Fresh Eggs for your July 4th Celebration

1.       “Lyin’ Ted Cruz,” “Crooked Hillary,” and “Goofy Elizabeth Warren:” Why haven’t we seen a quiz on Facebook titled: What Donald Trump Insult Are You?

2.       The violence at the Mexican teacher protest, including several deaths of the teachers because the federales shot them, put me in mind of the 1894 Pullman Railroad strike and the 1896 Haymarket Affair in Chicago. Violence at the protests of labor is nothing new and it has happened here.

3.       The Megamillions lotto is up to Mega Megamillion Dollar levels. Somehow there’s not the excitement of the Powerball frenzy six months ago. That’s a good thing if we can take it or leave it.

4.       Can’t blame you, though, if you’re keeping a dog in the hunt.

5.       While we were focused on the new cut scores for achievement levels, the Florida Department of Education did something truly appalling with the calculation of learning gains. Simply put, the non-passing levels were divided into five sublevels and only if a student moves up a level are learning gains deemed to have taken place. On passing levels, students must gain at least one point on the scale score. Schools are used to healthy boosts for their grade based on learning gains. No more. Look for the pushback to begin in another two weeks. FEARLESS FOSDICK prediction: The commissioner and the state board will cave with an emergency rule to keep schools from declining drastically in their letter grades.

6.       Bonus point if you know who Fearless Fosdick is.

7.       It’s a tough choice for Corrinne Brown’s supporters. For the first time in two decades, she needs their votes in the August 30 primary as she competes in the new East-West district that runs along I-10 to Tallahassee. Al Lawson has his own base in the western part of the district and will be hard to beat. Yet, they also want to replace Angela Corey. But due to the electoral shenanigans of a Corey supporter filing for a write-in campaign, her primary is closed—Republicans only. There is no Democratic opposition: to vote Corey out (by changing their registration to Republican for the primary), they will have to let Brown take her chances. A tough choice.

8.       As I have listened to the complaints across the long presidential primary campaign and now going into state contests, it seems clear a large majority favor reworking our election laws for unitary campaigns.

9.       Given that such campaigns tend to foster competitive races and threaten incumbents, look for the idea to go into the same file as the fair tax.

10.   The markets have returned to pre-Brexit vote levels. Not surprised.

11.   Europe needs Britain as much as Britain needs Europe. A ‘United States of Europe’ was never going to happen. 28 diverse cultures and languages, they thought they could achieve the cohesiveness of the USA, with a dominant one language and culture? And even we have our regional difficulties, not to mention social justice issues within our society. Europe needs to reduce the power of the Brussels bureaucracy and allow more discretion to member countries or others will follow Britain.

12.   What Trump insult am I? Oh, call me bald-headed. I always swore I would never do a ridiculous comb-over as my genetic heritage asserted itself.