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Washington -- The political party that is forever lecturing Republicans on the need to reform themselves lest they go the way of the Tyrannosaurus rex is now in danger of becoming at one with the Tyrannosaurus rex. The party's alarmed potentates met over the weekend, having finally noticed that the autumn elections did not go so well for them after all. Some have speculated on change -- change not for their Republican opponents, but change for them, the Democrats. Some Democrats less stupefied by ideological rigorism noted that Sen. Bernie Sanders might not be the wave of the future. Crazy...

Iowa’s high property taxes are a growing concern. The Tax Foundation examined the “effective tax rates on owner-occupied housing” across the United States. Iowa ranked 12th highest in the nation. At the heart of high property taxes is local government spending. Unless spending is controlled, any property tax relief will be limited. Iowa’s property tax system is complex, and more transparency is needed. Iowa should look to Utah’s Truth-in-Taxation law, which since 1985 has been controlling the growth of property taxes and providing transparency and accountability for taxpayers. Utah’s Truth-in-Taxation is the gold standard model for any property tax reform.

How I Left the Social Justice Cult - Keri Smith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVSgVlZjk8c&feature=youtu.be

A 14-year-old Michigan girl who was handcuffed by police three years ago — leading to department reforms — has died of COVID-19, her family said. Honestie Hodges’ grandmother announced in a Sunday post on GoFundMe that the teen died following a nearly two-week stay at Helen Devos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids. Honestie tested positive for the illness on Nov. 9, and later that night was hospitalized in the intensive care unit, where she would be hooked up to a ventilator and given a blood transfusion before dying.

istory is the account of vast social movements and cultural changes. To be sure, individuals play their part. But they are usually understood to be products of their times. The Reformation, though, whose five-hundredth anniversary we observe this year and whose impact on not only the church but the world has been monumental, was largely precipitated by one man: Martin Luther. Yes, vast social movements and cultural changes were at work in sixteenth-century Europe. But Luther caused many of them, such as the educational explosion that would lead to universal literacy, the rise of the middle class, and eventually democratic...

Gov. Ralph Northam has signed new laws he says will significantly advance police and criminal justice reform in Virginia. Northam says he has been working with legislators on the measures since early summer, when the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor led to a national reckoning on racial bias in policing. “Too many families, in Virginia and across our nation, live in fear of being hurt or killed by police,” said Northam. “These new laws represent a tremendous step forward in rebuilding trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. I am grateful to the legislators and advocates...

Almost all the polls say that US President Donald Trump is heading towards defeat at the hands of his Democrat challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden next month. But Robert Cahaly, who heads the Trafalgar Group polling firm, disagrees. Cahaly was the only major pollster that accurately called the 2016 presidential race. In an interview with The Political Trade podcast last week, Cahaly said his data show Trump headed for another upset victory Nov. 3.Cahaly said that today, as in 2016, the disparity between his numbers and the marquis polling firms' numbers owes to the latter's systematic neglect of what...

President Trump plans to name Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton to a court oversight agency which has the power to remove certain judges for misconduct. The White House on Friday announced Trump’s intention to name Tom Fitton to the D.C. Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure. Tom Fitton is currently the president of conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. Recall, it was Judicial Watch that broke the story wide open about Hillary Clinton’s private email server in 2015. Judicial Watch is currently spearheading dozens of lawsuits in an effort to obtain Biden’s senate records, Strzok and Page communications, Hillary Clinton’s emails,...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) laid out the House GOP’s Commitment to America and said that on policing, they will invest $1.75 billion “for police training, community policing, teaching them when to use their weapon and what type of weapon to use.” And an additional 500,000 body cameras. McCarthy also accused Democrats of wanting to defund the police and stated, “We saw what happened on the streets of L.A.” McCarthy said, “We’re not going to defund the police. We’re actually going to add $1.75 billion for police training, community policing,...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers are pushing to enact nearly a dozen policing reform laws driven by nationwide outrage and protests after George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in May. Lawmakers have until Aug. 31 to approve and send legislation to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. The bills include: CHOKEHOLDS AB1196 by Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson, would bar law enforcement agencies from using carotid restraints, chokeholds or similar techniques. The California Police Chiefs Association initially called for banning the carotid and chokeholds, but withdrew its support after it said Gipson broadened his bill “to include additional restrictions that are vague and...

