"For five and a half months, I have worked as diligently as possible meeting with President Biden, Majority Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi and my colleagues on every end of the political spectrum to determine the best path forward despite my serious reservations. I have made my concerns clear through public statements, op-eds and private conversations. My concerns have only increased as the pandemic surges on, inflation rises and geopolitical uncertainty increases around the world.

"I have always said, 'If I can't go back home and explain it, I can't vote for it.' Despite my best efforts, I cannot explain the sweeping Build Back Better Act in West Virginia and I cannot vote to move forward on this mammoth piece of legislation.

"My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face. I cannot take that risk with a staggering debt of more than $29 trillion and inflation taxes that are real and harmful to every hard-working American at the gasoline pumps, grocery stores and utility bills with no end in sight.

"The American people deserve transparency on the true cost of the Build Back Better Act. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office determined the cost is upwards of $4.5 trillion which is more than double what the bill's ardent supporters have claimed. They continue to camouflage the real cost of the intent behind this bill.

"As the Omicron variant spreads throughout communities across the country, we are seeing COVID-19 cases rise at rates we have not seen since the height of this pandemic. We are also facing increasing geopolitical uncertainty as tensions rise with both Russia and China. Our ability to quickly and effectively respond to these pending threats would be drastically hindered by our rising debt.

"If enacted, the bill will also risk the reliability of our electric grid and increase our dependence on foreign supply chains. The energy transition my colleagues seek is already well underway in the United States of America. In the last two years, as Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and with bipartisan support, we have invested billions of dollars into clean energy technologies so we can continue to lead the world in reducing emissions through innovation. But to do so at a rate that is faster than technology or the markets allow will have catastrophic consequences for the American people like we have seen in both Texas and California in the last two years.

"I will never forget the warning from then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, that he delivered during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing during my first year in the Senate. He testified that the greatest threat facing our nation was our national debt and since that time our debt has doubled.

"I will continue working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to address the needs of all Americans and do so in a way that does not risk our nation's independence, security and way of life."

Read Senator Manchin's statement on his website here.

"Earlier this month when she announced her candidacy for governor of Georgia, Stacey Abrams said, 'Idid not challenge the outcome of the election, unlike some recent folks did.' That sound you hear is the world's largest record scratch. Despite these desperate attempts to rewrite history, Stacey Abrams is the pioneer of election disinformation.

After losing the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election, Abrams was unwilling to concede to Gov.-elect Brian Kemp. The next year she said , 'We had this little election back in 2018 and despite the final tally and the inauguration and the situation we find ourselves in, I do have one very affirmative statement to make: we won.' She went even further on several occasions claiming that she had won and that she was proud she hadn't conceded.

She is changing her tune now because she knows her past statements are not only campaign fodder for her opponents, but reveals to Georgians her role in our state's mistrust of elections."

Read the entire article here.

"'The difference between genius and idiocy is that genius has its limits.'

"'The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result.'

"Albert Einstein never said either of these things, even though both are attributed to him all over the internet. But both phrases are appropriately applied to the numerous influential yet misguided voices that championed the bogus cause of net neutrality in 2017. ...

"Unfortunately, however, President Joe Biden is putting the band back together. He is nominating FCC officials who would turn back the clock and regulate the internet as if it were some old-timey 1930s phone company whose employees direct your calls through a switchboard. There is no rational grounding for such a policy, which is sure to retard internet investment the moment it takes effect. Biden probably has no idea what a bad idea this is for his failing administration. Someone who loves him needs to explain to him why this is such a gigantic mistake."

Read the entire article here.

"New Hampshire is the freest state in the U.S. compared to the rest of the country, while New York is the least free, according to the CATO Institute's latest 'Freedom in the 50 States' report.

"The nonprofit think tank's report provides an in-debth look into personal and economic freedoms on a state-by-state basis. It ranks all 50 states according to how their public policies affect individual freedoms economically, socially and personally, ranging from taxation to debt, from eminent domain laws to occupational licensing, and from drug policy to educational choice.

"'Measuring freedom is important because freedom is valuable to people,' the report states, as 'a means to their flourishing ... and an end in itself. At the very least, it is valuable to those whose choices are restricted by public policy.' ...

"The overall freedom ranking assesses state policies related to fiscal, regulatory and personal categories within which are multiple criteria. According to its metrics, New Hampshire is overall the freest state in America.

"Rounding out the 10 freest states are Florida, Nevada, Tennessee, South Dakota, Indiana, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Idaho.

"New York leads in most categories in the 313-page report as one of the least free states. It's the least free state overall, followed by Hawaii, California, New Jersey, Oregon, Maryland, Delaware, Vermont, New Mexico and Rhode Island."

Read the entire article here.

"The Democrats' Build Back Better Act pending in the U.S. Senate includes a proposal to allocate $80 billion to the Internal Revenue Service to hire nearly 87,000 additional agents -- a plan opposed by a majority of voters recently polled.

"The BBBA proposal also comes after numerous reports show years of examples of agency problems costing taxpayer money.

