Tag: James A. Bacon
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Bacon Bits: People’s Republic Update
How’s this for irony? The only thing saving the City Council of the People’s Republic of Charlottesville from increasing dysfunction in the future is dysfunctional governance today. City Council wants to draft an ordinance that would outline collective bargaining rights for employees, enabling them to negotiate for higher salaries and changes to working conditions —…
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Diversity “Training” Coming to VMI
by James A. Bacon In the waning days of the Northam administration, the Virginia Military Institute has issued a Request for Proposal for “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Consultation and Training.” The due date for submitting proposals is December 14. The period of the contract will extend from the date of the award through June…
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What Does FJB Stand For, Anyway?
The Yorktown Lighted Boat Parade awarded Best in Show over the weekend to a 50-foot vessel festooned with bright lights proclaiming, “FJB” and “Let’s Go Brandon.” The boat inspired chants of “Let’s Go Brandon” among some shoreline spectators, but offended others. Declaring insults to the president of the United States to be inconsistent with the…
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What Higher-Ed Reformers Are Up Against
by James A. Bacon The incoming Youngkin administration didn’t campaign on reforming “woke” public colleges and universities in Virginia, but I am getting plenty of signals that pushing back against the leftist indoctrination and conformity on campus follows close behind fixing Virginia’s public schools as a priority. The first step will be appointing board members…
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Which School Districts Are Losing, Gaining Enrollment?
The school districts showing the biggest drops in enrollment this year are, for the most part, in rural, non-metropolitan areas, according to Virginia Department of Education data shared by Bacon’s Rebellion reader Jim Weigand. Ironically, the same can be said of the school districts showing gains in the face of statewide trends.
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Who Is the “Irrational Majority” Here?
by James A. Bacon The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) has declined to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for school employees and students on the grounds that it lacked the “clear statutory authority” to do so, reports The Virginia Mercury. Federal agencies have yet to add the vaccine to its childhood immunization schedule. “While recommended, it’s not…
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Inflation Disruption Watch: Property Tax Assessments
by James A. Bacon Inflation may be a national, even global, phenomenon, but many of its ramifications play out locally. When housing prices rise, so do real estate tax assessments and tax burdens. Inflation creates tensions in the labor market as workers demand pay raises to offset lost purchasing power. Higher wages push employees into…
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Tree Tyrants Win Round 2
by James A. Bacon As the old saying goes, “You can’t fight city hall.” Certainly not in Fredericksburg. Several months ago, I chronicled the travails of my mother, Sallie Daiger, regarding the removal of a tree in the public right-of-way in front of her house. I won’t repeat the gory details — you can find…
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The Latest Euphemism: “Unfinished Learning”
James A. Bacon A remarkable euphemism has entered the lexicon of Virginia’s educational bureaucracy — “unfinished learning.” Unfinished learning is what you get when school children do not demonstrate grade-level proficiency in reading, math, and other subjects by the end of the year. Ever sensitive to tender psyches, Virginia educators don’t want to tell anyone…
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Mystery: What’s Behind the Dramatic Fall-off In K and Pre-K Enrollment?
by James A. Bacon There are many gaps and omissions in the Northam administration’s just-published “2021 Annual Report on the Conditions and Needs of Public Schools in Virginia” — most notably the lack of recognition that the acute problems described by the report stem in part from policies endorsed by the Northam administration itself —…
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Why Is the CBF Fighting a Compressor Station 200 Miles from the Chesapeake Bay?
by James A. Bacon The Virginia Air Pollution Control Board voted 6 to 1 today to deny a permit for a natural gas pipeline compressor station in Pittsylvania County. The station is integral to the Mountain Valley Pipeline Project. The site lies “within five miles of four communities with strong African American and American Indian…
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How to Live Free
by James A. Bacon When Mia Love spoke at the University of Virginia last night, she could have told insider stories about her two terms as the only Black female Republican elected to Congress. She could have dished juicy details about what it was like as the sole GOP member of the Congressional Black Caucus,…
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Brace Yourself for Omicron… and Omicron Hysteria
by James A. Bacon The Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has set foot (perhaps I should say set its little viral spikes) in California, and it is only a matter of days (perhaps hours) before it arrives in Virginia. How worried should we be? Some will dismiss the virus as nothing special, nothing to…
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More Bacon Bits
Mia Love to Speak at UVa. Mia Love, the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, will deliver a speech at the University of Virginia tomorrow, addressing the topic, “Preserving the American Tradition.” Love’s address is the second in a series of events bringing outside conservative voices to UVa sponsored by The Jefferson Council. For…