Tag Archives: Kerry Dougherty

Flee Any Public School Resisting Parents’ Rights

Posted on March 27, 2023 by | 20 comments

Loudoun County parents pack a School Board meeting. Photo credit: Idiocracy News Media

by Kerry Dougherty

Four years ago no one was talking about parental rights.

Now everyone is.

It all began with the covid lockdowns. Once schools were closed parents got a look at what was and wasn’t being taught in public schools.

And the scales fell from their eyes.

Parents began to see school administrators and some teachers not as allies who were trying to educate their kids and fill them with a love of country, but as indoctrinators filling their heads with gender theories and a skewed view of American history through a modern prism of critical race theory.

The Founding Fathers were no longer taught as enlightened men of their times determined to create a country where individual liberties were protected from the heavy hand of the state, but they were made small, reduced to nothing more than slaveholders.

On top of that, parents found that some middle and even elementary school libraries contained graphic books that celebrated masturbation, sex, gay and trans lifestyles. They learned that some school administrators – in Loudoun, for instance – were not reporting cases of sexual assault but were covering the incidents up. Even from parents.

The outrage in Virginia was so widespread that voters in what had become a reliably blue state elected Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears and Attorney General Jason Miyares, who ran on a GOP platform of restoring parents’ rights.

Democrats lost by doubling down on the exclusion of parents from schools. On the eve of the election Terry McAuliffe blundered by campaigning with the loathsome teachers’ union boss Randi Weingarten, who almost single-handedly was responsible for lengthy and damaging school closures during covid.

As public school enrollment plummets and more parents than ever are homeschooling, the parents rights movement has gone national and mainstream.

Last week the GOP-led House of Representatives passed a Parents Bill of Rights on a vote of 213-208, without the support of a single Democrat. Continue reading →

20 Comments

Posted in Culture wars, Education (K-12), Politics

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Why Shouldn’t Virginia’s Felons Have To Ask Their Voting Rights Restored?

Posted on March 24, 2023 by | 42 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Lemme make sure I understand this: Virginia’s ACLU, that left-wing organization that sat on its derriere during Gov. Ralph Northam’s unconstitutional closure of churches and businesses, is suddenly active again.

Its lawyers want Virginia’s convicted felons to automatically get their voting rights back, even if they haven’t made restitution to their victims or paid their court costs. No matter how heinous their crimes or how repentant or unrepentant they are.

The priorities of this group are fully on display: they’re more worried about rapists and child molesters and carjackers being able to vote than they ever were about people of faith who simply wanted to attend worship services, or ordinary decent Virginians who simply wanted to earn a living during Covid.

Some of us waited in vain for those who claim to hold the U.S. Constitution dear to stand up to the dictatorial Gov. Northam, but the civil liberties crowd sat those battles out.

Yet now that a Republican governor is doing what the Virginia Supreme Court has ordered — that is, to review every felon’s request for a restoration of rights individually — they’re back in action.

The great defenders of civil liberties. For criminals, anyway.
Continue reading →

42 Comments

Posted in Civil Rights, Courts and law, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Elections, Ethics, Politics, Uncategorized

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Maglev & Light Rail: Once-Shiny Objects Now Tarnished By Reality

Posted on March 23, 2023 by | 23 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Gosh. It isn’t often the local newspaper provides two examples of “shiny object stupidity” in one week.

But The Virginian-Pilot delivered.

On Wednesday the newspaper quietly reported on the absolute demise of the failed maglev system at Old Dominion University. That’s magnetic levitation technology for those of you who weren’t around here to experience Shiny Object Fever in the late 1990s that cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

The promise of maglev was that beginning in 2002 students would zip around campus on this raised train using futuristic technology. Problem is, it never worked. The rails were sold for scrap years ago and according to a report in The Pilot, the rest of the structure is being demolished without ever transporting a single student.

The thing the reporter failed to mention in her brief story is that the developer borrowed $7 million from the commonwealth — that’s you and me — to build this monument to snake oil. As best I can tell, the loan has not been repaid.

It could have been worse. In 1999, Virginia Beach City Council came close to spending between $20 and $30 million on a maglev line along the oceanfront. Continue reading →

23 Comments

Posted in Business and Economy, Central planning, Transportation, Uncategorized

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Last Gasp for Masks

Posted on March 21, 2023 by | 18 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

A friend of mine went to the dermatologist yesterday. The medical office was in the Sentara Leigh medical complex in Norfolk and she was required to wear a face diaper.

Hey, there were a total of 5 cases of covid yesterday in Norfolk. That’s 2 cases for every 100,000 residents. There may have been more cases of TB. Of leprosy. But you can’t be too careful, am I right?

