No Tar, and No Feathers

Philadelphia added an outrageous tax on soda that started January 1st. 

Not one 2-liter bottle was thrown into the Delaware River. 

Not a single city official was tarred nor feathered.

Conclusion: the Philadelphia residents are ok with unfair taxes, and the city govt should think of more ways to fund themselves on the backs of its citizens.

Photos from WZ, here, and here.

Trump Maps

Five Trump Maps that I've collected since Election Day - FYI:

Affirmative Action Post of the Day

Comrade Captain Capitalism nails it with Fortune 500 companies and their hiring and promotion priorities. 

First, it was corporations donating to charities like the United Way.
Then it was corporations "going green" or "caring about the environment."
Third was the fad of "fair trade" and implementing full blown "Corporate Social Responsibility" departments.
And now it's magnanimously promoting every possible minority or woman to unearned positions of power or parading them on their advertisements and annual reports for the whole world to see.

I have a personal experience with this that would make his examples pale in comparison. 

Go read it! 

And remember: Affirmative Action is a tax on efficiency, and is as destructive to high-performing minorities as it is to white men.

 

Thinking of Moving?

Are you thinking of moving?

Do you want to be surrounded by other Trump voters, with optimum job prospects?

If so, Boise Idaho is for you.

Catherine the Great and I have been daydreaming about a big move.  We are empty-nesters with an itch for a big change.  Perhaps a move is in order?  With the polling information from Tuesday, we now know where the like-minded people are.  Here is my analysis with our situation in mind.

First, I limited this search to the top 15 tax-friendly states for 2016, from Money-Zine.  I then added the Trump % for each state.  I then reduced the list to states that were 50+% for Trump.  I also dropped Alaska as it isn't a choice for a move. (Money-Zine was the only tax ranking I could find that was not geared to retirees.)

I then listed all the counties with 70+% for Trump in these final five states.  OVER 70%!!!

I used the data from the NY Times' site.  The screenshot below cuts off the many Kentucky counties, so you only see the top 31 counties in Kentucky.

Look at these percentages!

Retirees:  Start your own search with this list if you are looking to move and are ok with a rural location. 

Last, I searched for the few metropolitan areas that are near any of the counties listed above.  There are not many, and all but one are adjacent to, rather than in, a Trump-friendly county.  I then searched these few cities in the Forbes Best Places for Business and Careers, 2016.

Based on my criteria, Boise Idaho is the place for me.  Ranked #26 in job growth.  Surrounded by Trump counties.  And Ada County, where Boise city is located, was also a Trump county: 48 to 39.

Is there another use for this data?  Let me know if you have another criteria you think should be included.  Send me the source too.

Trump - Clinton Comparison

Remember the Ushanka GOP Rankings Reports that compared the 17 GOP Primary Candidates based on their policy plans?  My reports cut through the noise of 'who is more conservative,' and instead answered the question, 'whose stated policies are most conservative?'  More importantly, my reports were welcome objective analysis that exposed and countered the intellectual fraud spewed by the Bitter Cruzinger and NeverTrump movements.

The last GOP Rankings Report was posted in mid-March.  Seems so long ago.

ZH shares a similar comparison of Trump and Clinton based on their actual policy proposals.  No noise.  No shenanigans.  Just a single-page, side-by-side comparison.  Here is a sample:

Click here to see the full document.

And check out the comments about the two candidates at the link too!

On Hillary:

Trustworthiness:  Voters prefer a candidate whose backpedaling and flip-flopping on issues seems less calculated and strategic.

On Trump, a supporter explains:

“Look, I’ve backed Trump since the day he announced his candidacy, I put up a Trump sign in my yard back in January, and I regularly repeat the phrase that we need to ‘make America great again’—do you honestly believe a long, serious discussion of policy is going to make me any less excited about him?” said 58-year-old voter Vivian Hewitt of Derry, NH. “You can put together whatever platform you think will best address the concerns of people like me, but I’m telling you, it’s not going to work. It hasn’t worked for the past year, and it won’t work between now and November."

“So give it a rest, okay?” she added.

Tax Day Funnies

The progressive tax code is brought to you by the progressive Democrat Party. 

Unfair is fair, success is bad, and today the government lets you keep 65% of what you earned.

Hopefully these will cheer you up:

GOP Rankings Report #16

Here is the 16th and last Ushanka GOP Rankings Report.

The only change since the last report is Trump's announcement on March 3rd of his healthcare plan.  He is going to require providers to present their pricing to the patients, giving patients the ability to shop for their healthcare.  He is also promising to open the drug market to cheaper alternatives.

