After "Locker Room Talk", Will Trump Call It Quits?

Unless you're living under a rock, I doubt very seriously that anyone hasn't heard of Trump's disgusting hot mic talk about women.  I don't think apologies are going to work and any fence sitters have probably shifted to Hillary because they had to be offended by his comments.  He should quit.  But, if he does, I seriously think Hillary would be in trouble.  Anyone else that the Republicans could come up with could beat her.  That's because, as terrible a candidate that Trump is, she is struggling to maintain a lead.   Hillary should pray that Trump doesn't quit.

Reference: Trump recorded having extremely lewd conversation about women in 2005: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html

Men's Incredible Loss of Earnings

For months now, Hillary Clinton has been complaining that women only make 77 cents on the dollar compared to men.  Of course, in typical Hillary fashion, the number is a distortion. It is only true if considering all of women's earnings; including part time pay.  When part time pay is excluded, for both men and women, the actual number is 83 cent on the dollar per the latest 2014 reporting.

What Clinton should be more worried about is the decline in men's wages since 1979.

Click on Image to Enlarge or Click link below

Based on the above graph from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women have done substantially better than men.  Actually, women only saw negative wage growth for those  with less than a high school degree.  Even so, their decline was 3 times less that of men. On the other hand, except for those with college degrees, men have seen their wages decline since 1979.

Click on Image to Enlarge

The fact is, that men made the most in weekly earnings in 1979 at $405.  As of the end of 2015, their earnings were only $380.  The lowest wage paid since 1979 occurred at the end of Bill Clinton's second year in office at only $348.


Reference:

Source of first chart: Page 5 of Highlights of women’s earnings i n 2014: http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/womens-earnings/archive/highlights-of-womens-earnings-in-2014.pdf

Source of second chart: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/LES1252881900Q
 

The Misogynist's Hatred of Hillary Clinton?

A recent link from the Drudge Report, brought us to a writer/cartoonist for the Sacramento Bee, Jack Ohman, who wrote this:

"In this year of political rage, one aspect that baffles me somewhat is the absolute, electrified, apoplectic, blurred-vision hatred of Hillary Clinton...I can only ascribe this Rage Against the Clinton Machine to misogyny."

Apparently, any hatred of Hillary Clinton by a male, is all because she is a women.  My guess is that we will continue to hear a lot of this same type of reasoning going into the Fall elections.

First, let me say that I'm no fan of Donald Trump.  But, I'm also no fan of Hillary and I have had decades to form that opinion.  So, I am an equal opportunity hater. My dislike of Hillary has nothing to do with her sex.  If a man lied and exaggerated on as many issues as many times as she has, I would harbor the same distaste for him.  Simply, Hillary has no record of accomplishments, and has clearly proven her incompetence.  Her failed HillaryCare healthcare reform in the 1990's is a perfect example.  For sure, our being in Benghazi without the adequate security of a U.S. Marine detail is another sign of incompetence.  And, the fact that we remained in that country after the International Red Cross and the Brits left over security fears is just another example. A failure that needlessly cost the life of an Ambassador and 3 others.

But, the real measure of the hatred directed towards Secretary Clinton is displayed in the poll numbers.  While Trump, admittedly, has high disapproval ratings with women,  Hillary, too, has high disapproval from those of her own sex.  In a recent poll by the National Review, 58% of women disliked Hillary.  So, what word shall we use to replace misogyny if women, too, hate Hillary?

References:

Why all the Hillary haters?: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article79165287.html#fmp

Hillary’s Woman Problem: Most Women Don’t Like Her: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433596/hillary-clintons-low-ratings-among-women

8 major warnings before Benghazi terrorist attacks | Sharyl Attkisson: https://sharylattkisson.com/8-major-warnings-before-benghazi-terrorist-attacks/

Colonel: Hillary Made Decision Not to Post Marines at Benghazi:  http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2012/09/14/colonel-says-hillary-clinton-made-decision-to-have-no-marines-at-benghazi/

‘Hillarycare’ Failed, but Hillary Clinton Reminds Voters She Tried: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/23/hillarycare-failed-but-hillary-clinton-reminds-voters-she-tried
/?_r=0

Why 'HillaryCare' Failed and 'ObamaCare' Succeeded: http://www.americanhealthline.com/analysis-and-insight/features/why-hillarycare-failed-and-obamacare-succeeded

Mary Anastasia O'Grady: Hillary's Half-Baked Haiti Project - WSJ: https://www.google.com/search?q=Mary+Anastasia+O%27Grady%3A+Hillary%27s+Half-Baked+Haiti+Project+-+WSJ&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Hillary's Bungled 'Reset' Button - CNS News: http://cnsnews.com/commentary/ken-blackwell/hillarys-bungled-reset-button

Feminist Camille Paglia: Hillary Clinton Is ‘Soulless, Incompetent’: http://thefederalist.com/2016/04/18/feminist-camille-pagila-i-think-hillary-clinton-is-soulless-incompetent/

