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DECEMBER 31,  2022

I LOOKED FOR A GOOD PIECE TO RECOMMEND TO OUR READERS AS A YEAR ENDER, AND SETTLED ON SOMETHING BY MICHAEL GOODWIN OF THE NEW YORK POST, ONE OF THE BEST "TRADITIONAL" JOURNALISTS WRITING TODAY: 

Even to a jaded journalist, the New Year inspires hope that anything is possible. In that spirit, here are my three wishes for 2023.

No. 1 is Joe Biden announcing he won’t seek re-election. It would be the first thing he’s done to fulfill his pledge to unite the nation, with a decision to retire worthy of bipartisan celebration.

Biden is a bumbler, and always was, even before cognitive decline turned his appearances into spectacles. The big achievement of his tenure has been to prove the wisdom of two warnings about him.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates famously said Biden “has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades,” while Barack Obama cautioned nobody should “underestimate Joe’s ability to f–k things up.”

Unfortunately, Biden continues to be uniformly wrong and f–ks up nearly everything he touches.

On the home front, he’s been singularly awful, from helping ignite historic inflation to opening the southern border to virtually all comers. He has fanned the flames of racial animosity, done nothing to stop the crime wave and flipped energy policy on its head by chasing a radical green new deal. 

In addition to destroying good-paying jobs in oil and natural gas production, he undercut national security and energy independence. His push for Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to pump more oil while restricting domestic producers illustrates the incoherence. 

On the foreign stage, he consistently projects weakness, starting in Afghanistan, and our adversaries are carving up the world to their liking. The strong possibility the president is compromised because he shared in his family’s lucrative influence-peddling schemes casts a shadow over his policies and diminishes the credibility of the Department of Justice.

Still coming into focus is the extent to which his administration used social-media platforms to restrict free speech and spy on citizens. Thanks to Elon Musk’s revelations at Twitter, we already know this sordid effort was far larger than suspected.

Although the president’s defenders credit him with uniting NATO against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it is a fact that America increasingly shoulders the bulk of the cost, with Germany and others pulling their usual disappearing act when the donation plate is passed.

The claim of NATO unity is thus meaningless without all members having serious skin in the game, yet Biden doesn’t complain about the shirkers as he loads American taxpayers with more debt.

The prospect of his being in the Oval Office for six more years is inconceivable, and many of his supporters surely would be relieved not to have to defend his cringe-worthy behavior and Walter Mitty-like claims to bravery and brilliance. While there is no clear alternative for the 2024 nomination, the race begins as soon as Biden does the right thing.

An added plus of his departure would be the exit of Vice President Kamala Harris, a featherweight for the ages who makes Dan Quayle look like a genius.

The odds of Biden bowing out: 50-50.

Join the retirement party.

COMMENT:  Read the rest.  It is well worth it, as Goodwin announces his second wish, that former President Trump end his campaign for the presidency, and his third, that America have a press it can trust again.  Whether you agree or disagree, Goodwin presents his arguments in a thoughtful, civilized manner.  Unusual these days.

December 31, 2022       Permalink

DECEMBER 29-30,  2022

FADEOUT:  As 2022 drifts to an end, it is entirely proper that we pay tribute to those moments of highly educated insanity that have come to mark our times.  I find it moving, don't you?  From American Thinker: 

This is one of those stories that you’re certain is from the Babylon Bee, and that is stunning in its implications when it turns out to be the truth. In this case, the truth is that, in accordance with UN and WEF climate recommendations, the city of Oxford (home to the famed university) approved plans mandating that citizens may not drive more than 15 minutes distance from their homes without permission. It’s called the “15 Minute City” and is intended to reduce auto emissions. Mostly, though, it will reduce liberty, which is what climate change madness has always been about.

In many ways, the 15 Minute City (which the WEF and UN approvingly tout) is an old, unexceptional idea: Even in big cities, people like vibrant neighborhoods that allow them to travel very short distances (walking, riding a bike, or driving) to fulfill their daily needs (food, clothing, haircuts, etc.). Indeed, there are lots of people who pick homes based on their proximity to amenities. They don’t want to spend their lives in their cars or on public transportation chasing from one thing to another. And that’s fine. Making choices based on lifestyle preferences is a perfectly sound, market-based way to go through life.

But the marketplace is not what globalists want. They want control. Certainly, that’s the case in and around Oxford, England. Word is trickling into America that both the leftist Oxfordshire County Council and the Oxford City Council have plans. Big plans.

… Oxfordshire County Council, which is run by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, wants to divide the city of Oxford into six ‘15 minute’ districts. In these districts, it is said, most household essentials will be accessible by a quarter-of-an-hour walk or bike ride, and so residents will have no need for a car.

