The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.
Faye Wattleton
Chart of the Day: 7M College Loan Debtors Didn't Make a Payment Over the Last Year
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| via Zero Hedge |
Image of the Day
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| via the Tea Party |
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| via Independent Institute |
Ron Paul on the Immigration Kerfuffle
Let me point out that I have differences with Ron Paul's general discussion on a few points: first, on birthright citizenship, Ron Paul is dead wrong. As I discussed before, this is not only part of our legal tradition based in English common law, but the Fourteenth Amendment is quite specific. The exceptions to birth citizenship deal with the traditional concept of diplomatic immunity. No, I don't think American-born babies' citizenship can be stripped or (in the future) defined away by an act of Congress. There's a reason the Congress went with an amendment rather than legislation, which apparently Ron Paul, as a constitutionalist, doesn't get. You don't change the Constitution over small stuff. In any event, both the amendment and a bill would never clear the Senate. Second, I don't buy into the social welfare argument he's making; unauthorized immigrants are usually limited to certain state expenditures like public education and emergency healthcare, pay a certain share of various state taxes, and account for 4% of the overall national population. Unauthorized immigrants actually help shore up our unfunded federal liabilities and even newly authorized immigrants usually have a 5-year wait to be eligible for social welfare programs. I don't think he said it directly, but allowing permanent legal residency would be a good interim step; I would have liked to hear him talk more about temporary work visas and loosening, if not eliminating quotas. I also think Ron's immigration policy as stated is incongruous with his professed beliefs in free markets and free trade.
The Best Soccer-Playing GOP Presidential Candidate
Brian Cage, US "Heel" (Bad Guy) Wrestler in Mexico Wearing a Trump Shirt To Get Heat (Boos)
Ted Cruz Owns Leftist/Gay Activist Ellen Page on Politically Correct Fascism
Facebook Corner
(Cato Institute). "The short answer is: Yes, Donald Trump likely has greater appeal among less educated Americans."
Yes. It really takes gullible stupid to believe in a corrupt government-favor-buying, thin-skinned, four-times-failed-businessman billionaire trying to buy the Presidency on a cheesy right-wing populist pitch. The guy has been a registered Democrat who has flip-flopped more than Kerry and Romney put together. He has a delusional gimmick that all it takes is his persona to convince other people to his way of thinking; can you imagine this thin-skinned bastard dealing with Putin? If he can't deal with Rosie O'Donnell, how is he going to deal with the likes of the Russians and the Chinese? An almost certain opposition Congress or SCOTUS? He's bluffing/lying when he says he has evidence of Mexico dumping criminals across the border. He's bluffing/lying when he says he can unilaterally slap tariffs on Ford-produced cars from Mexico. His immigration policy is not only amateurish, but seriously departs from every GOP President in history, the last 3 in particular. Not only that but swing voters (moderates/independent) oppose anti-immigrant policies. Nearly every poll I've seen shows Clinton, with all her negative coverage, still decisively beating Trump--and there's little upside because Trump has nearly 100% name recognition and high negatives. Even socialist Sanders is beating Trump in the polls. This case could be one of be really careful of what you wish for.
(National Review). You've got to think about this.
Illegal immigrants are not "subject to the jurisdiction," because they are here illegally..
I'm reading this bullshit by you anti-immigrants who seem to seize on the words "subject to the jurisdiction thereof", when the answer is obvious: two words, "diplomatic immunity" which has existed thousands of years BC. (The host country generally has the right to demand expulsion for disregard of its laws.) So clearly, as Sen. Howard noted, this excludes citizenship to "persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers". No mystery here; case closed.. None of the unauthorized aliens you guys are targeting are diplomats.
(National Review). Constitutional law, tradition, and fairness all argue in favor of birthright citizenship.
Once again, you have the morally repulsive unions/xenophobes/bigots in a state of denial. Who could have ever seen the day that the same GOP which opposed the Dred Scott decision, which passed the Fourteenth Amendment which protected birthright citizenship unambiguously, would one day see a morally corrupt bastard leading in Presidential polls, targeting the citizenship of American-born children from the only home they've ever known, because their parents worked around corrupt restrictionist laws contrary to our open immigration tradition? The modern-day Know Nothings are un-American, angry, pathetic jerks, who have earned the disrespect of the majority of American people who reject deportation of 11 million people.
(Cato Institute). "Trump’s conception of Ford as a company is rooted in the 1950s, or maybe even the 1920s. In his mind, Ford is owned by Americans, produces in America, and sells to Americans. In reality, though, Ford has long been a global company."
I see the similarly economic illiterate Trump cultists are out in full force. America has about 4.4% of the world's population, yet nearly 5 times that share of global GDP. When 95% of the world's population is outside the US, the way the economy flourishes is by doing what we do best, which is what economists call the law of comparative advantage. There are some things we produce more cheaply and efficiently than what it costs elsewhere and vice-versa. Our exporters benefit when trade expands to the rest of the world, and there are jobs associated with that. But trade is a two-way street (other countries also have jobs vested in exports), and in fact there are often raw materials and components where we rely on lower-cost foreign production, e.g., rare earths (our only producer recently filed for bankruptcy) and cocoa.
The bottom line is whether the consumer benefits from economic policy; a greater variety and price competition benefits the consumer, increases his standard of living. Protectionism artificially sustains an inefficient rent-seeking (i.e., corrupt) company or industry at the expense of a consumer.
When the State micromanages economic policies, it intrinsically makes government corrupt; companies engage in lobbying (rent-seeking) precisely to extract/capture profits made possible by dysfunctional State policy. Economic nationalism, whether practiced by the left (Sanders) or by the right (Trump), is an attack on consumers by the corrupt State.
Is it necessary for me to point out that the incompetent, unqualified, thin-skinned demagogue Trump is also a freaking hypocrite? As Mark Perry of Capre Diem has pointed out, Trump's signature clothing line has included items made in Mexico and China, the two countries he has bashed the most...
(National Review). For someone so passionate about expanding “freedom,” Ellen Page is suggesting a fairly tyrannical way to go about achieving it.
Well, really at the core of all this is economic liberty: if I choose to specialize in traditional weddings, why is that anybody else's business? If I choose to sell only kosher animal products, that's my business. If I specialize in big and tall men's clothing, why does anybody care? If I choose to leave money on the table, it may not be the best business decision in terms of lost sales. Maybe a competitor sees it as an opportunity.
But arguing that a vendor HAS to do business with you, while you have the right to reject to do business with him for any or no reason, violates the voluntary nature of transactions; it makes the businessman a type of economic slave.
(National Review). "We can do better than this brand."
This is de facto discrimination by the government. Let the court games begin. This one ends badly for the fascists.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists
Kenny Rogers (with Dottie West), "Anyone Who Isn't Me Tonight"
