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

And they vote

I grew up in the state that hosted the Scopes trial. 100 years later, 25% of my fellow citizens believe in creationism. “Trollinger and Trollinger note that today approximately one-quarter of all Americans are young-earth creationists and reject much of modern biology and modern geology, not to mention modern cosmology. Answers in Genesis, which is […]

The Republican bill will cut Medicare

Yes, it cuts Medicaid explicitly. But it will result in cuts to Medicare as well: “But now Republicans have created another problem. They didn’t just cut Medicaid; they also have forced nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicare, the health program for the elderly. “Because of a statutory requirement to automatically impose budget […]

It’s starting already

“LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A clinic in southwest Nebraska announced Wednesday that it is closing due to financial challenges, including anticipated Medicaid cuts. “McCook-based Community Hospital said it is shutting down its clinic in Curtis, a town of about 900 people. “The Curtis Medical Center has been in operation for more than 30 years.” But […]

Kristi Noem is deranged, but will she cannibalize her own words?

Noem is busy protecting Americans against self-eating cannibals: “Speaking at a press conference in Florida with Donald Trump, Noem claimed that the president’s deportation push, which she is overseeing, is about “upholding freedom…the freedom to live safely in this country and to do things legally and to have justice.” The administration, she said, is “going […]

We are led by fools

RFK Jr. has appointed a clown car to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). And it shows: “If observers were waiting for a moment when the newly anointed members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) made a clear case against U.S. vaccine science, it didn’t happen during the group’s 2-day […]

Trump’s America: shrinking our way to excellence

Abroad, Trump is sending American hard power in retreat by pulling back on NATO and threatening to invade and take over a NATO country. American soft power under Trump is also in retreat, with the abandonment of USAID and Voice of America. At home, Trump is shrinking American agriculture by the USAID cuts. He’s levied […]

The Brushy Mountain State Prison of the Everglades

I grew up about 20 miles from Brushy Mountain State Prison. You may remember it as the place James Earl Ray was held until, briefly, he wasn’t. He escaped and was re-captured. The appeal of Brushy Mountain included rough terrain and venomous snakes that inhabited the surrounding area. Copperhead Alcatraz. I once visited the prison […]

The US federal deficit isn’t the scariest deficit

While Congress debates just how much to goose the federal deficit, the global climate budget is even further out of balance that previously feared: “But another approach can give us a very clear sense of what’s going on: track how much heat enters Earth’s atmosphere and how much heat leaves. This is Earth’s energy budget, […]