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The ADVANCE, February 10, 2021/Page 6A
(51?e Ahumtce
A free press is not a privilege but
organic necessity in a great society.
—Walter Lippmann
COMMENTARY
out of
CONTEXT
A compilation of quotations on a variety of
issues by national, state and regional writers,
well-known personalities, just plain everyday
people and from various publications
collected by the editors of THE ADVANCE.
Quotes for our Times:
"The longer I live, the more convinced
am I that this planet is used by other
planets as a lunatic asylum."
George Bernard Shaw
Terry Paulding, journalist for American
Thinker: Slowly killing the American frog.
As we watch reason disappear, Demo
crats ratchet up repression and cancel
culture. They want everyone to get used
to each new normal, then take it a step
further. Do it again and again, stretching
credulity a bit more each time. The water is
gradually boiling and we're still stuck in the
pot.
John Green, retired engineer: The real
Constitutional Crisis is upon us.
It's now 2021 and we've seen our free
speech rights threatened by censorship.
Our right of assembly has been suspended
for COVID-19 lockdowns. Members of Con
gress have called conservatives "insurrec
tionists" and demanded our re-education
— for having the temerity to protest. The
Department of Homeland Security has
even issued a domestic terrorism alert be
cause "right-wing radicals" might question
the authority of the president. Is it possible
that the Patriot Act may be used to surveil
and curtail conservative political move
ments? Before you say no, remember the
IRS targeted the Tea Party and the FBI spied
on the Trump campaign. That approaching
rock is starting to block out the sun.
Terence P. Jeffrey, editor-in-chief of
CNSNews: Cory Booker wants to replace
major college football with a federally con
trolled pro game.
The fundamental flaw in Booker's ap
proach to college athletics is that he looks
at it as a financial transaction rather than
an educational one.
Amateur college football often teaches
young men more important lessons than
they can learn in a lecture hall. Booker,
who played on a scholarship at Stanford,
seemed to explain this himself — even as
he was proposing his bill that would convert
major college football into a professional
game.
"I would not be where I am today with
out football," Booker wrote in Sports Illustrat
ed last month.
Leah Barkoukis, online features editor
at Townhall.com: Senate Democrat breaks
with Biden on Keystone, urges President to
reconsider.
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is urging
President Biden to reconsider one of his first
acts as president — canceling the permit
for the Keystone XL pipeline, due to its eco
nomic importance in Montana.
Montana has the longest stretch of
pipeline of any state along its 1,200 mile
route, according to the Billings Gazette.
Tester has said he believes in climate
change but doesn't think the Keystone
pipeline will have a significant, detrimental
impact on it.
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Congress Bows to the
Pen and the Phone
President Joe Biden has
proved that, if nothing else, he
has a pen and a phone.
According to The
Economist, he signed more
executive orders in his first two
days than President Donald
Trump signed in nearly his first
two months.
And he was just getting
started.
Republicans have no
standing to complain about
Biden’s spate of unilateral
measures, given they were fine
with Trump using exactly the
same means. But that presidents
of both parties govern this way
doesn’t make it better — it
makes it worse.
Some executive actions
starkly usurp congressional
authority, while others are
firmly within the executive’s
ambit. Yet the sheer amount of
activity that presidents
undertake on their own isn’t in
keeping with the spirit of our
constitutional system.
The presidency has
overawed a legislative branch
that is only too willing to sign
over power and responsibility.
Congress has been an eager
participant in its own neutering.
James Madison thought
the legislature would be
insatiable, steadilyaccumulating
power. Instead, it is the least
self-respecting branch, led by
people who identify with the
interests of presidents and their
own parties over and above the
interests of their own
institution.
This means that Congress
is essentially cut out of the
action on important questions
of national policy.
Obama blocked the
Keystone XL pipeline, Trump
blessed it, and Biden blocked it
again.
Obama took us into the
Paris climate accord, Trump
took us out, and Biden is taking
us back in.
Consider what Biden did
on his own the other day. He
directed the Interior
Department to stop new oil and
gas leases on federal land and to
identify steps to double
renewable energy production
by 2030.
He created a special
presidential envoy for climate,
as well as a White House Office
of Domestic Climate Policy, a
National Climate Task Force, a
Civilian Climate Corps
Initiative, an Interagency
Working Group on Coal and
Power Plant Communities and
Economic Revitalization, a
White House Environmental
Justice Interagency Council,
and a White House
Environmental Justice Advisory
Council.
On top of this, he
established a Justice Initiative
to steer 40% of relevant federal
investments to disadvantaged
communities.
