Day: December 27, 2018

Push Begins in Tennessee to Make Records Public on Who Gets Tax Credits

Chris Butler

Three prominent organizations in Tennessee want state legislators to open the books and let the public know details about incentives the state gives away for economic development purposes, according to The Daily Memphian. Those three organizations are the Beacon Center of Tennessee, Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee, and the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, according to the paper. “A state document released in December 2017 shows Tennessee has $987.6 million in carry-over tax credits from previous incentive packages. Those include $790.5 million for investments in industrial machinery and $197.1 million for standard job tax credits. A new report is to come out before Jan. 1, 2019,” The Daily Memphian reported. The report, according to the paper, doesn’t show which companies received the tax credits. State officials hid five items on the document “to avoid violating taxpayer confidentiality.” “Those involve credits for job creation in high-poverty areas, an environmental project, a headquarters dealing with a net operating loss, for green energy investment and for the purchase of brownfield property,” according to The Daily Memphian. The paper quoted AFP state director Tori Venable as saying “a million-dollar money bomb” will detonate when the economy tanks. “AFP-Tennessee is worried those types of liabilities…

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Commentary: Right-Wing Intellectuals Hate Trump for Smashing Their Pretensions

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Max Boot

by Deion Kathawa   More than two years into President Trump’s historic presidency, it behooves us to think more deeply about a persistent sticking point in the political life of the nation: Why do (most) right-wing intellectuals loathe him? This kind of nearly unified opposition cries out for explanation. After all, it is not simply that all left-wing intellectuals oppose him; that is baked into the political cake, a totally banal reality. (Is water wet?) What is more interesting is why most right-wing intellectuals despise him, wish for his failure, derive such glee from “dunking” on him on social media and in their think pieces, and the like. To understand this phenomenon, the late Harvard philosopher Robert Nozick’s essay, “Why Do Intellectuals Oppose Capitalism?” is a veritable treasure trove of insight. Nozick’s 1998 explanation of intellectuals’ opposition to capitalism is remarkably relevant and can be transplanted with only minor cosmetic changes to understand why the vast majority of right-wing intellectuals oppose Trump. Nozick begins by explaining what he means by “intellectuals,” describing them as “those who, in their vocation, deal with ideas as expressed in words, shaping the word flow others receive. These wordsmiths include poets, novelists, literary critics, newspaper…

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Commentary: Healthcare Will Follow the Dangerous Politicization of Big Tech

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by Tho Bishop   As tech executives continue to be grilled in front of Congress, the growing Bernie Sanders-wing of the Democratic Party is preparing to push its misnamed “Medicare for All” into the political mainstream after its political gains in the midterms. While these two stories seem to have very little in common, it’s not difficult to imagine a not-so-distant future where the two are dangerously connected. After all, so long as the scope of government grows, the continued politicization of all aspect of life will follow – the inevitable consequences of which could be quite horrific. The State’s Shadow over Silicon Valley First let’s consider some of the overlooked causes behind the increased censorship from Silicon Valley. While Republican politicians relish in collecting cheap soundbites railing against the censorship practices of widely despised tech executives, few are willing to point out the obvious influence of government in Big Tech’s growing hostility to free speech. For example, just recently Facebook announced it was following the lead of Tumblr by cracking down on “sexualized content” on its platform. While both decisions were widely ridiculed by users and pundits alike, largely ignored was the role that recent Congressional laws aimed at…

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Obama’s Flirtation with Potential 2020 Challengers Is Upsetting Biden, Report Claims

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by Molly Prince   Former President Barack Obama has been reportedly upsetting his two-time running-mate Joe Biden as he meets with other potential Democratic presidential candidates. Obama has been sitting down with prospective Democrats over the past few months as the party searches for a strong challenger to emerge to face President Donald Trump in 2020. He met with Biden as early on as June to discuss his presidential ambitions, reported Politico. In addition to his former vice president, Obama has had one-on-one meetings with a host of other possible contenders including Democrats Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, and defeated Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum. He also notably met with Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke shortly after his defeat to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz — only a week later, O’Rourke publicly revealed he was considering a presidential run despite consistently claiming he definitely will not be running for president. Biden has not yet officially announced his candidacy, but he reignited speculation in December when he referred to himself as the “most qualified person” to take on Trump. “I’ll be as straight with you as I can. I think I’m the most qualified person in the country to be president,” Biden said. “The issues that…

