A Few Friday Reads

 It looks like Missouri's abortion ban has been struck down by a judge.

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Equine obituary:  Top racehorse and successful sire Uncle Mo, 16, was sadly euthanized because he had suffered from a fracture in one of his forelegs, and the process of recovery was too much for this horse to endure.

Uncle Mo stood at Ashford Stud in Kentucky.

Snip:

Sent to the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher and ridden by John Velazquez, both now Hall of Famers, Uncle Mo drew immediate attention with an eye-catching 14 1/4-length domination on debut at Saratoga Race Course. The colt quickly became a grade 1 winner in his second start, again winning with ease by 4 3/4 lengths in the 2010 Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park.

He wrapped up honors as 2010's Eclipse champion 2-year-old male at Churchill Downs on racing's biggest stage, submitting one of the most commanding, dominating and, as track announcer Trevor Denman described it, overwhelming performances in Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) history, winning by 4 1/4 lengths.

For the record, the race in question:

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The U.S. Senate is still farting around--er, discussing or debating--repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset.  How convenient all this gets pushed back to the very end of the current Congress.

Meanwhile, the House finally has worked to avert a government shutdown.  Jesus Christ, I get sick of this garbage.

Edit:  ALL the proposed amendments by the likes of Rand Paul, Crapo, Cruz, and Grassley were defeated handily.  The repeal legislation is now being voted on.  It should--repeat SHOULD--pass the Senate.  It's about fucking time.

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It was after midnight EST, but the Social Security Fairness Act, which would repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision and the Government Pension Offset, just passed the Senate.

President Biden will sign it into law.

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Miracles Never Cease

 Today, the U.S. Senate invoked cloture on the Social Security Fairness Act with a vote of 73 to 27.  Tomorrow is the scheduled vote, and it is expected to pass and go to President Biden for his signature.

Repealing the Windfall Elimination Provision (the Government Pension Offset is also involved) will make a difference in my Social Security benefits.  The bill is retroactive to December of 2023, when this latest repeal was first proposed, so I should get around $1,400 in back pay.  I worked in Nevada public employment from 1999-2003, and then from 2005-2008.  Most of the former was in part-time work at a law library for Washoe County, while 2002-2003 was at a school district.  The last period was for a school district until I was let go in April of 2008.  My service credit for Nevada PERS was 5.04 years.  However, I did teach full time at a private school in northern Nevada, so I was still paying into Social Security, while at the same time working at the law library for PERS credit (and full health insurance benefits).  The years I worked and didn't pay into it were about 3 1/2 years total.  When I began to take my Nevada pension in 2011 at age 56, my original pension benefit was $300.41, which is fully taxable federally and in Oregon.  

In April of 2017, I started receiving Social Security benefits when I turned 62.  I had to do it, for this school district at the time employed me for less than 20 hours a week, no benefits but Oregon PERS and sick/personal leave.  I did work to about 29 hours a week, however, most years, because my principal then always made sure I got more hours.  That helped with the pension amount.  Three years ago (or four school years ago), I got moved to a school where I took a full-time, 35-hour-a-week classified (not certified) position, with full benefits, of which I am still employed today.  I get a fairly decent amount of income as long as I don't retire from the school district anytime soon.  Not nearly as much as I would have had I worked as a teacher (I probably would have made around $100,000 a year total if I had), but I can get by.  By the time I got Social Security, I had my benefit reduced by $119 a month because of the time I worked in Nevada public employment.  This left me under $800 a month total.  When Medicare Part B kicked in almost five years ago, my SS benefit was just $687 a month.  Having no more WEP will pay about 2/3rds of the Medicare Part B premium, and that will be a big help for me.

I am not alone.  There are some 2 1/2 million people  like me affected by the WEP.  We paid into Social Security, worked enough hours to get benefits, but got cheated out of the full amount under some ridiculous notion that because we worked in public employment, we have  "big pensions."  It sure isn't true in my case and many others.

Thanks to at least a decade's worth of work by public employees to persuade members of Congress to repeal these provisions, repeal has been a bipartisan effort.  This is the way Congress SHOULD be run and used to be run before the far right ruined public discourse and why this country is on the brink of disaster.

From a Facebook post by  outgoing Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, who helped spearhead the repeal effort in this Congress:

U.S. Senator Sherrod BrownNational WEP & GPO Repeal Movement

All-star contributor

  · sontreSopd1hu0l53m261g2a448305hg24c7if00m2gu2a624135hca3f59u  · 

WE DID IT. Today 73 Senators voted to move forward on our Social Security Fairness Act and restore the Social Security benefits you’ve earned. This vote is proof that your advocacy has worked.

You’ve called our offices, you’ve written letters and emails, you’ve contacted your representatives on social media, and so much more. We’ve heard you, and we’re making this right.

I’ve helped lead the fight to repeal WEP and GPO for 10 years, and it was an honor to stand on the Senate floor this afternoon and watch as so many of my colleagues joined us to restore the Social Security of America’s police officers, firefighters, educators, and public servants. There are a few more steps until it’s final, but this is a victory worth celebrating. And I’ll keep working until we get it to the President’s desk.

Thank you for being in this fight. When you love this country, you fight for the people who make it work.

