Make school lunch more nutritious; It’s payoff time for bigwigs; Science: Not as easy as you think?; Reject concealed carry reciprocity; Cutting corporate taxes, hitting higher ed. | Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Make school lunch more nutritious

As a busy mom, with one child enrolled in Fort Worth Independent School District, I consider it important that the Fort Worth community begins a discussion about what we can do to increase the nutritional value of school lunches.

I would love to be able to send my child to school, lunch money in tow, knowing he can get a healthy meal that would help fuel his education. However, given the current lunch offerings (mainly pizza and cheeseburgers), I simply cannot trust this scenario to play out. I guess this busy mom just has one more thing to add to her to-do list! Any and all help is appreciated.

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It’s payoff time for bigwigs

With corporate profits and the stock markets at all-time highs and American companies sitting on more cash than ever before, why do companies, stockholders and CEOs need tax cuts now? The economy is purring along; a record 85 consecutive months of economic and job growth, giving us what economists call “full employment,” proves economic stimulus isn’t needed now.

Here’s a tax reform that grants permanent tax cuts to the corporations and the 1 percent while providing a “bait & switch” set of cuts for the middle class and the poor, leaving us paying more in taxes as our temporary cuts expire.

So why tax cuts now? Let’s take U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., at his word. In early November he stated, “My donors are basically saying, ‘Get it done or don’t ever call me again.’”

There’s your answer. It’s payoff time. Now that’s what I call corruption.

Science: Not as easy as you think?

Anyone who espouses “consensus” as proof of science is a fool. Science is about proven facts. Unfortunately, for the global warming/cooling/change crowd, they have no facts. The human race (20,000-100,000 years) is a blip in the timeline of the planet.

The Industrial Age (200 years) isn’t even statistically noticeable. That humans can change this planet is the epitome of arrogance and ignorance. Believing the B.S. is even worse. It is based upon a weather program, modified to give the desired results — more funding — and has nothing to do with predictions. Ask any meteorologists worthy of the title and they cannot and will not confirm the B.S. science. The left has made it a political football to control the economy and make a few Al Gores wealthy.

Reject concealed carry reciprocity

Congress must reject the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 (CCR).

Washington politicians and the gun lobby are working to gut state gun laws by forcing each state to recognize the concealed-carry standards of every other state by adding “Concealed carry reciprocity” (CCR) to the bipartisan “Fix NICS Act.” CCR would legally force every state to allow people to carry hidden, loaded guns, even if they’ve never passed a background check or had gun safety training.

This isn’t hypothetical: 19 states don’t require any gun safety training to carry concealed guns in public; 12 states don’t require a permit or background check; while other states allow many domestic abusers or people convicted of violent misdemeanors to concealed carry.

Right now, America needs Congress to strengthen — not weaken — our gun laws.

Cutting corporate taxes, hitting higher ed

The notion that increased profits generated by cutting corporate taxes will “trickle down” in higher wages is belied by now record-level corporate profits and the $2.5 trillion corporations hold in cash reserves, while wages have barely ticked up.

More damaging to our future is the Republicans’ assault on higher education. Their bill taxes tuition waivers that assist graduate students earning advanced degrees sorely needed by business; eliminates the deduction for interest on student loans; and levies a tax on private university endowments that are devoted principally to providing financial assistance for deserving students.

And, as if Citizens United did not corrupt politics sufficiently, now they will allow oligarchs to make tax-deductible contributions churches can use to support political candidates. The final straw: Aware their plan will probably explode the deficit, they propose “triggers” for automatic spending cuts, rather than tax increases. Watch out, Medicare recipients!