Congress Passes the Social Security Fairness Act: Will This Reform Force Nancy Pelosi to Cut Back on Foreign Travel?

 Congress adopted the Social Security Fairness Act on Saturday. This legislation eliminates the penalty millions of public employees experience if they belong to a pension plan that does not participate in the Social Security system.

This reform will benefit school teachers in at least 15 states. In Louisiana, for example, school districts don't make Social Security contributions for their employees. Teachers are poorly paid, and many take part-time or summer jobs to supplement their income.

Even though teachers make Social Security contributions on their second jobs, their Social Security benefits are reduced solely because their primary employer is not in the Social Security system. The American Federation of Teachers estimates that 1.2 million school employees are penalized by this unfair exclusion.

This reform legislation will allow these teachers to receive the Social Security benefits they deserve when they reach retirement age and enable them to retire without becoming impoverished. 

The Social Security Fairness Act passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, and the question arises: Why did it take so long?

Fiscal conservatives in Congress fought the legislation because the cost would further strain the already financially strapped Social Security program. Indeed, according to the Congressional Budget Office, this reform will cost an estimated $196 billion over ten years.

So what? President Biden blew through twice as much money when he forgave $180 billion in student loans over his four-year term and spent another $180 billion on the Ukraine war. I don't hear many people squawking about those expenditures.

This is the new reality. Retired Americans living on fixed incomes are being squeezed by inflation. Forty percent of older Americans depend solely on Social Security to fund their retirement, and the average monthly benefit is only about $2,000.

Surely, we can all agree that modestly enhancing Social Security benefits for retired teachers is a good use of public money. If this reform forces the federal government to economize, there will undoubtedly be some wasteful expenditures that can be eliminated.

For example, perhaps it's time to end American support for the Ukraine war and for Nancy Pelosi to cut back on foreign travel in private jets.

Nancy Pelosi in Japan. Did she fly coach?

My deer stand is an all-night restaurant for wild pigs

If you've never been deer hunting, you may think the sport involves creeping around the woods looking for a deer to shoot. After all, that's how Robert Dinero did it in "The Deer Hunter."

Most hunters, however, hunt deer by luring them to a deer feeder that distributes corn and then shooting their prey from a concealed spot called a deer blind.

Battery-operated game cameras placed near the deer feeders aid hunters in their quest. These cameras are activated by movement and linked to the hunter's cell phone. Thus, a deer slayer can know the exact time a deer arrives at the feeder. 

Simple enough, right? 

In real life, however, hunting deer from a blind is much dicier than you might think. First of all, deer are not stupid. They're suspicious when they come across a deer feeder for the first time. They ask themselves, Who was the Good Samaritan who left this delicious corn for me in this woodland clearing? What's the catch? 

Over time, the female deer become less cautious and may visit a deer feeder during daylight hours, usually around dawn. 

Not the bucks—particularly the trophy bucks with magnificent antlers. Their mamas didn't raise no fools. They've lived long enough to grow impressive antlers because they're too bright to approach a deer feeder during daylight hours.

So when do the big fellas show up to munch corn? In the middle of the night when it is illegal to shoot them.

And the bucks often have company when they arrive for their midnight snack. Feral hogs are nocturnal creatures, and they typically appear with their relatives to vacuum up the corn with their ideally fitted flat noses. These scruffy beasts have terrible table manners and never learned to share. Over time, they will drive out the deer.

During my last deer hunt, I contemplated the habits of the wary deer and the cunning wild pig as I shivered in my blind in the pre-dawn darkness. I'm not really hunting deer, I reflected. I'm running an all-night restaurant for the nocturnal creatures of the forest. 

I hope they appreciate my generosity.

Feral Hog and Rutabaga Stew: It Tastes Better Than It Sounds

I wrote a while back that two young family members shot a wild hog at our Mississippi home, a sure sign that I am now living off the grid. 

The menfolk field-dressed the hog on the driveway and disposed of the guts at a top-secret location as a peace offering to the turkey vultures. The next morning, the entire family cut the meat into big chunks and put the harvest in the freezer.

Now what? Can we really eat this porcine trespasser?

