Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Beautiful... Compassionate... and Very, Very Confused



I'm talking about Ivanka Trump and her op-ed in today's WSJ

Though of course she'll never read this... here's my response to Ms. Trump:

*  *  *

For me, motherhood is a gift and a tremendous source of joy.

* THAT'S GREAT, IVANKA; GLAD TO HEAR IT! AND I APPLAUD MOTHERHOOD... (HAVING HAD A MOTHER MYSELF AND BEING THE HUSBAND OF A MOTHER...)

(*CHUCKLE*)

Yet it’s also the greatest predictor of wage inequality in our country. In 2014, single women without children earned 94 cents on a man’s dollar. Married mothers made only 81 cents.

* YES. FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS... WHICH YOU AS AN EDUCATED WOMAN SHOULD BE FAMILIAR WITH. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH "DISCRIMINATION" AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH CHOICE OF JOBS AND HOURS PUT IN.

(*SIGH*)

We all agree that women should have equal pay for equal work, but that’s not enough.

* YES! ACTUALLY IT IS.

The lack of quality, affordable child care is one of the biggest challenges facing American parents.

* LET... MARKETS... WORK...!!!

* WHAT IS SO FRIGGIN' HARD TO UNDERSTAND...?!?! YOU CAN'T ARTIFICIALLY "FIX" THE REALITIES OF LIFE. INDEED, WHERE SHE USES THE WORD "CHALLENGES" I'LL USE THE WORDS "REALITIES OF LIFE."

The current federal policies created to benefit families were written more than 65 years ago when dual-income families were not the norm. Today, however, in about two-thirds of married couples, both spouses work.

* THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHOULDN'T BE INVOLVED IN THIS AT ALL. EMPLOYMENT REGULATIONS ARE AND SHOULD BE A STATE ISSUE AND FRANKLY WE ALREADY HAVE TOO MANY STATE REGULATIONS! (ISN'T YOUR DAD CAMPAIGNING ON REDUCING GOVERNMENT REGULATION...???)

In addition, 70% of mothers with children under 18 work outside the home; so do 64% of moms with kids under age 6.

* AND YOUR POINT...???

The number of households led by single mothers has doubled in the past three decades, and the majority of these women work in low-paying jobs without flexibility or benefits.

* STOP HAVING CHILDREN YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO RAISE! THAT'S THE ANSWER!

My father, in his campaign for president, has proposed a plan to bring federal policies in line with the needs of today’s working parents.

(*HEADACHE*)

Part one is a rewrite of the tax code, allowing working parents to deduct from their income taxes child care expenses for up to four children, as well as for elderly dependents.

* SO... WE'RE GONNA RUN A FEDERAL DEFICIT OF APPROXIMATELY $600 BILLION THIS YEAR... PROBABLY A LARGER ONE NEXT YEAR... AND YOU AND DAD WANT TO BRING IN LESS REVENUE. DO I HAVE THAT RIGHT?

This will be capped at the average cost of child care in each family’s state, and the wealthiest individuals will not be eligible for the deduction.

* THUS CONTINUING TO MOVE US IN THE WRONG DIRECTION... MORE "PROGRESSIVE" TAXATION... MORE TREATING SOME AMERICANS ONE WAY AND OTHER AMERICANS A DIFFERENT WAY.

The benefit is structured to ensure that working-class and middle-class families see the largest reductions in their taxable incomes.

* AGAIN... IF LESS PEOPLE ARE PULLING THEIR WEIGHT... IF MORE PEOPLE ARE BEING "ABSOLVED" OF PAYING THEIR FAIR SHARE... HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE FUNDING ALL THE GOVERNMENT SPENDING...???

To bring meaningful assistance to lower-income Americans who don’t pay income tax, the Trump plan will offer rebates on child-care spending through the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

* TOTALLY THE WRONG DIRECTION! INCOME REDISTRIBUTION PURE AND SIMPLE.

In a nation where almost two-thirds of mothers with children under age six are employed, child care is an undisputed work-related expense.

