Author: James A. Bacon
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Statue Preservationists, Find Better Ground!
by Donald Smith God, give me the strength to change what I can, the serenity to accept what I cannot, and the wisdom to know the difference. That’s the “Serenity Prayer,” and those of us who want to see Virginia’s Confederate heritage respected (or at least tolerated) need to say it. Often specifically, we need…
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Not Gilly Sullivan’s Alumni Association Anymore
by James A. Bacon Aiming to address the lamentable decline in state/local news coverage, States Newsroom supports local news operations in 29 states, including Virginia. As Jim Sherlock detailed here, the nonprofit organization was launched in 2017 by the left-of-center Hopewell Fund, which itself is managed by the left-of-center Arabella Advisors. Its Virginia Mercury digital…
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Homicide Charges for Drug Dealers — Yes!
by James A. Bacon Governor Glenn Youngkin has told Southwest Virginia law enforcement officials that he would sign a bill charging drug dealers with homicide if they sold illegal drugs that resulted in an overdose death. With the number of fatal overdoses exceeding 100,000 a year across the U.S., drug addiction is a scourge in…
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Cultural Death Wish
by James A. Bacon In my previous post I gave a just-the-facts-ma’am account of the controversy over the appearance of gay- and fat-rights performance artist Kimberly Dark at the Virginia Military Institute. In this column, I’ll give my personal reaction. There are three elements to the controversy (1) the incident is solid evidence that VMI…
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Does VMI Oppress Fat People?
by James A. Bacon Last night the Virginia Military Institute hosted Kimberly Dark, a gay- and fat-rights activist, at its Gender Inclusion Dinner. The VMI website has published no information about the event. But in her website, Dark said she intended to address “the ways in which women and LGBTQ+ cadets, along with those who…
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From Children-as-Chattel to Pick-Your-Pronoun
by Jim McCarthy Pronouns have now entered the cross hairs of the culture wars, particularly in the discourse about parents’ rights in schooling. Sometimes one longs for the good old days of yesteryear, nostalgic for their simplicity, generally free from microanalytic contention over the spoken and written word. While media is often faulted for contributing…
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How to Tweak the Drive-Up Voting Process
by Janice Stewart A few weeks ago, Bacon’s Rebellion writer Jim Sherlock recounted his positive experience with drive-up voting in Virginia Beach. Good deal, I thought. Jim and his wife had an easier voting experience, and he gave the election officials who assisted them high marks. What’s not to like? Yesterday, I served as an…
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Dysfunction Junction
It’s a close call, but I’d say that Portsmouth now has edged out Charlottesville as the most dysfunctional city in Virginia. The latest news: former Portsmouth City Manager Angel Jones is threatening to file a lawsuit against the city. Not only does she allege wrongful termination, Jones cites “major crimes involving public corruption” among city…
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Things Fall Apart: Virginia Homelessness Up 7%
by James A. Bacon An estimated 5,335 people lived in homeless shelters in Virginia in 2021, a 7% increase from the previous year, according to an article in Stacker, a national nonprofit news source. The Old Dominion ranked 10th nationally in the size of its percentage increase since 2020. Nationally, the number of people living…
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Virginia Not Ready to Criminalize Parents Who Reject Child’s Transgender Identity. Not Yet.
by James A. Bacon Delegate Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William, stirred the hornet’s nest when she told WJLA last week that she would reintroduce a bill to expand the definition of child abuse to include inflicting “physical or mental injury” on children due to their gender identity or sexual orientation. Republicans criticized the criminalization of parental…
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Don’t California Our Virginia
by Kerry Dougherty Whatever you do at the ballot box in Virginia, do not return Democrats to power in Richmond. Or anywhere else. You’ve been warned. Leftist Northern Virginia Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (D-Dale City), announced Thursday that she’s re-introducing legislation this year that would protect LGBTQ children from their parents. Chew on that for a…
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Safety and Accountability
by Jon Baliles Richmond City Council approved plans earlier this week for a Civilian Review Board (CRB) for the Police Department that left people on all sides a bit upset, which fulfills one of the telltale signs of good legislation — if everyone is a little bit upset, then it is probably done right. If…