1) "Rob's No Albert Schweitzer"

If you're familiar with that famous line, or even if you know who Rob Petrie is ... you are probably an aficionado of the 1960s sitcom character played by the incomparable Dick Van Dyke on the Dick Van Dyke Show.

On Saturday, the comic genius, Danville, Illinois’s own Dick Van Dyke turns 100 years old.

That makes him part of a very exclusive group. Not for reaching the age of 100. That isn't all that rare.  What IS rare is that at 6 feet 1 inch tall Dick Van Dyke will be one of the tallest people in human history to live to 100.

Jay Jackson, who runs Abacus Global Management and a longevity expert, notes: "Based on extensive research, there have been only a few verified cases of men over 6 feet reaching 100."

We asked Jay how it is Dick Van Dyke is still singing, dancing, and even appearing in Coldplay music videos at 99?

Here's his advice:

• Exercise regularly. Van Dyke is in the gym at 99. What's your excuse?

• Practice good mental health. Let go of anger, hate, and resentment. They're literally eating you from the inside...

• Find purpose. Van Dyke stayed active in his career and personal life through his 80s and 90s because he had reasons to get up every morning.

• Cultivate joy. "I never wake up in a bad mood," Van Dyke says. Make that your practice.

Then:

And now:

Happy Birthday, Rob, er, Dick. Thanks for the decades of laughs and keep on dancing.

2) DeSantis Is De One

Earlier this week we at UP trekked to Palm Beach (yes, a tough job, but somebody has to do it), for a press conference with FL Governor Ron DeSantis.  We highlighted our new Vote With Your Feet website showing where people and money are moving to and from.

The Sunshine State is the big winner gaining a net 1.5 million people and $1 trillion of cumulative income over the past decade. The only other state that comes close to this infusion of cash and talent is Texas - which also has no income tax.  

Most of the inflow into Florida and Texas comes from high-tax blue states - particularly New York, California, and Illinois. DeSantis reported that for the first time Florida cities are seeing lots of license plates from California - and the refugees aren’t coming for the balmy weather.

Florida has no income tax and no death tax but still has the largest budget surplus of any state. DeSantis now wants to work with Laffer on a Prop. 13-style property tax cut and cap measure.

There are a lot of talented Republican governors, but it’s hard to argue against DeSantis as the best in class.

3) Four Repub Senators Surrender On Obamacare

A miserable development in the fight for fiscal sanity and common sense health reforms.

Four Republicans teamed with all the Senate Democrats to vote for a bill that extends supersized insurance subsidies without any reforms - no minimum payments, no income limits, and no anti-fraud measures. Just last week the GAO reported rampant fraud, but apparently that is fine with every Democratic senator.  The bill fell well short of the 60 votes needed to pass, but Schumer got his wish to show majority support for his terrible bill.

The four Republicans who voted for Schumer's bill were Collins of Maine, Hawley of Missouri, and Murkowski and Sullivan of Alaska. That puts them to the left of the Washington Post editorial board on health care reform.  

4) Utah Repubs Cave To Union Bosses

Earlier this year, the American Legislative Exchange Council’s “Rich State, Poor State” report rated the Beehive state the most business-friendly for the 17th straight year.  

But that ranking is now in jeopardy because the Republican legislature suddenly repealed a law they passed just 10 months ago that limited the ability of public sector unions to negotiate on behalf of all their members. It also barred public employees from being paid with tax dollars to do work for the unions, and required public sector unions disclose their spending

Furious union leaders promised to place a veto referendum on the ballot to undo the law. The head of the state's firefighters union proclaimed the new law would make Utah "the most anti-labor state in America."

No one knows what voters would have decided, but it's clear Republican leaders didn't even want them consulted. Governor Spencer Cox simply caved.

GOP legislators were worried that national unions would have poured millions into the states to defeat any legislator who had voted for reform. Only nine House Republicans and two GOP Senators voted against repealing the law. Shameful.

Hand it to the unions. Utah gave only 37% of its votes to Kamala Harris last year, but they intimidated Republicans into a humiliating about face.  

5) Chicago "Head Tax" Is So Bad, Even JB Pritzker Opposes It

It's hard to find a tax hike that the Illinois Democratic Establishment balks at, but Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson seems to have done it with his plan to start taxing businesses per person employed in the city, at a rate that has already increased once to $33, up from $21 in his first version of the plan.

We give Pritzker full credit for actually getting this one right:

"I am absolutely four-square opposed to a head tax for the city of Chicago," Pritzker said, to applause, during a talk at the Economic Club of Chicago. "It penalizes the very thing that we want, which is we want more employment."

But riddle us this. If Putzker knows taxing work and hiring is a bad idea, why does he keep pushing a progressive income tax?

6) The Hottest Christmas Present In South Bend, Indiana

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