* NO. IT'S NOT. NOR IS YOUR CAR. NOR IS YOUR CLOTHING. NOR IS THE FOOD YOU NEED TO STAY ALIVE SO YOU CAN GO TO WORK! GEEZUS... THIS PROPOSAL AND THE REASONING BEHIND IT MOVE US TOTALLY IN THE WRONG DIRECTION!

(BUT HERE'S THE CAVEAT, FOLKS: THE DEMOCRATS WOULD MOVE US IN THE SAME EXACT WRONG DIRECT EVEN FASTER! IT'S NOT LIKE THE "OPPOSITION PARTY" WILL OPPOSE THIS PLAN PHILOSOPHICALLY; NO, THEIR MAIN COMPLAINT WILL NO DOUBT BE THAT "IT DOESN'T GO FAR ENOUGH!")

In business, other such expenditures are tax-deductible.

* AND THEY SHOULDN'T BE. THAT THEY ARE IS PART OF THE PROBLEM. THE SEVEN-MILLION-PLUS WORD FEDERAL TAX CODE IS THE PROBLEM! AND GROWING IT SIMPLY ADDS TO THE PROBLEM! WE NEED A FLATTER TAX CODE - NOT ONE WITH MORE "DEDUCTIONS."

This single reform under the Trump plan will effectively increase the take-home pay for tens of millions of American parents.

* SO WOULD DRAINING YOUR BANKS ACCOUNTS AND SELLING ALL YOUR POSSESSIONS AND REDISTRIBUTING THE PROCEEDS TO TENS OF MILLIONS OF PARENTS! BUT I NOTE YOU'RE NOT DOING THAT!

(*SNORT*)

* GEEZUS... JUST COME UP WITH PROPOSED TAX RATES... AND LET'S GET ON WITH IT. STOP TRYING TO PICK WINNERS AND LOSERS VIA THE FEDERAL TAX CODE!

And what if one parent staying home to raise the children is the best option for a family? This is the praiseworthy choice of many, yet there’s zero value or recognition by our government for this hard and meaningful work.

* IT'S NONE OF THE GOVERNMENT'S CONCERN OR BUSINESS!

Under my father’s proposal, stay-at-home parents will receive the same tax deduction as their working peers.

* SO... MORE "FREE MONEY" DISTRIBUTED. (UM... HOW'BOUT OUR FELLOW AMERICAN CITIZENS WHO CHOOSE NOT TO BECOME PARENTS? JUST... "FUCK 'EM?")

(*HEADACHE*)

The plan’s second part is the establishment of Dependent Care Savings Accounts, created to aid families in setting aside extra money to foster their children’s development and offset elder care for adult dependents.

* WHAT'S SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT FLAT TAX RATES AND LETTING PEOPLE SAVE WHAT THEY CHOOSE TO SAVE AND LIVE THEIR LIVES AS THEY CHOOSE TO LIVE THEM?

These accounts will operate like Health Savings Accounts, with tax-deductible contributions and tax-free appreciation year to year. When established for a minor, funds from a Dependent Care Savings Account can be applied to traditional child care, after-school enrichment programs and school tuition.

* BY THE WAY... THE PLAN WILL SPUR INFLATION AS WELL. (JUST AS EVERY TAX DEDUCTION AND GOVERNMENT GIVEAWAY DOES.)

To help lower-income parents, the government will match half of the first $1,000 deposited each year.

* AGAIN... "THE GOVERNMENT" IS BROKE! "THE GOVERNMENT" CAN'T PAY IT'S OBLIGATIONS NOW! "THE GOVERNMENT" IS ALMOST $20 TRILLION IN DEBT AND THAT DEBT IS RISING FAST! WHAT IS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THIS REALITY...?!?!

Balances in a Dependent Care Savings Account will roll over from year to year so that a substantial amount of money can be accrued over time.

When established for an elderly dependent, a Dependent Care Savings Account can cover services like in-home nursing and long-term care. The ability to set aside funds will be particularly helpful to women, low-income workers and minorities, who are statistically more likely to reduce time working outside the home in order to provide unpaid care.

