff

    The Virginia Military Institute has long been a bastion of honor, leadership, and tradition. Founded to mold leaders of integrity and moral courage, it now finds itself caught in a storm of political agendas, ideological skirmishes, and administrative indecision. At the heart of this maelstrom lies a singular, essential question: Is VMI still upholding its core mission, or has it become another pawn in the relentless game of political power plays?

    This is not merely an internal crisis—it’s a pivotal moment that could reshape the very ethos of one of America’s most storied institutions.

    The recent controversy surrounding the possible extension of Superintendent Maj. Gen. Cedric Wins’ contract has spotlighted the dangerous intrusion of politics into VMI’s governance. Instead of measured debates over leadership effectiveness and institutional integrity, backroom deals and political strong-arming seem to have taken center stage.

    During the February 2025 Board of Visitors (BOV) meeting, board member Teddy Gottwald revealed a troubling claim: a state senator allegedly pressured BOV members, threatening to withhold critical funding unless they approved Wins’ contract extension. Congressman Ben Cline later implicated State Senator Jennifer Carroll Foy, citing an alleged warning that VMI’s budget was “in peril” unless Wins, the Institute’s first Black Superintendent, was granted a four-year extension.

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  • General Assembly Upends Bill to Hold Virginia Nursing Homes Accountable

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    sherlockj

    General Assembly Upends Bill to Hold Virginia Nursing Homes Accountable

    by James C. Sherlock

    Fish gotta swim. The General Assembly gotta do the bidding of the nursing home lobby. Patients be damned – literally.

    Consider the fate of House Bill 2253 in the 2025 General Assembly.

    • As introduced, it would have empowered the Health Commissioner to impose serious sanctions on our worst nursing homes; but
    • As substituted, it gives her no authority to do anything likely to even inconvenience them.

    That was not a substitution. It was an execution.

    The substitute bill is objectively inhumane. It assures that Virginia will remain a prime target for people seeking the double-digit annual gains available from levels of understaffing far below federal minimum safe patient standards. Levels at which patients are proven to suffer and die without any pretense of adequate care.

    It passed unanimously in both chambers. I doubt very many of them read the midnight substitute.

    The governor should veto it.

    (more…)

  • Only in America: Abortion Rights for Men

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    It is widely said that the United States is experiencing a cultural counter-revolution — or a return to sanity, if you prefer to phrase it that way. But if you have any delusions that the cultural revolutionaries are on the run, you need to know that they are as active as ever in our elite institutions of higher learning, feverishly elaborating upon ideologies that strike the rest of us as out of touch with reality.

    As an example, a correspondent has brought to my attention an article in the University of Virginia’s Virginia Law Review entitled, “Gender During Pregnancy, and Abortion As Gender-Affirming Care.”

    The article explores the legal implications of biological females identifying as males… and then becoming pregnant. What rights should such people have in the realm of reproductive healthcare?

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  • Henrico Proposes Tax Relief

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Maybe Henrico County officials read my recent lament in Bacon’s Rebellion concerning the significant increase in my house’s assessed value. In any event, the county manager’s office announced this week that it was proposing to the Board of Supervisors a reduction of 2 cents in the real estate tax rate.

    Now many people will be quick to point out that I and other Henrico residents will still have to pay more in taxes this year than we did last year; therefore, it is not a tax cut. And they would be right up to a point. I tend to take a different perspective: I will not have to pay as much tax as I would have if the county had kept the tax rate the same. In that sense, my taxes will have been reduced from what they would have been otherwise.

    I don’t know how much the Board would need to reduce the rate in order to bring in the same amount of revenue as last year. The county is required to identify this “equalized rate” when it schedules a public hearing on the budget later this spring.

    To be fair, in the announcement on its website, the county did not claim it was providing a tax cut. It used the term “tax relief” and was careful in the body of the announcement to specify that it was cutting the tax rate. Of course, many residents may associate “tax relief” with a “tax cut” and many may assume that a reduction in the tax rate will result in their paying less tax.

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  • The Bezos Speaketh

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    James A. Bacon

    Could this herald happier times for Virginia?

    Editorial writers’ hair on fire. Image credit: Bing Image Creator

    by Gordon C. Morse

    The Washington Post’s editorial chief is out the door. Cue the indignation.

    Light the exit sign, too. In many quarters of the paper, this will not be received as happy news and may potentially cause departures.

