2x4 is neither 2 nor 4.

It took twenty years for the date to become meaningless to a lot of people.

• President George W. Bush

Today we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the attacks of September 11th. Two decades on, the events of that day continue to have profound impacts on our lives as Americans. Sadly, a whole generation has grown up in a post-9/11 world, and today is a story from a textbook as opposed to a lived experience.

The documentary crew gained access to all of the key players from the Bush administration and chronicled their experience on September 11, 2001. President Bush, the Vice President, his Chief of Staff, members of the National Security team, Secret Service agents, members of the White House press corps, and military leaders all sat for interviews. What resulted was a compelling and visceral tick-tock of that fateful day.

Watching, I felt the emotions from 9/11 come back. Although I was in middle school, I was in a military family stationed nearby. My dad went off to war, again, as a result of 9/11. It was incredible how the sounds and images of that day are so ingrained in me.

The human toll is hard to fathom. Not only did nearly 3,000 people lose their lives, but so many more died slow deaths over the twenty years that followed as a result of their rescue work in the days that followed.

There is no doubt this was a difficult documentary to watch. It was even more painful watching it in the shadow of the disastrous surrender in Afghanistan. It was very well done and I hope that it will help those too young to remember and those not born yet just why September 11th is such an important day in our nation’s history.

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Carter’s does not deserve to continue as a going concern.

Biden Unveils ‘Your Body, My Choice’ Vaccination Program - The Babylon Bee

Companies will be forced to comply with the mandate until the Supreme Court strikes it down in a few hours.

The Wrong Way to Target Corporate Excess - WSJ

Capping executive pay at a certain ratio would raise problems too. Consider two similarly compensated CEOs, Daniel O’Day of Gilead Sciences and James Quincey of Coca-Cola. Mr. O’Day makes 76 times his average employee’s pay while the slightly lower-paid Mr. Quincey makes 1,621 times as much, according to executive compensation tracker Equilar. People who make and distribute soft drinks tend to earn a lot less than scientists so the ratio is skewed, but Mr. Quincey’s company earns more profit. Enforcing pay ratios would send the top executive talent to investment banks, software companies or biotech firms instead of retailers, trucking companies or restaurant chains.

Democrats Advance Plan to Require Employers to Offer Retirement Plans - WSJ

Roughly half of American households are at risk of seeing their standard of living decline after retirement, according to Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research.

But wait, I thought this is why we bill employers and employees 12.4% of wages so that we can fund their generous retirement via Social Security?

Auto-enrolling employees in an IRA at 6% and gradually increasing contributions to 10% seems to be a tacit admission from the defenders of Social Security, and opponents of privatization or any reform, that the scheme is a failure.

This plan is privatized Social Security, with no discount on the Social Security Income tax.

Democrats Float Partnership, Buyback Taxes to Fund $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan - WSJ

“This proposal simply reduces complexity by closing loopholes that allow those at the top to pick and choose when, and whether, to pay tax,” Mr. Wyden said.

This quote perfectly encapsulates the operating theory behind the new taxes in this bill: the government is entitled to the personal incomes of American workers. Further, anyone who follows the law and, as a consequence, pays less in taxes, is a cheater who deserves to be punished.

Mr. Brown’s plan responds to Democrats’ frustration that companies used some of their 2017 tax cuts to buy back their stock, a move that is typically seen as helping shareholders.

Shareholders will soon include every American worker auto-enrolled in the bill’s new auto-IRA. So it’s a problem that companies make any business decisions that help increase shareholder value?

Democrats Advance Plan to Require Employers to Offer Retirement Plans - WSJ

Starting on Jan. 1, 2023, the provision would require employers to deduct at least 6% from workers’ paychecks and automatically increase that savings rate by 1 percentage point a year until reaching 10% of pay.

Oh look, another terrible idea.

Taking an additional 6% out of peoples checks and investing in securities that people don’t understand.

Administrators sure will love this brand new fee base, tho!

Transforming America in 17 Days - WSJ Opinion

FDR’s New Deal programs were passed incrementally over two presidential terms with overwhelming Democratic majorities. Democrats created the Great Society over two years with supermajorities. ObamaCare was hashed out over nine months before Democrats enacted it into law with 56 votes in the Senate. The 2017 GOP tax reform was debated for months, and its principles for years, before Congress voted.

Now we get $3.5T, massive tax increases, expansive new entitlements, all in 17 days. No time to think, debate, or even read the bill.

Biden Administration Sues Texas Over Its Abortion Law - WSJ

“This kind of scheme to nullify the Constitution of the United States is one that all Americans, whatever their politics or party, should fear,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference announcing the action.

This on the exact same day that the Executive Branch seeks to impose mass vaccination mandates on workers via OSHA. We didn’t even try for a year to get people to voluntarily get vaccinated.

