While watching the election returns in Virginia, the analysts — you know those people with those slick boards which move pictures with the flick of a finger — were talking about what a shock it was that a Republican was favored on the issue of education. At this time in America, why would anyone favor the Democrats on this issue?

Did anyone happen to notice that once public employee unions were legalized back in the 1960’s, the cost of public education soared in this country while the quality of said education plummeted? Scientific theory, of which subject teachers are completely inept, would tell you that the two are not necessarily cause and effect. An honest person would state there are other factors involved. Is it a coincidence that these things happened simultaneously? I think not.

The country’s largest city which operates the country’s most populated school system has an (outgoing) mayor who has been an ardent enemy of charter schools. These are the same charter schools that have thousands vying for limited spots via lottery to get their children into schools not controlled by the mayor and his teacher union supporters.… Read More

A common lame liberal talking point is that the GOP states are doing better than Democrat states because the red states are more subsidized by the federal government. It’s often not true, as well as rather trivial — I’ve written about this before. Here’s one of my somewhat wonky articles on the topic: https://riderrants.blogspot.com/2016/11/per-capita-federal-taxes-and-spending.html

But now we have another example. The graphic below shows all the states that are borrowing from Uncle Sam (well, Uncle Biden) to bail out their massive unemployment spending. CA leads the pack, but — to be fair — it’s also the most populous state. That being said, in this instance, California is borrowing more unemployment funds per capita from the feds than any other state.

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Many people will jump in and say that there is no distinct difference between this country’s two political parties. If you take out the extremes of each party, you cannot slip a sheet of paper between the two. Yet there is a big difference in philosophy that divides the two parties that defines what each believes and is at the heart of almost all respective actions. That was exemplified by an interaction I had on a matter that you would never guess would be so defining.

Over the past 50 years, I have participated in planning our class reunions. It is an interesting position for me because I came to Los Angeles as a high school sophomore and was not that involved in my high school’s activities. I was more involved in an outside religiously based organization. Over the years I became closer to many of my high school classmates and worked with the principal person who stayed in touch with the class and helped organize the reunions.

Some of my friends were afraid we would not have a real reunion for our 50th and contacted me to make sure it was at a nice place and properly planned. I stayed in touch with the person organizing the event. That person had asked me to… Read More

Okay, okay — that title is a bit of a “click bait” come-on. A more nuanced headline would be “When looking at the VAT/sales tax (hereinafter called simply the VAT tax) vs. the corporate income tax, OF THE TWO I far prefer the VAT tax.” Too wordy for a headline.

It’s all about truth in taxation. And the truth is that corporations don’t pay taxes. Their customers pay the “corporate” taxes.

CorporationsCOLLECT taxes from their customers in the form of higher prices. Corporate taxes are almost all “pass through” taxes that customers never even realize that they are paying. In contrast, customers DO see a VAT or sales tax when they make a purchase. More about that shortly.

Most Corporations in competitive markets have limited options. To deal with the higher costs of increased taxes and mandates, businesses have do one or more of the following:

Charge customers for the taxes (it’s just another cost of doing business). Pay their employees less. Accelerate automation to lower labor … Read More

We are coming off a debacle departure from a country in which we were entangled for 20 years. There are many Americans that look skeptically at entering another country to defend it against evil forces. In this case, we have a mostly different situation. It is imperative for us and our allies that we defend Taiwan.

Americans have recently been left with a cynical attitude due to our military actions. We entered a country (Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the Trio) with a just cause and it turned into quicksand. We arm and train the local population to defend itself against the enemy (Viet Cong, ISIS, and Taliban) and as soon as we depart the local forces fall apart thereby wasting everything for which we were fought. Taiwan is not that.

Taiwan is a democracy and wants to remain a free and independent country. Despite assertions by Xi Jinping (head dictatorial authoritarian), the fact that Taiwan is part of China is a stretch. After thousands of years of existence, it became part of China in 1683 and remained so only until 1895 when taken over by Japan which controlled the island until 1945. From there it was part of China for four years until becoming a free… Read More

This used to be a self-reliant country. When people suffered either through physical maladies or economic challenges, they turned to their neighbors, community, or religion-based organizations to help them through. The onset of COVID has collapsed the mores of most Americans. Now accepting government help has not only lost its stigma, but it has also become acceptable no matter your economic status.

As you know, initially we were told our economy would shut down for fifteen days. That was a fallacy. Then when the federal government cancelled mandates, many Governors stepped in and elongated the period which put millions of Americans out of work. We were told these rules were saving lives, but the infection spread and will continue to spread and will never go away. It has become endemic. The shutdowns forestalled the inevitable medically but redefined our lives economically.

Governments from the federal level on down determined that, since they were disrupting so many people’s lives and cutting off their self-supporting resources, they had to give us handouts. They came in many forms – direct deposits, tax credits, PPP loans, enhanced unemployment benefits… Read More

A simple situation of trying to attend a concert at the Hollywood Bowl turned into a series of lies and deceit by the Los Angeles County government. All of this was in an apparent attempt to hide that the County has chosen to sacrifice its residents’ needs to a group of people they have neglected for years.

We have a Park-n-Ride near our home that has been in place for over 30 years to transit people to the Hollywood Bowl. The Bowl has seating capacity for about 17,500 with parking for a fraction of that. The system of busing people has compensated for the lack of parking for many years and works extremely well. While attending a recent Van Morrison concert it appeared our local lot was shut down — a lot that is always filled to maximum capacity for any event at the Bowl.

When I called the Bowl to find out why the lot was not open, I was told that the Traffic and Safety Dept. of LA County had not renewed the contract. They offered me two lots as a replacement, both of which are out of the way. I obtained the telephone number for the person responsible at the Traffic division for the lot. When I told him what the people at the Bowl stated to me, he told me… Read More

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was formed in 1913 by the B’nai B’rith to combat anti-Semitism. It is now a standalone organization which has apparently solved the problem of Jew hatred in the world. They have taken on the mission to stop hate on Halloween by providing guidance about costumes.

The ADL recently released a statement regarding their guidance: “Halloween is a week away and you and your family might be brainstorming costume ideas. Check out our resource for reminders about how and why to avoid cultural appropriation, cultural stereotypes, and costumes that perpetuate gender norms.” The only problem is that they did not address some especially important groups.

I contacted Casper McFriendly of the International Association of Ghosts and he was none too friendly. Mr. McFriendly stated “Halloween is a period where people attack ghosts and goblins and bring a bad name to us all. While other groups rail against cultural appropriation, our culture is being attacked. Many walk around in white sheets conjuring up thoughts of the KKK casting a negative and hurtful image of our members. When is this going to stop? All of this is done just so kids can… Read More