Author: sherlockj
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We Finally Made It
by James C. Sherlock We finally made it to where we were inevitably headed. From Becker’s Hospital Review four hours ago: “States ranked by percentage of COVID-19 vaccines administered: Jan. 25″ “… As of 6 a.m. EST Jan. 24, a total of 41,411,550 vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S., and 21,848,655 have been…
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Fix the Structurally Broken Virginia Government
by James C. Sherlock When offered a choice of reasons for failures of large scale government actions, your first choice should always be incompetence, not bad intentions. Big government requires competent legislatures, competent management and control of executive departments, apolitical oversight by attorneys general and objective studies of its failures if it has any hope…
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Unintended Consequences of Minimum Wage Hikes
by James C. Sherlock Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and Del. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, contributed an op-ed titled Home health workers at risk without legislative action this morning in the Virginian-Pilot. They will be surprised to read that I agree with every word. And that I would go farther. Unintended consequences in the government economy Lucas…
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Lacshrecse Aird Offers a Road to Nowhere
by James C. Sherlock Jim Bacon today posted an important essay. If you have not yet read it do so. This essay builds upon it. Del. Lacshrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, has offered a joint resolution, apparently destined for passage, that would: “Expand(s) the charge of the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Health Equity to address…
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Charter Schools and How Things Work in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock As an object lesson on how things work in Virginia, I’ll relate a story of campaign donations, the Virginia Education Association, a Democratic Governor, a Republican Senator, Democratic Senator Dick Saslaw, his wife Eleanor and charter schools. The Virginia Education Association The Virginia Education Association has given nearly $1.8 million in…
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Positive Developments in Freedom of Expression at UVa
by James C. Sherlock I am an alumnus of the University of Virginia and have been one of the most prominent public critics for its drift into left-wing ideology at the expense of academic freedom and the best interests of its students. University of Chicago Principles I have recommended both publicly and privately that my…
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There Is a God and He Has a Sense of Humor
by James C. Sherlock The Left won control of government in the most recent elections nationally and in Virginia. Elections indeed have consequences. The focus on race instead of class by the newly victorious left will have major consequences here. A combination of (1) Biden policies requiring antiracism training for federal workers and contractors; and (2) state…
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The Deadliest Nursing Homes in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock (updated Jan. 20 at 2 PM) Today I have assessed the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services COVID-19 Nursing Home Dataset to determine the deadliest nursing homes in Virginia measured by COVID death rate of residents from Jan 1, 2020, through Jan. 3, 2021. The results are profoundly disturbing at several levels. There…
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Important Information on SAT Changes
by James C. Sherlock The College Board released yesterday An Update on Reducing and Simplifying Demands on Students. The information is important to every college-bound high school student and their parents . It is discontinuing the SAT Subject Tests and the optional SAT essay. It will retain both: the basic two-part SAT with 800 possible…
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Virginia’s Mass Vaccination Effort and Health Facilities Inspections — Troubling Evidence
by James C. Sherlock Updated Jan 19 at 2:55 PM If you’ve been wondering why Virginia has fumbled its rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, consider this: The Virginia Department of Health. As of one week ago, the Virginia Department of Health had not yet developed a vaccination plan. From a presentation, “Virginia Department of Health…
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HB 2094 Poses a Risk to Objective Assessments of Virginia Public Schools and Students
by James C. Sherlock HB 2094, Public schools; Standards of Learning assessments poses a risk that Virginia parents will be left without an objective measure of their children’s progress in school. That is likely a risk unforeseen by its patrons. The bill has been introduced by Del. Israel O’Quinn, R-Bristol, with support from co-patrons Del.…
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Virginia’s State Health System Will Continue to Kill its Citizens If We Let It
by James C. Sherlock Virginians of every political stripe have grown very tired of watching the Northam administration obfuscate repeated, very public failures to carry out its role in protecting the health of its citizens since the onset of COVID. But that is an effect, not a cause, of the massive and continuing failures at…
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Everything Here Is Exactly As It Seems
by James C. Sherlock I just reviewed the newest Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) CYA buck- passing disguised as K-12 school reopening guidelines. Interesting. It consists of a page of “indicators” followed by two pages of “considerations” and then seven pages of multivariable decision matrices called “steps” which together can help produce a decision. Or…
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Live by the Sword
by James C. Sherlock. This is a follow up to Jim Bacon’s story about Levar Stoney, his contributor and city statue removal contractor, credible accusations of corruption and Attorney General Herring. From the Washington Washington Post: “In what may become a heated Democratic primary contest for Virginia attorney general, state Del. Jerrauld C. “Jay” Jones…
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Democrats Propose Expanded Virginia Government Personal Information Collection, Integration and Dissemination
by James C. Sherlock There are few things the Left desires more than government access to personal data on every citizen and everything he or she does. Virginia continues down that path. Government Data Collection & Dissemination Practices Act Chapter 38 of Title 2.2 of the Code of Virginia (§ 2.2-3800 et seq.) reads in…