Smithfield, VA man arrested for soliciting underage victims in Front Royal
Argument leads to fatal shooting in Frederick County
School Board member urges County supervisors to allot remaining funds to school division
Motorcyclist lone fatality in 3 vehicle Clarke County accident
Six arrests in forged gaming ticket scam announced by FRPD
After hour delay to achieve a quorum, council quickly approves three CUP requests, two for Short-Term Rentals, before convening to work session
Broadband service expansion timeline, costs presented to supervisors prior to Closed Session, including discussion of ‘abolition’ of a sanitary district and non-annexation agreement with Town
Town to spend nearly $33,000 on new compensation study
McFadden cites Town Code to question legal authority of mayor regarding Town personnel matters – But does it really matter?
McFadden reacts to council move to fill his vacant seat – and considers paths forward
Town Talk: A conversation with Lt. Robbie Seal and Sgt Terry Fritts – Warren County Sheriff’s Office
Town Talk: A conversation with Fern Vazquez, Christy McMillin-Goodwin, and Rick Hewett – CHEO Community Garden
Town Talk: A conversation with Tony Carter, Archivist – Warren Heritage Society
Town Talk: A conversation with Michelle Ross, Michal Ashby and Erin Rooney – Samuels Public Library – September Activities
Town Talk: A conversation with Lorne Fyfe, Rivermont Baptist Church – Fall Festival on September 10, 2022
Hometown Faces: Meet Scott Reid
Hometown Faces: Meet Suzanne Silek
Hometown Faces: Meet John Marlow
Hometown Faces: Meet Harry Bowen – soon to be 100
WATCH: Faces of Our Valley – Selah Theatre Project, Glory Bea!
Local Republican James Bergida enters race for Virginia Senate District 1
Meet the Candidates: Delores R. Oates, Virginia House of Delegates, District 31
Meet the Candidates: Merritt Hale, US Congress, 6th District
Lance Allen announces candidacy for Virginia’s First Senate District
Meet the Candidates: Robert Hupman announces for Virginia Senate seat in new District 1
‘Riopalooza’ celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month & Shenandoah Watershed this Saturday at Elizabeth Furnace Rec Area noon to 6 PM
Save the Date: Third annual Vera Bradley Bag Bingo Fundraiser – Friday, October 7th
Real Estate and Community News (August/September 2022) with Jen Avery, REALTOR
Samuels Library to celebrate the life of long-time employee
Smithfield, VA man arrested for soliciting underage victims in Front Royal
Six arrests in forged gaming ticket scam announced by FRPD
Skeletal remains found in suspicious circumstance identified as Shannon Lee Fox
Ressie Jeffries Elementary School placed in lockdown
Front Royal Police respond to brandishing incident at Royal Plaza
Smithfield, VA man arrested for soliciting underage victims in Front Royal
POLICE: 7 Day FRPD Arrest Report 9/12/2022
POLICE: 7 Day FRPD Arrest Report 8/29/2022
POLICE: 7 Day FRPD Arrest Report 8/22/2022
POLICE: 7 Day FRPD Arrest Report 8/15/2022
Legal Notice: Hydroelectric application has been filed with the Commission and is available for public inspection
EDA: Request for Qualifications for the provision of debt collection legal services
EDA: Invitation to bid; roof replacement
Special Commissioners Sale Saturday, October 5, 2019: Two adjoining tracts 42 & 41 acres
Front Royal Town Council accepting resumes for vacant council seat
UPDATE: Paving continues on North Royal Avenue
Town Notice: Road closure – North Commerce Avenue, 6th Street to Royal Avenue; paving continues
Town Notice: Road closure – North Royal Avenue and 6th Street
Town Notice: Paving on North Royal starts July 18
Poe joins EDA civil defendants in motions to nullify civil liability verdicts; Tran counsel granted additional time to file their motion to overturn jury verdict
FR-WC EDA finalizes $5.7-million sale of Baugh Drive warehouse to Shahi Foods
Warren County EDA tackles multi-faceted August meeting Action Agenda
EDA Board Chairman Jeff Browne reacts to July civil litigation results ordering total of over $13.35 million paid to the County Economic Development Authority
Jury awards WC EDA $11.9 million-plus in civil compensatory claims against ITFederal and Truc ‘Curt’ Tran
EDA Board Chairman Jeff Browne reacts to July civil litigation results ordering total of over $13.35 million paid to the County Economic Development Authority
Jury awards WC EDA $11.9 million-plus in civil compensatory claims against ITFederal and Truc ‘Curt’ Tran
EDA civil liability defendant ‘Curt’ Tran on witness stand for over 4-1/2 hours as trial heads into final day
EDA vs. Tran/ITFederal civil liability and counterclaim trial heads into third day with defense poised to call final series of witnesses
First day of $11-million EDA vs. ‘Curt’ Tran civil liability trial concludes
Chamber welcomes Kells Belles to Front Royal
Chamber welcomes Garcia & Gavino to Front Royal
Local Senior Center reopens with new location and new name
Quality Title moves to a new home in Front Royal
Grand re-opening & ribbon cutting at Royal Cinemas
Warner & Kaine secure nearly $135 million for Virginia in Senate FY2023 budget bills
Warner & Kaine celebrate Inflation Reduction Act becoming law
Warner & Kaine announce more than $2.1 million in funding to address COVID-19 in rural Virginia communities
