Category: Politics
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Odd Behavior by a Loudoun County Teachers / Parents Group
by DJ Rippert Author’s note. There is a story circulating about a private Facebook group focused on Loudoun County schools that is keeping an “enemies list” of people opposed to Critical Race Theory (CRT) as it is being used in the Loudoun County Public Schools. The members of the group reportedly include teachers, parents, school…
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Podcast: How the General Assembly Has Changed
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in Agriculture & forestry, Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Demographics, Economic development, Energy, Entrepreneurs and Innovation, Environment, General Assembly, Government Finance, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race RelationsBy Peter Galuszka I haven’t contributed much to BR lately since I am slammed with non-Virginia work. I did manage to help out on a Podcast about how the General Assembly has changed the state over the last two years as Democrats have gained power. This Podcast is produced by WTJU, the University of Virginia…
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The Resistance Gathers: VMI Edition
by James A. Bacon A group of Virginia Military Institute alumni have created a political action committee, The Spirit of VMI, to raise money to support political candidates who are friendly to the preservation of VMI institutions and traditions. “Our mission and objectives are to stop the decay of VMI caused by outside legislative influence,”…
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Progress! GOP Replaces FUBAR With Confusion
by Steve Haner Virginia Republicans are finally beginning their nomination process for statewide candidates, graduating from the FUBAR phase of this exercise to a state of mere confusion. It is not a primary, nor is it a traditional “under one roof” convention, nor even the proposed “everyone in one parking lot” convention. The process most…
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Last Week in Virginia Politics
by Chris Saxman Just another big week in Virginia politics. Or as my wife often says, “Jiminy Hootie!” On Tuesday, I sent out some early observations of our Candidate and Issue Surveys of the Republican and Democratic fields for the top three statewide offices in Virginia’s government. In those top line observations, I saw that…
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How “Independent” Are the VMI-Racism Investigators?
by James A. Bacon On Oct. 18, Governor Ralph Northam and senior Democratic members of the General Assembly wrote a letter to the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors expressing deep concerns about “appalling” allegations of racism at the military academy. The letter proceeded to repeat charges previously aired in the Roanoke Times and Washington…
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Virginia GOP–The Party that Couldn’t Shoot Straight
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The conservatives on this blog have been spending a great deal of time lamenting what the Democratic majority and progressives are doing to the state’s universities, public schools, and life in general. However, there has been very little mention of the Commonwealth’s other major political party. Frankly, I do not blame them…
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Richmond Bigfoots Beach Elections
by Kerry Dougherty They think they’re so clever. Richmond Democrats, that is. They believe that by forcing Virginia Beach to adopt a ward voting system – without first bothering to find out what the people want – they can turn the city council blue. What other reason could there possibly be for passing a bill…
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Certificate of Public Need’s Hall of Mirrors
by James C. Sherlock In Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors, everything is reflected hundreds of times. The mirrors were also a commercial. They represented an effort of Louis XIV to establish for France monopolies on the production of luxury goods. Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need (COPN) law and regulations represent a similar structure. Everything in the…
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COPN – Don’t Leave Home Without It
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes I think we don’t personalize the effects of Virginia’s Certificate of Public Need (COPN) program on individual Virginians in ways that are relatable. Nor do many understand the power of the hospital monopolies. Many readers here have followed the progress of our reporting of the increasing and relentless suppression of…
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Buy Bacon’s Book
By Peter Galuszka This is a shameless advertisement. Jim has written an excellent book and you should buy it and review it. While some of Jim’s focus is at odds with a similar book I wrote eight years ago, “Maverick Miner” is a really well put together effort at research and writing. In my reporting,…
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What Texas’s Crisis Means for Virginia
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in Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Corruption and Scandals, Culture wars, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Energy, Environment, Government Finance, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Money in politics, Political Influence, Politics, Property rights, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technologyby Peter Galuszka The Texas freeze and ensuing energy disaster has clear lessons for Virginia as it sorts out its energy future. Yet much of the media coverage in Virginia and certainly on Bacon’s Rebellion conveniently leaves out pertinent observations. The statewide freeze in Texas completely fouled up the entire energy infrastructure as natural gas…
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Bacon Bits: Fear and Loathing at Every Turn
Minutes away from monthslong blackouts. Partisans and their friends in the media will debate forever how to apportion the blame between renewables, natural gas and other factors in the rolling blackouts in Texas. What the situation in the Lone Star State indisputably does do, however, is drive home the absolute necessity of maintaining an electric…
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Baby Steps Toward Campaign Finance Reform
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia law prohibits a candidate for public office from converting “excess” campaign funds to her personal use when closing out her campaign finance account. However, there is nothing to prevent a candidate from using campaign funds for personal, non-campaign related, purposes during a campaign. Ever since his first General Assembly session (2014),…
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The Democratic Coalition’s Conflicts of Interest Cause Much Political Scrambling
by James C. Sherlock It is tough to be a Democratic politician in Richmond or Washington. Now that they govern, they find it one big game of coalition whack-a-mole. I have written today of the conflicts between the interests of teachers unions and those of parents playing out in the Virginia General Assembly. That vital…