Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said Tuesday that his concern for the deficit is what drives him to pass tax reform. “You will never balance the budget in this country again at 1.8 percent or less growth. It’s just not going to happen. We have an appetite in this country for a certain…
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The Professional Educators of Tennessee issued a statement on Tuesday about the third consecutive year of testing problems for Tennessee’s public school systems: The Department of Education is tasked with damage control over a problem in assessment for the third consecutive year. Whether the fault lies with the Department, the test vendor, or some other piece of the puzzle, is of little concern to teachers across the state who may have been impacted. At the end of the day, these assessments factor heavily into the state’s accountability model that affects their overall employment. Regardless of whose fault it is, our teachers suffer the consequences. However, finger pointing does not solve the issue. It is time for the Department of Education, Tennessee legislators, and education stakeholders to work together to resolve this recurrent obstacle that only serves to create tension and stall progress. Leadership on difficult issues is hard and always challenging. We applaud the Department of Education’s transparency of discovering the issues through their own internal oversight and review of the assessment results. Commissioner of Education Candice McQueen has proactively acknowledged the problems and communicated with districts and stakeholders. To their credit in the past, the Department has also endeavored…
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For a progressive, few tax breaks should offer a juicer target than the write-off taxpayers can take on the state and local income, sales and property taxes that they pay. The tax break costs the federal government a massive amount of money — a projected $1.3 trillion over the next 10 years, according to the non-partisan…
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You’d think Sen. John McCain, who in part platformed his North Vietnam prisoner-of-war status into a long-running and lucrative political career, would understand better than the average bear the importance of an America First, Other Countries Second mentality – you know, the kind ushered in nationwide by President Donald Trump. But he doesn’t. He apparently thinks…
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The latest project of UsTrendy founder Sam Sisakhti has been met with vigorous accolades — from those who are among the least likely to be regular customers at the online fashion portal he launched nearly 10 years ago. The entrepreneur and philanthropist, who is based in Boston, last year established a nonprofit arm of his business,…
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The year’s most transformative products and discoveries. WE COULD BRAG. We could say our 30th annual list of the most transformative products and discoveries required trucks full of experts, hours of toil, and countless friendship-ending debates. That’s true, but you just want the good stuff. So read on. A robot just made me french fries. Delicious,…
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WASHINGTON, October 17, 2017 – It is difficult for economic policymakers to set policy that can be supported by a majority. Which has never been truer than it is today. We are seeing that whatever policy that is proposed by President Trump or the Republican Congress, Democrats perceive it to be unfair and unjust. Democrats just…
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Tennessee Titans receiver Rishard Matthews said he would “be done with football” if the NFL makes it a requirement for players to stand during the national anthem. It looks like he’s taken it to another level as he went back to the locker room during the national anthem on Monday Night Football. WR @_RMatthews heads back…
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Don’t worry, it’s not a fair measure of fitness. For some people, touching toes feels like pulling a muscle. As a middle schooler, one of my life goals was the Presidential Fitness Award—an accolade given to those who passed a series of gym-class tests that included doing a number of pull ups, running a…
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Five years ago, Janice Lowery of West Tennessee moved to another town, which left her a greater distance away from the doctor she had been going to for more than a decade. But she wasn’t about to look for another doctor, even though it would not have been hard to find one near her new home. Instead, she has continued to see Dr. Bryan Merrick at the McKenzie Medical Center, driving an hour and a half one way to get there. Merrick is a caring doctor who doesn’t dash in and out of the room and make you feel like a number, Lowery said. “He listens to you,” she said. “You don’t feel rushed.” Lowery even drives her husband, who is legally blind, to see Merrick for separate appointments. Like many of Merrick’s patients, Lowery was alarmed this past spring when he was accused of Medicare fraud and lost his Medicare reimbursement privileges for three years. It’s a turn of events that many of his supporters consider an injustice, and they fault distant bureaucrats with not caring about their small rural community. Merrick, who is 62 and has been practicing medicine for more than 30 years, was found to have…
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Nashville Mayor Megan Barry released a detailed proposal Tuesday for a huge $5.2 billion mass transit project for the Nashville area that calls for four different types of tax increases. Barry will ask Metro Council to schedule a referendum for May 2018 to ask voters to approve the plan, called “Let’s Move Nashville: Metro’s Transportation Solution.” The mayor and her allies have been involved in efforts for some time to promote a tentative regional mass transit plan for Middle Tennessee they say would cost $6 billion. That plans for Metro Nashville alone now carry a $5.2 billion price tag reflects the ambitious nature of Barry’s vision, and will subject the progressive Democrat to even more criticism from those already skeptical of the project. The project would include light rail and electric buses, as well as improvements to existing transportation. In recent weeks, Barry has come up with a controversial idea for an underground tunnel in downtown Nashville for trains and buses. The tunnel would cost more than $900 million, which has significantly added to the overall cost. Barry presented her proposal at the Music City Center. The Nashville Tea Party later slammed her for saying during her speech that “there’s…