Kaine, Murkowski, Sinema, and Collins introduce legislation to codify Roe v. Wade
Sixth District Perspectives with Congressman Ben Cline – July 29, 2022
U.S. Senate delays same-sex marriage vote until after midterm elections
Maryland becomes haven for out-of-state abortion seekers, providers
U.S. senators criticize federal health officials for lagging monkeypox response
U.S. Senate Republicans shy away from proposed 15-week national abortion ban
Biden pitches ‘moonshot’ to cut the number of cancer deaths in half
A UVA rebate for undergrads and more Va. headlines
After years of effort, Virginia is giving lower-income workers a major tax break
Governor Glenn Youngkin announces unemployment rate at pre-pandemic level, nearly 2,000 fewer Virginians unemployed in the month of August
A state traffic death spike and more Virginia headlines
Virginia to hold public input sessions on new history standards in October
Playoff Game 2 : Front Royal Cardinals vs Woodstock River Bandits – July 27
Rescheduled: Front Royal Cardinals vs Strasburg Express – Monday, July 25
Front Royal Cardinals vs Purceville Cannons – Thursday, July 21
Front Royal Cardinals vs New Market Rebels – Sunday, July 24
CANCELED: Valley Baseball League: All Star Game at the “Bing” – Sunday, July 17th
WCHS vs Harrisonburg – Girls Volleyball – September 15, 2022
WCHS JV vs Fauquier County – September 14, 2022
WCHS JV Football: Warren County vs Strasburg – September 8
WCHS vs Hedgesville – Varsity Football – September 2
WCHS vs Sherando – Girls Volleyball – August 29
Skyline High School Graduation – Saturday, May 28, 2022
Skyline High School Class of 2021 Graduation Ceremony
Baccalaureate service for graduating seniors
Skyline vs Independence High School, February 12, 2021 at 6 PM in the third round of the Region 3B Basketball Tournament
Skyline vs James Monroe High School, February 9, 2021 at 6 PM in the second round of the Region 3B Basketball Tournament
Warren County Middle School vs Skyline Middle School – Girls Basketball, October 4, 2021
Warren County Middle School vs Frederick County Middle School – Girls Basketball, September 27, 2021
Warren County Middle School vs Daniel Morgan Middle School – Girls Basketball, September 23, 2021
Warren County Middle School vs Admiral Richard E. Byrd Middle School – Girls Basketball, September 20th, 2021
Warren County Middle School Academic Honors Ceremony – 8th Grade
Warren County Middle School vs Skyline Middle School – Girls Basketball, October 4, 2021
Skyline Middle School Academic Honors Ceremony – 8th Grade
Skyline Middle School Academic Honors Ceremony – 7th Grade
Skyline Middle School Academic Honors Ceremony – 6th Grade
Skyline Middle School vs Daniel Morgan, June 3rd – Girls Volleyball
Hilda J. Barbour Elementary School – 5th Grade Graduation Event
WATCH: E. Wilson Morrison Elementary School – 5th Grade Graduation Parade
WATCH: Ressie Jeffries Elementary School – 5th Grade Graduation Parade
WATCH: Leslie Fox Keyser Elementary School – 5th Grade Graduation Parade
House selling: should you ever disclose the details of a competing offer?
Good news for buyers as home prices cool
Should you buy an existing home or build new?
The pros and cons of refinancing your mortgage
Buying a home within your means: what does it mean?
OPEN HOUSE: 159 High Point Court, Front Royal – This Saturday, April 2nd
House for sale: 159 High Point Court, Front Royal
House for sale: 104 Foam Flower, Lake Frederick
Property for sale: 425 N Royal Ave, Front Royal – Watch the tour!
House for sale: 361 Walnut Drive, Front Royal – Watch the tour!
Start your day with a smile
Start your day with a smile
Start your day with a smile
Start your day with a smile
Start your day with a smile
Astronauts lose bone in space
What you need when hunting migratory birds
What to do when a relative asks for money
Steak Night: The Great Beefsteak Raid of 1864
History in Perspective: ‘Don’t call it a Comeback’ – The culmination of a Civil War chess match: Bloody Antietam
To Censor or not to Censor, that is a Difficult Question
The Cracked Acorn: The Bible
The Cracked Acorn: The Un-Truth
The Cracked Acorn: Time Wings
The Cracked Acorn: 2 or more
Should I Choose Passion or Duty?
Why we should be ‘Babyish’ in Love
The School of Life: How to Stop Playing Games in Love
The School of Life: How You Can Be Too Clever
Looking Back: A Mothers Revenge – Hannah Duston
Ben Franklin and his miraculous lightning rod
The Year Without A Summer : “Eighteen Hundred & Froze To Death”
America’s veterans remembered and honored for their service across the years
How much do you know about Veterans Day?
5 meaningful ways to celebrate Veterans Day
5 ways to celebrate Veterans Day
The 11hour of the 11th day of the 11th month – Veterans Day 2020
Real Estate and Community News (August/September 2022) with Jen Avery, REALTOR
Real Estate and Community News (July/August 2022) with Jen Avery, REALTOR
Donations to aid Kentucky still accepted at Aders Insurance Agency
Rugged Terrain Crossfit takes home the trophy at the Waggin’ for Dragons 2022 race
Community groups and businesses donate almost 500 backpacks
The Rotary Club of the Northern Shenandoah Valley hosting blood drive
Help replenish the blood supply after holiday weekend
Community Blood Drive to be held this Wednesday, March 3rd
Santa Claus is coming to Town, Warren County!