I've added the twelfth Domestic Policy category with these specifics to the GOP Rankings Report Criteria.  Trump has 3 points, the other three candidates have zero.

Click here to see the criteria for each rated category that I followed in each report.  All rankings are on a 0-3 scale, determined by specific conservative criteria that has been constant since the first report on August 1st.  The focus of the criteria is graded on specific campaign promises from the candidates' websites or from promises made in debates.

Here are the final Summary scores:

Here are the final Foreign Policy scores:

Here are the final Domestic Policy scores:

Websites:

I could not find any substantive changes at the candidate's websites.

Gov. Kasich still does not have an Issues page. 

Who put up an Issues page, and when?

Rubio had an Issues page on August 1st (the earliest date of my reports).
Trump started his Issues page on September 1st.
Cruz started his Issues page on January 15th.

Redistribution: The 401k Grab

The next front in the left's redistribution-of-wealth 'struggle' to make things 'fair' is in our retirement accounts.  Those 401k's and IRA's where private citizens privately manage their own retirement funds, and do so with a FAR higher rate of return than union pensions and Social Security.

We've seen other redistribution schemes win presidential elections in 2008 and 2012, pass with Congressional majorities, and even win the blessing of the Supreme Court.  Some small, like Cash for Clunkers, Tanning Salon tax, Solyndra, and auto-maker bailouts.  And some large: Progressive Tax Code, ObamaCare, Stimulus, Quantitative Easing (QE), Zero Percent Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP), and trillion-dollar deficit spending.

So, to sit back and think nationalizing private retirement accounts is not possible would be ignorant of both recent history and the events from 98 years ago.  Redistribution, with comforting promises of hope and change, always come first.  Only tremendous suffering follows.

The Set Up

The timing has to be right, but the groundwork can start now.

We've seen more than one Global Warming Summit get snowed out.  We've seen the math that says crop yields will go up with the temperature changes the left believes will occur if we do not address climate change stop Capitalism immediately.  We've also seen the science that says this movement is a fraud.  For the Global Warming folks to get any traction, they must exploit hot weather as it occurs.  This is tough to plan for and organize around, hence the failed attempts so far.

The same for the retirement-redistribution movement.  Timing is everything.  The Liberals Progressives Communists have to act when retirement accounts suffer and account holders panic.

Despite the $20T in debt (was $6T under Bush), the stock market has had record gains.  That may be more related to the increase in money supply to $4.5T (was $800B under Bush), and the funneling of that new money into the markets.  (Of course, do your own research as I am the product of the public schools.)

If QE were to end (the last QE was two years ago), and if ZIRP were to end ('ended' last week after 9 years), one might expect the economy to slow a bit.  "But we have such a strong economy," say those in power at the moment.  They will point to the 5.5% unemployment rate, but not the 9.9% U6 Unemployment rate.  They will point to iPhone sales, but not the fact 35.4% of Americans are receiving government assistance. 

And we are not alone here in the States.  The global economy isn't doing any better.  The price of oil has dropped two-thirds off its recent highs.  New supply gets some credit, but demand plays the bigger role here.  Are the benefits of Capitalism (innovation, faster growth, improved quality of living, increased trade, and retirement savings increases) linked at all to oil consumption?  Is it possible the economy is not doing as well as some say?

Selling a retirement 'modernization' policy that redistributes the trillions in wealth to a government IOU program, with promises of continued account growth, is easier in an economic decline than it is during an economic boom.  One question to ask yourself: Looking at the national and international scene today, do you think it is more likely an unexpected event or discovery will trigger a 10% jump in stocks, hiring, and/or personal income?  Or, is it more likely that a 10% drop would occur?

Ask the same, but with "25%" as the number.  Ask: 50%. 

Last, imagine the panic that will enable a total redistribution of retirement accounts, by consensus.

Meet the New Communists

Big government enthusiasts, Tony James and Teresa Ghilarducci, are setting the ground work for the redistribution of retirement accounts from the individual American citizen to the government.  Calling the 401k retirement plans "a faulty experiment," Tony concludes:

There’s really no alternative. It needs to be mandated.

The Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is available to any American who may or may not have access to a 401k plan.  It is, by definition, exactly an alternative.  Tony knows this, but assumes you do not.

I have used both types of accounts, and despite my public school education, my accounts have made more than the 1% return the government currently brags of Social Security. 