    “I am of America and for America, and proud to be so,” The New York Times reports Mr. Bezos saying. “Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical; it drives creativity, invention and prosperity.”

    Heaven knows what that means (you should say such things only when accompanied by music), but a Post opinion page shake-up at least creates the possibility of being beneficial to Virginia. The editorial hostility that the Post routinely shows toward Virginia – its relentless demands to do this, that or the other thing – would not be missed.

    This assumes, of course, that the next occupant of that job -– editor of the editorial page — arrives more level-headed, thoughtful and informed about matters below the Potomac.

    I could give you many, many examples of the Post’s overbearing ways, but one immediately jumps to mind: Gov. Ralph Northam.

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  • Kent Resigns. What’s Next for Ryan?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    President Jim Ryan (left) and UVA Health CEO Craig Kent. Photo credit: The Daily Progress

    by James A. Bacon

    K. Craig Kent, CEO of the University of Virginia Health System, resigned yesterday after the Board of Visitors met in closed session to hear the findings of an investigation into allegations of unsafe medical practices, fraudulent billing, and a culture of fear and retaliation.

    “Following the meeting, Dr. Craig Kent offered, and President Ryan accepted, his resignation,” according to a terse statement sent Tuesday night by Ryan and UVa Rector Robert Hardie to UVa Health and the School of Medicine. “The Board and the President thank Dr. Kent for his years of service to the University.”

    Kent’s resignation represents a major setback for Ryan, already embattled from other controversies, who declined to act on the complaints when they were brought to his attention last year. He stood by Kent when 128 physicians and faculty members published a letter accusing the hospital CEO and School of Medicine Dean Melina Kibbe of numerous abuses of power.

    The Board of Visitors initiated an investigation late last year to probe the allegations. On Kent and Kibbe’s watch, the letter alleged, the UVA Medical Center tampered with billing and patient records, suppressed reports of patient-safety concerns, engaged in upcoding to maximize reimbursements, showed blatant favoritism for some, and engaged in intimidation and retaliation against others.

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  • Time to Come Clean on Clean Economy Act Costs to Customers

    Posted on

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    Steve Haner

    How the VCEA-related riders used to appear on Dominion’s bills

    By Steve Haner

    Until October of last year, customers of Dominion Energy Virginia could see at least some of the higher costs created by the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) detailed on their electric bills. Look at the recent bill and all that transparency is gone and the VCEA costs are now hidden. 

    Compliance with the Democrats’ signature law to retire hydrocarbon generation and attempt to replace it with wind, solar and battery projects is starting to get noticeably expensive. Maybe that is why the utility stopped being so open about the costs.   

    During the recent General Assembly session, House Republicans offered an amendment to the state budget that would have mandated a return of those details to energy bills, with backup information provided on the utility’s public websites. It also would have applied to Appalachian Power Company which serves about 540,000 customer accounts in Western Virginia.   

    The language (rejected of course but set out below) should be revived and attached as an amendment to some germane bill Governor Glenn Youngkin might otherwise be willing to sign. There is absolutely no valid reason for a nay vote on this idea. Why would anybody oppose providing more information on cost to a utility’s captive ratepayers?   

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  • Navigating Modern Language

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Should a thing’s name tell you what the thing is?

    Image credit: ChatGPT

    by Joe Fitzgerald

    Language is screwed.

    The purpose of language, communication, has been sacrificed on the altar of who-knows-what, in the interests of promoting your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine.

    My favorite current example is the Navigation Center at an unnamed city in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

    Public Works, perhaps. Making street signs more readable? There are of course rules – federal, state, vegetable, and mineral – about those signs. The fonts are detailed, perhaps not quite into the advanced section of the Microsoft Word fonts panel, but perhaps requiring a separate center to keep track of and navigate the rules? We’re using “perhaps” and the question mark a lot here. That’s because the Navigation Center has nothing to do with street signs, or fonts.

    Maybe it has something to do with coordinating the city’s computer systems with MapQuest. Those who’d argue that MapQuest has been supplanted by Google and Apple maps may be surprised to learn that it’s still around. Not that it matters, because the Navigation Center has nothing to do with maps.

    Buses, maybe? (We’ve switched from “perhaps” to “maybe” but the language mystery is no closer to being solved.) Navigation Center could be a facility to plan more efficient bus routes. Except it’s not.

