Category Archives: Culture wars

Despite Five Years of Programs, Campus “Rapes” Surged at UVa in 2018

Posted on December 6, 2019 by | 10 comments

by James A. Bacon

Five years ago, Rolling Stone magazine plunged the University of Virginia into turmoil with its infamous article, “A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA.” Though totally discredited, the story prompted intensive soul-searching by a campus administration primed to believe in the existence of a “rape culture” at the university. As documented in the latest edition of Cville magazine, the university dedicated considerable resources to address the problem of sexual assault.

The university adopted a Policy on Sexual and Gender-Based Harassment and Other Forms of Interpersonal Violence, instituted outreach and training programs, developed a system for reporting and tracking sexual assaults, hired a full-time Title IX coordinator, and beefed up its Equal opportunity and Civil Rights office staff. Counseling & Psychological Services nearly doubled its staff. The Women’s Center received more funding, hired trauma counselors and set up counseling hotlines.

But a curious thing happened. The incidence of sexual assault isn’t improving. Indeed, in 2018 the number of reported “rapes” leaped to 28 from 16 the year before. Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars, Education (higher ed)

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More PC Drivel from ___&___ University

Posted on November 29, 2019 by | 28 comments


by James A. Bacon

Triggered by the slave-owning past of George Washington and Robert E. Lee, a group of Washington & Lee University law students are clamoring for the option of being awarded diplomas stripped of the portraits of the university’s namesakes, reports the Washington Post.

I guess you could say that I’m triggered by the fact that they’re triggered. My reaction: Get over it. If some W&L grads are so bent out of shape by the university’s historical association with former slave owners, regardless of their other accomplishments, maybe they should have thought of that before they enrolled.

Here’s my solution: whiteout.

With just a few dabs, your Washington & Lee diploma could look like this:

Continue reading →

28 Comments

Posted in Culture wars, Education (higher ed)

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The Rank Hypocrisy of Rural Gun Sanctuaries

Posted on November 20, 2019 by | 26 comments

by Peter Galuszka

When Donald Trump ran for president on a platform of virulent xenophobia, one of the rallying cries he favored was the idea that liberal-minded localities were forming “sanctuary cities” and would not cooperate with federal immigration officials on the prowl for undocumented aliens.

Right-wing Virginia politicians, notably Corey A. Stewart, who led anti-foreign hate raids when he was Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Prince William County, locked onto the idea with a vengeance. Listed as “sanctuary” cities were places like Virginia Beach and Richmond.

The problem was that they were no such cities or counties. True, short-funded police departments tended to stick to their real work – enforcing local and state laws as they should – but there were no formal pronouncements of “sanctuary cities.”

So, it is indeed ironic that the anti-control mob is creating a series of so-called “sanctuary” cities and counties where authorities will refuse to enforce gun control laws. So far, the counties of Appomattox, Campbell, Carroll, Charlotte, Patrick and Pittsylvania have declared themselves ‘Second Amendment Sanctuaries,” reports the Washington Post. Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars, Gun rights

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More Craziness: Now “Second Amendment Sanctuaries” Are a Thing

Posted on November 14, 2019 by | 33 comments

Second amendment sanctuaries across the U.S. Source: Wikipedia

by James A. Bacon

The Campbell County Board of Supervisors has voted to declare the county a “second amendment sanctuary.” It’s not clear from this WDBJ article exactly what that entails, but Wikipedia defines a second-amendment sanctuary as a jurisdiction that does not expend resources to enforce gun control measures perceived to violate the Second Amendment. The movement, which is particularly widespread in the West, is analogous to the “sanctuary city” movement in which local law enforcement refuses to cooperate with federal authorities in detaining illegal immigrants.

“We’re saying you have to defend our second amendment rights,” says James Borland, a member of the board of supervisors, which voted unanimously to pass the measure. WDBJ reports that the “resolution” will be conveyed to the General Assembly, “imploring lawmakers not to back laws that county leaders say target law-abiding gun owners.”

If declaring one’s county a “second amendment sanctuary” consists no more than forwarding a resolution to the state legislature, it’s harmless. If it means that local police and sheriffs cease enforcing locally unpopular gun laws, it is pernicious — just as sanctuary cities are pernicious. The trend of local politicians picking and choosing the laws they will support is extremely unhealthy. Continue reading →

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Posted in Courts and law, Culture wars

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The Winners-Take-All Politics of Virginia Schools

Posted on November 4, 2019 by | 13 comments

by James A. Bacon

Two stories today highlight how public schools have become a political and culture-wars battleground in which winners take all and losers are vanquished.

