Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

  • “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

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    Patrick Henry Credit: National Portrait Gallery

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Each Sunday afternoon during the summer, the Historic St. John’s Church Foundation presents a reenactment of Patrick Henry’s famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech.  The reenactment, which has been presented for almost 50 years, takes place in the Historic St. John’s Church in Richmond, the site of the original speech.

    Historic St. John’s Church

    During the presentation, actors assume the roles of eight of the delegates to the Second Virginia Convention of 1775: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Peyton Randolph, Edmund Pendleton, Benjamin Harrison, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Nelson, and, of course, Patrick Henry.  During the summer, the roles rotate among the company of actors.

    Before the reenactment begins, one of the actors provides a short history lesson, setting the stage and context of the Convention. 

    During the presentation, the delegates/actors are seated among the audience and rise in their places to participate in the debate over Henry’s resolution that the colony of Virginia establish an armed militia.  The debate culminates in Henry’s famous declaration: 

    “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

    After the reenactment is concluded, the actors gather outside to talk to members of the audience and pose for pictures.

    It is a wonderful, meaningful way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

    For those of you not willing to bear the dreary slog of Sunday afternoon traffic on I-95 in the summer (and I know, first hand, what it is like), here is a presentation filmed by C-SPAN.

    Some of the actors/delegates on July 14, 2024:

    Benjamin Harrison
    Patrick Henry
    George Washington

  • Phonics Make a Comeback

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    by James A. Bacon

    Students at Chimborazo Elementary School. Photo credit: Richmond Times-Dispatch

    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 the use of a failed teaching method for reading known as “three-cueing” this fall.

    The three-cueing technique, based on educational theories developed in the 1960s, downplays phonics in favor of deducing an unfamiliar word from its semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic contexts. A 2019 survey cited by the Richmond Times-Dispatch found that 65% of college education professors teach it as an instruction technique and 75% of K-2 and elementary special education teachers use it.

    The education profession is prone to intellectual fads based upon novel academic theories such as three-cueing. But critics contend there is little social scientific evidence to support three-cuing. The tried-and-true method of teaching students to sound out words — phonics — is much more effective.

    “Prior to really digging into the science of reading, a lot of cueing happened,” Lisa Coons, Virginia’s state superintendent of public instruction told the RTD. “It was more of a guessing game, and we were working to use pictures and cues and other words around it to try and figure out what the word said.

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  • Bacon Bits: More Bad Behavior

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    James A. Bacon

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    Are public officials in Virginia engaging in more petty crimes and misdemeanors these days? Maybe it’s just coincidence that so much misbehavior is being reported on the same day.

    Warren County embezzlement. From the Northern Virginia Daily: former Warren County supervisor Ronald L. Llewellyn and his wife Corinne have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of embezzlement that took place between 2011 and 2018. Ronald Llewellyn was indicted on 44 counts of embezzlement, 10 of conducting an unlawful financial transaction and one of forging a document. His wife was indicted with 22 counts of embezzlement and seven of unlawful transactions. Details were not available on what government or business entity was victimized.

    Stalking and general creepiness. Rodney Lamont Hubbard, the 52-year-old owner of a car repair business and Republican candidate for Lynchburg City Council, has been charged with stalking and “unlawful filming” of another, reports Cardinal News. In other run-ins with the law, Hubbard is charged with misdemeanor assault and battery and misdemeanor carry of a concealed weapon. His record includes convictions for drug possession and distribution, destruction of property, possessing a gun as a nonviolent felon and unlawfully obtaining documents from the DMV.

    I guess Patrick County won’t be getting that hospital. From Cardinal News….

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  • Staring into the Abyss

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    James A. Bacon

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    We’ve reached a dead end. Everybody, please draw a deep breath and take a step back.

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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  • Keep Politics Out of University Investment Decisions

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    James A. Bacon

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    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.

    Aimee Guidera

    The state wants to ensure higher education institutions “invest in a manner that prioritizes risk-adjusted investment returns independent of social, political or ideological interests,” wrote Guidera and Cummings, according to Cardinal News, which obtained a copy of the letter.

    The query follows a conversation between Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the state Council of Presidents in March that was prompted by calls of pro-Palestinian groups on college campuses to divest university assets tied to Israel, according to the letter.

    Stephen Cummings

    I’ve followed this issue closely for the Jefferson Council as it has played out at the University of Virginia, and I refer Guidera, Cummings and Bacon’s Rebellion readers to this article: “Board Shows No Interest in Israel Divestment.”

