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COMMENTARIES

Social Security Claws Backs $34K from a Disabled Blind Worker for “Overpayments” Going Back 23 Years!

Social Security Claws Backs $34K from a Disabled Blind Worker for “Overpayments” Going Back 23 Years!

Social Security sends out more than 2 million clawback letters every year. Why so many clawbacks? Simple. Social Security doesn’t have the data it needs to correctly calculate benefits for tens of millions of us. Or it has the information on day 1, but doesn’t process it. Or it inputs the wrong information. Or it mixes up your earnings record with someone else’s. Or it makes the wrong benefit calculations. I’ve seen all of this and more. More

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Dueling: A Gentleman’s Duty or a Nasty Habit?

Dueling: A Gentleman’s Duty or a Nasty Habit?

A recent scholarly paper perused two newspapers (the New York Times and the Richmond Daily Dispatch)  for duels reported between 1861 and 1865. They found 130 duels (over just five years!). Of these 130 duels, they write, “71 involve prominent figures, which we define as politicians, military officers with rank of at least colonel (Army) or captain (Navy), and other well-known private citizens.”[2]
Read the original article (and view the notes) on janetakesonhistory.org

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Charlotte Hawkins Brown: Education under Difficulties

Charlotte Hawkins Brown: Education under Difficulties

The year 1901 was not a promising time for Charlotte Hawkins Brown, a young black woman, to return to her native North Carolina and teach in a mission school. White supremacists had overthrown North Carolina’s Fusionist government in 1900. The new governor was proud of the amendment to the state constitution that had “the deliberate purpose of depriving the negro of the right to vote, and of allowing every white man to retain that right.” Schools were separate and unequal in spite of the 1896 Supreme Court decision that said they could be separate if they were equal.

Read the original article on janetakesonhistory.org

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Identity Politics Explained

Identity Politics Explained

Racism is the lowest form of collectivism. Ayn Rand once called it “barnyard collectivism.” Throughout history, it has usually been the handmaiden of every other form of collectivism. In the modern world, collectivists are no longer able to make a serious argument for economic collectivism (socialism, fascism, communism, etc.) So, they have resorted to identity politics instead. More.

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What Does the Left Have Against Au Pairs?

What Does the Left Have Against Au Pairs?

Au pairs represent a potential solution to two huge problems: the high cost of child care and the high cost of elder care. Young European women get free room and board, some spending money and a chance to experience America. So why does the Biden administration want to price them out of the market? More.

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Is There a Trump Health Care Plan?

Is There a Trump Health Care Plan?

Although he rarely talks about it, the most significant gift Donald Trump bequeathed to economic prosperity was deregulation. And the one sector that was deregulated more than any other was health care. Since Joe Biden has been re-regulating the economy, it’s hard to think of a starker contrast between the two leading presidential candidates this year – and it affects all aspects of health care. More

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Liberalism Explained

Liberalism Explained

In the early 20th century, they called themselves “progressives.” Then, they were “liberals.” Now they are “progressives” again. Early on, they embraced racism and endorsed eugenics. Then they became advocates for civil rights. Now they endorse racism of a different sort – wokeness. If you had to the describe the distinguishing characteristic of modern liberalism, what would your answer be? John Goodman gives a novel answer. More

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Social Security Reform, Part II

Social Security Reform, Part II

To get seniors to support Social Security reform, there are additional abuses that need correcting. These include: stopping the double taxation of senior income through the Social Security benefits tax, no longer forcing seniors to dissave, abolishing the Social Security earnings penalty, and ending taxation by inflation. More

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Obamacare Exchanges at Age Ten

Obamacare Exchanges at Age Ten

March 23rd will mark the 14th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and it is now ten years since the creation of the Obamacare exchanges. There are three ways to look at Obamacare today: in terms of (1) what the Obama administration said it was about, (2) what policy wonks thought it was about, and (3) how it really works. More at my post at Forbes.

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