Politics – Page 2 – Shortwoman.com

America and Immigration

What an interesting intersection today’s post is: Neil Diamond is retiring, the State of the Union is tomorrow, and immigration “reform” is on most political minds.

So I thought I’d highlight a few things going forward. Today I am talking about permanent immigrants, not people on temporary work or tourist visas. I can’t see addressing that anytime soon.

Caps. Right now, legal immigration is capped at 675,000 permanent residents, using a complicated formula you’d almost have to be an immigration attorney to fully understand. For context, there’s roughly 3,600,000 DREAMers and 800,000 DACA recipients. So even if all we tried to do was normalize their status under the current limits, it would take over a year just for DACA kids and more like 5 years if we wanted to address all the DREAMers. There’s a case for and a case against, and I’m not going there today. That’s not even dealing with the backlog of mostly legal immigrants trying to to things right, and it’s certainly not dealing with the estimated 11,000,000 “illegal” or “undocumented” immigrants — which word you use depends on what you think about them. It’s like drinking a gallon of milk with a teaspoon. So the short version is that any immigration “reform” that does not address the cap being too low is at best a band-aid and at worst pure hypocrisy.
Merit based systems. A merit based system sounds great, doesn’t it? Of course the first item on any merit based system would have to be “speaks English.” Obviously we want immigrants who have a basic grasp of our language, right? Unfortunately, this builds in an unmistakable bias in favor of immigrants from nations that either speak English or teach it in their schools. It in practice it could be just a tweak racist. In fact it’s a laughable since the majority of both legal and illegal immigrants comes from a Spanish speaking nation, Mexico.
Jobs. I’ve seen a disturbing resurgence of the “Jobs Americans Don’t Want” line of thinking. I truly thought Mike Rowe had laid that canard to rest by showing us Americans doing the dirtiest jobs out there. It isn’t the job Americans don’t want; it’s the fact that the job often pays sub minimum wage, has no benefits, few safety protections, and so forth. Some of them are very close to outright human trafficking. What, you didn’t think that employers who break one employment law mysteriously follow all the others, do you?

So a real immigration reform bill would include raising the caps, enforcing existing employment law, and simplifying the system so it’s simply easier to do it right. We must be very careful with the idea of merit based systems. Of course, we aren’t going to get any such thing. In fact, it’s possible we get nothing at all.

Remember When

Think back to when you were a kid.

Didn’t have much control of your life, did you?

Dinner was what mom cooked. If you didn’t like it, you had the option of going hungry. That’s if you were lucky. Some of you lived in households where you were cleaning your plate whether you like it or not.

You didn’t have any say over whether mom and dad had money for the latest cool toy. Strictly speaking, you didn’t have any say over whether mom and dad had money for shoes that actually fit you.

And you sure as heck had no control over where you lived. You lived where mom and/or dad said you would live. Doesn’t matter if it’s a nice house, a cheap apartment, a rat infested tenement, or wherever.

So this is why I support a clean DACA bill to give a clear path to citizenship to kids whose parents decided they would live in a foreign land. Those kids did not ask to be brought here illegally. They certainly did not have any say in the decision, no opportunity to persuade their parents otherwise. I also still support comprehensive immigration reform that involves greatly simplifying the process, raising immigration caps, and stiff penalties for employers who don’t like following the law.

But while we’re on the topic of stuff kids can’t control, they also can’t control whether there’s enough money for health care. Unfortunately, Congress is continuing to drop the ball on renewing CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program. That’s despite the fact that it has bipartisan support. That’s despite the fact that no Congressman is brave enough to come out against health care for kids who can’t afford it. Imagine the campaign ads against him!

Remember this when your Senators and Representatives come up for re-election.

In Closing: Poverty in America; Joe Arpaio just won’t go away; they missed #6, Democrats can win if they actually run better candidates than the competition.

Democratic Folly

The Democratic Party has decided to double down on Superdelegates. In short, that means that the Party will decide who you will vote for without any pesky interference from voters, thank you very much. They do not see how anointing a candidate could possibly have contributed to What Happened. They do not see how tired many people are of holding their nose and voting for The Chosen One because hey, who else are you gonna vote for?

Many years before I was born, a science-fiction author named Robert Heinlein wrote a book called Take Back Your Government. One of the things he advocated was to get involved in your local party politics. And further, he reminded us that if what you thought was “your” party turned out not to be anymore? Join the other one and work for what you believe in there.