Control is the Goal

Bernie, Hillary, Pajama Boy, and every other leftist wants to control everything in your life, including your wallet.  They talk about it when they drink coffee.  They think about it when they go to bed.  They dream about it as they sleep.  And they get up in the morning to pursue it. With enthusiasm.  It is in their DNA.

To gain control over your health care, they had to first paint the picture of everyone getting top-quality care.  The actual results: lower quality and higher prices for all.  Promises broken but goal attained: control.

What conditions must exist for a majority consensus behind the redistribution of private retirement funds?  Envy, from the envy crowd, isn't enough this time.  But panic, caused by liberal policies within the private sector, will be enough.  Of all the solutions that will be offered if/when the market drops 50%, only Obama's will be simple, easy, and attractive to the historically ignorant and panic-stricken.  He'll promise to restore prior balances as he confiscates remaining balances.  His IOUs will be "backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America." 

What could go wrong?

Political Solutions (assuming you trust politicians):
Double down on 401k and IRA accounts.  Remove the deposit limits, and tax incentive limits, for 401k's and IRA's.  If an employee wants to save 80% of his salary tax free, he should be allowed to.  Or even better, turn all accounts into IRA accounts by replacing all federal taxes (Income, gas, etc.) with a single-rate consumption tax.

Further protect retirement savings from litigation and confiscation with an amendment.  "The right to save for retirement shall not be infringed."

Individual Solutions:
Ann Barnhardt has advocated moving digital assets into hard assets (real estate, gold, etc.) with this truism: "You don't own it unless you can stand in front of it with an assault rifle."

Jim Rickards offers an asset allocation suggestion, based on the hard times he sees coming, in his latest book, The Death of Money.

Sources:
Story and photo - New York Times
Dow and Oil charts - MarketWatch
Unemployment chart - MacroTrends
Welfare Data:  Statistic Brain

See Also:
David Mills (via Doug Ross) - IF YOU LIKE YOUR 401(k), YOU CAN KEEP YOUR 401(k): Obama Labor Dept. Sets Stage for Nationalizing Retirement Accounts

The Obama administration has its sights set on an incredible amount of your money. By some estimates, Americans are holding well over $10 trillion in private retirement accounts.

For a country with debt that is clearly "unsustainable" (source: the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office), flashing that kind of figure to a Democrat politician is akin to showing a kilo of heroin to a desperate junkie.

THE GOAL: FINANCIAL REPRESSION

---

...the real goal of the Obama administration is to nationalize your retirement account and to invest it in debt that will become increasingly unsellable in the open market.

GOP Rankings Report #8

The latest Rankings:

You can see the criteria I use to develop this report - here.

Again, I used the latest debate to rank the candidates on their attack focus - at other GOP candidates, or at the opposition in the Democrat Party.  This was important to me when I started these reports in August.  Apparently, it is a priority of a majority of GOP voters, and it has stifled internal attacks with all but two candidates (Jeb! and Kasich).  Further, I docked Rubio in this report, as you can see above, after his cheap shot on Rand Paul. 

Debate Observations:

Have you noticed there is only one person at the debates who would probably pass on being offered the VP role?  

Gov. Kasich is an anomaly.  An unwelcome, limp, RINO anomaly.  Rush nailed it - audio at Breitbart - fast forward to the 3:12 mark.

Fiorina had some great tax change suggestions, but I cannot reflect this in the report, as I require specific promises on the candidate's website.  Is this how she'll govern?  Say the right things to the right audience, but ignore their desire to see it in writing or the policy's execution?

Quote of the Debate #1 - Sen. Paul, on the growing wage gap:

We have to look to see where income inequality is the worst.  It seems to be worst in cities run by Democrats, states run by Democrats, and currently countries run by Democrats.

Quote of the Debate #2 - Fiorina, on the banking crisis of 2008:

I think what is interesting about Dodd-Frank, is it a great example of how socialism starts.  Socialism starts when government creates a problem, and then government steps in to solve the problem.  Government created the problem.  Government created the problem of a real-estate boom.  How did we create it?  Under Democrats and Republicans alike.  Fannie May and Freddie Mac.  Everybody gathered together.  Republicans and Democrats said ‘home ownership is part of the American dream.  Let’s create a bubble,’ and then government stepped in, by the way under President George W. Bush, banks were told, encouraged, told really, to buy other banks.  To take money.  And now what do we have Dodd-Frank?  The classic of crony capitalism.  The big have gotten bigger.  1590 community banks have gone out of business.  And on top of all that, we’ve created something called the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a vast bureaucracy with no congressional oversight, that’s digging through hundreds of millions of your credit records to detect fraud.  This is how socialism starts, ladies and gentlemen.  We must take our government back.

