In Syria maybe less could be more

Syria
I have no problem bombing the sh*t out Bashar Assad and Russians in Syria on general principle.  Doing so is likely to have all sorts of unintended consequences.  Do we really know who did the gas attack?  We do know US backed “rebels” are throwing ever dead child’s body into streets to whip up emotion.

I’m not so sure bombing is the right answer. Maybe less is more.  Snatching or assassinating some of the leadership in the Syrian army’s chemical corps would perhaps send a stronger message.  Snatching a couple of these turds up shipping them to G’itmo and denying everything or blowing one of the general’s brains out somewhere very publicly from a mile away might be a better deterrent.  Something unconventional.

If bombs are the only answer, I’d consider three days of intense targeting of Damascus infrastructure first.  (AHHH the air defense has to go first!!  Use missiles.)  Go big or don't go.  Bring the war to Assad’s front doorstep.  Inconvenience the people who will then rise up and get rid of the azzbag on their own.

Prediction:  None of whatever is done will have the slightest effect on the MSM narrative that PDJT colluded with Putin to deny Shrillda the Hutt her rightful seat in the Oval Office.  

Why not just f*ck with the media?
PDJT cannot fire Mueller, Rosenstein or Sessions.  Well he can, but the blowback wouldn’t be worth the trouble.  Better to play them all like Stradivariuses.  He can’t fire them, but he can talk about firing them, which is always hilarious.  Every single day PDJT should make some veiled threat to fire one of them to see how many days in a row the MSM will take the bait and wail like the news man at the crash of the Hindenburg – “Oh, the humanity.”  After about the third year of PDJT’s second term the MSM would finally catch on.  Joe Scarborough would write another of his tuneless, pointless, moody, unrecognizable string banging records about it and sing it on Morning Joe.

Trump’s evil ways – by Joe Scarborough

Firing Mueller is nothing but an evil Trump game

Every damn day it’s always the same

For four years now we’ve reacted with - Oh, the humanity

Causing Donald J. Trump much hilarity

For sixteen hundred thirty five days we’ve said the same

Mueller is gone, Oh what a shame

Threats of Mueller’s firing works us into a lather

But now I know - it’s all Trump blather

But the shame and egged faces are on every one of us

Trump has played us like a Stradivarius

Copy write is pending - so don’t even think abut it.

The New Republic channels Lex
It turns out that the folks over at the New Republic - of all places – read Lex.  In the post under Lex noted that Mueller ought to be required to report to someone what he has, where he’s going and how long it’s going to take. 

Turns out the leftist at the New Republic regard that as the nuclear option if PDJT fires Mueller.  This is true Lefty Lib thinking on the Special Council.  Just keep it going until PDJT fires Mueller – then all hell breaks loose with Mueller dumping his findings on the NY Times.  Actually the NR suggests the Senate committee which they regard as bi-partisan – which is Lefty Lib speak for run by a Rat establishment Republican coward.

Why not just play show and tell right now? My guess is that they don’t want any kind of interim report released because they’ve got nada, less than nothing, zero, the big squadoosh, nil, zip, zilch - add it all up and Mueller’s gotten himself, the FBI and the DOJ into more trouble with his team’s BS methods than PDJT.

We’ll eventually find out what the hell’s going on. It may take until 2067, but we will get to the bottom of this.

Today’s JG rant
Re: JG editorial “Equal Pay Day especially relevant to Hoosiers” of Apr 10, 2018

First off, I’m appalled that a paper as progressive as the JG would take such a totally cis gendered approach to equal pay as the subject editorial.  There was not a single mention as to the pay discrepancies between men who identify as women and women who identify as men.  Seems to me that a study that found that a woman who transitioned to a man and got a pay raise for the trouble would be proof positive of a pay bias toward men.

The editorial is total garbage.  The plain truth about pay equality between men and women will never find its way on to the pages of the JG, because Lefty Liberals do not deal in facts.  They deal in emotion.  Women make less than – sniff – men.  That’s not fair.

I do not dispute that there is a pay gap between men and women.  But there are perfectly reasonable explanations for the gap.   

The number one determining factor for income is IQ as determined by a (NOOOO, say it ain’t so) standardized IQ test. It makes no difference if the smart person is male or female – or even how they identify – the only thing that matters is cognitive ability.

Now the Lefty Lib might argue, “Well women outnumber men in college so they should be the ones making more.”  Sadly, the determining factor is IQ not a degree. A degree by itself does not impart knowledge or cognitive abilities - particularly at today's universities.

