SAN DIEGO – Petty Officer 2nd Class Chase Smith, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, serves the U.S. Navy assigned to Helicopter Maritime Strike (HSM) 71. Smith graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 2010.
The skills and values needed to succeed in the Navy Smith found in Tulsa.
“Growing up in Oklahoma I went to a unified high school,” Smith said. “By growing up in a unified community I was able to effectively communicate and empathize with the unified community we have in the Navy.”
A key plank of Obamacare (the federal “Affordable Care Act”) allowed states to expand Medicaid programs to include able-bodied adults and not just the medically needy.
When expansion was narrowly approved by a public vote in Oklahoma in 2020, everyone knew it would require the diversion of up to $300 million annually in state tax dollars. But advocates called that a bargain since federal tax dollars would cover 90 percent of costs.
Obviously, it meant little to the average citizen if they pay for expansion with taxes paid to the state or taxes paid to the federal government, but that’s the kind of argument that too often passes for logic in politics.
But now the folly of buying that argument is becoming apparent.
In the wake of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) scrutinizing public sector efficiency, the team at Dofollow, a digital strategies organization, has put the same microscope on corporate America. By analyzing the current Fortune 500, they identified which companies are most and least productive in generating profit per employee.
Then the analysis was extended to examine the productivity of the states where these companies are headquartered, revealing broader regional trends. Oklahoma (with 6 companies within the Fortune 500) came out on top with a massive $1.2 million profit per employee.
The Oklahoma Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) will conduct interviews for the Oklahoma Supreme Court vacancy on March 11, 2025. (Click here to urge your state legislators to demand three good candidates be sent to Governor Stitt.) According to a press release issued by the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) on February 4, 2025, the JNC plans to conduct its interviews for the position of Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice on March 11, 2025.
Because the JNC is not subject to the Open Meetings Act or the Open Records Act, it can be difficult to know how the meeting will be conducted or how its members will conduct the vote. Concerned citizens can look to two resources to provide a peek into the process. The first is the rules set by the JNC itself. Although the rules have no enforcement mechanism to ensure compliance, they are the best thing the public has to assess the process. The second resource is a House interim study held last October.
As President Calvin Coolidge said to newspaper editors back in the day, “the business of America is business” and President Trump is getting back to basics which will provide economic value, stability, employment, and increased prosperity for our people.
Here are the latest announcements in more detail from the White House today.
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