Disqus - Latest Comments for jskdn

Re: In New York, Medicaid Is a Story of Fraud and Waste—but Also Political Largesse

jskdn — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 19:34:29 -0000

When workers can be better off working less to preserve eligibility for government-provided benefits, that makes for perverse systemic incentives. If valuable housing is one of those benefits (it isn't an entitlement), staying on the dole is extremely rationale behavior. Works less, live better.

"Workers competing in the marketplace grow more willing, perhaps even eager, to accept fewer hours, knowing that Medicaid already covers their health insurance and that earning more could push them above the eligibility threshold and leave them worse off."

Re: Harvard and Hegemony

jskdn — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 11:11:08 -0000

Elite true believers of the dominant left ideologies are unlikely to change their minds. But there a plenty of elites who can effectively argue against such ideologies. Enabling the non-elite masses to be able to hear these competing arguments is what’s necessary in a well-functioning democracy and that is what is lacking. The hegemonic viewpoint extends into the main stream media. We used to have a Fairness Doctrine that “required broadcasters to identify issues of public importance, decide to cover those issues, and then to afford the best representatives of the opposing views on the issue the
opportunity to present their case to the community.” (“Fairness Doctrine: History and Constitutional Issues” Congressional Research Service).

The Fairness Doctrine is gone. But the law that created Public Broadcasting says something similar. Public Broadcasting Act of 1967: “...with strict adherence to objectivity and balance in all programs or series of programs of a controversial nature”

I can’t understand why the sole, government-chartered, tax-receiving Public Broadcasting should not be held to that standard. The people of this country deserve to hear civil discussions on important public policy issues from the best representatives of opposing, widely-held viewpoints, head to head. PBS News Hour used to do that under Robin McNeil and Jim Lehrer. It’s now largely a woke-fest.

The First Amendment embodies the idea that the free exchange of ideas is crucial to democracy. Yet what we have devolved into are siloed media outlets where confirmation bias divides the country and shuts minds. I’d imagine that most people in the country, if asked whether their public broadcasting system should counter that with diversity of competing ideas, as opposed to the current identity diversity, would agree.

Re: What Drove “White Flight”

jskdn — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 17:34:01 -0000

Even if you had no problem with black neighbors in themselves, if the prevailing beliefs and consequential responses meant lowering property values, there was the consideration of getting out before the worst of that would happen. Of course lenders would want protection from that too, leading to red-lining and race restrictive covenants as barriers to insulate them from that risk.

I’ve heard stories about Realtors exploiting that phenomena by selling a home to a black family and then using that to convince others to sell.

Of course, none of that speaks to the actually deterioration of reasonable social norms in black-dominated neighborhoods, which is beyond the bounds of discussion for “right-thinking” person.

Re: Failing Grade

jskdn — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 15:01:38 -0000

I’m concerned that what’s termed civic education by the powers that be in government education is really about creating activists. Back in 2020, AirTalk on KPPC, now LAIST, had a segment called “With Heightened Polarization, Should CA Schools be Investing More In Civic Learning?.” It had Joseph Kahne, professor of policy and politics at UC Riverside, as he was part of producing a new report called, “Reclaiming the Democratic Purpose of California’s Public Schools.”

That was before KPPC killed Disqus, following a pattern of all “Public” Broadcasting. This comment I made was read on air:

“I’m concerned it might well become “Reclaiming the Democrat’s Purpose of California’s Public Schools,” given the common ideological bent of those likely to design and implement it. I actually would like a program that prepares students to think critically about society and government. But I am against promoting student activism as it usually represents commitment to a point of view that most often excludes further deliberation on issues. Not being willing and able to consider arguments that challenge people’s existing biases is a chief cause of the country’s polarization.”

Kahne quickly confirmed the importance of such activism.

Re: The Other Half of Our Immigration Crisis

jskdn — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 16:01:41 -0000

Why not simply require bonding to create a cost for overstaying a visitor visa? If no entity, including the visitor’s own government, is willing to bond, that should be seen as an indication of the likelihood of visa compliance. The cost of overstaying should be small for short overstays and grow exponentially. And since recording a departure is in the visitors financial interests, we will better know who is still here.

