Online headline: "Cruz blames Obama for climate of violence against police" -- Wait a minute... you know, he's RIGHT.. Obamageddon's quick racism "trump card" thrown at the Boston police started it, then it multiplied with his directives to ignore the drug crimes, release drug crime prisoners, DOJ directives against George Zimmerman, and Officer Wilson in Ferguson  and the 6 police officers persecution following the Baltimore Mayors's order to allow "those who wished to destroy space to do that.”"

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The "Donald"did it again.. he signed the pledge not to run as a 3rd Party candidate. Now what are the other candidates and the GOP hierarchy going to attack him on? It's also a good move on Trump's part as it will force the other candidates to demonstrate leadership capabilities this country can believe in. Being a good leader is not just about issues or character, it's about being able to get people to believe you are the person they want to put their faith behind.

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Kim Davis, the County Clerk in Ashland, KY,  may become the worst nightmare of the Democrats.. she has become the Rosa Park's of the 21st Century.. she is being persecuted  for standing her ground on a Constitutionally guaranteed right.

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Online story: "The Arby's fast food chain announced late Thursday that it had fired a Florida restaurant manager and suspended a clerk after a female police officer said she had been denied service because she was a cop." -- Arby's just can't win for losing.. Making a move based on negative public reaction is just another form of "political correctness", but when you do so and make another "political correctness blunder", it just makes Arby's look stupid.. Arby's basically fired the woman but not the man... and we haven't even looked at the racial aspects..

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Online headline: "Russian troops reportedly fighting for Assad in Syria" -- Good grief.. while Obamageddon can't muster up the courage to back up his "line drawn in the sand", Putin has crossed it INTO Syria under Obamageddon's nose and plaintive objection.. "you can't do that"...

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L-E "headlie": "7 of 9 Muscogee County public high schools improve their SAT composite scores" -- Gpod grief.. the story is that 8 of the 9 are BELOW the state and national averages!... and the picture is even worse than it appears! Let's not forget that the SATs have "evolved".. toughness level has been lowered, and there are no longer deductions in points for "wrong answers" as was the previous standard. In addition, the "writing" aspect is being phased out as a measure by most colleges as it is "subjective" rather than "objective" as the math and reading portions are.
Let's compare apples and apples.. just using the math and reading portions, the MCSD still has 8 or 8 schools under the state averages.. If Columbus High were no a full magnet program with grade standards students must meet to stay in CHS, I imagine ALL 9 of the schools would fall below the state averages.

School                        Math Score     Reading score    Combined
Carver                          410                397                     807
Early College                419                465                     884
Hardaway                    433                 445                     878
Jordan                         400                 426                     826
Kendrick                      426                 407                     833
Northside                     468                 478                     946
Shaw                           440                 445                     885
Spencer                       424                 424                     848
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MCSD                          426.25          460.88                  863.38
w/o CHS
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Columbus  High            585                 563                    1148
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MCSD                          443.89            472,2                  895
w/ CHS

GA  Scores                  485                 490                  975
US Scores                   511                  495                  1006

The most disappointing figures are from Carver.. Nearly $60,000,000.00 dollars have been spent in the 1993ish upgrades and the complete rebuild from the previous SPLOST (hmmm.. sorta an omen for the $56 MILLION earmarked for unneeded Spencer?)  and is a designated STEM Magnet School. Every advantage has been thrown into the Carver project.. Carver was the first to get laptop computers and a technology wired building yet has the lowest Reading and Overall averages for the SATs. But you know what, the problem is not at the high school level, but the elementary/JR High levels where the fundamentals are not being absorbed by the students.. the High School SAT results just point out that our high students aren't prepared to get ready for college or life. What we need is the 7 MCSB members who are NOT Myers and Thomas to start listening to them , and start demanding accountability from the Superintendents they bring into the system.

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I have a suggestion that will improve the school's academic performance starting the day it's implemented.. High schools that are  2% (or lower) below the state averages be forbidden to compete in interscholastic sports competition.

