Author: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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The Chinese Are Coming?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Remember when Gov. Glenn Youngkin was warning us about the dangers of the Chinese owning “the rich and vibrant agricultural lands God has blessed us with?” Even the publisher of Bacon’s Rebellion thought that was far-fetched. At Youngkin’s urging, the General Assembly passed legislation prohibiting any “foreign adversary” from acquiring “any interest…
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Where Does Freedom of Speech End?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore I have a question. Under the recent Supreme Court case ruling that a wedding website designer could refuse to provide her services to a gay couple because to do so would require her to write something that she did not want to say, thereby violating her First Amendment right to free speech,…
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Private Equity in Medicine
To add to those revealed in James Sherlock’s excellent posts about nursing homes and the health care industry generally, here is another culprit–private equity firms. They buy up medical practices in an area, creating great bargaining power with insurance companies, and begin raising prices. The fight is between giant, merged insurance companies and giant, merged…
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What’s Good for the Goose….
The logical next shoe has dropped in the fight over college admissions. A civil rights organization has sued Harvard University, alleging that its practice of giving preference to legacy applicants and applicants whose parents are big donors discriminates against applicants of color. The complaint even quotes the recent Supreme Court majority opinion: “A benefit provided…
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Old Law Coming Back to Bite Virginia?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore On behalf of three Virginia residents, the Virginia ACLU, along with a large D.C. law firm, has filed suit in federal court challenging the provision of Virginia’s constitution that disenfranchises anyone convicted of a felony, providing that their voting rights can be restored only by the governor. Such a legal challenge is…
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Henrico Schools Are Failing Its Poor Students
by Dick Hall-Sizemore John Butcher’s recent article on the relationship of SOL reading scores and funding per pupil prompted me to examine the most recent (2022) 3rd grade reading scores of students in Henrico County, where I live. The scores for disadvantaged students, particularly Black students, are awful. I decided to present my findings to…
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Off the Interstate–A Local Place For A Snack
by Dick Hall-Sizemore If you are traveling through the middle of the Commonwealth this summer and want a break for some ice cream, this is the place. Just north of Culpeper on Rt. 29 is Moo Thru. The claim is that the operators make the ice cream using fresh milk from cows in the region. …
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Notes and Thoughts on the Primary Elections
by Dick Hall-Sizemore It was an interesting night last night as the results of the primary elections around the state were posted. (Results based on information on the Virginia Dept. of Elections website.) Progressive Commonwealth’s attorneys Northern Virginia Democrats overwhelmingly re-nominated all three of the progressive Commonwealth’s attorneys elected four years ago, despite their drawing…
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No Ready Answer for Increase in Police-Involved Shootings
by Dick Hall-Sizemore I like to do what I call “poking around the numbers.” Breaking down datasets for large entities, such as statewide data, can yield enlightening, and sometimes surprising, results. I was intrigued by the Virginia State Police report of officer-involved shootings that Jim Bacon reported on earlier. The big increase from 2021 to…
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Perspective Needed on the State Crime Report
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The 2022 increase in the Virginia crime rate in all categories except drugs reported by Jim Bacon in an earlier article on this blog is indeed worrisome. In the short term, crime rates can fluctuate. However, Virginia, and the nation, have experienced an overall decrease in crime rates over past two decades…
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No Clarity In This Process
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Here is another example of the utter inanity of this country’s medical care system and its financing. First, some background. I am covered by Medicare. I also have a Medicare supplement insurance policy issued by the Commonwealth of Virginia for retirees, administered by Anthem. (Good deal, by the way.) I chose to…
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Compromise and Subtlety are Becoming Dirty Words
by Dick Hall-Sizemore For those on this blog who are still lamenting the actions taken by “progressive” Democrats in the 2020 and 2021 General Assembly sessions, it might turn out that you ain’t seen nothing yet. In the Senate, several members of that Democatic caucus are retiring or have moved on to Congress (Jennifer McClellan)…
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Along the Back Roads –the Rise and Demise of a Town
Let’s take a break from DEI; the shortcomings of UVa, W&M and the rest of higher education; and all the other issues that get us riled up. Virginia is an interesting state to travel and see. I have always liked to travel the back roads. It is slower than the interstates and the primary highways,…
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A Supplement to James Sherlock’s Post
by Dick Hall-Sizemore James Sherlock has done yeoman’s work on this blog with his pointing out the failure of state government to adequately regulate the nursing homes in the Commonwealth. I commend him for his perseverance on this issue. In doing some research on the budget issues related to this topic, I encountered enough additional…