Author: James A. Bacon
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“Seeking a Better World” by Defending the Beheaders of Babies
by James A. Bacon A week ago the Students for Justice in Palestine at UVA created a furor by publishing a statement defending Hamas’ attack on Israel. “Yesterday’s rebellion was not ‘unprovoked,’ as many have claimed, but is the consequence of years of mass killings, ethnic cleansing, and oppression from Israel,” the group wrote. “The…
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Dumb and Getting Dumber
Two years after the COVID school lockdowns, the collapse in K-12 learning still has significant downward momentum. Of the 1.4 million high school seniors who took the ACT college preparedness test in 2023, the percentage meeting all four benchmarks — English, math, reading, and science — was 20.8% — down 1.3 percentage points from the…
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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of UVa’s Transgender Movement
by James A. Bacon I learned a lot about transgender activists and advocates at the Abigail Shrier event at the University of Virginia last night. Some are bitter, angry people who hurl non-stop invective. Some are close-minded but willing to engage in rational conversation. But at least one is courteous, friendly and willing to engage…
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Abigail Shrier Will Be Livestreamed Tonight
*** Sponsored Content *** Abigail Shrier, author of “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” will be speaking tonight (Oct. 11) at 7:00 p.m. at the University of Virginia. Register here. If you can’t make it to Charlottesville, you can livestream the event by clicking here.
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Be Careful What You Ask For, You Just Might Get It
by James A. Bacon Welcome to the new normal. In 2020 the General Assembly enacted a law giving local school districts the right to engage in collective bargaining. Our friends at the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy warned that much mischief would ensue, an assessment I shared. On November 2022 the Prince William County…
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Transgender Man Sues LGBT Life Center
by James A. Bacon A transgender man has filed a lawsuit against the LGBT Life Center in Virginia Beach, which provides health, housing, and other social services to the LBGQT community, on the grounds that it maintained a toxic work environment. Alexia Kaelber, reports The Virginian-Pilot, had “dreams of helping the marginalized community and uplifting…
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Free Speech and the Abigail Shrier Event
by James A. Bacon It is gratifying to see the editors of The Cavalier Daily engage in an exchange of ideas, albeit indirectly through dueling editorials, with conservative proponents of free speech at The Jefferson Independent, the University of Virginia’s independent student publication, and The Jefferson Council. It is even more gratifying to see that…
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University Boards’ Primary Duty is to the Commonwealth, AG Says
by James A. Bacon The primary duty of board members of Virginia’s public colleges and universities is to the commonwealth, not to the individual institutions, Attorney General Jason Miyares wrote Monday in response to an advisory opinion requested by Governor Glenn Younkin. According to Miyares’ missive, Youngkin asked whether Virginia law imposes upon boards of visitors…
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Things Fall Apart: Virginia Homeownership Rate
From an email from search-intelligence.co.uk attributed to RubyHome Luxury Real Estate: Virginia experienced the largest decline in homeownership of any state during the new millennium. In 2000, the homeownership rate sat at 73.9%; it declined to 67.4% in 2022. This makes for a percentage-point change of 8.8% since 2000 in 2020 — the most of any state.…