Category: Politics
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Virginia’s Lt. Gov. and Emmett Till
by Kerry Dougherty Justin Fairfax is a deeply unserious man with an inflated sense of his own importance. On Tuesday night, as he shared a Virginia State University stage with four other Democrats who are competing for the nomination for governor, Fairfax demonstrated that he has no sense of proportion and little understanding of history,…
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McAuliffe Goes Full “Racist, Racist, Racist”
by James A. Bacon Here’s how you know Terry McAuliffe now thinks the Republican to beat in the race for governor this fall is no longer Amanda Chase, but Kirk Cox: He’s shifted the animus of his race-mongering fund-raising emails from the one to the other. “I will never stop fighting for the right to…
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Charlottesville Deserves a Mayor Who Likes the City
by Kerry Dougherty There are few requirements in most places to run for mayor. Affection for your own city ought to be a minimal requirement. Pity Charlottesville’s mayor doesn’t even meet that. Let me back up. After last Friday’s “Kerry and Mike” radio show a couple of listeners emailed to say I’d been a little…
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Youngkin Woos Black Voters
Glenn Youngkin, Republican candidate for governor, has launched a “Black Virginians for Glenn” Coalition, headed by Diante Johnson, president of the Black Conservative Federation. I have no idea if this group will gain traction. African Americans’ loyalty to the Democratic Party runs deep. But it is imperative that Republicans make the effort. The GOP cannot…
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Virginia Dems Have More Problems Than They’re Letting On
by Shaun Kenney Let’s start first and foremost with the obscene amount of cash that Clean Virginia — the Michael Bills front group that has donated to many Democratic and even a few Republican candidates — is pouring onto the campaigns of Delegate Jennifer Carroll-Foy, D-Prince William, for Governor and Delegate Jay Jones (D-Norfolk) for…
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COPN Monopolies Depress Income for Virginia Healthcare Professionals Without Lowering Costs
by James C. Sherlock Virginia is among the richest states in the country. We are ranked ninth among states with the highest median household income in the 2019 (latest) Census Bureau American Community Survey. Virginia median household income was $74,222 and the U.S. as a whole was $62,843. But Virginia has a Certificate of…
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Virginia Democrats Govern in the Service of Dogma and Power
by James C. Sherlock Socialism and communism are so 19th and 20th centuries. Under socialism, individuals would still own property. But industrial production, which was the chief means of generating wealth, was to be communally owned and managed by a democratically elected government. Socialists sought change and reform, but sought to make those changes…
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Will Virginia Republicans Rebound This Fall?
by Chris Saxman Virginia is just 38 short days away from its first statewide nomination as the Republicans are finally set to pick their candidates for the Big Three — Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General on May 8th in an “unassembled convention.” Sticking with the date of May 8th is the smartest decision the…
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Yes, the Virginia Beach Gang Shootings Should Be Investigated
Delegate Jay Jones, D-Norfolk, and other state legislators have called upon Attorney General Mark Herring to conduct an investigation into the shooting death of Donovon Lynch by a Virginia Beach police officer during a wild exchange of gunfire at the Oceanfront a week ago. Herring had said he supported a Virginia State Police investigation, but…
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Virginia to Teach Critical Race Theory to Newborns
by James C. Sherlock George Orwell, call your office. A copy of “Virginia’s (New) Birth-to-Five Early Learning and Development Standards” is on your desk. For our readers, go here and click the March 19 VDOE press release to download. The Commonwealth has published “Virginia’s Foundation Blocks for Early Learning” since at least 2013. They were…
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Yuck. Virginia Politics Need a Car Wash.
by Chris Saxman Spring in Virginia politics is like the daily pollen car wash. It’s that morning muck that cakes up the windshield worldview. This is when political campaigns send out unmitigated crap attack ads that make no sense but try to instill just the tiniest element of angst and fear in order to generate…
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White Power and White Supremacy in… Charlottesville?
by James A. Bacon Most mayors profess to love their city and its citizens. That’s not the case, apparently, with Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker. In a word, she thinks that Charlottesville residents — in particular white Charlottesville residents — suck. Don’t take my word for it. Read her Facebook feed for details.
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The Real Nursing Home Scandal in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock Mike Martz has written three excellent columns that have appeared in the Richmond Times Dispatch starting March 19. Headline of one: “Virginia tries to move ahead of national ‘reform agenda’ for nursing homes.” The gist of it was that a couple of national nursing home industry organizations have taken advantage of the…
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Virginians’ Money and Our Tax-Exempt “Public Charity” Healthcare Monopolies
by James C. Sherlock A generally accepted rule of thumb for the minimum profitability required for a hospital to maintain operations and fund its future is 3%. Virginia’s community hospitals as a group in 2019 had an operating margin of 10%. Most of them are filed with federal and state governments as not-for-profit public charities…
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Medicaid and Medicaid Rate Increases Boost Virginia Hospital Profitability
by James C. Sherlock Virginia in 2018 both expanded Medicaid and increased Medicaid reimbursement rates. Those changes orchestrated by Virginia hospitals took effect in 2019 and resulted in a major financial windfall to those same hospitals. I have compared the 2018 and 2019 Hospitals Operating and Total Margins spreadsheets published by the state through…