A “COVID Christmas” message from Santa
Warren Heritage Society announces the publication of their newest book, “Coming Together”
Send bracelets to quarantined residents of Commonwealth Assisted Living in Front Royal through WeAreSPACE.org
Warren’s Heritage: Native American History-Part 10
Warren’s Heritage: Native American History-Part 9
Warren’s Heritage: Native American History-Part 8
Breakfast with Barry Lee – Dishing out ample servings of positivity, humor, and community spirit.
Odd jobs: How the mud man makes baseballs fly right
Cloud computing: the environmental impact of the virtual world
How buying local can help your business
Before Amazon, Sears disrupted retail
Canning history: How canned food revolutionized society
Tips for negotiating a salary proposal
Demand for truckers is on the rise
Immigrants: transfer your skills to boost your career
Thorough preparation makes all the difference
Local producers: Barriers to buying local
Apple and salt pork pie satisfies the sweet tooth
How to safely handle and cook poultry
Wine and sauced pasta: a delicious combination
Agriculture: What does it mean to “make the rounds”?
What’s community-supported agriculture (CSA)?
How to safely handle and cook poultry
Vilsack: America’s voluntary approach to agriculture is better than Europe’s mandates
September is Cholesterol Education Month: Time to check up on LDLs and HDLs
Meat diet draws fire; proponents defend
Astronauts lose bone in space
4 tips for a successful manicure
Overview of the main types of diabetes
4 ways to store your kitchen knives
What to do if a fire breaks out
3 reasons to consider polished concrete for your kitchen
Lovely red vines hold poison
How to choose a smoke alarm
Alcohol consumption as a senior: 3 risk factors
10 ways for seniors to keep busy
5 ideas for a dream retirement vacation
4 symptoms you shouldn’t ignore
Create your own book in 5 steps
Do you know Louis Braille?
5 tips for camping in your backyard
3 ways to have fun with soap bubbles
How well do you know your summer sports?
Shedding in dogs: what you need to know
Preventive care: How to keep cats and dogs healthy
5 tips for driving with your pet this summer
What you need to know about head pressing in pets
Can you teach your dog to speak?
5 ideas for a dream retirement vacation
How to prepare for a solo trip
5 good reasons to book your cruise early
5 car noises you should never ignore
Today’s economy dictates a new way of driving
One flaw made Tesla’s autos easy to steal
Quiz: Match the 12 car parts with what they do
5 car noises you should never ignore
Demand for truckers is on the rise
How to safely handle and cook poultry
Independence Day quiz: patriotic quotes
Why Independence Day is celebrated on July 4
A coal chute in Wise County, Va. (Sarah Vogelsong / Virginia Mercury)
On August 22, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner (D) made a trip to Twin Valley High School in Whitewood, Virginia, where just weeks prior, the community was ravaged by flooding, with more than 100 homes destroyed.
During the meeting, residents described ruined homes and several areas still cut off from vehicle traffic because bridges and roads were wiped out. The damage is so extensive that it could be months before people in places such as Jewell Valley can be confident that an ambulance or fire truck will be able to reach them in an emergency.
People told the senator that the flooding did more damage because oil and gas companies built roads near their homes, throwing trees and vegetation into the surrounding creek beds that created impoundments. When the heavy rain came, flooding washed out these impoundments and picked up heavy amounts of debris, creating a torrent that smashed into homes and bridges, exacerbating the destruction.
Residents of this community — which has for so long been economically dependent on extractive industries such as oil, gas, coal and timber — talked to Warner and his staff about how the industries have completely changed the landscape, worsening the impacts of heavy rain and flooding. Oil and gas companies aren’t regulated enough, they said. Something needs to change.
I watched as Warner attempted to comfort these residents and discussed possible solutions. Perhaps oil and gas companies need more regulation regarding how the roads are constructed, or perhaps they need to pay a higher fee to pay into a disaster relief fund. The senator assured the community members that he would work to reduce the industries’ impacts to minimize the damage from flooding in the future.
However, at the same time Warner is making these promises to communities, the U.S. Senate is considering a bill to change how energy companies are regulated — including what environmental review processes are necessary and how impacted communities can provide input.
The exact text hasn’t been released, but the proposal by West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin III (D) goes in the wrong direction — it reduces environmental oversight and community input. Warner must oppose the so-called “permitting reform” bill if he intends to keep his promise to those who are so badly affected by flooding. Now is not the time to attempt to green-light energy projects that will contribute to more flooding and more erosion — not when scientists tell us such flooding events will become more and more common. We must retain our environmental protection laws.
This isn’t the only part of Southwest Virginia dealing with the negative impacts of a poorly regulated gas industry. The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a massive project, spanning 303 miles and cutting across steep slopes and fragile karst terrain. The pipeline developers are already responsible for more than 300 water quality violations in Virginia. The pipeline has hit roadblocks in court and is years behind schedule because it is a deeply flawed project that cannot meet existing environmental standards.
