Manny Pacquiao Concedes Defeat to Bongbong Marcos

 "I will definitely continue my mission to help our people ..." --Manny Pacquiao, PI Senator/Pro Boxer

Senator Pacquiao leaves office on June 30, 2022

"I know how to accept defeat," Pacquiao said. "But I hope that even though I lost this race, my countrymen, especially the poor, still win in this scenario."

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.

24Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. (Psalm 37)

Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao, Sr

LEGEND MANNY PACQUIAO CONCEDES PHILIPPINE PRESIDENTIAL RACE

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Are Pipelines Safe?

A consequence of the election of President Biden 😟😞 

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Study: Conservatives and a Meaningful Life

CONSERVATIVES BELIEVE THEIR LIVES ARE MORE MEANINGFUL THAN LIBERALS, STUDY FINDS (independent.co.uk)

A new study suggests liberals may spend more time seeking meaning in life than conservatives, according to the Independent

This is not the first study to conclude that conservatives are generally more content with life. In his study, Cape Breton University psychology professor Stewart J.H. McCann found a link between “higher conservatism and lower neuroticism.”

What is the meaning of life?

If you struggle to come up with an answer to the age-old conundrum, you could blame your left-leaning political ideologies, as new research claims that conservatives are more likely to have an established sense of their life purpose than liberals.

According to the University of California study, which analysed a series of surveys across 16 countries, those with liberal beliefs are more likely to be in a perpetual state of searching for meaning than their right-wing counterparts.

pc: independent.co

"Finding meaning in life is related to the sense or feeling that things are the way they should be, and that there is a sense of order," commented co-author David Newman.

"If life feels chaotic, then that would likely dampen your sense that life is meaningful."

Researchers examined data acquired from five studies looking at how liberals and conservatives rate their lives in terms of meaning and purpose in a dataset spanning four decades.

Participants were asked to rate their political beliefs on a spectrum, ranging from “extremely conservative” to “extremely liberal” and were subsequently asked to respond to statements questioning the extent to which they felt their lives had purpose such as “I understand my life’s meaning”.

The study’s authors accounted for religious beliefs when analysing the responses and still found strong links between those with conservative ideologies having a stronger sense of purpose compared to liberals.

However, Newman stressed the findings are by no means necessarily applicable to all.

"It doesn't mean that every conservative finds a lot of meaning in their life and that every liberal is depressed," he clarified, adding that there are a number of other factors which may influence a person’s feelings towards whether their life has meaning.

"These factors range from various personal characteristics such as how religious someone is to situational influences such as one's current mood," he said.

Newman was inspired to look into the links between political leanings and perceptions of a meaningful life after various studies claimed that conservatives generally boasted higher life satisfaction than liberals.

“Much of the research has focused solely on just one indicator of well-being, namely evaluations of life satisfaction,” he told PsyPost.

“I was a bit surprised no one had expanded the research to include other measures of well-being, and I am interested in learning more about differences between hedonic forms of well-being (e.g., life satisfaction, positive emotions) and eudaimonic forms of well-being (e.g., meaning in life).”

Newman added that further research is necessary in order to fully establish the links between conservatives and feelings of a meaningful life.

“A question that still needs to be addressed is why conservatives find more meaning in life than liberals,” he added.

“Our results showed that it can’t be completely explained by the fact that conservatives are more religious than liberals and religious people find more meaning in life than non-religious people.

“But the results suggest it is more likely related to social conservative issues (e.g., views on abortion and gay rights) than economic conservative issues.

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Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6 )

More Meaning in Life than Liberals

NEUROTICISM

Study of Conservatives

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Don't Touch my Kitchen, you Democrats!

Before our kitchen renovation, we had an electric stove.  We replaced it with a gas  stove -- encouraged by our Contractor and certain relatives.  I have yet to regret the decision.  Most of all, I like the fact that we CHOSE what we wanted with no hindrances.  Articles like this make me feel very nervous about having control-freak, know-it-all Democrats running our government offices.  First our stove, next each and every appliance. Give them an inch, and they will take a mile -- Heck, NO!!!

