Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

The Arctic Hare and Walter Benjamin’s program for a proletarian children’s theater

The Arctic Hare and Walter Benjamin’s program for a proletarian children’s theater The hare was a child so badly treated and offended by the other people because he had such long ears that he went off to live alone. When he sees someone, he puts his ears back; for when he hears a man’s call, […]

Are progressives responsible for the Democrats’ political troubles?

Predicting the future is hard, but right now things look bad for President Biden and congressional Democrats.  Their agenda is stalled in Congress, the pandemic continues to kill people and disrupt normal life, prices are rising, and perceptions of the economy are bad.  No one is surprised that the President’s approval rating keeps hitting new […]

A historical note on US Treasury interest rates and stock prices

New Deal democrat, “Historical Note on US Treasury Interest Rates and Stock Prices“ Over the weekend I was asked by two people what is going on in the markets. That’s usually a sign that there has been a sudden downside move, and people are getting emotional. Back 5 and 10 years ago, when I was […]

Oil Prices 7 Year High; Draw from Natural Gas Supply Largest Since Winter Storm

RJS, Focus on Fracking Oil prices rose for a fifth consecutive week and hit a 7 year high in the process, on supply disruptions in the Middle East and on rising tensions between NATO and Russia…after rising 6.3% to $83.82 per barrel last week on a softening of Fed rhetoric and on a production shortfall by […]

Farm in a Square, Harvest in a Circle

All throughout the Midwest, Plains, pretty much anywhere that doesn’t get adequate rain you can look on Google maps and see square fields with bright green circles in the middle. These are pivot fields that are irrigated from aquifers below. The corners of those fields are usually left barren. No, these are not the corners […]

Stepping Back, in a Posture of Mindful Gratitude

TPM’s Josh Marshall takes on a tour of Krysten Cinema’s future as a Senator from Arizona, calling her a dead senator walking. I think she already knows this and does not give a damn. Six years and out, take your political donations from the drug companies, etc. It is hard for me to imagine she […]

How intelligence was distributed among the animals

How intelligence was distributed among the animals Illustration by Tom Seidmann-Freud In the beginning, none of the animals was endowed with intelligence. When they saw a hunter coming towards them who wanted to kill them, they stopped, looked at him, and were shot. So our Lord sent someone who put all the senses in a […]

Advocate of Book Burning Becomes Chairman of Virginia School Board

(Dan here…I am reading more examples of this trend of local censorship) From Diane Ravitche’s blog comes this posting: (Quote) Peter Greene tells the ignominious story of the Spottsylvania, Virginia, school board. One of the school board members, Kirk Twigg, is a conservative Christian who is very fearful of books that might have any sexual content. He […]

Weekly Indicators for January 17 – 21 at Seeking Alpha

by New Deal democrat Weekly Indicators for January 17 – 21 at Seeking Alpha My Weekly Indicators post is up at Seeking Alpha. A few months ago, in the midst of the Boom, virtually every indicator across all time spectrums was positive. In the past months, we have begun to see the deterioration in that situation, […]