My brother-in-law sent me The Hog Book by Jesse Griffiths. This encyclopedic volume is the definitive guide to hunting, killing, butchering, and eating feral pigs. 

In The Hog Book’s opening pages, Griffiths confidently asserts that all wild pigs are edible and some are delicious. 

Can that be true?  How can an animal so ugly and foul-smelling be good to eat? 

However, I have several friends who have killed and eaten feral hogs. They assure me that the small wild piggies are pretty tasty, although large boars should be avoided.

Our family’s chief outdoorsman, Charlie, prepared the family’s first wild pig meal: Feral Hog and Rutabaga Stew. I ate two helpings and pronounced it excellent.

Here’s the recipe:

• Season a pork shoulder with salt, pepper, and Tony Chachere’s seasoning. Brown the meat in a large saucepan with a bit of cooking oil.

• While the meat is browning, cut up an onion, two bell peppers, a large head of celery, and two rutabagas. The rutabagas should be sliced into one-inch cubes.

• Place the cut vegetables in the saucepan with the browned pork shoulder. Add two cups of beef stock. 

• Cover the saucepan with a lid and simmer the meat and vegetables over low heat for three hours or until the pork is tender enough to be pulled into large shreds with a fork.

Why the rutabagas? Unlike potatoes, rutabagas will stay firm through three hours of cooking. Also, rutabagas add a sweet taste to the stew and diminish the gamey taste of wild hog meat.

I have long been intrigued by the idea of shooting and eating a wild pig. After all, there are millions of feral swine in the rural South, and they’re all edible.

When the Apocalypse descends on America, as it indeed will, I'm comforted in the knowledge that I am surrounded by pork chops on the hoof. My family can eat humanely raised, locally sourced, hormone-free, wild-caught meat during lean times, while my ill-prepared urban neighbors will be forced to survive on ramen noodles and freeze-dried tofu.

Donald Trump is not a rapist. But you already knew that.

 ABC and George Stephanopoulos settled Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit for $15 million to be paid as a donation to Trump's future presidential foundation. Stephanopoulos said Trump was found liable in a civil case for raping a woman, which wasn't true. 

In addition to the money settlement, Stephanopoulos and ABC will publish a statement expressing regret for the error and pay $1 million toward Trump's legal fees.

Donald Trump is a nationally known celebrity and political leader, and the U.S. Supreme Court has laid down rigorous restrictions on defamation lawsuits brought by public figures. To prevail on a libel claim, a public figure must prove that the defendant acted maliciously by knowingly publishing a falsehood or with reckless disregard for whether the statement is true.

George Stephanopoulos is not the only person who has labeled Trump as a rapist. That falsehood has repeatedly been alleged on social media and in the legacy press. However, those allegations have probably been scrubbed from the web in light of the ABC settlement.

Responsible journalists who have circulated this falsehood should follow George Stephanopolis's example and publicly admit they regret their error. And perhaps an apology is in order--whether or not it is sincere.

Photo credit: NY Times

Americans aren't healthy: Let's give RFK Jr. a chance as HHS Secretary

 My great-grandfather, Jonah Fossey, emigrated from England with his family in the 1880s. He landed in Halifax and died at the age of 96 in Nickerson, Kansas.

Jonah's son, William James Fossey, moved to Oklahoma Territory as a young man. He established a grocery store in Buffalo, Oklahoma, and a cattle-hauling business and died at 92.

James Fossey, my father, grew up in northern Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl years. He joined the Army Air Corps before Pearl Harbor, was captured by the Japanese, and survived the Bataan Death March. Dad died in a VA hospital in 1999 at the age of 81.

I'm 76 years old, have two stents in my arteries, and suffered a debilitating stroke in 2022. A cyst covers the entire right lobe of my thyroid gland, so the ol' thyroid's got to go. I will be fortunate to live as long as my father and have no chance of living into my 90s as my grandfather and great-grandfather did.

Americans aren't living as long as they did just a few years ago; my family is just one example. The U.S. spends more on healthcare than any other developed country, yet we don't live as long as the Europeans.

Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. RFK Jr. is fiercely critical of our nation's healthcare system and food industry. Trump haters claim Kennedy is "unhinged." Froma Harrop, a reliable shill for progressive Democrats, recently published an op-ed calling him a weirdo, an idiot, and a fruitcake.

I say let's give RFK Jr. a chance. We are not a healthy nation. One in three American adults is prediabetic, and 40 percent are obese. We gotta do better; we gotta live better.

Speaking of fruitcakes. I ate a lot of fruitcakes as a kid during my family's bleak Christmas celebrations. Is that why a cyst is taking over my thyroid gland?

RFK Jr. Photo credit: Politico.

Why do Ivy Leaguers commit crimes? The sad case of Luigi Mangione

 Luigi Mangione was valedictorian of his class at an exclusive Baltimore prep school and received two engineering degrees from Penn, an Ivy League university. He could look forward to a rich and fulfilling life. Then, he was charged with assassinating an insurance executive in New York City.

Several years ago, Brittany Smith, a Harvard undergraduate, pled guilty to criminal acts in connection with the killing of a drug dealer by her boyfriend, who had been living with her in her Harvard dorm room. Smith received a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to five criminal charges, including lying to a grand jury.

Colinford Mattis graduated from  Princeton University and New York University's law school and had a good job with a New York City law firm. Last year, he was sentenced to one year in jail for firebombing a police car. 

All these young people attended Ivy League universities and had their whole lies before them. Why would they commit crimes?

I can think of three explanations. First, some people who receive degrees from prestigious universities believe they have elevated moral principles that entitle them to commit crimes. What would make Mangione think he was committing a righteous act by allegedly gunning down the father of two children?

Second, some Ivy League criminals may think the rules of civilized behavior don't apply to them due to their heightened social status. Brittany Smith was living with her boyfriend in a Harvard dorm room in violation of Harvard housing rules. Perhaps she thought that her criminal acts would have no consequences.

Finally, I think some people with Ivy League credentials delude themselves that a criminal episode is thrilling and won't affect their career projectories. It was probably fun to throw a firebomb into a police car. What could go wrong?

On average, people who graduate from elite colleges commit fewer crimes than the general population. Most are highly intelligent and acutely aware that their educational advantages behoove them to live by high moral standards.

Nevertheless, we should not assume that everyone who attended an Ivy League school is brilliant with stellar scruples. Some of them, like the rest of us, go astray and throw away all the opportunities that their college degrees afforded them.

Luigi Mangione

More Biden pardons may be coming. Don't be afraid to ask for one.

 Many progressive Democrats recoiled in horror when President Biden pardoned his son Hunter for every crime he might have committed going back to 2014. Old Joe took a lot of heat from the legacy media for breaking his promise not to let Hunter off the hook for his various high jinks, but Whoopie Goldberg of  The View stood by him--which is what's important.

In fact, the Hunter-pardon caper went so well that Biden staffers are thinking about getting the President to issue preemptive pardons to other Biden cronies to protect them from President Trump's vengeance. Biden's people floated the names of three people who might need pardons for the things they did to thwart Trump's agenda: Liz Cheney. Anthony Fauci, and Senator-elect Adam Schiff.

I have two problems with this notion.  First, pardoning someone for misdeeds because they might be vigorously prosecuted reminds me of the proverbial man who killed his parents and then begged the court for mercy because he's an orphan. 

Second, I don't think Biden has the power to pardon people for theoretical crimes for which they haven't been charged or convicted. It is true, for example, that Liz Cheney is an asshole, but that's not a federal crime for which she can be prosecuted.

I don't think Biden will issue preemptive pardons to political figures who haven't been charged with a crime. Doing so would only embarrass the people who receive such pardons, and accepting a blanket pardon would be an implicit admission of criminal wrongdoing.

On the other hand, I believe President Biden will seriously consider pardoning family members who have been credibly accused of profiting from a money laundering and influence-peddling scheme while Joe was serving as Vice President. If proven, these accusations could lead to serious jail time.

However, pardoning the Biden clan for unspecified hypothetical crimes would be risky. Millions of people would wonder why Doctor Jill and Joe's brother James need a pardon, which might prompt honest district attorneys to investigate.