Hillary Struggles To List Accomplishments At State - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMWZeLqwllY

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article79165287.html#fmp#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article79165287.html#fmp#storylink=cpy

Hillary Is Playing a Whole Deck of Women's Cards

In another attempt to garner the women's vote, Hillary recently announced another multi-billion dollar program.  This time to make child care affordable by capping its cost at just 10% of a family's income.  Since the average cost of child care is $11,666/year, the program could wind up being quite expensive; especially when you consider that it could be applied to multiple children in some low income families.  For example, a family with an income of $30,000 a year would only pay $300/year for childcare.  The taxpayers would pick up the remaining $11,366. 

At the same time, she would raise the wages for child care workers; making the current average of $11,666 much higher thus making the cost of the program even more expensive.  In addition, she would have the taxpayers pay for social worker visits during pregnancies.

If you go through Hillary's "Issues" page, much of her existing agenda is aimed at women voters.

Her promise to cure Alzheimer's by 2025 is primarily a women's health issue because women are often the caregiver to a husband or mother with Alzheimer's. She also promises to end campus sexual assaults.  In addition, she would have universal, federally paid, pre-K education for 3 to 5 year olds.  Essentially, this would be another form of childcare.  She would "Protect women’s access to reproductive health care, including contraception and safe, legal abortion" and insure continued funding of Planned Parenthood."  Then there's paid family leave that would primarily pay women for up to 12 weeks of pregnancy leave.  And, I'm sure not finally, she would erase the supposed gender pay gap, even, though the 1963 Equal Pay Act makes it a federal crime to intentionally underpay women; solely on the basis of their sex.

In my opinion, all this shows desperation in her attempt to get the women's vote.  In recent polling, 58% of women had an unfavorable view of Hillary.  This is certainly better than Trump's 68% disapproval in the same group; yet, you would think that the chance to elect the first woman president would automatically give her a stronger advantage than she's showing.  Her favorability among women is not as strong as it should be, and she knows it.  That's why she's playing one woman's card after another trying to shore up her weak showing.

References:

Clinton to propose plan to cap child care costs at 10% of family income: http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/10/pf/hillary-clinton-child-care-costs/

Hillary on the Issues: https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/

Average Cost of Child Care: https://www.google.com/search?q=average+cost+of+childcare&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Why Alzheimer's disease is a women's health issue: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9240002

April 4, 2016: Hillary’s Woman Problem: Most Women Don’t Like Her: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433596/hillary-clintons-low-ratings-among-women

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California's New Fair Pay Act for Women

Early in October, California's Governor Brown signed the Fair Pay Act into law. This is touted as the strongest law in the nation for equalizing gender pay in the State. Highlights follow:

• Women's pay must be equal for work that is "substantially similar".
• If not, women have the right to sue the employer for higher wages.
• Women are free to discuss pay and demand higher pay without retaliation.
• While employers are mandated to discuss pay with women employees, they are not required to disclose the actual salaries of any other employees.
• Higher pay for male employees is justifiable if based on merit raises, seniority, or any other reason that is not gender based.

For the most part, I don't think this law will change women's pay disparity very much.

First of all, much of women's pay disparity is based on choice of occupation, choice of education, and the exiting and reentry into the workforce for purposes of raising a family.  These things can place them at the back of the line of experience levels.

Also, because the law assumes that you have to know what someone else is being paid;  and in most companies, salaries are not published, the number of lawsuits will be almost non-existent.  Where that might be a problem is in three places:

Hollywood, Hollywood, and Hollywood. 

In Hollywood and the movie and TV industry, men dominate.  Of the Forbes 35 highest paid actors, not one is a woman.  Of the top grossing movies from 2002 to 2014, women only directed 4.1%.  And, the list goes on.  In fact, the Equal Opportunity Commission has launched an investigation on gender bias in Hollywood in general.

This presents an interesting quandary for the politicians that passed the Fair Pay Act.  Hollywood houses a major industry in California.  Is it possible that the film industry might move out in order to potentially avoid the hundreds of lawsuits that could arise because of the new law?  Who knows?  Also, Hollywood could just fold their tent and move elsewhere if too many nuisance lawsuits are filed against them.  A fact that would seriously hurt California's already-growing tax revenue shortfalls.

Lastly, where I think companies will run afoul with the law is in "help wanted" ads.  If a company advertises a pay range for a new job that is higher than a woman that has an existing and "substantially similar" job, this could cause a lawsuit to be filed. Companies would be well advised not to advertise pay ranges for that reason, even if the job title is different.  Basically, a law like this is a magnet for lawyers who know companies might just settle rather litigate; even if they are on solid ground.  Paying someone a few hundred, or even a few thousand dollars a year more, may be better than spending thousands of dollars to defend an equal pay lawsuit.  And, if lawsuits get too prevalent, companies will simply decide to move out of California or shut down.  Not good.

