Author: James A. Bacon
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Absentee Voting by Mail Has Many Safeguards
by Rosanna Bencoach In a recent piece in Bacon’s Rebellion, “COVID-19 No Justification for Mail-In Voting,” Brian Glass questioned the security of mail-in voting by citing controversies in other states during previous elections. The underlying issues and outcomes varied but did not cast doubt on the entire system. As Dick Hall-Sizemore commented: Voting by mail is…
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Why Do 58 Nursing Homes Lack PPE?
by Carol J. Bova The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) publishes COVID-19 data reported by nursing homes as of May 31. Only five Virginia facilities reported not having enough essential supplies for current use, but that still put the safety of 554 residents plus an unknown number of staff members at risk for COVID-19…
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COVID-19 Update: Good News, the Virus is Less Deadly
by James A. Bacon The COVID-19 data is looking great. Time to partaaaay! Just kidding, boys and girls, we do not need another Ozark pool-party moment. You still need to wear your masks and keep your social distance. But the evidence does suggest that Virginia can quickly wind down many of the remaining restrictions on…
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Reality Is What Ruth Marcus Says It Is
by James A. Bacon Derek Chauvin, the policeman who killed George Floyd by placing a knee on his neck, is not just a “bad apple,” opines Ruth Marcus, deputy editorial page editor of the Washington Post. “The problem of policing is not individual apples, but bushels of them. It is a diseased tree” infected by…
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Gunning for the Founding Fathers
by Kerry Dougherty What happens after all of the Confederate monuments and statues have been toppled and hidden from view? After they’ve been tossed on the slagheap of history? The Founding Fathers will be next. Rewriting history, holding revered figures in American history to impossible 21st-century standards and attacking the very underpinnings of our republic…
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Polybius, ANTIFA, and the Cycle of Discord
by Scott Lingamfelter When I awoke this morning, like many of you, I found myself genuinely concerned about what is going on in America. The violence, looting, the wanton destruction of life and property are both shocking and unacceptable. Most people are angry with the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a rogue…
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Did Protesters Spread the Virus? Too Early to Tell
by James A. Bacon I have read some speculation that Virginia might see an uptick in COVID-19 cases following the mass protests in defiance of limits on gatherings. Given the delays between the infection of a person, the time at which he or she shows symptoms, and the time he or she is tested and…
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Democracy Dies in Darkness — and We’re the Ones Turning Out the Lights
by James A. Bacon The New York Times has published a piece today describing the revolution in the nation’s newsrooms. In what the author appears to regard as a positive development, the news and editorial departments of prominent newspapers are jettisoning the old idea of “objective” journalism in favor of social justice journalism. Citing the…
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Kids Need to Be in Class This Fall
by Kerry Dougherty Ever since the Covid-19 hysteria began in March, Virginians have learned to dread their governor’s press conferences. With good reason. One week it’s no sitting on the beach. Next it’s no loud music. Then, a mask mandate. Who knows what the governor has in store for us this week. He’s expected to…
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The Statues Are Coming Down? What’s Next?
by James A. Bacon Throughout history military commanders have faced a classical dilemma: When confronted with overwhelming odds, do they stand fast and hope for a miracle to deliver victory, while risking total annihilation as a fighting force? Or do they conduct an orderly retreat, regroup and live to fight another day? Robert E. Lee,…
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COVID-19 No Justification for Mail-In Voting
by Brian Glass With the COVID-19 epidemic, adherents of mail-in voting in Virginia and around the country believe they have found the “hook” to pass their favored legislation. That idea needs to be revisited before the primary elections in June and the presidential election in November. Regardless of the epidemic, voting by mail is still…
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Anarchists Plotted Arson of Richmond Courthouse, FBI Says
by James A. Bacon The U.S. federal courthouse in Richmond was vandalized with a mark indicating it had been designated as a “target for potential vandalism/arson by antifa,” according to an FBI Situational Awareness Report issued Tuesday, reported the Daily Caller website. “FBI Norfolk received information indicating the Richmond Federal Courthouse exterior walls were spray…
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Who Will Pay for Increased Nursing Home Testing?
by James A. Bacon The The Virginia Mercury has published a well-reported article today about the challenges of addressing the spread of COVID-19 in Virginia nursing homes, which account for 57% of all COVID deaths in the state. The Virginia Department of Health is gearing up for a massive expansion of testing at the nursing…
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Federal Action Should Clarify COVID-19 Racial Impact
by Carol J. Bova Discussion of the percentage of black COVID-19 hospitalized patients in Virginia is based on the known racial identification of all COVID-19 cases. The breakdown of all cases shows this is a false narrative. We don’t know what the true racial percentages are because currently 32% of all COVID-19 cases have no…
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Hijacking George Floyd: UVa Edition
Here’s yet another example of how white liberals are hijacking the George Floyd tragedy to advance their special-interest agendas on the grounds of social justice. University of Virginia President Jim Ryan announced that UVa will create a task to gather, solicit and prioritize recommendations about racial equity. In a statement, Ryan said he felt “despair…