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Futuristic Fun House Transforms Traditional Games Into High Tech Wonders

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by Elizabeth Lee   Imagine being on the bridge of a ship navigating through space with your crew’s survival at risk, then stepping onto a river raft to battle aliens in a swamp, and finally flying through the air, all in one night. All this and more are possible at a futuristic micro amusement park called Two Bit Circus in Los Angeles. “I think it takes a whole arcade game venue to the next level, and there’s a couple of games I played tonight where I was out of breath and actually sweating,” said visitor Kelly Bentall, who had just finished playing a game where she had to roll a plastic ball and watch a cartoon version of it on a screen, while trying to knock an opponent off a virtual arena. Many of the games at Two Bit Circus can be described as traditional carnival games on steroids where sensors, cameras or virtual reality goggles add to the experience. There is even a robot bartender that mixes drinks for customers. “I have not had a robot make my drink before. That was actually pretty cool. He even managed to shake it,” said customer John Duncan. Just like a movie…

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Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown Takes Next Step Towards a Run for President, Picks His Campaign Slogan

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by Molly Prince   Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown has chosen his campaign slogan for a potential presidential run while he is still mulling over a challenge to President Donald Trump in 2020. Brown, notable for his “rumpled” image and more than 40-year public service tenure in Ohio, is exhibiting his midwestern liberal populism with a concise slogan: “The Dignity of Work,” reported Politico on Wednesday. “Ohio will respond to a message of the dignity of work,” said the Ohio senator. “It’s gonna be harder in 2020 than Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, but it always has been.” Democrats eyeing a potential 2020 presidential run have largely focused on the rust belt, which helped elect Trump in 2016. Brown nearly stands alone as one of the possible contenders who has a successful track record in the region. While Trump won Ohio by 8 points against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Brown beat out his Republican challenger in the 2018 midterm election by just over 6 points. In fact, he was the only Democrat to win statewide in 2018, aside from judicial candidates. The Ohio senator conceded that he hasn’t definitively made up his mind whether or not he is officially launching…

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Commentary: Congress’ Dated Energy Regulations Have Outlived Their Purpose

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by Robert Romano   At the height of 1970s inflation and in response to the 1973 Arab oil embargo, Congress passed the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) of 1978. The legislation requires electric utilities to purchase energy from small renewable generators. It has also outlived its usefulness. Since that time, wind, solar and other renewables, excluding hydroelectric, have grown to almost 10 percent of U.S. electricity generation according to data compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Agency. Back in 1978, it was 0.14 percent. Obviously, a lot can change in 40 years. Fortunately, in 2005, Congress amended PURPA in order to take stock of rapid changes in the utility marketplace. In 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced it was considering changes and reforms to the program, including which entities ought to be excluded from PURPA’s mandatory purchase of renewable energy requirement. One argument is that the renewable generators have a large enough market footprint to compete on their own without compelling utilities to use the renewable energy. Each local market is different, whereas in some areas, the additional generation can offset potential brownouts and might be desirable, in other areas with more abundant supplies, it’s simply a…

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‘Tech Addicts’ Seek Solace in 12 Steps and Rehab

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We like to say we’re addicted to our phones or an app or some new show on a streaming video service. But for some people, tech gets in the way of daily functioning and self-care. We’re talking flunk-your-classes, can’t-find-a-job, live-in-a-dark-hole kinds of problems, with depression, anxiety and sometimes suicidal thoughts part of the mix. Suburban Seattle, a major tech center, has become a hub for help for so-called “tech addicts,” with residential rehab, psychologists who specialize in such treatment and 12-step meetings. “The drugs of old are now repackaged. We have a new foe,” Cosette Rae says of the barrage of tech. A former developer in the tech world, she heads a Seattle area rehab center called reSTART Life, one of the few residential programs in the nation specializing in tech addiction. Use of that word — addiction — when it comes to devices, online content and the like is still debated in the mental health world. But many practitioners agree that tech use is increasingly intertwined with the problems of those seeking help. An American Academy of Pediatrics review of worldwide research found that excessive use of video games alone is a serious problem for as many as 9…

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Commentary: The Numbers Support Trump’s Decision to Leave Syria

