DeSantis calls the bureaucrats’ bluff Story by Jay P Greene

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/careersandeducation/desantis-calls-the-bureaucrats-bluff/ar-AA17jGOb

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has a plan for freeing public universities from the stranglehold of their diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucracies. Before DeSantis launched this effort, it was widely believed, even among those who recognized the dangers of DEI, that there was really nothing public officials could do about the problem. Just like the weather, it was simply something we would all have to learn to live with. Public universities were thought to be outside of political control, and academic culture was thought to be too committed to DEI goals. But DeSantis is proving that something can be done. His plan is likely to make significant progress in dismantling DEI in higher education.

DeSantis is showing that DEI is not beyond the reach of elected officials, at least not at public universities. In most states, public universities are state agencies, just like the Department of Motor Vehicles or the Game and Fish Commission. They may have their own boards of trustees, but those boards were created, and can be modified, by legislation, and their activities are governed by state laws and regulations. States can reorganize how public universities are structured to achieve public purposes better, just as they can reorganize the DMV. Lawmakers may alter the size and composition of the Game and Fish Commission, as well as the process for appointing those officials, and they can do the same with the boards of public universities.

Liz Peek: Bad news: Biden’s agenda will drive inflation higher

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/3851981-bad-news-bidens-agenda-will-drive-inflation-higher/

President Biden claims he is laser focused on combatting inflation. His policies say otherwise.

First off, there was little suggestion in Biden’s rambling State of the Union address that exorbitant federal spending – blamed by many economists for sky-high prices – would come down any time soon.  

In addition, Biden’s proposed Buy American program will drive infrastructure costs higher, just as it did under Presidents Obama and Trump.

Add to those two price-inflating factors Biden’s ongoing dedication to unionization, which drives up labor costs, his war on fossil fuels, which has discouraged higher oil and gas production, and his push to increase regulations on businesses, and the Federal Reserve will have its hands full bringing inflation down to 2 percent.

Biden has yet to admit the connection between spending and price inflation. In his speech, he again passed the buck, saying, “Inflation has been a global problem because the pandemic disrupted our supply chains and Putin’s unfair and brutal war in Ukraine disrupted energy supplies as well as food supplies, blocking all that grain in Ukraine.” 

See? It’s all the fault of COVID-19 and Vladimir Putin.

And yet, voters connect those dots, and blame Biden’s blowout budgets for the decades-high hit to middle class real incomes. Consequently, the president dishonestly brags about bringing our deficits down even though the decline is from emergency levels to still elevated totals. We are nowhere near back to “normal.”

In his speech, Biden promised his coming economic plan “is going to cut the deficit by another $2 trillion.” And yet, his address was peppered with expensive new promises.  

DEI Spells Death for the Idea of a University Wherever this agenda is allowed to take root, free expression and academic integrity are doomed. By Matthew Spalding

https://www.wsj.com/articles/dei-spells-death-for-the-idea-of-a-university-diversity-equity-inclusion-academia-college-hillsdale-new-college-of-florida-open-discourse-1d2ca552?mod=opinion_lead_pos7

The first object of government, James Madison tells us in Federalist 10, is the protection of “the diversity in the faculties of men.” By diversity, Madison meant different opinions to be encouraged to preserve liberty. Equity is an ancient legal concept of justice in particular cases, developed over centuries of English common-law practice. Inclusion simply means to make a part of, as in defining a mathematical set by what it does and doesn’t include.

All good words with respectable origins. Yet in true Orwellian fashion, they have been redefined.

Diversity is no longer a term to describe the breadth of our differences but a demand to flatter and grant privileges to purportedly oppressed identity groups. Equity assigns desirable positions based on race, sex and sexual orientation rather than character, competence and merit. Inclusion now means creating a social environment where identity groups are celebrated while those who disagree are maligned.

“Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”—the compound form of these modern concepts—is especially toxic. It divides us by social identity groups, ranks those groups on privilege and power, and excludes those who fail to honor the new orthodoxy. Rather than being equally endowed with innate dignity and fundamental rights as human beings—best judged by our character and not skin color—we are supposed to discriminate and confer status based on race, sex and cultural affinity.

Mystery Invasion Object of the Week This time, Biden wastes no time shooting down a flying foreign intruder.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/flying-object-alaska-shot-down-biden-administration-chinese-spy-balloon-1199de88?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

The U.S. military shot down what the Pentagon and White House called an “object” flying over Alaska on Friday, and what fresh interloper is this? The details were few by our deadline, but say this of the incident: The Biden Administration sure seems more awake to threats to the American homeland, no doubt informed by the blowback after last week’s Chinese spy balloon imbroglio.

