Author: sherlockj
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School Choice Can Help Poor Parents Quickly Improve the Education of their Kids
by James C. Sherlock The excellent education reporter Laura Meckler has written a terrific article in The Washington Post titled “Public education is facing a crisis of epic proportions“. Indeed. Test scores are down, and violence is up. Parents are screaming at school boards, and children are crying on the couches of social workers. Anger…
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Virginia Papers Attack the Youngkin Administration on “News” Pages
by James C. Sherlock Read Saturday’s VaNews January 29, 2022, from the Virginia Public Access Project. It will provide you everything you need to assess how The Washington Post, Richmond Times Dispatch and Virginian-Pilot will cover the Youngkin administration. In their news sections.
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HB 646 on Nursing Home Staffing Misses the Mark – So Does Its Fiscal Impact Statement
by James C. Sherlock There is a bill, HB 646, Nursing homes; standards of care and staff requirements, regulations in the General Assembly. I support its intent. As written it specifies minimum hours of direct care services for each resident per 24-hour period. In actuality, numbers of personnel required to provide the services depend upon the…
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What Does Virginia Law Say About Commonwealth’s Attorney Decisions Not to Prosecute Entire Classes of Laws?
by James C. Sherlock I posed two questions in my last article. Can a Commonwealth’s Attorney (CA) decide to decline prosecution of an entire class of misdemeanors? If so, are there any constraints available in the law? By law and precedent the answer to both questions is yes. A CA has discretion in prosecuting misdemeanors.…
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What Kind of Society Do Virginians Want? The Case of Fairfax County
by James C. Sherlock Yesterday I offered for consideration a lengthy list of misdemeanors that Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano in Fairfax County is declining to prosecute. I did that with a hope that the House of Delegates will amend and pass HB 1198. Today I am going to ask Virginians to consider in what type of society…
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Some Virginia Senate Democrats Vote in Committee to Define Deviancy Down
by James C. Sherlock The primary obligation of government has always been to protect its populace from harm. That is the basis of the social contract. The people give up absolute individual liberty to achieve group safety. Necessary restrictions on government power started in English-speaking countries with the Magna Carta. In the United States Constitution they…
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Richmond Fentanyl Deaths Reported by RTD. Next: Efforts to Arrest and Prosecute Local Dealers?
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes reporters commit errors of omission. Especially when a pet cause is threatened by the facts. Left-leaning newspapers, which include the large majority of such outlets, tend to write that an “SUV” ran down a crowd at a Christmas parade or that an “illegal gun” shot a cop. That removes personal…
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Youngkin Backs Virginia Senate, House Bills that Offer Real Coastal Flood Protection
by James C. Sherlock Some of us, led by then-Delegate Jason Miyares, have been trying for years to establish a state authority that finally can bring regional storm surge protections to Virginia. Now we have a chance. For whatever reasons, we could never get a governor behind the proposal. Gov. Youngkin has stepped up and…
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UVA at the Intersection
by James C. Sherlock UVA has forged yet another academic/political merger and named it, with characteristic modesty, the Karsh (major donors) “Institute of Democracy”. To those who say the university has more “institutes” and “centers” than bricks, I say give this one a chance until a closer look. The executive director is Ms. Melody Barnes.…
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CDC Has Three Recommendations on the Masking of Children. None of Them Match.
And the Governor’s Executive Order will outlive the Virginia law that directs schools to adhere to CDC guidance, even if they think they can figure out what it is. by James C. Sherlock Many quote the “science” that favors their opinions. Virginia law requires: …each school board to provide such in-person instruction in a manner…
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Cages in the Senate of Virginia
by James C. Sherlock Once again, a picture is worth a thousand words. Many of us are hoping that the General Assembly will consider serious legislation this term. And consider it seriously. We need to discount those hopes as we take into account the cages into which Senators have been put. They were erected at…
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Child Masking – Where is the Offramp?
by James C. Sherlock I have two important questions for my friends who insist on mandates for masks for children in schools. Is the child mask mandate permanent? If not, where is the offramp? I will cede for purposes of this inquiry that you are sincere in your concern for the vulnerability to COVID of…
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Dean Wormer Lives
by James C. Sherlock On Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand auditioned successfully for the role of Dean Wormer in an unannounced remake of Animal House. He has ordered the out-of-school suspension of any student intentionally removing or refusing to wear a face covering indoors on school property or transportation.…
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A Compelling Case for Campaign Finance Reform – Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys
by James C. Sherlock Remind me why, exactly, Virginia permits massive out-of-state campaign contributions to dominate local races. I can’t hear you. Because we do, an out-of-state organization is by far the biggest donor to Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys races in elections of local prosecutors. Justice and Public Safety PAC, based in Washington D.C., utterly dominates support to the…
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Northern Virginia School Masking Debate in One Photograph
By James C. Sherlock In a story “Polarized debate over masking In Northern Virginia schools” written for WAMU 88.5, American University Radio, Margaret Barthel provided an excellent and well-balanced recounting of that debate. I recommend it to you. The picture below that accompanied it was literally worth a thousand words.