The Angry Bear

Several years ago, I got my genome sequenced and obtained my variant call files, the tabulation of all differences between my gene sequences and the annotated human genome. Although my primary care physician was aware, I didn’t require his intermediation to obtain or interpret my genomics data. How I might react to adverse information was up to me. I’ve referred to my variant spreadsheet many times since then, whenever I’ve read about a new variant...

By Tom Walker Econospeak Book proposal: Marx’s Fetters and the Realm of Freedom: a remedial reading — part 2.4 Marx’s remarkable, yet largely neglected statement that “[t]he whole development of wealth rests on the creation of disposable time” and his subsequent analysis of the relationship between disposable time, superfluous products, and surplus value suggests an alternative analysis of alienation that identifies disposable time itself as...

J.D. Vance’s Yale Law School Classmates Trying To Derail His Political Career It’s not flattering to the GOP pick for Vice President By Kathryn Rubino  Sigh. So Yale Law School’s own J.D. Vance was selected as Donald Trump’s running mate yesterday. It’s a victory for ass-kissers everywhere, and those who haven’t spent the last few years writing about the very junior senator from Ohio are trying to figure out what the maybe vice president is...

The yellow caution flag on retail consumption is up  – by New Deal democrat Retail sales declined -0.1% in June, but since consumer inflation also declined -0.1%, real retail sales were unchanged for the month. There was an upward revision to May which helped out the comparisons slightly, but for the entire first half of this year real retail sales have been treading water at a level below last year. The below graph is normed to 100 as of right...

I was born into an America where the eight-hour workday was widely observed. But what was for me just another fact of life was a hard-won right of the labor movement that cost hundreds of lives. “Death in the Haymarket: A Story of Chicago, the First Labor Movement and the Bombing that Divided Gilded Age America” by James R. Green is a history of the fight for the 8-hour work week and the labor movement of late 19th century America. It is also a...

Thom Hartmann Commentary Some interesting reads . . . Finally: The New York Times Editorial Board Calls for Republicans To Reject Trump.  Calling him “Dangerous in Word, Deed, and Action,” the Times editorial board laid out, in detail, how deranged Trump is and how deadly his second presidency would be to American democracy and to the American people ourselves. Biden’s gaffes notwithstanding, he’s been one of the most effective and...

by Jasper Craven Task & Purpose In mid-April, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, and Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, sent a letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough demanding to know why the agency was wounding itself.  Specifically, they worried about a series of seemingly contradictory eligibility and staffing policies. In March, the VA handed down a directive that expanded healthcare eligibility to...

by Lloyd Alter Carbon Upfront! The size an style of these vehicles will not make you embrace them as an alternative form of transportation. The concept is solid though. The savings to be achieved is realistic. The impact on our environment would be enormous. It is about time America abandons the too big, too fast, and too often phase we have in our heads. Doug Ford, the Premier of the Province of Ontario where I live, is trying to...

One has to wonder whether the misspelling is purposely done to attract attention or is a true misspelling of dementia. If you can not spell it correctly, how can you accuse a successful president who sidestepped a pandemic, kept a nation going during the pandemic, and has many other accomplishments over the past years. Pennsylvania Billboard Claims Joe Biden Has Dementia, Spells It Wildly Wrong, – Newsweek This is getting pretty wild as the...

by Dean Baker Center for Economic and Policy Research That’s what readers must conclude after reading this Washington Post’s piece on President Biden’s plans to increase corporate taxes and taxes on the rich. At one point, the piece reports the response to these plans from Rep. Steven Scalise (R-La), the second-ranking Republican in the House: “He tries to act like it’s not going to affect certain people, but when you raise taxes, it hits...