A newly tenured professor at Ole Miss has a message for his students and it has little to do with wishing them luck in the upcoming school year.   

James Thomas, an assistant professor of sociology at Ole Miss otherwise known as InsurgentProf, took to Twitter Tuesday night to share his thoughts regarding President Trump’s rally in Greenville, North Carolina. Thomas described millennials who support the president as “modern day Hitlerjugend” and declared that “any and every humanities and behavioral/social science teacher has an obligation to put these racist remarks in proper context.”  

That’s awfully strange rhetoric for a professor who teaches at a university where a large portion of the student population identifies as conservative, even if the leadership and most professors don’t share that view.

While Thomas’ rhetoric may seem like standard fare for the everyday woke leftist of 2019, Thomas has a long history of inflammatory statements regarding conservatives. The most notable of which was last year when he called for liberal activists not just to disrupt the meals of Republican lawmakers but rather to “put your whole fingers in their salads. Take their apps and distribute them to the other diners.”

Though Thomas is free to have his views, as I’m sure they’re shared by many staff members in his department, Thomas now finds himself in the upper echelon of academia with his recent accomplishment of reaching tenured status. While outspoken and at times brash, Thomas isn’t the problem with Ole Miss. He is merely a symptom of the larger academic culture of the university itself. 

Ole Miss has become so dedicated to the ideals of fabricated diversity, identity politics, and social justice, it celebrates and advances professors like Thomas to the highest levels of the university power structure. Would an equally dedicated conservative professor enjoy the same opportunities of advancement?.  

It’s important to remember that it wasn’t too long ago that well-respected, Oxford businessman Ed Meek was forced to sacrifice his $5 million donation to the university and suffer harm to his professional reputation after making social media comments that were deemed politically incorrect and generally “problematic” by the established academic class of leadership in Oxford.  

Considering that people like Thomas put such an emphasis on “equal justice,” it’s odd that Thomas’ comments weren’t  met with the same strong condemnation by his peers. In fact, one might call it hypocritical – assuming one were not worried about energizing the thought/speech police of the progressive movement.

Ole Miss is at an inflection point and needs now, more than ever, to return to foundational basics. 

This starts by encouraging an environment where opinions contrary to Professor Thomas, or any other academic ideologue, are welcomed – even encouraged – as long as such opinions are delivered in respectful and responsible ways. It starts by encouraging true diversity of thought and reasoned debate that comes from the academic tradition of the scientific pursuit of truth. It starts by emphasizing a culture which prioritizes assertive citizenship participation on issues rather than demonstrations of outrage. It starts by recognizing the value of each individual within the university rather than focusing on the rights of a collective group

The University of Mississippi has an opportunity to reclaim its former position as the preeminent academy for a classical, liberal arts education  in the state and in the South. It wasn’t so long ago that people like William F. Buckley, Jr. came to Oxford to host nationally televised, Socratic debates between the nation’s best thinkers of the left and right. 

If we don’t move back toward the center, we may slowly disintegrate into the University of Nowhere.

Few things could be better on a hot Mississippi summer day than a refreshing glass of ice, cold lemonade. And, if you’re lucky, you might just find a smiling face selling lemonade during your travels. 

Lemonade stands are one of the great American traditions. For generations, boys and girls turn into aspiring entrepreneurs making and selling lemonade. The young children are able to earn money, whether it’s for a special toy they have been wanting or to save for a future purchase.   

Without even realizing it, the children simultaneously learn valuable lessons. They learn that money comes from work. That you have to plan, and then produce a stand, signs, and lemonade. Introducing kids to the valuable concepts of marketing, costs, customer service, and profit motive.

That’s why the lemonade stand has always been celebrated in our society.

But lemonade stand entrepreneurs began to meet a force that strikes fear in the hearts of even the most seasoned professionals: the government regulator.

By now, you have probably heard the stories, but they bear repeating because of the sheer lunacy of feeling the need to shut down a lemonade stand operated by kids. And because these stories highlight the over criminalization of our society - thanks to laws we have adopted to fix every supposed issue or problem.

In Colorado, three young boys, ages two to six, had their lemonade stand shut down by Denver police for operating without a proper permit. The boys were selling lemonade in hopes of raising money for Compassion International, an international child-advocacy ministry. But local vendors at a nearby festival didn’t like the competition and called the police to complain. When word of this interaction made news, the local Chick-Fil-A stepped up as you would expect from Chick-Fil-A. They allowed the boys to sell lemonade inside their restaurant, plus they donated 10 percent of their own lemonade profits that day to Compassion International.

