Tag: Infrastructure

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Abul Islam, immigrant from Pakistan and founder, President and CEO of AI Engineers. America needs solid infrastructure to grow the economy, to ensure we can get to work, ship supplies, and travel freely. But who’s doing the rebuilding? AI Engineers is a Connecticut-based consulting firm that builds and rehabilitates bridges, transportation systems and building systems throughout the U.S. Since 1991, Abul has created nearly 1,000 jobs and today leads a $50 million company. He talks about the power of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education to uplift urban centers. While we draw talent from international students and H-1B workers, he believes the U.S. must create a homegrown pipeline of skilled workers, as you’ll learn in this week’s JobMakers.

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It’s a cliche: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Attributed most frequently to George Santayana, it rests close to a biblical phrase, “And there is nothing new under the sun.” King Solomon is credited for that (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Both still ring true. So does a malapropism from legendary philosopher […]

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Make Them Take the Purge Pledge

 

Ballot boxKevin McCarthy, who quietly colluded with Lyin’ Ryan to sabotage the first two years of President Trump’s administration, owns the actions of his caucus members. He owns the vote for the radical left assault on single-family home communities, the American dream for all ethnic groups, and clearing the biggest obstacle to Joe Manchin voting for the monstrous Build Back Better Act. McCarthy’s crew knew exactly what Manchin wrote and said the day before the Virginia election. For the sake of our republic, for our own states, our communities, our families, our lives, McCarthy must be expelled from Republican leadership, and all those who enable him from this day forth must have their political careers ended, without exception, in 2022. Voters can force this outcome by demanding every Republican primary candidate openly reject McCarthy before we consider any other campaign position or promise.

McCarthy’s motley crew knew the American people, across parties, socioeconomic circumstances, and ethnic identities, were rejecting Biden’s radical wrecking and remaking of America. Republican politicians expect to be given the majority in the House, and possibly the Senate, next November. McCarthy is the man who would be Speaker, and he let turncoats give aid and comfort to our domestic enemies, who loathe us. Our domestic enemies have declared open war on us, with the same hired guns that killed mothers and children in Idaho and Waco, Texas. Labeling parents who dare defy school board functionaries “domestic terrorists” means pointing men with automatic weapons at moms. It does not matter that the head of the American Stasi is a bespectacled bureaucrat. So was the last head of the German Stasi, Wolfgang Schwanitz.

Stasi sounds a bit extreme? My point is the current leadership in Congress and the Executive are lowering the barrier to official violence with their rhetoric about us, despite terrible past instances when government rhetoric, characterization of their target, led to deadly government violence. In that context, Republicans, squishy moderate to right of Attila the Hun, have no business giving any oxygen whatsoever to the fire, no matter the goodies slipped into a bill to their benefit.

Join Jim and Greg as they cheer the Fifth U.S. Circuit of Appeals for placing a stay on President Biden’s order mandating vaccinations for everyone at companies employing 100 or more people. They also welcome the latest indictment from the Durham investigation into the origins of the Russian collusion probe and what it may foreshadow about where Durham is focused next. And they fume as 13 House Republicans vote in favor of the bloated $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill and save Democrats from even more political dysfunction and embarrassment.

Senator Manchin Objects

 

ManchinSenator Manchin defied his party, dominated by the far left, and showed far more respect for our constitutional republic than has become customary. He issued a statement on camera on November 1, laying out his enduring objections and expectations as a senator from West Virginia. Manchin defied progressives’ demands as Biden nodded and slept his way through the only COP he and his party support. Senator Manchin defended the Senate against the House, and the Congress against the Executive. He reiterated a series of substantive objections about effects on the present and future of America.

The Democratic Party leadership in Congress failed to leverage Biden’s appearance on the international stage as a pretext for rushing through major legislation. In particular, Speaker (of the House) Pelosi failed to crowd Senator Manchin into doing the bidding of the House Progressive Caucus. Manchin’s words reflected what was once centrist political orthodoxy, but now trigger instant outrage and tantrums from the leftist core of today’s Democratic Party.

I am very cautiously encouraged by Manchin’s latest statement, his apparent position after the Build Back Better Act was supposedly slimmed down from $3.5 trillion to $1.75 trillion. He seems to be pushing back on both policy and real costs. On policy, Manchin objects to major growth in the scope of federal government involvement in Americans’ lives, and to energy and economic harms. On costs, he calls pure applesauce on the budgetary gimmicks. My analysis of the Build Back Better Act concludes it is radically leftist, transformational in its effects on America. Senator Manchin just might help save our constitutional republic for a season.

Atlas Shirks

 

Just a couple of quick thoughts about our nation’s infrastructure, and about what it takes to keep it healthy and robust.

It’s easy for Americans to believe that the human condition is one of relative security, comfort, and ease. That’s been the story of America during my lifetime, after all: since World War II we have enjoyed unprecedented prosperity and security. I grew up taking those things for granted, as did my own children.

