"The joke survives the test of time and, under the circumstances, deserves repeating. As the late journalist Mickey Carroll told it, a suburban town with a population 90 percent Irish and 10 percent Jewish held a mayoral election involving two candidates -- one Irish and one Jewish.

"The Irish candidate won with -- wouldn't you know it? -- 90 percent of the vote. Whereupon he immediately denounced the clannishness of the Jews!

"The story offers a useful way to view Joe Biden's calls for national unity. Let's just say our president is as sincere as the fictional Irish mayor.

"Biden won the right to pursue the leftist agenda he campaigned on. But his promise that he will also work for the Americans who didn' vote for him is more fig leaf than honest invitation."

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"Incoming Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has suggested taxing Americans for the number of miles they drive, a policy he endorsed as a Democratic presidential candidate.

"The Biden Administration is actively searching for ways to fund its ambitious $1 trillion infrastructure plan.

"Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., acknowledged 'privacy concerns' related to implementing a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) system but said it should be considered as a potential replacement for the gas tax. ...

"Buttigieg said tying the gas tax to inflation as well as the VMT model would be considered by the Biden Administration. ...

"To implement a VMT system, the federal government would likely have to establish a uniform in-car system for tracking the number of miles a driver travels similar to the EZ-Pass transponder that drivers put in their vehicles to pay tolls."

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"Republican strategist Karl Rove criticized President Joe Biden's inaugural address Thursday on Fox News, accusing Biden of delegitimizing his political opponents.

"'There was a point in there where he said we're divided as a country between the people who believe in the American ideal and racism, nativism and fear. No, we're divided as a country politically over questions of policy and direction and respect, but we're united as a country against racism and nativism,' Rove said on 'America's Newsroom.'"

"One danger for Biden is that the electorate will come to view his call for unity as a mask for a partisan liberal agenda. There was little policy in the Inaugural Address, but the executive orders he is signing, and the legislation he is proposing to Congress, do not herald a future where the parties are reconciled to one another. His presidency might proceed along two tracks, with Biden standing as a symbol of comity and consensus while his administration sustains and expands the Democratic coalition. Biden might want to pay particular attention to a recent Washington Post/ABC News poll showing that 55 percent of independents have 'just some' or 'no confidence' in his decision-making abilities. Letting Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have their way will not shrink that number."

"The irony of the Squad's fame contributing to Democrats' losses is that their party's weakness empowers them. As the moderate wing of the Democratic Party has thinned, the progressive contingent has grown in strength. Of the 15 incoming Democratic freshmen, eight are members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and two -- Cori Bush from Missouri, a 'racial justice activist' who wants to 'defund the military,' and socialist Jamaal Bowman from New York, who claims America has moved from 'physical chattel enslavement' to a 'plantation economic system -- are new members of the Squad.

"The center of the modern Democratic Party isn't moving toward moderation."

"Small businesses have been crushed by COVID-19 and its attendant restrictions, as well as by riots and protests. At least 100,000 small businesses have permanently closed their doors. And nearly 60 percent of small-business owners don't expect their enterprise to survive until June 2021, according to a December survey.

"And all of this is before Biden's massive proposed minimum wage hike. The CBO concluded that it would have strained businesses and potentially eliminated millions of jobs in the normal pre-pandemic scenario. What's more, the loss of 1.3 million jobs was a median estimate. The CBO estimated that 'the change in employment would be between about zero and a decrease of 3.7 million workers.' There's little doubt this negative fallout would be even more pronounced right now.

"After all, payroll is often one of a company's biggest expenses, and a massive spike in labor costs would certainly push many struggling small businesses over the brink. Despite the policy's benign intentions, it would do no good for the millions of workers left unemployed as a result.

"'The timing is terrible and the tradeoffs are not worth it,' Competitive Enterprise Institute economist Ryan Young said of Biden's plan. 'Small businesses often have a hard time making payroll as it is, with bills and rent still piling up amid COVID-related slowdowns. A higher minimum wage would do no good for the workers who would be let go because of it.'

"There is little doubt that many of Biden's supporters earnestly believe a $15 minimum wage will help uplift struggling Americans. But as the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman famously quipped, 'one of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.' And evaluated from this perspective, Biden's push to force through a $15 national minimum wage in the name of COVID-19 relief fails woefully."

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"President-elect Joe Biden will rescind the cross-border permit for TC Energy's Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, three sources confirm to POLITICO.

"The move is billed as one of Biden's Day One climate change actions, according to a presentation circulating among Washington trade groups and lobbyists, a portion of which was seen by POLITICO. ...

"Two lobbyists confirmed that Biden plans to yank the project's permit on Inauguration Day, a development first reported by CBC News. It's the latest development in a decade-long fight over the controversial pipeline and solidifies a campaign promise the Canadian government had hoped was negotiable."

"Joe Manchin, the most conservative Democrat in a split Senate, is signaling that he'll be a check on liberal climate change policies such as a mandate for carbon-free electricity.

"'You cannot eliminate your way to a cleaner environment. You can innovate your way. That is the difference in some people's aspirational goals,' Manchin told the Washington Examiner in an interview.

"Manchin, who represents the coal state of West Virginia, is perhaps the most powerful man in Washington, where the Democrats control the Senate but only by the thread of a tiebreak vote from Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

"Manchin's control over climate change policy is especially significant because he is set to be the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, where he was the top-ranked Democrat last Congress.

"President-elect Joe Biden, in response to pressure from liberals, proposed the most aggressive agenda ever to combat climate change."

"The inaugural committee for President-elect Joe Biden reportedly returned a $500 donation from former California Sen. Barbara Boxer after it was learned she registered as a foreign agent for a Chinese surveillance firm.

"Axios reported that the committee rejected Boxer's donation since the Chinese firm -- named Hikvision -- has been 'accused of abetting the country's mass internment of Uighur Muslims.' According to Justice Department documents published Friday, Boxer provides 'strategic consulting services' to Hikvision's subsidiary in the United States.

"Hikivision was banned from doing business with U.S. firms absent a government-issued license in 2019, and was accused by the Trump administration of having ties to the Chinese military."

"Add one more voice of reason to the long list urging President-elect Joe Biden to rethink his plan to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal: Henry Kissinger warns that it could kick off a disastrous nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

"At a conference for the Jewish People Policy Institute on Monday, Kissinger argued that Biden should by no means reverse President Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the accord.

"Biden has said he means to return to it as long as Iran agrees to comply with the restrictions on its actions. But Kissinger notes that the deal's time limits on key restrictions and 'so many escape clauses' render it effectively useless in stopping Iran's nuclear development."