Normalizing Pedophilia

Posted on November 29, 2022 by | 65 comments

Allyn Walker

by Kerry Dougherty

Turns out Allyn Walker is not a lone academic pushing a repulsive agenda. Others in the woke crowd are chiming in.

Remember Walker? That was the ODU professor who was sacked last year after this site and others sounded the alarm about how they/them was preaching the gospel of “minor attracted persons” – a euphemism for pedophiles.

Calling perverts who lust after children “pedophiles” hurts their feelings, said Walker. We need to treat these monsters with more respect.

Last time I checked, Walker was working at Johns Hopkins.

Acceptance of pedophilia as just one more wrinkle in our sexual tapestry is the latest attack on children by the people who brought you drag queen story time. Those of us who refuse to recognize the humanity of men who want to rape babies are being too judgy, they say. Stop with your Christian moralizing, they scold. Pedophiles are just like everyone else, except they find Pampers sexy.

Time for normal people to shout ENOUGH. We will never show compassion to people who hurt children. And we will object every time some leftie voices these repugnant ideas. Continue reading →

65 Comments

Posted in Children and families

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Virginia Mental Health Services in Deep Trouble – A Survey

Posted on November 28, 2022 by | 42 comments

Eastern State Hospital. Courtesy Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Development

by James C. Sherlock

Nov. 29 updates in blue.

Supply cannot begin to keep up with demand.

In this case, the consequences involve personal welfare and public safety. And they can be terrible in both cases.

Governor Youngkin will propose to the 2023 General Assembly additional funding and policy prescriptions for the state’s mental health system.

The state offers inpatient services, community-based government services, and Medicaid-funded services.  Medicare offers payments to participating hospitals. Private insurances offer coverage.

I say “offer,” because much of what policy prescribes has proven difficult to fill in practice.

Virginia’s mental health system is in deep trouble because of shortages of personnel and facilities to absorb the very steep rates of increases in persons needing assistance.

The personnel problems are twofold and affect both government and private services.

  1. Key personnel positions require trained specialists, the shortages of whom are manifest across the country; and
  2. Working conditions in mental health care are very stressful, physically demanding and dangerous, driving away badly needed low skilled workers who can easily find jobs elsewhere.

Medicaid programs offer services that private facilities and practitioners, facing the same labor shortages, have proven in some combination unable or unwilling to provide at Medicaid reimbursement rates. State-contracted Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MMCOs) have not solved those problems.

So part of the answer is money, but we really don’t know how much. And in this case, money alone may not provide sufficient services to satisfy demand. Continue reading →

42 Comments

Posted in Budgets, Entitlements, General Assembly, Governance, Health Care, Insurance, Mental illness and substance abuse, Public safety & health, Social services

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When the WaPo Admits There’s a Homicide Crisis… There’s a Homicide Crisis.

Posted on November 28, 2022 by | 71 comments

Graphic credit: Washington Post. Click here to access the WaPo’s interactive feature showing the data for each city.

by James A. Bacon

Delve into the comments on Bacon’s Rebellion, and you will find that the dialogue often collapses due to disagreements over basic facts. One recurring dispute is the degree to which the violent crime rate is increasing, both nationally and here in Virginia. Some see the violent-crime-is-increasing narrative as a right-wing talking point with little grounding in reality… except when we’re talking about mass shootings, in which case the U.S. is the most violent country in the world.

News alert: When The Washington Post acknowledges that violent crime is surging, it can no longer be dismissed as a meme of election deniers, MAGA-hat wearers and other right-wing knuckle draggers. A WaPo story today refers to the spate in violence as “America’s homicide crisis.”

“The rate of killings rose nearly 30 percent in 2020 and remained high through the following year,” said the Post. “Even now, as the bloodshed has slowed, the homicide rate outpaces pre-pandemic levels.” Continue reading →

71 Comments

Posted in Crime , corrections and law enforcement

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Batting Zero on Virginia Energy Policy Reset

Posted on November 28, 2022 by | 86 comments

by Steve Haner

One year later, a series of energy policy goals for Virginia proposed by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy remains just as valid and also remain unaccomplished. Gridlock has favored the flawed status quo.

Compared to a year ago, more Virginians have awakened to the reality that they will soon be forced into electric vehicles they may not want. They may be prevented from using reliable and efficient natural gas in a furnace or stove. Their monthly electric bill is growing with charges for unreliable solar and wind projects that do not work more hours than they do.

And despite all that, the weather will remain as it is, and the millennia-long relative sea level rise will stay its inexorable course. Our self-imposed energy poverty won’t stop any of that. We can rush toward that stark future or change course, the sooner the better. The checklist remains the same.

