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

The future of medical genetics

Nearly three decades ago, I created a course for first year medical students called “Molecular Biology and Genetics.” Together with a clinical faculty, I co-directed the course for 22 years. There’s a piece over at Medpage about “niche careers” in medicine. Here’s one: “7. Medical Genetics and GenomicsMedical geneticists diagnose and manage hereditary conditions, using […]

Happy July 4th, Bears!

“I don’t know a soul who’s not been batteredI don’t have a friend who feels at easeI don’t know a dream that’s not been shatteredOr driven to its kneesOh, but it’s all right, it’s all rightFor lived so well so longStill, when I think of the roadWe’re traveling onI wonder what went wrongI can’t help […]

More activity, less cancer

“Prolonged, uninterrupted sedentary behavior was associated with a significantly increased likelihood of dying of cancer, a study of more than 90,000 people showed. “Every additional hour of prolonged sedentary behavior per day was linked with a 10% higher hazard of cancer mortality. Replacing an hour of sedentary behavior daily with light physical activity or with […]

Latest TACO?

Trump refused to sign a housing bill passed by bipartisan veto-proof majorities. But if he refuses to sign it and refuses to veto it, it becomes law. “Speaker Mike Johnson says the landmark housing affordability package Congress passed earlier this month will become law — and that Republicans won’t have to take an uncomfortable vote […]

At Ford, AI wasn’t ready for prime time

Ford increasingly relied on AI-driven inspection systems to streamline production and address quality control issues. How’d that work out? “Ford has admitted to rehiring hundreds of human workers after its aggressive AI adoption strategy backfired. “The US automaker hired over 350 veteran engineers, referred to internally as “gray beards”, over the past three years in […]

Quote of the day

Apparently, the Supreme Court has decided that what the Constitution *really meant* all along was “disclosure for thee, but not for the VIPs with checkbooks the size of small nations.” Because despite decades of rulings affirming that states can, in fact, require donor transparency to keep democracy from smelling like week old fish, the Court […]

Quote of the day

The question I get most often when speaking about Watergate is a version of “what would happen if Watergate happened today with Fox News?” And my answer is always very simple: Nixon would have survived. Not because he didn’t deserve to be forced from office, or because there was a Deep State campaign against him, […]

Quote of the day

If you haven’t read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren’t broad enough to sustain you. ~General James N. Mattis