References:

California governor approves expansive new equal pay protections targeting gender wage gap: http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/10/06/california-to-enact-tough-equal-pay-law-to-address-wage-gap

Highest Paid Actors 2015: http://www.forbes.com/pictures/emjl45mmei/the-worlds-highest-paid-/

Study shows how women directors get blocked in Hollywood: http://fortune.com/2015/10/06/women-directors-hollywood/

Trump's Attacks on Megyn Kelly Just Proved Her Point

Megyn Kelley is a trained and once-practicing attorney.  As such, she knows how to bait people on the witness stand.  So, when it came to asking Donald Trump a question about his past verbal attacks on women, she knew full well how he would react:

As it turns out, that reaction was mild compared to what came next. A day later, when  questioned about the exchange, he described Kelley by saying she had "blood coming out of her wherever"; implying she was having her menstrual period.  Then he further disparaged her by calling her a "lightweight".  This about a woman who is the top ratings winner for news and commentary in all of cable/satellite TV. Given Trump's past history with Rosie O'Donnell, my guess is that Megyn Kelley will remain in his sights for a long time with even more verbal attacks to come.

Basically, her plan worked. He swallowed the bait and proved her point regarding his attitude towards women he doesn't like.

References:

Donald Trump's 'blood' comment about Megyn Kelly draws outrage: http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/08/politics/donald-trump-cnn-megyn-kelly-comment/

Donald Trumps Gross History of Misogyny: From Rosie ODonnell to Megyn Kelly:  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/08/donald-trump-s-gross-history-of-misogyny-from-rosie-o-donnell-to-megyn-kelly.html

Obama and Robert Gates Memoir: "Duty"

I didn't have to read former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' memoir "Duty" to know that Obama has been playing politics with the military from the very day he became the "supposed" Commander-In-Chief.  Almost every major policy change with regard to the military has been done to satisfy one or more factions of his political base.  From openly serving gays; to women in the battlefield; to tighter rules of engagement that may threaten the very lives of our soldiers; to cutting half the amount of surge forces in Afghanistan; to cuts in nuclear weapons and budgets; Obama has done nothing but weaken the best military on the planet.

But the biggest weakening of our military is the loss of the very "brains" that have made it a major force to be reckoned with.  In just 5 years, Obama has managed to "purge" a record 200 of the highest ranking officers and insure that another 167 never get promoted to higher levels.  All because those dedicated and concerned officers dared to question or comment about any of this President's changes in policy.  Of course, this purging comes from a President who hasn't fired a single, top-level person in his Administration despite the many scandals that have come to light under his watch.

Sadly, it may take years, if not a decade or more, to replace the experience and military acumen that has been lost due to Obama's failed understanding of military life and the decades of procedures that have been adopted to insure that lives are protected and morale is maintained.

Reference:

'Purge surge': Obama fires another commander: http://www.wnd.com/2013/11/purge-surge-obama-fires-another-commander/

Is Gloria Allred Planning To Destroy Romney's Chances Of Winning?

According to both Matt Drudge and the U.K. Daily Mail, Gloria Allred might be planning a pre-election disclosure that is intended to strike a lethal blow to the Romney campaign.   Definitely, she's done this before with Meg Whitman -- running for California's governorship -- and, most recently, with Herman Cain -- running in the GOP Primaries.   Knowing her typical Modus Operandi, I'm quite sure it all has to do with something in either Romney's or Ryan's past that is negatively related to a woman or women.  My guess is that she will trot out some supposedly-wronged woman and, she will do it just days before the election; insuring that there will be little chance for anyone to fact-check the claims.  Further, it will be done early enough so she can guarantee making the Sunday talk-show circuit so voters will be exposed to whatever her claims are; just before Tuesday's election.

If this does happen, I would seriously hope that voters will reject it for what it truly is: The dirtiest of dirty politics. 

--- Daily Mail: Republicans bracing for 'October surprise' as Gloria Allred 'prepares for Romney revelation': http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2220526/Republicans-bracing-October-surprise-Gloria-Allred-prepares-Romney-revelation.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Maybe Obama Should Be Sued Under The Lilly Ledbetter Act!

In last night's debate, Obama defended his record on equal pay for woman by constantly referring to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that he signed into law in 2008.  If you're not aware of it, the "Ledbetter" law extends the amount of time that women have available to them in suing over pay discrimination.  But, here's the problem with Obama even referencing that law.  The woman of his own staff are being paid "significantly" less than their male counterparts; as noted in this article that appeared in the U.K. Daily Mail in April of this year:   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2128513/Women-paid-significantly-Obama-White-House-male-counterparts.html

Maybe Obama's woman staffers should sue him in federal court for their lack of fair pay.  You see, as always with Obama, talk is extremely cheap.