    President Jim Ryan and the Board of Visitors have ignored a resolution passed by the student body to divest companies doing business in Israel from UVA’s endowment.

    However, UVA’s investment arm, UVIMCO, does have an ESG (environmental, social, governance) policy, and it maintains an Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility. UVIMCO’s primary ESG focus has been mitigating systemic risks of climate change.

    Does that count?

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  • Stopping Sticky-Fingered Shoppers

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    by Kerry Dougherty

    This is not a column about bras. It’s about one more sign of the fall of civilization.

    It starts with a bra, though. A simple, white, inexpensive sports bra.

    I was in desperate need of a new one and I’m never going to splurge $68 at Lululemon for a swatch of Spandex to contain my modest endowments.

    My undies come from less exclusive retail shops.

    Which is how I found myself in the athletic wear department of one of these Virginia Beach stores yesterday where I found just what I needed for $16. I paid at the self-checkout and bagged my purchases.

    As I went through the exit with several other shoppers, I heard that tell-tale ding, ding, ding, but figured it couldn’t be me because I had no high-ticket items in my bag.

    Once home, however, I found a red plastic security tag firmly attached to my new bra. There is no way to remove these things with teeth or tools, so I headed back to the store with my receipt.

    As the customer service clerk was removing the tag, I told her that I’d heard the alarm as I went through the door, but no one stopped me.

    “We don’t,” she replied.

    Continue reading.

  • No. 1 CNBC Ranking? Eh. Beats a Poke in the Eye With a Sharp Stick

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    by James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    Virginia ranks No. 1 in CNBC’s just-released Top States for Business 2024 ranking — a marketing coup for the Old Dominion and Governor Glenn Youngkin. After ranking No. 2 last year, Virginia squeaked past 2023’s leader, North Carolina, by a narrow margin.

    The favorable publicity should put Virginia on the radar screen of more businesses as they pursue site-location plans in the year ahead. Ideally, the recognition will lead to more corporate investment and job creation. Whether it propels Virginia into the ranks of top-performing state economies, however, is problematic.

    In 2023, when Virginia ranked No. 2 as CNBC’s Top State for Business, the Old Dominion actually underperformed the national economy — achieving only 2.4% growth in Gross Domestic Product compared to 2.5% growth nationally, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

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  • The “Black Jobs” Narrative is False, Harmful

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    Steve Haner

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    By Derrick Max

    Derrick Max

    While most of the post-debate news coverage is still rightly focused on the mental acuity (or lack thereof) of President Biden, the use of the term “Black jobs” by former President Trump in the context of low-income, unskilled jobs that will be impacted by our open southern border, bothers me almost as much. This type of false categorization leads to policies and beliefs that do great harm to the African American community.

    Sadly, there is a bipartisan failure to understand or appreciate Black economic vitality. Blacks, in the current false narrative, are poor and in need of both protection and assistance. From Trump’s inartful claim that low-skill jobs are “Black jobs,” or Democrat contentions that African Americans don’t have or can’t get IDs to prove citizenship to vote, or most recently, Governor Hochel saying that black kids in the Bronx “don’t know what a computer is” – the picture painted of Black Americans is one of hopelessness and despair.

    This narrative ignores the fact that the progress of Black Americans since slavery is nothing short of amazing. If you separate out Blacks in the United States and rank their combined GDP, they would have one of the largest economies in the world on par with the economies of Mexico, Canada, and Italy — and ahead of every country in Africa.

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  • A Diversity Director for Every Department

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    John McLaren

    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 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.

    McLaren came to the attention of the Jefferson Council when his name turned up in an email chain involving Keisha John, associate dean of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for the College of Arts & Sciences. John had written him and other departmental DEI directors to provide feedback on a survey the College was developing to measure the extent of “belonging” experienced by Arts & Sciences students, faculty and staff. (See “UVA Arts & Sciences to Conduct Climate Survey.”)

    By itself, the request was not especially onerous. John asked McLaren to “take a few minutes” to complete a brief online survey rating the importance of key themes to be considered in the survey. She also urged him to “share broadly” with others in his department. Their responses would guide higher-up DEI officials as they developed the questionnaire for distribution in the fall. But acting as the econ department’s point man on the survey was only a small part of what his DEI responsibilities include.

    Why does that interest the Jefferson Council? Because of the ongoing debate about the size and scope of the DEI administration at UVA.

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  • UVA Arts & Sciences to Conduct “Belonging” Survey

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    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 the questionnaire, with detailed questions to be developed in the next phase. The goal is to have the questionnaire ready by this fall.

