Tag: James A. Bacon
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Note on Deleted Post
Last night I took down a post that published the text of a letter from a parent unhappy with the drift toward wokeness of a prestigious Atlanta, Ga., prep school. I did so at the request of the author’s ex-husband who was distraught at the potential impact on their children should the existence of the…
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Charlottesville Police Morale in the Dumps
by James A. Bacon Morale in the Charlottesville Police Department is in the tank. Large majorities of respondents to a survey conducted by the Virginia Police Benevolent Association said they did not believe that either Police Chief Rashall Brackney or the command staff had their backs; 90% said that the political climate in the city…
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The New Normal: COVID Ain’t Going Away
by James A. Bacon The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is surging in Virginia, driving continued controversy over mask and vaccination mandates. As has been the case throughout the 18 months of the epidemic here, the media is focusing on the number of cases, which undeniably has increased sharply. The seven-day moving average is up…
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More “Not CRT” Indoctrination at JMU
by James A. Bacon Gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe calls the outcry over Critical Race Theory in Virginia public schools as a “right-wing conspiracy.” Governor Ralph Northam terms it “a dog whistle that Republicans are using to frighten people.” Defining CRT narrowly, as an abstract legal theory dating back to the 1930s, Virginia media outlets from…
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The Goochland Revolution: Making Growth Pay for Itself
by James A. Bacon Ken Peterson, a leader of Goochland County’s turnaround from fiscal basket case to bearer of a AAA bond rating, thinks he has discovered the holy grail of fast-growth county governance: how to make development pay for itself. In previous posts I described how Peterson and his fellow fiscal conservatives swept into…
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The New Higher Ed: Volcanoes! Hikes! NGO Workshops!
by James A. Bacon Somerville Munt, a recent graduate of Fluvanna County High School, was disappointed when notified in March that she had been wait-listed by the College of William & Mary. She figured there was no chance of getting in. Then, a week later, W&M contacted her again with an unexpected proposal: It would…
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Carilion’s Opportunity to Advance the Knowledge About COVID
by James A. Bacon Roanoke-based Carilion Clinic, the leading health care system in western Virginia, will try using the carrot and the stick in a campaign to elevate the percentage of employees who have been vaccinated for COVID-19, reports The Roanoke Times. Vaxxed employees will receive $150 in their Oct. 15 paycheck, while unvaxxed employees will be…
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Victory for Zywicki
by James A. Bacon George Mason University has granted Todd Zywicki a medical exemption from its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. The law school professor had sued the university, which had denied him an exemption, on the grounds that, as a COVID survivor, he had acquired natural immunity to the virus and that a vaccination would…
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The Goochland Revolution: Fiscal Edition
by James A. Bacon In February Goochland County Supervisor Ken Peterson and top county officials met with New York bond raters in the hope of winning a coveted AAA bond rating for their small, exurban county west of Richmond. Only a hundred or so counties in the United States have AAA ratings. None of them…
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Med Student Sues EVMS on Free Speech Grounds
by James A. Bacon Edward Si, a student at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, has filed a lawsuit to stop the institution from blocking his effort to establish a local chapter of the Students for a National Health Program. The Student Government Association denied the club’s application for recognition on the grounds that it…
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The Goochland Revolution
by James A. Bacon The “Goochland Revolution” might be the most under-appreciated political upheaval in recent Virginia history. In the early years of the Obama administration the Tea Party movement energized small-government conservatives against the big-government policies of President Obama. The populist surge petered out in Virginia, as it did elsewhere, and it had little…
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How to Promote the Home Healthcare Revolution
by James A. Bacon Before the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and outpatient clinics accounted for 99% of all medical visits. That share has dropped during the pandemic to about 90% as emergency conditions stimulated the adoption of telemedicine and in-home treatment. As the epidemic recedes (assuming it does recede), medical care could well shift back to…
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2020 Census: 8.2% of Virginians Classify Themselves as Multiracial
The share of Virginians who identify as more than one race nearly tripled during the 2010s to 8.2% of the population, reports the Virginia Public Access Project. Some of the surge was driven by demographic trends, but some might be attributed to modifications of the Census reform, which was designed to capture more nuance in…
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Herring Sues Minority Gas Station Owners for Price-Gouging
by James A. Bacon Attorney General Mark Herring has filed a lawsuit against the owners of a Springfield gas station for charging “unconscionable” prices for gasoline after the temporary shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline in May. “Bad actors will take advantage of times of crises to unreasonably increase prices for necessary goods, like gasoline,” said…
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Will (Legal) Immigrants Save Us from the Madness?
LCPS Board meeting 8/10/21, Iranian Christian rock-star tells board in response to the stupid pronoun push to call his kids "King and Queen" and address him as "Master". This is classic! pic.twitter.com/KEPfvXgDGt — I Know Where I Belong…In VA-10…Maybe. (@PACTstopcrt) August 12, 2021 An unidentified Chaldean Christian immigrant from Iran had a few words for…