Tag: Guest contributors
-
Advanced Recycling: A Win-Win for Virginia
by Chris Braunlich Candidates love to be on the side of the gods โ and supporting reduced pollution and greater economic growth is a โwin-win.โย After all, if Virginia can use new technologies to reduce not only greenhouse gases but also what we send to landfills โฆ while simultaneously creating new, well-paying jobs, who could oppose…
-
To Solve Homelessness, Equip People to Rise from Poverty
by David Cooper There is an ongoing debate among nonprofits providing homeless shelters on the best way to address homelessness. Should they focus on finding places for people to live, regardless of what mental health or substance abuse problems they might have, or should they stress equipping them with life skills, even if it means…
-
Propagandizing Doth Not A Happy Historian Make
๏ปฟ by Jock Yellott “Do you agree or disagree that college faculty are contaminating history with politics and producing closed minded, unscientific and illogical propaganda?” Dr. Ed Ayers, former president of the University of Richmond, a former Dean of Arts and Sciences at U Va, and among Virginia’s most accomplished and respected living historians, was…
-
COVID Vaccination Infrastructure Is Pathetically Inadequate
by Kathleen Smith For the millions of dollars that have come to the Commonwealth for COVID-19, did anyone ever think about the infrastructure needed to rollout the most important aspect of a COVID response, the vaccine? According to The Virginia Mercury, The Virginia Department of Health hasnโt developed a uniform playbook or guidance that health…
-
Northam Owes Virginians Answers on COVID-19
by Shaun Kenney Former Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, has been assiduous in his criticism of Governor Ralph Northamโs handling of the COVID pandemic โ and for good reason. Consider the successes enjoyed by West Virginia. Rather than plugging in to the federal system that mandated distribution centers, West Virginia instead activated its National Guard…
-
What Is a โLow Dead Spaceโ Syringe and Why Is It So Important?
by Verhaal Kenner Governor Ralph Northam has shifted Virginia into phase โ1B,โ meaning that a “front line” worker, or anyone over 65 or with a chronic health condition, is eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. Thatโs clearly a population several times the estimated 440,500 that are in the state’sย โ1Aโ group ย โ only about half of whom…
-
Violence and Tolerance
Leftists couldn’t raise a finger to object to political violence all summer, but feel they are in a moral position to do so now? Blame Herbert Marcuse… by Shaun Kenney Herbert Marcuse is a name you might vaguely know. Marcuse was the darling of violent leftist radicals during the 1960s who found new currency and…
-
Reimagining Monticello after Jefferson’s Fall
by Kenneth W. Gatten III Among the American founders, Thomas Jefferson is most enduring: as historian Jon Meacham writes, โWithโฆ his sense of taste and love of beautiful things – of silver and art and architecture and gardening and food and wine – Jefferson is more alive, convivial.โ On display at his home and museum…
-
When I Was “Canceled” at UVa
by Matthew Cameron Cancel culture has been a hot topic in 2020. Most recently, itโs become a discussion point among those concerned about the state of academic freedom and intellectual diversity at my own alma mater, the University of Virginia. The strongest critique of cancel culture at UVA emerged in October when alumnus Joel Gardner…
-
Virginia Voting “Reform” Makes Fraud Easier
by Chris Adams In a Restonnow.com opinion piece last month, Delegate Ken Plum, D-Reston, listed several accomplishments of the General Assembly in 2020. Several speak positively to the Commonwealth. One, however, is noteworthy for degrading election integrity. โNon-discrimination legislation passed with the Virginia Values Act being one of the most comprehensive in the nation,” wrote…
-
Reopen Public Schools or Provide Education Choice
by Vicky Manning When I was elected to serve on the Virginia Beach School Board in 2016, I never imagined there would be a time when I would have to fight to keep our school doors open. However, that is what I have been doing for the last 6 months. The last day of in-person…
-
How to Promote Ideological Diversity at Washington & Lee
by Neely Young It is well known by now that the professoriate at many colleges and universities, particularly the more elite ones, is dominated by politically liberal faculty. American higher education needs ideological diversity in classrooms, particularly in those that touch on political and social issues. Disciplines like sociology, history, political science, literature, and philosophy…
-
Fairfax School Board Should Focus on Schools, Not Environmental Policy
by Emilio Jaksetic Not content with running the county’s public school system, the Fairfax County School Board now is involved with developing strategies and recommendations for county environmental policy. The results can be seen in the Final Report of the Oct. 1, 2020, Fairfax County Joint Environmental Task Force (JET). In April 2019, the JET…
-
StoryCorps Seeks to Pierce “Culture of Contempt”
by Dave Isay We are in the throes of what has been called a โculture of contempt,โ a nation so divided that some families may not be able to endure another Thanksgiving around the same table. Passing the yams might well come with an earfulโฆ or more. Comity has given way to scorn. Division is…
-
Virginia K-12 School Re-Openings: Now Is Not the Time
byย Ryan Chou and Rajesh Balkrishnan In the weeks and months preceding Virginia school re-openings, parents, teachers, and students speculated about what distance learning would be like. Following the onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020, many districts had hastily shut down schools to protect students and teachers from the virus and had implemented…