I have heard from reliable sources that the local Democratic Party isn’t any more open to opposing viewpoints than the national organization. I mean heck, they turned their back on Nevada’s gubernatorial candidate because… well because “none of the above” actually won the primary (not complaining; Sandoval has been a decent Governor). But they aren’t above supporting people awaiting indictment.

In Closing: net neutrality; it will be interesting to see how the “gun control” argument changes post Vegas; confiscating assets is big money; cannabis and opioids; potentially, the end of an era in Japan.

The Blame Game

I know this is not a popular opinion on “the Left”, but here it is. The DNC and Clinton supporters need to stop blaming Comey and the Russians. Why?

Because the only reason Comey and the Russians mattered is that they themselves were doing stupid stuff. The DNC rigged the election to ensure Hillary’s ~~coronation~~ nomination — and now they want to argue that they had the right to do so. The DNC and HRC (both as Secretary of State and as a candidate) put stupid stuff in emails. Clinton’s people are the ones who used ridiculously bad internet security — and at one point turned it completely off in a virtual welcome sign to hackers. Don’t do stupid stuff and you don’t have to worry about getting caught doing stupid stuff. Funny how that works.

Blaming Comey and the Russians? Bobby Brady broke the vase by throwing his football in the house, but you want to blame Cindy Brady for tattling!

Furthermore, the Democrats refused to address the issues important to most Americans — hint, it’s still the economy, stupid — instead focusing on fluffy social issues to the point where many white men I knew were saying that clearly there was no “inclusion” meant for them. The bottom line is that if the Democrats choose to double down on politics as usual and to hell with actual progressive ideas, they will lose more elections. Oh, and let’s not forget Huma and Weiner. The popular vote? Oh please, not knowing that you need electoral votes to win a presidential election is just plain political incompetence.

And finally, can we please stop pretending that Obama was any kind of progressive or liberal? For pity sake, he’s more conservative than Nixon.

In Closing: Believe; poverty; I should never have looked at this recipe; PayPal.

A Prediction

First of all, I’d like to start by saying that the name of the proposed legislation to “repeal and replace Obamacare” is called “World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017.” That’s a seriously great title, folks.

So my prediction is as follows: there will be enough voices on the Left saying it does not go far enough and enough voices on the Right saying it doesn’t go nearly far enough that no bill will be passed. Afterwards, each side will congratulate themselves on thwarting the other.

The fact remains that any plan that depends at all on employer coverage will never cover all children. That’s because children don’t have employers. And — I will say this every time it’s brought up — don’t tell me we can’t have true universal single payer coverage for children, because Howard Dean did it in his state.

In Closing: vouchers; I guess most-mortems are easier than admitting that Hillary could possibly have lost without outside help; yoga; right; Alcoholics Anonymous; and I don’t even know where to begin about the stupidity of a “day without women.”

Taxing my patience

So Slate has this article about how the Republicans are trying to kill something called the Mortgage Interest Deduction. Other sources are piling on to this interpretation, spurred on my my least favorite economist, Lawrence Yun. For those not familiar with the tax code, that’s the bit that allows people who are paying on a mortgage to deduct the portion of the mortgage payment that is interest on the loan — not the whole payment. Technically, you’re also allowed to deduct certain other fees and property taxes.

Here’s the problem: it’s not at all true. The actual proposal is to almost double the standard deduction to $24,000. If you actually have more than $24,000 in deductions, you’ll still be able to claim the Mortgage Interest Deduction. However, for most people this standard deduction is high enough that they won’t need to itemize. Even Slate admits that some experts say this will benefit roughly 38,000,000 taxpayers!

The first benefit is that most people will have simpler taxes. No more complicated deductions to figure out. No more keeping track of documents from the mortgage company and all those little slips of paper you got from donating to charity. Congrats, your taxes may well be reduced to one document and an hour with TurboTax.

The second benefit is a little trickier. The 2016 poverty line is $24,300 for a family of four. This higher standard deduction means that families near the poverty line will not be taxed into poverty. It means that they can spend more of their income on goods and services rather than taxes. That benefits the family and the economy. A win-win situation. Don’t tell me poor people don’t pay income tax, because that’s a lie.

Hmm, where have I heard this idea before?

On Drugs

Today I received multiple emails urging me to voice my opposition to the “21st Century Cures bill.” Specifically opposed by Elizabeth Warren, it was passed by the House yesterday and is now headed for the Senate. Here’s one of the more level headed things written about it today.