The third part of the plan will address the federal regulations that currently discourage informal child-care — such as a mom watching her own kids and a few others in her home. Arrangements such as these are not now given fair consideration by our federal bureaucracy, which is biased in favor of institutional care. We need to create a dynamic marketplace to offer solutions and give parents greater freedom of choice.

* TRUE. AND I APPLAUD THE SENTIMENT. BUT AGAIN... FEDERAL REGULATION OF... DAY CARE? REALLY...?!?!

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

Consider parents who work part-time, on a night shift or on call. The standard model of institutional care doesn’t serve these workers: How many day-care centers are open at night? It takes even less account of parents who live in low-income and rural communities.

The fourth part of my father’s plan will add incentives for employers to provide child care at the workplace. Breakdowns in child-care networks cause employee absences that cost U.S. businesses billions each year. On-site child-care centers help resolve avoidable employee absenteeism, in addition to saving time and helping companies retain valued staff.

* AND IF THAT'S THE CASE THEN THE BUSINESSES WILL PROVIDE WORKPLACE CHILD CARE ON THEIR OWN - RIGHT? NO NEED FOR GOVERNMENT TO BRIBE BUSINESSES TO DO SO VIA TAXING OTHERS (LIKE ME AND YOU) TO PAY FOR THE BRIBE!

(*BANGING MY HEAD AGAINST THE WALL*)

Finally, under the Trump plan, the federal government will guarantee, for the first time, six weeks of paid maternity leave. This will be done by amending the existing unemployment insurance that companies are required to carry. The enhancement will triple the average paid leave that new mothers receive, and it will do so without raising taxes.

* AT... WHAT... COST...?!?! DO YOU SIMPLY WAVE A MAGIC WAND TO MAKE THE PAYOUT MONEY APPEAR...?!?! YOU DO KNOW HOW INSURANCE WORKS... RIGHT? IN ORDER TO PAY OUT... FIRST THE MONEY HAS TO COME IN AND BE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE! SO... WHAT HAPPENS TO PREMIUMS UNDER THIS PLAN?

(*SNORT*)

At the heart of this policy is the belief that every parent should have the freedom to make the best decisions for his or her family.

* YES! AGREED! BUT I BELIEVE THAT WITH FREEDOM COMES RESPONSIBILITY! THE PURPOSE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS NOT TO GIVE PEOPLE MONEY TOWARDS... ANYTHING... INCLUDING RAISING THEIR KIDS OR CARING FOR THEIR PARENTS. DON'T YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THAT IN ORDER TO GIVE AWAY GOVERNMENT MONEY THE GOVERNMENT MUST "RAISE" THE MONEY IN THE FIRST PLACE? GEEZUS... JUST MIND BOGGLING.

My father is prepared to chart a new course that promotes strong families and celebrates their individual needs; one that honors, respects and empowers both working and stay-at-home mothers and caregivers. Together, we will take a stand and enable the American family and the modern workforce to thrive.

* WELL-INTENTIONED... STUPIDITY.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

This November... We Either Bury America or Give Ourselves a Breather Allowing Us - Perhaps - to Save Her




*  *  *

Speaking to 1,000 of the overprivileged at an LGBT fundraiser, where the chairs ponied up $250,000 each and Barbra Streisand sang, Hillary Clinton gave New York’s social liberals what they came to hear:

“You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?” smirked Clinton to cheers and laughter.

“The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.”

They are “irredeemable,” but they are “not America.”

This was no verbal slip.

Clinton had invited the press in to cover the LGBT gala at Cipriani Wall Street where the cheap seats went for $1,200.

And...

* WAIT FOR IT... WAIT FOR IT...

...she had tried out her new lines earlier on Israeli TV:

“You can take Trump supporters and put them in two baskets.” First there are “the deplorables, the racists, and the haters, and the people who … think somehow he’s going to restore an America that no longer exists. So, just eliminate them from your thinking…”

And who might be in the other basket backing Donald Trump?