The left hand sues Texas for limiting the ability to kill a baby with a heartbeat while the right hand dictates mandatory vaccinations.

It’s also a bit rich coming from the folks who said they had no authority to extend the eviction moratorium, but chose to do it anyway.

Biden to Boost Vaccine Requirements for Large Employers, Federal Workers to Combat Covid-19 - WSJ

White House officials have said the president won’t mandate vaccinations for every American

Just every American with a job.

Biden Administration Unveils Plan to Cut Prescription-Drug Prices - WSJ

To spur new drug innovations, the administration would launch an agency at the National Institutes of Health to drive biomedical breakthroughs. Mr. Biden requested $6.5 billion for three years in his fiscal 2022 budget for the NIH, whose focus would be to “foster medical innovations,” including for diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimers.

Duplicative effort far more efficiently performed by the private market. Just another waste of taxpayer dollars on a project outside of the core competency of government.

Also kind of funny that Alzheimer’s is specifically named when the government is trashing the first serious new therapy in years.

I will never understand fashion photography.

Staged, awkward, unnatural, and unclear.

Doctors Join the Climate Lobby - WSJ Opinion

Medical journals are supposed to be forums for doctors to publish research and debate ideas. But like traditional media outlets, many are finding it harder to control their political bias. Now some 200 journal editors are showing their political hand on climate change in an apocalyptic and misleading joint editorial this week that could have been ghost-written by Greta Thunberg. The groupthink in these journals suppressed debate over important questions during the Covid pandemic, including the origins of the virus and the costs of lockdowns. Now these same experts want to tell everyone what to do about climate, which they know less about than geologists do about cancer.

Taliban Unveil New Afghan Government - WSJ

In an appointment that would complicate any recognition of the new government by Western nations, Sirajuddin Haqqani, designated a global terrorist by Washington because of close links between al Qaeda and the Haqqani network that he heads, was named minister of interior, with oversight of Afghanistan’s police and internal security. The FBI currently offers a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest.

The Taliban, our partners in peace!

Cool and beautiful on my walk this morning for the first time in months.

The dog days of summer are over and my favorite season is just around the corner!

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Get Smart

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Weekend project complete: Build and hang new shutters.

Fun squirrel sighting in the front yard.

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U.S. Payroll Growth Slowed in August - WSJ

Frustrated by the lack of employer interest and understanding his jobless benefits were slated to end in September, Mr. Abdo hired a professional resume writer. His revamped application helped him quickly land a job.

Growth underperformed expectations.

18 paragraphs in this article and I had to read to paragraph 17 before finding even a passing mention about the enhanced unemployment benefits that will expire soon.

Not even a short paragraph acknowledging the view of some that perhaps those top-offs may have played a role.

Fact check: Biden honored service members during dignified transfer - USA Today

Based on our research, we rate MISSING CONTEXT the claim that Trump saluted the caskets of fallen U.S. service members, while Biden checked his watch. The way Biden honored the 11 caskets presented at Dover Air Force Base, with a hand over his heart, was similar to how Trump paid respects to fallen service members during his presidency. However, Biden did check his watch at least three times, according to photos and video reviewed by USA TODAY. Several family members of fallen service members who attended the ceremony have criticized Biden for checking his watch.

There’s a growing acceptance that “fact checking” is opinion masquerading as journalism. Here’s a clear example.

They’re “fact checking” a Facebook post that shows Trump saluting a casket versus Biden checking his watch. That is true, times three.

But makes the fact checkers uncomfortable. So, they pulled in an irrelevant comparison about how Biden put his hand over his heart during other parts of the ceremony to fit their narrative. Thus, false comparison in place, they can give a more benign rating.

What context is missing, exactly?

He checked his watch, he shouldn’t have done it.

Today is Day 90 of keto. Down 25 lbs.

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Hospitals Swamped With Delta Cases Struggle to Care for Critical Patients - WSJ

Normally, Ozarks Community Hospital would have been able to transfer the patient within a day, Mr. Taylor said. Now the hospital is rushing to assemble the staff and equipment to create a makeshift ICU to care for patients it can’t transfer, he said.

Where is the support from the federal government that we saw last year? Field hospitals, hospital ships, military and Public Health Service physicians and nurses?

Why I Won’t Support Spending Another $3.5 Trillion - WSJ Opinion

Instead of rushing to spend trillions on new government programs and additional stimulus funding, Congress should hit a strategic pause on the budget-reconciliation legislation.

Uh, Senator, is this a bad time to inform you that you unlocked this process with your Yea vote?

I, for one, won’t support a $3.5 trillion bill, or anywhere near that level of additional spending, without greater clarity about why Congress chooses to ignore the serious effects inflation and debt have on existing government programs.

Excellent writing, sir. You are the master of giving yourself an out for every one of your noble stands.