The View from Right Field

People in Illinois Are Going to Have to Pay More Taxes – Except Guess Who

Solving Illinois’s budget problems is going to take sacrifices by everyone.  Illinois has been spending more than it takes in for a long time.  At some point, Illinois is going to have to take in more than it spends.  It’s just the way it is.

There is one group, however, who won’t have to pay higher taxes to pay all of Illinois’s unpaid bills: retired public school teachers and public employees.

Donald Trump: Will the Embarrassment Ever End?

After the terror attack in London Saturday night, President Trump tweeted the following:

“At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!’”

Except, here is what London Mayor Sadiq Khan actually said:

“Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days.  No reason to be alarmed.  One of the things the police, all of us need to do is make sure we're as safe as we possibly can be.”

The Upcoming British Election, June 8: Whither the Right?

We just returned from 3½ weeks in England and Wales.  In a somewhat amusing turn of events, after spending almost all 2016 watching the Chicago Cubs instead of the presidential campaign, we wound up in Great Britain during their 2017 Parliamentary campaign.  We even watched a debate among the leaders of the less important parties (the Tory and Labour leaders didn’t show up).  The day after the debate we were talking to a couple form Derbyshire, and they said that while they watched our Presidential debates last fall, they didn’t watch their own debates the previous night.  For us it was the opposite.  I guess it’s easier to watch somebody else’s mess than your own.

The British Prime Minister, Conservative Theresa May, called the election early in an attempt to get an increased majority in the House of Commons.  By getting a bigger majority, she hoped to not as constrained in the Brexit negotiations by the more extreme members of her party.  (Paul Ryan could probably sympathize.)  And while she started the campaign with a huge lead, it has steadily dropped as the campaign has progressed.