In Texas, two sisters, seven and eight years-old, had their lemonade stand shut down by the local police, also for lacking the proper permit. The city, kindly, for lack of a better word, agreed to waive the $150 “Peddler’s Permit,” but the young girls would still need an inspection from the health department before they could proceed. The girls were hoping to raise money so they could go to a local water park with their dad, who is often away from home because he works in the oil field, for Father’s Day. The water park and a local radio station donated tickets after hearing the story. 

Since these stories, and others like it, we have seen a shift away from the ludicrous. The lemonade stands are fighting back. Common sense seems to have prevailed. 

Texas and Colorado have now become two of the first three states to legalize lemonade stands for children. Utah became the first state to pass such a law in 2017. These laws, which have passed with overwhelming, bi-partisan support, allow minors to run “occasional” businesses, such as a lemonade stand, without needing a permit. 

If you run into a regulator in a state that doesn’t enjoy such lemonade friendly laws, Country Time Lemonade has launched “Legal-Aide.” For those who receive a fine for operating an unlicensed stand, they will cover your fine up to $300. They also have a handy website that will help you contact lawmakers and get engaged in the fight to legalize lemonade stands in all 50 states.  

At the same time, Lemonade Day is national program that has grown considerably in the past several years. Participating cities, including Jackson and cities in the Golden Triangle, give children in the area the opportunity to run a business during a community-wide Lemonade Day. 

What these stories have shown is that when the government has overreacted, the private sector has stepped up and provided opportunities for children. 

Hopefully, these stories raise more than a few eyebrows. Perhaps they will cause people to recognize the downside of our regulatory burden and maybe even cause legislators to review more than a few of the laws, rules, and licensing regimes that are stifling growth, innovation, and capitalism.

If we want a thriving and growing economy, we’ve got to have more entrepreneurs – including those future ones who sell lemonade in their neighborhoods today.

A three-year-old study says that 70 percent of the roads in Jackson are beyond life expectancy and need to be rebuilt.

WAPT obtained a copy of the study which was commissioned in 2013 and drafted in 2016 showing the problems with Jackson’s roads. According to the report, some 1,464 roads have outlived their expectancy. Of course, the problems with infrastructure expand beyond roads and include city sewage and drainage.

The state is helping some of the city. It has set aside $3 million for the Capitol Complex District, with $10 million a year to start next year. This includes work in the capitol area, along with the downtown medical corridor. 

For the previous four years, the city has also been receiving a 1 percent sales tax to help with roads. While that has aided in providing about $14 million a year, the city has cut back on public works spending from the general fund. As a result, the city went from putting about 15 percent of their general funds toward public works activities in 2009 to under 7 percent last year.

In 2009, total government activities added up to over $214 million in Jackson. The city devoted over $31 million to public works. That same year the city had a population of 176,000. 

Over the next decade, the city’s population would drop to 166,000, but the budget increased to $222 million (though it was higher in 2013 and 2015). Still, the combined money spent on roads – from both the general fund and 1 percent sales tax – only added up to about $29 million, with a little less than $15 million from the general fund.  

Hinds county didn’t do much better when it comes to maintaining roads the county is responsible for. They spent just 6.48 percent of their annual expenditures over the last three years on roads and bridges. And they account for 44, or about 10 percent, of the closed bridges in the state.

Mississippi’s second and third largest cities, Gulfport and Southaven, have both made significantly higher investments in maintaining roads than Jackson. 

Gulfport spent 13 percent of their $101 million budget on public works in 2016 and 12 percent on their $106 million budget in 2017. Southaven spent 11 percent each year over the past two years. Their general fund budget increased from $54 million to $57 million. 

Population in the city of Jackson is not increasing any time soon. Last year, the city lost about 3,000 residents, an unusually high number. In the past 25 years, Hinds county has lost $1.5 billion in annual adjusted gross income, mostly to Rankin and Madison counties. The tax base – both from individuals and businesses – will only continue to shrink.

The awful shape of the Jackson roads are not in doubt. Nor is the undertaking the city faces if they want to truly fix their roads. But that is why we have municipalities and local governments. To take care of their cities. 

If it was a priority to Jackson, it would show up in their budget. 

Tucked quietly in a non-descript beige building in Flowood is one of Mississippi’s best-kept secrets.

Zavation is a company that specializes in design, engineering and manufacturing of spinal hardware and other medical equipment that allows for minimally invasive surgery.

The company was started in 2010 by a pair of University of Mississippi graduates and made its first sale in 2012 despite not receiving any state or local tax incentives. The company released 10 new products in 2018 and recorded its first international sale this year.

