The Perils of Gifts

He’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty and nice. He knows when you’ve been sleeping, he knows when you’re awake… Haven Gillespie (words) and J. Fred Coots (music) in 1934

Xi Jinping, president of China and leader of the Chinese Communist Party now knows everything about the hopes and dreams of 1.4 billion Chinese citizens using China’s social credit system and mass surveillance.

“Wait, what?”

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Richard Williams
Regulating Santa

In 2020 alone, the current administration published 134 gigantic rules (that cost over $100 million). Compare that to an average of 41 for administrations over the last 40 years. Of course, there are tens of thousands of other regulations that are not quite so big. We are rapidly getting to the point where pretty much everything will be regulated, and we will need new targets. I have a suggestion – Santa Claus.

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Richard Williams
Presidential Memos and Dirty Harry

A recent presidential memorandum on regulations requires federal economists to analyze ways to include and promote “social welfare, racial justice, human dignity, equity, and the interests of future generations.” It went on to say that they should make sure regulations benefit, or don’t inappropriately burden “disadvantaged, vulnerable, or marginalized communities.” In some ways, all of this is to say stop discriminating and try to remedy past discrimination. But one big problem with these requirements is that the memorandum may have to include just about everybody.

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Richard Williams
Thrill Seekers in Kenosha

I didn’t follow the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. When I read a headline about it early on, I just thought, “Oh God, what now?” But after the verdict, I began to get interested and read articles about everyone involved. People were making judgments on both sides of the issue and about the four young men involved (the shooter and the shot) but the evidence to me suggested that the issues they were commenting on may not have had much to do with why those young men came to Kenosha.

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Richard Williams