First, the culture-wars story courtesy of the Daily Signal, a conservative news source associated with the Heritage Foundation:

Parents in Loudoun County, Virginia, are outraged after discovering that thousands of books were placed in classrooms across the school district this year as part of a new “Diverse Classroom Library Initiative.”

While most of these books focus on introducing kids to different cultures and ethnicities, parents began to discover that an alarming number of the books focused on “sexual diversity,” contain sexually explicit language, including “frequent descriptions of underage drinking, fondling, masturbation, orgasms, oral sex, sexual intercourse, sexual abuse, statutory rape, incest, and rape.”

Even books at the kindergarten level promote LGBT ideology through books such as “My Princess Boy,” designed to introduce 5- and 6-year-olds to the harmful idea that they can change their gender.

Second, an article in the Washington Post about privacy-invading technology, also in Loudoun County, as it turns out: Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars, Education (K-12)

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End Parental Discrimination in Surrogacy Cases

Posted on October 31, 2019 by | 4 comments

by Jay Timmons

Residents in the Richmond area are represented by three Republicans in the state Senate with very different views of Life and Family. All three will be on the ballot Tuesday.

When it counted, Siobhan Dunnavant stood strong for children and the unborn. But sadly, Glen Sturtevant and Amanda Chase chose discrimination and bigotry over Life. Sturtevant and Chase acted as charlatans who sent a very clear message with their votes that our son did not even have the right to exist.

The bill, HB1979, which Dunnavant supported and Sturtevant and Chase callously voted against, is also known as “Jacob’s Law,” and was inspired by my son and the horrific four-year legal battle that my husband Rick and I endured in an out-of-state court. The bill was simple – eliminate discrimination in Virginia’s parental rights laws for children born through surrogacy so that all intended parents are treated equally. The bill brought laws on surrogacy in line with those that existed for adoption in Virginia. Most importantly, the bill – which is now law thanks to bipartisan support – means more frozen embryos can be rescued and saved from potential destruction. Continue reading →

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Posted in Abortion, Children and families, Culture wars, Elections

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Revamping Virginia History as Oppression Studies

Posted on October 29, 2019 by | 10 comments

My beef with the teaching of Virginia history — not enough attention to Bacon’s Rebellion!

Virginia schools do a poor job of teaching the history of African-Americans in the United States and Virginia, says Governor Ralph Northam. Black history is “difficult, complex and often untold,” he said yesterday when addressing the Virginia Commission on African American History Education, a body he created 10 months ago in the wake of his blackface scandal. Black history in schools is often “inadequate” and “inaccurate,” he said.

Reports the Virginia Mercury:

Northam said one of the most pressing issues he hopes the commission will address is casting the end of slavery as the end of oppression for black people. The Jim Crow Era, Massive Resistance and mass incarceration have followed, he said.

“My perception is that when we talk about black oppression, I think a lot of us need to understand that concept a lot better and this needs to start with the education of our children,” Northam said. “Black oppression is alive and well today, it’s just in a different form.”

After reading Northam’s critique of how Virginia schools teach state history, I thought I’d see for myself: What do the schools teach? What are students expected to master for their Standards of Learning exams? What I found surprised me. Northam’s description might have been an accurate representation of how history was taught when he was a pupil, but it bears no resemblance to what’s taught today. Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars, Education (K-12)

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Will “One Fairfax” Become “One Virginia”?

Posted on October 27, 2019 by | 19 comments

Blue Fairfax… Source: Best Neighborhood.com

by  Tom Pafford

You may have heard the Commonwealth is close to succumbing to the -control of the Democratic Party and its bullying Progressive (read Socialist) agenda. As the Democratic apparatchiks working at BlueVirginia put it, “With 3 1/2 Weeks to Go, ‘Things Aren’t Looking Good for the Virginia GOP’.”

Yep, the outlook looks bleak!

With Bleakness as a backdrop, let me introduce Fairfax County’s “One Fairfax” policy. Many readers of Bacon’s Rebellion know nothing of this policy, but once Virginia is as blue as the skies over Russia, you’ll feel its burn!

One Fairfax preaches a message of help by promoting economic benefits for all citizens in Fairfax County under a concept called, “Equity.” Equity is defined as: “The commitment to promote fairness and justice in the formation of public policy that results in all residents – regardless of age, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, marital status, disability, socio-economic status or neighborhood of residence or other characteristics – having opportunity to fully participate in the region’s economic vitality, contribute to its readiness for the future, and connect to its assets and resources.”

