In spite of warnings, nothing much happens until the status quo becomes more painful than change.
Laurence J. Peter
Chart of the Day: Crony Capitalist Sugar Producers
Chart of the Day: Public Sector Pensioners in Illinois
Tweet of the Day
@realDonaldTrump. miffed that even Israeli PM Netanyahu also condemns his Muslim entry ban proposal, canceled a trip. We're stuck with him.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) December 10, 2015
So @realDonaldTrump 's idea of foreign policy is to cancel diplomacy the first time a foreign leader criticizes him? https://t.co/9xmPWfo3X6
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) December 10, 2015
@realDonaldTrump's hair-trigger temper and pettiness are material disqualifications for the Presidency. If called gringo, he bans taco nite?
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) December 10, 2015
@realDonaldTrump threatened to visit Netanyahu once elected President (yeah, right). Does Israel have an entry ban on American jackasses?
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) December 10, 2015
The gun restrictionists opposed to the unalienable right of self-defense rely on apples and oranges statistics. https://t.co/77wH10SfMJ
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) December 11, 2015
Image of the Day
 |
| via Mackinac |
Don't Tell Me the Fifth Amendment Is Just Words
Political Potpourri
One new national poll (CBS) with Trump lapping the field at 35, 19 over Cruz, then Carson, then Rubio. Paul is the next highest at 4. I think Trump's lead is overstated, although his anti-Muslim rants have probably temporarily boosted his numbers. Rubio seems to be losing some momentum, I think we can now say Cruz is the new #2. I expect Paul to hype his poll lead over Bush and others. There's also a second SC poll in as many days, showing Trump's lead shrinking by half at 24, by 8 over Cruz, followed by Carson, Rubio, and Bush within a 7 point range.
Audit the Pentagon
JOTY Nominee: Former NY Speaker Sheldon Silver
Is it necessary to go beyond the fact that he was convicted on all 7 counts of corruption?
Facebook Corner
(Cato Institute). "While Hawaii is far away from the rest of the United States, the Constitution - including the 14th and 15th Amendments - still applies there.”
A native Hawaiian is one born in Hawaii regardless of ethnicity, right?
Nope. You should know better than that; Native Hawaiians are defined in terms of Hawaiian indigenous ancestory. The reason that Cato Institute got involved is specifically because of the violation of the 15th amendment which is based on excluding non-indigenous citizens. Don't play word games.
(IPI). Mike Madigan wants to raise income taxes – again.
Yesterday, Illinois' House Speaker told an audience that hiking Illinois’ income-tax rate back to 5% – up from the 3.75% rate Illinoisans pay now – is the best way to fix Illinois’ budget woes
Madigan being for tax increases is like any parasite's search for a host. No more bailouts for corrupt politicians! It's time to starve the government beast.
(Reason). It's not "moderate" Muslims who need to take the lead in ending terrorism. It's the U.S. foreign-policy makers, whose daily atrocities make targets of Americans at home.
Facts are stubborn things. There are less than 3M Muslims out of 320M American residents. Of those, at least 86% say that suicide bombings and other forms of violence are rarely if ever justified. The number of religious-based incidents of violence by American Muslims is negligible in terms of overall incidents. Richman is spot on; we need to stop meddling in the Middle East--no more war, no more killing of innocents with American-supplied weapons and ammunition.
(IPI). More than 7,400 members of the State Universities Retirement System (SURS) will receive more than $2 million during their retirements, based on actuarial life expectancies.
Among them is Leslie Heffez, a retired SURS employee, who draws a $547,000 annual pension.
Assuming a current life expectancy of 81 years, Heffez will draw nearly $18 million in pension benefits over the course of retirement.
I am an Illinois state taxpayer AND retiree. My salary, payraises, copays, etc. were all approved via good faith negotiations. Every single paycheck I received had deductions of my portions of my retirement funding. For my ENTIRE career the Illinois legislature, led by Madigan and Cullerton, has deferred the State's required retirement payments into the fund.THAT WAS UNFAIR TO ME, THE REST OF THE RETIREES AND THE TAXPAYERS!
You want to to place blame ... there it is!
As for my benefits (retirement, medical, etc.) are guaranteed through the Illinois State Constitution. Unfortunately, through the magic of Democratic Legislative Maneuvering, the FUNDING for those benefits is not.
Then again, the ILLINOIS TAXPAYERS keep electing the same legislators that created this mess. GO FIGURE!
Parasite. No one is entitled to a million-dollar plus pension. And how many times are you freaking unions going to blame state contributions? How many times do I have to quote to you greedy bastards that the average public pensioner has paid something like $180K into the system?Even with the state doubling that, most retirees blow that just a few years into retirement. If you were willing to cap lifetime distributions at your matched contributions, we wouldn't be having this conversation. There's a reason why pension systems have been largely eliminated from the private sector--it has to do with corrupt actuarially unsound bargains made by political whores for political support. The few private funds require lower investment return assumptions (about half of the public 8%, i.e., private employers have to kick in more) and they are based on average earnings--not an offset of career high salaries, like the typical public system. You need to stop blaming taxpayers for not wanting to fund pensions they themselves don't have.
(Reason). (A post discussing the possible resurrection of the Ex-Im Bank.)
"Its re-authorization is yet another sign of how much power the business lobby and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hold."
So, let me get this straight, Reason Magazine. You oppose the Ex-Im bank, and the power the business lobby and US CoC holds over Congress. Yet at the same time, you oppose campaign finance laws that would prevent corporate entities from buying elections and legally bribing our representatives - that, to you [engaging logical voodoo level 10,000] is somehow "anti-freedom."
How you reconcile this logic? "I'm opposed to bribery. And laws against bribery!"
That's not a standpoint that's going to get you very far, as both standpoints are mutually exclusive. You'll need to pick one or the other.
First, don't be an idiot. Campaign finance is a form of political speech. Businesses don't "buy" elections; freaking idiots voted the corrupt fascist Democrats into power by bribing the common man, just as corrupt--the Ex-Im Bank was created by the fascist demagogue, FDR, one of the worst assholes ever elected President. Corruption is a necessary consequence of the State's growing monopoly by force.
Second, Ex-Im Bank essentially is a corrupt financing of foreign consumer purchases of American goods and services. The private sector is just as capable of financing purchases, without putting the taxpayer at risk.
Political Humor
Political Cartoon
 |
| Courtesy of the original artist via IPI |
 |
| Courtesy of Jerry Holbert via Townhall |
Richard Marx, "Christmas Spirit". I don't quite understand the bathroom scenes in the video... 'Santa, bring my baby back to me': epic refrain. Bouncy, catchy: pop gem fused with R&B. I stopped listening to radio years back, so it's new to me. I need to buy a copy.
