One is the loneliest number
Being the only one isn't easy. It can be very desirable, or conversely it may be excruciatingly difficult. The latter is the case in the instance of the United States being the only nation on Earth where unaccompanied children can violate the borders of a nation and not be deported in short order.
Imagine that a bunch of U. S. kids, ages 8 through 15, arrive in another industrialized nation aboard a chartered jet. No passports, no visas, and no adults. What would happen? They'd probably never get outside of the airport before being returned to their point of origin.
We do need to reform our system of immigration with respect to those who are already here in the U. S., illegally. We don't need to increase their numbers with large quantities of children. Children will tax the already stressed resources of government agencies at all levels.
I offer you a challenge. Name one other nation on Earth where people can violate their borders with the intent to remain, and they are cited and released to await a hearing.
* * *
Some people are accusing Hobby Lobby of hypocrisy because their employee 401(k) plan allows employees to invest in firms who are in the birth-control business. These naysayers are also claiming that this means Hobby Lobby is investing in these businesses because some or all of an employees contributions to the 401(k) may be matched by the company.
Hobby Lobby isn't investing in those firms. Their employees are investing in a fund and the fund happens to own a number of stocks; some of which are pharmaceutical companies that make birth control. The monies in these funds are employee money, not company money.
This is making a mountain out of a molehill. While Hobby Lobby's policy of not providing some birth control benefits to its employees is reprehensible, why press them to limit employee investment choices in order to attack the company? The employees benefit from having the widest possible variety of investment vehicles for their 401(k) funds.
* * *
California has a program where people get paid to provide care to those who need it, to keep them from having to move into assisted living facilities. This is a good thing. It would be a better thing if the state wasn't so cheap about it. How are they being cheap? By misclassifying these workers as independent contractors rather than the employees they are.
These hard-working individuals get paid all year, with no taxes taken out of their checks. They then get to deduct some expenses but will pay income tax and self-employment taxes on those net earnings. They pay more taxes and get fewer benefits.
It is the state being cheap. There is no other explanation.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Why is it that Connecticut has at least six degrees of larceny but there are only five categories of hurricanes?
I'm a big fan of Adam Richman but he needs to grow a thicker skin and just ignore the online haters.
If Warren Sapp feels a tip wasn't appropriate, why should anyone be questioning his decision? Just because you have wealth doesn't obligate you to tip if the service doesn't warrant.
The Texas Tech cheerleader who is under fire for having hunted big game animals in Africa is joining PETA. People who Eat Tasty Animals.
Katherine Heigl has no one to blame but herself for her problems with the "Hollywood machine" and she should admit it.
It dawned on me today that when people are courteous to me on the highway I am much more willing to do just the same to other vehicles.
Is it just me, or was there a slight lack of sincerity in Sheryl Sandberg's apology for Facebook's experiment with our emotions?
Research now shows that men who are unemployed generate sperm that is less likely to make a woman pregnant that men who are employed. This is allegedly due to stress. Wow, so if a guy doesn't want kids, he should just stop working.
A new poll shows that 28% of those polled think Barrack Obama is the worst president since World War II, a number only exceeded by the 33% of those polled who believe George W. Bush deserves the title.
The barista at Starbucks in Canada who supported rather than chastised the mother who was the object of a customer complaint over the mother's breastfeeding of her child did the right thing. That he is a teenaged male just makes it more special that he knew how to handle the situation.
Will someone tell Robin Thicke to stop whining over his wife leaving him?
In the wake of the firing of a waitress from a Texas Roadhouse in Ohio for ranting on Facebook about customers who didn't tip "properly" I have to wonder how many more times will this kind of thing happen before the rest of the population realizes that venting on social media can have real consequences.
* * *
July 2nd in History:
497 - Emperor Valentinian III begins his reign over the Western Roman Empire.
626 - Li Shimin, future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushes and kills his rivals, his brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng.
1494 - The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain.
1555 - The Italian city of Paola is sacked by the Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis.
1679 - Europeans first visit Minnesota and see the headwaters of the Mississippi.
1698 - Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine.
1776 - The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain, but the wording isn't approved until July 4th.
1777 - Vermont becomes the first territory to abolish slavery.
1823 - Portuguese rule in Brazil ends.
1839 - Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, Cinque leads a revolt of 53 slaves aboard the Amistad.
1871 - Victor Emmanuel II of Italy enters Rome.
1881 - President James Garfield is shot and fatally wounded by Charles J. Guiteau, although he doesn't die until September 19th.
1890 - Congress passes the Sherman Anti-Trust act.
1897 - Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for the radio in London.
1917 - The East St. Louis riots end.
1934 - The Night of the Long Knives ends, with the death of Ernest Rohm.
1937 - Amerlia Earhart is heard from the last time.
1962 - The first Wal-Mart opens in Rogers, Arkansas.
1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
1976 - The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is formed.
2002 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon, nonstop.
Famous Folk Born on July 2nd:
Maria, Queen of Sicily
Louis Maxson
William Henry Bragg
Hermann Hesse
Olav V of Norway
Rene Lacoste
Thurgood Marshall
Ken Curtis
Pierre Cardin
Medgar Evans
Imelda Marcos (wonder how many pairs of shoes she owns these days)
Dave Thomas
Polly Holliday
Richard Petty
John H. Sununu
Paul Williams (this one, not the one you're thinking of)
Imagine that a bunch of U. S. kids, ages 8 through 15, arrive in another industrialized nation aboard a chartered jet. No passports, no visas, and no adults. What would happen? They'd probably never get outside of the airport before being returned to their point of origin.
