Monday May 8, 2023

IN THIS ISSUE: The New Dominion Podcast | The Spotsylvania Conservative Nanny State | F2S Founder/Editor Wins VPA Award | It's Water Safety Season

PODCAST: The Inaugural Episode Has Landed

The inaugural episode of The New Dominion podcast is now up. You can listen in the player above, or on Spotify.

Call this episode a get-to-know-us special. With my co-host Shaun Kenney, we set out the scope of what we hope the podcast will accomplish, talk about several issues roiling the 540, and go deep on DEI and the current debate in Richmond that, according to Kenney, Youngkin “is willing to spend some political capital on.”

Listen now, and let us know your thoughts!

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COMMENTARY: Welcome to the Conservative Nanny State, Spotsylvania

Patricia McCormick took to the pages of the New York Times this Sunday to pen a commentary about the banning of her book “Sold” in Virginia and nationwide.

From the opening paragraph of that commentary:

Last year, a parent at a Virginia school board meeting stepped up to a microphone and read a passage from my book, “Sold.” The scene she chose to read, informed in part by my own experiences of sexual abuse, describes the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl by an older man. There is no graphic language or obscenity in the passage; the story is told from the point of view of a child — in the words of a child — and conveys her confusion, terror and physical pain.

Do Superintendent Mark Taylor and the four members of the school board who make up the majority care that Virginia, and by extension Spotsylvania which has banned the book, were humiliated by the nation’s paper of record? There’s reason to believe they don’t.

As Taylor made clear in his recent America 180 interview, banning books sits at the core of what this school board majority and Taylor are all about. Further, Taylor celebrates the effort of one parent in Spotsylvania County who, in his opinion, is doing the work that all the parents who commute north for work can’t do. Pour through every book in the library and find all the dirty words that they believe is depriving children of their innocence.

Clearly, Taylor believes, parents are too busy to protect their children’s innocence. So it’s his job as the leader of a government agency (the school system) - and the job of one overzealous person - to protect us.

‘Welcome to the conservative Nanny State. In Spotsylvania, groups like Moms for Liberty and the local Tea Party have slithered their way into power using words like “liberty” and “patriot,” and hiding behind ideas like “parents’ rights,” to use government to suppress the rights and liberties of anyone they disagree with.

What they espouse, however, is neither liberty nor patriotism. And they surely don’t stand for the rights of parents.

I would know, because I am one of those parents whose rights this school board and Mark Taylor are trampling all over.

Let’s be clear. I’ve read Sold. And I would have not only have let my daughter check it out of Riverbend High School where she attended, but I would have also bought it for her had she requested I do so.

In fact, she did read it. Her thoughts on the book?

“Banning it is messed up. Girls and even boys should be aware of sex trafficking. Especially at a younger age; that’s when it happens.”

Here’s the question I have. Why wouldn’t Mark Taylor want his daughters to read it and be aware of what happens?

I ask this because Mark Taylor is a conservative evangelical Christian. This is a body of religious people who have made childhood sex slavery a major issue. As well they should.

The sex trade, and the use of girls for sexual profit, is a serious problem that too many countries are ignoring according to a 2009 study by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Sold is in no way a book that glorifies this trade. As the author writes in Sunday’s Times commentary, it’s:

based on interviews I conducted with girls in India and Nepal who had been sold into slavery[. to ban this book] is to dishonor their real-life experiences and the courage it took for them to share their stories.

“The world can be a very scary place,” my daughter told me. “Even children should be aware of that.”

Isn’t the best defense against becoming a victim understanding the threats one faces?

He isn’t helping children understand this by protecting them from excellent books. And Taylor is certainly not helping parents. He - as the face of “the government” - and the board majority may well believe they know better than me the books my children should read. Let me assure you, they do not.

If parents wish to prevent their children from reading books like “Sold,” I’m happy to support efforts to ensure that students aren’t allowed to check this book out.

Even the author of “Sold” supports such efforts, as she notes in her column.

But there are many, many parents who support their children reading “Sold,” and many other titles that Taylor and company find objectionable.

Children are stronger when they face the world head-on. When they’re exposed to worldviews and beliefs that are starkly different from their own. It is important to understand that the way you were taught to see the world is not the only right way to see the world. That in fact, we only begin to understand the world when we experience it through others’ eyes.

