Author: sherlockj
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Instant Background Checks for Gun Purchases – What is Checked and Who Populates the Databases?
by James C. Sherlock The FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is much discussed and little understood by the general public. In an effort to help, this article will inform readers about the NICS Indices, what information is kept there and how it gets there. The information here about the NICS is quoted or…
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Red Flags in Fairfax County
by James C. Sherlock Restorative justice (RJ) in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano’s progressive “reforms” of the criminal justice system had better work. Because they virtually eliminate the very records of criminal and mentally disturbed misconduct by juveniles needed to support gun-purchase background checks. FCPS asserts that their RJ system…
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Federal Department of Education to Toss Virginia Schools a Live Grenade
by James C. Sherlock The Office of Civil Rights of the Biden Department of Education has published a revised Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) data set. Some statistics: Type of Review: A revision of an existing information collection. Respondents/Affected Public: State, Local, or Tribal Governments. Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 17,884. Total Estimated Number of Annual…
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Gun Control Debate Survives Invasion and War
by James C. Sherlock The gun control debate survives invasion. Ukraine. A user survey survey last week in Ukrainian government e-portal Diia (1,726,452 participants in a pre-war population of 40 million) showed most Ukrainians express a desire to freely own weapons for personal use. 59% are in favor of the free carrying of weapons; 22%…
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National Teacher Survey Sounds Alarm – Teacher Shortages About to Get Worse
by James C. Sherlock My subscription to Education Week yesterday produced a survey on teacher satisfaction that the EdWeek Research Center conducted for Boston’s Merrimack College. The survey results suggest a deep disillusionment of many teachers who feel overworked, underpaid, and under-appreciated, with potential implications for a once-in-a-generation shift in the teaching profession. For example,…
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Secular Authoritarian Religions Disgrace Virginia’s Left and Right
by James C. Sherlock America’s freedoms, guaranteed by its Bill of Rights and its three-branch government, have been the keys to America’s success since its founding. Individual freedoms, protected, unleashed the creativity of hundreds of millions of citizens to make America the most dominant nation in the history of the world. Broadly common moral standards…
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Home Price Volatility and Virginia Property Taxes
by James C. Sherlock Housing prices have more than doubled since 2012, reflecting shortages of supply and the resulting speculation. The increasing slope of those curves above is not comforting. Prices have soared over 20% in a year. Mortgage rates are up. What could possibly happen next? Most can figure that out. But this article is…
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How are Virginians Preparing for the Coming Food Price Shocks?
by James C. Sherlock Virginians have only begun to experience price inflation at the grocery store. Price increases are in the food pipeline that will be a much bigger problem starting this summer. Farmers and ranchers invest up front. They borrow money to do it. They are incredibly efficient at what they do, but are…
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A Gun Owner’s Suggestion for Virginia Gun Laws
By James C. Sherlock I was a career military man. I am a conservative and a gun owner. As a younger man, I won competitive awards for marksmanship with both rifle and pistol. I own a semi-automatic Glock for home protection. I train regularly and at almost 77 can still hit what I aim at.…
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Medicaid, Public Health and Chronic Disease Management
by James C. Sherlock From the CDC: Chronic diseases have significant health and economic costs in the United States. Preventing chronic diseases, or managing symptoms when prevention is not possible, can reduce these costs. Virginia pays a great deal of money every year to contractors who manage the care of its Medicaid population. It is…
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Virginia Public School Security – the Disturbing Data
by James C. Sherlock Does Uvalde Texas seem far away? It really is not. All of the problems encountered in that tragedy exist in Virginia schools. I credit the work of everyone in every school district to keep the schools safe. But given the scale of the dangerous school security-related incidents that occur despite their efforts,…
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Lessons in Education, Democracy and Western Civilization from a Great Man
by James C. Sherlock I recommend that every reader view a one-hour teleconference discussion between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and higher education leaders from around the United States. You will watch a great and remarkably insightful man, in the middle of leading his country’s war for survival, speak and answer questions about preserving higher education,…
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Storm-Related Flood Mitigation – A Louisiana Example for Virginia
by James C. Sherlock I have worked for at least ten years — many of those with now-Attorney General Miyares when he was my delegate — to get Virginia to step up to the Louisiana model for flood control. Louisiana. The Louisiana model is a state-federal partnership in which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers…
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Fix One Thing — School Physical and Electronic Security
by James C. Sherlock I offer an apolitical suggestion. We know how to begin to fix school security. Do it. Step 1. Every school division has a security instruction. How many of them monitor whether that guidance is being followed? I will let them answer that. Step 2. The more complete solution is deployment of…
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Governor Youngkin’s Private-Sector Experience Appears to be Working in Government
by James C. Sherlock This article is about Governor Youngkin’s executive leadership and management, not his policies. The reviews so far are generally good. We normally elect Governors with little experience as operating executives. It is a rare gubernatorial resume that does not include experience as either a politician or a lawyer or both. That…