The Administration on Friday wasn’t saying what the downed object is, where it may have come from, or what it was doing. The Administration said it became aware of the flying mystery on Thursday night, and U.S. pilots sent to take a look concluded it wasn’t manned. An F-22 fighter jet took down the object, which is roughly the size of a car, and it fell onto frozen water in U.S. territorial waters.

The Pentagon says the object posed a potential threat to commercial air traffic flying at about 40,000 feet, unlike last week’s spy balloon at roughly 60,000 feet. But that alone can’t explain the sudden sense of urgency. A Biden excuse for waiting to take down the balloon was to let the Pentagon track it and gather intelligence. A Pentagon official said in a hearing on Capitol Hill this week that another reason not to pop the balloon while it was over Alaska was to avoid a recovery in potentially deep waters or areas with ice cover.

But now the Administration is taking no chances, either military or political. The White House seems to have underestimated the bipartisan political anger at allowing a Chinese spy craft to wander over U.S. military sites for days before it was shot down.

“It’s a mess’: Messages to Southwest pilots show meltdown unfolding The airline canceled more than 16,000 flights over 11 days in December.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/southwest-airlines-executive-face-lawmakers-after-holiday-chaos/story?id=97002900

Southwest Airlines Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson faced lawmakers Thursday in a highly-anticipated Senate Commerce Committee hearing to answer for the airline’s historic holiday meltdown.

“Let me be clear: we messed up,” Watterson testified. “In hindsight, we did not have enough winter operational resilience.”

The largest domestic airline in the U.S., Southwest canceled more than 16,000 flights over an 11-day period at the end of December due to a combination of severe winter weather, staffing shortages and technology issues, the company said. Thousands were left stranded in airports across the country instead of at home for the holidays.

Lawmakers want the company to explain the massive disruption at Thursday’s Senate hearing, titled “Strengthening Airline Operations and Consumer Protections.”

“The American people have a lot of questions about the Southwest debacle in December that left passengers stranded or unable to be with loved ones over the holidays,” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Wednesday. “We’re going to ask for answers to those questions. I’m interested in hearing the pilot’s testimony that this debacle could have been avoided if Southwest had made investments sooner.”

New York vs. Florida, by the Numbers Some numbers tell a story about comparative governance.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-vs-florida-comparative-statistics-budget-medicaid-population-taxes-752ee7b6?mod=opinion_lead_pos2

Comparative governance is a useful course of study, not least because bad governance is so costly to people and prosperity. We often write about the migration from the Northeast to Florida and other states, but sometimes the contrast is best illuminated with some data.

Take a look at the nearby chart comparing some key indicators of governance in a pair of states that not long ago were about the same size—New York and Florida. As recently as 2013 the two states had similar populations, but so many people have moved to the Sunshine State that it’s now roughly 2.6 million people larger.

A Tale of Two States
Yet, believe it or not, Florida’s state budget as measured in the latest proposals from the two governors, is only half the size of New York’s. This is in part a reflection of their tax burden, which in Florida is much smaller. If Florida politicians want to spend more, the state’s economy has to grow more. New York’s politicians can raise income taxes, as they do with great frequency.

Florida has no state income tax, while New York’s top tax rate is 10.9%. In New York City, the top rate is 14.8%, while in Miami it’s zero. Any guess why Ken Griffin moved his Citadel hedge fund to Miami instead of New York when he was looking for an alternative to Chicago? Florida has a 6% sales tax, higher than New York’s, but New York City’s combined state and city sales tax is 8.875%.

Biden Tells a Deficit Fairy Tale Red ink soars in the new fiscal year as spending surges, despite White House claims.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/joe-biden-deficit-congressional-budget-office-spending-fiscal-year-11675979171?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

President Biden boasted during his State of the Union address about cutting the deficit by a record $1.7 trillion. His putative conversion into a born-again deficit cutter is belied by this week’s Congressional Budget Office federal budget report for January, which shows the deficit has doubled in the first four months of this fiscal year.

CBO reports that the budget deficit from October through January swelled to $522 billion from $259 billion in the same period last year after adjusting for a timing shift in payments. Receipts are tracking $43 billion lower than last year, mostly owing to reduced individual income taxes, while spending is running $220 billion higher.