Re: Can California Be Saved?

jskdn — Wed, 24 May 2023 17:03:18 -0000

It’s not unusual that other states would be growing faster in industries where they trail California. It’s actually a good thing for the country to distribute better paying jobs away from places that are expensive to live, if you want the workers in those industries to reap the benefits.

Both the attractive physical attributes of the state and the existence of established highly profitable industries give the controlling Democrat politicians a long leash to do what they are doing, taking from the wealthy to curry favor among poor voters. It’s true a lot of middle-class people are choosing to leave the state but plenty won’t, especially if they didn’t have to pay exorbitant prices for their homes and have roots of family and friends they want to stay close too.

I don’t say that because I agree with the Democrat’s policies. But that doesn’t mean they can’t get away with them, especially since the influencing power structure largely shares their agendas. If we had media outlets that weren’t silo-ed and felt an obligation to present voters with viewpoint diversity, it might be harder for the state’s politicians to continue what they are doing. But we don’t and I don’t see the kind of movement that would change that.

Note: Change the following sentence as it is internally contradictory:

“Overall, California employs 695,000 more computer-related workers than any other state, including 250,000 more than Texas.”

Re: The Loophole That Sank Dodd–Frank

jskdn — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 12:19:19 -0000

Where people driven by fear of loss will react to the uncertainty that comes with extremely limited information of massively complex financial relationships and how other people will react, there is no effective check on systemic risk once it starts other than government guarantees of protection. Otherwise once panic sets in, it’s every man for themselves and cascading consequences. And has been proven in the past, it doesn’t just apply to banks.

Re: Are Public-Sector Unions Unconstitutional? | City Journal

jskdn — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 11:28:00 -0000

Labor trusts operating in the monopoly of government, with huge political might to choose the people they will "negotiate" with: what's the problem?

Re: Why Changing the Language of Immigration Matters

jskdn — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 18:06:17 -0000

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) uses the term ‘alien’ both with and without the modifier illegal. Alien means non-citizen. I don’t mind the term non-citizen despite the nonsense of trying to associate alien with extraterrestrial as denying aliens humanity. Changing the term ‘illegal’ is what’s problematic, as that really does, as intended, undermine the notion that immigration laws and respecting them matters.

Re: Opening the US to High-Skilled Immigration | City Journal

jskdn — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 11:41:06 -0000

For me, I would like to see a golden door for citizens to housing that wasn't an huge economic burden, a goal undermined by immigration-demographic-driven population growth unmatched by the housing supply.

Re: Opening the US to High-Skilled Immigration | City Journal

jskdn — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 11:38:17 -0000

I wonder just what respondents were thinking, or not thinking, when their overall attitude to levels of immigration don’t jibe with their views based on skill level.

Increase, Decrease, No Change
Over All Legal 21%, 33%, 41%
High-Skilled 50%, 13%, 36%
Low-Skilled 33%, 23%, 43%

Contrary to author’s claim, I hold that Americans show their lack understanding in the issue, which isn’t surprising since they are denied the opportunity to hear an honest debate on immigration.

Re: Opening the US to High-Skilled Immigration | City Journal

jskdn — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 09:54:57 -0000

“The Manhattan Institute poll, conducted by WPA Intelligence, found that more than 60 percent of Americans want legal immigration to be maintained or increased, while only 33 percent want it to be reduced.”

What a deceptive framing: the share that wants legal immigration to be maintained or reduced is much larger. Looking at the graph, it appears to be about 72% to 21%.

Re: Young Voters Backed Democrats in Midterms | City Journal

jskdn — Wed, 16 Nov 2022 10:47:55 -0000

The best mechanism for having a more balanced curriculum in K-12 is to produce one and make it free to use. The cost of doing so would be modest relative to the possible corrective effect. It, of course, must be excellent and honest. To get schools to adopt it requires empowering local voters and parents of school children. Those local efforts need to be well-informed and civil, mindful that how they are conducted will be used to thwart the effort. They should include the option to compare curriculum, demanding
the transparency that requires. Making those local efforts successful will require developing a network of advisors and trainers so that those so engaged have needed skills and preparation for what the established power structure will throw at them. If those opposed to woke/identity indoctrination aren’t willing to put forth an alternative with the tools necessary for getting it adopted, then I question their sincerity.

