By Rob Bluey ~

In just two weeks, Republicans will control the U.S. House of Representatives. They’ll be able to conduct oversight of the Biden administration that’s badly needed after two years of unified Democrat government.

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., promised “rigorous oversight” of the Biden administration. Unfortunately, it appears Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is about to undermine McCarthy’s efforts. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

And yet, even before Republicans get the gavel, they are about to give up their leverage to hold the Biden administration accountable.

Why? At least 10 big-government Republicans are likely to join Democrats to approve the massive $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill in Congress this week.

Doing so would undermine one of the GOP’s campaign promises. When rolling out the “Commitment to America” in September, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., made government accountability a core pillar of the plan.

By Tim Graham ~

CNN boss Chris Licht drew a big James Stewart profile on the front of the Sunday Business section of The New York Times. Licht’s public chatter about making CNN less partisan and screamy is drawing bad reviews from partisan and screamy leftists. This went unsaid: CNN hasn’t really changed at all.

A chorus of media pundits has pounced on every tidbit of bad news. Mr. Licht’s early programming efforts aimed at repositioning the network as broader and less partisan have prompted howls of criticism, with former MSNBC host and former colleague Keith Olbermann publicly calling Mr. Licht a “TV Fascist” after he moved Don Lemon, a liberal host, from a prime-time slot to a revamped morning show.

“The uninformed vitriol, especially from the left, has been stunning,” Mr. Licht said in one of several interviews with The New York Times spanning his nearly eight-month tenure…

While discovering electricity was part insight, superstition and serendipity, harnessing it for good came down to the laws of physics and sound engineering.

Exciting as it might be, feeling your hair stand up during an electrical storm was never going to alter the course of human affairs. Whereas the ability to generate and then deliver electrical power at a given frequency and voltage over time and on demand was an inevitable game changer.

Once thermal energy was used for that purpose, wind power was then and thereafter utterly redundant. Productive work could then be carried out at any time and without the need for a favourable weather forecast in advance.

The dismal history of early efforts to use windmills to generate electricity ought to have provided sufficient evidence to future generations attempting to do likewise. But, as they say, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

Parker Gallant…