RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/04/putin_is_not_hitler_zelensky_is_not_churchill_and_biden_is_not_fdr.html

Western politicians and commentators who support doing more to defend Ukraine’s independence frequently invoke World War II analogies to justify their policy preferences.  They compare Putin to Hitler, Zekensky to Churchill, and less frequently Biden to FDR.  Putin, they contend, is a war criminal who is committing genocide against the Ukrainian people.  Zelensky, they claim, is defiantly and courageously standing “alone” against Russian aggression, defending “democracy” against autocracy.  Biden, some say, is making America once again the “arsenal of democracy” by providing weapons and supplies to Ukraine.  None of these claims, and none of these historical comparisons, is justified.

Putin, to be sure, is the aggressor in this war, but accusations of war crimes and genocide are as yet unproven.  Civilian casualties are unfortunately common to all modern wars.  And we do not know if Putin has a master plan to wipe out Ukrainians as a race, the way Hitler did with respect to the Jews.

Zelensky has undoubtedly demonstrated courage in leading Ukrainians to fight for their independence, but his portrayal as a champion of democracy and freedom is at best premature.  Prior to Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was not high on anyone’s list as a model democracy.  As Ted Galen Carpenter of the CATO Institute recently noted, “Ukraine is far from being a democratic-capitalist model” and “has long been one of the more corrupt countries in the international system.”  Freedom House categorizes Ukraine as “partly free.”  Carpenter notes further that even before Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian officials “harassed political dissidents, adopted censorship measures, and barred foreign journalists whom they regarded as critics of the Ukrainian government and its policies.”  Ukraine was criticized by groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.  And since the war, Zekensky has further cracked down on opposition political parties and media outlets.

https://www.city-journal.org/federal-court-vacates-cdc-mask-mandate-for-travelers

In the latest of a long line of judicial rebukes to the Biden administration’s expansive view of administrative-agency power, a federal district court in Florida has vacated the CDC’s mask mandate for travelers. The court concluded that the CDC had exceeded its statutory authority, violated the notice and comment procedures required for rulemaking under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), and acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

The ruling comes one week after the CDC had, once again, extended the mandate, this time until May 3. The mask mandate was one of the first actions taken by the new Biden administration. One day after his inauguration, President Biden issued Executive Order No. 13998, directing executive-branch agency heads to require “masks to be worn in compliance with CDC guidelines in or on” airplanes, airports, trains, intercity buses, boats, and on other forms of public transportation.

Two weeks later, the CDC published the “Requirement for Persons To Wear Masks While on Conveyances and at Transportation Hubs.” The order stated that mask wearing is “one of the most effective strategies available for reducing COVID-19 transmission” and required masks when traveling on any type of conveyance into or within the United States and at transportation hubs.

The CDC claimed that it was relying on Section 264(a) of the Public Health Service Act, which empowers it to issue regulations “to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries,” and from state to state. Last year, the agency claimed the same section gave it authority to issue a nationwide eviction moratorium. The Supreme Court struck down the moratorium on the grounds that the CDC had exceeded its statutory authority, since the statute narrows the types of measures it can implement to limit the spread of disease to fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, and pest extermination.

https://amgreatness.com/2022/04/20/how-america-became-la-la-land/

America these last 14 months resembles a dystopia. It is becoming partly the world of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, partly the poet Homer’s land of the Lotus-Eaters.

Nothing seems to be working. And no one in control seems to care. 

The once secure border of 2020 vanished. Two-million people have crossed the southern border illegally in the last twelve months. Millions more are on the way. 

The Biden Administration unilaterally and simply destroyed existing immigration law. 

What followed was surreal. The administration claimed COVID was again on the horizon. So it justified forcing American citizens to keep wearing masks in public buildings and transportation. But at the same time, it waived all such requirements for illegal entrants.

Citizens who obeyed our laws had to mask up; foreign nationals who broke them did not need to take such precautions. 

Biden blasted as near-criminals mounted border guards who used long reins to steady their horses. When investigations cleared them of wrongdoing, he went mute. This administration apparently sees its own American law enforcement at the border as criminals, and non-Americans who break our laws as their moral superiors.

Biden then concocted the perfect recipe for bringing back the inflation of the 1970s.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2022/04/mouse-whored-william-kilpatrick/

The Mouse that Roared is a 1959 comedy film about a mouse-sized country (the Duchy of Grand Fenwick) that decides to solve its money problems by declaring war on America, then surrendering, then reaping the financial aid that America always bestows on its defeated enemies.

“The Mouse that Whored” is a contemporary true story about a giant entertainment company (built around the character of an animated mouse) that has declared war on American parents.  The monster-sized mouse corporation has no intention of surrendering.  On the contrary it expects you to surrender your children to it.

It has a good chance of success because many American parents have already half-surrendered their children to the mouse.

In addition to its obvious sexual meaning, the word “whore” can also mean selling out one’s principles for the sake of obtaining fame, fortune, or power.  Thus, an unprincipled actor may be said to be “whoring” after celebrity.