Fairfax County’s leaders are clear about why such a policy is required.
Historically, we have designed man-made, institutionalized barriers — the policy refers to them as socially constructed barriers — that diminish citizens’ chances for full economic fairness and justice. Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars

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Today’s Matchup: Clown Versus Clown

Posted on October 23, 2019 by | 6 comments

By Peter Galuszka

It’s a sign of the times. Today’s Clown versus Clown matchup is Donald Trump, president of the United States, against Alec Baldwin, Saturday Night Live.

The latter has been canvassing in seven electoral districts around the state, including Fairfax and Stafford Counties and in Chesterfield, where Baldwin went door-to-door this week in support of Amanda Pohl, a Democrat running against state Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, another personality with serious Clown firepower.

You’ve got to admit that as painful the Trump presidency has been so far, with its incompetence, inconsistencies, 13,000 lies or errors of fact and flat out corruption, there is a very real comedy to it. It would be truly funny if there weren’t so much at stake.

Saturday Night Live has had a field day since 2016 with Baldwin winning an Emmy portraying the boorish president week after week. The entire cast of the show has had big successes with the theme, such as Kate McKinnon playing  Rudy Guiliani and Melissa McCarthy portraying Sean Spicer. Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars

University Faculties: Cesspools of Sexual Misconduct?

Posted on October 23, 2019 by | 3 comments

Source: “Report on the AAU Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct”

by James A. Bacon

As Glenn Reynolds often asks on the Instapundit blog, why are liberal institutions such cesspools of racism and sexism? His provocative gag line comes to mind after perusing the 2019 Campus Climate Survey on Sexual Assault and Misconduct by the Association of American Universities.

The survey, based on polling from 33 universities including the University of Virginia, found that “sexual assault and misconduct remain far too prevalent among students at all levels of study,” writes Mary Sue Coleman, AAU President. But even a brief dip into the data suggests that the sexual assault and misconduct is not confined to students.

States the study: “Graduate and professional students were [more likely than undergrads] to be subject to sexually harassing behavior by a faculty member or instructor.” Among graduate and professional women, 24% of the sexual harassment incidents were at the hands of a faculty member or instructor. For male graduate students, the percentage was 18%.

Stalking, apparently, is another common phenomenon on college campuses.  Among women graduate/professional students, 6.5% reported that a faculty member stalked them. Very creepy. Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars, Education (higher ed)

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Two More More Book Reviews: This Time C-Ville

Posted on October 9, 2019 by | 1 comment

By Peter Galuszka

I was impressed with Dick’s thoughtful take on Margaret Edds’ book on early civil rights leaders that I thought I’d point readers to two reviews of books on the Unite the Right Movement that ran in this week’s Style Weekly:

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Posted in Culture wars

More in the Nefarious Hunt for DARK MONEY!

Posted on October 8, 2019 by | 9 comments

By Peter Galuszka

Sound the klaxon horn at Bacon’s Rebellion! More DARK MONEY is coming to pollute the state’s glorious electoral process.

Emily’s List, a PAC supporting female Democratic candidates, has announced that it is planning on donating an extra $1.5 million to help flip the GOP-controlled Virginia General Assembly.

Along with another $600,000 Emily’s List gift made jointly with Priorities USA, the money is the largest single investment the PAC has ever made in an individual state’s legislative elections, according to WTOP Radio of Washington.

Emily’s List President Stephanie Schriock said the races are underfunded and the funds should help 39 women running in Virginia’s off-year elections flip the General Assembly.

That’s not all. According to The Washington Post, U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria (D. 2nd) has created a committee to raise $228,000 to match the same amount raised by Republicans to fight her reelection next year. The reason for the GOP largesse? Luria, along with U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-7th), had the unmitigated gall to sign a letter in the Post of several Members of Congress with defense or intelligence calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump (not a bad idea in my book). Luria is a retired Navy commander and Spanberger was a covert officer for the Central Intelligence Agency.  Continue reading →

9 Comments

Posted in Culture wars, Money in politics

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The Last of The Pistol Packin’ Mamas?

Posted on October 5, 2019 by | 23 comments

By Peter Galuszka

Part buffoon, part populist, state Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, has for years represented white resentment against modern times, Tea Party-style.

She’s picked up on every bad feeling out there and amplified it, including pent-up anger against minorities, immigrants, government workers, women’s rights and gun control advocates and more.

She’s had a weekly radio show, “Cut to the Chase” in her home Chesterfield County where she vented her views.

When the Senate considered ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment passed decades ago, she strapped on a .38 revolver on her right hip, sashayed to the podium and pronounced it “My personal ERA.”