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Soapbox Moment:  You golfers will know what I'm talking about.. other local taxpayers should get informed. Have you seen the websites *GolfNow.com., golflink.com, and TeeOff.com) offering tee times (with or without discounts) to public golf courses you may be interested in playing.. I tried to see what tee times were available through these sites for Bull Creek.. all the sites say they have access to Bull Creek's two courses, but none of them have an available time to book a round during the first two weeks of September.. (I tried to get one). Times were available at Maple Ridge and Woodland Hills, but not Bull Creek.. this tells one of two things.. Bull Creek is already booked solid or that Bull Creek is not interested in getting revenue for open tee times. So... how come Bull Creek is not pulling its own weight in operating itself? We taxpayers still supplement Bull Creek. The way I see it, golf courses, especially ones that seemingly are fully booked, should easily be able to raise its rates to become self-sustaining. Hey Council. cut the umbilical cord Bull Creek has to the City's teat.

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Online story: "More than 300,000 American military veterans likely died while waiting for health care -- and nearly twice as many are still waiting -- according to a new Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general report." -- Yet illegal aliens get free (except to American taxpayers) medical services... Stop the madness.. again.. Trump is RIGHT.

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L-E story: "Plans are already underway to reduce the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team at Fort Benning, less than two months after the Army announced cuts for 3,450 soldiers in a move to shrink the force to 450,000. * U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Marietta, made the announcement during a visit to the brigade Thursday afternoon with U.S. Reps. Tom Graves, R-Ranger., and Austin Scott, R-Tifton. In a brigade with about 3,600 soldiers, Isakson said the cuts would impact 2,600 soldiers in the Columbus area. Some soldiers will be leaving Kelley Hill this month and departures will continue over the next nine months. *  “We came here to show the flag for Columbus, show the flag for the 3rd ID and make sure the Army knows that we want to know the justification for making the recommendations they made in terms of reducing the number of troops at Fort Benning,” the senator said. “We understand they’ve got to reduce to 450,000 and we want to make sure we understand why Georgia and Texas are at a disproportionate number in terms of that.” -- "shrink the force to 450,000"? "they've got to reduce to 450,000"?  What BS.. America needs to stay as strong as possible during these times! Note to Senator Isakson.. have you gone over to the dark side? There is no reason to "reduce", especially saying "they have to reduce" the one government program that is covered by the Bill of Rights. There is no justification to put the onus of America's safety on the backs of so few, when our government is aiding and abetting the care of 11,000,000 +/- illegal invaders into our country . -

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L-E story: "A jury in Alabama has found a woman guilty of voter fraud. *  Local media outlets report that the 66-year-old Olivia Reynolds was found guilty on 24 felony counts of promoting illegal absentee voting after a Houston County jury deliberation Wednesday. *  Reynolds was one of three women who were charged that worked on the 2013 campaign for District 2 City Commissioner Amos Newsome. Newsome beat Lamesa Danzey by 14 votes. * The Dothan Eagle reports that Newsome received 119 of the 124 absentee votes that were cast in the race. But Danzey received more votes than Newsome at the polls. *  Reynolds’ sentencing is set for Sept. 15. * The 50-year-old Lesa Coleman was ordered to serve 180 days in jail. The 65-year-old Janice Hart was ordered to serve two years of probation."" -- Don't just think this goes on in Alabama.. I voted one time by absentee vote.. back in 2000 when I was living in Harris County and an election was scheduled during my honeymoon time. I went to the HC Elections Office, and "ahemmed" the busy clerks. As I did, I slid my drivers' license over the counter to her. She stopped in her tracks, put her hands out in a defensive position and proclaimed, "We don't want to see that!" It shocked me.. I was expecting to provide a photo ID just as I did at the polling precincts.. but the Elections Office doesn't require.. hell doesn't want to see, ID. This is how the homebound, the homeless, the nursing home residents... and the dead get to vote..

This practice needs to be stopped... now!

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L-E story: " When Georgia students took a new test based on Common Core standards last year, their rate of proficiency in English language arts and math was below 40 percent in each grade level, according to results released Thursday. *  The results, representing the entire state, are a significant departure from passage rates in the 80 or 90 percent range on Georgia’s old (CRCT) statewide exam. -- Hmmm.. let's parse this a bit.. what I see is that either the old state exams were tainted, or that Common Core taints what students are learning versus what is real. Whichever, it just confirms what the SAT scores show..our MCSD students are not prepared to go to college or out into the world.