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

Yellow rain and the natural origin of a “bioweapon”

A recent discussion thread concerning the “lab leak” hypothesis for the origin of SARS-CoV-2 reminded me of another conspiracy theory involving claims of a bioweapon that also probably had a natural origin. The US government claimed that the Soviet Union was using trichothecene mycotoxins as biological weapons in Southeast Asia in the mid-1970s. In support […]

SARS-CoV-2 was probably not released from a research lab

I’m a molecular biologist who also has an undergrad degree in microbiology. Those facts and the additional facts that (a) I was in the Moderna phase III trial and (b) my medical school is one of ten NIH designated vaccine testing and evaluation units made me an avid student of the unfolding COVID-19 story. Given […]

The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance

The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance – Through Critical Thinking, (substack.com, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Not many people realize the Statue of Liberty has broken chains at her feet. Originally, the chains were going to be placed in her hand, but the tablet eventually replaced that idea. When the Statue’s unveiling celebration took place on October 28, 1886, […]

Despite Potential to Electrify 90 Percent of Routes, USPS Still Plans to Deliver Pollution with the Mail

I came across this article on Steve Hutkins’ “Save the Post Office.” There has been a political effort to redefine the USPS into more of a business model and something it was never meant to be. Right now, the USPS is beginning to reimage its model and existence as led by Postmaster Louis Dejoy. There […]

Branding and the business model of research universities

Our daughter only applied to two colleges, Washington University in St. Louis and Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. Tuition wasn’t an issue, since her mom was an employee of Wash U, and the university pays full tuition at Wash U or half of Wash U’s tuition at any other college or university for all […]

A little-known federal contractor is a big player in privatizing government services

We are again discussing people on Medicaid who may not know they have to reenroll. The largest unknowing segment of that population are those over 65 years of age. This is a combination of several different articles on the Medicaid Disenrollment occurring today. Private business again taking advantage of the lack of knowledge of people […]

Carbon capture and geoengineering

In a previous post, I made the point that even if all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions ceased tomorrow, the half-lives of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, together with climate change-driven gas emissions from melting permafrost and methane clathrates doom us to decades more of warming. The only ways to avert this are (1) carbon […]

Former Ohio House Speaker Finally sentenced to 20 years

As taken from this column and other sources as well. Former Ohio House speaker sentenced to 20 years in $60 million bribery scheme | CNN Politics, Sydney Kashiwagi. A Little Background: FirstEnergy and its executives denied wrongdoing and have not been criminally charged for a scheme to bail the company out.  However, federal investigators say […]

Ron DeSantis doesn’t understand capitalism

I see where failing GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is trying to salvage his campaign by pivoting to Marxism. He is calling for the state of Florida to investigate Belgium-based AB InBev on the basis of their recent Bud Light advertisements using a trans character. DeSantis seems to believe that AB InBev breached legal duties […]