On the surface, these 15-minute neigbourhoods might sound pleasant and convenient. But there is a coercive edge. The council plans to cut car use and traffic congestion by placing strict rules on car journeys. Under the new proposals, if any of Oxford’s 150,000 residents drives outside of their designated district more than 100 days a year, he or she could be fined £70.

Run by a Labour administration, Oxford City Council takes a similar line.
Since Spiked wrote the above, the Oxford City Council went from theory to fact by a council vote on November 29 to implement trial traffic filters as of January 2024 that will require residents to get permission to leave their neighborhoods, all in the name of saving the planet:

Oxfordshire County Council yesterday approved plans to lock residents into one of six zones to 'save the planet' from global warming. The latest stage in the '15 minute city' agenda is to place electronic gates on key roads in and out of the city, confining residents to their own neighbourhoods.

Under the new scheme if residents want to leave their zone they will need permission from the Council who gets to decide who is worthy of freedom and who isn't. Under the new scheme residents will be allowed to leave their zone a maximum of 100 days per year, but in order to even gain this every resident will have to register their car details with the council who will then track their movements via smart cameras round the city.

COMMENT:  Coming soon from a Democratic city council near you.   It's such fun to run other people's lives.  And what exciting ideas are next?  I don't know, but I'd imagine that some enterprising Democrat (oops, can't say that)...uh, some Democrat seeking diversity, will propose that the color schemes of cars be regulated to insure that all colors have an equal right to be represented on a woke city's roads.  I personally am outraged when I travel on a road and don't see a generous number of black-and-white cars.  We all know what that is. 

We'll improve this society.

December 30, 2022       Permalink

I LOVE IT, I LOVE IT, WHEN A GOOD GUY SOUNDS OFF:  In this case the good guy is one of the founders of Home Depot, and he has a serious warning for us.  From Daily Mail:

'Nobody works. Nobody gives a damn': Billionaire Home Depot co-founder, 93, blames socialism for destroying capitalism - as he slams Biden, 'woke people' and Harvard grads for putting obstacles in the way of entrepreneurial success

The co-founder of Home Depot slammed 'woke people,' said nobody wants to work anymore and called Joe Biden 'the worst president in history' for putting obstacles in the way of entrepreneurial success.

Bernie Marcus, 93, believes that the success the company he began with Arthur Blank in 1978 couldn't happen today. 

He said: 'We would end up with 15, 16 stores. I don’t know that we could go further' because of people standing in the way of the business community.

Marcus added that he's worried about capitalism and said thanks to socialism, 'nobody works. Nobody gives a damn. ‘Just give it to me. Send me money. I don’t want to work - I’m too lazy, I’m too fat, I’m too stupid.'

A vocal Donald Trump supporter and member of the White House reopening task force during COVID, Marcus said he's given money to both Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump's potential rival for the 2024 GOP nomination. 

He said: 'It’s going to be very interesting in ‘24 because I think that DeSantis will challenge him. And may the better man win.'

Marcus was unequivocal, however, in calling Joe Biden 'the worst president in the history of this country' saying that 'we used to have free speech here.' 

'We don’t have it,' he said. 'The woke people have taken over the world.'

He also listed human resources executives, government bureaucrats, socialists, Harvard graduates, MBAs, Harvard MBAs, lawyers and accountants as the obstacles to entrepreneurial success in 2022. 

Bernie Marcus, 93, cited Biden and many others as reasons that the success the company he began with Arthur Blank in 1978 couldn't happen today

Home Depot has 2,300 stores across North America, a market capitalization of $300-billion and an annual revenue of more than $150-billion, according to Financial Times.  

Marcus cites his charity, having joined the Gates family's and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, promising to donate at least half his fortune to good causes, as how he gives back.
He also backed the construction of the Georgia Aquarium and has given $2-billion to over 500 organizations through the Marcus Foundation.  

The Marcus Foundation has also donated to autism, stem cells, cancer, stroke and military veterans' PTSD causes.  

In 2019, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 'I want to live to be 100 because I want to be in a position to give it away to those things that I really believe in.

'I've got all the houses I need. I live very well. My kids are taken care of. Everything I live for now is finding the right things to put my money into and that can give me a rate of return in emotion and doing good things for this world.'

COMMENT:  As I said, one of the good guys, and he's right in citing the obstacles placed in the way of today's entrepreneurs.  They are placed by people who've turned to socialism, a failed system that can destroy what this country has built.

Please note that Marcus does not shy away from naming universities as among the offenders, the institutions holding America back.  We're now hearing this more and more.  A revolt is building, similar to the parents' revolt in Virginia.  Colleges that once were seen as beyond reproach are facing well-deserved skeptism. 

In 1948 Yale announced that it was trying to develop a curriculum as good as its reputation.  I think they're still working on it.

December 29, 2022       Permalink