It’s Friday, May 13th, 2016,…but before we begin, the best things in life never change…
…provided you’re a free-spending senator from Kentucky. The government just took in a record$1.91 trillion in the first seven months of FY2016, yet still managed to run up a $354 billion deficit for the same period.
Yet all three of the current candidates for President believe a lack of revenue, rather than gross overspending, is what ails America. Yeah…right!
Now, here’s a belated edition of The Gouge!
First up, three great pieces on the dilemma presented by The Donald from Ben Shapiro, Michael Tanner and Jonah Goldberg respectively:
Donald Trump could conceivably win conservative voters, but it would require a complete makeover.
“A complete makeover” is right; which would undoubtedly appear to anyone with a clue as about as sincere as Hillary’s email apology or real as Trump’s hair and tan. Next, and this is scary…
The candidate’s various plans range from useless to disastrous.
What we’ll be using instead of a $1 bill when President Trump is through.
“The budget deficit is going up. The Congressional Budget Office recently warned that revenues this year are lower than had been expected. This means that the deficit will almost certainly be higher than the $544 billion previously projected. With our national debt now topping $19.15 trillion and likely to reach $29 trillion by 2026, this is not good news.
But don’t worry — Donald Trump has a solution for this growing tide of debt. He just won’t pay it.
Last week Trump initially said, “I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal” to pay bondholders less than full value on the debt owed to them. This is, after all, the sort of thing Trump has done with creditors when, say, one of his casinos went bankrupt. It is also more or less what Greece has repeatedly negotiated with its bondholders over the last few years.
But the United States is neither Greece nor one of The Donald’s businesses. There wouldn’t be any outside entity to force bondholders to accept less than face value. And a President Trump would have little leverage in any negotiation without threatening a general default. But even the hint of a default would inject an almost unprecedented level of uncertainty into international markets, causing interest rates to spike for all other kinds of debt, from corporate debt to state- and local-government debt.
In this maelstrom of uncertainty, liquidity would probably collapse, since financial institutions, in an attempt to reduce their exposure, would be unwilling to make loans. This, in turn, would lead to a huge drop in business investment and consumer spending. It would be like the last economic crisis on steroids.
…Oh, and those bondholders who would get screwed under Trump’s proposal? That would be you and me. Roughly 55 percent of government debt is owned by Americans, mostly through their 401(k) or company pension funds. If Trump reduces the value of those bonds, we can say goodbye to our retirement plans.
…Faced with the utter implausibility of his idea, Trump quickly traded Greece for Venezuela, saying, “You never have to default because you print the money.” Not since Paul Krugman’s trillion-dollar coin has anyone seriously proposed inflating our way out of debt…”
We don’t know what’s worse: a serious candidate for President, and a supposed financial genius at that, with such a poor command of basic economics…or that Trump’s debt plans have as much grounding in reality as the rest of his policies?!?
“‘Let no one be mistaken: Donald Trump’s candidacy is a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised, and discarded,” former Texas governor Rick Perry declared ten months ago. Trump’s candidacy, Perry added, represents “a toxic mix of demagoguery and mean-spiritedness and nonsense that will lead the Republican party to perdition if pursued.” Lest you’re thrown off by the alliteration, “perdition” means eternal damnation in Hell.
Perry has since had an epiphany, selling his political soul for a seat on the Trump Train.He even says he’s open to being Trump’s running mate, which would make him a co-pilot (or co-conductor?) leading us down the tracks to Hell. (“Can I blow the whistle, Mr. Trump?”)
As Thomas More might say, “Why Rick, it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world . . . but to be Donald Trump’s valet?” Taking his words literally, Perry wants to make a deal with the devil. In this war on cancer, Perry wants to help cancer win “any way I can.”…”
Primarily because the political elites like Perry know they’re immune to the ravages of the cancer they’re incubating, and it’s the hard-working taxpayers of America who will suffer the debilitating effects of the disease.
Meanwhile, as Jim Geraghty notes, his tête-à-tête with Paul Ryan notwithstanding, The Donald continues to operate as if, like the mystical forces behind Sam Tipton’s magic grits…
…the rules of politics don’t apply to him:
On Tuesday, Donald Trump announced he won’t be releasing any of his tax returns –”there’s nothing to be learned from them” (Just take his word for it; we know Hillary will!)— and that he won’t be using “the kind of sophisticated data operation that was a centerpiece of Barack Obama’s winning White House runs.”
“I’ve always felt it was overrated,” Trump said. “Obama got the votes much more so than his data processing machine. And I think the same is true with me.”
Someone tell me — what’s the downside of having a sophisticated data operation to identify, target, and mobilize voters?