Kitchen Remodels Won’t Include This Feature for Much Longer - Domino Magazine

If you care about cooking, you probably have strong feelings about your stove—particularly where the fuel for the heat is coming from. Gas-powered cooktops are definitely the fan favorite among chefs (you have precise control over the flame, thus not burning your food to a crisp), but there’s a growing trend to replace them with their less-popular counterpart: electric. 

According to a new report from Curbed, more and more cities are targeting the use of natural gas in homes in the name of climate change. (The movement is an effort to cut down on the 560 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions released each year.) As it turns out, electric stoves are twice as energy efficient. So not only are they a lot cheaper to install, but they keep utility costs down over time. Studies also link gas stoves to poor indoor air quality and a higher risk of asthma.

Whether you’re in the middle of a renovation or simply in the market for a range, don’t let this news bum you out. While you might think electric cooktops aren’t as responsive, plenty of newer appliances feature impressively wide temperature ranges and can boil water in a matter of a few minutes. Plus, they’re easier to clean and provide extra counter space when you’re not cooking. And if it’s the visual cue of fire that you miss, some options, like Samsung’s Slide-In Induction Range, use LED surface lights to reflect virtual flames on the pot or pan. Your electric stove doesn’t have to be a big black box either. (Italian kitchen appliance manufacturer Fabita debuted an induction surface last year that can be hung up on the wall after use!) These stylish picks make a case for going a little greener: 

Climate Change & Your Right to Choose Your Appliances

Democrats' Next Target: Your Stove!!!

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Why I Rarely Vote for Democrats

 It begins with a look at the Democrats' historical opposition to women and blacks.

Next, is this horror ...

My dislike for the political party is not written in stone, but because of historical facts shown in the video above and their stand on abortion, it will take a lot for me to even consider voting for a Democrat during any election. BTW, I am a LEGAL Immigrant.  I LUV the USA and am very thankful to God for bringing our family here. 

 Judge not according to the appearance,

but judge righteous judgment.

- John 7:24

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US Economy: Tax Cuts Equals Explosive Growth

Tax Cuts Bust ‘Secular Stagnation’

By Mike Solon

The Wall Street Journal

July 29, 2018

“This explosive growth … should finally discredit three popular claims made by opponents of the President’s policies: that tax cuts would blow a hole in the deficit, that corporate tax cuts would serve only rich investors, and that secular stagnation was a valid excuse for the slow growth of the Obama era.”

Are low taxes key to a booming economy? Their success is harder than ever to deny after Friday’s report that the U.S. economy grew 4.1% in the second quarter, bringing the average quarterly growth rate during the Trump presidency to 2.9%.

The Congressional Budget Office reports that faster growth under President Trump has already added $1.3 trillion to the 10-year federal revenue projection, with the CBO’s April economic adjustment alone showing an addition of $1.1 trillion—the single largest growth-driven revenue gain ever reported. State and local governments can anticipate a similar dividend, amounting to as much as $600 billion.

The CBO now projects that additional revenue from this economic surge will offset 88.2% of the estimated 10-year cost of the tax cut. That contrasts sharply with the CBO’s assessment that President Obama’s economic slump lost $3.2 trillion in projected 10-year revenues during his last three years—almost five times more revenue lost than was gained by his 2013 tax hike. These results have confirmed again that weak growth is the fastest way to lose revenue and strong growth is the fastest way to raise it.

The next popular myth undone by the growth renaissance is that corporate tax cuts benefit only rich shareholders. Since the tax cut, the Labor Department reports that worker bonuses have hit the highest level ever recorded. The Commerce Department reports that wages and salaries are growing almost 25% faster under President Trump than under Mr. Obama. The recent tidal wave of customer rebates from utilities and cable companies also exposes the massive burden that high corporate taxes had been imposing on consumers.

Perhaps the most important narrative discredited by the economic revival is the “secular stagnation” excuse. Throughout the Obama years, progressive economists said Americans had become too old, lazy and complacent to achieve the growth that was regular before 2009. But somehow American workers overcame all of these supposed weaknesses when Mr. Trump changed federal policy.