And on the seventh day,
Biden rested (after tucking his
pen back in his pocket).
If Congress had passed a
bill doing all this, it’d be
considered a pretty active day.
Instead, Congress stood on the
sidelines... and commented.
“I’m proud that President
Biden is announcing a slew of
executive actions on climate,”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer tweeted.
Schumer’s only complaint
is that Biden isn’t doing more
on his own authority.
This is the same Chuck
Schumer who has been a
legislator since 1975 when he
took a seat in the New York
State Assembly, who has been
in Congress since 1981 and the
Senate since 1999, and who
ascended to majority leader
about a week ago, representing
the apex of a national legislative
career.
And yet Schumer has urged
Biden to declare a national
climate emergency because it
would allow him to do things
“without legislation.”
This would be like Chief
Please see Lowry page 8A
GRITTY
A New GOP
Future - Beyond
President Trump
The
Congressional
Budget Office now
projects that
economic recovery in
2021 will be faster
than it predicted last
July. It projects that
the economy will be
back to its pre
pandemic levels by
mid-2021. This very good news reflects the
fact that the economic turndown was not as
severe as the CBO had expected, and that
the recovery was stronger than expected.
Former President Donald Trump,
recently rejected for reelection by American
voters, can take full credit for this.
These are the dividends of the strong
economy that the Trump administration
put in place through well-directed tax cuts
and deregulation.
Let’s again recall that last September,
55 percent of Americans told Gallup that
they were “better off now” than they were
four years ago. This is the highest p ercentage
since Gallup first asked the question in
1984.
Most astounding is that this question
was asked in the midst of the COVID-19
crisis. Yet, most still saw themselves better
off than four years earlier.
Across the board, the Trump presidency
was transformational and indeed went a
long way to “make America great again.”
Among many important
accomplishments, Trump departed leaving
an economy much stronger than the one he
inherited, likewise with our court system
and the support received by the pro-life
movement to end abortion.
It is also essential to note how he
remarkably achieved peace accords in the
Middle East that no one ever dreamed
possible.
That there are peace accords between
Please see Nitty page 8A
By Star Parker
COMMENTARY
Musk’s Exit
Effects on
California
By Kelly Brothers, Sacramento Business
Journal
As Covid descended on
California in March and April of this
year, economies began to shut down
and the debate raged over what
businesses were deemed “essential.”
There was a rather public dialogue
between Elon Musk, the founder of
Tesla, and Alameda County
authorities regarding the forced
shutdown of the Tesla plant in
Fremont.
This dialogue was punctuated by
a pithy tweet from Assemblywoman
Lorena Gonzalez, who describes
herself as a Progressive (Socialist)
Latina Democrat, “F*ckElon Musk!”
At that time, we had no idea how
much that tweet... and that
attitude... would cost us.
Elon Musk rather calmly
threatened to leave the state.
The Governor was arrogantly
dismissive, saying “Elon Musk isn’t
leaving California anytime soon!”
Six months later, Elon Musk has
left California. He has sold (or is in
process of selling) all his personal
real estate in the state.
He is now a resident of the state
of Texas. He has moved his
philanthropic foundation to Texas.
One of his companies, Space X, is
based in Texas and Tesla is building a
new plant outside of Austin, TX.
Consider the unfathomable
irony of in-your-face progressive/
Socialist democrats forcing Elon
Musk to give up on California?
Musk came to this state as an
immigrant and proceeded to do more
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
through Solar City and Tesla than all
the “progressive,” “ultra-leftist,”
politicians in the state combined.
Anyone can make a proclamation
or talk about climate change.
Musk didn’t talk about it.
He simply brought products to
market that benefitted the consumer,
the environment, and his
shareholders. He should have been
the “poster boy” for the green agenda,
but instead they turned on him and
tore him apart because he refused to
buckle to absolutely arbitrary
regulations based on flimsy, most
often ridiculous, medical data.
(By the way, automobile
manufacturing is now deemed
“essential” in CA.)
There is no way to know for sure
what Mr. Musk will pay in California
state tax this year, but it would
surprise no one if he paid the most of
any individual resident.
Next year, he will be a much
happier resident of another state and
pay a small fraction of the taxes
squeezed out of him and his
employees while in our state.
The damage goes much deeper
than the tax revenue of one person.
Musk didn’t just leave the state.
He “turned” on the state, as well
he should have. It is now his mission
to get other innovators to leave as
well, as well he should.
Please see Guest page 11A