To be sure, Chase did some things right. She blocked Dominion when it tried to push its way to dispose of coal ash waste on its terms. Then she stumbled. She got into a pointless verbal battle with a Capitol police officer, who happened to be African-American, about where she can park. She annoyed female voters by implying that rape can somehow be their own fault. Her campaign material said she’s not afraid to “shoot down gun groups” in a state where worries about gun control are the No. 1 concern. Then she insulted Sheriff Karl Leonard, a fellow GOP candidate, by saying he had let Chesterfield become “sanctuary” for illegal immigrants. The untruthfulness of the comment was too much for the county GOP, which booted her on Sept. 30.

Chase is still running for the 11th Senate seat against Democrat Amanda Pohl who has seriously out-raised her in political funds. Chase could still win in November, but the events represent a turning point. Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars, Politics

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Virginia Annals of Political Correctness, October 2019

Posted on October 1, 2019 by | 40 comments

Cancel culture comes to Virginia. Anna Grace Calhoun, a first-year engineering student at the University of Virginia, detests Dominion Energy. She regards Dominion as a predatory, monopolistic, rate-gouging and environmentally retrograde blight upon Virginia, and she has distilled her-left-wing critique into a letter published in the UVa student newspaper, the Cavalier Daily. She is entitled to her views, of course, and many people share them. What warrants mention in the Virginia Annals of Political Correctness is that she goes beyond criticizing the utility to calling for the university to disassociate itself from the company. “If the University and its associated organizations take seriously their espoused goal of producing positive leaders,” she writes, “they need to think harder about what careers and corporations they’re funneling students into.”

That’s how the so-called “cancel culture” works — define your enemy, stigmatize it, ostracize it, and and drive it from the public sphere.

Another hate hoax. It was a big story in the national media when a 12-year-old African-American student accused three white male students at Immanuel Christian School of holding her down in a school playground a week ago, covering her mouth, making racist comments about her “nappy” hair, and cutting her hair with scissors. Not only did the story feed the stereotypes of modern-day liberals and progressives — white, male Christian kids acting atrociously, like the MAGA hat-wearing kid smirking at the Native American drummer — it offered as a delicious bonus the fact that Vice President Pence’s wife Karen Pence was a part-time art teacher there. After a Fairfax County police investigation, however, the girl has recanted her story about the school-yard incident. Refreshingly, in this case the mainstream media was quick to update and correct the story.

40 Comments

Posted in Culture wars

Bacon Bits: River Preservation, Truth in Tuition, and Election Interference

Posted on September 19, 2019 by | 2 comments

Goat Island

Good deed of the day. Riverside Outfitters, which provides guided kayak, raft, tube, and paddleboard trips, has paid $11,000 to purchase Goat Island, a one-acre islet in the James River. The outfitting company will make the island openly available for public use as a destination for canoers and paddleboarders, reports Richmond BizSense. The company plans to rid non-native plants from the islet and, if legal, bring back some goats, but has no plans to develop it. The James River may not be as big and powerful as other rivers, but it is more beautiful than most. While other metropolitan develop their riverfronts, the Richmond region has moved to preserve the James as an environmental and recreational treasure. Smart move!

Truth in tuition. Randolph College has slashed its list price for tuition, room, and board from $54,101 to $36,000. Pursuing a high-tuition, high-discount model, the small liberal arts college near Lynchburg had been discounting heavily from that price. But administrators concluded that the high sticker price was scaring away potential applicants, reports the News & Advance. Not realizing that the average discount rate for freshmen at private colleges averages more than 50%, many families don’t even bother applying to schools with high list prices. Randolph College, which has 620 students enrolled, hopes to increase the entering class by 5% yearly over the next five years.

Dodge Challenger has become a verb. Daniel McMahon of Brandon, Fla., has been arrested for charges relating to cyber-stalking and threats that led to an African-American activist, Don Gathers, dropping out of a race for Charlottesville City Council. McMahon, a white supremacist, “was motivated by racial animus and used his social-media accounts to threaten and intimidate a potential candidate for elective office,” said U.S. Attorney Thomas T. Cullen, in a statement. “Hey Antifa, it’s simple,” McMahon wrote online, reports the Washington Post. “Wanna know how to not get Dodge Challenged or shot? Don’t attack Right Wingers ever.” James Fields, the white supremacist who killed Heather Heyer during the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville two years ago, drove a Dodge Challenger. Disgusting.

— JAB

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Posted in Crime and corrections, Culture wars, Education (higher ed), Environment

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