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ITEM #1
Now voting: Non-citizens...
Just when you thought the radical left might have finally pushed as far as possible on the totally-insane-idea front, we get this news from John Fund, writing for National Review:
"Despite misgivings, New York City’s new mayor, Eric Adams, has rolled over for the city council and allowed more than 800,000 noncitizen residents to vote in future elections for mayor and all other city officials.
"Starting in 2023, the city will have to print separate ballots for city races, since noncitizens will still be barred from voting in statewide and presidential elections. But make no mistake. The new New York law is part of a nationwide push to blur the very meaning of citizenship and promote noncitizen voting everywhere and for all offices."
It’s only the latest in a long line of Democrat attempts to subvert election integrity for political advantage. As Fund reminds us:
“There are few limits on how far the 'woke' Left will go to change the rules of voting. In 2019, a majority of House Democrats voted to lower the federal voting age to 16 years, from 18. This week, Senate Democrats will try to ram through a bill that would nationalize elections by taking away the right of states to determine their own voting systems. Liberals will use any hysterical argument to justify this power grab.”
And of course, this week also brought President Biden’s repugnant speech in Atlanta to push the proposed federal overhaul of how Americans vote. (See Quin Hillyer’s excellent piece on that here).
Fund concludes with a perfect summation of what this is really all about:
“What is so unfair about the system we have now? The answer is that it doesn’t suit the blatantly political imperatives of the woke Left, and that is a key reason the reason noncitizen voting must be rejected.”
Quite right.
ITEM #2
This isn't working...
Another month, another round of dreadful economic news on President Biden’s watch. In a piece for Townhall, Katie Pavlich reports:
“Another disastrous job report dropped on Friday morning with predictions of new growth missing by hundreds of thousands. Economists predicted 442,000 positions would be created. The number came in at just 199,000.”
Even the normally dutiful mainstream news press couldn’t put a positive spin on this one. As Pavlich notes, “CNBC is calling the numbers ‘another big miss.’"
A level-headed administration might take note of this ongoing disaster, acknowledge its mistakes, and undertake a course correction. Alas, that is not the kind of administration we have today. Here’s Pavlich again:
“Meanwhile, the Biden administration continues to smother the private sector with burdensome regulations, including vaccine mandates which are causing a worker shortage.”
The solutions to our economic woes are no mystery. Lower Americans’ tax burden. Reduce onerous regulations. Preserve our free-market system. Eliminate barriers to affordable energy. Hold government spending in check. Protect basic liberties.
These are all steps the Biden administration, working with Congress, could take in order to rejuvenate our ailing economy and deliver prosperity for American citizens. But they won’t, because they can’t. Today’s Democrats are far too beholden to their far-left base to implement the sensible measures our country needs.
Remember in November.
ITEM #3
Because if there's one thing California needs...
California’s progressives have apparently decided to finally do something about the state’s tax rates, which of course are among the highest in the country.
They plan to … wait for it …
Raise them further.
Here is Jared Walczak of the Tax Foundation:
“A proposed constitutional amendment (ACA 11) in California would increase taxes by $12,250 per household, roughly doubling the state’s already high tax collections, to fund a first-in-the-nation single-payer health-care system. The top marginal rate on wage income would soar to 18.05 percent — nationally, the median top marginal rate is 5.3 percent — and the state would adopt a new 2.3 percent gross receipts tax (GRT), at a rate more than three times that of the country’s highest current pure GRT.
“All told, the new tax package is intended to raise an additional $163 billion per year, which is more than California raised in total tax revenue any year prior to the pandemic.”
ITEM #4
Cui bono...
And why is all that new tax revenue ostensibly needed?
The editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal pass along one reason:
“This week, California’s legislative Democrats revived their single-payer health care plan, which will essentially eliminate private health insurance in the state to create a government-run program ‘that promises access to any doctor, regardless of network, and a wide variety of medical services,’ the Los Angeles Times reports.”
And here’s the kicker:
“The plan would cover those who are in the country illegally.”
Read more here.
ITEM #5
Miami Vice...
Finally this week, here’s one you just can’t make up. National Review’s Caroline Downey reports
“Progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has developed a symptomatic case of Covid after vacationing in Miami, Fla.”
Wonder how that happened.
Oh:
“Last week, the congresswoman was photographed partying maskless at crowded bars in the city.
“Photos obtained by National Review showed Ocasio-Cortez drinking a cocktail with her boyfriend at a restaurant in Miami Beach on December 30. On that day, New York City, which encompasses parts of the 14th congressional district she represents, reported a record number of new Covid cases.”
There are too many absurd elements of this to list here, but Downey hits on the most striking:
“Throughout the pandemic, Democratic politicians have criticized Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’s laissez-faire crisis management as irresponsible. His policies yielded case numbers and mortality rates comparable to those of northeastern states with stricter Covid regimes and restrictions. While condemning its leaders publicly, some of these same Democratic elected officials have been spotted taking leisure trips in Florida.”
Now, to be clear, we wish ill health on no one. But this Democrat hypocrisy — imposing mandates and lockdowns on others while taking personal advantage of the freedoms allowed by the Republican Governor they most consistently trash — is a whole different kind of sick.
NOTABLE QUOTE
“Depressions and mass unemployment are not caused by the free market but by government interference in the economy.” ― Ludwig von Mises
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