Category: Uncategorized
-
Early Reading Skills Still “Going in the Wrong Direction”
by James A. Bacon Governor Glenn Youngkin is getting an inkling of how difficult it will be to reform Virginia’s public school system. The Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS) has issued a letter criticizing the administration for its action two weeks ago of deleting from the Virginia Department of Education website any references to…
-
Cutting Off One’s Nose To Spite One’s Face
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Virginia Senate Democrats have acted irrationally. They have refused to confirm four of the five appointments made by Governor Youngkin to the Parole Board. This action was in retaliation for the House refusing to confirm 11 appointments made by then-Governor Northam last year, including those to the Board of Education and…
-
Economic Illiterates Demand Youngkin Halt Gasoline “Price Gouging”
by James A. Bacon Virginia Democrats are calling upon Governor Glenn Youngkin to combat rising gasoline prices by declaring a state of emergency and activating the anti-price-gouging law. “Governor Youngkin has the power to act and help protect Virginians at the pump, but so far, has failed to do so. Instead, he continues to point…
-
What? The General Assembly Is Still Meeting?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Jeff Shapiro has a nice column in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch praising the work of the Bob Brown, the long-time news photographer who is retiring, after 42 years at the RTD, at the end of this month. His photographs have captured many moments in the legislature over the years and he is a…
-
Too Bad RTD Didn’t Read “Lies, Damn Lies and Race-Obsessed Statistics”
by Carol J. Bova Almost a year ago, I wrote about a March 3, 2021 Virginia Department of Health blog post, in which VDH claimed in an article about COVID-19: In Virginia, Hispanic and Black age-specific death rates are much higher than White age-specific death rates. The age group with the largest disparity was 35-44…
-
Speech on Virginia Campuses Less Unfree than Elsewhere
by James A. Bacon Three of Virginia’s universities scored in the top 25 in the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) 2021 annual free speech rankings of more than 150 higher-ed institutions across America, but Virginia Tech, once in the top 10, fell precipitously to the bottom third. The College of William & Mary…
-
A Disastrous Week for UVa
Open letter from Bert Ellis, president of The Jefferson Council, to members of the University of Virginia community. Last week will go down as one of the worst weeks in the history of UVA. The Honor Code is Effectively Dead By a margin of over 4 to 1, UVA students voted in a referendum to…
-
VMI Conflict Now Focused on DEI Implementation
by James A. Bacon Aside from the occasional Washington Post hit job, the Virginia Military Institute has faded from the daily headlines. But the controversy over race has not diminished in the slightest, and several conflicts are percolating out of public view. For now I’ll settle for outlining the big picture, and I’ll fill in…
-
UVa Board Extends Ryan Contract for Three Years
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia Board of Visitors voted unanimously Friday to extend President Jim Ryan’s employment agreement for three years to 2028. His existing contract doesn’t expire until 2025. “Jim Ryan has been a strong and focused leader for this community under extraordinary circumstances,” University Rector Whitt Clement said, as quoted…
-
JMU, Social Justice and the Office of Student Accountability and Restorative Practices (OSARP)
by James C. Sherlock Yesterday I wrote of the pressures on Tim Miller, Vice President of Student Affairs at JMU, to balance competing views on masking. Mr. Miller has had plenty of practice. If he walked a tightrope on masks, he tried and fell flat on his face on diversity training. He also oversees something…
-
Committee Kills Bill to Release “Good Behavior” Murderers
by Hans Bader Voting along party lines, a legislative committee in Virginia’s Republican-controlled House of Delegates voted 5-to-3 yesterday to kill a bill that would have allowed a large proportion of the state’s murderers to seek release from prison. The bill, SB 378, would have allowed Virginia prison inmates to seek release from prison after…
-
Naked Politics: No Masks for the SOTU!
by Kerry Dougherty It’s a miracle! After two years of constantly hectoring us to wear masks, public health officials and Democratic leaders have now decided that it’s time to lose the face diapers. Just in time for the State of the Union Address! Exquisite timing. Remember, this is just two weeks after Virginia Democrats howled…
-
Decline of the Honor System: UVa Edition
by James A. Bacon In elections this week, University of Virginia students will vote on a measure to reduce the punishment for honor-code violations (lying, cheating, stealing) from expulsion to a two-semester suspension. At least 10% of the student body must participate in the referendum, and of those who vote 60% must vote in favor.…
-
Vodka Signaling: the Latest in Empty Gestures
by Kerry Dougherty You would think that after two years of folks marching around with useless rags on their faces and wearing rubber gloves to grocery shop, we’d be weary of empty gestures. You would be wrong. Over the weekend another kind of mass foolishness gripped the country that was watching in horror as Russia…