If you missed it, check out the foreign policy segment of the debate.  Nearly all the candidates were strong.  I don't recall McCain or Romney this strong or this detailed.

Grand slam by Fiorina in her plan to deal with Putin.  She set herself apart on foreign affairs.
Rubio was spot on re: Putin: "He's a gangster."

Jeb took time away from criticizing the other Republicans to get a dig or two in on Hillary.

Kudos to Bush for suggesting full reversal of ALL Obama regulations.  I'd be willing to add that to the Domestic Policy list in this report if I saw the specifics.  Frankly, if Bush were serious, he'd post such a plan on his website.

Candidate Website Reviews:

Changes to candidate sites since my last review:

1. Trump has added a US-China Trade position,
2. Jeb finally changed his home page picture - a new, younger Jeb,

Cruz, Fiorina, Kasich and Pataki still do not have Issues tabs on their websites.  I am considering sending this fact to the next debate moderators.  If it made the debate, it would light a fire under the candidates and maybe sell a Glorious Hat or two.  Until they explain themselves, I will suspect they don't have Issues tabs for one of five reasons:

1. The candidate has had their success handed to them their entire career, and has never thought of leading or taking a stand, or communicating their vision,
2. The candidate is hiding something - similar to the way Democrats hide their actual plans for office,
3.  The candidate's campaign is in disarray and is trying to wait for a Trump flame-out,
4. Taking a stand will reduce the candidate's donor pool, or
5.  The candidate thinks you are too stupid to notice.

The website rankings have not changed since the last report.

Pic of the Monday

Workers of the World, Unite . . . in paying taxes so others don't have to work!

U/T: Hippie Critic

MSM and Yesterday's Elections

It smells like victory.

Comrade Mikhail and I had a tradition that lasted over a decade (96-06'ish), back when we lived close to each other.  Every election night we'd watch the returns together.  And we'd watch Dan Rather and the other libs do the reporting.  It was quite fun when the Republicans had winning nights.  Watching the libs keep from crying while having to report the news.  Those were the days.

You can get a taste of this fun from CNN: Election Day: Bevin wins in Kentucky, Ohio rejects pot.

Yesterday, the Republicans won nearly all, if not all, off-year elections and ballot initiatives.  I don't know the exact count because I rely on the MSM for the reporting.  It must have been good, or else I'd be seeing "We told you so!" in the MSM headlines, and pictures of celebrations with rainbow flags and smug speeches.  Instead, I see a whole lot of this:

You'll see at the CNN piece that, while they waste your time with noise, they don't waste your time with numbers.  Did X win by 0.1%, or 20%?  Who knows?

The two ballot items I was paying attention to were Ohio's #3 and California's F.

#3 was Ohio's attempt to legalize marijuana and further transfer values from families and religion to the government. The MSM and local media had expected #3 to pass. CNN will now tell you that it was "deeply flawed" and that the results show "a strong base of support" for this.  They don't tell you that it lost 64-36.

I posted on California's F yesterday.  The kill-Airbnb/kill-capitalism measure failed 45-55.  This is a huge margin in that city of liberals progressives communists.

Kentucky has a new, and rare, Republican governor.  Virginia retains a Republican legislature to block Clinton-machine hack Gov. McCauliffe.  Houston told the gays that they are like everyone else and not extra-super-special.  The people said "no" to new taxes.  Coos County Oregon gave their sheriff the authority to ignore any federal or state gun law that he deems unconstitutional.

The MSM will tell you otherwise, but I think all these elections bode well for 2016.

UPDATED 11.6.15 6am:

Comrade Joe Dan, of Intellectual Froglegs fame, shared this on FB. 

Yep, that about sums it up.

AirBnB

Ronald Reagan:

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

Airbnb is moving.

Airbnb is an accommodations web-service that lets home owners and renters offer their unused living space.  It sidestepped the hotel industry, disrupted the hotel market, and empowered entrepreneurs around the globe. 

The Commies agree: This innovation must be stopped.

Had the Internet existed in 1908, I'd link to the TechCrunch article from the San Francisco hippie rally protesting the bourgeois automobile and demanding massive tax penalties against the capitalist endeavor.  Think of the stagecoach workers being thrown out on the streets!

Airbnb has been in the news twice this week.

First, they took it to the government with a splendid ad.  However, ball-less as many entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are these days, they took the ad down moments after the liberals bleated.

