Tag: Peter Galuszka
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Mayberry on Acid
By Peter Galuszka In a bizarre case for a small Virginia locality, 14 former and current local leaders of Warren County and Front Royal — including the entire Board of Supervisors — have been charged with misdemeanors relating to a major embezzlement case that involves the local economic development authority. The Sept. 24 charges by…
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Bad News at Richmond’s City Hall
Back in 2015, the City of Richmond was a managerial mess. Accusations flew of incompetence, conflicts of interest and revolving chair style management. One big problem was the deeply flawed installation of a financial computer system crucial to keeping the municipality functioning. Then-Mayor Dwight Jones’s solution was to hire a ringer, Selena Cuffee-Glenn, who had…
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Politico’s Juicy Tale of Liberty and the Falwells
by Peter Galuszka Jerry Falwell Jr. is hitting the news big time following a Politico investigation that alleges self-dealing and sexual misconduct by the powerful head of the evangelical Christian school Liberty University. More than two dozen Liberty officials and Falwell associates working for Falwell as a “dictatorship” where people are afraid of discussing issues…
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Richmond’s World of Secrecy and Collusion
by Peter Galuszka There’s long been the “Virginia Way” of ruling oligarchs making decisions in backrooms while leaving the public out of the picture. But then there’s also the “Richmond Way,” which is the same thing on steroids. The key focus today is the so-called Navy Hill District Corporation, a group headed by Dominion Energy…
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Philip Morris: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
by Peter Galuszka It’s been a very long goodbye. Faced with billions of dollars in health-related lawsuits and huge public relations problems in 2008, cigarette giant Philip Morris split itself in two very different companies. It reminds me of the scene in Stanley Kubrick’s brilliantly sarcastic war move, “Full Metal Jacket.” A colonel stops Private…
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How Trump’s Trade Madness Hurts Virginia Farmers
by Peter Galuszka Virginia farmers are paying a big price for President Donald Trump’s chaotic trade war with China. If anything, it’s likely to get worse as Trump vows even bigger tariffs, drops the idea and then comes back to it. There’s no question that Trump’s peculiar negotiating behavior and questionable logic are having their…
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The Death of David Koch
by Peter Galuszka Imagine the coincidence. On Friday I was reading business writer Christopher Leonard’s excellent “Kochland” book on the hard-right, billionaire industrialists, Charles and David Koch. I put my Nook down for a moment to check the news. David Koch had died at age 79. He, his brother, the rest of the family and…
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Why Is Expanding Broadband Still Such a Problem?
by Peter Galuszka U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-7th) has drawn lots of attention for her Rural Broadband Summit at Louisa County High School in Mineral on Aug. 17, which got plenty of comment from primarily rural residents unhappy that they can’t get access to quick, reliable Internet service. Good for Spanberger, who beat Republican Dave…
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My Three Days of Peace and Music
Fifty years ago, when I was 16 years old, a classmate from my high school in suburban Washington, D.C., called and asked if I wanted to go to Woodstock. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about but I had some time off since I had just finished a summer journalism course at a D.C.…
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The Curious Case of the Amazon Op-Ed
For decades, Stephen S. Fuller has been regarded as a regional asset. His study of the state’s economy as a professor at George Mason University has been praised as insightful, especially his idea that Virginia needs to diversify from its traditional reliance on federal government spending. So, it seemed odd that Fuller, who plans to…
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Jeff Thomas: “The Virginia Way” Prevails
A little less than three years ago, Richmond author and analyst Jeff Thomas shook up the state political elite with a densely research account of how “The Virginia Way” actually works and how major players schemed to benefit from it. Thomas’s book was brilliantly timed, arriving after the state’s first major corruption trial involving from…
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Expanded Roster at Bacon’s Rebellion
Bacon’s Rebellion is pleased to add two contributors to its line-up, one a familiar face… and one a familiar face but from a totally different context. Long-time readers will recognize Peter Galuszka, a free-lance writer and researcher based in Chesterfield County. Peter, a frequent contributor to the blog at one time, has rejoined us after…
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Housing Humans For Profit Draws Protests
More than 70 people strong, a small caravan made its way through the quiet streets of Farmville July 27 to protest a private jail for undocumented immigrants being prepared for deportation. “We were offering prayers for the detainees. We have lost our moral compass,” said Elena Ceberio, a protestor and member of the Pullen Memorial…
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Remembering Fathers from the Greatest Generation
by Peter Galuszka A few days ago, Bacon’s Rebellion featured a tribute to the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy. The critically important invasion opened up a second front against Nazi Germany, leading to its defeat and the end of its terror. This weekend, I propose another commemoration – that of the 75th anniversary of…
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Why Virginia Democrats Are Pushing Ralph Northam to Resign
by Peter Galuszka Virginia Democrats were on a roll politically until a story broke Friday that a photograph on Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) 1984 medical school yearbook page showed a man in blackface and a man in Ku Klux Klan garb. Democrats had seemed to be in a good position to win control of both…