Author: James A. Bacon
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Hosting Your First Thanksgiving? Start Now.
by Kerry Dougherty So, you think you’re all grown up just because you’ve graduated from the children’s table? Hah. Truth is, you’re not really an adult until you’ve hosted Thanksgiving dinner. In your own house or apartment, for at least 10 people, with everything made from scratch. Except the rolls, that is. You may buy…
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Virginia’s Monuments War
In Charlottesville and Richmond, the fate of historical statuary hangs in the balance. by Catesby Leigh Charlottesville’s public spaces suffered major degradation after George Floyd’s killing, thanks to the removal of five noteworthy statuary works erected between 1909 and 1924: a Confederate sentinel known as Johnny Reb perched on an elaborate pedestal flanked by two…
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AG’s Office to Review UVa Handling of Shooting Threat
Attorney General Jason Miyares has agreed to conduct an external review of the events that led up to the shooting deaths of three University of Virginia students Sunday. He will enlist special counsel to assist his office in the completion of its work, said spokesperson Victoria LaCivita. The review will produce a report to be…
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Religious-Rights Speaker Stirs UVa Controversy
by James A. Bacon Three days ago the National Lawyers Guild at UVa condemned the invitation of Erin Hawley, senior counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, to a Federalist Society event previewing a U.S. Supreme Court case touching upon religious freedom. The “progressive” law student group cited the Southern Poverty Law Center designation of the…
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Trump, Missiles, COVID, and Youngkin
by Kerry Dougherty Yes, I heard. The whole country heard. Donald Trump announced last night that he was running for president in 2024. The worst-kept secret in American history. If I were a Democrat I’d be delighted. While Trump always sucks the air out of the room and dominates the news cycle, other events were…
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Lost Boy
by James A. Bacon There is a disturbing sidebar to the University of Virginia mass shooting story. Only a few hours before the murders took place at around 10:30 p.m. on Nov. 12, a rapper and minor social media celebrity, Bryan Silva, posted a disturbing message on his Facebook account: I want u v a…
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A Time To Mourn
Many questions arise from the mass shooting at the University of Virginia two days ago. Why’d he do it? Were there warning signs? Could the murders have been prevented? There will be a time and a place to answer those questions. But not now. Now is the time to mourn the loss of three fine…
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UVa Slayings
by Kerry Dougherty Unimaginable. The fear, the dread that crept across the University of Virginia grounds Sunday night as reports of a fatal shooting spread and students were cautioned to shelter in place. The gunman was on the loose. He was armed and dangerous. The manhunt for Christopher Darnell Jones Jr, lasted 12 terrifying hours.…
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Lame Responses to Youngkin’s History SOL Standards
by James A. Bacon The Youngkin administration has laid out the thinking behind its revisions to the History and Social Studies Standards of Learning tests. The broad thrust is to educate students on how Virginia and the United States came to have the institutions they have. Underlying assumptions are that (1) representative government, property rights,…
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Teaching History as the Struggle for a “More Perfect Union”
The Youngkin administration has published a document, “The Guiding Principles for Virginia’s 2022 History and Social Science Standards Revisions,” which lays out the thinking behind revisions to the history and social-science Standards of Learning standards. The document does not dictate what teachers will teach. To the contrary, it states explicitly that the goal is to…
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So Much for Burying the Dark Side of Virginia History
by James A. Bacon The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has posted a new set of proposed goals for the teaching of civics, geography, and economics — the first major changes to the History and Social Science Standards of Learning since the existing standards were adopted in 2015. Critics have accused the Youngkin administration of…
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Student Misbehavior Is Schools’ Biggest Challenge, JLARC Says
by James A. Bacon In what will come as no surprise to Bacon’s Rebellion readers (other than the reality-denying ankle biters frequenting our comments section), Virginia public school staff cite poor student behavior as their most serious challenge, found a study of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC). More than 56% of respondents…
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Why a VMI Alumnus Yanked a $1 Million Bequest
An open letter to the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors, Virginia Military Institute Alumni Association, VMI Corps of Cadets, VMI Alumni/ae, Parents Council, and The Cadet Newspaper. November 11, 2022 I am a member of the VMI class 1975. In the nearly 50 years since my graduation, I have taken great pride in being one…
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Trump Denial Simplex
by Jim McCarthy Wokeness appears to have infiltrated or infected Republicans and conservatives following disappointment when the ballyhooed Red Wave failed to materialize in the midterms. Denial is the first stage of the grieving process toward acceptance of the passing of a loved one. Trump Denial Simplex (TDS) is not a replacement for Trump Derangement…