RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2021/02/08/farther-along-or-the-accident-chain/?utm_source=recirc-desktop&utm_

“Is it a Good Idea to destroy midtown Manhattan because America had slavery 160 years ago? Or to promote the California wildfires rather than to “artificially” clear brush and create firebreaks? Are we humans capable of a logical and moral understanding of the past (history); or a practicable and rational projection of its lessons (economics)?”

How is it that California, with the highest taxes in the nation, is incapable of managing its forests, deal­ing with homelessness, educating its young, and, in short, addressing those problems for which its citizens are taxed?

Friedrich Hayek observes that taxes exist to fund those things everyone needs but that no individual can pay for. We all need streetlamps, but no individual can pay to electrify his city. Where did the taxes go, and why have we lost the will to ask the question?

Here we observe the great wisdom of the Prophets’ Tongue. I do not refer to Proverbs, or the Sayings of Solomon, but to the inseparable conjunction, the Hebrew letter vav.

“He came (y’vo)” and “he saw (y’reh)” are linked by the vav: Y’vo v’y’reh. The conjunction may mean and or but, which might cause and/but explain the ineradicable Jewish tropism toward ambiguity.

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/twenty-million-vaccine-doses-are-missing/

On the menu today: It’s the most mind-boggling figure, tucked deep in a Politico story on a Saturday: The Biden administration “is still trying to locate upwards of 20 million vaccine doses that have been sent to states.” Meanwhile, around the country, stories of vaccine doses being administered to hospital donors, boards of directors, and other wealthy not necessarily priority recipients start to pile up.

The Case of the Missing Twenty Million Vaccine Doses

On the campaign trail and before his inauguration, President Joe Biden and his team offered a consistent, bold, clear promise: They were ready to step into the executive branch of government and quickly increase the pace of vaccinations from coast to coast — even if the Trump administration had left a mess.

Then-candidate Joe Biden, June 30: “If I should have the honor of being elected president, on the day I’m sworn in, I’ll get right to work implementing all aspects of the response that remain undone. I’ll have more to say about my day one COVID-19 agenda in the weeks to come. But my response will begin well before I take the oath of office. It will start as soon as the election is decided.”

From the Biden campaign’s COVID plan: “Biden will be ready on Day One of his Administration to protect this country’s health and well-being.”

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/nine-n-y-public-health-officials-quit-amid-feud-with-cuomo-over-vaccine-rollout/

At least nine senior state health officials have quit the New York State Health Department since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, in part due to clashes with Governor Andrew Cuomo over his approach to battling the virus.

The senior officials who have resigned or retired from the state health department in recent months include the deputy commissioner for public health, Dr. Isaac Weisfuse, who left in late summer.

Following Weisfuse’s departure, the director of the bureau of communicable disease control and the medical director for epidemiology also left. Last month, a state epidemiologist also announced her departure.

Much of the tension between health officials and Cuomo stemmed from the governor’s refusal to rely on longstanding vaccine distribution plans. Cuomo dismissed vaccine distribution plans developed and tested at the local level over many years and implemented his own plan that involved tapping large hospital systems as distribution hubs, the New York Times reported Monday.

“The governor’s approach in the beginning seemed to go against the grain in terms of what the philosophy was about how to do this,” Weisfuse remarked to the Times. “It did seem to negate 15 to 20 years of work.”

The governor requested that federal officials to work only with New York state rather than with local officials in New York City, a decision that hamstrung the city’s efforts to set up its own vaccination sites, according to one city official.

Before the vaccine rollout dispute, officials related that the state health department was not heavily involved in decisions regarding permitting public gatherings and ordering businesses to shutter based on the spread of the virus in their areas.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/bidens-climate-change-orders-take-a-sledgehammer-to-western-state-economies-barrasso/ar-BB1dhErP

EXCERPT:

Biden’s unhelpful executive orders

We worked together to pass a historic, bipartisan environmental innovation law. It supports the development of groundbreaking technologies like carbon capture and carbon use, while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions from school buses, trucks, refrigerators and air conditioners. We succeeded in making sure these measures would not raise costs or cost Americans their jobs. 

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the law “one of the biggest victories to fight global warming in a very long time.” I agree. Free market innovation — not costly regulation — is the best way to address a changing climate.

We were successful in these efforts because we found common ground. Now, as the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, I’m ready to work with President Biden to solve our energy challenges.

So far, the Biden administration’s actions are nowhere near his unifying words on Inauguration Day. On Day One, the president signed executive orders to stop the Keystone XL pipeline and rejoin the Paris climate accord. The next week he halted new oil, gas and coal leases on federal lands.

These orders will take a sledgehammer to the economies of Western states without putting a dent in climate change.

A federal leasing ban would kill an estimated 62,000 jobs in New Mexico, nearly 120,000 in Texas and more than 33,000 in my home state of Wyoming next year alone, according to the American Petroleum Institute. It will also eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue that these states depend on for public schools, roads, water projects and other essential services.

In response to the Keystone cancellation, TC Energy has announced 1,000 layoffs, and the potential union jobs lost could be 10 times higher.

Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s nominee to be Energy secretary, even admitted at her confirmation hearing that some energy jobs “might be sacrificed.” Handing out pink slips will not unite red states and blue states.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/01/31/kennedy-center-received-270-million-from-congress-and-paid-their-president-5-million-since-2016/?sh=3d1baad236d6

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. disclosed that it has received $269.4 million in federal funding since 2016 – including $42 million in grants and last year’s $25 million coronavirus earmark that was mostly used for payroll.

Even during the 2020 pandemic, the Center grew their net assets by $3.3 million to $505 million. Since 2016, our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com found a $114.4 million increase in net assets – from $390.6 million.

During this five-year period, their president, Deborah Rutter, received pay and benefits amounting to $5.1 million. Peak earning years were 2018 and 2019 when she was paid $1.3 million annually. During the 2020 pandemic year, she cut her pay to $507,375, which is still more than the U.S. President makes at $400,000.

We reached out for comment and Chairman David M. Rubenstein provided this response:

“Deborah Rutter is at the top of her field and her salary is competitive with peers at the country’s largest performing arts organizations. In her more than six years at the Kennedy Center’s helm, Deborah’s vision, leadership, and artistic and financial results have exceeded the board’s expectations. Even before the pandemic forced a complete shutdown, she voluntarily offered to take no salary until further notice. Her outstanding leadership and dedication to the Center, both before and during the pandemic crisis, have proven that she is the right person at the right time.”