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

Letters From an American

This commentary by Professor Heather caught my eye this morning. Interesting findings in the Letter today.. Letters From An American, October 23, 2021, Professor Heather Cox – Richardson There are three stories in the news today that seem to me to add up to a larger picture. First is the story of money laundering, which […]

COVID vaccines and antibodies

Joel Eissenberg, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology I got the Moderna vaccine as part of the phase III clinical trial back in August and September 2020. Although it was technically a blinded trial, I knew from my symptoms after the second shot I was in the vaccine arm and not the placebo arm […]

Ceci n’est pas une pipe

Death Valley is not experiencing a drought. Neither is the Mojave, the Sahara, nor the Gobi. A drought is an unusually extended period between the occurrence of a regularly occurring event; an anomaly. For example, when it usually rains on a regular basis, then but doesn’t rain for an unusually long period; that period during […]

Michigan Republicans Are Quietly Replacing Officials Who Certified 2020 Vote Totals

This action by the Michigan Republican part does not surprise me in the least. Republicans have had control of the Senate since 1983 and the House (from what I can see) since 1990. They have had a trifecta (including the governor’s office) 2 of 4 times for a number of years also. Much of this […]

Ross Douthat asks the wrong questions about Trump and American democracy

Suppose that you believe, as I do, that the threat to American democracy posed by Donald Trump and his Republican enablers and imitators is by far the most important issue confronting us today.  One implication of this view is that opinion leaders – politicians, pundits, academics, journalists – should make every effort to forestall disaster […]

What If Democrats Fail to Enhance the ACA?

Hey, this is a copy and paste article by Andrew Sprung at Xpostfactoid. He does a nice job of explaining the technical aspects of expanding the ACA and making it more liberal in providing greater Commercial Healthcare Insurance benefits to more US citizens. He also discusses what could happen if we make Biden’s healthcare extensions […]

By Any Other Name

Leaders like Lukashenko, Duterte, Erdoğan, Bolsonaro, Orbán, and Trump*; do they indeed represent a global move toward authoritarianism? Or, is there perhaps another explanation? Was there something specific that brought these once titular democracies to such a state of state; a common underlying reason for this lots rise to power? Did the world change, or, […]

People distrust government and experts because Republican politicians, conservative media, and libertarian ideologues tell them to

A lie can travel halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on Anonymous (often attributed to Twain) Trust in government has been declining in the United States for decades.  Although skepticism about government can sometimes help us avoid policies that are harmful or unfair, low levels of trust are troubling for two […]

Analyzing the impact of biodiesel and it causing a potential issue

Michael Smith Farmer and Agricultural Economist, “Farmers need more space for crops to meet mounting demand”- AgResource | Reuters Dan Basse of AgResource Co. analyzes the impacts of biodiesel and is throwing up a potential issue.  Reuters interviewed an agronomist who is closely watching the budget reconciliations and the spending of a $350 billion yearly […]