You see, the government started taxing Airbnb ABOVE AND BEYOND the normal corporate taxes.  They justified the tax increase with the usual: the children, the libraries and parks, fairness.  The Obama voters agreed.  Not with critical thought, but out of envy and resentment.

So, did the tax revenue help the children?  The libraries and parks?  Those due some fairness?  Or did it go to failing union pensions and deficit spending?  Airbnb was asking:

Dear Public Library System,

We hope you use some of the $12 million in hotel taxes to keep the library open later.

Love, Airbnb

BAM!  The government scam exposed in 24 words.  Like I said, "splendid."

Airbnb is in the news again today with the California Proposition F, on today's ballot.  Proposition F would limit Airbnb hosts to renting their space to 75 days a year.  (That leaves 290 days a year they can rent their spaces for cash via Craigslist, thus saving both Airbnb and themselves thousands in taxes.)

The proponents say Prop F is causing rent rates to increase in San Francisco, thus increasing the number of homeless in that homeless-friendly city.  If the Marxists had half a brain cell among their masses, they'd know that the market dictates rent rates, and Airbnb just facilitates the market mechanism of finding the true market rates. 

We'll be watching today's vote.  And if F passes, we'll be watching San Francisco's rent rates plummet as the liberals promised.

GOP Rankings Report - Nov. 1

The latest Ushanka GOP Rankings Report!

Regretfully, there are few changes since our last report.

I used the CNBC Debate to determine the rating for attacks - GOP-focused vs. Anti-DNC.  Governors Kasich and Bush are, again, zeroes for using their few minutes to attack GOP candidates rather than address the 7 years of Obama and the 4 years that Hillary and Bernie promise us.  Shameful.

Senator Cruz still does not have an Issues tab on his website, but he did release his tax plan there.  He gets a max score of 3 for his tax plan promise.

You can see the detailed criteria for this report here.

The supporting data for this report:

GOP Websites

There were no changes to the GOP websites since the last website report.  The stats:

• 28% of the GOP Candidates DO NOT HAVE AN ISSUES TAB ON THEIR WEBSITE,
• Another 36% have an Issues tab with no actual promises within.

Quote of the Day

Yours truly, commenting on this liberal propaganda image which was shared by a comrade on FB:

$175, plus what? Section 8. Free healthcare. Free education. Obama phones. There are over 25 govt. services for her, including services to help her find those services. Zero sympathy here. Can't afford the kid? There is a service for that too: adoption. But only do the adoption thing if you. actually. care. for. the. kid.

You say "harsh?" 

Libs would be mistaken if they think I can't say that to the faces of these deadbeat mothers.  They are the face of the Democrat Party.

While the govt has its fingers in my pie for life via excessive and progressive taxation, I'm done feeling sorry for these people because of their poor decisions and I will not volunteer a single penny extra to their plight.

My biological mother put me before her claim to other people's money.  In the 60's, adoption was called "Pro-Choice."

[one commenter suggested this is an old image, and that the actual benefit per child is closer to $350/mo.]

UPDATED 2.3.15 11am:

A hat owner and FB comrade shared this related pic:

Weekend Reading

Some selected articles and random images for your weekend:

Erik Ericson: Communists Win the Day. Frank Marshall Davis Would Be Proud Of Obama

To reiterate my conclusion on Barack Obama’s world view and policy objectives: to make the world safer, the United States must be less safe. To make the world more stable, the United States must be less stable. To make the world more prosperous, the United States must be less prosperous.

Sara Noble:  Why Obama Loves His Dictators 

In the end, Mr. Obama has more in common with dictators than freedom-loving peoples which is why he keeps befriending them. He believes the ‘stupid Americans’ need to be better controlled.

Mr. Obama likes the dictatorial approach when it comes to implementing his policies because he’s comfortable with it and the end justifies the means.

---

[On Cuba]  Normalized relations is a financial bailout for a nation suffering under more than 50 years of a repressive communist regime.

Richard Fernandez: You Are The 'World'

In the United States failure appears to be a profit opportunity. Several  American friends have unaccountably offered me exactly  the same piece of sage advice.  ”Richard, never trust anyone who hasn’t failed.”  In their view anyone who hasn’t been flat broke at least once in his life has some kind of character defect. One acquaintance  wistfully recalled the time he lost his fortune and had to live out of his car, and how that motivated him to even greater wealth. 

Stephen Moore: The Pension Crisis Next Door: Scranton, Pa.

Scranton, Pa., is a middle-class, blue-collar city of 76,000 with severe financial problems.