Of course if my pal had waited one more day to see the skin doctor she could have bared her pretty face. In a joint announcement from the region’s megalith health companies: Sentara, Bon Secours, Chesapeake Regional, Riverside and CHKD declared that beginning today face masks were no longer required in their facilities.

It’s about time. Continue reading →

18 Comments

Posted in Health Care

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Southern Domination and Beaver Nuggets.

Posted on March 10, 2023 by | 16 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Sick of politics? Me too. Let’s change it up today.

I don’t like to brag, but I’m pretty much an expert on roadside food joints and truck stops.

No, not that way, you perverts.

I simply love road trips, which means frequent stops for food and fuel. Most truck stops are sort of meh.

A few are memorable.

Kenley 95 in North Carolina, for instance, where I bought my first Bug-A-Salt rifle. The Nordstrom of truck stops. At least that’s what I thought until my son and I were driving through Iowa a couple of years ago and dropped into Sapp Bros. This Midwestern chain is absolutely spa-like with bidets and heated toilet seats. (Hey, don’t knock it, this was December and we’d been driving through an ice storm in an old SUV without seat heaters. Toasty toilet seats? You have no idea!)

When I’m in Mississippi, I always look for Chevron stations where the food is consistently good and unmistakably Southern. Fried chicken, fried okra, and if you’re lucky, fried pickles.

In central Virginia and West Virginia, I stop at Sheetz, where you can concoct your own sandwiches on a computer screen. They even have pesto on occasion. Very fancy.

In Georgia, I keep an eye out for Jim ’N Nick’s Community BBQ joints. There are 37 of them sprinkled throughout the Peach State, Alabama, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina. The food is great and you’ll want to stuff your pockets with the cheese biscuits. Don’t ask if I’ve ever done that.

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but when all else fails, I look for Cracker Barrels. The food is slow but you can get a head start on your Christmas shopping while you wait. Told you I was an expert!
Continue reading →

16 Comments

Posted in Economic development, Labor & workforce, Planning, Uncategorized

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Soft-On-Crime Va. Democrats’ Offal Proposal

Posted on March 8, 2023 by | 30 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Oh look. Another garbage bill courtesy of Virginia’s soft-on-crime Democrats!

Want to see what’s coming our way if Dems regain control of the General Assembly and Governor’s Mansion?

Check out SB1080.

Yep, a gaggle of Virginia’s leading lefties pushed a measure that would classify felons younger than 21 as JUVENILES. Virginia law currently calls those criminals older than 18 ADULTS.

Because that’s what they are.
Continue reading →

30 Comments

Posted in Children and families, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Culture wars, Elections, General Assembly, Leadership, Politics, Uncategorized

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In Virginia Beach: Hang On to Your Wallets

Posted on March 6, 2023 by | 70 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

How to ruin an otherwise lovely early spring-like weekend, Virginia Beach-style:

Send out real estate assessments that show double-digit increase in the value of property (that’s a good thing, by the way) and a huge jump in taxes.

That’s not good.

Yep, many of us opened our mail on Saturday and wished we hadn’t.

While it’s nice that the city assessor believes property values are soaring, we all know what that means: the city council will quietly vote to “keep” the tax rate the same as last year and the year before, and then pat themselves on the back, crowing:

WE DIDN’T RAISE TAXES.

Ahem. Yes they did. They do it every year, just a little sleight of hand.

Let me explain: if your assessment rose 20% – as mine did – and the council votes to keep the rate at 99 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value rather than cutting it to a rate that would keep revenue about where it was last year – your taxes are going up.

A lot!

Look, rising assessments are a good thing. For most of us, our homes are our biggest assets. No one wants their asset to lose value.

If your stocks go up but you leave your money in the stock market, you aren’t taxed on unrealized gains. You’re taxed when you sell shares.

But when assessments skyrocket and you stay in your home, you’re being taxed on your “wealth.” In the parlance of the world of finance, you’re paying taxes on unrealized capital gains. Continue reading →

70 Comments

Posted in Taxes

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Putting Victims First. For A Change.

Posted on March 3, 2023 by | 10 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Imagine for a moment that you are the victim of a violent crime. The perpetrator has been arrested and you thought he was about to go on trial when you learn that your local prosecutor — one of those squishy soft-on-crime types who was bankrolled by George Soros — already entered into a sweet plea deal with your attacker. You were never notified, so the judge signed off on it.

Now this predator is back on the streets.

It happens. And Virginia has several prosecutors who fall into the criminals-first-victims-second camp.

