Author: James A. Bacon
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Beatings, Drownings and Quarrels
by James A. Bacon In September 0f 1810, a slave named Joe disobeyed an order given by his overseer, David Elmore, on the Henrico County plantation of Thomas H. Prosser. The overseer endeavored to “correct” Joe, and Joe responded by attacking him with a pole ax. A fight ensued. According to a coroner’s report filed…
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From Diversity Training Sessions to Political Re-Education Camp
by James A. Bacon Loudoun public school officials thought it would be a good idea to provide “cultural competency and sensitivity” training to teachers, administrators and school board members. As described by LoudounNow, the county rolled out a workshop series designed to “push participants outside their comfort zone” and “question their belief systems.” In particular,…
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Minimum Wage and Medical Insurance
Question of the Day: If Virginia enacts a minimum wage increase, how many employers will respond by cutting fringe benefits like medical insurance? Kennon Morris, president of the Virginia Forest Products Association, raises the concern in a Free Lance-Star op-ed today. Here’s his prediction of what would happen in rural Virginia: The minimum wage “would…
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Will the Tuition Incentive Work a Second Time?
by James A. Bacon In a gambit to hold the line on the rising cost of college attendance, the General Assembly last year budgeted $52.5 in incentives to be distributed to higher-ed institutions that froze in-state tuition increases. It worked. Governing boards of every institution agreed to hold steady on tuition and mandatory fees. This…
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State Senate Saves the Commonwealth. Again.
by Kerry Dougherty Here’s a morsel of good news from Richmond: Virginia will not be joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact movement. This year, anyway. For the second time in 10 days a State Senate committee saved us from extreme bills that had already passed the drunk-with-power House of Delegates. First, it was the…
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The Legal Corruption of COPN
by James C. Sherlock I have been asked to give examples of the corruption of administration of the Certificate of Public Need (COPN) law and show how it has created and supports regional monopolies. I have chosen as my example COPN Planning District 20 which is my home area of south Hampton Roads, the cities…
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More Mobile Homes, Please
by James A. Bacon The good news is that the poverty lobby has recognized that mobile home parks provide a valuable source of affordable housing in Virginia. The bad news is that… the poverty lobby wants to help. There are about 600 mobile home parks in Virginia. The average sales price for a single-width mobile…
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COVID-19: How Prepared Is Virginia?
by James A. Bacon Yesterday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a statement on the COVID-19 coronavirus, warning that the highly infectious respiratory illness could spread to the United States. The disease, which has a long latency period and can be spread without people knowing it, continued to defy efforts to contain it…
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Who Regulates the “Business” of Healthcare in Virginia?
by James C. Sherlock Understanding the relationships between healthcare and government oversight in Virginia requires distinguishing between the business of healthcare and the practice of medicine. In Virginia, the Department of Health regulates the practice of medicine. The State Corporation Commission regulates the business of health insurance. No agency of the administration has the authority…
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One Small Victory for Sanity? Maybe Not
by James A. Bacon Finally, an issue that transcends the partisan and ideological divide. Both the state Senate and House of Delegates have unanimously passed a bill to allow public and elementary school teachers to… drum roll… carry their own sunscreen. Wait, there’s more. Teachers also will be allowed to apply their own sunscreen! The…
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Getting to a Greener World with a Win-Win Agenda
by James A. Bacon Climate Change Alarmism is out of control. We’re being told that we have ten years to re-engineer the global energy economy or the world will reach a tipping point after which it will inevitably descend into an apocalyptic climate meltdown. A couple of weeks ago, the Washington Post published an article observing…
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“Insane” Virginia Bill Will Endanger Kids
by Kerry Dougherty Just when you thought the new left-wing majority in Richmond couldn’t get any crazier, they do this: Abolish the requirement that school principals report to law enforcement any student who commits sexual battery. Boneheaded. Dangerous, too. There’s more. If HB257 becomes law school administrators will no longer be required to call…
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Virginia’s Board of Health and “the Virginia Way”
by James C. Sherlock You know how sometimes you assume something to be true because you simply can’t imagine an alternate reality? I have been guilty of that. The State Board of Health is charged with overseeing the Department of Health and many other important missions. After spending more than a decade researching and observing…
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Making Schools Safe… for Violent Students
by James A. Bacon For the past several years, the Virginia Department of Education has aggressively pushed a “restorative justice” approach to school discipline. Instead of relying upon traditional punishments like suspensions, teachers and administrators employ a dispute resolution process that appeals to the offending student’s reason and empathy. How well is restorative justice working? One…
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Yes, Virginia, Media Bias Is Real
by James A, Bacon There are far more liberal/Democratic journalists than conservative/Republican journalists, but political bias has little influence over how they report the news, finds a new study on media bias, “There is No Liberal Media Bias in the News Political Journalists Choose to Cover.” The study, one of whose three co-authors, John B.…