or, “Why Democrats should oppose the state and local tax deduction.” (Part I in commentary on the GOP tax reform.) After much debate and many news reports on the topic, the current GOP tax proposal includes a cap of $10,000 on state and local tax deductions — that’s state income taxes, local property taxes, sales taxes as an alternative for states without an income tax, and the like. And while we were waiting for the announcement, there was much moaning... Read more
In the Tribune yesterday, “For Amazon’s Bezos, philanthropy is ‘saved for later’“, which turns the fact that Bezos is focused on making money — and lots of it — into an expectation that he will, of course, give generously as a philanthropist, when the time is right. Which seems like more than a little bit of wishful thinking. Here, after all, are some of the quotes they’ve gathered. “Jeff is probably not quite ready to step down yet, but this... Read more
Regular readers will know that my husband is German. As it happens, he’s in the process of applying for citizenship, and brought home a prep booklet for the citizenship test after a preliminary appointment today. You know those inspirational stories one reads occasionally about individuals working hard to pass the citizenship exam, and the cynical comments that a typical American couldn’t pass the citizenship exam because it’s so hard? Here’s fun fact: there are 100 potential questions on the citizenship... Read more
So remember that scene from The Avengers where the Loki says some things to various of the Avengers that ultimately cause them to start squabbling with each other, with the end result that Banner turns into the Hulk and starts destroying everything in sight? Or something like that, anyway. For the first year or two after my kids were given this DVD as a Christmas present, they turned to it for any Family Movie Night where there wasn’t anything appealing... Read more
Trigger warning — for those who are triggered by statements without solid data! Trick-or-treating, it seems, is dead. I offer two pieces of evidence: first, we had about half a dozen trick-or-treaters at our door last night, and, of these, two were families we knew personally and one was my son and his friends. We didn’t even get any of the usual after-dark teenagers, except, again, for my son and his friends. (Yes, they did have costumes – my son... Read more
Some time ago, I read a book titled “Is Marriage for White People?” which used that clever title to entice readers into a book on the decline of marriage among blacks. As I recall, it was not trapped in the accusations of “black women are welfare queens who want Uncle Sam to provide for them” but had a lot of food for thought. I thought I had blogged about it, but it seems this was a pre-blogging book. I’m reminded... Read more
Actually, this is something about which I have no strong opinion. The Catalonian parliament has declared independence from Spain. Here’s the BBC‘s report. In the same way as the referendum had an overwhelming majority in favor, but low participation, so, too, there were 70 yeses, 10 noes, and 2 abstentions, but there were 53 other legislators out of the 135 members who boycotted the vote entirely. Supporters say that independence is the only way to preserve Catalan language and culture. The... Read more
Now my car is in the shop. Here’s the story: since the weekend, it had been making a whirring noise when the car is idling, and I’d been avoiding dealing with it. Today, it wouldn’t start. Or, more precisely, after I had dropped off my son and the lawnmower at a house a couple blocks away where he’s doing the mowing while they’re on vacation, it wouldn’t start. It just clicked. And I thought, “I don’t know what that noise... Read more
This is a bit of a follow-up to the GAO report I wrote about over the weekend. You all know about the Jane Plan, right? Change Social Security into a flat universal benefit meant to provide a basic living standard, and then create universal provident fund-like savings for the income tier above this. Yes, I’ve been flogging this idea for a whole, and can’t get any takers. And I get quite irritated with people who speak as if we can... Read more
You have perhaps heard of the dust-up at Kirkus Reviews, in which a dystopian novel about a white teen girl gradually coming to understand injustices being perpetrated upon internment camp-imprisoned Muslims in America, and then act as a rescuer, is originally given a “star” following a review by a certified Muslim woman of color, but then, following criticism of that review, they retract it and add more critical statements, following the judgement that it is irredeemably flawed by the author’s... Read more
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