Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Bacon Bits: This and That

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by

James A. Bacon
in

Out with a whimper.

After months of studying gun violence, the Virginia State Crime Commission issued a report with no recommendations on how to curb the deadly toll in Virginia. The report said crime commission staff “determined that inconclusive evidence exists to develop recommendations.” That pretty much sums up the final two years of Republican ascendancy in the General Assembly. The GOP legislature will be remembered for having had no new ideas and having accomplished nothing. Virginia now can look forward to a Democratic-controlled legislature with too many ideas, mostly bad ones, that will accomplish too much… of the wrong thing.

One man’s trash is another man’s… uh, trash. Virginians recycled 46% of their trash last year, up three percentage points from the previous year, according to data recently released by the Department of Environmental Quality data. The Central Virginia Waste Management Authority had the highest recycling rate in the state with 59%. The Virginia Peninsulas Public Service Authority had the lowest rate with 29%. So reports The Virginia Mercury.

And people wonder why there isn’t more support for mass transit. Nearly 40,000 Northern Virginia bus riders could lose their service as transit workers move closer to calling a second bus strike. A strike by Metrobus workers at the Lorton bus garage has shut down 15 routes for three weeks. Now workers with the Fairfax Connector have voted to authorize a strike, which could be called at any time, reports the Washington Post. For all the problems associated with private automobiles, at least the drivers don’t go out on strike!

The future of journalism. In a desperate bid to save The Fauquier Times, the only newspaper in Fauquier County, the owners have agreed to give the weekly to a journalism foundation based in the Plains. The Piedmont Journalism Foundation will pay $1,000 for the newspaper, specialty publications and websites. The nonprofit status will allow the community to support the newspaper with tax-deductible contributions.

Another one bites the dust. A McLean man who attended the infamous “Unite the Right Rally” pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegal possession of firearms. Twenty-one-year-old Andrew Thomasberg was a member of the Atomwaffen group, which advocates violent acts designed to start a race war in the United States. His conviction resulted from an FBI investigation, reports the Associated Press.

— JAB

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8 responses to “Bacon Bits: This and That”

  1. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    re: guns – there were compromise positions… no?

    re: trash recycling – word is that it’s totally changed now that China
    won’t take it any more: Is This the End of Recycling?
    Americans are consuming more and more stuff. Now that other countries won’t take our papers and plastics, they’re ending up in the trash.
    https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/china-has-stopped-accepting-our-trash/584131/

    re: Mass Transit – more and more up Fredericksburg Way, I am hearing support for some kind of Mass Transit for commuters to NoVa. Whether they are willing to pay what it actually costs is another story!

    re: Virginia Newspapers – I guess folks realize that Warren Buffet now owns most of the states newspapers.. Does that now mean it’s all FAKE NEWS since a known liberal owns them – aka – “Democracy dies when Liberals run the media”?

    😉

  2. Jane Twitmyer Avatar
    Jane Twitmyer

    While Virginia says. … “no comment on gun laws” … the Supreme Court has ruled that the suit against Remington brought by victims of Sandy Hook can go forward. The suit is against the sale and marketing of the AK 15, legally purchased by the killer’s mother.

    “The Bushmaster rifle was designed for the military. It’s a weapon of war — its sole purpose is to kill and maim many people rapidly — and it never should have been marketed to civilians like the Sandy Hook killer.”

    Some say the suit will be hard to win for the victims but the issue is meaningfully out there now.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      I’ve sort of wondered on what basis – the Feds/States are going after the Opioid Manufacturers – is it solely because they think it is a “dangerous” drug or was some law or regulation violated?

      If you can do that with a drug or cigarettes or asbestos why not guns?

    2. TooManyTaxes Avatar
      TooManyTaxes

      It’s typical for appeals courts, including SCOTUS, to allow most cases to go to trial (or decision by summary judgment motion) unless it’s very clear that there can be no basis under which the plaintiff can recover. That’s what SCOTUS did. It makes sense to me.

      As Jane notes, it will be very difficult for a plaintiff to win, especially based solely on the manufacturer’s advertising, the only claim out there. In my mind, how did advertising and marketing to the mother of the shooter become the proximate cause of her son’s actions? I find it hard to believe the manufacturer won’t get the case dismissed by summary judgment. But that’s the proper thing to do; not say the case cannot proceed through discovery and motions.

  3. J. Abbate Avatar
    J. Abbate

    Our community reorganized its recycling program two years ago when we found out that our single-stream recycling company was dumping some 95% of our recycling in the land fill. China was pulling back from taking all of the U.S. plastics and the situation appeared dire. We went into research mode, found a better partner in Republic Services, and improved our own recycling program. We now are measuring and managing the system, have expanded our participation and training, and are achieving more than 85% of our recycling getting fully recycled. We are happy to contribute to the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority having the highest recycling rate in the state with 59%.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      I pretty much always thought that “single-stream” was a bogus concept. It was either being sent overseas or landfilled. And really, it’s NOT recycling when you send it overseas and they don’t really recycle it either!

      Can you explain further HOW you are actually recycling?

  4. Steve Haner Avatar
    Steve Haner

    Somebody should press the Crime Commission for any draft report sitting on their server written for a different electoral outcome. If there is no such “second draft” then that was to be the report either way….which makes it even worse that it proved so craven. Sure, they’ll claim some kind of “working papers” exemption from FOIA, but try it anyway.

    1. LarrytheG Avatar
      LarrytheG

      What difference does it really make? Both sides play these games anyhow… just let that dead horse lie there.. there will be plenty more to play with coming up!

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