Update:  After midnight EST, on December 21st, repeal did pass the Senate after several proposed amendments were defeated.  The final vote was 76 to 20.

President Biden will sign it.

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A Few Reads for Tuesday

 I have had family issues the past few days, so I haven't paid much attention to blogging or doing much else online.

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Feminism and antiabortion nuttery are incompatible.  When a belief system is that a woman must submit to a pregnancy no matter what, that means the woman isn't seen as human at all, which feminism does.

Note the mention of IWF's Heather Higgins.  Her couching the right-wing view of women in feminist terms is one reason why the "gender critical" outfits like WoLF and WDI-USA partner with these vile organizations and render themselves disreputable.  It should have been obvious that groups that do not believe Title IX should exist or are opposed to ERA are the enemies of women.

I give no quarter here.

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Equine Obituaries

 In the past couple of days, a couple of well-known racehorses had passed away.  Both of them were American classic winners.

Lemon Drop Kid, 28, died at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky.  He won the 1999 Belmont Stakes, a race where Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Charismatic was injured at the end of the race but survived.  

Blood Horse:

Scotty Schulhofer trained Lemon Drop Kid for Jeanne Vance, who acquired him for $200,000 during the 1997 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He hinted at tremendous talent at 2, when he was in the money in five of six starts. He won the 1998 Futurity Stakes (G1) and was runner-up in the Champagne Stakes (G1). At 3, he was victorious in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and followed his classic victory with a win in the Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. At 4, he strung together four consecutive victories in the storied Brooklyn Handicap (G2), Suburban Handicap (G2), Whitney Handicap (G1), and Woodward Stakes (G1) by a combined 12 lengths and earned Eclipse Award honors as champion older horse. He retired with 10 wins from 24 starts and earned $3,245,370.

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2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming has also passed away.  He was just 10 years old when he died from colic, which is an all-too-common, life-threatening illness of horses.  He died in Oklahoma, where he was to stand stud after being acquired from Win Star Farm in Kentucky, but he never had a chance to do stud duty there.

Snip:

Bred in Kentucky by Santa Rosa Partners, Always Dreaming sold for $350,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, and he was placed in the barn of trainer Todd Pletcher to race for a partnership that eventually swelled to include Brooklyn Boyz Stables, Teresa Viola Racing Stables, Siena Farm, West Point Thoroughbreds, MeB Racing Stables, and St. Elias Stables.

Always Dreaming broke his maiden in his third career start, and the first of his 3-year-old season, demolishing a Tampa Bay Downs maiden special weight field by 11 1/2 lengths. He then headed south to take an allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park by four lengths before acing his stakes debut with a five-length drubbing of the Grade 1 Florida Derby, clinching a spot in the Kentucky Derby in the process.

He and Lemon Drop Kid will always be fondly remembered.

A Few Reads for Friday

 Antiabortion nitwit politicians in Texas are trying to harass medical personnel from other states for providing services to Texas patients.

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Time to quash any talk of RFK, Jr. heading any kind of health agency.

Polio vaccines have literally saved millions of lives.

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Thursday Reads

 I ain't holding my breath, but it looks like the bill to repeal the Windfall Elimination Provision/Government Pension Offset will be put to a vote next week in the United States Senate.  It has already passed the House.  President Biden has indicated he will sign it if passed.

No, it won't speed up Social Security's "insolvency,"  because no federal program can be "insolvent."  It is a crock of shit peddled by right-wing liars backed by billionaires who own companies and who do not want to pay the employer's share of FICA.  It has always been about that.

I stand to gain about $120 a month if the WEP is repealed.  Think: I had something like one third of my tiny Nevada pension of then-$341 a month applied against my Social Security benefit.  Never mind I actually paid into the system and continue to pay into it.  

If passed and signed into law, it will be retroactive beginning December 2023.

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The UK has put an indefinite ban on puberty blockers for minors for "gender identity treatment."  I suspect the US will follow shortly if the USSC rules in favor of states banning it.

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Tuesday Miscellaneous

 Obituary:  Actor Michael Cole, 84, known for his role on ABC's The Mod Squad over 50 years ago, has died,    He was the last lead actor in the series.  Co-stars Clarence Williams III died in 2021 at the age of 81, while Peggy Lipton died in 2019 at the age of 72, so they all died fairly close to each other.

Cole from way back

It was a popular series and one of those shows that attempted to get more of a youth, urban viewership.

Snip:

Cole was born on July 3, 1940, and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. He never knew his biological father, and he, his older brother, Ted, and his mother, Kathleen, lived in his grandmother’s house in his early years. He said he started drinking when he was about 12 and got into plenty of trouble.

He dropped out of high school and at 16 married his girlfriend, who was pregnant with their first child, Candi. They had a second child, Jeff, before getting divorced before Cole turned 20.

After leaving Wisconsin, he tended a bar in Las Vegas, where got some career advice from singer-actor Bobby Darin, and came to Los Angeles. He was broke and living under freeways when he met acclaimed acting coach Estelle Harman, who saw his potential — “she recognized what was in there before I did,” he said in 2018 — gave him free lessons and let him sleep on a bed on the stage of her workshop.

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