TIAA Offers Annuity Product for Corporate 401(k) Retirement Plans - WSJ

American workers who crave steady retirement paychecks in the absence of old-fashioned pension plans are getting more alternatives as another money manager launches an annuity offering for corporate 401(k) retirement-savings programs.

And they will pay through the nose for the privilege. How this meets a fiduciary standard is beyond me.

Called the TIAA Secure Income Account

By which, of course, they mean TIAA’s plan to secure steady corporate income streams via market-leading high fees.

TIAA has paid more than $500 billion to millions of educators and nonprofit employees since its founding in 1918, said Colbert Narcisse, TIAA’s chief product and business development officer.

“Please don’t look at how much TIAA made in fees on those payouts,” Narcisse added, one assumes.

Shockingly, the intrepid reporter for this piece forgot to mention the investment performance or expense ratio on this fabulous product!

I was looking through the _On This Day_ feature in Day One this morning, and came across this entry from nine years ago.

For many months I have wanted to start a blog. I was not sure on which topic I could speak with authority, to the point where I would add value to the marketplace. I decided, after much thought, that there is a void on information about living as an authentically Catholic husband and what marriage really is. So, I started. I took the first step. I am going to call my blog “Catholic Husband.”

Nearly nine years and 856 posts later, this simple paragraph brings a smile to my face. _Catholic Husband_ will celebration 10 year next March. I think that deserves something special.

Havana Syndrome Unlikely Caused by Russia, Other U.S Foes, CIA Says - WSJ

“We are pursuing this complex issue with analytic rigor, sound tradecraft, and compassion and have dedicated intensive resources to this challenge,” CIA Director William Burns

I love to hear when the offensive capability organizations of the United States government are using compassion.

Pig Kidneys Transplanted Into Brain-Dead Man as Patients Face Organ Shortages - WSJ

The experimental surgery, which proceeded after discussions with ethicists and after Mr. Parsons’s family consented to the experiment, is part of a decadeslong effort to ease the chronic shortage of donor organs by allowing critically ill patients to receive pig organs rather than human ones.

I have profound doubt that this was indeed an ethically valid decision.

Earlier this month doctors at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore performed the first transplantation of a genetically modified pig heart into a living human after receiving authorization from the FDA.

Here’s the key distinction between these similar cases. The Maryland heart transplant was done in an effort to save the patient’s life. They remain hospitalized, but alive.

The Alabama kidney transplant was performed on a patient who will not survive his injuries. His life was only sustained so that this experimental transplant could be performed, not because it created an avenue of possible recovery.

They said they stopped the experiment when mechanical support was no longer sufficient to maintain Mr. Parsons’s physiological processes.

Translation: life-support was only withdrawn when his body was no longer useful to the experiment, far past the point of a dignity-affirming natural death.

10 Surefire Ways To Get Out Of Wearing A Mask When Someone Tells You To - The Babylon Bee

Put on your “Trump Won” mask - They’ll instantly regret their decision to make you wear one. 4D chess!

Oops! Schumer Gives Passionate Speech Defending Filibuster After Accidentally Printing His Speech From Two Years Ago - The Babylon Bee

According to sources, his aide had accidentally printed out “passionate filibuster speech 2020.docx” instead of “passionate filibuster speech 2022.docx”, putting the Senator in a very awkward situation. 

Very common mistake.

Sanders Says He Is Open to Supporting Primary Challenges to Sinema, Manchin - WSJ

He said it was “up to the people in those states.”

And if there’s one thing we all know about West Virginians, it’s that they love when out-of-state multimillionaire socialist elites come to town and tell them what to do.

I just finished the Final Draft of the first issue of my new magazine. I’m so excited to publish this in the Spring.

Wow! What a start to the day.

Schumer Hits Trouble After Earlier Wins in 50-50 Senate - WSJ

At the start of the year, Mr. Schumer set a goal of trying to pass the voting bill by Martin Luther King Jr. Day—Monday, Jan. 17—and then pivoting to changing the filibuster. That deadline later slipped due in part to a forecast winter storm.

And he would’ve gotten away with it if it wasn’t for that meddling climate!

Democrats’ proposal includes making Election Day a national holiday and expansive new mail-in voting requirements, among other changes they say are needed to protect access to the polls

This disjointed logic is a red flag. If there’s three weeks of mandatory early voting and no excuse mail ballots, why do we need a holiday for Election Day?

It’s like the child care subsidies. Free money for families to send their kids to daycare, money to increase daycare worker wages, and money to expand daycare facilities. Two of these are going to always push against the third.

When the logic is broken, there’s more to the story.

Some Lawmakers Push to Ban Stock Trading by Colleagues - WSJ

Democratic Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Jon Ossoff of Georgia introduced legislation that would prohibit all members of Congress, their spouses and dependent children from trading individual stocks and would require them to place their stock portfolios into a blind trust.

I think the bigger story is that all of these smart people still buy single stocks.

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.