Two fer Friday - Libs inadvertently condemn Shrillda the Hutt and 60 years of a failed Lib welfare system

PDJT plays lefties as they are forced to rage against – oops Shrillda the Hutt
Shrillda the Hutt’s long time friend, no the Clinton’s have no friends as normal people define the word, operative George Stephanopoulos asked PDJT if he’d take opposition research from a foreign government or report the attempt to provide it to the FBI.  PDJT said, both, and the Left was sent in search of a powder and the fainting couch.

“Oh the Humanity,” the Lefties wailed.  “This proof positive that PDJT need to be impeached,” they screeched like a band of howler monkeys.

Way to go George.  Your question and PDJT’s answer forced the Dopes and their MSM azweasel buds rail against Shrillda the Hutt who did exactly what they have conjured up such a faux rage against PDJT for hypothetically saying he would/might do, maybe in the future.  

You cannot make this stuff up.  PDJT, who the Left paints as a psycho idiot, has forced the Left to either agree with him or condemn Shrillda the Hutt for – get this – colluding with a foreign government.

Well played, PDJT.  Well played.

US Soccer
13-0 and acting like idiots after the 13^th goal is scored is not a good look for the US women’s girls’ soccer team.  I have no problem with running up the score, but after about goal 5, the time for celebration is over.  It’s like celebrating like an idiot after a 21-0 drubbing of your 5 year old in a one-on-one basketball game.  Grow the F up girls.

Sadly, these things sometimes come back to haunt.      

Today’s JG rant – Lib inadvertently proves the welfare state failed
Bravo to Helaine Olen for laying bare the utter failure of 60 years of Liberal government spending on the social safety net.  According to Olen, “when poorer children fall down, there is rarely a helping hand to help them get back up.”

Really?  So, all of the government programs from SNAP to Head Start, from “free” Obama phones to Section 8 housing, from food stamps to affirmative action have all failed utterly to provide a “helping hand to help [the poor] get back up”?  Isn’t Olen’s ill-conceived observation proof positive that trillions have been wasted on bloated poorly run duplicative government programs to help the poor?

The metric Olen uses to establish this colossal failure of Liberal government is education.  According to Olen a study by something called Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce showed the biggest factor in success in school is not mental acuity but rather mommy and daddy’s bank account.

Hmm, color me skeptical. First off, and this very important for everyone to understand, life is not fair.  Good people are sometimes born into horrific circumstances.  Among the worst circumstances one can be born into is the type of socialism/communism Olen seems to be championing.  That said and contrary to Olen’s point of view, in America more than any other place in the history of the world, the circumstances of one’s birth is not the determining factor of one’s destiny.

Olen whines that the focus on education as the equalizer to wage disparity lets the top 1% of earners “off the hook for [income] inequality – and leaves them firmly in possession of their funds.”  Think that one over.  That statement begs the question, “Who the hell should be left ‘firmly in possession of their funds’”? (Emphasis added)

  

Last, Olen either inadvertently used the wrong word or lies about an America “aristocracy” composed of successful/wealthy Americans.  If America has an “aristocracy” it is composed solely of life-time politicians from city hall to the halls of Congress in Caligula, D.C.  If Olen wants to take on that odious cabal she will have an ally in me.

Brains or bucks? Which helps more?

Helaine Olen

Is it better to be born rich or born smart? There's a definitive answer to that question – one, I am guessing, many people in the United States would rather not hear.

According to a study released last month by Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce, low-income kindergartners who received high scores on tests of academic talent fared significantly worse when it came to graduating from college and obtaining a desirable entry-level position than 5- and 6-year-old children who performed poorly but came from families in the top income quartile.

I thought about that study Monday morning when reading Nick Hanauer's mea culpa in the Atlantic for his previous position on education. Hanauer, who donated more than $1 million to public education reform efforts in the past, isn't against improving public education. But, he says, he has come to believe that education is no magic solve for income inequality. American families are in increasing economic pain not because they lack access to a quality education, but because they aren't getting paid adequately.

“Our education system can't compensate for the ways our economic system is failing Americans,” he writes.

So why do we still believe otherwise? Well, a quality education is vital for a broad-based middle class. It's easy to look at this and think fixing U.S. education is the solution. But that ignores the other reality.

The children of the wealthy and well-to-do benefit not just from better-quality schools but also from an enormous support system. They are cushioned by a safety net of tutors and test prep, summer camps and the opportunity to pursue prestigious, unpaid internships. But when poorer children fall down, there is rarely a helping hand to help them get back up.

As Hanauer points out, the narrative that public education is failing, and that fixing it is the key to increasing income mobility, is being driven by some of the most moneyed and privileged members of our society.

Pushing the narrative that schools, if run “properly,” can provide equal chances to advance for all despite soaring inequality lets the top 1% off the hook for inequality – and leaves them firmly in possession of their funds, unless they would like to voluntarily donate to whatever cause or causes they choose.

Rather than acknowledge this, however, many of us tell ourselves that we live in a meritocracy and that better educational opportunities for all can give everyone a chance at success. But that denies the reality of our American aristocracy. The amount of nepotism and inherited privilege in our society is staggering. It starts at the top. Minus Fred Trump and his millions, it seems unlikely Donald Trump would be anything more than a huckster house-flipper. Minus Charles Kushner's multimillion-dollar contribution to Harvard University, it's impossible to believe Jared Kushner would have been admitted to its august campus.

To claim a faulty education is the main reason that many children are not getting ahead is, at best, to confuse cause with effect, and, at worst, out and out disingenuous.

Helaine Olen is a Washington Post columnist.