The Federal Reserve’s remittances to the Treasury from earnings on its portfolio of securities have decreased to less than $1 billion from $37 billion. For most of the last decade, the Fed was a profit center for Treasury owing to the interest paid on its accumulation of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities. But now the Fed is paying higher interest on bank reserves. Meantime, net interest payments on U.S. debt increased by $58 billion in the first four months of the year.

Entitlement spending has grown by $76 billion owing to inflation adjustments and the Administration’s public-health emergency declaration, which has prevented states from returning to their pre-pandemic Medicaid policies. The Administration plans to end the emergency in May, but many people removed from Medicaid will be eligible for expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies.

‘Ticking bomb’: Palestinians sexually harass Israeli girls on public buses David Isaac

https://www.jns.org/ticking-bomb-palestinians-sexually-harass-jewish-girls-on-public-buses/

Many Jews in Samaria are afraid to take the bus. Arab workers, who are not Israeli citizens, have effectively taken them over. Jewish residents find themselves outnumbered 50-to-1.

The situation is especially dire for young women, who are subject to sexual assault. Hundreds of cases have been documented of the harassment of girls as young as 11. Despite a growing clamor from parents for action, little has been done.

Yigal Brand, director general of World Betar, a Zionist youth movement, lives in Havot Yair (aka the Yair Farm) in Samaria. He wrote an open letter on Jan. 18 to Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, who is responsible for civil administration in Judea and Samaria, and Miri Regev, the minister of transport and road safety.

“Thousands of workers every day use these bus lines (subsidized by the state for its citizens!!!!) that travel from central cities to Samaria,” Brand wrote.

He added that young soldiers find themselves alone on buses surrounded by Arabs and the situation can descend into bullying and harassment and could lead to a loss of life. He called on the ministers “to treat this ticking bomb seriously.”

Islamic Justice Prevails: Stripped Naked and Paraded in Egypt, Christian Grandmother Is Now the Guilty One by Raymond Ibrahim

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19368/islamic-justice

Her “crime” was that her son was accused of being romantically involved with a Muslim woman. Islam assumes the man is superior, and that non-Muslims must never have authority over Muslims. Non-Muslim men may therefore never court or marry Muslim women, although Muslim men may court and marry non-Muslim women. Why do so many Western women support this unabashed discrimination?

Several Christian homes in the village were also looted and torched during this 2016 riot, in keeping with Islamic law, or sharia, which prescribes the collective punishment of non-Muslim “infidels.”

It took the… local policemen more than two hours to appear, giving the mob of 300 “ample time”… to brutalize her.

Sadly, such is the notion of “justice” in many Muslim nations. Muslims, because they are part of the “right” tribe — Islam — are seldom punished when transgressing the rights of “infidel” minorities, who, in keeping with the prevailing sentiment, are apparently supposed to feel lucky to be afforded any tolerance at all.

Islamic “justice” — which usually finds Muslims in the right, and non-Muslims in the wrong — or rather, tribal justice, has, once again, prevailed in Egypt.

Not only have the Muslim men who stripped naked and publicly abused an elderly Christian grandmother been acquitted in a court of law; now she is the one facing serious legal charges to compensate her tormentors.

How to Combat Gender Theory in Public Schools Strengthen parents’ rights, regulate classroom instruction, and require curriculum transparency.Christopher F. Rufo

https://www.city-journal.org/how-to-combat-gender-theory-in-public-schools

As radical gender theory has made its way into public schools across the United States, children as young as five have been exposed to ideas that encourage them to question their gender identities, sometimes with life-changing and irreversible results. Despite Americans’ broadly shared skepticism about gender-identity curricula and practices in schools, many ideologically motivated teachers and administrators have not relented in their mission to advance radical gender theory, even in otherwise-conservative areas.

Among many other examples I’ve uncovered, in Illinois’ Evanston-Skokie School District, kindergarteners read books affirming transgender conversions; in Springfield, Missouri, teacher and administrator training recommends recognizing and affirming a panoply of student gender identities. Over 4,000 schools nationwide feature “gender and sexuality” (GSA) clubs, the national organization which calls for the abolition of the American judicial system and the “cisgender heterosexual patriarchy.”

Too often, teachers and administrators keep parents in the dark or pressure them into “affirming” their child’s claimed gender identity. Indeed, school policies often advise—or require—teachers not to share gender-related information with parents. Michigan’s Department of Education encourages teachers to facilitate students’ sexual transitions without parental consent. In Fairfax, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland, teachers are expressly barred from “outing” supposedly transgender children to their parents. The GSA Network instructs adult club “advisors” to keep a child’s involvement in a GSA club confidential.