Re: National Service for Student Loan Forgiveness?

jskdn — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 09:54:01 -0000

Existing educational grants in Americorp already match than amount proportionately.

Full-time (FT) 1,700 (365 days for AmeriCorps VISTA) $6,895.00

Not only does that full-time not match that of most working people, saving almost $7 grand in a year is probably exceptional.

Re: Review of "America Challenged: The New Politics of Race, Education, and Culture"

jskdn — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 21:09:27 -0000

In 2016, California voters were not told they were undoing Prop 227 on the ballot or the petitions to put it on the ballot. So much for wanting informed voters.

https://ballotpedia.org/Cal...

Ballot title

SB 1174 (Chapter 753, Statutes of 2014), Lara. English language education.[3]

Ballot summary

The long-form ballot summary was as follows:[

Preserves requirement that public schools ensure students become proficient in English.

Requires school districts to solicit parent and community input in developing language acquisition programs to ensure English acquisition as rapidly and effectively as possible.

Requires that school districts provide students with limited English proficiency the option to be taught English nearly all in English.

Authorizes school districts to establish dual-language immersion programs for both native and non-native English speakers.

Allows parents/legal guardians of students to select an available language acquisition program that best suits their child.[3]

The shorter ballot label summary was as follows:

Preserves requirement that public schools ensure students obtain English language proficiency. Requires school districts to solicit parent/community input in developing language acquisition programs. Requires instruction to ensure English acquisition as rapidly and effectively as possible. Authorizes school districts to establish dual-language immersion programs for both native and non-native English speakers. Fiscal Impact: No notable fiscal effect on school districts or state government.[

The long-form, official ballot summary for Proposition 58 was identical to the initial summary provided to initiative proponents for the purpose of circulating the initiative for signature collection.

Re: The Hidden Transgender Consensus | City Journal

jskdn — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 11:47:55 -0000

On a basic point of language, it’s not gender-affirming but rather gender identity-affirming, with the later meaning an gender identity different from a person’s birth gender. To trans-form is to become something different.

Re: Will the Supreme Court Go Further to the Right? | City Journal

jskdn — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 13:06:54 -0000

There’s nothing wrong with prioritizing the enforcement of immigration laws. But the Biden administration is using the pretext of those priorities commanding all available resources as cover to shutdown enforcement outside of those priorities and to help facilitate such other immigration law violations. And if faithfully executing the laws of the country requires more resources, the executive branch should request those, not use it as an excuse to disregard laws it doesn’t like.

As to the other question, if states lack standing, we’re back to no one having standing to demand that immigration laws be effectively enforced, while standing for the opposite is widely available.

Re: Don’t Renovate NYCHA—Rethink It

jskdn — Sat, 24 Sep 2022 10:00:50 -0000

The Rental Assistance Demonstration program is a federal bailout by a different means. It takes buildings owned by Housing Authorities that failed to maintain them, and have adequate capital budgets for the same, from the rents received and turns them into federal renter subsidy projects that allow higher rents under different management. That higher rent stream from the federal government, sometimes coupled with other subsidies, finances the borrowing to pay for the rehabilitation.

Re: Nonzero (The Wright Show) - Aug 5, 2022 - Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus

jskdn — Sat, 06 Aug 2022 16:09:11 -0000

It's important to remember that Kansas voters had a choice between the abortion policy as created by the Kansas supreme court or a abortion policy created by Republican politicians who have shown a distinct inclination to the extremes. Had Kansas voters been given a menu of options on a ranked choice ballot, I'd expect we would have seen a more restrictive policy but one that most abortions would have fit into.