These standards aren’t senseless bureaucratic hurdles that legislators can manipulate without real-world impact — these regulations are the best protection for nearby residents and our vital water resources, and Virginians are counting on Congress to keep these protections intact. Any bill that attempts to pave the way for the destructive MVP and weaken bedrock environmental protections is an insult to all Virginians.
Some argue that we need permitting reform to speed up clean energy projects. While we must advance clean energy to tackle climate change and do our part to avert more record-breaking floods, a bill that decimates the Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act is not the way to do it. A bill to truly expedite clean energy should be written explicitly for that goal, and passed on its own merits, not as part of a political ploy tied to other must-pass legislation. If he wants to keep his promises to residents, Warner must oppose Manchin’s “permitting reform” bill.
Chelsea Barnes Legislative Director Appalachian Voices
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sarah Vogelsong for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.
The HOAX of “Climate Change”
R.F.P. is a Recipe For Problems
A so-called “doomsday glacier” in Antarctica that could raise sea levels several feet is disintegrating faster than previously predicted, according to a new study.
And an analysis by Climate Central, an independent science and communications group, found that because of sea level rise, local governments will face steep cuts in revenues as taxable land is subject to flooding, my colleague Sarah Vogelsong reported this week.
Against this dire backdrop, Virginia’s two senators, Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, recently secured $25 million in a budget proposal for imperiled Tangier Island, the place once explored by John Smith and colonized by the English centuries ago.
The money would fund a pilot project to repurpose dredging material on Tangier, The Washington Post reported. The funding still has several legislative steps to clear before becoming law. Tangier residents can’t afford to pay for such projects themselves.
The disconnect between dire climate reality and rose-colored optimism is stark.
Nor does the dredging proposal take into account similarly jeopardized communities around the United States. They will beg for their own federal lifeline. Most are bigger and have thousands more people than the 1.2-square-mile island in the Chesapeake Bay with a population of about 450 people.
The adage remains true: Size matters.
Yet I wasn’t surprised by the sanguine statements Kaine and Warner, both Democrats, issued about bolstering Tangier. They’re representing their constituents, after all.
The island “boasts a thriving tourism industry, a rich history, and a delicate natural ecosystem that boasts the Chesapeake Bay’s signature blue crabs,” Warner, through a spokesperson, said Tuesday. “Most importantly, Tangier is home to hundreds of Virginians – many of them watermen who have driven Virginia’s seafood industry for many generations. The truth is, we can’t afford to give up on such a quintessential part of Virginia.”
Kaine noted through a spokesperson: “Tangier is a cultural and historic gem that is treasured by people from all over America, as well as a crucial piece of the Chesapeake Bay’s fishing and crabbing economy. I’m fighting for this funding because Virginians and all Americans stand to lose a great deal if this island becomes uninhabitable.”
He and Rep. Elaine Luria, a fellow Democrat, recently toured the island with local officials.
The initiative by the two senators is well-meaning, but dubious. Enormous sums of taxpayer dollars would be needed to fight against nature. It could be a fruitless task.
The proposed funding is a fraction of an estimated $250 million to $350 million needed to fully restore and protect Tangier Island, David Schulte, a marine biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers in Norfolk, told me this week. He’s been visiting the island since 2002, and he co-wrote research with his son last year about the island’s current situation and long-term outlook.
Schulte’s dim assessment, if there’s no large-scale intervention: The town could be abandoned by 2053.
“I personally would like to save the island,” Schulte noted. “Their culture is very unique.”
Federal funding to Tangier, however, would delay the tough – though necessary – discussion about whether to relocate the dwindling number of residents on the island 12 miles from the Eastern Shore. A comprehensive, national approach is needed for similarly jeopardized communities.
The Tangier dredging initiative is a stop-gap effort, at best. Schulte noted officials would still need to raise homes on the island and do lots more work.
The Climate Central analysis found that almost 650,000 individual parcels of property, across up to 4.4 million acres, are projected to fall below changing tidal boundaries by 2050. You can be sure states will be asking the feds to help.
They’ll make their cases for populations much bigger than Tangier’s.
The island has gained lots of media attention since then-President Donald Trump reached out to Mayor James “Ooker” Eskridge in 2017, after the mayor told CNN he loved Trump “as much as any family member I got.” Trump assured Eskridge the island would be around for hundreds of years to come, and that he believed – like many islanders – rising seas aren’t a threat.
Islanders are right, though, to be upset that government promises of help often went on the back burner. For example, a jetty project finally was completed two years ago with state and federal money, but it had been delayed about two decades.
Then there’s the aid nearby communities received. As The Post noted: “(Tangier) residents had watched with frustration as the federal government funded projects to protect a National Wildlife Refuge and residents on nearby Smith Island and to restore a wildlife habitat on Poplar Island, where no people live — using the same method on Poplar of repurposing dredge material.”
By the way, I take no joy in revisiting the issue of Tangier’s fate.
I wrote a column in 2014 headlined, “Spending to keep Tangier above water makes no cents.” In it, I opined it’s smarter to use limited public funding to relocate folks than to pay more money to fight “a battle that Mother Nature seems destined – and determined – to win” by reclaiming the island.
Judging by some responses, you would’ve thought I’d disparaged the way of life on Tangier, including its unique dialect and economy.