The opening paragraph of the document a year ago noted that Dominion Energy Virginia had just admitted its 176-turbine offshore wind project was going up in cost to almost $10 billion. Debate over the project and possible forms of consumer protection continues, but the dollar figures under discussion have risen again. Consumers may now be on the hook now for a share of $11.3 billion or more, amortized over decades. A total project cost of almost $14 billion is now hinted at. Continue reading →

86 Comments

Posted in Energy, Environment, General Assembly, Regulation, Utilities

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Don’t Forget the Dismal History SOL Pass Rates

Posted on November 28, 2022 by | 15 comments

by Carol J. Bova

As the battle rages over the History and Social Science (HSS) Standards of Learning criteria — the State Board of Education decided earlier this month to delay its review of Youngkin administration revisions — it is worth noting how poorly Virginia students mastered the old standards. More than one-third of Virginia students failed the 2021-2022 HSS tests.

Of all the HSS tests administered in every grade, according to Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) data, only three had a pass rate of 70% or higher.

Grade 6 Civics & Economics — 71.5%
Grade 8 Civics & Economics — 70.5%
Grade 8 Geography — 73.4%

The highest pass rate for the twelve History and Social Science SOL tests for 10th, 11th and 12th grades was 50.8% for 10th-grade Geography. The other eleven pass rates ranged from 24.5% to 46.6%.

Considering the 2021-2022 test scores, why would anyone object to a different approach?

15 Comments

Posted in Education (K-12), Uncategorized

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Chesapeake Walmart Tragedy

Posted on November 28, 2022 by | 53 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Ask them.

Someone please ask the knee-jerk lefties who joined the Greek Chorus of “we must do more to end gun violence” last week just what “we” — the government, I suppose — could have done to prevent the massacre of six Walmart employees in their Chesapeake break room last Tuesday.

Ask them.

I’ll wait.

An assault weapon ban? Uh, no. That wouldn’t have prevented this. He used a pistol.

One gun a month? Nope. The shooter only bought one gun.

Short of a total ban on firearms, which would have to include confiscation of every weapon in the country, there is no law that would have saved these innocent lives from this homicidal maniac.

That’s the sad, but awful truth. Continue reading →

53 Comments

Posted in Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Gun rights

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The Curious Case of Anthony Johnson

Posted on November 27, 2022 by | 121 comments

The mark of slave-turned-master Anthony Johnson. Source: Wikipedia

by James A. Bacon

The man who would come to be known by the English name of Anthony Johnson was born in the Angola region of southern Africa, enslaved by the Portuguese, and transported to Virginia for sale. There he was sold to a colonist, and then resold to a merchant planter by the name of Edward Bennet around the year 1622. None of the American colonies had yet legalized slavery — Massachusetts would be the first in 1641; Virginia would not follow until 1661 — and the only legal framework for bondage was indentured servitude. Accordingly, Johnson entered his service to Bennet as an indentured servant.

Bennet sent some 50 servants, including Johnson, to a point on the James River to clear grounds for a tobacco plantation. The following month, the party was attacked by the Powhatan Confederacy headed by Chief Opechancanough, who was bent upon exterminating and expelling the English colonists. Johnson was one of only a  handful of survivors. After that harrowing episode, he proceeded to serve out his term as a servant and was given his freedom. As was standard practice at the time, he was given tools and allotted land. He settled along the Pungoteague River on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

An enterprising man, Bennet took advantage of the so-called “headrights” system, in which anyone who imported labor to the colony was granted 50 acres per head. By acquiring a dozen or more servants — some English, some of African origin — he built an estate of more than 1,000 acres, which he named Angola. Thus, Johnson was one of the only — perhaps the only — documented instance in history of an African who became the master of White Englishmen in the American colonies. Continue reading →

121 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized, Virginia history

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A Grand Compromise on Crime, Mental Health and Guns

Posted on November 27, 2022 by | 69 comments

by James C. Sherlock

Had enough?

People organize into governments first for their collective protection. Virginians are not sufficiently protected from violence.

The mass shootings of the past couple of weeks in Virginia offer an impetus to strike a grand bargain on public safety.

Staying in corners waiting for control of all three branches of government to turn favored changes into law is a forfeit by public officials of their obligations to society.

For public confidence in the deal and its long term survival, as many as possible of its provisions will need to be packaged as a single compromise with the support of the governor and the leadership of both parties in the General Assembly.

The concepts I offer attempt to mitigate:

  1. The mass killings that we continue to experience, crimes that are committed in significant number by the mentally ill;
  2. The possession or use of deadly weapons in the commission of crimes;
  3. Unacceptable numbers of deaths from fentanyl;
  4. The number of illegal guns and the numbers of legal guns bought illegally;
  5. Gun modifications to increase their rates of fire; and
  6. Transfers of firearms without background checks.