Next, while women comprise a larger percentage of students on American campus what they chose to study is, how to put this, not quite as demanding as what the men are studying. There are more women than men on campus, but men make up the largest percentage of students studying – science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Women make the majority of students studying “studies.”

Next, there is no such thing as an “equal” job even if the job description is exactly the same.  Here’s some more stubborn facts, men will work longer by putting in more hours per day, per week and stick with a job over a longer number of years than women.  No two people are equal so no two jobs are equal.

Next, women can blame God or whatever source they think is responsible for organizing the universe, but men on average are bigger and stronger than the average woman.  It is just so and it has not one thing to do with how a woman is raised.  It has everything to with biology and physical characteristics of men and women. I guess that’s why there are so damn few women in the NFL, HNL, NBA and MLB.  

 

Next, men are more willing to engage in dangerous high paid work than women.  Women in the military are demanding access to combat to level that field.  Good for them.  There’s only a couple of problems with that.  See the paragraph above.  Only an idiot can believe that the military services have not substantially reduced the physical requirements for qualification for such duty or given the women a total pass. Those are the only two options, because men and women are different and no amount of wishing is going to change that biological fact.  Then there’s the simple societal/combat efficiency objection that goes, “Any civilization that sends its mothers and daughters to war is serious about neither civilization nor war.”

Last, there’s always the Willy Sutton solution. If you don’t like what your job pays, get qualified for a job where the money is.

Once these truths are accounted for, there is no measurable difference in men’s and women’s pay. For the most part the pay gap only becomes apparent after women chose to balance work with raising a family at about the 30 years of age mark.

So just stop whining about it.  Women make less because of what they know or what they are willing to do.  If women don’t like it, study a science or climb up into a five story crane on a cold, damp and windy day.  Problem solved.     

Equal Pay Day especially relevant to Hoosiers

Falling behind

A gender wage gap exists in every state, but the full-time salaries of Indiana women compared with those of full-time male workers represents a wider gap than found in any of our neighboring states.

Indiana..................................$12,717

Ohio.......................................$11,477

Michigan...............................$11,044

Illinois................................... $11,003

Kentucky.................................$9,262

Source: National Partnership for Women & Families; US Census Bureau

There might come a time when it's not necessary to highlight Equal Pay Day as a call to erase the gender wage gap, but we're not there yet. That's especially true in Indiana, where the difference between men's and women's full-time earnings is the sixth largest in the nation. In the 3rd Congressional District, women earn just 74 cents for every dollar men earn.

The analysis by the National Partnership for Women & Families notes the detrimental effect on spending power. If Indiana women earned the same as their male counterparts, the additional money in their paychecks would cover the average monthly cost of child care for 16 months.

Another analysis – this one by the American Association of University Women – ranks Hoosier women 46th in the nation for paycheck equity. 

“Existing Indiana law is weak when it comes to equal pay,” according to the AAUW report. “Several bills were introduced during the 2018 legislative session, but none moved forward, marking yet another squandered opportunity to make the lives of women better and more equitable.”

House Bill 1390, sponsored by Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, would have made it illegal to pay wages that discriminate on the basis of gender for substantially similar work. It would also have prohibited employers from requiring workers to sign a wage nondisclosure agreement. 

The bill was never called for a hearing. The same fate awaited HB 1344, Indianapolis Democrat Robin Shackleford's bill requiring an employer to provide reasonable accommodations for an employee with a condition related to pregnancy or childbirth.

It's not for a lack of time. While ignoring legislation that might allow Indiana women to improve their economic status, legislative leaders always find time for bills aimed at restricting reproductive rights. 

Indiana's policies explain its continued poor performance on a state ranking for work and family policies – dead last among the states and the District of Columbia. Lack of support for paid leave, elder and dependent care, child care and state-supported preschool push Indiana to the bottom.

When Indiana lawmakers talk about jobs and economic development, they inevitably focus on tools other states use to draw investment. But their toolbox full of tax credits and other incentives never seems to include the family-friendly policies that have long been in place elsewhere. Instead, the General Assembly has pursued education reform efforts that have contributed to the wage gap. Indiana teachers, in a field where women are well represented, watched their wages decline by 15 percent between 2000 and 2017, according to figures from the National Center for Education Statistics. That's the steepest decline in the nation.

On this Equal Pay Day, consider the long-term consequences for Hoosier women, children and the state overall. Then consider what it will take to push the General Assembly to turn its attention to policies to stem the economic decline.