The government shouldn’t be limiting reading, but making as many books as possible available to students.

So why doesn’t Taylor? Because at the end of the day, I have come to believe, neither he nor the board believe in parents’ rights, or in liberty.

It’s time Taylor came out of hiding from the cloistered world he lives in (he doesn’t respond to many, many emails from board members in the minority and apparently doesn’t respond to his emails’; and he has consistently refused to be interviewed by myself or my former colleagues at the Free Lance-Star) and face the larger world that he apparently has shut himself apart from.

• Taylor needs to speak with and work with all the board members.

• Respond to his emails (Scott Baker and Jerry Hill both did - if they weren’t too busy, you aren’t either).

• And speak publicly with people he disagrees with.

As a journalist with more than 20 years experience, I am genuinely interested in hearing what you have to say and explaining your positions. I’m also interested in your answering the very important questions that parents like myself have for you.

So here’s my ask.

Mr. Taylor - Shaun Kenney, who is the former chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, and I want to invite you to appear on our podcast for an honest discussion about what you are attempting to do in Spotsylvania.

You’ll receive a fair hearing. You’ll face straight-forward questions. And you’ll have a chance to answer them in full.

Shaun and I believe strongly in liberty - and the responsibilities that come with it. Most importantly, the responsibility to be transparent when you serve in a public capacity.

We stand ready to welcome you at any time.

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NEWS: F2S Founder/Editor Takes First-Place
in 2022 VPA Awards

Over the weekend, F2S founder and editor Martin Davis was honored to take first place in opinion writing at the 2022 VPA Awards presentations. The award was given for his time as Opinion Editor at the Free Lance-Star newspaper. The three columns that earned him that reward were:

“Vega, Youngkin, and Political Extremism”

“Housing Crisis Requires Building, Sound Policy”

“Spotsylvania’s School Board Appears Adrift”

(Read all three pieces at this the VPA site)

“I appreciate my time at the Free Lance-Star and the extraordinary colleagues whom I had the pleasure to work with,” said Davis, “and I’m especially thankful to the readers who daily tuned in to my works - both those who agreed with my perspective, and those who disagreed.”

The same commitment that Davis brought to his job every day at the Free Lance-Star is what he is now bring to F2S. The goal is to grow this small publication into a more-robust publication that serves the needs of our community. Moves include bringing Savannah Dunn aboard, and launching The New Dominion podcast with leading Virginia writer and thinker Shaun Kenney.

And there’s more to come.

Invite your friends to join!

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NEWS: It’s Time to Brush Up on Water Safety

At Tuesday night’s Spotsylvania Board of Supervisor’s meeting, there’ll be an approval of proclamation for May 20 - 26, 2023 as National Safe Boating Week. It’s a reminder that we’re coming into boating season and swimming season, and that we all need to be more-mindful of both the joys - and the very real dangers - of recreation on the water.

According to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Sources, 2022 was a good year in some ways for boating on Lake Anna. There were no fatalities reported relating to boating accidents. But not all the news was good.

Lake Anna was topped only by Smith Mountain Lake for the number of injuries in boating accidents that required more than first aid, as well as boating incidents involving property damage. (See following chart.)

Source: Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (Boating | Virginia DWR)

Fortunately, bringing down boating accidents and their accompanying fatalities is relatively simple.

Two of the greatest contributing factors in boating accidents are:

• Inexperienced Boaters

• Alcohol

Ensuring that inexperienced boaters not operate watercraft, and not allowing anyone who’s been drinking to drive a boat are easy rules to follow.

Another major factor in drownings is failure to wear a personal flotation device. Again, given the wide variety of PFDs and the fact that these have become thinner over the years and less restrictive means there’s no reason not to wear one when boating.

Regardless how strong a swimmer one is, if you’re injured in a boating accident and injured, drowning can happen quickly if you’re not wearing a PFD.

Enjoy the water this summer. But be safe. Whether you’re in a boat, or enjoying the waters of the Rappahannock River.

Some basic safety steps, and a healthy dose of caution, can prevent a day of fun from becoming a day of tragedy.