A local union is cutting pension benefits

image credit: aarp

Yesterday, Jazz Shaw at the blog Hot Air reported (via the WaPo) on a development in Ohio:

In Cleveland, the Iron Workers Local 17 union has approved cuts to their pension plan to avoid having it become insolvent. The cuts will affect different workers by varying amounts depending on their individual circumstances, but everyone will be feeling the pinch.

. . .

The first thing to remember is that we’re talking about a private sector labor union, not one for government workers. The effects on retirees are going to be serious to be sure, but what are the other options? The union made promises to the workers which it wasn’t able to keep. This is a system which is much like any sort of general entitlement program in that it always requires growth, or at least stability. You have to have more people paying into the system than drawing out of it and if the numbers contract, the math immediately ceases working. (It’s the old question of how many people can ride in the cart as opposed to the number who are pulling it.)

[Shaw] pointed out the private sector aspect of this because the premise of the government guaranteeing these pension funds was always dubious at best. How is it that the taxpayers are on the hook for these shortfalls when the system becomes insolvent? I realize that’s not a solution, but the problem wasn’t created by the government in the first place and the taxpayers had no seat at the table when the deals were originally negotiated. But that’s not stopping Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who is still pushing for a federal bailout of the plan.

The problem gets even more complex when we look at state pension plans which are hung around the necks of taxpayers.

Read the rest of the report here. 

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Liberals, conservatives, and the American right VS the American left

image credit:  historynet

Dennis Praeger makes the distinction between liberals and the American left:

Liberalism — which was anti-left, pro-American and deeply committed to the Judeo-Christian foundations of America; and which regarded the melting pot as the American ideal, fought for free speech for its opponents, regarded Western civilization as the greatest moral and artistic human achievement and viewed the celebration of racial identity as racism — is now affirmed almost exclusively on the right and among a handful of people who don’t call themselves conservative.

. . .

How are those of us who oppose left-wing nihilism — there is no other word for an ideology that holds Western civilization and America’s core values in contempt — supposed to unite with “educators” who instruct elementary school teachers to cease calling their students “boys” and “girls” because that implies gender identity? With English departments that don’t require reading Shakespeare in order to receive a degree in English? With those who regard virtually every war America has fought as imperialist and immoral? With those who regard the free market as a form of oppression? With those who want the state to control as much of American life as possible? With those who repeatedly tell America and its black minority that the greatest problems afflicting black Americans are caused by white racism, “white privilege” and “systemic racism”? With those who think that the nuclear family ideal is inherently misogynistic and homophobic? With those who hold that Israel is the villain in the Middle East? With those who claim that the term “Islamic terrorist” is an expression of religious bigotry?

He concludes his column by sounding the alarm:

With the defeat of the left in the last presidential election, the defeat of the left in two-thirds of the gubernatorial elections and the defeat of the left in a majority of House and Senate elections, this is likely the last chance liberals, conservatives and the right have to defeat the American left. But it will not happen until these groups understand that we are fighting for the survival of America no less than the Union troops were in the First Civil War.

We all have family or friends who would identify as classical “liberals.” In my own family, after years of conversations, several liberal relatives have moved into the “conservative” column. We also have family or friends who think of themselves as liberals but who actually fit Praeger’s definition of being on the American left. So far, conversations with them haven’t made any difference.

Read the rest of Praeger's column here. 

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CNN’s inauguration gigapixel

photo of the Inauguration posted at CNN, 

taken about an hour earlier than the image at the links below

Stop the presses! CNN posted something useful! Here is the link to CNN’s  gigapixel of Trump’s Inauguration. You’ve probably been watching the endless blathering about how many people watched the inauguration, what time the photos were taken of the crowds on the Mall, etc. Well, this photo “gigapixel” is a composite of photographs of the event that allows you to zoom in, zoom out, drag your cursor to move around, and see for yourself what the crowds looked like.

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Our new President

The Daily Mail UK is often first off the mark with photos. Here's the lead photo of President Trump taking the oath of office, with First Lady Melania holding the Bibles. And click here for more photos and the report.

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Inauguration of Donald J. Trump

RSBN LIVE Stream: The Inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States 1/20/17 (h/t CTH Sundance)

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Democrats boycott the inauguration tomorrow

photo credit: mediatrackers

Adelle Nazarian at Breitbart reports:

At last count, over 50 Democrats have announced they will be skipping President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday, January 20.

The majority of them are from the deep blue state of California.

The full list is here. Ohio Representative Marcia Fudge is on that list. Cleveland.com article is here.

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Cleveland Tea Party’s Ralph King Goes to Washington

photo credit: washington.org

Cleveland.com reports:

Thousands of Donald Trump supporters from across the land will descend on the nation's capital this week to witness history when the billionaire businessman is sworn in as the nation's 45th president.

We spoke to some of the Ohioans who obtained tickets to the ceremony through their members of Congress.

Ralph King, Bedford: 

As co-founder of the Cleveland Tea Party, a delegate for the Trump campaign, and one of the representatives who officially cast Ohio's 18 electoral votes for the president-elect, there was no way that King would miss Trump's inauguration.

King says he backed Trump from the beginning because he's not a typical politician. He felt the rest of the candidates were "full of it," lying more than they told the truth.

"I couldn't give out enough Trump signs to auto workers and union laborers," recalls King, who works as a contract administrator. "They know they are getting screwed over by the Democrats and the Republicans want to kill them. Where do you go? To Donald Trump."

While he's in Washington for the inauguration, King says he's hoping to network with other Tea Party activists from across the nation, and attend a reception the Ohio Republican Party is hosting on Thursday.

We’ll want a full report with photographs! And we'll link to live-stream videos to the swearing in ceremonies on Friday. 

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