Well, thanks to bipartisan efforts by the General Assembly, this sort of chicanery is over.

SB 989, a bill that just passed both houses of the state legislature and is certain to be signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, requires prosecutors to contact crime victims BEFORE they enter into plea agreements.

Commonwealth’s attorneys are not obligated to do what the victim wants, but they have to listen. Current Virginia law only requires prosecutors to notify victims if the victims ask to be notified.

The best part of this bill? It passed with overwhelming majorities in both houses. Introduced by Sen. Mark J. Peake, a Republican from Lynchburg at the behest of Attorney General Jason Miyares, the measure sailed through the House of Delegates 79-20 and the Senate by a vote of 30 to 10.

Shoot, even Louise “Brick Wall” Lucas voted for it.

Who would vote against such a common-sense, pro-victim bill?

Newly elected Sen. Aaron Rouse, who represents the 7th District that includes part of Virginia Beach and Norfolk, that’s who.

Congratulations, voters of the 7th. You replaced tough-on-crime Jen Kiggans with someone who doesn’t even want prosecutors to speak with crime victims before entering into deals that are favorable to the criminals who hurt them.

What were you thinking?

Republished with permission from Kerry: Unemployed and Unedited.

10 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Culture wars, Elections, General Assembly, Uncategorized, Virginia Law

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Taxpayers Fund Biden’s Disruptive Campaign Stop in Va Beach

Posted on March 2, 2023 by | 36 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

As usual, some local news outlets missed the real story.

They were so starstruck by President Biden’s taxpayer-funded, Republican-bashing campaign stop in Virginia Beach on Tuesday that they didn’t notice that the city ground to a halt for hours Tuesday afternoon.

It was a giant clusterfart.

From one end of Virginia’s largest city to the other, traffic was gridlocked. Businesses lost money, appointments were missed and untold gallons of gas were wasted as fuming motorists stewed in traffic, unsure of what was going on.

A nuclear attack? A massive 100-car-pile-up? Fugitives on the loose?

Nope, just the president on a last-minute trip to Virginia Beach to rant about how the GOP wants to slash spending on health care.

Several television stations reported on the bumper-to-bumper traffic caused by rolling closures along the interestate. The print media? Nah. Not that I could find, anyway.

Biden flew into Oceana NAS around 2 p.m. and his motorcade headed to the Kempville Rec Center on Monmouth Road, 10.4 miles away, where he made a speech. Secret Service and various law enforcement agencies whose task it is to protect the life of the president, ordered parts of the interstate closed. Continue reading →

36 Comments

Posted in Politics

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Grrrrrrrr… Pit Bulls. AGAIN.

Posted on February 27, 2023 by | 9 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

As soon as I saw the headline in Sunday’s New York Post I knew the breed of the culprit:

“Girl, 6, Needs 1,000 Stitches, ”Won’t be able to smile again’ After Vicious Dog Attack.”

Was this a case of a poodle gone wild? A dachshund? A beagle?

Of course not. Only one breed is responsible for most of the maulings and deaths-by-dog-bite year in and year out: pit bulls.

It was a safe bet that it was one of these muscular, thick-jawed curs — bred for fighting — that grabbed the little girl by the face while she was playing cards at a friend’s house.

Pit bulls represent just 6% of the American dog population, but account for 66% of all dog bite fatalities according to DogsBite.org a data-driven organization that collects information on dog bites.

I’ve written about this breed so many times that I know exactly what’s coming: my mailbox will fill with photos of toddlers cuddling with pit bulls, there will be threats of violence against me, and accusations of racism — as if saying some dog breeds have more of a propensity for fighting and biting than others is the same as being prejudiced against PEOPLE of a different race.

Look, there was a reason Michael Vick was training pit bulls for fighting out in Surry County in 2007, and not Labrador retrievers. Continue reading →

9 Comments

Posted in Regulation

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Stop Coddling Bad Kids

Posted on February 24, 2023 by | 44 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

I have a new hero. I don’t know her real name but in her Southeast Washington D.C. neighborhood, they just call her “Grandma.”

Last Friday Grandma was on her way to chemo when a 15-year-old punk walked up and ordered her to hand over her car keys.

“I have a gun,” he said.

“Baby, you’d better shoot me because you’re not taking my car,” she shot back.

A struggle ensued — Grandma’s hand was sliced by the keys — but she screamed for help and help arrived. Her grandson and some other neighborhood boys heard the commotion, and ran to her defense.

The would-be car jacker was taken away in an ambulance.