Party of Government Threatens Government Shutdown

 

Things come to a head this week on Capitol Hill as Congress considers hard infrastructure, soft infrastructure, reconciliation, the debt ceiling, and the tantalizing prospect of a government shutdown. Speaking of which, how awesome would a government shutdown be when every governing institution in Washington is controlled by the Party of Government™? Naturally Democrats would blame such an outcome on the minority party – would that Republicans were so competent!

At this point I half expect Pelosi to simply wash her hands and advise her coalition to vote their conscience – if any.

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Hugh Hewitt, 65, hosts the second-longest-running radio talk show in the United States. With hundreds of affiliates in nearly every state, Hugh is also a former attorney, law professor, former Reagan Administration official, and perhaps the best interviewer in all media. I especially love how Hugh interviews journalists from the mainstream media and expertly schools […]

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Join Jim and Greg as they dissect the much-needed resignation of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.  They also shudder as 19 Republicans in the Senate support the badly bloated infrastructure bill.  And they fume as Oregon addresses its problem of some students of color failing to meet high school proficiency standards by getting rid of the standards altogether.

Is This Any Way to Run a Railroad?

 

For more than 16 years, I managed the government affairs function for a Fortune 250 company from its headquarters in southern New Jersey, across the expansive Delaware River from downtown Philadelphia.

It was a challenge to lobby federal agencies and Congress from someplace other than the Washington, DC area. After all, there are more than 12,000 registered lobbyists in Washington (under the Lobby Disclosure Act, certain “full-time” influencers must file with the House and Senate, including periodic disclosures), and most of them live and work in and around DC’s beltway.

‘Infrastructure’ Distortions

 

The impending multibillion-dollar infrastructure deal between the Biden administration and the Senate Republicans has been hailed as welcome bipartisan cooperation that augurs well for the revitalization of this nation’s aging infrastructure—and for improving the lives of many Americans. This narrative plays so well because the term “infrastructure” now carries a seal of approval. Private expenditures may be suspect as greedy, but not public expenditures.

The great appeal of the term “infrastructure” is that it helps bridge the divide between classical liberal and modern progressive attitudes toward government spending. The most thoughtful students of laissez-faire economics do not limit permissible government actions to the prevention of force and fraud and the enforcement of private agreements. They also believe that government intervention is often needed to provide those collective facilities—such as roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, communications, and pipelines—that cannot be put together solely through coordinated private investment.

Many of these operations are long and skinny and thus presuppose the ability to assemble land from multiple owners, who in the absence of a threat of condemnation could hold out for higher prices that doom all collective projects.

Join Jim and Greg as they credit Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for tapping the brakes on the effort of Senate Dems to ram through $3.5 trillion in lefty spending priorities without any GOP votes. They also shake their heads as American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten says she will try to get schools open in the fall while adding the new CDC mask guidelines still make her concerned about teacher safety in the classroom. And they throw up their hands as a lot of Senate Republicans vote to advance an infrastructure bill that spends less than a tenth of the price tag on roads and bridges.

Jim and Greg welcome poll numbers showing the recall effort against California Gov. Gavin Newsom gaining serious momentum. They also laugh at West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin for trying to pressure Republicans into supporting the “infrastructure” bill or else Democrats won’t spend trillions on that or on their even more bloated legislation. And they hammer New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for claiming he’s told the truth the entire time during the COVID pandemic.

Alexandra Desanctis Marr is in for Jim today.  Alexandra and Greg cheer Senate Republicans for blocking the Democrats’ very expensive “infrastructure” bill, which doesn’t even exist yet. They also slam House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for further politicizing the committee tasked with investigating the Capitol Hill riot by rejecting two GOP members. And they scratch their heads after President Biden’s latest town hall is filled with false statements and incoherent moments.

Today Jim and guest host Chad Benson celebrate Speaker Pelosi’s further destruction of the infrastructure bill compromise. They also grimace as problems continue to appear in the Democratic mayoral primary race in NYC. Finally, they sigh as LA county health officials recommend masks for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals in light of the new Delta strand.

 

Jim and guest host Chad Benson celebrate the end of federal unemployment benefits in some states which is nudging unemployed Americans to return to work. They also say “I told you so” as Biden threatens to veto a bipartisan infrastructure bill if a far-left bill is not also passed using reconciliation. Lastly, the marvel at an Olympic athlete’s refusal to be reverent during the playing of the national anthem… at an event dedicated to representing your country.

Jim and guest host Chad Benson cheer on the New York Times as they publish a new op-ed detailing the evidence for the lab leak theory in a fair way. They also try to understand why the GOP is willing to make a lose-lose compromise with Senate Democrats on infrastructure spending. Lastly, they marvel at another New York Times op-ed by X-Files creator Chris Carter in which he states why he is skeptical of the Pentagon UFO report.