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

Two noteworthy tweets

Two noteworthy tweets It’s a slow economic news week. Housing starts and permits are reported tomorrow, and jobless claims and existing home sales on Thursday. I’ll update the Coronavirus Dashboard Wednesday.  So for today, two nuggets. 1. Nate Silver discovers behavioral psychology: This has been my paradigm for months. Panic breeds compliance with mask-wearing and […]

The Post Office in a Decent Society

Mark Jamison’s commentary on USPO matters have been featured at Angry Bear Blog a number of times. A retired postmaster, Mark Jamison serves as an advisor, resident guru, and a regular contributor to Save the Post Office. Mark’s previous posts concerning the USPO can be found here at “Save The Post Office” or by doing […]

Tic Tac Toe, Supreme Court style

(This was first posted February 21, 2008.) Bribes, payola, favor of the physical kind? Forget about it. Just put the right person in the appropriate agency, preferably someone from the line of business the agency is meant to regulate. You see it in the routine items, calendar notes on settlement windows and KYC thresholds for […]

Redux et Redux

Slavery, never gone, had been given new life in Europe with slaves from Africa; first by Portuguese Traders in the 15th Century, then by the Spanish in the 16th. The bubonic plague of the 14th Century had wiped out one-third of Europe’s population; Europe needed laborers. Slavery was widely practiced on the continent and in […]

The SCOTUS hearings

Democrats so far have focused on the risk that Amy Coney Barrett poses to the Affordable Care Act.  This is completely understandable as electioneering.  The ACA was one of their best issues in 2018, and it will be again this year.  But . . . By focusing narrowly on the ACA, the Democrats are missing […]

United States Postal Service Update on Court Cases

Steve Hutkins at Save the Post Office Another federal court has ruled against the Postal Service. The United States Postal Service is now 0 for 6. In the case of Richardson v Trump, Judge Emmet Sullivan has ordered a preliminary injunction putting limits on postal operations in the run-up to the election. (Sullivan had also issued a preliminary injunction […]

Voting in a Time of Covid: A Question about Judicial “Originalism”

Voting in a Time of Covid: A Question about Judicial “Originalism” The originalist theory of legal interpretation holds that judges, in reviewing the implementation of a statute, should be guided by the “plain meaning” of its language at the time it was adopted.  This is in opposition to the notion of a “living law”, whose […]

Just Stirring the Pot – Updated

Regeneron Seeks Emergency Approval per trump’s miracle recovery and subsequent endorsement. Biotech company Regeneron moved Wednesday to apply for emergency approval for an experimental antibody treatment praised by President Trump. “Subsequent to our discussions with regulatory authorities, we have submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) […]

New Healthcare Executive Order

Administration Health Care Executive Order, Health Affairs Blog, Katie Keith, September 2020 Trump believes he took action on Healthcare with an Executive Order protecting people with pre-existing conditions and also by eliminating surprise billing. He did not.  On September 24, 2020, D.J. Trump issued a health care executive order (EO) focusing on protecting people with preexisting […]