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

Cutting defense spending

Wanna know why nobody wants to cut defense spending? It’s because defense dollars are spread all over the country. There’s a military installation in every state. Many companies have contracts with the DoD. So any discussion of cuts ends up with folks saying “don’t cut our piece, cut their piece.” No Congressman wants their piece […]

Making America Infected Again

Incidence of bird flu in humans, though still low, is rising. “Regular” seasonal flu is now being classified as the worst in 15 years with more US hospitalizations for flu than for COVID. So far this year 68 kids have died of seasonal flu, and the US is on track to exceed last year’s children’s […]

They’re coming for Social Security

“Before President Donald Trump started mass layoffs of federal workers, he demonized them, arguing, despite evidence to the contrary, that most never went into the office. “As he moved to cut foreign aid, he and Elon Musk alleged widespread waste and abuse, although they offered little evidence to back up their claims and may simply […]

Flying the unfriendly skies

I’ve been a big fan of airline travel and have flown hundreds of times on commercial flights for business and pleasure over the past five decades. Not anymore: “The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal […]

Will the next Wuhan be in the US?

There’s no question that SARS-CoV-2 jumped from bats to humans. Whether that jump was direct or indirect and whether it occurred in a lab or in the Wuhan wet market is unknown. The Chinese government has been less than completely forthcoming about the COVID 19 epidemiology. There’s no question that bird flu can jump from […]

Measles and Christian heresy

I grew up in the South. While there were no snake handlers in my town, there were fundamentalists in the area who practiced snake handling. I see no significant difference between those snake handlers in East Tennessee and folks in West Texas who refuse to vaccinate their kids for preventable diseases. Both are tempting God, […]

National insecurity

“Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. “Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency […]

Union-killing bill dies in New Hampshire

“Right-to-work” is one of those marketing euphemisms like “pro-life,” which is designed to disguise the actual agenda. In the case of “right-to-work,” the actual agenda is to kill unions and give workers the “right” to work for low wages under oppressive conditions. Much to my surprise, Republicans—who have long been in the vanguard of “right-to-work”—joined […]

Trump takes NYC hostage

New York City has had a long history of problematic mayors, and the corrupt current mayor, Eric Adams, is honoring that tradition. Now, heaping corruption on corruption, the corrupt current President, Donald Trump, is trying to exploit the corrupt Justice Department to do a corrupt deal with Adams: “ . . . President Trump had […]

Republicans* approve quack to direct HHS

“Kennedy, an “unfathomable” nominee in the eyes of public health experts, has questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, tied gay and transgender identities to chemical exposure, pushed to remove fluoride from drinking water, suggested COVID-19 was genetically engineered to target certain races, claimed Black people may have different immune systems and suggested anti-depressants are […]