Matthew Koehler

🚨 UVA Graduation Becomes Another Jefferson Struggle Session This is Kenyon Bonner, UVA’s Vice President and Chief Student Affairs Officer, using graduation to take the now-standard UVA swipe at Jefferson. Bonner said Jefferson’s “ethically corrosive claims about human capacity reflected his ignorance and his hubris,” adding that “ignorance precedes injustice.” That is a pretty sweeping charge to make from the graduation stage at Jefferson’s university, especially when Jefferson’s actual record is more complicated than the flattened campus script allows. Jefferson corresponded with Benjamin Banneker, the Black mathematician and astronomer, and wrote that “nobody wishes more than I do” to see evidence that Black Americans had “talents equal” to others. By the standards of his era, Jefferson showed more intellectual openness than many of his contemporaries. UVA should be the last place beating him with the hammer of presentism. The irony is that Bonner eventually admits the obvious. Jefferson’s blueprint for an educated democracy was “compelling, transcendent, and transformational.” Exactly. That is the point. UVA exists because of Jefferson’s vision and the American university system was profoundly shaped by it. Maybe the Chief Student Affairs Officer who all but rolled out concierge service for the encampment crowd should be a little more careful before turning graduation into another Jefferson struggle session. That’s my two cents. It would have made this clip too long, but this moment was preceded by the usual UVA land acknowledgment, because apparently that has to come before the Jefferson-was-bad acknowledgment.

Had a great visit with Signal Peak mine this weekend. We can lower costs and dominate the 21st century if we unleash our resource economy and ignore the radicals who want to shut down reliable, baseload power. Let’s get it done. 🇺🇸

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NEW VIDEO: A fast-moving wildfire is forcing people out of their homes in southern Georgia. The Pineland Road fire has torched more than 30,000 acres since sparking over the weekend — and officials say it’s less than 20% contained after spreading into a new county.

24/7/365, all 50 states. Wildfire threatens red and blue states alike. Call on your elected leaders to support the unification of all wildland firefighting operations within the U.S. Wildland Fire Service so we can better prepare for fires, protect our communities, and save lives. No more business as usual. Time to get serious on defending our communities from wildfire.

Worth double-checking charitable giving to make sure it actually helps the cause you care about