Tag: Good News

Another Good Example

Friends and Family, Gummint

…this time from the Hungarians on raising birth rates.  A couple of eyebrow-raisers:

Mothers can stay at home for three years after giving birth, with the first six months paid at a rate higher than their previous salary – they receive their full gross salary, not just the net amount.

Mothers under 30 are exempt from personal income tax, and mothers with two or more children pay no personal income tax for the rest of their lives.

Married couples expecting or having a child can apply for an interest-free loan up to €30.000 – and if they have three children, the loan is fully forgiven.

The government offers low-interest fixed-rate housing loans for families. In the case of three or more children, families can access up to €127,000.

The government also provides non-refundable financial grants up to €37.500 for families who move to rural areas.

Gotta say that as much as I’m approving of all this assistance, I’m not sure who pays for it all.  Then again, if you offset those costs against what a government might spend on illegal immigrants, then maybe the system will work.

The results so far, though, seem to be pretty good:

In 2010, Hungary ranked last among EU member states in terms of total fertility rate, but according to the latest Eurostat data from 2023, we have risen to third place. This significant progress is largely thanks to the targeted government family support policies implemented over the past fifteen years. As a result, since 2010, 200,000 more children have been born than would have been expected based on previous demographic trends. In parallel with the rise in births, the number of marriages has significantly increased, the number of divorces has decreased. Even the number of abortions has fallen significantly  –  all without the introduction of new restrictive legislation.

Wow.  And the principles behind this initiative are sound, too:

First, increase family incomes so that people have the financial base to start and raise families.

Second, support housing, because having a home is fundamental to starting a family.

Third, ensure long-term financial security for women. A lot of women would like to have families but they are afraid that motherhood would mean an existential risk. We built a safety net to increase the income (and the living standard with it) for women.

If you want people to do something, then subsidize it — especially if that “thing” is ruinously expensive through no fault of theirs.

I’d like to see the results of this in, say, twenty years’ time when this “baby boom” starts getting into the workplace.

But in the meantime, I’m impressed.

New Guy

Religion

I see that the fish-eaters have elected a new boss — a guy from Chicago, no less — and there ya go.

Ordinarily, I’d be totally indifferent to this event;  but quite apart from being an atheist, though, I was always critical of the new Pope Leo XIV’s predecessor because he was, to put it mildly, a Green Commie.

However:

Before being elected pope, he shared several posts on X that took aim at the Trump administration’s approach to immigration, including the controversial policy of separating families at the US border. In one post that Pope Leo XIV re-shared, the original author wrote: “There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all.”

Nope, yer Holeyness;  the shame is entirely on the parents who exposed their children to all this.

But still (from Wikipedia):

Pope Leo XIV has opposed the ordination of women to the diaconate. As a bishop, Prevost opposed the inclusion of curriculum regarding “teachings on gender in schools” in Peru, stating that the “promotion of gender ideology is confusing, because it seeks to create genders that don’t exist.”

Also:

In 2012, Prevost lamented that popular culture fostered “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel”, citing the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”

Sheesh.  If all the above is true (#WikiPediaIsAwful), and apart from the “Catholic” thing, those are things that I might have said.

So maybe the Catholic Church might become something worth belonging to, again, for those people interested in such stuff.  And devout, conservative Catholics — like many of my Loyal Readers — can stop being ashamed of their Church’s leadership.

Rough Justice

Good Stuff, Righteous Shootings

As Longtime Readers know, I’ve always been something of a cheerleader when it comes to citizens defending themselves against the predations of the lawless.  And of course, the concept of “righteous shootings”, so often celebrated on these pages, is very much part of that cheerleading.

But it’s not just guns.  Let’s go with this happy little tale from South Africa:

A raging mother beat a rapist to death with the help of an angry mob after finding her disabled daughter undressed at his house in South Africa.

The 44-year-old – who has been dubbed ‘warrior woman’ in her village – arrived home after shopping in Cacadu, Eastern Province, last month to find her 20-year-old girl missing.

Neighbors told her [the daughter] was last seen walking with a 65-year-old local man to his house and when she stormed in she found the pair in a state of undress on the bed.

A furious mob who had followed the woman – who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim – also entered the suspect’s small holding and witnessed the scene.

And the good news:

The mother was arrested and charged with murder but has now been cleared following a public outcry. 

I should bloody well hope so.

Here’s another story of a goblin getting what was coming to him:

Investigators say a possible intruder at home in Coweta County was mauled to death by the homeowner’s dogs. They say the resident returned home Friday morning and discovered a dead man on his front porch.  

An autopsy confirmed the cause of death as a dog attack. Investigators say the evidence indicates the man was inside where the dogs were located at some point but died outside the home.

I’m assuming that the “evidence” included bits of the intruder found inside the home.  And:

No charges are expected against the home owner.

Once again, I should bloody well hope not.

Here’s the not-so-good aftermath, however:

Authorities had seized the dogs as part of the investigation. It has not yet been determined what happens next for them.

I’m thinking they should each be given a tasty (animal, this time) bone to chew on as a reward — but that’s not the way to bet, because the dogs may well be slaughtered, just for doing their job.

And sadly, unlike in the earlier story, there’ll be no public outcry to save them.  Here’s a pic of our two Heroes:

Imagine the look on the burglar’s face when these two puppies ran at him… and if that visual doesn’t put a smile on your face, I can’t help you.

At Long Last, Choice

Education

Some excellent news for Texas parents:

On Wednesday, Texas finally passed a comprehensive school choice bill after years of trying and failing. The legislation could reshape the way the Lone Star State does education.

The state House vote followed a long day of deliberations that lasted well after midnight before passing.

The bill now goes to Gov. Jim Abbott’s desk for signing, and in case anyone has any reservations about his feelings on the topic:

“This is an extraordinary victory for the thousands of parents who have advocated for more choices when it comes to the education of their children,” Abbott said.

The Usual Suspects (i.e. Democrats) were against this bill, along with a couple of malcontent Republicans who (surprise surprise) were formerly public-school superintendents.

So instead of getting “free” education from state schools tied to their home address, Texans will be getting the chance to set up an education savings account (ESA) which can fund their kids’ education — and if their choice of school happens to be the home, that’s just fine.  Instead of funds going to schools, in other words, the money will be going to parents to spend on their kids’ education, at schools of their choice.  Some details:

The ESA proposal would establish dedicated accounts fueled by public funds that families could tap into to pay for education expenses. An ESA could fund private school tuition, support homeschooling costs or be used for other education-related expenses.

Families in private schools would receive roughly $10,000 per year per child. Children with disabilities would receive $11,500. Homeschooled students could receive $2,000, and homeschooled students with disabilities would be eligible for $2,500.

All in all, excellent news.  I just wish we’d had that option when our kids were of that age.  Instead, we paid taxes into a system that we never used, and had to fund our kids’ education out of our post-tax dollars.

This will go a long way to alleviate that problem.