Now, Zavation has moved to its third building as its business continues to expand and it employs 60 in its 30,000 square foot facility. Its products are being distributed in 40 states by more than 150 distributors.

Zavation is vertically integrated, meaning that design and manufacturing are all in house. Zavation is also in the process of adding a clean room to its Flowood facility, which will enable it to expand its business to new areas.

Dee Hillhouse, the company’s national sales manager, says vertical integration allows the company to have full quality control and not have to wait on suppliers to ship needed components.

Many of Zavation’s engineers once worked in the aerospace industry, which gives them a unique perspective. The company is able to prototype their new designs in house, as they have their own milling machine reserved solely for prototypes. Using computer-assisted design software, they can feed the specifications to the milling machine so they can start testing and quickly deal with any problems.

The approval process by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can vary on new products, but a simple product can take up to a year, with a couple of years needed for more complex devices. In June, Zavation received approval to market its new pedicle screw system to immobilize and stabilize spines in patients as part of fusion surgery.

Once the FDA allows Zavation to sell new products, the company uses highly automated milling machines to produce both plastic and metal components for the new product. The Flowood facility has a costly laser etching machine to put serial and lot numbers on every component for quality control purposes and the in-house anodizing machine ensures that the metal is more wear and corrosion resistant.

After automated quality control checks, the components are assembled by workers and boxed for shipping to surgeons nationwide. 

Zavation recently acquired a Tampa-based company, Pan Medical U.S. The new combined company will be able to bring a larger range of surgical products to market. The most important of these is the Curveplus kyphoplasty system for spinal procedures. 

In a kyphoplasty, a surgeon injects bone cement into fractured vertebra to relieve back pain. Pan Medical has developed the Curveplus that allows both the balloon and cement to be sent through a curved needle, which decreases the number of steps and the overall procedure time.

Never heard of Zavation? That’s because no political photo ops, ribbon-cutting, or silver shovel events were held to celebrate the company’s start-up. Instead, the founders, investors, and early employees went to work to create unique and valuable products to serve a market of need. Rather than rely on government subsidies, contracts, or tax incentives in the name of job creation, Zavation created jobs as a result of creative disruption, innovation, marketing, and sales. 

After touring the impressive facility, it’s clear the company is well-run with a strong focus on process management. In short, Zavation is a great example of the kind of economic growth that can come from small, private companies and entrepreneurs. 

This is what happens in healthy economies. Entrepreneurs and capital find each other and a small company grows into a big one, without the direct aid of government. We need more examples like Zavation in Mississippi. 

If we want long term, sustainable economic growth in Mississippi, we need the private sector to blossom and government’s role should be to create an environment that allows the free market to function at maximum capacity.  We don’t need our government to pick our winners and losers for us. They are not equipped to outperform the market, no matter how noble their intentions.

July 6 marked two years since the Mississippi Public Service Commission issued an order that called for a settlement in the battle over the controversial Kemper Project clean coal power plant, known now as Plant Ratcliffe.

In February 2018, the PSC unanimously approved a settlement that reduced the amount of capital costs the company could collect from ratepayers and mandated that Mississippi Power run the Kemper Project on natural gas only, something the company had done since August 2014. 

Mississippi Power’s 187,000 ratepayers on the Coast will only pay about $1 billion of the plant’s capital costs, avoiding double-digit rate hikes to pay for the multi-billion plant.

If Mississippi Power could’ve gotten the plant commercially operational — even for a few days — and the PSC approved of the utility’s spending, ratepayers would’ve had to pay more than $3 billion rather than Southern Company stockholders.

The plant was supposed to cost $2.4 billion, but the cost ballooned by 212.5 percent to $7.5 billion. 

Kemper was enabled by friendly regulators and a legislature that passed two bills, including one that allowed the company to collect the plant’s costs from ratepayers before it came online and another that gave the company the authority to charge ratepayers for a $1 billion bond to help finance the plant.

Kemper Project explained

Kemper was a 582-megawatt plant designed to convert the second-lowest grade of coal, lignite, into a natural gas-like substance called synthesis gas to fuel its electricity-generating turbines. The two gasifiers turned the high-moisture lignite into 1,750 degree syngas and presented the biggest technical hurdle that ultimately couldn’t be overcome.

The chemical plant component of Kemper that was most important to its environmental promises was its carbon capture system. This system was supposed to remove 65 percent of the carbon dioxide from the gas stream for sale to oil exploration firms to inject into old oil wells. 

Other byproducts, such as ammonia and sulfuric acid, were to be sold to off-site companies as another revenue generator to offset the plant’s massive costs.

