RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2021-1-19-the-obama-era-war-against-the-economy-is-about-to-resume

President Joe Biden ran on gauzy campaign themes of return to calm and normalcy, or something like that. Certainly, he was never challenged by the media in any meaningful way to commit to specifics. But as Inauguration Day approaches, the details are now coming fully into view. In simple terms, Biden plans to resume the Obama-era War Against The Economy.

“War Against The Economy” is the phrase I often used to characterize the Obama administration’s economic policy. Make that the Obama/Biden administration’s economic policy. The year 2013 was the first full year of this blog, and was also the first year of Obama/Biden’s second term. The economy was entering the fifth year of the “recovery” that had begun around the time Obama entered office in 2009, but the “recovery” was notably lethargic and sluggish. In a post in December 2013 titled “Update On The War Against The Economy,” I had a thorough review of the Obama/Biden policies that attacked productive economic activity, and that I thought deserved the lion’s share of the blame for the economic doldrums.

Here’s the short version of subsequent events: Starting in 2017, Trump undid most of the counterproductive Obama/Biden policies. Economic performance returned to normal healthy growth, at least until the pandemic hit. Biden now proposes to re-instate essentially all of the most economically destructive policies.

For today, I’ll focus on my favorite subject, the area of policy known to rational people as “energy” policy, and to hysterics as “climate” policy. In recent days, Biden’s people have let it be known that among his first actions in office will be (1) rejoining the Paris climate accord, and (2) canceling the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Meanwhile, Biden has also announce prospective appointments to the EPA who can be counted on to resume the war against fossil fuels, beginning with coal, without regard to negative economic consequences.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/01/biden-promises-pain-matthew-vadum/

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., 78, was installed North Korea-style as the placeholder president of the United States of America on January 20, surrounded by 25,000 U.S. troops, along with hundreds of socially-distancing well-wishers in front of an empty National Mall populated with a vast forest of planted American flags to distract from the fact that no one was there.

How long he will last before Nancy Pelosi invokes the 25th Amendment to replace him with the predatory Obama wannabe Kamala Harris is anyone’s guess.

The speech came as the Washington Post admitted hours after militia members were charged in connection with the January riot that former President Donald Trump had nothing to do with the civil disturbance that delayed our Potemkin parliament’s certification of electors a few hours. This was, of course, the riot after which Biden, statist simpleton that he is, scolded lawmakers who thought they were running for their very lives for not stopping to put face masks on.

In the process Biden misgendered his own home state House member, saying he was “so proud of my congressman right here in the state of Delaware, Lisa Blunt Rochester,” for trying to distribute masks to other lawmakers during the riot. Reportedly, some Republicans declined the offer, prompting Biden to growl, “What the hell’s the matter with them? It’s time to grow up.”

No one needed to worry about riots in the nation’s capital, not only because of the armed soldiers and out-of-state police that occupied the city, but because the nonentity who blundered his way into becoming the leader of the free world does not inspire passion, except perhaps in the most radical precincts of the Left. While he enjoyed his first half-day in the Oval Office busily trying to erase the legacy of Orange Man Bad by executive fiat, mostly peaceful Antifa rioters marked the occasion in Seattle, Denver, and Portland, Oregon.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/regenerons-antibody-miracle-for-covid-19-11611270897?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

Three weeks ago my wife and I were toasting the New Year and giving blessings for the last. It was a year in which we welcomed our first grandchild, reason enough to be thankful. It was also a year during which we maintained our health, despite living, shopping, working and commuting in the heart of the city with the world’s worst Covid-19 death record. It appeared we were going to skate through the pandemic into the post-pandemic era without getting sick.

Then the coughing began.

After a long day at work, I went to bed early and kept waking up with a hacking cough. I rose the next morning feeling dizzy and achy with a cold sweat. I called my doctor, who got right to the point: “You probably have Covid; that’s the only thing getting through masks these days.”

Since I had a fever, I went directly to NYU Hospital’s emergency Covid ward. Although it was overcrowded, an unexpected calm prevailed. Several of the nurses and aides told me they’d already had Covid. Others had been vaccinated. More important, they said, they now have powerful weapons to use against the virus.

The weapon that interested me most was the antibody cocktail by Regeneron that has emerged from this crisis as a giant-killer. Once my test came back positive, I asked the nurses whether I could get the casirivimab and imdevimab drugs that night. They said it’s only given the day after you’re diagnosed. I also learned that despite Operation Warp Speed’s remarkable achievements in bringing drugs like this to the market quickly, there were still regulatory barriers to its distribution that seemed needlessly bureaucratic.