Tag: James Sherlock
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Will Fredericksburg Revert to Being a Town?
by James C. Sherlock There are two major reasons that Virginians organize themselves into local governments: public safety; and public schools for their children. Fredericksburg has proven unable to provide either competently. It’s record is unapproachably bad given its assets. We have documented its deplorable schools. When I wrote in that piece that they need…
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The Commissars of Charlottesville
by James C. Sherlock Leon Trotsky, who headed the Red Army from 1917-22, did not trust it. On 6 April 1918, he wrote in Isvestia: The military commissar is the direct political agent of Soviet power within the army. His post is of the highest importance. Commissars are appointed from the ranks of exemplary revolutionaries,…
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Virginia Needs to Adopt the Uniform Act on Prevention of and Remedies for Human Trafficking
by James C. Sherlock Seldom can we mitigate bad problems with solutions that work and are handed us on a platter. But we can do that in Virginia in the case of human trafficking. The Department of Justice defines human trafficking as follows: Human trafficking, also known as trafficking in persons, is a crime that…
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Hospital Quality Matters – A Lot
by James C. Sherlock A recent note from a reader brought up the issue of emergency room quality. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that Virginians made 423 ER visits per 1,000 population in 2017 (the most recent data available). That number doesn’t have to be current to be attention-grabbing. VDH’s vhi.org does not report on quality…
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Is Inova the Best Regional Hospital System in America? How about Virginia’s Others?
by James C. Sherlock Answer: Inova is at least in the mix for that title. Fewer than 14% of the hospitals in the country have 5-star quality ratings from Medicare. Another 29% are rated 4-stars. Inova operates five hospitals. Three of them are rated 5-stars (of 9 in the state) and two 4-stars by Medicare.…
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Virginia Hospitals’ Quality Ratings – Which Need Improvement?
by James C. Sherlock Medicare star ratings for Virginia hospitals constitute a high stakes game in every respect. It’s the best information a consumer can get. Careers in hospital management rise and fall on the results. All Virginians should pay attention. I’ll list our best hospitals in another article, but we’ll look today at those…
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“A Right Wing Group that Despises Public Education”
by James C. Sherlock A commenter hiding behind the screen name “democracy” crawled out from under some rock to excoriate distinguished public servants and a philanthropic organization as “a right wing group that despises public education.” That comment is now removed. I expect Jim Bacon did it. But it was there too long to let…
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The Size of the VDOE Rock
by James C. Sherlock We postulate that elections have consequences. And they do. Mostly. But Sisyphus, sentenced by Hades to try and fail for eternity, never got the rock to the top of the mountain. Yesterday Dick Hall-Sizemore provided an excellent deep dive into the last couple of months of Board of Education meetings. He…
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Consider Wisconsin’s Successful and Popular Parental Choice Options For Virginia
by James C. Sherlock Heard enough about the decline of Virginia public schools to want to examine options? Wisconsin is decades ahead of Virginia in parental choice. Their first law on public school open enrollment dates to 1975. In 1993, Wisconsin completely overhauled its public school system to provide broad choices for those parents whose…
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Out-of-State Money Floods to Incumbent Democrats in Virginia’s Competitive Congressional Races
by James C. Sherlock I have the utmost respect for political candidates as a class. They are people who put themselves in the arena while most are spectators. The American people I think agree. But by huge margins we decry the amount of money in political campaigns. We deplore the fact that the money required…
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VDOE Foray into Full-Time Virtual Education During COVID — Well Intentioned Sabotage?
by James C. Sherlock Governor Youngkin called out remote learning as a culprit in the dreadful SOL results released this summer. He had a point. He did not note that the remote learning in question was actively led, not just overseen, by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) he inherited. Let’s call that VDOE program…
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Britain Makes Major Changes to Treatment of Minors with Gender Incongruence
by James C. Sherlock Reuters led off a progressive-leaning but unusually balanced and in-depth report on transgender children with the words: Across the United States, thousands of youths are lining up for gender-affirming care. But when families decide to take the medical route, they must make decisions about life-altering treatments that have little scientific evidence…
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All but Two Virginia Hospitals Financially Secure after 2020 Encounter with Covid
by James C. Sherlock It was widely reported after March 2020 that hospitals had seen steep declines in revenue due to delayed or canceled elective medical procedures and treatments. That did not translate to the 2020 bottom lines of Virginia hospitals as a group. Net patient revenues dipped, but were made up for by COVID…
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To Retard in Fairfax County
by James C. Sherlock Asra Nomani, the ex-Wall Street Journal reporter now a mom in Fairfax County, has been a keen observer of the Fairfax County School Board, much to the dismay of its members. She reported yesterday that Not long after the Fairfax County school board passed a resolution for “inclusive” learning at its…
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Time for a Public Debate among Medical Experts on Treatment of Gender Incongruent Minors
by James C. Sherlock When there is significant public interest in complex and controversial topics, it is best to let experts debate in public. Such a topic is why Virginia children’s hospitals and clinics treat gender dysphoric children and adolescents with puberty blockers and cross-gender hormones as a standard practice. And whether Virginia should permit…