History is ripe for another flipping reform Throughout history, prosperity has been built upon individual freedom and limited government. And now, the global economy has suffered the fastest setback – ever – the first caused by monstrous bureaucratic intrusions. The record includes many economic busts, but the only comparable collapse occurred in London in 1665. Shockingly, the important trade center suffered the Bubonic Plague with some 25 percent of the population dying. Naturally, finance and business collapsed, but not by destructive government restrictions. Diarist Samuel Pepys, recorded on October 16, 1665: “But Lord, how empty the streets are, and melancholy,...

plans to announce an executive order addressing police reform on Tuesday amid growing calls for action in the wake of George Floyd’s death. “The overall goal is we want law and order and we want it done fairly, justly. We want it done safely,” Trump told reporters at the White House, confirming he would hold a news conference to sign the order on Tuesday. “But we want law and order,” he added. “This is about law and order, but it’s about justice also.” Senior administration officials told reporters Monday afternoon that the order would incentivize police departments to use best...

Policing in the United States is overdue for reform. Admitting to this is not a matter of race, political party, or ideology. It is an observable truth, confirmed time and again by the lack of accountability in holding bad cops responsible for actions that should not be tolerated in a free country governed by the constitutional rule of law.  There are steps that the federal and state governments can and should undertake to address deficiencies in policing. Defunding the police, however, is not an idea worthy of consideration. The fact that “defund the police” is actually being seriously considered illustrates...

Could reform be the answer to the dilemma that China faces? That's certainly the option the foreign policy gurus at Foggy Bottom would suggest. It sounds ever so logical to them. But not to the Chinese communist leadership. They may be evil to the core, but they're not fools. By attempting to reform and loosening up control, the CCP rightly fears what is known as the Tocqueville Paradox. Minxin Pei states: The Chinese leadership, especially Vice President Wang Qishan, piqued interest in Tocqueville because he read L'Ancien Regime, and warned fellow cadres that reform could speed up the demise of...

As John Dewey revolutionized the US education system with Karl Marx’s ideas, dysfunction entered the system. Chalk up another failure at the hands of the Progressive revolution. -- In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx demands: “Free education for all children in public schools.” Marx wanted to eliminate unfairness. Presumably, he intended working-class kids to have whatever upper-class children had. In effect, he intended for everyone to attend a good prep school. That is still something that hasn’t yet happened.Enter the Edu-Swamp What went wrong? Why has our Education Establishment betrayed Karl Marx? Rivers of money flow towards public schools. The...

Critics of President Trump’s response to the coronavirus crisis characterize it as knee-jerk, spur-of-the-moment, and grasping at any straw within reach. In fact, many of the executive actions we have seen in the past few days reflect a new approach to health policy that has been underway almost since the day Donald Trump was sworn into office. These include the ability to be diagnosed and treated without ever leaving your own home; the ability to talk to doctors 24/7 by means of phone, email and Skype; and the ability of the chronically ill to have access to free diagnoses and...

The big problem is that HR 1 appears to omit any reform that would adversely effect the Democrat Party.

Criminal justice reform has received a great deal of attention lately. There has been bipartisan applause for some aspects of this movement, but other aspects are very controversial and have come under heavy criticism in law enforcement circles.

Two threads of educational reform can be discerned during the past 25 years. Both miss the need for real reform and have contributed thereby to the further dumbing down of our public schools. One involves greater federal involvement and funding through No Child Left Behind legislation followed by Common Core initiatives extending federal involvement even further into the realm of standardized testing. The other thread of reform blames racism as an underlying cause of educational failure, and through busing and various regulatory requirements seeks more racial balance in neighborhoods and in schools. The increase in federal control of educational policy...

America has lost a voice that strongly and consistently provided the road map to steer us away from the political and cultural abyss we currently face. That voice belonged to historian Gertrude Himmelfarb, who died Dec. 30 at age 97. Gertrude spoke passionately about how our most important institutions—families, communities, churches, and private enterprise—must be “remoralized,” as it is only through a strong civil society that we can have a strong nation. In her words, people learn to function as “free, responsible, moral adults” in these institutions and apply that responsibility and morality as citizens of a nation. But she...