Random Thoughts #46
Did you see where HHS posted “Happy Pansexual and Panromantic Pride Day!”? Not being up on wokespeak I looked up the terms. Wikipedia says “pansexuality is a sexual, romantic or emotional attraction towards people of all genders.” All genders? You mean all two of them? Then “panromantic is a type of romantic orientation that describes people as being romantically or emotionally attracted to all genders”. I’m certain there must be a difference but I really don’t care. I do know that this is likely to be the last of such postings by a Federal agency for the next four years. Thank goodness.
BTW, I googled “how many genders are there?” I got a list of 72. Apparently someone had too much time on their hands.
Trump wants to get rid of birthright citizenship and hints at using an executive order to do so. Trump is well aware that birthright citizenship stems from the 14th Amendment which states “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The issue lies in the interpretation of “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”. Some republicans say that the language implies that the Congress can define the meaning and disallow citizenship to children born in the United States of illegals. However, I think Trump wants to include children of legal noncitizens, in fact he did once say that if one parent were a citizen, then citizenship for the newborn would be granted. Look for Trump to argue that due to the language of the amendment he can void birthright citizenship with an executive order. Whatever he does, expect a spate of lawsuits.
Do you cruise? We don’t. For us a cruise ship looks like one giant petri dish.
I usually like AEI but one of their op-eds from a staff member made no sense to me. It is “Most of the Money in the “Foreign Aid” Bill Would Stay in the U.S.”
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/most-of-the-money-in-the-foreign-aid-bill-would-stay-in-the-u-s/. It contends that, for example, that the $95 billion aid package to the Ukraine mostly stays in the US and benefits the country. It contends that what we do is send them our old stuff and then use the money to replenish our stocks with new stuff. The money is being spent in US defense companies. Needless to say, this is weird. It seems that the author would then say we would also benefit from simply dumping the materiel in the ocean and paying the defense companies to make new armaments. Huh? Franklin Roosevelt would be proud. Didn’t we have to borrow the money (or print it) to get the $95 billion? Didn’t that add to the debt? Didn’t that crowd out private investment? How is this productive? Surely, AEI knows better.
Did you see where Josh Hawley and Bernie Sanders both agree with Trump’s notion about capping consumer credit card rates? You know that if Hawley and Sanders agree then they both are wrong. Trump who despite his economics degree from Penn keeps making truly dumb economic statements. Capping interest rates will result in the poorest credits being shut out from borrowing from lower cost lenders. Yes what they are paying seems high but it reflects their credit riskiness. Capping the rate lower means that they will lose their credit cards and will have to depend on higher cost lenders such as pawn shops and payday lenders. So first we have Trump’s tariffs and now interest rate caps. What’s next rent controls?
Electricity is up 30 percent on Biden’s watch. Gasoline prices are up 63 percent. Housing is up 20 percent. Home furnishings are up 16 percent, food 21 percent and new cars 19 percent. Joe Biden says that Bidenomics was a success. I guess it matters how you define “success”. Just like my friend said about Beyonce’s endorsement of Kamala Harris “Beyonce’ don’t have to worry about paying her bills.” Neither does Joe Biden.
Alexander Hamilton imagined future presidents who might be “vain and ambitious, as well as avaricious,” who, upon reaching the end of their allotted time in the “seat of supreme magistracy,” would be forced to assuage their considerable ego by “wandering among the people like discontented ghosts, and sighing for a place which they were destined never more to possess.” Did Hamilton know Barack Obama?
haroldblackphd.com 