President Donald Trump capped what has been a difficult week politically with an all-out push for tax reform Friday. In a speech to the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, Trump promised to deliver on a "giant, beautiful, massive, the biggest ever in our country, tax cut." Trump is eager to move past setbacks on health care reform and the results of a Republican Senate primary Tuesday in Alabama where he found himself on the losing side. The president and his administration also have been on the defensive over hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico. Senate Republicans put off a vote on a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare after it became clear they did not have enough votes to pass the measure, thanks to a handful of Republican defectors. Democrats expressed relief they had beaten back another attempt to undo former President Barack Obama's signature achievement, the Affordable Care Act. "The reason this bill failed is because millions of Americans didn't want it," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters at the Capitol. On the same day, Christian conservative and former judge Roy Moore easily won a Republican Senate primary in Alabama, defeating incumbent Luther Strange, whom Trump had supported. "We are put here on Earth for a short time, and for that short time our duty it to serve almighty God," Moore said in his victory speech. Moore has made controversial statements on a number of issues in the past, but he is considered the favorite in a race against Democrat Doug Jones in a general election Dec. 12. Trump had appeared with Strange the week before at a rally in Alabama, but even some analysts said his heart did not appear to be in it. "Trump was campaigning for Luther Strange, but you could tell he was having some second thoughts about that," said Republican strategist John Feehery. Moore's victory, aided by the active support of former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon, signals what could be a series of divisive Republican primary battles heading into next... Question: The Republican strategist believes === The answer to the above question is
OPTIONS:
- not enough information
- Trump likes Roy Moore
- It was stupid for Trump to campaign for Luther Strange
- It was politically savvy to campaign for Luther Strange.

Answer: It was stupid for Trump to campaign for Luther Strange

Question: I thought I might get some good ideas if I went down to the hospital. I always have stayed away from hospitals. People died or were born. But now I thought I might get some idea if I went down to where it was all happening, the being born and the dying. Mostly the dying. It was the dying that interested me. I sat on a bench in a sort of waiting room. I wanted to call it a green room; it wasn't a place where the patients would wait to be called by the doctor; it was a place where the relatives would wait while the patient was in their room. It had a coffee bar, and comfortable couches, with trendy, muted colors on the walls and floor. Everything was clean and modern without being cold, a homogenized balancing act designed to keep everyone calm during their stressful time. It was a green room; patients were "guests"; their families were "guests" as well. Here was where the families would sit and be feted while they waited to be called out to perform, to smile and encourage or to don faces of appropriate mournfulness. The old ones would put on smiles, the young ones would look sad. I think I went there because it seemed to me that it was the place richest in emotional impact. It reeked of spent emotions, and the emotions were made all the stronger, here in the green room, by the efforts at suppression--the muted walls and gourmet coffees and scones, the overstuffed loveseats and couches, as if those in grief should not be permitted to sit on benches or folding chairs. It absolutely reeked of hush and hidden feeling. It was worse than a church. It was worse than a highschool hallway. It was more universal, more basic, something even the children could comprehend. Question: What tone does the author most closely express in this text === The answer to the above question is
OPTIONS:
- not enough information
- Happiness
- Somberness
- Grief
Answer: Somberness

Question: I end this small run of blog posts with the question posed by Professor Brian Boyd at the beginning of our evening: Do we want to close the achievement gap? We know we can close the gap. It's been done or almost been done before in Scottish education, but the answers have been ignored as they pass us by. The simple clue is this: poverty is single biggest predictor of achievement, and according to research (Hammonds sic, reference required), aged 10, a child living in poverty is 60% less likely to get to university. Boyd borrowed from his own mother's report card to ask us what kind of education we desire. Is it the academic success at all costs route, or is there another option we need to value as much, if not more? His mother's report card, one that prevented her from becoming a secondary school pupil in Glasgow, is filled with G and FG, until the last point: Character and conduct - excellent. What kind of pupils do we want to develop in Scotland? What do we value in our assessment system? Opening up opportunity for all is a tough game to play when the examination system rewards only certain types of behaviour, few of them related to what the Curriculum for Excellence says we stand for. In his own small community in East Kilbride, three secondary schools enter a period of meltdown as the local rag sets about creating its own local league table of performance, with those three 'teams' in competition for the top spot (or at least not the bottom one). Therefore, we must stop basing "the gap" largely on attainment. First of all, Boyd would like us to remove the traditional, and non-sensical academic/vocational divide. Is the law or medicine degree we value not vocational? (Are all General Practitioners not Plumbers, as Dr Murray on the panel suggests?) Question: The writer thinks that: === The answer to the above question is
OPTIONS:
- the educational system worked better in the past
- the educational system in Scotland operates as it should
- not enough information
- the educational system in Scotland needs reform
Answer:
the educational system in Scotland needs reform