Posts tagged as “Column of the Day”

If you have a moment take a look at The Wall Street Journal 's recent editorial: “It’s the Entitlements, Stupid.” Then if you have a moment more, read the op-ed by John Cogan entitled “Biden’s plan for an entitlement society.”

Some 57% of all married couple children would receive these benefits and more than 80% of single parent households would be on the entitlement rolls. This is not a safety net for poor people. This is middle class dependency. The range of eligible incomes would be as high as $200,000 dollars, running against the grain of American work ethic and what should be our opportunity society.

● Read in The New York Sun

● Read and comment here on The Red Line

The number of unemployment-benefit recipients is falling at a faster rate in 22 states canceling enhanced and extended payments this month, suggesting that ending the aid could push more people to take jobs.

Federal pandemic aid bills boosted unemployment payments by $300 a person each week and extended those payments through early September, but states can opt out before then.

Four states cut off payments as of June 12. Seven states followed with an end on June 19, and this weekend, benefits are expiring in 10 more states. Four more states will curtail benefits by July 10.

The number of workers paid benefits through regular state programs fell 13.8% by the week ended June 12 from mid-May—when many governors announced changes—in states saying that benefits would end in June, according to Jefferies LLC economists. That compares with a 5.7% decrease in states ending benefits in September. 

● Read in The Wall Street Journal

● Read and comment here on The Red Line

Can progressives win broad numbers of the Black and brown voters they say their policies will benefit most?

That provocative question is one that a lot of Democrats find themselves asking after seeing the early results from New York City’s mayoral primary this past week.

In a contest that centered on crime and public safety, Eric Adams, who emerged as the leading Democrat, focused much of his message on denouncing progressive slogans and policies that he said threatened the lives of “Black and brown babies” and were being pushed by “a lot of young, white, affluent people.” A retired police captain and Brooklyn’s borough president, he rejected calls to defund the Police Department and pledged to expand its reach in the city.

Black and brown voters in Brooklyn and the Bronx flocked to his candidacy, awarding Mr. Adams with sizable leading margins in neighborhoods from Eastchester to East New York.

● Read in The New York Times

● Read and comment here on The Red Line

In the 1980's Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping said famously, “Hide our strength, bide our time.” Today, Xi Jinping is asserting China’s strength, not hiding it. And he believes that China’s time has come.

Mr. Xi’s strategy rests on five pillars. First, he has moved aggressively to take back authority over every industry in his country. Second, Mr. Xi has established technological superiority as a core national goal. 

Third, Mr. Xi has upgraded his defense forces and extended their reach. The Chinese army is far better equipped. The navy is the largest in the world. And China is establishing a global system of ports to give its forces access all over the world.

Fourth, Mr. Xi is using China’s economic clout to extend its diplomatic reach.

Finally, and most ominously, Mr. Xi has deployed the full force of Chinese nationalism to support the reassertion of his country’s power and to complete its reunification. A successful effort to end Taiwan’s independence by force, once considered improbable, can no longer be ruled out.

● Read the full column in Wall Street Journal

● Read and comment here on The Red Line

As a retired investigator of the Major Crime Division of the Stamford Police Department, I applaud state Rep. Kim Fiorello for identifying the catalyst for the majority of sexual assaults on campus — drug and alcohol abuse, especially by underage students.

● Read in CT Hearst Media

● Read and comment here on The Red Line