To borrow a phrase from our favorite Colonial Marine…
Though as these next three items confirm, in many areas of our culture and politics, we’re already there. Exhibit “A”: a little insight into what created the necessity for the North Carolina bathroom bill from Ed Whelan writing at NRO:
“…Pushing the transgender agenda through the entire alphabet of the federal bureaucracy has been a high priority for the administration in President Obama’s second term. So it was that in January 2015 an obscure functionary named James A. Ferg-Cadima, in his temporary capacity as acting deputy assistant secretary at the Department of Education, signed his name to a letter and sent that letter to G.G. (and to various transgender activists).In his letter, Ferg-Cadima made two cursory legal claims on behalf of the department. First, he declared that Title IX’s ban on discrimination on the basis of sex includes a ban on discrimination on the basis of gender identity. Second, he asserted that schools that provide “sex-segregated restrooms, locker rooms, shower facilities, housing, athletic teams, and single-sex classes” must “treat transgender students consistent with their gender identity.”
Ponder for a moment some examples of what Ferg-Cadima’s second claim means for schools that receive federal funding.A young man who says his gender identity is female must be offered a college dormitory room with roommates who are women (irrespective of the wishes of those roommates). An athlete who is biologically male in all respects must be allowed to compete for a position on a women’s sports team if he identifies himself as female. A first-grade girl who thinks she’s a boy can use the boys’ bathroom. And, yes, high-school boys who say they’re transgender girls may use the girls’ locker rooms and showers on the same terms, and at the same time, as the girls do — and vice versa, of course, for girls who say they’re transgender boys.
Not surprisingly, this insanity has no plausible basis in Title IX. Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that Ferg-Cadima is right in his first claim: that Title IX actually forbids discrimination on the basis of gender identity.On any coherent account of what discrimination is, that assumption thoroughly defeats, rather than supports, Ferg-Cadima’s claim that “transgender students” must be treated “consistent with their gender identity.”
…But in the context of single-sex bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers, the concept of discrimination on the basis of gender identity plays out very differently from what the transgender ideologues contend. In this context, a school complies with the (hypothetical) norm of nondiscrimination on the basis of gender identity when it disregards a student’s gender identity and instead assigns the student to the facilities that correspond with his biological sex.
In other words, it is the advocates of transgender access to bathrooms and showers who, under the guise of their nondiscrimination rhetoric, are in fact seeking to discriminate on the basis of — in favor of — gender identity. That’s exactly what a policy of making gender identity override biological sex entails: It makes gender identity determine which restrooms and showers a person is allowed to use, just as a policy of race-segregated restrooms and showers makes race determine which facilities a person is allowed to use. (I am of course not asserting that racial discrimination and discrimination in favor of gender identity are moral equivalents.)
The unsound proposition that separate facilities assigned by biological sex involves discrimination on the basis of gender identity collapses into incoherence…”
Even more so than usual as regards Progressive policy pronouncements.
And in keeping with our earlier observation the political elites never suffer the impact of the people and policies they inflict of the rest of us, now that The Great and Powerful Obamao has decreed public school districts grant perverts and peepers unrestricted viewing of nubile young ladies across the fruited plains, there’s zero chance Barry’s little princesses will ever suffer the embarrassment and/or trauma of being forced to disrobe or perform their bodily functions in the presence of randy young swains.
“Tucked amid the lush lawns and stately mansions of Potomac, Md., is the little-known, historically African American neighborhood of Tobytown, where many of the 60 or so residents trace their ancestry to the freed slaves who founded the area in 1875. But the large lots and winding roads that offer wealthy homeowners country living 10 miles outside the nation’s capital have left Tobytown an isolated pocket of poverty.
Many residents, including some who have lived in the 26 publicly subsidized townhouses for generations, say it’s not a lack of jobs that holds them back financially. It’s the lack of a bus stop — something Tobytown has been seeking for more than 30 years.
About half of the neighborhood’s adults and teenagers can’t afford to drive or own vehicles, residents say, and walking or riding a bike requires a dangerous trek along narrow roads with no sidewalks or paved shoulders. Meanwhile, the closest bus stop is three miles — nearly a one-hour walk — away.
“The buses won’t come out here because there’s no bus stop,” said Ivan Stewart, 24, who rode his bike or caught rides with his uncle to his former landscaping job at a country club six miles away. “If we had transportation, we could look for more jobs.”
…In Tobytown, residents say they want a regular bus, not Uber, because that’s what the rest of the county has. They worry that a special Tobytown shuttle would be more vulnerable to budget cuts if ridership is low, even though they think it also would serve residents from nearby subdivisions — or at least those residents’ housekeepers, nannies and home health aides.
Many say they can’t move closer to public transportation because they doubt they could find affordable housing, even if it meant that they no longer had to call in sick and risk losing their jobs for lack of transportation.
…When Mary Wilson left her job at a Kmart in Gaithersburg a couple of years ago, she said that her Tobytown neighbor had to quit because Wilson had been her ride. At one point, Wilson said, she didn’t work for two years because she wanted to help her son attend Montgomery College. “I didn’t work so I could drive him back and forth,” Wilson said. “That’s what it took. He had no other way to get there, unless he paid for a cab, which was too expensive.”