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by Gunnar Heinsohn   Proclaim victory and pull out! On December 19, Donald Trump tweeted his own version of this classic military maxim as the president announced the withdrawal of America’s 2,000 soldiers from the war against the ISIS caliphate in Syria. Allies reacted with shock. Enemies mocked and gloated. Neither reaction should come as a surprise. The president’s defenders emphasize that America has nothing to show for the $7 trillion it has spent on this war. The United States, they say, has much greater concerns at home and in East Asia. Few analysts, regardless of how they feel about America’s withdrawal from Syria, understand why such conflicts drag on and on, despite enormous losses. Historians and journalists rarely examine the demographic data that explain why deadly wars can last for decades or centuries. Even the killing ground of Europe from 1500 to 1945 escapes their attention. And when it comes to Syria, they are utterly clueless about the link between rapid demographic growth and the long and bloody wars that have devastated this region. Explosive population growth results in explosions on the battlefield. Between 1900 and 2015, Islam’s global population increased by a factor of nine, from 200 million…

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Minnesota House Democrats Set to Introduce a Package of 10 Bills

Andrew Shirley

Minnesota Democratic House Speaker-designate Melissa Hortman (D-Brooklyn Park) announced Wednesday that democratic legislators are preparing to introduce a package of 10 bills as early as next month. The new congressional session will begin January 8 and the Speaker plans to introduce the package the next day. While the specific bills have yet to be revealed, they are said to reflect the “Minnesota Values Plan,” an updated version of the “Minnesota Values Project.” In early 2017, the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party announced the Minnesota Values Project. The initiative was structured around 4 objectives: All Minnesotans deserve access to affordable, quality health care, All Minnesotans deserve the education and job training needed to get a good-paying job, All Minnesota kids deserve a world-class education, All Minnesotans deserve the opportunity to be safe, healthy, and successful. These points translated into 11 separate bills proposed that year: HF 92: Expand MinnesotaCare to everyone — letting Minnesotans take advantage of affordable, high-quality care that is currently unavailable in the private market, HF 2949: Implement discounts that go directly to consumers instead of giving handouts to the insurance companies, HF 2839: Repeal for-profit HMOs that are exploding the cost of care in Minnesota, HF 2931: Require non-profit HMO dollars to…

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Ohio Minimum Wage to Increase at Start of New Year

Andrew Shirley

The Ohio hourly minimum wage will be increasing on January 1, 2019. For non-tipped employees, hourly earnings will increase to $8.55 per hour, from $8.30. For tipped employees, hourly earnings will increase to $4.30 per hour, from $4.15. In addition, working longer than 40 hours will be considered overtime and employers will be required to pay one and a half times their normal wage, unless the employer grosses less than $150,000 a year. In 2006, Ohio passed the Ohio Minimum Wage Increase Amendment commonly referred to as Amendment 2 (II.34a Minimum Wage). The amendment increased the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85 and stipulated that the: state minimum wage rate shall be increased effective the first day of the following January by the rate of inflation for the twelve month period prior to that September according to the consumer price index. From June 2017 to June 2018 the Consumer Price index increased by 2.9 percent. However, there are notable exceptions to the wage increase. Employers whose gross income is less than $314,000 will still be required to adhere to the federal minimum wage standard. The minimum wage for employees 16 and younger will also remain at the federal minimum wage level, which…

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Successful North Carolina Businessman Pioneers New Way Forward in Education

Anthony Gockowski

Bob Luddy had already experienced massive success as a businessman and entrepreneur before launching Thales Academy, one of North Carolina’s most innovative private schools. In 1976, Luddy founded CaptiveAire Systems, now the leading manufacturer of commercial kitchen ventilation systems in the U.S. with annual sales of more than $300 million. Why, after such success, get involved in education? “Primarily because in my life I had a reasonably good education and I realized how much it contributed to my life, and to the American way,” Luddy told Battleground State News in a recent interview. “And also within our family, my parents certainly stressed the importance of education throughout our lifetime. So in making observations after being in business for many years, I felt like too many students are deprived of the opportunity to reach their fruition in life by having a good, sound education.” And that is exactly what Luddy’s Thales Academy (Thales), now in its eleventh year and named for the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus, does: educate each student to his maximum potential. Luddy launched Thales in 2007 using a “temporary facility in the back of” his corporate office, the school’s website explains, and had just 30 students. Now,…

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