"Under union pressure, Democrats have provided an $86 billion bailout for union pensions in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill the House passed Wednesday.

"The American Rescue Plan legislation, which reflects the Biden stimulus plan unveiled in January, includes $86 billion for struggling union-managed pensions. Ahead of the Biden inauguration, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters was pressuring Democrats to provide the pension funding.

"In September, Democrats were advocating for passage of the $3 trillion HEROES Act, a coronavirus stimulus bill. Republicans were critical of the bill, arguing that some of the funding would be used for a pension bailout unrelated to COVID-19.

"'Democrats think they smell an opening they have wanted for years, to make Uncle Sam bail out decades of mismanagement and broken policies in places like New York, New Jersey and California,' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had said."

"With the rise of gig economy jobs such as driving for Uber and other forms of independent work enabled by the digital era, more than 57 million Americans now work as freelancers in some capacity. But President Biden just endorsed a radical labor law that endangers their livelihood.

"House Democrats recently reintroduced the PRO Act, which, among many sweeping reforms, would make many commonplace forms of independent contractor (freelance) arrangements illegal. It's based on a California law that was so dysfunctional even voters in the very blue state voted to change it.

"'The Administration strongly encourages the House to pass [the PRO Act] and looks forward to working with the Congress to enact this critical legislation that safeguards workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively,' the White House said in a statement on Monday. 'The PRO Act will strengthen our democracy and advance dignity in the workplace.'

"Far from 'advancing dignity,' in reality, this law would strip millions of their income. ...

"The president is really just doing the bidding of labor union officials who want to outlaw competition to their traditional business model. So, yes, Biden's latest endorsement might make union officials happy -- but there's nothing pro-labor about it all."

Read entire article here.

"A coalition of 12 states has lodged a lawsuit against the Biden administration over an executive order.

"State attorneys general from Missouri, Arkansas, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah are involved in the suit, which pertains to Biden's order titled 'Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis.'

"The legal challenge alleges that the presidential administration lacked authority to put out binding numbers for greenhouse gases' social costs to be utilized in federal regulations and that the potential stringency of regulations that might stem from the order would have a significant economic impact throughout the nation, according to a press release.

"'If the Executive Order stands, it will inflict hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars of damage to the U.S. economy for decades to come. It will destroy jobs, stifle energy production, strangle America's energy independence, suppress agriculture, deter innovation, and impoverish working families,' the suit asserts."

Read entire article here.

"We have a lost generation of kids who have neither the education nor the trained skills to succeed in society.

"As teachers' unions fight to keep schools closed, the true cost is being felt by students who are racking up failing grades, dropping out of virtual classes, increasing drug use, and, in rising numbers, committing suicide.

"Watching this happen to the public schools has been particularly hard for some of us who are ardent supporters of public education."

Read entire article here.

"TOKYO, March 5 (Reuters) - Japanese supercomputer simulations showed that wearing two masks gave limited benefit in blocking viral spread compared with one properly fitted mask.

"The findings in part contradict recent recommendations from the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that two masks were better than one at reducing a person's exposure to the coronavirus.

"Researchers used the Fugaku supercomputer to model the flow of virus particles from people wearing different types and combinations of masks, according to a study released on Thursday by research giant Riken and Kobe University.

"Using a single surgical-type mask, made of non-woven material, had 85% effectiveness in blocking particles when worn tightly around the nose and face. Adding a polyurethane mask on top boosted the effectiveness to just 89%.

"Wearing two non-woven masks isn't useful because air resistance builds up and causes leakage around the edges."

Read entire article here.

"Freedom of speech has nary a booster:

Not at The Atlantic nor Simon & Schuster.

The New York Times will bellow and bleat,

And the silence will echo down Mulberry Street.

"No, this won't do, this won't do at all --

This won't do, these minds so small!

If they see just one word that they deem indiscreet

They'll melt into puddles on old Mulberry Street. ...

"An intelligent book

Deserves someone to read it.

A book that starts fights?

We desperately need it.

An unpopular view?

The campus should hear it.

But both teachers and students

Are afraid to go near it.

They cling to their wubbies

And bury their faces.

Away with you ninnies --

Back to your safe spaces!

"Go back to TikTok or stay home and tweet.

You don't deserve to see Mulberry Street."

Read entire piece here.

"There is a reason Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called her 791-page bill, stuffed as it is with her favorite election-related changes, House of Representatives Bill Number 1 or HR 1. It's that important to her. She has convinced or pressured every single House Democrat to co-sponsor it as it comes up for a vote this week.

