Your Favorite Mexican Beer Could get More Expensive Under Trump Tariffs and American Barley Farmers Pay the Price

 The Washington Post, Dec. 3, 2024 - Your favorite Mexican beer may get more expensive, if President-
elect Donald Trump carries out his threat to impose tariffs on Mexico.

Trump said last week he would slap a 25 percent tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada if they didn’t stop the flow of migrants and the deadly opioid fentanyl over their borders.

... American consumers would be hurt, too, according to economists. Tariffs are basically a tax on foreign goods; importers probably would have to raise their prices to compensate.

Mexico makes all kinds of things the average American uses. It manufactures 88 percent of the pickups sold in America; a 25 percent tariff could add about $3,000 to the price tag of that new Ford or GM truck, ... Mexico supplies around half of America’s imported fruit and two-thirds of imported vegetables, in dollar terms — tomatoes, berries, bell peppers, cucumbers. ... Most of the imported beer that Americans swig is brewed in Mexico. 

About 18 percent of all the beer drunk in the United States is imported, according to the Beer Institute, which represents the American beer industry. Mexico supplies roughly 4 of every 5 gallons. Last year, a Mexican beer, Modelo Especial, became the top-selling brew in the United States, in dollar terms. ... 

Take that Mexican beer. It might be made with barley from Idaho, Montana or North Dakota. Mexico doesn’t produce enough of its own barley for its booming cerveza industry. American farmers have happily watched their total exports of malted barley (one of the main ingredients in beer) roughly triple since 2000, to 318,673 tons last year. A whopping 97 percent of that went to Mexico. If Mexican beer in the United States becomes pricier — and sells less — that could wind up hitting barley producers. (read it all)

Rod's Comment: Trumpinistas respond, "Real Americans don't drink Mexican beer."

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly School Districts in Tennessee.

by Rod Williams, Dec. 3, 2024- Last week the Tennessee Department of Education released its 2024 District Accountability report on the quality of the Tennessee's public schools. This is an annual report required by federal and state law that puts each of Tennessee's 147 School districts into one of several categories. The categories are Exemplary, Advancing, Satisfactory, Marginal, and In Need of Improvement.

Under Tennessee’s accountability system, districts are expected to increase achievement levels for all students and demonstrate student growth across all student groups. Districts are assessed on their performance across six critical performance indicators measured through multiple pathways. The indicators include Grade Band Success Rates, rates at which students are Chronically Out of School, performance on the English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA), and Graduation rates. District accountability scores are calculated using a weighted average of the district’s scores across all indicators and student groups to determine a district’s designation.

The "in need of improvement" schools are those districts in which their overall score falls in the bottom five percent of all districts. These school districts are Decatur County Schools, Hancock County Schools, Hardeman County Schools, Humboldt City Schools, Johnson County Schools, Lawrence County Schools, Lewis County Schools, Perry County Schools, Sequatchie County Schools, and Tennessee Schools for the Deaf.

Knox County Schools and Hamilton County Schools are in the satisfactory category. Memphis-Shelby County Schools, and Metro Nashville Public Schools are in the advancing category. For a complete list of all school systems and what designation they receive, follow this link. 

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TN Dept of Ed Names the Best Tennessee School Districts

Press release, Nov. 21, 2024- Nashville, TN— Today, the Tennessee Department of Education announced school and district designations for the 2023-24 school year, including Reward Schools, Exemplary Districts, and In Need of Improvement districts. These designations are based on various performance indicators, including student achievement and growth. 

Across the state, 377 schools, spanning 97 districts, received the Reward School designation; 10 districts received the Exemplary District designation; and 10 districts received the In Need of Improvement designation. The complete list of district and school designations is available on the department‘s accountability webpage.

“I am thrilled to highlight the 2023-24 Reward Schools and Exemplary Districts for their dedication to fostering student learning and growth in their classrooms across the state,” said Lizzette Reynolds, Commissioner of Education. “This annual recognition is the result of our teachers, along with school and district leaders, who are committed to student success every day, and I commend each of you for your valiant efforts in supporting achievement for our Tennessee students.”

Each year, schools and districts are eligible for designations based on their overall performance across indicators that are essential to student success, including how they prepared students to be proficient (achievement), accelerated student learning (growth), encouraged students to attend school regularly (chronically out of school), prepared students for postsecondary success (graduation rate and Ready Graduate), and supported English learners acquiring language skills.

Schools are recognized as a Reward School when they demonstrate high levels of performance and/or improvement in performance by meeting objectives across performance indicators and student groups, and the Reward School distinction places significant emphasis on performance and improvement across all indicators from the prior school year. 

Districts are recognized as an Exemplary District when they receive an overall district performance score of 3.1 or higher on a 4.0-point scale across all performance indicators as referenced above. The following are the 10 designated Exemplary Districts:

Alcoa City Schools

Arlington Community Schools

Bells City Schools

Clinton City Schools

Collierville Schools

Dayton City School

Jackson County Schools

Lebanon Special School District

Milan Special School District

Van Buren County Schools

Reward Schools, Exemplary Districts, and In Need of Improvement districts were presented to the State Board of Education on November 22nd and approved. All designations can be found on the department’s accountability page.

For Tennessee Department of Education media inquiries, contact Edu.MediaInquiries@tn.gov. 

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The Hunter Biden Pardon Is a Strategic Mistake

by Tom Nichols, The Atlantic, Dec. 2, 2024- President Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter is a done deal. The president has not only obviated the existing cases against Hunter; the sweep of the pardon effectively immunizes his son against prosecution for all federal crimes he may have committed over the course of more than a decade. This pardon is a terrible idea—“both dishonorable and unwise,” in the words of the Bulwark editor Jonathan Last—and, as my colleague Jonathan Chait wrote yesterday, it reflected Biden’s choice “to prioritize his own feelings over the defense of his country.”

But it was also a tremendous strategic blunder, one that will haunt Democrats as they head into the first years of another Trump administration. 

... Joe Biden has now provided every Republican—and especially those running for Congress in 2026—with a ready-made heat shield against any criticism about Trump’s pardons, past or present. Biden has effectively neutralized pardons as a political issue, and even worse, he has inadvertently given power to Trump’s narrative about the unreliability of American institutions. (read more)

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Joe Biden's Pardon of Hunter, Surrenders the Moral High Ground, Justifies Trump's Pardon Abuse.

by Rod Williams, Dec. 2, 2024 - Yesterday, President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter, after promising he wouldn't do so. This plays into the hands of the Trumpinistas who believe the Justice Department and the FBI targets conservatives and that it targeted Trump specifically. It justifies, in their mind, Trump using the Justice Department and the FBI to target Trump's critics. It obliterates the argument that the Justice Department is objective and impartial.

When Trump apologist would argue that the Justice Department unfairly targeted Trump, Trump critics would push back and say, well what about Hunter Biden? If the Justice Department was partial and just a tool of those in power, Trump critics would argue, then how do you explain the Justice Department pursuing charges against Hunter Biden? 

They had no good answer. Now, they do. They can argue that the prosecution of Hunter was all for show and that it was Biden's plan to pardon Hunter after the election all along. 

Also, when Trump pardons the J6 insurrectionist or other criminals and anyone criticizes Trump's use of the pardon, Trump supporters can respond with, what about Hunter? 

Biden has surrendered any moral high ground Trump critics may have held. This is another example of Biden putting his own interest above the interest of the country, just as he did when he refused to step down and he ran for a second term. 

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