“You would never suggest relocation for the people of, say, New Orleans!” one fumed. Well, more than 375,000 people live in the Big Easy – and that’s post-Katrina. Moving residents there would be a more herculean, expensive task.
“There’s history on Tangier that goes back to the era of Jamestown!” OK. But given many of my detractors no longer lived on the island, they’d already voted with their feet. They were wistful for a place that was disappearing.
Then, as now, I wanted to save the lives of Tangier’s residents and use federal dollars wisely. The per-person expenditure to save Tangier is enormous. Other places around the country would say, fairly, “Why not us too?”
Relocation from Tangier isn’t cheap either, Schulte said. The cost, including decommissioning or abandonment, could be from $100 million to $200 million. That’s still less than the expense of “saving” Tangier.
“What are we as a society going to do about people facing this situation?” Schulte asked.
That’s a vital question. It’s one lawmakers must address nationwide – not just for Tangier.
Only then can they make smart choices.
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sarah Vogelsong for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.
A sign made by Vicki Farrell, 65, in the back of her car at the Aragon Precinct in Virginia Beach urging calm following the 2020 election. (Roger Chesley/ For the Virginia Mercury)
Historians have an unfortunate reputation for delivering bad news. That indictment was recently bolstered by a group of the nation’s leading scholars who warned President Joe Biden that they foresaw unrest, violence and perhaps even civil war approaching the United States.
To counter those grim prospects, I am pleased to report the discovery of an historical interpretation that portends a brighter future, despite the fierce convolutions of the MAGA-minded, the persistent lies of their leaders and the violent threats of its supporters.
The optimistic tale has an unusual setting: a 1954 visit by the distinguished historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. to former President Harry Truman, whose Democrats were being shellacked by the GOP.
At the time, the Republicans were bewitched by another cult-meister — Sen. Joe McCarthy and his conspiracy theories of communists infiltrating the federal government. Beating the loud drums of xenophobia, nationalism and hatred, the GOP was undermining Truman’s legacy by charging former Secretary of State George Marshall with treason, claiming that spy rings riddled the armed forces and decrying the perils of creeping socialism, the GOP’s perennial anthem.
It sounds depressingly familiar, a mirror image of the future that historians predicted for President Biden. But during Schlesinger’s visit with Truman, the discussion took a more optimistic turn.
The historian expected to find the former president in the dumps, bemoaning evil times boding national disaster. But Truman had a surprisingly different attitude.
The former chief executive had been musing about “the incidence of periods of hysteria in American history,” Schlesinger recorded in his journals. “As he figures it, the periodicity is about 8-10 years; thus, from the Alien and Sedition Acts to the trial of Aaron Burr; the Know-Nothings and anti-abolition sentiment of the fifties; Reconstruction through the election of 1876; from A. Mitchell Palmer to the campaign of 1928.”
Truman’s analysis of periods of civic madness is accurate, but the former chief executive was not content to stop with a dissection of the problem. He went on to predict better days.
“[Truman] guesses that it will take McCarthyism 8-10 years to burn itself out — which means anywhere from 1956 to 1960 before it is over. But he affirmed, both touchingly and impressively, his faith in the decency of the American people and their capacity to recover from these binges of fear and panic.”
Given all that we have seen from the time that Donald Trump declared his candidacy for the presidency in 2015 to the present — collusion with foreign forces and dark money to win the election, insistence that white supremacists are good people, separation of mothers and babies at the border, attempts to undermine NATO, admiration for international dictators, slashes to safety nets for the poor and elderly, persistent lies about the outcome of the election, an attempted coup fostered and fueled by the president, and the theft of top-secret documents — considering all of this, can we retain Truman’s optimism for the future?
If Truman’s analysis is accurate, we should be witnessing the first signs of a return to national sanity now — seven years after Trump’s descent from his grand tower. Indeed, there are hopeful signs in the work of the Jan. 6 committee and Merrick Garland’s dogged pursuit of the truth; people are beginning to listen, to understand, to believe. These are vastly important initiatives, but we must remind ourselves that Truman rested his faith in a different place: “The decency of the American people and their capacity to recover from these binges of fear and panic.”
Ultimately, this is where we must place our faith as well. John Adams wisely noted that the first American revolution “was in the minds and hearts of the people.” And according to historian Truman, Americans have repeatedly shaken off self-imposed mental chains to overcome periods of instability like the one we are suffering. The fruits of those awakenings were a stronger national union, freedom for slaves, extension of the right to vote, broader civil rights and other inestimable blessings of liberty.
In these difficult days, a national appeal to the “better angels of our nature” may seem fatuous. But as American history has shown, “the decency of the American people” is a real force that has asserted itself at least four times in our history and proved sufficient even to heal our bloody Civil War. May it ever be.
by Guest Column, Virginia Mercury By William Walker
William Walker is the author of Betrayal at Little Gibraltar (Scribner, 2016), a book about the Great War’s Meuse-Argonne Offensive, and he focuses his scholarship on World War I history. Before retirement, he served as associate vice president for public affairs at Virginia Tech and the College of William and Mary.
Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sarah Vogelsong for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.