"That means it will likely pass narrowly given that Democrats have a 219 to 211 majority. It faces more debate and a tougher road in the Senate, which is split 50 to 50 between the parties with Vice President Kamala Harris as tiebreaker. It can be stopped. It must be stopped. It is the worst piece of legislation I have even seen in my 40 years reporting from Washington.

"HR 1 would cement all of the worst changes in election law made in blue states in 2020 and nationalize them. Federal control of elections would be the norm. States would be relegated to colonial outposts that carry out Washington DC's mandates. 'Democracies die when one party seizes control of the elections process, eliminates the safeguards that have protected the integrity of the ballot, places restrictions on free speech, and seizes the earnings of individual citizens to promote candidates they may abhor,' says Rep. Tom McClintock, a California Republican. 'Democracies die by suicide, and we are now face to face with such an instrument.'

"Does HR 1 justify such apocalyptic rhetoric? Sadly, yes. Hans von Spakovsky, a former member of the Federal Election Commission, says that while the Constitution does allow Congress to override the power of states to decide 'the time, manner and place' of federal elections nothing on the massive scale of HR 1 has ever been attempted.

"He consulted other former members and assembled a short summary of the worst provisions of HR 1:"

Read entire article here.

"Two decades before being accused of misconduct against women while he was New York governor, a younger Andrew Cuomo was the subject of a sexual harassment complaint from a government official who claimed that Cuomo -- serving at the time in Bill Clinton's cabinet -- also hounded her with 'a series of attacks and dirty tricks.'

"Susan Gaffney filed the 2000 complaint against Cuomo while he was secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and she was the department's inspector general.

"In the complaint, which included other top HUD officials, Gaffney told the Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity that she was sexually harassed and discriminated against in retaliation for her stance against fraud at HUD, and that Cuomo verbally abused her during weekend phone calls."

Read entire article here.

"Congress isn't even waiting to lift the decade-long moratorium on earmarking before starting to pig out.

"Look no further than the $1.9 trillion bill being touted by Democrats as the latest response to the COVID pandemic -- a proposal that's being fast-tracked through both chambers. Tucked within its nearly 600 pages are a number of pet projects -- also known as 'earmarks' -- that have absolutely nothing to do with COVID. Take, for example, the $1.5 million set aside for a bridge connecting New York and Canada. Elsewhere you will find a cleverly worded provision that earmarks $140 million for a subway from San Francisco to Silicon Valley. These projects will benefit the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House.

"This is precisely how earmarking works. Secret spending is dropped into a 'must-pass' bill at the behest of powerful politicians and is typically totally unrelated to the merits of the project or the purpose of the legislation. ...

"Earmarking -- by design -- will never be transparent. Unlike the federal grant-making process, there is no standard for competition for the grants, and taxpayers have no ability to examine how the money was doled out. Earmarking is quite literally decided in secret. More insidiously, decisions about who gets earmarks and who doesn't are usually treated as a form of political reward for the well-connected or as punishment for those who don't follow the party line. ...

"There's good reason why earmarks are referred to as pork: They stink, and they're messy. With the national debt headed toward $30 trillion, the last thing Congress needs to be focused on is finding other ways to waste money."

"Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday slammed House Democrats' sweeping election reform bill as 'exactly the wrong response' to what he called the 'distressing lack of faith in our elections,' saying Democrats want to use their 'temporary power' to 'try to ensure they'll never have to relinquish it.'

"All House Democrats on Monday signed onto the bill -- H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2021 -- which they claim will expand voting rights and 'clean up corruption' in politics.

"From the Senate floor Thursday, McConnell, R-Ky., hit Democrats for trying to 'recycle failed legislation' that would have Washington Democrats 'grab unprecedented power over how America conducts its elections and how American citizens can engage in political speech.'

"'For several years now, we've seen the political left grow less interested in having normal policy debates within our governing institutions, and more interested in attacking the institutions themselves to tilt the playing field in their side's favor,' McConnell said. 'When their side loses a presidential election, it's not Democrats' fault, but the Electoral College's. When they don't like a Supreme Court decision, it's time to threaten the Justices or pack the Court. When long-standing Senate rules threaten to frustrate far-left proposals, it's the Senate rules they want to change.'

"McConnell added that 'no - they want to try to use their slim majorities to unilaterally rewrite and nationalize election law itself' he said, adding that Democrats want 'to use the temporary power the voters have granted them to try to ensure they'll never have to relinquish it.'"

Read entire article here.