    In emails obtained by The Jefferson Council, Keisha John, associate dean of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for the College of Arts & Sciences, noted that many departments had conducted their own climate surveys. She was working with the University DEI division and the Center for Survey Research to “ensure consistency and validity of survey instruments.”

    “Departments,” she wrote in the email, “will have this as an additional tool as they strive to ensure all constituents — students, staff and faculty — are flourishing.”

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  • Rambling: A Reminder of the Beginnings of Religious Freedom

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    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    This is one of the most attractive church buildings I have seen. It is Mathews Baptist Church, located on Rt. 198 in Mathews County at the intersection with the road leading to Gwynn’s Island.

    The sign above the door says the church was organized in 1776.

    In the years leading up to 1776, one had to have courage and dedication to be a Baptist in Virginia. The colony’s laws required ministers to be licensed and meetinghouses to be registered. The itinerant Baptist ministers refused to comply. In turn, they were fined and imprisoned. They would often preach to their followers through the bars of their cell windows. Laymen were also fined, and sometimes imprisoned, for attending “illegal” Baptist services. Whippings and beatings were common. Crowds disrupted Baptist worship services and harassed congregation members.

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  • Hurricanes and Climate Hysteria

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    By Derrick Max

    The first hurricane of 2024, Hurricane Beryl, is now in the books. Beryl reminded us that hurricanes are a powerful force of nature – a force that clearly causes much fear and anxiety. The stronger and more destructive the hurricane, the deeper it becomes ingrained in our collective consciousness.  Katrina, Andrew, Sandy, Harvey – hurricane names that will forever be associated with destruction and death.

    Sadly, as with most destructive weather events, these events quickly become fodder for climate extremists to tie our fear of these events to “climate change” or more specifically, “man-made climate change.” Beryl is no exception, “Is Hurricane Beryl the sign of another dangerous storm season?  Climate change is fueling the frequency and intensity of storms” cried the headline in The Week.

    Surprisingly, the actual data rarely matches the headline, a fact that seldom gets coverage in the mainstream media. Even government agencies, according to meteorologist and oceanographer Bob Cohen, often lead with alarming statements about increased weather severity, but the data show a different story. The truth is that the number of hurricanes (remaining offshore and making land) impacting the continental United States hasn’t significantly increased over the past century.

    While Atlantic hurricane formation does exhibit a very slight upward trend recently, the records indicate a peak much earlier, as the graph below shows. Sparsely populated areas in the early 20th century might have missed weaker storms, leading to underestimates.

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  • Down the Memory Hole

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    by James A. Bacon

    “How do you squeeze the essence of Wahoowa into 90 seconds?” So asks an article in UVA Today. Here’s what UVA’s video producers came up with:

    What’s missing from the video?

    There are 50 scenes, including shots of the Rotunda and the Lawn, but no mention of their designer. Apparently, the scribe of the Declaration of Independence, the man who ended the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the third president of the United States, the founder of the University of Virginia no longer appeals to the incoming generation of students.

    Or could the problem be that Thomas Jefferson no longer appeals to the current generation of University leaders? Many at UVA believe TJ is more appropriately remembered as a slave-holding rapist.

    How times have changed. The following video comes from ten years ago:

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  • Will Dominion Now Have Three Offshore Windfarms?

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    By Steve Haner

    The Kitty Hawk North windfarm off the coast of North Carolina, stalled because of its need to bring transmission cables ashore under Virginia’s Sandbridge Beach neighborhood, now has a new owner, a new name and a new lease on life. It is hard to imagine Dominion Energy Virginia would buy it without some plan to overcome the current local objections in Virginia Beach.

    Also, Dominion Energy ratepayers will soon have another reason to sweat out future Atlantic hurricanes. We must all now forget the media frenzy of the last few weeks about how Hurricane Beryl was such a record breaker at Category 5 and thus a harbinger of future climate doom.

    Within hours of the public announcement Monday that Dominion Energy Virginia would pay Avangrid $160 million to take over its lease and permits off the Outer Banks, Dominion officials hosted a meeting with some of the Sandbridge Beach residents who have been the roadblock. The quick engagement was greatly appreciated, said Joe Bourne, a leader of the Protect Sandbridge Beach Coalition, but the group’s basic objections to bringing the cables there have not changed. This is “early days,” he said.

    Dominion has always been planning to build more offshore wind turbines after finishing the $10 billion Commonwealth of Virginia Offshore Wind project now under construction off Virginia Beach. Its most recent integrated resource plan included a second wave of wind development of roughly equal size to the first tranche, scheduled to begin operation in 2026.

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