Category: Business and Economy
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Gunning Up Virginia’s Cops
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in Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Corruption and Scandals, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Defense, National Security, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Federal issues, Government Finance, Gun rights, Mental illness and substance abuse, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race RelationsBy Peter Galuszka In 2014, the Sheriff’s Department of York County and Poquoson got their very own tank-like vehicle, called a “Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP).” Fully armored and tan in color with steep sides, it looks like something out television footage of the war in Iraq where U.S. troops needed to get through mine-infested…
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Our Gutsy Governor
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in Bacon and Pigs, Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Defense, National Security, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Efficiency in Government, Elections, General Assembly, Governance, Government Transparency, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Media, Politics, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t OversightBy Peter Galuszka On June 24, 2015, Nikki Haley, a Republican who was South Carolina’s first non-white governor, called for the removal of a Confederate flag that had been flying over the state’s capitol grounds for years. “This flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state,”…
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Beware Fake Tweets
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in Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Defense, National Security, Elections, Electoral process, Federal issues, Government Transparency, Infrastructure, Media, Money in politics, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, TelecommunicationsBy Peter Galuszka Around midnight Monday, reporters in downtown Washington D.C., stood by ready to cover the next round of protests about the slaying of African Americans by police. They started getting tweets marked #dcblackout suggesting that internet service was being interrupted because of a secret program presumably run by the government that would cut…
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The Real Danger with ANTIFA
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in Bacon and Pigs, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Corruption and Scandals, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Electoral process, Federal issues, Government Transparency, Gun rights, Immigration, Labor and Workforce, LGBQT, Libertarians, Media, Money in politics, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t OversightBy Peter Galuszka Get ready. The names of all kinds of leftist organizations are going to be kicked around as the masterminds behind violent, cop-beating looters, especially the so-called ANTIFA movement in Virginia and across the country.. But what is reality? I don’t have clear answers but I have some ideas to share since I…
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Chap Petersen and Pete Snyder: Get Virginia Back to Work
By DJ Rippert Odd bedfellows? In a recent Op-Ed entitled, “Time to get back to business, Virginia” State Senator Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, and entrepreneur and Republican activist Pete Snyder call for a more aggressive reopening of Virginia. The piece questions why large companies like Home Depot are allowed to thrive while “Mom and Pop” operations…
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Sorry, We Can’t Pay Your Insurance Claim. It Would Cost Us Too Much.
By Dick Hall-Sizemore For the past 17 years, my wife and I have rented a house at Sandbridge in Virginia Beach for a week in late May. My daughter and her family, including the three grandkids, come down for the week. It is the highlight of our year. This year was no exception. A year…
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Construction: Virginia’s Quiet, Strong Man
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in Agriculture & forestry, Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Consumer Protection, Culture wars, Demographics, Economic development, Energy, Entrepreneurs and Innovation, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government Transparency, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Telecommunications, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka For all the complaints about the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia – the shut-down restaurants and (temporarily) closed beaches – one industry has been working steadily and quietly all along – the state’s construction sector. Builders haven’t missed much of a beat since the “state at home” orders started going out a couple…
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Stay-at-Home Costs vs. Health Benefits
By Dick Hall-Sizemore There is a fierce debate going on in this country. One side is anxious to ease the restrictions imposed on the population in an effort to slow the spread the coronavirus and “open up the economy.” The other side, concerned about a resurgence of the disease and related deaths, wants to go…
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Latest Data Supports Continued Reversal of Shutdown
by James A. Bacon We’re a week into Phase 1 of relaxing the COVID-19 lockdown, and there is no sign of an acceleration of the virus. To the contrary, the virus seems to be receding. It may be too soon to reach definitive conclusions — there is a one- to two-week lag between an infection,…
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“The Dog Ate My Homework” Does Not Work for VEC
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The Virginia Employment Commission has been inundated with unemployment insurance claims. Virginians seeking to file claims have been frustrated at not being able to get through to the agency with their questions and by delays in receiving payments. All of this was the subject of a meeting and presentation to a Senate…
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Pass the Coppertone
by Kerry Dougherty Virginia Beach is back. Well, sort of. At his press conference yesterday Gov. Ralph Northam bent to pressure from irate local politicians, desperate resort businesses and an increasingly disgruntled public by announcing that city beaches could reopen in time for Memorial Day. “This is the tonic people need right now,” an ebullient…
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A Sad Serenade
I met Alex in the Kroger parking lot this morning when I was making my weekly grocery-store run. It was a beautiful sunny day. Joggers, walkers and cyclists were out everywhere, and Alex was serenading passers by with his accordion. A home-made sign said he was out of work and needed money for rent. His…
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Northam’s Indefensible Philosophical Premise
by James A. Bacon Virginia tax revenue fell $700 million in April compared to the same month a year ago, a 26.2% drop. That decline, of course, reflects the nose dive in the economy that generates tax revenues. In response to this news, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Governor Ralph Northam made a telling comment…
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Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, and the Domino Effect
by James A. Bacon More than 600,000 Virginians have filed for unemployment claims since mid-March, when the COVID-19 epidemic started hitting Virginia and Governor Ralph Northam’s emergency decrees shut down large sectors of the economy. That’s roughly one person out of seven in the state’s workforce. After the first wave of closings, the number of…
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Shades of “Shovel Ready”
by James A. Bacon Unemployment in the United States is the highest it has ever been since the end of the Great Depression. But good luck luring people back to work, at least in the short term. Many people can make more money on unemployment than when they were working. Joe Sparatta, chef/owner of the…