-- via The White House

Above is the increase in my hubby's company stock valuation since the last valuation. Thank you, God! We are average-joe shareholders who now FEEL rich/richer.

The company-wide memo specifically mentions a few of the reasons for the positive change in valuation:

 " ... a strong stock market, good performance by comparable companies, solid global economic conditions and the positive effects of the recent change in U.S. Tax rates."

Tax Cuts Bust Secular Stagnation




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I want a RAISE

The Cotton-Perdue RAISE Act is a refreshing effort to help American workers by Robert Law

"Senators introduce bill that helps American workers." No, this isn’t a title from an article in "The Onion" but instead the most succinct statement to describe the work being done by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and David Perdue (R-Ga.). With great fanfare, President Trump and the two senators released a revised version of the “Reforming American Immigration for Strong Economy” (RAISE) Act, a commonsense bill that actually recognizes the American people as the primary stakeholders in our immigration system.

Since 1965, U.S. immigration policy has prioritized nepotism—extended family relationships—over skills. As a result of our chain migration policies, the U.S. hands out over 1.1 million new green cards a year with approximately two-thirds going to immigrants who happen to have a family member in the country, regardless of that immigrant’s ability to assimilate and contribute to the economy. For some perspective, that is the equivalent of adding the entire population of Montana every year. Just one out of every 15 new immigrants are awarded green cards because of their skills.

The results are unsurprising. Decades of flooding the labor force with low-skilled workers has caused blue collar wages to flat-line or decrease. In many cases, most notably construction, new low-skilled immigrants have replaced blue collar Americans, especially native born minority males. A few years ago, the nonpartisan Center for Immigration Studies found that an astounding 51 percent of immigrant-headed households (legal and illegal) rely on at least one federal taxpayer-funded welfare program, compared to 30 percent of native households.

For more than 50 years, our immigration system has worked without much logic. Cotton and Perdue's would now make it points-based. The RAISE Act scraps our current employment-based green card framework and replaces it with a skills-based points system. Nations like Australia and Canada already do this; it’s about time the U.S. followed suit. This merit-based system would award points based on education, English proficiency, job skills, age (meaning prime working age), and entrepreneurial investment—factors that prioritize those best able to succeed and contribute to the American economy.

If we can better select immigrants who are going to succeed in the U.S., we’ve not only helped them better themselves but have also bettered our nation as well.

The RAISE Act would also unshackle the chain migration approach that has operated as codified nepotism. A key component of this bill is limiting family-based green cards to the nuclear family, meaning spouses and minor children. If the siblings or adult children of a citizen want to come to the U.S., they are now going to have to earn their way in. Sensibly, the bill does allow U.S. citizens to bring in their non-citizen elderly parents for caretaking purposes, but they cannot access taxpayer funded services.

The bill has two other important provisions to restore integrity to our immigration system. First, it ends the visa lottery where the U.S. randomly hands out 55,000 green cards a year by arbitrarily pulling names out of a hat. Additionally, it sets an annual cap on refugee admissions at 50,000, consistent with a 13-year average. Combined, the RAISE Act is expected to reduce overall legal immigration to around 550,000 per year within a decade—a 50 percent reduction compared to current levels.

While Cotton and Perdue should be applauded for their work, the core of the RAISE Act is not a new idea. In fact, more than twenty years ago, President Clinton created a bipartisan commission to review every aspect of U.S. immigration policy. Led by late civil rights leader and Texas Rep. Barbara Jordan, the commission in 1996 recommended an end to chain migration, prioritizing immigrant admissions based on skills, and limiting overall immigration to 550,000 per year. Sound familiar? Clinton and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle fully endorsed the Jordan Commission’s recommendations.

Naturally, because this is Washington, those recommendations were never implemented. Now, after more than 20 years of maintaining the status quo, Sens. Cotton and Perdue want to finally raise the standards of U.S. green card policy. President Trump is on board and the American people widely support it, so will Congress finally rise to the occasion and pass legislation that serves the national interest?

Full Article: Cotton-Perdue RAISE Act

WH backs RAISE Act