    (more…)

  • Deliberations in Darkness

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    UVA Board of Visitors before entering closed session last week

    by James A. Bacon

    Last week the University of Virginia Board of Visitors met to discuss one of the most contentious public-policy issues roiling American politics today: the medical treatment of transgender youth. The meeting was closed to the public, and board members were enjoined not to reveal what was said.

    The justification for keeping the deliberations secret? The meeting, prompted by an executive order from President Trump, would disclose the advice of UVA legal counsel and supposedly reveal sensitive information about UVA Medical Center business operations.

    In another recent development, UVA announced that after a year-and-a-half of withholding taxpayer-funded reports on the 2022 slaying of three UVA football players, it was finally preparing to release the documents to the public. But first, it was sharing the report with the families of the murdered students to give them “the opportunity to read the reports” and meet with University officials.

    Happy Perry, mother of D’Sean Perry, one of the murder victims, told The Daily Progress the university needn’t have bothered. Redactions blacked out a majority of the report. “There’s nothing in there. They [have] taken everything out. … There’s nothing in it that we want to know.”

    (more…)

  • Medicaid Expansion Costs in Virginia – Who Should Pay?

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    sherlockj

    Medicaid Expansion Costs in Virginia – Who Should Pay?

    by James C. Sherlock

    Update Feb 26 at 13:02:  See here for article on potential Medicaid cuts.

    Ronald Reagan was wrong, yet somewhere he is smiling.

    “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!”

    Remember Obamacare and its Medicaid expansion?  It was signed in March of 2010.  Fifteen years ago.

    Medicare expansion covers adults younger than 65 who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty level. About 636,000 people were covered in 2023 by Virginia’s Medicaid expansion.  

    The deal features 90% federal funding.  Below is what Medicaid expansion costs.

    Virginia Medicaid Expansion Costs courtesy Virginia Medicaid

    (more…)

  • Federal Workers: No Place to Hide

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    Do indignant federal workers who act as if it’s beneath their dignity to account for their work hours have any idea how petulant and entitled they seem to the rest of us?

    Click image to view video.

    Apparently not. This woman is griping that she has two days to knock out five bullet points about what she did last week. 

    Oh the pressure!

    Yet she somehow found time to get her makeup done so she could go on CNN and whine.

    Not feeling sorry for you, lady.

    Looks like working from home for years and collecting fat paychecks has insulated federal workers from the real world. Remember, the average federal wage right now is $106,462. Meanwhile, the average wage of American workers – according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – is $65,470.

    Government workers would be wise to temper their tantrums.

    Continue reading.

  • Team Youngkin Flexes Muscles at UVA Board Meeting

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Image credit: ChatGPT

    by James A. Bacon

    In a special meeting called Friday, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors made it crystal clear who was in charge of setting university policy — the board, not the president. It was the most forceful assertion of board authority since the board under Rector Helen Dragas ousted former president Teresa Sullivan in 2012.

    The putative issue was how UVA should respond to an executive order from President Trump threatening the withdrawal of federal funds from institutions engaged in the “chemical and surgical mutilation” — alternatively referred to as “gender-affirming care” — of children under the age of 19. Shortly after, a federal judge in Maryland issued a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the restrictions.

    In response to the executive order, UVA’s administrative leadership suspended the treatment of transgenders and then, in response to the judge’s order, reversed the suspension. The primary concern expressed in the BoV resolution was not the transgender policy itself but the administration’s usurpation of authority to decide university policy.

    The resolution claimed sweeping authority, not over just the final wording of high-level policies but the process by which policies are made, and even the appointment of members to committees and task forces formed to study and make recommendations (my emphasis):

    (more…)

  • End of Watch

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Kerry Dougherty

    We don’t pay police officers enough.

    Then again, there isn’t enough money in the world to fairly compensate these men and women who put on the uniform and wade into the cesspools of our cities — areas most of us avoid — so we can sleep soundly in our beds at night.

    Let me ask, exactly how much money would you need to earn to risk your life making a routine traffic stop?

    Officers Christopher Reese and Cameron Girvin were murdered Friday night by a convicted felon driving a car with expired tags. Initial reports suggest he shot each officer twice before fleeing the scene and killing himself.

    “Those officers fell to the ground,” Police Chief Paul Neudigate said at a Saturday press conference. “While on the ground, defenseless, he shot them each a separate time.” 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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