Category: Civil Rights, Individual Liberties
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Critical Lizard Theory Sweeps Nation
By Peter Galuszka Bacon’s Rebellion has been filled with many thumbsuckers about how “Critical Race Theory” is an existential threat to Western Civilization. But now there is a new theory of concern that makes the racial considerations seem, well, so 2020. It is called “Critical Lizard Theory” and it actually exists. According to NBC News,…
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Where Has the ACLU Been?
by Kerry Dougherty Gosh, I’m getting old. I’m old enough to remember when the ACLU — the American Civil Liberties Union — cared about constitutional rights. You know, the civil liberties of ordinary decent people. No more. As best I can tell, this far-left organization has been largely indifferent over the past 10 months as…
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The New Face of Virginia’s GOP
By Peter Galuszka If ever one photo best describes what 2020 was like in Virginia, this shot, by the brilliant veteran photographer Scott Elmquist at Style Weekly, shows it. The photo is of state Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, at a July 4 rally at the capitol. Her defiant expression, the assault-style rifle and the over-the-top…
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Religious-Freedom Challenges to Northam’s Executive Orders
by Emilio Jaksetic Three churches in Virginia are suing Governor Northam over restrictions in his latest pandemic-related executive order, claiming their rights to religious freedom are being infringed. (See The Virginia Star article here.) The cases raise questions about Northam’s authority to limit, restrict or otherwise regulate religious activities in response to the pandemic. In…
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Martial Law Is NOT the Answer!
by James A. Bacon In a Tuesday Facebook post Sen. Amanda F. Chase, R-Chesterfield, a candidate for governor, called upon President Trump declare martial law and seize voting machines to find the voting fraud that resulted in Joe Biden’s election. “There needs to be a national audit,” she said. President-elect Biden, elaborated Chase, is “not…
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Richmond’s Infamous Icon
By Peter Galuszka Since 1890, the Robert E. Lee Monument has dominated Richmond’s grand Monument Avenue and has stood as a striking protector of the state’s long history of systemic racism. True, other Confederate heroes such as Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart also found a memorial spot on the Avenue but Lee has always…
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The Strange Case of the Pandemic Patriots
by Peter Galuszka In rural Southwest Virginia, the coronavirus pandemic has gotten so bad that Ballad Health, a major health care provider there, is suspending elective surgery for a month. System-wide, Ballad, which also operates in adjacent states, had 45 available beds as of Wednesday, only 13 or 14 of them ICU beds, according to…
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Walter Williams RIP
Virginia conservatives lost one of their intellectual heroes earlier today when Walter Williams passed away at the age of 83. A professor of economics at George Mason University, Williams was a prolific author of articles, columns, book reviews and scholarly papers. Adopting a low-key, common-sense tone, he relentlessly applied economic logic in defense of free-market…
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Behind Dominion’s Shift to Renewables
By Peter Galuszka Ever wonder why Dominion Energy found religion and announced a major shift to renewable energy? The answer is that modern, high technology businesses want it and the Richmond-based utility wants to respond to their desires. This one of the themes in this recent cover story I did for Style Weekly that explores…
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Stewart Gets Last-Minute Gift From Trump
Peter Galuszka Corey A. Stewart, a conservative firebrand from Prince William County, is getting a last-minute going-away present from President Donald Trump. As Trump’s administration comes to an end, Trump has created a position on trade at the U.S. Commerce Department that is just for him. In 2016, Stewart headed Trump’s Virginia election campaign before…
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AG Mark Herring Takes Aim at Gun Show
by Kerry Dougherty Mark Herring is so proud of himself that he took to Twitter yesterday to do a little preening. Virginia’s attorney general even put those silly flashing light icons at the top of his post so you’d know this was really big news. Yep, Herring’s chuffed because he successfully stopped Virginians from buying…
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Anti-Bias Training… or Government-Mandated Indoctrination?
by James A. Bacon In September President Trump issued an executive order banning bias and diversity training in the federal government that inculcates divisive concepts such as the idea that some people, by virtue of their race or sex, are inherently racist, sexist or oppressive. Three days ago, Virginia’s attorney general, Mark Herring, joined a…
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Voters, Consider the Fate of the Bill of Rights
by James C. Sherlock Before voters go to the polls on Tuesday, I think it a useful exercise to consider the future of the Bill of Rights with a Supreme Court “expanded,” as promised by Democrats if they control the Presidency and the Senate, to provide a leftist majority. To enable that reflection, it is…
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How Title IX Created the Campus Sex Police
by James A. Bacon When Congress enacted Title IX in 1972, the intent of the federal law was to ban discrimination against women at higher-ed institutions receiving federal funds. The application of the law morphed over the years to require equal funding of women’s athletic programs, ban “hostile” workplace environments, and in 2011 under Obama…
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The Greatest Threat to Academic Freedom and Integrity in UVa’s History
The following passage is excerpted from a letter written by Joel Gardner, author of “From Rebel Yell to Revolution,” to University of Virginia President Jim Ryan. — JAB Our University community is more divided than at any time since the anti-war turbulence of 1969-70. I lived through that period on Grounds and chronicled in my…