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While appearing at the Carousel Ball in Denver recently, comedian George Lopez was booed off stage after a series of racially charged jokes at President Trump’s (and his supporters’) expense, Page Six reported. The atmosphere in the room was so uncomfortable, Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei stood up from his front-row table to interrupt Lopez during his act to ask the comedian tone down his anti-conservative, anti-white rhetoric at the white-tie benefit for juvenile diabetes. The comedian, however, refused. Page Six reports: We’re told that Lopez responded to Maffei, “Thank you for changing my opinion on old white men, but it doesn’t change the way I feel about orange men.” Trying to recover and sensing the audience turn, Lopez said, “Listen, it’s about the kids … I apologize for bringing politics to an event. This is America — it still is. So I apologize to your white privilege.” We’re told Lopez also told a joke about Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico, saying, “I guess you can get some Mexicans to do it cheaper and they wouldn’t crush the tunnels underneath.” Mercifully, after introducing a video package, Lopez was replaced by a local news anchor, who took over the emcee…
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The Nashville Tea Party is calling on Nashville Mayor Megan Barry to release detailed plans for a tentative $6 billion regional mass transit project. Barry has said she will put a referendum on the ballot next year to raise taxes for the project, designed to be phased in over 25 years. The proposal she’s backing makes heavy use of light rail, as well as rapid buses. The Nashville Business Journal has reported that Barry is also considering underground transit downtown. “If approved, these new taxes will burden Middle Tennessee taxpayers for decades,” the Nashville Tea Party said in a press release Monday. “The mayor’s current petition campaign simply asks taxpayers to pledge they will ‘pay for it’”. “This amounts to the mayor asking taxpayers to sign a blank check,” Ben Cunningham, president of the Nashville Tea Party, said in the press release. The press release says that the Nashville Tea Party wants the public to have the complete details now and not “in bits and pieces over the coming months.” It notes that the IMPROVE Act passed by the state legislature earlier this year requires that the public be well informed before a referendum vote. The IMPROVE Act raised the gas tax…
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by Jeffery A. Tucker It’s not just that Obamacare is financially unsustainable. More seriously, it is intellectually unsustainable, even though this truth has been slow to emerge. This has come to an end with President Trump’s executive order. What does it do? It cuts subsidies to failing providers, yes. It also redefines the meaning of “short term” policies from one year to 90 days. But more importantly–and this is what has the pundit class in total meltdown–it liberalizes the rules for providers to serve health-coverage consumers. In the words of USA Today: the executive order permits a greater range of choice “by allowing more consumers to buy health insurance through association health plans across state lines.” The key word here is “allowing” – not forcing, not compelling, not coercing. Allowing. Why would this be a problem? Because allowing choice defeats the core feature of Obamacare, which is about forcing risk pools to exist that the market would otherwise never have chosen. If you were to summarize the change in a phrase it is this: it allows more freedom. The tenor of the critics’ comments on this move is that it is some sort of despotic act. But let’s be…
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Former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is still without an NFL job despite the fact that several players have come out and said there’s no way that there are 64 players — starters and backups included — that are better than him at QB. Now he’s decided that he is going to take action against the owners…
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U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to five Asian countries early next month, looking to ramp up pressure against North Korea’s nuclear weapons development, but also promote American economic interests in the region. The White House said Monday that Trump’s trip from November 3 to 14 will include visits to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and…
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US President Donald Trump said Monday that a “total termination” of the Iran nuclear deal remains possible, after refusing to certify the 2015 accord and leaving its fate to Congress. Speaking to reporters ahead of a cabinet meeting, he said: “I feel strongly about what I did I’m tired of being taken advantage of. “It might…
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The snarky, anti-Trump Twitter feeds at the New York Times have finally been tamed. The Times, conceding reality, decided to update its social media policy on Friday, and posted an explanation to readers. “The new guidelines underscore our newsroom’s appreciation for the important role social media now plays in our journalism, but also call for our…
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California became the first state in America to legally recognize a third gender after Democrat Gov. Jerry Brown signed the legislation Sunday. State drivers’ licenses, birth certificates, and other identity documents will now allow residents to check “non-binary” rather than just male or female, the Sacramento Bee reported Monday. The Gender Recognition Act is one of…
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Part of the American success formula is a reliance on fair play: Everyone must follow the same rules. This extends to the American-led effort for free and fair trade around the world, which has led to lowering of prices and better competition for consumers. But free trade isn’t a free for all, and never has been.…
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President Donald Trump said Monday that Obamacare is no longer the law of the land in the U.S. health care system. “There is no such thing as Obamacare anymore,” the president said in a cabinet meeting Monday, Bloomberg’s Jennifer Epstein tweeted. The president’s comments come one week after his administration laid serious blows to Obamacare, and…
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The foreign-born population in the United States hit an all-time high last year of 43.7 million people, making it the highest percentage of residents born outside the country in more than a century, according to a new report. The study, released Monday by the Center for Immigration Studies, is based on data published last month by…
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VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing October 17, Tuesday Haggai 2:6-7 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty.
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