She said that her son worked as a prep cook in a Pittsburgh restaurant for two years but that he hasn’t worked since recently returning to Tobytown because he doesn’t have a car. She said she needs her car to get to her job at a community center. “He just wouldn’t even try to look for work here because he can’t get there,” Wilson said…”
So if Wilson’s son had a job in Pittsburgh, why on earth did he come back to Tobytown, where there ain’t any? What are we missing here?!?
If Montgomery County authorities had the sense God gave a goose, they’d apply Sam Kinison’s solution to world hunger…
…to this seemingly unsolvable conundrum: purchase all the property in Tobytown, sell it to a developer and move these “unfortunates” where the jobs are! Easier still, buy all 60 residents a decent used car, or just give them vouchers for Uber service!!! No; that’s too easy…and inexpensive. Instead, Montgomery County, which is already operating in the red, will spend $200,000per year to provide special bus service to, by the WaPo‘s own estimate, some 30 people.
In a related item demonstrating yet another Dimocratic disconnection from reality…
“Just months after deciding to eliminate traditional final exams, Montgomery County has announced significant changes to its method of calculating grades starting in the 2016-2017 school year, most notably that final course grades will be rounded up after a student’s two quarterly grades are averaged. If a student gets, say, an A for the first quarter in geometry and then a B for the second quarter, the student’s semester course grade would be an A. If a student gets an A in one quarter and then a D in the next quarter, they would end up with a B.
The move is a departure from the county’s previous grading scheme, which generally relied on a student’s two quarter grades and a final exam grade. When a course had no final, the grading trendline prevailed, so that if students slumped from an A in one quarter to a B in the next, their semester grade fell to a B. No longer.
The new grading system potentially could help students reach better grade-point averages, which are important in college admissions. But some educators voiced concern about grade inflationand the need to give students an experience resembling what they will see in college…”
College, hell; what about an experience resembling real life?!?
“Translation: this is why little Johnny can’t read, write, add or subtract…and why we Asians continue to kick your round-eyed asses!”
From where we sit, these last three tales exemplify the impact of Progressive policies on the moral fabric and culture of the country. And the dumbing down of America’s system of education at every level is the key; as without a firm foundation of knowledge and training in critical thinking, far too many Americans cannot see through the propaganda which these days passes for news. Add to that the impact of political correctness, participation trophies, an aversion to “judging” even the most blatant perversion and a complete lack of individual accountability and you’ve got the particularly odorous kettle of fish in which we now find the Founders’ Republic.
Speaking of an aversion to judgment, courtesy of Jeff Foutch and AOL News, we learn…
U.S. will not seek death penalty against Benghazi attack suspect
“Federal prosecutors will not seek the death penalty in the case against Abu Khatallah, the man charged in the 2012 attacks on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, according to court documents filed Tuesday. Khatallah was captured in 2014 and brought to the United States for trial in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce said Attorney General Loretta Lynch made the decision. “The department is committed to ensuring that the defendant is held accountable for his alleged role,” Pierce said. “If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to life in prison.”
Parse that last statement: “up to” life in prison. Not “life without any possibility of parole”, but “up to” life…or until his early release by the Islamofascist-in-Chief or any Dimocratic successor. Any question who we’d execute immediately after Abu Khatallah?!?
On The Lighter Side…
Then there’s bit of biting satire, courtesy of R.B. Diffenderffer:
Finally, we’ll call it a week with two more titillating tales torn from the pages of The Crime Blotter:
Woman Arrested For In-Flight Molestation
Police: Suspect, 26, touched female victim’s private parts
“An Oregon woman flying home last night from Las Vegas allegedly molested another female passenger, according to police who arrested the suspect on a sex abuse charge. Cops allege that Heidi McKinney, 26, was en route to Portland when she touched the breasts and genitals of a woman who told investigators that the alleged contact was not consensual.
…It is unclear whether alcohol was a factor in the alleged illegal contact. McKinney’s rap sheet shows that she has previously been charged with drunk driving, reckless driving, and being a minor in possession of alcohol…”
“Unclear”? We’re gonna go out on a limb here and say…!
Authorities say three men who disturbed a fish pool, leaving behind beer cans and boxer shorts in the process, may have killed rare fish.
“It’s one of the world’s rarest fishes. It only lives in one spot – the 93-degree waters of Devil’s Hole, part of a detached unit of Death Valley National Park in Nye County, Nevada.
…Authorities released surveillance video Monday showing the men climbing a fence guarding Devils Hole on April 30. They fired at least 10 rounds from a shotgun, shooting the locks off of two gates, and left beer cans and vomit. One man waded into Devils Hole, a cavern pool fed by a hot spring and is the only natural home of the critically endangered Devils Hole pupfish.
…One of the iridescent blue fish, out of about 100 left in the world, was found dead at the scene. It measured about one-and-a-half inches long…”
Reports authorities have called in a specialized outside agency…
…to solve this particularly heinous crime remain unsubstantiated.
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