Safe from GOP extremism on abortion, Kansas voters can safely still vote for Republicans but that likely isn't true everywhere.

Re: Former White House aide’s testimony could pose new legal challenges for Trump

jskdn — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 12:08:15 -0000

This was the most serious indictment of Trump of any testimony so far. It showed how intemperate the man was. I had already long concluded as much. I still don’t know if shows that his intentions were to have mob violence, even though it clearly shows his lack of concern for anything other than his own ends. But that is who Trump seems to be. Even though people all around him of good judgement were telling him his notions about how the election results could proceed differently, he latched on to the few who told him otherwise, especially John Eastman, a constitutional professor, I assume.

Andy McCarthy concludes that this could be evidence that might legally justify prosecution of Trump, although he expresses some of the same concerns that Ruth Marcus did last night about the dangers of doing so.

www.washingtonpost.com /opinions/2022/07/01/hutchinson-testimony-changes-calculus-on-indicting-trump/

Re: Former White House aide’s testimony could pose new legal challenges for Trump

jskdn — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 11:50:12 -0000

This is the 7th Disqus comments allowed since the News Hour effectively removed the option in August 2021. With so few opportunities, those 7 have resulted in only 10 comments so far. It’s a shame because, unlike Twitter where the News Hour Tweets out the same article over and over again, comments on a specific article are in one place, allowing actual discussions to happen.

Of course Disqus without moderation can easily deteriorate. And that was certainly happening on the News Hour’s Disqus, even though there still were some who would engage in useful discussion. I have always thought that using those who proved themselves to comment productively, representing heterodox viewpoints, as first line moderators made more sense than having website owners try to do it all themselves, especially on a site like the News Hour’s with so many discussions to monitor.

Re: Unlocking Public Housing’s Value

jskdn — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 16:32:51 -0000

As I understand it (I’m no expert), the Rental Assistance Demonstration program allows the transfer of maintenance-neglected Housing Authority housing to non-profits or for-profit entities who turn them into Project-Based Vouchers (PBVs) or Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) properties, which creates a revenue stream to fund rehabilitation loans along with whatever Low-Income Housing Tax Credits or state and local grants they can obtain, as well as paying the management entities. This seems like an effective way of getting taxpayers to pay for housing authorities’ long-time mismanagement/neglected maintenance.

Re: A crucial effort to expand home internet access

jskdn — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 16:53:19 -0000

"broadband is ... a human right" What isn't is the minds of such people?

Re: Homelessness and Housing

jskdn — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 21:25:43 -0000

Jerry Brown on immigration and housing:

“In introducing Peña Nieto on Monday, Brown spoke about the interwoven histories of Mexico and California and nodded to the immigrants in the room, saying it didn't matter whether they had permission to be in the United States. "You're all welcome in California," he said.

• http://www.latimes.com/busi...

And later Brown said:

"There's a lot of resistance to changes, to density in neighborhoods that don't want density," he said. "In many ways, I don't blame them."

• https://www.kqed.org/news/1...

And there is the state's housing cost problem in a nutshell. (Meanwhile Brown retires to his newly built house on a vast ranch in California that he inherited.) It was quite evident that there was widespread opposition to development all over California decades ago. Yet in many of these communities, immigration, even if illegal, was welcomed without any consideration of the inevitable housing demand that creates.

Unlike virtually every person in a position of power, especially those in the media, I have argued for a quarter century that immigration policy and enforcement needed to be accompanied by a corresponding acceptance of housing development adequate to meet the housing demand created by immigration-demographic-driven population growth. A quarter of the state’s population are immigrants. The demographic stemming from relatively recent immigration is much larger.

Re: Mayorkas’ Leaked Title 42 Plan: Ensure Migrants Get ‘Any’ Way to Stay

jskdn — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 12:53:00 -0000

Do you think Biden and his advisors didn't know what they were getting when he hired him? While voters might well revolt if they understood what was happening, a media that shares the immigration agenda of this administration is not going to provide that. If anything, that media has attacked Biden for the opposite, which when done is only a function of trying to stop the political blowback that could come from what's happening.