Tag: James A. Bacon
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A Project 2025 Revolution at GMU?
by James A. Bacon Lefty professors are fearful that a new Board of Visitors, now comprised of a majority of Youngkin appointees, is about to unleash a right-wing revolution at George Mason University, Virginia’s largest public university. Six of the 12 Youngkin-appointed board members are, or have been, affiliated with the conservative Heritage Foundation think…
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Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease?
by James A. Bacon Dave Singer is a radiologist at a Virginia hospital. He’s not a front-line physician with primary responsibility for patient care, but, as an in-house expert in reading x-rays, CT scans, MRI scans, and other medical images, he reviews hundreds of cases weekly. His vantage point allows him to spot patterns that…
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Richmond Planned Parenthood in Expansion Mode
by James A. Bacon Richmond City Council voted Monday night to sell the old Brookhill School to the Virginia League of Planned Parenthood (VLPP) for $10. The nonprofit organization, which provides abortions among other reproductive services, plans to construct a $6 million, 10,000-square-foot women’s facility on the property, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. In the wake…
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Not a Healthy Development
by James A. Bacon As conservative as I am, right-wing “militias” make me nervous. I’m sympathetic to some of what these citizen groups say they want to accomplish — keep neighborhoods safe, provide backup to local law enforcement in emergencies — but I don’t see why they need to parade around with guns to do…
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The South Shall Rise Again
The South is projected to have the fastest-growing population of any region in the U.S. through 2050, surpassing even the West, according to the demographics research group at the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. The population of the Midwest and Northeast are expected to shrink slightly between 2030 and 2050. However, the population boom…
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Virginia Supremes Limit Sovereign Immunity in Portsmouth Case
by James A. Bacon H. Cliff Page, an artist, sculptor, Vietnam vet, merchant mariner, civic activist and former candidate for Mayor of Portsmouth, won a victory for individual property rights when the Virginia Supreme Court ruled unanimously in his favor July 3 in a dispute with the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority (PRHA). “This is…
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DEI at UVA Astronomy: The Stars Are Not Aligned
by James A. Bacon Back in 2020, the University of Virginia Astronomy Department jumped on the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) bandwagon. Ashamed of its history of attracting so few Blacks and Hispanics, the Department formed a DEI committee to advance the goal of making the department more demographically diverse. The committee quickly resolved to…
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Restoring Columbus
by James A. Bacon Richmond’s statue of Christopher Columbus is heading to upstate New York. It’s a sad, sad tale. At the height of the George Floyd “mostly peaceful” protests, leftist militants tore down the statue in Byrd Park, spray-painted it, set it on fire and threw it into nearby Fountain Lake. They claimed to…
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COVID Questions Linger
by James A. Bacon There is still much we don’t know about the COVID-19 virus and the effect it has on the human body. One enduring mystery is the syndrome dubbed “long COVID,” when symptoms persist months or years after the infection. Why do some people get it while others don’t? What are the risk…
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Conspiratorial Thinking at UVA
by James A. Bacon In the fall of 2023, 54 new professors joined the faculty of the University of Virginia College of Arts & Sciences. Dean Christa Acampora hailed the “extraordinary talent” of the new wave of scholars. One of the new hires was Sethunya Mokoko, a native of the southern Africa country of Lesotho…
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Phonics Make a Comeback
by James A. Bacon by James A. Bacon There are glimmers of hope for Virginia’s public education system. Last week, Governor Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order ordering the Virginia Department of Education to create new guidelines limiting the use of cell phones in schools. Meanwhile an amendment to the Virginia Literacy Act effectively bans…
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Staring into the Abyss
We’ve reached a dead end. Everybody, please draw a deep breath and take a step back.
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Keep Politics Out of University Investment Decisions
by James A. Bacon I didn’t see this one coming, but I’m delighted to hear of it: Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera and Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings have written the presidents of Virginia’s public universities asking them to verify that their endowment investments are not influenced by political considerations. The state wants to ensure…
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A Diversity Director for Every Department
by James A. Bacon John McLaren is a full professor in the Economics Department of the University of Virginia. He has written dozens of papers and journal articles in his specialty fields of globalization and international trade, and has given keynote speeches in conferences around the world. He also serves as the departmental Director of…
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UVA Arts & Sciences to Conduct “Belonging” Survey
by James A. Bacon The College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia is undertaking a campus climate survey to gauge the extent to which students, faculty and staff in the college’s many departments feel a sense of “belonging.” The priority at the moment is choosing among 16 themes to be explored in…