Tag: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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“Let Me Talk to My Sales Manager to See What We Can Do”
by Dick Hall-Sizemore George Will had a fascinating column recently whose thesis is counter to the dominant opinion on Bacon’s Rebellion about the cost of higher education. Will cites recent research that concludes, “Students are paying less for college than they did 15 years ago.” What is going on, although he does not use this…
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Psst, the War’s Over
by Dick Hall-Sizemore I saw this motorcycle in Lexington a few days ago. Apparently, the owner missed the news that the war is over and his side lost. If he goes downtown, they should be able to bring him up to date. (It is hard to see in this picture, but Main Street was lined…
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Deja Vu, All Over Again
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Today’s Washington Post has an article about efforts to preserve farmland in Loudoun County. That headline instantly took me back to the late 1970s and early 1980s when there was a flurry of activity regarding the need to preserve farmland and provide landowners incentives to keep their farmland from being developed. Loudoun…
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More Ruminations on Higher Education in Virginia
by Dick Hall-Sizemore James Sherlock has done a great service for this blog by starting a conversation on the future of higher education in the Commonwealth. There are several paths that could be followed. One of his contributions was identifying the schools that have been losing enrollment. I was not surprised that Longwood, Radford, and…
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JLARC Report: More Than Just “Mo’ Money”
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) released a major report last month on the Commonwealth’s K-12 funding formula. The responses were predictable. On Bacon’s Rebellion, Jim Bacon dismissed the report as a cry for “mo’ money.” Democrats in the General Assembly seized upon the report and its findings as more…
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The Democrats Are Coming For Your Children!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Do parents have a RIGHT to be in charge of their children’s education? Should parents be at the head of the table when it comes to what their kids are learning at school? Governor Youngkin’s PAC, Spirit of Virginia recently sent out a fundraising letter headed by these questions. It declared that…
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Lost Kids of Southwest Virginia
Kingsolver, Barbara. Demon Copperhead. Harper, 2022 A review by Dick Hall-Sizemore Barbara Kingsolver is an award-winning author who lives on a farm in Washington County, Virginia. Her latest novel, Demon Copperhead, is what she calls her “great Appalachian novel.” It was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year. Kingsolver grew up in Appalachia, in…
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Another Skirmish in the Book Wars
by Dick Hall-Sizemore After hearing from residents in two meetings demanding that LGBTQ+ material be removed from the county library, the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors has come up with a suggestion that, indeed, would put parents in charge, but would create great inconvenience for everybody involved. As reported by Cardinal News, the Board of…
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Guns for Felons?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia law prohibits a convicted felon from possessing or transporting a firearm. Is that unconstitutional under the provisions of last year’s Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v Bruen (597 U.S. ___; 142 S. Ct. 2111)? Background Before trying to answer that question, it is helpful to…
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Just Because
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Glenn Youngkin seems to be intent on replacing members of higher education boards of education appointed by his Democratic predecessors just because. Case in point: N.H. “Cookie” Scott. Scott was one among the first Black students to enroll at Longwood University in Farmville in 1968 and the first to graduate four years…
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Affirmative Action for the Rich
by Dick Hall-Sizemore It turns out that, when it comes to admission to elite universities, kids from rich families have not only the advantages that are inherent with their background — top prep schools, tutors, an upbringing full of varied experiences, etc.— they have one more advantage — simply being rich. A recently released study…
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Miyares Loses in Court
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Our Attorney General has taken his lumps in court recently. First was a jury acquittal in a high-profile criminal case he engineered. Later, the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously ruled against an agency that had been administering a provision of the Code based on guidance from the Attorney General. The first case was…
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Pay No Attention to That Man in the Governor’s Mansion
If Glenn Youngkin is not running for President “this year” and wants to concentrate on Virginia elections, as he says, why is Wilbur Ross, former Secretary of Commerce under Donald Trump, throwing a fund raiser for Youngkin in the Hamptons? And did Youngkin, as the rumor goes, really get the word to Trump that all…
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A Non-Political Digression
by Dick Hall-Sizemore As I get older, I find that I tend to read the obituaries more often. Maybe it is because, as the old joke goes, I want to check to see if my name is in there. Obituaries tend to follow a standard format. Most are fairly brief, consisting of the deceased’s date…
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Youngkin Budget Leadership Faulted
by Dick Hall-Sizemore This blog gives ample exposure to conservative bloggers Kerry Dougherty and Shaun Kenney, but not to bloggers with other perspectives. David Toscano of Charlottesville, former Democratic floor leader in the House of Delegates and the author of a book on recent Virginia politics, regularly comments on Virginia politics, which is available to…