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

An Opportunity for Women in an Unusual Job Situation

Before you start to question my titling of this commentary. Women are very much in the minority in this field. There is a forecast of greater job opportunities in this field due to EVs, etc. Read on and we can talk some. By 2030, there Will Be a 30% Shortage of Electricians as reported by […]

A government in which racial minorities have a say is illegitimate”

No, this is not the title of this essay by Prof. Heather Cox Richardson who also writes “Letters from an American,” a substack drawing hundreds of commenters daily. Some Republicans are attempting to make this argument a reality. The insistence that of their opponents being socialists goes hand in hand with their effort to suppress […]

Court Again Rejects Alabama Scraping of Black-Majority Districts

As taken from the Wall Street Journal September 26, 2023. If you have not been paying attention to what is happening in Alabama, this will bring you up to date. SCOTUS again rejected Alabama’s attempt to pack most of Alabama’s Black American citizenry into one congressional district. Alabama’s desires to maintain white majorities in six […]

Bad Journalism

Hmm. Maybe Trump *does* have a point about the lying press after all. Here’s the Reuters headline:“Biden, Trump to woo union workers in Michigan as auto strikes grow” So where are Trump and Biden going to woo union workers? “Former President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit a Macomb County automotive supplier of engine and […]

Fentanyl, Methadone, Buprenorphine and Naltrexone

One of these things is not like the others. Fentanyl is killing about 70,000 Americans a year. The others are known to be useful in treating opioid dependency yet (in 2014 sorry will Google more) only half of private opioid use disorder treatment programs offered pharmaceuticals and less tha one third of patients actually received […]

Backwoods USA, Mom Sentenced to Two Years for helping Daughter

US mother sentenced to two years in prison for giving daughter abortion pills, Backwoods and Out Houses USA, The Guardian This is not horrific. It is what happens to people when there is no way out. The horrific part is the state which forces people to take any means possible. ~~~~~~~~ Jessica Burgess, a Nebraska […]

Is Performative Speech Protected by the FIrst Amendment?

It is agreed that freedom of speech does not imply freedom to make whatever performative utterance one chooses. It just isn’t agreed what “performative” means. Some (of whom you are the first I ever heard do so ever in my life) use it in this sense. The usage condemnation is performative when, for example a […]