Tag: James A. Bacon
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The VASS Letter: Another MSM Lie Exposed
by James A. Bacon When The Washington Post published an article four days ago claiming that “all 133 Virginia public school division superintendents” had called upon Governor Glenn Youngkin to end his campaign against “divisive” concepts in schools, only two media outlets in Virginia questioned the veracity of the statement. One was Kerry Dougherty’s blog,…
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The Rural Housing Challenge
by James A. Bacon I’ve tended to think of the housing-affordability issue in Virginia as a phenomenon relegated to the major metropolitan areas. Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads are where the population growth has occurred, and that’s where zoning and environmental restrictions have been the most stringent, making it difficult for homebuilders to keep…
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Feel-Good Stories for a Cold, Wintry Day
by James A. Bacon Yes, hot war is raging in the Ukraine and culture wars are burning in the United States, but a few things are happening here in Virginia to make you feel good about the world: Longwood University making it into the NCAA tournament, Crozet resident Kenedi Anderson winning a platinum ticket in…
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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…
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DEI Training Comes to VMI
by James A. Bacon As other Virginia universities rushed to build Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) programs over the past decade, the Virginia Military Institute was long a holdout. In the mythos of the military academy, the infamous Rat Line — an adversarial system that leveled all first-year students and built them back up as…
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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…
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No Woke-ism to See Here, Move Along Now: VMI Edition
A correspondent has forwarded to me a communication to all Virginia Military Institute employees from the VMI chief of staff: The Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion would like to offer a voluntary workshop (with certification) for employees who would like to learn more about working with the LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer,…
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Will Environmental Regs Throttle the Solar Industry?
by James A. Bacon Virginia environmentalists are coming to grips with the fact that while solar farms may help fight global warming, they’re not always good for the local environment. In the wealthy northern Piedmont, known for its wineries, horse farms and scenic vistas, some residents have complained about the clear-cutting of forest to make…
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No Woke-ism to See Here, Move Along Now: UVa Update
by James A. Bacon As Woke-ism deniers ramp up their obfuscations of the implementation of Woke social-justice ideology in Virginia’s schools and colleges, the evidence keeps pouring in. Yesterday, a source forwarded to me the following communication by Elyse Girard (She/They) at the University of Virginia regarding the hiring of a new Dean for Inclusion,…
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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…
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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…
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Torturing Statistics Until They Confess: An RTD Primer
by James A. Bacon Sabrina Moreno with the Richmond Times-Dispatch has written a three-piece series arguing that disinvestment in the Virginia Department of Health led Latinos to being “the most likely to get infected, hospitalized and die” during the COVID-19 pandemic. The fourth paragraph of the story makes the following extraordinary assertion: Three months after…
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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…
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Youngkin Decries Higher-Ed Cancel Culture
by James A. Bacon Glenn Youngkin didn’t have much to say about “cancel culture” in Virginia’s colleges and universities when he was on the campaign trail, aiming his fire instead at radical social-justice policies in K-12 schools. But at a speech delivered at the University of Virginia law school Friday, he criticized intolerance in higher…
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The Incredible Shrinking Virus
It’s amazing how quickly COVID-19 has faded from the headlines. I guess good news is no news. A recent Centers for Disease Control study estimates, based on antibody testing, that 43% of all Americans have been infected by the virus. Naturally acquired resistance plus the high percentage of the population that has been vaccinated (76%…