"They are people," said Clinton, “who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them. … These are people we have to understand and empathize with.”

In short, Trump’s support consists of one-half xenophobes, bigots and racists, and one-half losers we should pity.

(*SILENCE*)

And she is running on the slogan “Stronger Together.”

(*SNORT*)

Her remarks echo those of Barack Obama in 2008 to San Francisco fat cats puzzled about those strange Pennsylvanians:

They are “bitter,” said Obama, they “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustration.”

In short, Pennsylvania is a backwater of alienated Bible-banging gun nuts and bigots suspicious of outsiders and foreigners.

(*SILENCE*)

But who really are these folks our new class detests, sneers at and pities? As African-Americans are 90% behind Clinton, it is not black folks. Nor is it Hispanics, who are solidly in the Clinton camp.

* I WOULDN'T BE SO SURE, PAT; I'M EXPECTING TRUMP TO GET SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 15% AND 30% OF THE BLACK VOTE AND BETWEEN 35% AND 40% OF THE HISPANIC VOTE.

Nor would Clinton tolerate such slurs directed at Third World immigrants who are making America "better" by making us more "diverse" than that old “America that no longer exists.”

(*SMIRK*)

No, the folks Obama and Clinton detest, disparage, and pity are the white working-class and middle-class folks Richard Nixon celebrated as "Middle Americans" and the "Silent Majority."

They are the folks who brought America through the Depression, won World War II, and carried us through the Cold War from Truman in 1945 to victory with Ronald Reagan in 1989.

These are the Trump supporters.

We reside mostly in red states like West Virginia, Kentucky and Middle Pennsylvania, and Southern, Plains and Mountain states that have provided a disproportionate share of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who fought and died to guarantee the freedom of plutocratic LGBT lovers to laugh at and mock them at $2,400-a-plate dinners.

Yet, there is truth in what Clinton said about eliminating “from your thinking” people who believe Trump can “restore an America that no longer exists.” For the last chance to restore America, as Trump himself told Christian Broadcasting’s “Brody File” on Friday, Sept. 9, is slipping away:

“I think this will be the last election if I don’t win … because you’re going to have people flowing across the border, you’re going to have illegal immigrants coming in and they’re going to be legalized and they’re going to be able to vote, and once that all happens, you can forget it.”

* EXACTLY! BINGO! CORRECT!

Politically and demographically, America is at a tipping point.

* DUH!

* THIS IS WHAT I KEEP ON TELLING MORONS AND THOSE (APPARENTLY) SUFFERING FROM... EARLY ONSET ALZHEIMER'S... (SUCH AS MY FRIEND JOHN SULLIVAN).

Minorities are now 40% of the population and will be 30% of the electorate in November.

If past trends hold, 4 of 5 will vote for Clinton.

* FOLKS... TRUMP NEEDS TO GET AT LEAST 15% OF THE BLACK VOTE. PERIOD. IT'S... MATH.

Meanwhile, white folks, who normally vote 60% Republican, will fall to 70% of the electorate, the lowest ever, and will decline in every subsequent presidential year.

* WHAT IS IT ABOUT... MATH... THAT IS SO "CONFUSING" AND APPARENTLY BEYOND THE UNDERSTANDING OF SO MANY?

The passing of the Greatest Generation and Silent Generation, and, soon, the Baby-Boom Generation, is turning former red states like Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada purple, and putting crucial states like Florida and Ohio in peril.

* WHAT IS IT ABOUT... DEMOGRAPHIC REALITY... THAT SO MANY OF "OUR" PEOPLE SIMPLY REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE?

What has happened to America is astonishing. A country 90% Christian after World War II has been secularized by a dictatorial Supreme Court with only feeble protest and resistance. A nation, 90% of whose population traced their roots to Europe, will have been changed by mass immigration and an invasion across its Southern border into a predominantly Third World country by 2042.

What [then] will then be left of the "old America" to conserve?

No wonder Clinton was so giddy at the LGBT bash! They are taking America away from the “haters,” as they look down in moral supremacy on the pitiable Middle Americans who are passing away.