It recently raised property taxes for 2014 by more than 50%, and those taxes are expected to rise another 20% in 2015.

The city also increased various fees, such as for garbage collection, by two-thirds. It's becoming a tax hell.

These taxpayer costs are skyrocketing because the city's auditors calculate that the police and fire pension funds will be completely depleted in three to five years.

Walter Williams: Liberals' use of black people

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, there are about 200 police arrest-related deaths of blacks each year (between 300 and 400 for whites). That number pales in comparison with the roughly 7,000 annual murders of blacks, 94 percent of which are committed by blacks. The number of blacks being murdered by other blacks is of little concern to liberals. Their agenda is to use arrest-related deaths of blacks to undermine established authority.

Moe Lane: On trying to shoehorn populism into the modern Left. Somehow. Somewhere.

. . . the only avenue for a bottom-up movement in American politics is via the Right. 

IBD: Gun Grab U.N. Arms Treaty To Take Effect Dec. 24 

The Orwellian-named United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs, which has disarmed none of the world's tyrants or terrorists, has announced on its website that the ATT will take effect on Christmas Eve, a lump of coal in the stockings of anyone who believes, as our Founding Fathers did when they wrote the Second Amendment, that guns in the hands of private citizens are the best defense against predators, terrorists and, yes, tyrannical governments.

Lee Stranahan: The Race War Dreams of Neo-Liberalism: From The 60s To Ferguson

The radical tactics and rhetoric aren’t being spouted directly by Pres. Obama and AG Holder. They are the authority figures now. The radicals are on the streets, led by Obama ally Al Sharpton, trained by people like radical leftist leader Lisa Fithian. These are the children of the revolution and they’re in charge now.

Heather Mac Donald: The Big Lie of the Anti-Cop Left Turns Lethal

. . . it is naïve not to recognize that criminal members of the black underclass despise the police because law enforcement interferes with their way of life. The elites are oblivious both to the extent of lawlessness in the black inner city and to its effect on attitudes toward the cops. Any expression of contempt for the police, in their view, must be a sincere expression of a wrong.

Selwyn Duke: Liberal Lies Killed the Two NYC Cops

The problem with symbolism in real life, just as in film, is that many people take it literally. This, not to mention that “hands up” was long portrayed as literally true, until facts made the lie so untenable that liberals — the ultimate men without chests, never man enough to admit error — had to conjure up the metaphor cover. But leftists couldn’t care less about right and wrong; all that matters is winning, as they define it.

J.R. Dunn: Gangbangers Unbound

That there is an agenda is not in question. Presidents, attorneys general, sports and entertainment celebrities, and the media sphere as a whole do not get involved in small local disturbances for no reason. Stepping back, we can see a consistent thread of deliberately aggravated racial incidents throughout the Obama presidency, from the Gates incident through the Trayvon Martin controversy on to Ferguson. All featured intervention from Obama, and most from Eric Holder as well. You can search all you like among previous presidencies for comparable actions, but you will do so in vain.

To understand what’s happening here, we need to go back to the collapse of the civil rights movement in the late 60s. In exchange for control of the newly-ratified black vote, Democrats dramatically expanded government welfare both through ADC and Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society” programs. As has often been pointed out, this led to the deterioration of the urban black family, with young single black women with children “marrying” Uncle Sam in preference to their hapless male opposite numbers, unwilling to complete their educations and unable to obtain decent employment. The result was generations of young black men deprived of any sexual or social purpose. These lost generations comprised a kind of bonus to the left, with black male drifters viewed as an urban proletariat that could be exploited for revolutionary purposes.

Paul Kengor: What was Obama taught about Cuba?

Did Barack Obama ever support the embargo to begin with? Did he ever think it had a time and purpose?

I don’t have a complete, extended track record of Obama’s position over the decades, but I can say this: Obama was raised by people who were pro-communist. I’ve argued that Barack Obama is our first Red-Diaper Baby President. That sounds comical, but it really is true.

Tyler Durden: The Destruction Of The Middle Class Is Nearing The Final Stages

New legislation now gives pension plans the ability to cut benefits to pensioners in the future making the future welfare of these people uncertain.

Ivy Mike: If I was a Psychopath. . .

…and I was firmly ensconced in the halls of power within a massive enforcement regime; and if I hated the exercise of an inviolable right by the mundanes I rule over to the point where I thought the state should “brainwash” people against it; and if I knew I would be able to get away with treason to undermine that right by smuggling contraband into a foreign country to foment a crisis in order to pass laws that chip away at that right . . .