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

Why do Republicans hate women?

“Twenty-five years ago, the FDA made a decision that changed the course of reproductive health in America. By approving mifepristone (Mifeprex) for medication abortion, the agency gave people access to one of the safest, most effective, and most studied medications in modern medicine. “Since then, more than 7.5 million Americans have relied on it to […]

Drop in the bucket

The Chicago police force has over 12,000 sworn officers, the 2nd largest police force in the US. Trump plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, most or all of whom will be sent to Chicago. That’s a 2.5% increase in total law enforcement, a trivial increase. Of course, that assumes they’ll all […]

The truth about combination vaccines

The campaign to sow doubt and confusion around vaccines uses several different lies. One is the facially absurd notion that combination vaccines can overwhelm the immune system. A healthy infant’s immune system responds to thousands of antigens from their environment daily, far exceeding the number found in modern vaccines. Moreover, decades of experience the world […]

Jerbs

“ADP also revised the August jobs number down, saying that the private sector lost 3,000 jobs that month. Ultimately, that means the private sector has lost jobs in three out of the last four months, per ADP estimates. “What’s more, since the start of April, when Trump first announced his moronic “Liberation Day” tariffs, the […]

Medical quackery is everywhere

When we moved to Rhode Island, we chose the location to be near high end healthcare. In addition to being only an hour from Boston, we were close to clinicians affiliated with Brown University, the local Ivy League university. But that affiliation is no guarantee against quacks: “A population-based retrospective study from South Korea is […]

The art of the deal

Until this year, China has been a major consumer of US soybeans. But Trump’s trade war with China has resulted in a shutdown of that major market for American farmers and billions of dollars in lost sales. Trump has promised federal dollars to farmers to compensate for the loss of the Chinese markets. So taxpayers […]

Anti-Trump lawsuit ROI

Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds generated in part through NYC taxpayer dollars from New York City if they don’t elect Mario Cuomo as mayor. Zohran Mamdani claps back: “I look for examples across this country that showcase the best way to respond to Donald Trump’s… threats rather is responding with strength,” he continued. […]

All your tax money belongs to Trump now

Trump is unhappy with the mayor’s race in New York City. His designated candidate may not win. “Trump then claimed that Mamdani “needs the money” from him. “Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist promises,” he continued. “Trump added: “He won’t be getting any […]

Freeze peach

As a lifelong supporter of the ACLU, I take a back seat to nobody in my support for the 1st Amendment. But the 1st Amendment only enjoins the government from interfering with freedom of expression. Private entities are not covered. “YouTube will offer creators a way to rejoin the streaming platform if they were banned […]

No agenda, no attenda

That was my motto about meetings when I was a professor and associate dean. A leader respects the time of their colleagues. Not so for Pete Hegseth. “Nothing good is likely coming out of this,” said one Democratic political scientist on Thursday regarding reports that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called a meeting of […]