"According to a new HarrisX poll, 58% of likely voters said they think increased enforcement would impact middle class taxpayers the most; 23% said it would only impact the wealthy.

"Their inclination appears to be accurate, according to the House version of the bill. Half of the expected 1.2 million new audits would target households earning less than $75,000.

"The majority of the proposed funding -- $44.9 billion -- would go toward IRS enforcement compared to $1.93 billion to help taxpayers with services like pre-filing assistance and education, filing and account services, and taxpayer advocacy."

Link to the entire article here.

"As former Sen. Bob Dole is laid to rest on Friday, let us not lay to rest important lessons we should draw from his life and leadership. ...

"Although he wasn't much for marketing labels, Dole was the original compassionate conservative, a term later credited to George W. Bush. Grievously injured in World War II, Dole was in a full-body cast, spent three years on his back in recovery, and was forever hampered by disability. No doubt this helped him see the needs of others, and most of his signature legislative accomplishments reflect that care and concern -- from the Americans With Disabilities Act to food and nutrition assistance, veterans benefits, and saving Social Security. Dole believed there was a role for the government for those with special needs.

"Much has been said about his now rare bipartisanship, which is also true. Most of his major legislative accomplishments were made with rivals from the other party -- Sens. Ted Kennedy, George McGovern, Tom Daschle, and others. Sadly, it's difficult to imagine that sort of bipartisanship today, and that alone is an important Dole legacy. ...

"Dole was from America's 'greatest generation,' cut from a different cloth. But there is no reason his lessons of pragmatic conservatism -- making government work for the needy, seeking bipartisanship, and respecting institution and governance -- couldn't come to the fore again. That would be the best way to honor Sen. Dole."

Read the entire article here.

"At least 12 major US cities have already set historical murder records in 2021, even as three weeks remain in the year.

"Philadelphia, the nation's sixth largest city, recorded 523 murders as of Dec. 7, surpassing its formal grim milestone of 500 murders, which was set in 1990, police data showed. ...

"Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Louisville, Kentucky; St Paul, Minnesota; Portland, Oregon; Tucson, Arizona; Toledo, Ohio; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Austin, Texas; Rochester, New York and Albuquerque, New Mexico also had their deadliest years on record, according to ABC News.

"Five of those cities topped notorious benchmarks that were set in 2020, the article said. All of them were led by Democratic mayors, as are the vast majority of US cities."

Read the entire article here.

"As a member of Congress, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez makes a whopping $174,000 annually, meaning that she individually earns more than twice the average U.S. household's income. Yet the progressive Democrat nonetheless thinks that working-class taxpayers should have to pay off her student loan debt.

"That's one of the main takeaways from Ocasio-Cortez's latest speech on the House floor. In the congresswoman's remarks, she issued yet another factually challenged and morally distorted plea for 'student debt cancellation,' a progressive euphemism for having taxpayers pay off approximately $1.6 trillion in student loan debt. (The loans aren't 'canceled' magically but paid off by taxpayers. Congress can't just make debts go away.)

"This is nothing new, as student debt 'cancellation' has been one of Ocasio-Cortez's pet issues since the beginning of her political career. Yet an interesting twist in this speech is that Ocasio-Cortez uses herself as an example -- and directly calls for taxpayers to pay off her financial obligations."

Read the entire piece here.

"A bank that misplaced over one-fifth of its deposits would be shut down almost immediately. So would a hospital that bungled one in five operations, or a private health insurer that mishandled one-fifth of its claims.

"But apparently, the bar is a lot lower for government programs. The Biden administration recently admitted that 'improper payments' made up 21.69% of total Medicaid spending in fiscal year 2021, which ended September 30.

"That error rate, which the administration buried in the tenth paragraph of a press release about the supposedly great work they're doing on fraud prevention, underscores how deeply broken the program is."

Read the entire article here.

"Crime is raging across the country, from violent attacks to brazen shoplifting to mob 'smash and grab' attacks. The White House this week had a simple answer for the cause of this rising lawlessness: It was not 'defund the police' efforts, or more restrictive policies for police and prosecutors. It was the familiar scourge cited in debates ranging from infrastructure to supply chains to tax increases -- the pandemic.

"The pandemic now seems to have reached the mythic levels of gods who once were blamed for everything that went wrong in life. Africans had Anansi the Spider, while the Norse had the trickster Loki. Both were known to assume different identities to wreak disorder or steal precious things.

"For politicians, it is useful to have a lurking Loki to explain that social problems are not really of their making, the result of their failures. The Loki factor was evident in the press conference this week when Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked about the rising lawlessness seen in major cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles: 'Does the president still think that crime is up because of the pandemic?' White House press secretary Jen Psaki replied that 'many people have conveyed that.'

"Doocy persisted: 'So when a huge group of criminals organizes themselves and they want to go loot a store -- a CVS, a Nordstrom, a Home Depot until the shelves are clean -- do you think that's because of the pandemic?' Psaki replied: 'I think a root cause in a lot of communities is the pandemic, yes.'

"That damned Loki."

Read the entire article here.