At the controls.

Every time I touch anything she says, “I’m in charge of this airplane!”

Covid-19 Test Distribution Plans Put More Pressure on U.S. Supply - WSJ

People will be able order up to four tests per household on covidtests.gov that will be shipped within seven to 12 days.

Outstanding!

They’ll be leaving the warehouse on the delivery truck two days after I’ve recovered and am back at work. Then I’ll only have to wait 3-5 business days to receive my test.

The Week Biden’s Agenda Hit a Wall - WSJ

It also cast a spotlight on key strategic decisions made by the president and his aides: Right out of the gate, Mr. Biden pursued a $1.9 trillion Covid-19 aid bill that some economists warned would spur inflation. He decided to push an employer-vaccine mandate that was legally questionable and politically controversial. And he cast passage of voting legislation as an absolute moral imperative, even though it would require persuading moderate Democrats to reverse longstanding positions on Senate rules.

Sometimes when you go for broke, you end up broke.

Three times in the same year? That’s not bad luck, that’s a pattern.

Who You Calling ‘Dastardly,’ Mr. Schumer? - WSJ Opinion

Mr. Schumer wants to impose no-excuses absentee voting on the whole country under some version of H.R.1, but he can’t even convince his constituents in blue New York. Last year’s ballot included a measure to loosen the state constitution’s absentee requirement. Not only did it fail, but it wasn’t close, 55% to 45%. Another measure that would have allowed same-day voter registration also failed, 56% to 44%.

It’s tiresome to keep flogging these facts, but important given the bizarre fixation on State election law changes that make voting more accessible than states like New York.

Navient, the Student Loan Punching Bag - WSJ Opinion

In September it also sought to end its government servicing contract because it was more hassle than it is worth. But get this—Mr. Cordray, now chief operating officer of the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid office, requested that Navient renew the contract through 2023. Democrats need to keep around a punching bag as the government student loan debacle grows.

I’m no fan of the services, maybe it’s an impossible task. But the editorial board makes some interesting, if unpopular, observations.

A Report to Our Readers - WSJ

Subscriptions stand at more than 3.5 million for the Journal and more than 4.5 million for Dow Jones as a whole, with demand continuing to rise as trusted news becomes an ever rarer commodity.

Regrettably true.

Kamala Harris So Disliked Nation Considering Hillary Clinton - The Babylon Bee

A spokesperson for the Vice President denied rumors that Harris was disliked, but would not comment further because he had already quit.

Russia Moves More Weaponry Toward Ukraine, Keeps the West Guessing - WSJ

As diplomats were holding negotiations over the Ukraine crisis this week, Russia began moving tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, rocket launchers and other military equipment westward from their bases in its Far East, according to U.S. officials and social-media reports.

Classic! The Americans think that diplomacy is the answer to all questions and the autocrats use it to forestall military intervention.

The Russians spent eight years studying the Obama Administration on Iran & Syria and had their pencils ready for when the band got back together.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that two-thirds of Russian forces were out of their garrisons.

Without a doubt, the AP is the worst news organization in America.

And that is saying something.

Beautiful sky to start the day.

Senate Rejects Nord Stream 2 Sanctions Bill - WSJ

The administration has endorsed an alternative bill offered by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez (D., N.J.). That legislation would direct the administration to review its waiver of sanctions against Nord Stream 2, and impose mandatory sanctions against Russian leaders, banks and businesses, but only if Moscow escalates hostilities against Ukraine.

Missing in this explainer: the Cruz version would automatically impose sanctions. The Menendez version would allow the Administration to have discretion to (again) waive sanctions.

It doesn’t appear that the current waiver has done much to increase European solidarity or deter Russia. On the contrary, it has made Western energy markets even more vulnerable to Putin’s whims.

The IRS Pleads Poverty - WSJ Opinion

The IRS poverty plea is part of an effort to blame Republicans for not agreeing to the Biden request to expand the IRS budget by $80 billion over 10 years. But most of that money won’t go to faster or better IRS service. The money is for more auditors and audits, even as tax revenue is soaring. The tax agency shouldn’t be rewarded for inefficiency with more money.

It’s just like the “American Rescue Plan,” a massive spending bill to fight COVID, keep schools open, and increase testing capacity. 10 months later, testing supplies are scarce and schools are closed.

