Category: Politics
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The Confederate Statue Compromise of Dalton, Ga.
by Donald Smith There are good ways and bad ways to handle controversial statues and memorials. These excerpts from a press release demonstrate one of the good ways. The press release describes how Dalton, Georgia, relocated a statue of a Confederate general, and did it in a way that fostered cooperation within the community. (All emphasis…
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Virginians Deserve Better
by Kerry Dougherty Word of warning to Virginia State Senate Democrats: paybacks are hell. Your gleeful construction of a “brick wall of resistance” to the governor who was elected by the majority of Virginians may come back to crush you. Maybe not this year. Or next. But eventually you’ll be back where you belong —…
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Gubernatorial Appointment Politics At Work
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Last year, Republicans in the General Assembly rejected three of former Governor Northam’s appointments to the State Board of Education, giving Governor Glenn Youngkin the opportunity to appoint a majority of the members of that board. Last night, Senate Democrats partially returned the favor by rejecting one of Youngkin’s appointees That rejected…
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Push to Return Federal Workers to Offices – Monsoon or Squall in Northern Virginia
By James C. Sherlock The federal government has for nearly three years been paying very expensive leases for D.C area office buildings that are virtually empty. COVID emergency. Or was. Now it is a battle between the comfort of federal employees with working from wherever they can get a good network connection vs. actually showing…
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Virginia Community Schools Redefined – Hubs for Government and Not-for-Profit Services in Inner Cities – Part 1 – the Current Framework
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in Attendance, Charity, Philanthropy, Nonprofits, Children and Families, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Discipline and Disorder, Education (K-12), Efficiency in Government, General Assembly, Health Care, Infrastructure, LGBQT, Mental illness and substance abuse, Political Influence, Poverty & income gap, Public safety & health, Social Services and Entitlements, Threat Assessmentby James C. Sherlock I believe a major approach to address both education and health care in Virginia’s inner cities is available if we will define it right and use it right. Community schools. One issue. Virginia’s official version of community schools, the Virginia Community School Framework, (the Framework) is fatally flawed. The approach successful elsewhere…
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RVA 5×5: Redefining 100 Percent Compliance
by Jon Baliles The recent stories from the City Jail have been anything but good — inmates dying far too often, staffing shortages leading to dangerous work conditions, deputies quitting, and the lack of leadership that can’t fill the vacancies while conducting lie detector tests on some of the staff that remain. Tyler Layne at…
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Leave Arlington’s Confederate Memorial Intact
by Phil Leigh Arlington National Cemetery’s Confederate Memorial should remain intact. Although four of the first seven cotton states arguably seceded from the union over slavery, they did not cause the Civil War. They had no purpose to overthrow the federal government. After forming the seven state Confederacy in February 1861, they promptly sent commissioners…
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The Naming Commission’s Diktats
by Donald Smith The Congressional Naming Commission (CNC) was authorized as part of the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act. Its eight commissioners included two retired Army generals, a retired Navy admiral and a retired Marine Corps general. It also had academics with imposing credentials. One commissioner is a professor emeritus at United States Military Academy…
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Parents’ Rights Under Assault in Richmond
by Kerry Dougherty HB2091 – SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED: Parental access to minor’s medical records; consent by certain minors to treatment of mental or emotional disorder. Adds an exception to the right of parental access to a minor child’s health records if the furnishing to or review by the requesting parent of such health records would…
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What Happened to All Those Promises to Defend Virginia’s Heritage?
by Donald Smith Many Bacon’s Rebellion readers — me included — worry that Virginia’s history is being erased and scourged and its heroes demeaned. The November 2021 state elections gave us cause for cheer. During his campaign, Glenn Youngkin indicated that he would stand up to the “Wokerati” working their way through the Old Dominion’s…
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Bob Good’s Not-So-Excellent Adventure
by James C. Sherlock Republican Rep. Bob Good (R-Va), who represents Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District, got his five minutes of fame. Yesterday he was given a tree with which to hang himself on The New York Times editorial page. His op-ed contained statements that Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Tx) called “stupid platitudes that some consultant told…
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All In The Family
by Dick Hall-Sizemore It is not just national Republicans that appear ready to tear into each other. A couple of Virginia Republicans have also been at it. Wren Williams is a first-term Republican Delegate from Patrick County. Marie March, also in her first term, is a Republican delegate from next-door Floyd County. The redistricting has…
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Politics, Virginia Style
by Bill Bolling It has been said that if you love politics, Virgina is a great place to be because there is an election every year! This year, 2023, will be no exception with all 140 seats in the Virginia General Assembly up for grabs. But 2023 will not be your typical General Assembly election…
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Democrats Want to Raise Youngkin-Proposed Mental Health Budget Increase
by James C. Sherlock There is fundamental agreement in Richmond over mental health services. From the Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia’s forecasts of long-term budget surpluses mean this year’s General Assembly has a chance to catch up with years of under-funding Virginia schools and the state’s behavioral health system, General Assembly Democrats say. To govern is to…
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Trust, but Verify
by Jim McCarthy Thirty-five years ago this past December, President Ronald Reagan asserted U.S. policy with respect to international nuclear arms controls was to be guided by “Trust, but Verify” (TBV). Mikhail Gorbachev who led Russia from 1985-1991 through dissolution of the Soviet Union had led the promotion of glasnost, a policy of openness and…