Continue reading →

69 Comments

Posted in Crime , corrections and law enforcement

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Jeanine’s Memes

Posted on November 27, 2022 by | 9 comments

at The Bull Elephant

9 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

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Bacon Meme of the Week

Posted on November 26, 2022 by | 7 comments

7 Comments

Posted in Bacon and pigs

Uncancelling Lee

Posted on November 26, 2022 by | 64 comments

Douglas Murray, author of “War on the West,” has launched a new videocast series entitled, Uncancelled History. In Episode 1, he interviews Jonathan Horn, author of “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington” to uncancel Robert E. Lee.

Whether you revere Lee or revile him, it’s a great interview. Murray and Horn place Lee in the context of his times. I can hardly wait for Murray to uncancel Thomas Jefferson.

— JAB

64 Comments

Posted in Culture wars, Virginia Law

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Cause, Effect, and Regret

Posted on November 25, 2022 by | 127 comments

Photo credit: Foxinterviewer.com

by Jim McCarthy

Bacon’s Rebellion recently hosted a series of articles exhaustively parsing the procedures and policies at the University of Virginia regarding threat assessments in preventing violence related to the killing of three students and wounding of two by a colleague. The examination included the possible human failures that contributed to the event. Under state legislation, institutions of higher education in the Commonwealth had been tasked to produce policies and procedures designed to afford safety to campus communities, including intervention somewhat similar to “red flag” laws. The UVa shooter had been previously identified to campus authorities as “possessing” a firearm; upon inspection, a cache of arms was discovered in his dorm room. Cause and effect? Broken procedures and policies? Negligence?

There is no arithmetic or mathematical equation that governs or can predict cause and effect in human behavior. Unlike gravity, laws and rules of society and its organizations are essentially the overt expression of norms of behavior functioning as guides and generally will succeed because they are accepted by most as necessary to civility and peace and safety. When these guardrails fail, the effects can be deadly. Continue reading →

127 Comments

Posted in Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Gun rights, Individual liberties

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Account for All of the Costs

Posted on November 25, 2022 by | 60 comments

by Bill O’Keefe

Opposition to Dominion’s offshore windfarm has come mainly from critics who cite technology, economic, and energy-system concerns and problems. Unfortunately, these have only been persuasive enough to slow down the reckless rush by Dominion and its allies in the General Assembly to obtain SCC approval. What about the impact on human health?

Where is the public health consideration? Windmills are notorious for killing birds and bats, but the significance of this is not explored. After all, what are a few birds and bats worth when it comes to saving the planet? Well, the answer is more than advocates will admit. Killing bats has a human health effect.

Mosquitoes are at the top of bats’ menus. Mosquitoes are the bane of outdoor enjoyment and a boon for the insect spray industry. As a result, most of us give little thought to the dangers of mosquitoes; but they are not trivial.

According to the World Atlas, “These swarming yet stealthy insects have proven to be more than just an annoyance to the human race. In some parts of the world, female mosquitoes (the ones that do the biting) do not just leave behind an itchy red lump, but sometimes also diseases such as dengue, West Nile, yellow fever, Zika, chikungunya, lymphatic filariasis, and the big one: malaria. Each year, somewhere around 725,000 to 1,000,000 people die from mosquito-borne diseases.” Continue reading →

60 Comments

Posted in Energy, Public safety & health

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Mass Shootings: Take A Breath Before Bloviating

Posted on November 25, 2022 by | 83 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

On Wednesday morning I woke up at 4:00 a.m., planning to head to the radio studio for four hours of happy holiday banter with my co-host, Mike Imprevento.

Then I glanced at my phone.

A news blast from The Wall Street Journal: “Six Killed in a Shooting in a Chesapeake, Va. Walmart.”

The killing occurred at approximately 10 p.m. Tuesday. That’s what I get for going to bed early.

I rubbed my eyes and stared at the screen. It seemed unbelievable. SIX DEAD? IN CHESAPEAKE?

We met with our producer, Lee, in the studio at 5 and the three of us knew we would be doing a very different sort of show from what we’d planned. Fewer holiday ha-ha’s. Our neighbors were dead and dying. Tidewater would be in shock when they woke up.

When I checked local news, it was exactly as I expected: reporters contacted the usual suspects — local Democrats — and they denounced “gun violence.”

So predictable. As if a gun acted alone. Continue reading →

83 Comments

Posted in Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Gun rights

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The Governor Asks Virginians to Support Food Banks

Posted on November 23, 2022 by | 2 comments

by James C. Sherlock

Amen.

2 Comments

Posted in Charity and philanthropy

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