The government is an inefficient distributor of capital, and these are but two more reminders.

Biden Follows the Trump Playbook - WSJ Opinion

Mr. Trump went to Georgia just over a year ago to rally voters for the Senate runoff elections. In a rant of a speech, he made false claims about the electoral system, accused Democrats of undemocratic aims, and attacked the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Mr. Biden this week went to Atlanta to rally support for two federal voting bills. In a rant of a speech, he made false claims about the electoral system, accused Republicans of undemocratic aims, and pre-emptively attacked the legitimacy of the 2022 election. Now who’s the wrecking ball?

How great is wireless printing?

🖨

Biden Expresses Doubt About Passage of Elections Bill - WSJ

“The honest to God answer is I don’t know if we can get this done,” Mr. Biden told reporters Thursday after a closed-door lunch with the Senate Democratic caucus.

Tough to see the day when the sitting President gives up so easily and join sides with Jefferson Davis. Our democracy is now hanging by half of a thread!!!

Weather station soaking up the rays. Really enjoying the day taking it easy and recharging its batteries.

Supreme Court Blocks Biden Vaccine Rules for Private Employers, Allows Them for Healthcare Workers - WSJ

The high court, however, did give the administration more latitude in the healthcare industry, allowing it to impose a vaccine mandate for more than 10 million healthcare workers whose facilities participate in Medicare and Medicaid, a holding that leaves one part of the president’s Covid-19 playbook in place.

Vaccination requirements for employees in healthcare are the industry norm. They aren’t standard in non-healthcare employment.

I think the big disappointment is that it took SCOTUS to affirm such a basic principle.

Sinema Rules Out Weakening Filibuster, Dealing Blow to Biden’s Election-Law Push - WSJ

“While I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country,” Ms. Sinema said on the Senate floor.

More like Senator Davis, amirite?

Recent polling shows softness in support for the president among some younger voters and other traditional pillars of the Democratic Party, groups that could be energized by a renewed push on voting rights.

To be clear, Biden knows these bills will never pass and the filibuster won’t get changed, but he’s on a war path to bolster his deeply underwater poll numbers.

Redesign the Senate and federalize elections all for the political benefit of a single politician? Talk about self-serving.

But, then again, what has this Administration and Congress been but over-promising and never delivering?

Tensions Rise Between Fauci, GOP Over Covid-19 Pandemic Response - WSJ

In an unusual move, Health and Human Services spokesman Ian Sams on Tuesday issued a statement defending Dr. Fauci and accusing Republicans of spreading misinformation. “At a time when America is seeing rising Covid cases, it’s disappointing and frankly unacceptable that Republican senators chose to spend a hearing with the country’s leading public health experts spreading conspiracy theories and lies about Dr. Fauci, rather than how we protect people from Covid-19,” Mr. Sams said.

I’m old enough to remember when Dr. Fauci worked in the Trump Administration and the media accused him of lying about the pandemic from the podium.

Putin Is Running Rings Around the West - WSJ Opinion

Now the Biden administration is simultaneously proclaiming overseas that America is back, in all its order-building awesomeness, and maintaining at home that democracy is one voting-rights bill away from collapse.

Russia, NATO Fail to Resolve Differences in Ukraine Talks - WSJ

“We have made it clear and we told the Russians directly again today that if Russia further invades Ukraine, there will be significant costs and consequences well beyond what they faced in 2014,” Ms. Sherman told reporters Wednesday in Brussels.

Except that Obama and NATO basically threw Putin the keys in 2014 and the G7 wouldn’t let him come to the clubhouse anymore.

U.S. Inflation Reaches Fastest Pace Since 1982 - WSJ

The Labor Department said the consumer-price index—which measures what consumers pay for goods and services—rose 7% in December from the same month a year ago, up from 6.8% in November. That was the fastest pace since 1982 and marked the third straight month in which inflation exceeded 6%.

But the climate, tho.

Bottom line is very simple: The ideologues in the Senate want to turn what the Founding Fathers called ‘the cooling saucer of democracy’ into the rubber stamp of dictatorship. We will not let them. They want, because they can’t get their way on every judge, to change the rules in mid-stream, to wash away 200 years of history. They want to make this country into a banana republic, where if you don’t get your way, you change the rules. Are we going to let them? It’ll be a doomsday for democracy if we do.

- Sen. Chuck Schumer, 2005