Tag: Guest contributors
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Older Virginians Account for Three Quarters of COVID Deaths. What Is VDH Doing?
by Carol J. Bova We’ve seen reports that close to half of the COVID-19 deaths are from outbreaks in long term-care facilities (i.e., nursing homes, assisted living or multi-care facilities, group homes). There’s another story though, when you compare COVID-19 facts by the age ranges the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) uses in its reports. The…
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Loudoun’s “Anti-Racism” Discriminates against Whites
by Hans Bader The Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) are planning to impose illegal racial preferences in student discipline, and have already made changes to school admission policies that are being challenged in court. The district also plans to restrict teachers’ out-of-school speech, by punishing them for speech that disagrees with school policies, and by…
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More Graduates, Less Learning
by John Butcher The estimable Jim Bacon notices the increased graduation rates this year and wonders how much of the increase reflects the waivers issued by the Superintendent. We have some of the underlying data. On May 26, the Governor issued Executive Order 51 that provides, in part: Authorization for the heads of executive branch agencies, on behalf of their…
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How Well is VDH Managing COVID-19 Outbreaks?
by Carol J. Bova The Virginia Department of Health data is now equipped with extensive testing capacity and a small army of contact tracers to squelch outbreaks of COVID-19 in Virginia. Recent data regarding the number of outbreaks raises questions about how well VDH is doing its job. One concern is the validity of the…
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Changing the Rules for Absentee Ballots
by Emilio Jaksetic The Virginia State Board of Elections is proposing to disregard and nullify the statutory requirement that absentee ballots must be postmarked on or before the date of the election. This proposed administrative action makes a mockery of Virginia election law and is an appalling assault on the rule of law. The Virginia…
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Kendi’s Brand of “Anti-Racism” is Unconstitutional
by Hans Bader The Fairfax County Public Schools paid $20,000 to an advocate of racial discrimination against whites, for a 45 minute speech on “anti-racism.” They also are paying bus drivers to drive empty school buses, even as schools operate online. Fairfax County has 1.1 million residents, and runs the largest school system in Virginia.…
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Fairfax County Tax Dollars at Work
by Asra Q. Nomani One Thursday morning, in early August, author Ibram Kendi tucked Apple AirPods into his ears and nestled into his seat in front of a camera to chat online in an “exclusive” “conversation” with principals, teachers and staff of Fairfax County Public Schools. An hour later, he was done, and laudatory messages…
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The Undemocratic Origins of One Fairfax
by Emilio Jaksetic On July 12, 2016, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors adopted a One Fairfax resolution to achieve “racial and social equity” and “direct the development of a racial and social equity policy for adoption.” The Board of Supervisor adopted the final One Fairfax Policy on November 20, 2017. The Center for the…
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Will Virginia Teach Critical Race Theory to Kindergartners?
by Hans Bader This week, the Virginia Board of Education will meet to discuss a report that may promote destructive racial ideologies — the August 2020 “Report from the Governor’s African American History Education Commission.” James Sherlock laments “the fiercely negative approach to the teaching of African American history offered by the Governor’s Commission.” He…
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School Closings Reflect Ideology, Not Safety
by Hans Bader Schools in liberal northern Virginia and the state’s other metropolitan areas are currently educating students only online. In Virginia’s most conservative counties, students usually have access to some instruction in-person. In-person instruction is easier for elementary school students. They often have difficulty with remote learning, which can require mastery of electronic devices and concentrating…
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Keep California on the West Coast
by Bill O’Keefe Virginia has passed a law — SB 851 — requiring Dominion Energy to supply 30% percent of its power from renewable energy sources by 2030 and to close all carbon-emitting power plants by 2045. According to the Energy Information Administration, natural gas fueled 53% of Virginia’s electricity net generation in 2018, nuclear…
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Is a COVID Surge Coming in October?
by Carol J. Bova Statewide, the R0 (R-naught) value for COVID-19 moved up to 1.004 because of surges in the Near Southwest and Northwest for the week ending August 22, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s latest COVID-19 Model Weekly Update. If the RO is above 1, it indicates the potential for exponential increases…
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Vitamin D and COVID-19
by Carol J. Bova Researchers at the University of Chicago have found that Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher likelihood of contracting the coronavirus. In combination with other Vitamin D research, the results may point the way to a quick and inexpensive way to reduce COVID-19 deaths among African-Americans and Hispanics. David Meltzer,…
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Race Still Unknown in One of Five COVID Cases
by Carol J. Bova On July 27th, Bacon’s Rebellion asked the question, “Why is VDH Stockpiling Cases as Unknown Race”? The Northam administration had expressed concerns since March about the disparity of racial impacts from COVID-19. Yet 24% of confirmed cases at that time still had not been classified by race or ethnicity. More than…
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“The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret”
by Erik Curren Comedian John Oliver recently joined the chorus denouncing America’s founding fathers as unworthy of admiration because of their connection to slavery. This time, the target was George Washington. Commenting on an episode of ABC’s morning talk show The View, in which Joy Behar said that statues of Washington deserved to stay up not…