I recently read both the letter to the Editor regarding ‘The HOAX of “Climate Change”’ and “Commentary: Now isn’t the time to reduce environmental review of energy permits.” First, we need to define the terms and evaluate consensus science. There’s more manmade CO2 leading to global warming. The temperature rise is measured by satellite: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/msu/time-series/global/lt/ann/12. There’s more moisture in the atmosphere also measured by satellite.
Next, we must define the term “climate change” and evaluate the scientific consensus. As the Commentary article says: “Now is not the time to attempt to green-light energy projects that will contribute to more flooding and more erosion — not when scientists tell us such flooding events will become more and more common.” I get a little nervous when I read “scientists tell us” for some of the same reasons pointed out in HOAX. There’s more moisture in the atmosphere because warmer air can hold more moisture. But the key word is “can”. The actual amount of moisture that winds up in any given location is determined by weather, not temperature.
I do not believe there is a lot of “climate change” resulting from global warming. I have read numerous scientific assessments of higher rainfall, such as the one SW Virginia in August described in “Commentary.” While there are more rainfalls above particular thresholds (e.g., 2 inches in a day), there’s no trend in the maximum amount of rainfall. I have often read the claim that “the top 1% of rainfalls have up to 50% more rainfall in them” (depending on region). I have not found the source for this claim; apparently, it’s in a book from 2008.
Globally while there are fewer hurricanes, the average hurricane is stronger, and that’s causing an increase in the number of major hurricanes. Most of the world’s strongest tornadoes are in the US, and there’s a decrease in strong (EF-3 and up) tornadoes in the US. Why are there stronger hurricanes but not more strong tornadoes? The increase in hurricane strength appears to be directly caused by warmer oceans. However, changes in shear and other weather variables may result in fewer hurricanes over the ocean and fewer tornadic supercells over parts of the US.
What about heat? There’s certainly a case that global warming can result in local heat. The early September heatwave in California showed unprecedented maximum temperatures by a degree F or a few degrees in some cases. September is the hottest month near the California coast, so the timing makes sense and the unprecedented (in 120 years) seems to trace directly back to global warming.
Thus “climate change” is both simple and complex. There are a few relatively straightforward conclusions, like more rainfall, higher temperatures, and stronger hurricanes. But there’s a lot of complexity in weather, making it difficult to achieve higher extremes in rainfall or even higher temperature extremes here in the eastern US, where the hottest temperatures were generally in the 1930s or earlier, spurred by Midwest drought and weather patterns. But even that lack of higher heat here may have a global warming factor: more moisture tends to temper the highest temperatures while also increasing low temperatures.
Finally, we need to think about policy in the context of what we know about “climate change.” I believe there’s a case to be made for a strong economy to help reduce the impact of any future extreme weather. Also, a case for intensive R&D to give the world a better energy future. Indeed we have to invert the old saying and “think locally but act globally.” There are 900 coal plants being built or planned worldwide. The world needs alternatives, but we need a strong economy to fund R&D and maintain resilience. Global weather losses, including fire, flood, drought, and wind, are less than 0.2% of global GDP, thanks to the rise in global GDP despite some rises in those losses.
Scientists tell us many things which we must evaluate. The raw data tells us global warming is not a hoax. The policy must be decided by politicians. We must respect consensus science, but we are not a scientocracy. Certainly, scientists cannot tell us how to trade off between human needs for reasonably priced reliable electricity from the natural gas that would be piped across the mountains and the political impacts of cutting off access to natural gas to set an example but not accomplish much if anything towards reducing CO2.
I believe there’s a lot of middle ground between stopping all fossil fuels for any reason whatsoever (exemplified by Commentary) and ignoring the long-term problem (exemplified by HOAX) created by burning fossil fuels.
Eric Peterson Front Royal VA
Everyone has the right to say what they want (Free Speech), but it might be nice if CJ Cook would cite some sources for his/her “The HOAX of Climate Change” opinion piece.
I know that not everyone holds Factcheck.org in high regard, but there is a lot of info available thereon regarding “Climate Gate,” specifically, among other things, in an open letter to Congress posted on Climate Science Watch and other sites, 25 leading climate scientists (including eight members of the National Academy of Science) wrote:
The body of evidence that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming is overwhelming. The content of the stolen emails has no impact whatsoever on our overall understanding that human activity is driving dangerous levels of global warming. Even without including analyses from the UK research center from which the emails were stolen, the body of evidence underlying our understanding of human-caused global warming remains robust.
“Misdirection, what the eyes see, and the ears hear – the mind believes” – John Travolta from the movie “Swordfish”, quoting Harry Houdini
Scarecrow graphic from the 1963 Disney movie ‘The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh.”
School is in session. The world is being treated to a postgraduate level course in Psychological Operations (PSYOP) and Military Deception (MILDEC) hosted by the Ukrainian Department of Defense.
A few weeks ago, the Russians monitored a Ukrainian buildup in southern Kherson Province. Anticipating a Ukrainian attack in the south, the Russians subsequently thinned out their eastern defenses to reinforce the south. That is precisely what the Ukrainians wanted them to do. It was all part of a carefully crafted ruse.
On 6 September, the Ukrainians attacked, pouring through the weakened defenses east of Kharkiv City in the northeast resulting in a catastrophic setback for Putin’s forces. The vaunted Russian 1st Guard Tank Army (1 GTA) was routed, leaving most of their equipment behind. The Russian troops ran away, leaving their dinners cooking on the stove and over 300 tanks, and fled east.