The announcement by Mississippi Power on June 28, 2018 that it was ceasing its attempts to get the plant’s two gasifiers and assorted equipment operational was the beginning of the end of the Kemper saga. The company spent billions of dollars and three years to get Kemper’s gasifiers working as a steady-state generating unit.

An accident in October 2016 nearly resulted in a catastrophic explosion when hot syngas filled an area of the Kemper plant that wasn’t built for 1,750 degree temperatures. If the gasifiers had been working at operational pressure, there likely would’ve been a fatal explosion. 

Consequences for Southern Company, the parent firm of Mississippi Power that build the $7.38 billion plant are still in play. In May, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it’s under investigation by the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice due to Kemper.

The lignite mine that was supposed to supply the plant with fuel is now closed and the company said in a recent SEC filing that it hasn’t decided the fate of the 30-plus mile carbon dioxide pipeline.

Taxpayers picking up the tab

Mississippi Power ratepayers weren’t alone in paying for Kemper. Taxpayers were also on the tab as well. 

The utility was set to receive $133 million in IRS investment tax breaks from building the plant. The company couldn't make the original start date of May 2014 required by the tax breaks and had to return them. 

Another set of IRS tax breaks, this one for $279 million, had to be returned after the plant missed an April 2016 deadline.

The utility also received $245 million from the U.S. Department of Energy under a now-defunct grant program for coal power plants that were supposed to be more environmentally friendly. 

Some history

The administration of then-President George W. Bush in 2004 began the Clean Coal Power Initiative, giving grants for research into cleaner electrical generation using coal. The $2 billion, 10-year program was designed to demonstrate cleaner alternatives to traditional coal-fired power plants.

Southern Company announced in December 2006 that it’d build a new coal gasification power plant company that was supposed to cost $1.8 billion and be completed in 2013. Earlier that year, Mississippi Power asked the PSC to approve its need for more generation capacity. 

Southern wasn’t going to finance this experimental project entirely with investor dollars.

One of the recipients of the DOE grant program was to be an integrated gasification plant added to the Stanton Energy Center near Orlando in a partnership with Southern Company and the Orlando Utilities Commission. The 285-megawatt plant was canceled in 2007, only two months after groundbreaking, as the company blamed an “uncertain regulatory environment.” 

Experiences with a similar plant constructed in 2002 by Tampa Electric likely didn’t help solidify the case for another coal gasification plant in the Sunshine State.

Then-Gov. Haley Barbour used his considerable influence and longstanding relationship with Southern (his lobbying firm, Barbour, Griffith and Rogers was the utility giant’s long-term lobbyist in Washington) to get approval by the Department of Energy in May 2008 to move the project money from Florida to Mississippi.

The legislature passed Senate Bill 2793 in the 2008 legislative session — commonly known as the Baseload Act — allowing utilities in the state to start charging customers for power plants before they generated a single kilowatt of electricity and Barbour signed the bill into law. 

The Mississippi PSC approved MPC’s need for more generation capacity in November 2009, with the plant’s capital costs for ratepayers capped at $2.88 billion. Mississippi Power petitioned the PSC to increase the spending cap to $3.2 billion in March 2010, while two months later, construction begins at the site in Kemper County north of Meridian. 

The PSC issued the plant’s first certificate of need and necessity, which authorized the plant’s construction. A lawsuit by the Sierra Club and other groups was successful in throwing out the authorization after a state Supreme Court decision in June 2010 that sent the matter back to the PSC.

In April 2012, the PSC approved a new  certificate in a meeting that lasted less than a minute and capped the project’s costs that could be charged to ratepayers. A few weeks later, Mississippi Power announced a $488 million cost increase, which brought Kemper’s cost to $2.88 billion.

In 2013, the legislature passed a bill that allowed the company to issue a 20-year bond up to $1 billion payable by its ratepayers. Gov. Phil Bryant later signed House Bill 1134 into law.

The bond approved in 2013, known as a special purpose entity, was designed to provide up to $1 billion to offset increasing costs on the Kemper Project. 

Mississippi Power received an 18 percent rate increase — 15 percent in 2013 and 3 percent in 2014 — approved by the Public Service Commission before the plant came online. The increase was later overturned by a state Supreme Court order in a lawsuit brought by Hattiesburg businessman Thomas Blanton.

Motorists in Mississippi pay less to fill up their tanks than those in any other state in the union despite an upward climb in prices over the past month. 

As of Monday, the average price of regular gasoline in Mississippi is $2.40. This ranges from a low of $2.32 in Stone county to a high of $2.68 in Adams county. 

The average price per gallon was $2.34 a week ago and $2.28 a month ago. This is part of a national trend, as gas prices have risen by about 10 cents over the past three weeks. And manyanticipate Tropical Storm Barry could cause another spike in gas prices. 