We do need to reform our system of immigration with respect to those who are already here in the U. S., illegally. We don't need to increase their numbers with large quantities of children. Children will tax the already stressed resources of government agencies at all levels.
I offer you a challenge. Name one other nation on Earth where people can violate their borders with the intent to remain, and they are cited and released to await a hearing.
* * *
Some people are accusing Hobby Lobby of hypocrisy because their employee 401(k) plan allows employees to invest in firms who are in the birth-control business. These naysayers are also claiming that this means Hobby Lobby is investing in these businesses because some or all of an employees contributions to the 401(k) may be matched by the company.
Hobby Lobby isn't investing in those firms. Their employees are investing in a fund and the fund happens to own a number of stocks; some of which are pharmaceutical companies that make birth control. The monies in these funds are employee money, not company money.
This is making a mountain out of a molehill. While Hobby Lobby's policy of not providing some birth control benefits to its employees is reprehensible, why press them to limit employee investment choices in order to attack the company? The employees benefit from having the widest possible variety of investment vehicles for their 401(k) funds.
* * *
California has a program where people get paid to provide care to those who need it, to keep them from having to move into assisted living facilities. This is a good thing. It would be a better thing if the state wasn't so cheap about it. How are they being cheap? By misclassifying these workers as independent contractors rather than the employees they are.
These hard-working individuals get paid all year, with no taxes taken out of their checks. They then get to deduct some expenses but will pay income tax and self-employment taxes on those net earnings. They pay more taxes and get fewer benefits.
It is the state being cheap. There is no other explanation.
* * *
Random Ponderings:
Why is it that Connecticut has at least six degrees of larceny but there are only five categories of hurricanes?
I'm a big fan of Adam Richman but he needs to grow a thicker skin and just ignore the online haters.
If Warren Sapp feels a tip wasn't appropriate, why should anyone be questioning his decision? Just because you have wealth doesn't obligate you to tip if the service doesn't warrant.
The Texas Tech cheerleader who is under fire for having hunted big game animals in Africa is joining PETA. People who Eat Tasty Animals.
Katherine Heigl has no one to blame but herself for her problems with the "Hollywood machine" and she should admit it.
It dawned on me today that when people are courteous to me on the highway I am much more willing to do just the same to other vehicles.
Is it just me, or was there a slight lack of sincerity in Sheryl Sandberg's apology for Facebook's experiment with our emotions?
Research now shows that men who are unemployed generate sperm that is less likely to make a woman pregnant that men who are employed. This is allegedly due to stress. Wow, so if a guy doesn't want kids, he should just stop working.
A new poll shows that 28% of those polled think Barrack Obama is the worst president since World War II, a number only exceeded by the 33% of those polled who believe George W. Bush deserves the title.
The barista at Starbucks in Canada who supported rather than chastised the mother who was the object of a customer complaint over the mother's breastfeeding of her child did the right thing. That he is a teenaged male just makes it more special that he knew how to handle the situation.
Will someone tell Robin Thicke to stop whining over his wife leaving him?
In the wake of the firing of a waitress from a Texas Roadhouse in Ohio for ranting on Facebook about customers who didn't tip "properly" I have to wonder how many more times will this kind of thing happen before the rest of the population realizes that venting on social media can have real consequences.
* * *
July 2nd in History:
497 - Emperor Valentinian III begins his reign over the Western Roman Empire.
626 - Li Shimin, future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushes and kills his rivals, his brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng.
1494 - The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain.
1555 - The Italian city of Paola is sacked by the Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis.
1679 - Europeans first visit Minnesota and see the headwaters of the Mississippi.
1698 - Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine.
1776 - The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain, but the wording isn't approved until July 4th.
1777 - Vermont becomes the first territory to abolish slavery.
1823 - Portuguese rule in Brazil ends.
1839 - Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, Cinque leads a revolt of 53 slaves aboard the Amistad.
1871 - Victor Emmanuel II of Italy enters Rome.
1881 - President James Garfield is shot and fatally wounded by Charles J. Guiteau, although he doesn't die until September 19th.
1890 - Congress passes the Sherman Anti-Trust act.
1897 - Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for the radio in London.
1917 - The East St. Louis riots end.
1934 - The Night of the Long Knives ends, with the death of Ernest Rohm.
1937 - Amerlia Earhart is heard from the last time.
1962 - The first Wal-Mart opens in Rogers, Arkansas.
1964 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
1976 - The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is formed.
2002 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world in a balloon, nonstop.
Famous Folk Born on July 2nd:
Maria, Queen of Sicily
Louis Maxson
William Henry Bragg
Hermann Hesse
Olav V of Norway
Rene Lacoste
Thurgood Marshall
Ken Curtis
Pierre Cardin
Medgar Evans
Imelda Marcos (wonder how many pairs of shoes she owns these days)
Dave Thomas
Polly Holliday
Richard Petty
John H. Sununu
Paul Williams (this one, not the one you're thinking of)
Vicente Fox
Ron Silver
Larry David
Stephen Stucker
Lucy Bates Johnson
Gene McFadden
Mark Hart
Bret "The Hitman" Hart
Andrea Yates
Jenni Rivera
Yancy Butler
Scotty 2 Hotty
Sean Casey
Johnny Weir
Lindsay Lohan
Normally I leave the day's death to my good friend Joel to discuss and document, but I will note that today is the day we lost a giant in the craft of moviemaking. Academy Award winning director Franklin J. Schaffner passed away on July 2, 1989. He was the genius who made both "Planet of the Apes" and the film for which he won his Oscar, "Patton."
posted by me at 8:37 PM
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