Author: James A. Bacon
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Maryland Governor Stands Up for Private Schools
by Kerry Dougherty It was inevitable. Once teachers’ unions and associations began using their muscle to lobby to keep public schools closed this fall it was likely that city and state officials – who often owe their jobs to militant teachers’ groups – might try to close private schools, too. Think about the optics: Private…
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Revisionist History Is a Fool’s Errand
by Bill O’Keefe One of the actions growing from the Black Life Matters movement is an effort to eradicate the memory of anyone associated with the Confederacy. Here in Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University has a process in place that could lead to removing commemoration even of individuals who served as a doctor or nurse. The…
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None Dare Call This Institutional Racism
Here’s how the James Madison Center for Civic Engagement web page defines institutional racism (my boldface): Institutional racism is distinguished from the explicit attitudes or racial bias of individuals by the existence of systematic policies or laws and practices that provide differential access to goods, services and opportunities of society by race. Institutional racism results…
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Same Con, Different Spin
This chart provides a reminder from the American Enterprise Institute that inflation-adjusted spending per student of K-12 public schools across the country has increased almost two-and-a-half times as rapidly over the past 50 years as the number of students. The education system is paying for more teachers and a whole lot more non-teaching staff. (Click…
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When Density Equals Danger…
by James A. Bacon One of the virtues of Arlington County is the brilliant job that county planners have done in working with developers and property owners to create walkable streetscapes. The existence of pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, intersections and building setbacks — creating public urban spaces where people enjoy dining, shopping, and mingling — are a…
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Double Standards and the COVID Crisis
by Kerry Dougherty You want to know why some of us are so cynical about the Covid crisis? It’s the double standards. The lack of consistency. The shifting goalposts. Officials saying one thing and doing another. We saw a glaring example of the latter it here in Virginia in May, when the Governor — who’d…
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Justice at Last for Rojai Fentress
by James A. Bacon It would be entirely understandable if Rojai Fentress were angry and embittered by the miscarriage of justice that convicted him of a 1996 murder and kept him imprisoned until July of this year. But in a recent Encorepreneur Zoomcast, he expressed nothing but joy at his new-found freedom, gratitude toward those…
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Striking a Balance Between History and Diversity at VMI
by James A. Bacon The Virginia Military institute will not purge monuments to Stonewall Jackson and VMI cadets who fought at the Battle of New Market, Superintendent J.H. Binford Peay III announced last week in a letter to the VMI community. But the retired four-star general said the military college will intensify efforts to achieve…
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Meanwhile, In the Capital of the Confederacy (of Dunces)…
by James A. Bacon Coincidence or not? You decide. First this: After weeks of a hands-off policy, Richmond police moved July 30 to enforce state laws and city ordinances in what had been a law enforcement-free zone around Lee Circle. An amorphous band of left-wing activists and radicals had seized the circle, where the graffiti-defaced…
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Failing Diversity Grades for Virginia Public Colleges
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s most selective public universities get failing grades in a report by the Education Trust for under-representation of African-American students, and most get failing grades for the enrollment of Latino students. But, then, the track record of higher-ed institutions nationally is discouraging, too. While roughly 40% of the nation’s most selective…
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Big Problems with Dems’ No-Harm-No-Foul Assault Law
by James A. Bacon Sen. Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, has a point: Virginia needs to reform its law declaring that any “assault” on a law enforcement officer be treated as a felony. It is absurd that people are charged with felonies, as has happened in Virginia, for throwing onion rings and brownies, spilling water on shoes,…
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Ouch!
Dominion Energy announced today a $1.2 billion loss in the quarter ending June 30, largely reflecting the cost of writing off its spending on the defunct Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. Operating earnings (before write-offs and other adjustments) were $706 million. The difference between reported losses and operating earnings for the first three months, states the…
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A Low-Cost, Binge-Learning Model for Higher Ed
by James A. Bacon Perhaps the most interesting company headquartered in Virginia today is Herndon-based Strategic Education Inc. The company made a brief splash in the news yesterday when it announced a deal to acquire two Australian investor-funded universities for $643 million in cash. But the company, which generates roughly $1 billion a year in…
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About those Boogaloo Boys…
by James A. Bacon After a small riot last weekend that resulted in the torching of a dump truck, dumpster fires, shattered windows, and two dozen arrests, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney blamed… white supremacists. “Last night shows that the real hate comes from the racism that is still very much alive in our commonwealth,” Stoney…
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Let the Young Be Stupid. Focus on the Outbreaks
by Carol J. Bova Governor Ralph Northam is cracking down on a surge in COVID-19 cases in Hampton Roads by limiting the serving of alcohol in the region. He’s attacking the wrong problem. You can’t fix stupid, and you can’t make young people listen to advice. Irresponsible youthful behavior will spread the COVID-19 virus, but…