So, here’s something that might concern you. This bill would specifically allow something called “off-label use” of drugs. More specifically, it allows drug manufacturers to mention these off label uses, rather than leave it to word of mouth among doctors. Critics call that “Fraud”, adding “If this bill passes, Big Pharma could market drugs as cures for all sorts of symptoms, not for the uses that were approved by the FDA. That sort of fraud puts people at risk.”

That’s simply not how it works.

Let me start with a common example that you or somebody you know might be familiar with. There’s a drug called Gabapentin, name brand Neurontin. It’s approved as an anti-seizure medication. The truth is, there are many better drugs for seizures, but Gabapentin is really good at controlling nerve pain (“neuropathy”). Many diabetics use this drug to control diabetic neuropathy (it’s cheaper than that stuff you see advertised on the TV, and has a longer track record for safety simply because it’s been around for years). So this bill would say that the makers of Gabapentin could run an ad saying doctors use this stuff all the time for neuropathy.

People like Elizabeth Warren who are calling this “fraud” think somebody should pay for a bunch of new research studies to prove what doctors and patients have known for years: this stuff works pretty well for something other than it’s original purpose.

The fact is that one out of five prescriptions written today is for an off label use — what critics are now calling “fraud” — and there are perfectly valid reasons for your doctor to write that prescription. In fact, if I can only get you to read one thing about this issue, let it be this peer reviewed article on the practice. Notice there’s an entire table of common off label uses, some of which are common sense (gee, morphine can treat severe pain in children, gotta do some studies on that one).

Of course heaven forbid we should address the fact that the United States is one of only two countries that allow drug manufacturers to market their products directly to consumers who — let me point this out — cannot purchase them without a prescription. Not complaining, it helps my clients remember what some of those new meds do.

In Closing: bras; Greenwald pointing out reality again; 5 pre-screened articles by conservatives; a Home Depot employee in Alabama has virtual control of the underground economy in Venezuela; please stick a fork in identity liberalism (it’s dead); and it’s been a long time since I’ve linked to anything in HuffPo, but it is still the economy, stupid.

Reality Break

Dear Democrats on the Internet:

Have you lost your everlovin mind?

We just finished an election where the American voters rejected not just one, but two political dynasties. Furthermore, just about everybody except Maddie Albright rejected the notion of “vote for the girl ’cause she’s a girl.” And finally, voters rejected the notion of a “everything is fine nothing is broken” politics-as-usual candidate.

Michelle Obama would be a terrible choice for Democratic nominee in 2020. Not because she’s a woman. Not because she’s black. Not even because certain Republicans have spent the last 8 years criticizing literally everything about her.

Because we don’t pass down the Presidency like it’s some kind of crown.

And furthermore, she’s not interested.

The Hangover 2016

Ok. Everybody recovered from either celebrating or being sad and confused yesterday? Good. Let’s take a collective deep breath or three. It’s time to talk like grown-ups about what happened this election.

Protest signs with swear words are not helpful. Stop it with the popular vote argument unless you were equally outraged in 2000.

I’d like to share some of the more level headed things that were said yesterday about Hillary’s defeat. No, not Trump’s win, but Hillary’s defeat. There were a lot of people who had a hard time choosing between — as this season of South Park put it — the douche or the turd sandwich. No, you can’t boil this down to “hate won” or “xenophobia and misogyny.” So here I offer the thoughts of Ryan Bort and Juan Cole. Note the theme of an enraged electorate whose standard of living has been in decline.

Hillary was a weak candidate: a “limousine liberal” in a time when Joe Average is not doing well. She was beset by scandals both real and imaginary.

Her slogan was “Stronger Together,” but she ran on “Come now, be reasonable and accept small variations on the status quo.” Bernie Sanders’s ideas? Come now, be reasonable. Recent radio ads purportedly sharing the thoughts of Republicans planning to vote for Clinton actually used the words “She’s reasonable.”

Here’s a good summary: “She was a weak candidate with tremendous baggage and very high unfavorable ratings. She was a status quo candidate with a status quo campaign in a change election.” And yet the decision was made very high up in the DNC that it was “her turn.”

So yeah, it’s time for a shakeup in the Democratic Party.

In just one week….

Our national nightmare of Election 2016 will be over one way or the other.

Not sharing how I voted, only want to encourage all of you to (in the immortal words of Nike), “Just Do It.” Once and only once. Assuming you are alive. No selfies.

In closing: Apple; no, you’re not even allowed to explore another culture’s traditions or fashions or Halloween (again, only if you’re a woman, nobody’s ragging on guys with tartans or topknots); and oh Weiner.