The attack caught the Russian command completely by surprise. Many soldiers simply threw off their uniforms, donned civilian clothes, and drove off in stolen cars and bicycles to evade capture.
The Ukrainian attack was the main ingredient in a carefully spun ruse carried out for several months by Ukrainian PSYOP teams and influence operators. Throughout the summer, the Ukrainians were signaling their intention to launch a counteroffensive in the south aimed at retaking Kherson. The ruse entailed frequent artillery barrages coupled with advancing troop movements toward Kherson interwoven with an elaborate PSYOP campaign. The Russians bought it.
That opened the door for Ukrainian forces farther north.
Once the Russians shifted the preponderance of their effort to Kherson, the Ukrainians quietly moved their northern forces into position. Once the Intel picture was clear, the Ukrainian brigades raced through Russian camps pushing their tanks and infantry through holes in the Russian lines and crashing into Russian rear areas.
In the 5th Century BCE Sun Tzu wrote: “Military commanders must set up decoys and feign confusion to cause the enemy to miscalculate our intentions. All warfare is based on deception.”
A sample of Ukrainian Influence Operations: Earlier this summer, the Ukrainians took a page right out of General Eisenhower’s D-Day playbook. Ukrainian forces employed dummy tanks, fake artillery, “Scarecrow soldiers” and fake radio traffic and social media chatter to fool the Russians.
Their use of Scarecrows or mannequins dressed in military fatigues was most impressive. The scarecrows were strapped to trees and armed with fake rifles and rocket launchers to trick Russian aerial reconnaissance. “Scarecrow soldiers” carrying mock portable anti-aircraft missiles routinely fooled Russian pilots wary of being shot out of the sky by Stinger-type missiles. As soon as the pilots spotted the scarecrows with stinger missile platforms, they departed the area hastily. The last thing Russian pilots want is to be shot down over Ukrainian territory.
The use of scarecrows and wooden decoys near Kherson diverted Russian attention away from the true Ukrainian objectives. The confusing ruse also acted to pin down the Russians in the south, ensuring they did not make a push against the Ukrainian staging areas in the north. Meanwhile, Russian forces continued to target wooden replicas they believed to be high-value artillery and rocket. systems. As a result, they expended valuable high-tech missiles against dummy targets, systematically reducing their inventories for use against Ukraine’s actual forces.
Ukrainian success with this ruse is remarkable considering Russians traditionally pride themselves as masters of “maskirovka” [military deception]. The Ukrainian forces ironically turned Russia’s PSYOP playbook against them. The extensive use of dummy systems allowed the Ukrainians to protect their High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) for use against high-value Russian targets.
The rocket systems given to them by the United States have recently destroyed rail hubs, large Russian ammunition and fuel dumps in southern Kherson. That made them a priority target for the Russians. That also furthered the ruse that the Ukrainian attack would be in the south. The inexpensive decoys are nearly indistinguishable from the real systems when spotted by Russian drones or helicopters. The drones relay battlefield intelligence to headquarters resulting in Russian warships needlessly expending precision cruise missiles against them. You know your ruse is effective when the Russian news media claims to have hit more HIMARS that the U.S. has sent Ukraine.
Ukrainian PSYOP and the use of social media When you are outnumbered, you must reach into your asymmetric bag of tricks and find alternatives. Ukrainian telecom specialists have been using hacked telephone databases to track down the personal communications of Russian soldiers on the front line. Many of these exchanges were recorded and posted on social media platforms. The interaction with the Russians fostered the use of leaflet drops on front line Russian positions.
Ukrainian Leaflets: The social media interaction confirmed that the Russian soldiers lacked the will to fight and just wanted to go home. The Ukrainian PSYOP campaign preyed upon that vulnerability. Below is an example of Ukrainian Leaflets disseminated to Russian front-line troops with instructions on how to escape and surrender:
No One Wants This War We will help you get out safely. 1. Wait until your boss is busy. 2. Quietly walk away, don’t run. Call 1648 or (044) 287 81 65. Come up with your arms raised to the Ukrainian checkpoints on the line of contact with this flier. The Ukrainian side guarantees your safety and good treatment! We will give you food and the opportunity to get in touch with your relatives
Simultaneous Information Campaign aimed at Belarus: Putin has continually pressed his Belarus ally in the north to launch a supporting offensive into Ukraine. Obviously, Ukraine doesn’t want that. So far, Minsk remains a non-combatant, but to sustain that thinking, Ukraine PSYOP used a rather ingenious tactic. The Ukrainians routinely send all Russian war dead taken from the battlefield to Belarus for transport back to Russia. These shipments of war dead, known colloquially as “Cargo 200,” travel out of Ukraine and into Belarus daily. We’re talking about hundreds of dead Russians continually streaming into Belarus. You can imagine the effects. The influence campaign is working. Belarus doesn’t want any part of that meat grinder. Consequently, they have remained on the sidelines.
The overall Ukrainian influence campaign is comprised of multiple interwoven functions: spreading disinformation, jamming communications, deception, and creating narratives through selective photos, video clips, and news releases to get inside the mind of the enemy. This dark art blends techniques in both the physical and information domains. The combination of battlefield successes and PSYOP go hand-in-hand. As Ukrainian battlefield successes mount, their influence campaign becomes more believable.