Score one for the good guys. And for Grandma.
Continue reading →

44 Comments

Posted in Attendance, Children and families, Crime , corrections and law enforcement, Culture wars, Discipline and disorder, Education (K-12), Homeschooling, Public safety & health, Uncategorized

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Virginians Deserve Better

Posted on February 10, 2023 by | 46 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Word of warning to Virginia State Senate Democrats: paybacks are hell.

Your gleeful construction of a “brick wall of resistance” to the governor who was elected by the majority of Virginians may come back to crush you.

Maybe not this year. Or next. But eventually you’ll be back where you belong — in the minority — and the GOP will remember what you did in February 2023.

Have you heard?

Earlier this week the Dems flexed their muscles and rejected three of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees. They tried to block the appointment of Bert Ellis to the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors because he arrived on “Grounds” a couple of years ago with a tool that he intended to use to remove the “F*** UVA” sign some snotty, disrespectful undergrad had plastered to her door on the Lawn.

The president of the university should have ripped it down the day it appeared, but he’s far too woke.

Democrats were unsuccessful in trying to boot Ellis. He was approved on a tie vote.

So the UVa board now has at least one member willing to stand up for the values that once were the hallmark of the commonwealth’s flagship university.

One of the Democrats’ dubious successes this week was the sinking of Colin Greene, Youngkin’s pick for Health Commissioner.

“On a party-line vote, the Senate blocked the appointment of Health Commissioner Colin Greene, Virginia’s top public health official, over comments he made downplaying the significance of racism as a driver of health disparities,” reported the Virginia Mercury. Continue reading →

46 Comments

Posted in Politics

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IEPs Are Not a License for Violent Behavior at School

Posted on February 7, 2023 by | 120 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

It may be time to rethink the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which was signed into law in 1990 by then-President George H. W. Bush.

If the late president had known that some school officials would use a wrinkle in this law to keep psychopaths in the classroom I wonder if he would have signed it.

IDEA entitled students to a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment possible. It meant kids with physical, mental and emotional disabilities could get individualized learning plans and ideally have an education tailored to their needs.

It’s a well-intended piece of legislation built on several earlier laws that also attempted to give those with disabilities the same opportunities as other children for a free public education. It appears that IDEA may have been expanded to mean that a child with an IEP has a license to be disruptive and even violent while teachers are powerless to get them out of class. If that’s the case, well, it’s time to narrow the law.

Or scrap it. Continue reading →

120 Comments

Posted in Education (K-12)

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University of Richmond: Don’t Want The Name? Send Back The Loot.

Posted on February 2, 2023 by | 75 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Most of us didn’t pay attention last September when the University of Richmond Board of Trustees voted to remove the name of T.C. Williams from its law school because the Williams family who endowed the law school were slave owners.

After all, U of R is a snooty rich kids’ school. Not a public institution. They can be as woke as they like.

But in a delicious turn of events, wokeness is now biting the University on its well-tailored derriere.

A descendant of the philanthropic Williams family wants the money his great-great grandfather gave to the school returned — with interest — to the family.

“If suddenly his name is not good enough for the University, then isn’t the proper ethical and indeed virtuous action to return the benefactor’s money with interest? At a 6 percent compounded interest over 132 years, T.C. Williams’ gift to the law school alone is now valued at over $51 million, and this does not include many other substantial gifts from my family to the University,” Rob Smith, Williams’ great-great-grandson, said in a letter to President Kevin Hallock.
Continue reading →

75 Comments

Posted in Charity and philanthropy, Culture wars, Education (higher ed), Virginia history

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Virginia Dems Refuse To Support Female Athletes

Posted on January 31, 2023 by | 37 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

I’m old.

Old enough to remember when there were sane members of Virginia’s Democrat Party.

They’ve apparently died or left the building and the party is under the complete control of woke loons. Like Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, the former Speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates, who recently pretended not to understand why the Old Dominion needs a law prohibiting transgendered athletes from competing in female sports.

(Frankly, I have no problem with trans-men competing against males. Let ‘em try. Truth is, females are smaller and don’t have the strength of men and no amount of hormones and body hair will give them an unfair competitive advantage over biological males.)

Referring to HB1387, a bill introduced by Del. Karen Greenhalgh of Virginia Beach that would require athletes to compete in sports that comply with their biological gender, Filler-Corn voted against the bill and called it “mean-spirited,” sneering: “We have had transgender youth living in the commonwealth, and there has been no takeover of women’s sports,” she said. “I just don’t understand why this conversation continues.” Continue reading →

37 Comments

Posted in Children and families, Education (K-12), Feminism and women's rights, Schools and Public Recreation, Uncategorized

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