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

Why vote?

On our trip to Colorado for Thanksgiving, the boarding announcements for each flight began with an invitation to active service people and veterans to board first, always followed with “thank you for your service.” People join the military for many reasons. Some out of a sense of patriotism, others because that was the best-paying job […]

Oral argument December 23 2023, Harrington v. Purdue Pharma

Court conflicted over Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan that shields Sacklers from liability, SCOTUSblog, Amy Howe. Conflicted? There is nothing to be conflicted about with Purdue and the US Opioid Epidemic. As was pointed out repeatedly. The Supporting Facts Leading to the Cause of the Opioid Epidemic is pretty simple. Purdue promoted the use of opioids […]

You keep using that word . . .

In the film, “The Princess Bride,” Wally Shawn repeatedly exclaims “inconceivable.” Finally, Mandy Patinkin (as Inigo Montoya) replies: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” Whenever GOP politicians announce their belief that the age for Social Security and Medicare Benefits should be raised, the mainstream media […]

Native American child poverty doubled in 2022

This is a combination of two different posts. The first part is by the NCRC, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. It offers up a wealth of detail expressed in numbers defining the issues confounding Native Americans. It is very brief and I would hope you follow the link to a larger array of statistics defining […]

AI Understands The Importance Of Independent Congressional Rules

“AI Understands The Importance Of Independent Congressional Rules,” Exposing The Underpinnings Of A Broken Government, J. P. McJefferson The Artificial Intelligence (AI) application ChatGPT understands the importance of independent reviews of Congressional Rules. ChatGPT says independent reviews are, “essential for various reasons.” Too bad “Real Intelligence (RI)” can’t seem to recognize those essential reasons. A […]

trying to “terminate” healthcare coverage for over 40 million Americans

Healthcare in the United States of America has always been difficult and the costs are commercially driven with some give to what the market will bear. While not perfect, the ACA was a huge step forward in providing affordable healthcare. Unfortunately, Ted Kennedy died shortly afterwards. Senator Kennedy was also advocating for Long Term Care. […]

Simply following the “new precedent” established by Republicans

Probably told the story of meeting Senator Dick Durbin at Showdown in Chicago during the ABA Bankers Roaring Twenties dance convention at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers. Had asked him when were Dems going to take a stand and start acting like the party of the majority. Richard Trumka’s remarks are still up and […]

A new rule that would grant exemptions on swap trades

Here we are agin, trying to make it easier to trade derivatives. Never mind the lessons we thought we learned when Goldman Sachs called on AIG to ante up. There were little in reserve for the swaps and AIG was ready to collapse. Congress and the Fed (or reverse) saved them and the economy. The […]

Media still will not cover Trump after years of his lies

Commenter and reader J.P. Mc Jefferson linked to this Lawrence O’Donnell Youtube article “Media still not ready to cover Trump after years of his lies.” It appears; Donald Trump called on the government to “come down hard” on MSNBC and not one major broadcast news network covered it. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell explains why this is […]