The Latest

• Bloomberg tips hat to Trump messaging

  Josh Siegel of the Washington Examiner highlights former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s take on the deciding factor in the 2016 presidential election. Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, says Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to President Trump because “she never got a real…

  Mitch Kokai, June 22, 2017, 195 words

• At least one National Review Online columnist praises gerrymandering

  Kevin Williamson has no problem with gerrymandering electoral districts. His latest National Review Online column explains why. For a century, the gerrymander was an ordinary part of U.S. politics. And, then, the unthinkable happened: Republicans got really, really good at it. The gerrymander, named for Massachusetts governor Elbridge…

  Mitch Kokai, June 22, 2017, 201 words

• An apocalyptic approach

  Ben Shapiro argues at National Review Online that too many political partisans are overeager to resort to warlike tactics. In an age when nearly nobody has served in the military against an actual existential foe, too many Americans dream of a war that will provide meaning and clarity.

  Mitch Kokai, June 22, 2017, 268 words

• New Carolina Journal Online features

  Dan Way reports for Carolina Journal Online on a national election expert’s assessment that North Carolina is “ground zero” for battles over redistricting. The Daily Journal asks whether the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill really “needs” a course on “big-time” college sports.

  Mitch Kokai, June 22, 2017, 43 words

• Final Health and Human Services Budget Invests In Reducing Unnecessary Trips To The ER

  North Carolina’s final $23 billion budget for the fiscal years 2017-19 has arrived, and there are plenty of pilot programs in the Health and Human Services (HHS) section that are designed to steer patients away from unnecessary (and expensive) trips to the Emergency Room. A few notable examples are listed below:…

  Katherine Restrepo, June 21, 2017, 295 words

• Re: The governor’s ’85 times larger’ claim (part 2)

  My thanks to N.C. House Minority Leader Darren Jackson, D-Wake, who tweeted the apparent source of the governor’s remarks. Here are the numbers based on actual tax filings. A single person making 1 million/yr saves $8,226. a family making 25k saves $39 pic.twitter.com/fd6WXb8QwA…

  Mitch Kokai, June 21, 2017, 455 words

  

• Re: The governor’s ’85 times larger’ claim

  There’s another way to assess Gov. Roy Cooper’s claim that N.C. taxpayers with incomes of $1 million “or more” reap a tax break under the compromise state budget plan that’s 85 times larger than the tax break for a working family. Rather than starting with the break for the…

  Mitch Kokai, June 21, 2017, 335 words

  

• About our need for alternatives to licensing, how do other states treat music therapy?

  The vast majority of states don't think music therapy requires occupational licensing. There are several alternatives to licensing that address concerns with an industry without keeping people from their constitutional right to earn a living.

  Jon Sanders, June 21, 2017, 485 words