Disney has sold-out its family-oriented principles for the sake of more money and more influence.  At first, this seems counter-intuitive.  Wouldn’t Disney lose lots of money once its family base discovered that it is actually anti-family?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-kill-infrastructure-on-the-sly-white-house-biden-council-on-environmental-policy-nepa-11650481710?mod=opinion_lead_pos3

Americans are going to need a split-screen for the Biden Administration’s policy contradictions. Even as the President on Tuesday promoted the bipartisan infrastructure bill he signed last November, the White House moved to make it harder to build roads, bridges and, of course, oil and natural-gas pipelines.

The White House Council on Environmental Quality is revising rules under the National Environmental Policy Act for permitting major construction projects. CEQ Chair Brenda Mallory says the changes will “provide regulatory certainty” and “reduce conflict.” Instead, they will cause more litigation and delays that raise construction costs, if they don’t kill projects outright.

NEPA requires federal agencies to review the environmental impact of major projects that are funded by the feds or require a federal permit. Reviews can take years and run thousands of pages, covering the smallest potential impact on species, air or water quality. Project developers can be forced to mitigate these effects by, say, relocating species.

While the 1970 law was intended to prevent environmental disasters, it has become a weapon to block development. The Trump Administration sought to fast-track projects by limiting NEPA reviews to environmental effects that are directly foreseeable—e.g., how a pipeline’s construction would affect a stream it crosses.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2022/04/20/heres-the-tweet-clintons-lawyer-doesnt-want-admitted-as-evidence-in-durham-case-n1591425

Former Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann, who has been charged with lying to the FBI, has filed a motion requesting that special counsel John Durham not be able to use a tweet by Hillary Clinton in his upcoming trial.

Sussmann’s lawyers have repeatedly tried to get the charges against him dismissed, but those efforts have been unsuccessful. His trial is set to begin next month.

Here’s the tweet Sussmann and his lawyers are trying to prevent from being admitted into his trial:

Why is this tweet important, and why do Sussmann’s lawyers want to keep it out of his trial?

https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/19/whos-in-charge-of-america-right-now-because-it-isnt-the-man-getting-wrangled-by-a-giant-easter-bunny/

Given the state of our grocery shelves, southern border, gas prices, job openings, foreign policy, public schools, inflation, and health care, it would be awfully nice to know who’s really running the greatest country on earth.

The White House celebrated Easter on Monday with its traditional egg roll, but the Resurrection Day festivities turned into a national embarrassment thanks to the president. His handlers, including his wife, did their best to walk him around like a pet, telling him when to sit, speak, and stay.

This all raises the obvious and alarming question: Who is in charge of the greatest country on Earth right now? Because it sure as heck isn’t Joe Biden.

If you haven’t seen any of the footage, you might think this is an exaggeration, but it isn’t. Here’s Jill Biden monopolizing a children’s book reading, with her husband announcing, “And they’re not going to let me read at all.”

“I’ll let you— here, you can start us off,” the first lady said patronizingly, letting the president read only the first page.

https://thefederalist.com/2022/04/20/4-takeaways-from-spygate-colluders-mad-rush-to-hide-their-tracks-in-court/

They hope to prevent prosecutors from accessing a few dozen documents that might further reveal their role in peddling the massive Russia collusion hoax.

On April 19, a bunch of panicked participants in the Spygate scandal rushed the courthouse to intervene in the special counsel’s criminal case against former Hillary Clinton campaign attorney Michael Sussmann. They hope to prevent prosecutors from accessing a few dozen documents that might further reveal their role in peddling the Alfa Bank hoax.

The motions to intervene came just one day after Sussmann also sought to keep the documents away from prosecutors. The special counsel has requested the trial court review the documents in camera to assess whether they are in fact protected by attorney-client privilege.

Here are the top takeaways from these filings.

https://pjmedia.com/columns/john-stossel/2022/04/20/uber-clueless-n1591236

The media’s ignorance about basic economics is galling.

I expect it from politicians. I expect it from The New York Times. But it’s sad to see in the New York Post, my town’s rare alternative to Democrat media.

Recently the tabloid freaked out over higher prices imposed by ride-share companies. “New Yorkers are fed up with forking over excessive amounts for Uber and Lyft rides.”

Excessive? Just what is “excessive?” Who decides?

Prices were already up because gasoline costs more, NYC keeps imposing new taxes and regulations, and the federal government pays so many people not to work that there’s now a shortage of drivers.

That day, unusually high “surge” prices were in effect because there had been a horrible shooting on the subway. Commuters, fearful of another subway shooting, turned to ride-share services.

How should a company like Uber deal with that? Suddenly, there is much more demand for rides than supply. Should customers just wait in line? Most wouldn’t get a ride for days.

So, ride-share companies do the sensible thing: They temporarily raise prices. They lower them again when there are free cars. This is the best solution for the most people.