Tag: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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Legislative Persistence and Character
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Twenty years ago, a senior member of the House of Delegates introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty. The introduction of such legislation was unusual in itself; even more unusual was the patron: Frank Hargrove, a Republican delegate from Hanover County. Hargrove, who had been in the General Assembly for 18…
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Virginia Republican Congressmen Support Coup Attempt
By Dick Hall-Sizemore After taking an oath on Sunday to support and defend the Constitution, four Republican members of the House of Representatives from Virginia supported an attempt to disregard the votes of about 5 million citizens in a vain effort to keep Donald Trump in office. These Congressmen were Morgan Griffith (9th District), Ben…
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A Giant Wind Turbine, but Not for Virginia
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The issue of wind energy is pretty much out of my field of knowledge, much less expertise. I follow the discussion on this blog with a lot of interest. In this vein, I found a story in today’s New York Times most interesting. It is about a giant turbine that GE is…
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Another Major Judicial System Reform
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Perhaps the most surprising item in the Governor’s recently-presented budget bill was the proposal to increase the size of the Virginia Court of Appeals by four judges, from 11 to 15. It is certainly one of the most controversial. The Republicans immediately decried the proposal as “court packing”. As usual, the issue…
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The Use of Racial Prisms
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The perception that progressives and the “cultural elite” view “every public policy issue through a racial prism” has become a favorite whipping boy on this blog. Those raising this objection would prefer that race and ethnicity not be used as criteria for shaping or evaluating public policy. I, too, am sometimes uncomfortable…
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Biting the Hand
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Earlier this week, the governor had a ceremonial signing for the Marcus David Peters bill. This is the legislation that establishes a system to alert authorities of someone in a mental health crisis in order that mental health professionals can respond rather than just police. It is named after a young Richmond…
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A Budget Cut for Higher Ed
By Dick Hall-Sizemore I am used to tilting at windmills, making proposals that have little chance politically of being adopted. This is another one of those forays. Here is a proposal for addressing higher education fiscal issues: Require all state-supported colleges and universities to reduce their tuition and fees, equivalent to a 10 percent reduction…
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A New Low for Virginia Republicans
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Three Virginia Republican members of the House of Representatives joined a brief supporting the request from the state of Texas asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the election in four states. Think about it. The state of Texas was objecting to how four states ran their elections and was asking the…
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In Memory of Stuart Connock
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A legend in Virginia government passed away this past Sunday. Stuart Connock dominated state government finance in the 1970s and 1980s. Before that, he was the one that Governor Mills Godwin tapped to implement the new sales tax. His influence was felt long even long after he retired. Stuart (everyone who worked…
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Vaccine Priorities — A Contrarian View
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Commonwealth is going to follow CDC guidelines and make health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities first in line for the COVID-19 vaccines. I have a different proposal. Health care workers certainly should be first, no argument there. But, I would put teachers next in line. With teachers being…
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Hell Has Frozen Over!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore I just can’t help myself — the Washington Post editorial page and Bacon’s Rebellion conservative contributors and commenters (that is to say, the bulk of the blog) are in agreement on an issue! In an editorial in today’s issue, the Post opposes the wholesale forgiveness of student loans. Now the two groups disagree…
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Criminal Justice Reform Summary
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Now that I have some time and before it slips completely out of our minds, this is a good opportunity to review the final criminal justice reforms enacted by the recently-concluded special session of the General Assembly. (For those of you for whom the special session has slipped mercifully from your consciousness…
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Unemployment of Blacks Exceed that of Whites at Every Level of Educational Attainment
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Here is another salvo in the culture wars that have been reflected on this blog. An article in a newspaper today begins with this sentence: “From advanced-degree holders to high-school dropouts, Black workers have substantially higher unemployment rates at every level of educational attainment than white workers….” And which woke newspaper with…
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COVID Is Still News
By Dick Hall-Sizemore I seem to recall that contributors and comments on this blog often said that “come November 4, COVID will no longer be a big news item.” The implication, of course, was that the main national news organizations were hyping the COVID issue in order to damage the Trump administration. Well, it is…
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Virginia Rocks
By Dick Hall-Sizemore It is time to take a break and talk about something entirely different related to Virginia — how the current physical structure of the Commonwealth in the 21st century came to be. I have been taking an introductory geology course this fall from J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College. (Virtual, of course.) I…