There is a wide range of gas prices throughout the country, with motorists in the South paying the least. 

Lowest gas prices in the country

California motorists are paying $3.74 per gallon, the most in the country. Some areas of the Golden State are paying more than $4.00 per gallon, numbers not seen in Mississippi since 2008. 

Because Mississippians enjoy a low price at the pump, many – including both Democrats and Republicans running for governor – have called to raise the state’s gas tax, with the belief that it will be less painful. Some advocate for adjusting the tax to inflation annually, thereby preventing legislators from ever having to vote for a tax hike again while ensuring regular increases.

All this would do is simply redirect money from the private sector to government. A government that already controls 55 percent of the state’s economy. 

Taxpayers currently spend over $1 billion annually on the work of the Mississippi Department of Transportation. Some might want more, but the biggest problems with Mississippi roads are not state-maintained roads. Of the 479 bridges that are currently closed, only 11 are state controlled – and they are all being replaced. The rest are maintained by cities and counties.  

And far too many of those localities are simply not keeping up with their roads and bridges and that is evidenced by what they spend. For example, Hinds County has spent an average of only 6.48 percent of its annual expenditures in the last three years on roads and bridges. It has 44 bridges closed, according to the Office of State Aid Roads. Neighboring Rankin and Madison counties spent 31 and 22 percent on roads and bridges, respectively. 

Increasing the gas tax would not help local governments as those taxes go to the state and the Department of Transportation. 

As we often see in government, the first reaction is a tax increase. But we know there are often far better solutions, like prioritizing your current funding. That is something local government could – and should – work on.

The nation’s largest teachers union has adopted a new policy affirming a fundamental right to abortion, while rejecting the idea that student learning should be a priority of the union.

At their recent convention, the National Education Association, of which the Mississippi Association of Educators is an affiliate, affirmed a new business item that reads:

“The NEA will include an assertion of our defense of a person’s right to control their own body, especially for women, youth, and sexually marginalized people. The NEA vigorously opposes all attacks on the right to choose and stands on the fundamental right to abortion under Roe v. Wade.”

This is a sharp change from prior years when they attempted to walk more of a middle ground, saying they support “reproduction freedom,” not abortion, while bragging about not spending money in regards to pro-abortion legal services.

As we have seen with the left, abortion has moved from “safe, legal, and rare,” to legal until the moment of birth and funded by taxpayers. And if you disagree with that you are evil, anti-woman, and essentially support violence against women. 

But the bigger question is, is it necessary for the NEA, or its affiliates, to take a position on abortion? NEA is certainly a left-wing organization, that has never been in doubt. But, what does abortion have to do with education or teachers? 

One might presume a rejected item that calls for a renewed emphasis on quality education would be more in line with the NEA. That read:

“The National Education Association will re-dedicate itself to the pursuit of increased student learning in every public school in America by putting a renewed emphasis on quality education. NEA will make student learning the priority of the Association. NEA will not waiver in its commitment to student learning by adopting the following lens through which we will assess every NEA program and initiative: How does the proposed action promote the development of students as lifelong reflective learners?”

But, alas, the union rejected those ideas. 

According to the most recent data available from the union, the NEA has just 4,561 members in Mississippi, compared to over 54,000 in Alabama. The numbers in Mississippi show a 5 percent drop in the past five years. 

Mississippi Center for Public Policy has joined a diverse coalition in publishing a set of seven principles to guide conversation about amending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996.

The coalition includes civil society organizations, academics, and other Internet law experts.

In its current form, the law holds those who create content online responsible for the content they create, while protecting online intermediaries from liability for content generated by third parties, except in specific circumstances.

Maintaining that fundamental arrangement is vital. As the principles statement declares: “We value the balance between freely exchanging ideas, fostering innovation, and limiting harmful speech. Because this is an exceptionally delicate balance, Section 230 reform poses a substantial risk of failing to address policymakers’ concerns and harming the Internet overall.”

As civil society organizations, academics, and other experts who study the regulation of user- generated content, we value the balance between freely exchanging ideas, fostering innovation, and limiting harmful speech.

The seven principles are:

1. Content creators bear primary responsibility for their speech and actions.
2. Any new intermediary liability law must not target constitutionally protected speech.
3. The law shouldn’t discourage Internet services from moderating content.
4. Section 230 does not, and should not, require “neutrality.”
5. We need a uniform national legal standard.
6. We must continue to promote innovation on the Internet.
7. Section 230 should apply equally across a broad spectrum of online services.

Read the full letter here.