The Impact on Russian morale: The destruction of the 1st Guards Tank Army has forced Vladimir Putin to issue a call for 30,000 new volunteers. Battlefield losses don’t usually aid in recruiting.
Who wants to join a losing team? In the short term, these untrained recruits will be little help on the battlefield anyway. Training a tank crew takes at least 6 months. The 300-plus Russian pieces of hardware abandoned on the battlefield over the past several days won’t be easy to replace either.
Stories of defeat are spreading through the army and to relatives back home. Russia’s propaganda machine will not be able to contain the truth. Intercepted communications from Russian soldiers speak of fuel and food shortages, dead comrades, and logistical nightmares that adversely affect morale. The Ukrainian PSYOP department knows this and are piling on. Russians are losing the will to fight.
The territory Russia captured in Ukraine over seven months, at the cost of tens of thousands of Russian casualties, has been lost in a week. Putin has fired most of his senior military leadership.
The last one was fired after only three weeks in charge. Who wants that job? The troops have little trust in Russia’s senior military leadership.
With 1-GTA and other commands degraded, Russia’s conventional forces are severely weakened. It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability.
All told, Ukraine has retaken around 2,300 square miles of its territory since the start of September. A little ruse can go a long way.
As summer recedes and we head into fall, a new school year begins. Students, faculty and staff head back into schools and classrooms with hope and an understandable bit of trepidation. Fall is also a time when Virginia legislators craft their agendas and plan to pre-file bills for the next legislative session. Thus, it is worth thinking about how education and public policy might overlap in the coming year.
The polarized political environment with which our nation struggles has enveloped our educational system, with good and bad consequences. On the one hand, more (small d) democracy is good; on the other hand, the tone of the debates has not been helpful to the system.
That said, it is clear that during the pandemic most Americans came to recognize the importance of our public schooling system and its many connections to our economic system and our collective well being. We need our schools, for many reasons, and we need for them to be great.
Therefore, as we look back at the last two-plus years of the pandemic, we should think about an educational policy agenda that is informed by what we learned or (re)discovered during an exceedingly difficult time. Furthermore, there are some areas of educational policy where bipartisanship could and should prevail. Consider just the following:
School facilities modernization. A deadly airborne virus should have taught us to consider the environmental quality of the spaces in which we live, work and learn. Too many school buildings were unhealthy environments prior to the pandemic, and the virus held up a mirror to this reality.
Some school divisions have used COVID relief funds to upgrade HVAC systems, and that is a good start. We should also think about density and how people move through our school buildings as well as opportunities for students to learn in fresh air settings.
We have allowed too many school buildings in Virginia to become too old and obsolete; that bill will come due sooner than later. We need to seriously develop a long-term state and local initiative around building new, modern school facilities in which students, faculty and staff can be proud and safe to work and learn.
Teacher pay. Many school divisions were struggling with faculty and staff attrition prior to the pandemic, and it has only become more difficult. A pernicious (and gendered) narrative that we have allowed to persist is that teachers aren’t “in it for the money.” Certainly, many teachers feel called to the profession, but we are all humans who make rational cost-benefit calculations. At some point, working in unhealthy, high-pressure environments is simply not worth the benefits.
According to a recent NEA report, Virginia ranks 25th nationally in average teacher salaries and 18th in the nation for starting teacher salaries. We can and should do better. Fortunately, Governor Youngkin campaigned on improving teacher salaries, and we should all agree to work together to make that happen.
Early childhood education. The pandemic was particularly difficult for parents of our youngest children. Preschools and child care centers had to close and were not conducive to any kind of remote learning or supervision. This was detrimental to parents professionally and to many workplaces that found themselves without workers. It was most certainly not good for the kids.
Frankly, we have never invested in a system of high-quality, universal early childhood education, despite its obvious benefits for human and economic development. If we are truly committed to investing in the growth and development of young people in Virginia, we should take advantage of the clear return on investment from high-quality early childhood education.
Virtual learning. The research on the relationship between K-12 virtual learning and student achievement prior to the pandemic consistently showed negative effects. And during the pandemic, many students struggled to learn from a distance. Yet many families realized that their children might be better off learning from a distance, largely for physical and mental health reasons.
Additionally, educational leaders now recognize the need to be flexible and prepared should we be faced with additional health or climate emergencies. Demand for virtual learning opportunities is higher than pre-pandemic, and many school divisions have maintained virtual schooling options.
If we are to achieve student success for ALL students, then, we must ensure that virtual schooling is offered in a way that is cost effective. Local control of schools has value for traditional schooling, but in the virtual realm, we might be able to achieve cost efficiencies by thinking regionally and statewide. Virtual Virginia has been a great option for many students (and teachers) for many years, and we should think about how we might integrate it with regional virtual schooling endeavors instead of having every school division running its own virtual school(s).
These are just a few of the educational policy issues around which there really should be bipartisan support in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At a time when it feels like we, as a nation or a commonwealth, cannot agree on anything, let us consider that we do, in fact, have some common policy goals in education.
By Jonathan Becker Guest Column, Virginia Mercury
Jonathan Becker, J.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of educational leadership in the School of Education at Virginia Commonwealth University. He teaches courses on school law and the politics of education. He can be reached at jbecker@vcu.edu.
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