Category: Civil Rights, Individual Liberties
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End the Subminimum Wage for Disabled Virginians
Virginia is top ranked as a business-friendly state. How we treat employees with disabilities in the workplace matters. by Shaun Kenney What are the hallmarks of a business-friendly environment? Competitive wages, opportunities to build wealth, support for entrepreneurial endeavors, freedom to create and innovate, dignity of work, and economic independence and sustainability – to name…
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UVa Free Speech Committee Could Use Some Transparency
by Walter Smith In February of 2021 University of Virginia President Jim Ryan appointed a committee to articulate the university’s commitment to free speech and free inquiry. With great fanfare, the Board of Visitors “unequivocally” endorsed the tepid, politically correct statement on June 4, 2021. On June 7, 2021, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act…
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Suddenly, Democrats Don’t Like Executive Orders
by Kerry Dougherty Good grief, they have no self-awareness, do they? I’m watching hysterical Virginia Democrats lose their minds because the new Republican governor issued an executive order that actually RESTORES civil liberties to Virginians. Yet, back when Ralph Northam was issuing one useless executive order after another, the left was silent. In fact, many…
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Begun, the College Wars Have
by James A. Bacon Attorney General Jason S. Miyares has fired the university counsels of the University of Virginia and George Mason University: Tim Heaphy at UVa and Brian Walther at GMU. I have no inside knowledge about why Miyares took these actions, but they are, I believe, best understood as the opening salvos in…
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Mask Hysteria
by James A. Bacon People, get a grip! Emotions over this mask business are running out of control — on both sides of the debate. On the right: Amelia Ruffner King, a 42-year-old Luray mother, has been charged with a misdemeanor for issuing threats to the Page County School Board. “No mask mandates,” the Page Valley…
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The New McCarthyism at UVa
by Joel Gardner One of my earliest memories is sitting with my mother as a pre-kindergartener watching the McCarthy hearings in the spring of 1954. Television was a new medium for most American households and the bombastic anti-communist antics of the junior senator from Wisconsin held the population enthralled for months. But, while television gave…
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Virginia Becomes a Free State
by Kerry Dougherty Blue skies, sunshine and crisp temperatures greeted Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s first day in office Saturday in Richmond. Within hours, he signaled his respect for the Virginia Constitution, which protects the rights of parents to decide what’s best for their own children by reversing Ralph Northam’s mask mandate for all school students. Youngkin…
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Abortion, Black Women, and the Thirteenth Amendment
by Paul Goldman I write today to put the abortion debate in its proper Virginia political, social, and legal contexts. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution banned not only slavery but also “involuntary servitude.” “While the general spirit of the phrase ‘involuntary servitude’ is easily comprehended, the exact range of conditions it prohibits…
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Tree Tyrants Win Round 2
by James A. Bacon As the old saying goes, “You can’t fight city hall.” Certainly not in Fredericksburg. Several months ago, I chronicled the travails of my mother, Sallie Daiger, regarding the removal of a tree in the public right-of-way in front of her house. I won’t repeat the gory details — you can find…
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Glenn Youngkin: America’s Parent Champion
by Asra Q. Nomani Dear friends, It is my honor to name our first recipient of our Parent Champion Award. We have established this award to honor someone who has gone above and beyond in championing the rights of parents in their children’s lives. There is a parable that says “For such a time as…
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Omicron: It’s Here!
by Kerry Dougherty He could barely contain his glee. He was positively giddy. I’m talking about White House medical advisor Anthony Fauci who held a press conference yesterday to declare that the long-awaited moment had arrived: We had our first confirmed case of the Covid omicron variant. Hallelujah! Now the government has an excuse —…
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Hallelujah! Greenbrier Christian Academy Defies Virginia’s Mask Mandate
by Kerry Dougherty In a bold move, Greenbrier Christian Academy in Chesapeake announced this week that when students return from Thanksgiving break they can be mask-free. Unless their parents want them in masks, in which case the school will make sure parental wishes are carried out. In a video sent to Greenbrier parents, Superintendent Ron…
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Rehire Norfolk Police Lt. Kelly. Fire Chief Boone.
by Kerry Dougherty Justice prevailed in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Friday when a courageous jury found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty of murder in the shooting deaths of two rioters — both felons — who were threatening or attacking him and in the wounding of another criminal who was pointing a gun at his head. Despite months…
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In Defense of Intellectual Diversity
Here follows the Founder’s Day message from Hampden-Sydney President Larry Stimpert to the Hampden-Sydney College community, Nov. 10, 2021. — JAB Two hundred forty-six years ago today, Hampden-Sydney College held its first classes. Founded on the eve of the American Revolution “to form good men and good citizens” who would be the leaders of the…
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Show Us Your Papers
by Kerry Dougherty Well, what do you know. In their eagerness to flex their authoritarian muscles, Virginia Beach Public School officials made fools of themselves this week. On Tuesday evening, Human Resources fired off a stern email to all workers informing them that December 6th would be Show-Us-Your-Papers Day. By that date every school employee…