Tag Archives: Hot Topics

Bad News About Iran And Nuclear Deal  In yesterday’s Washington Post it was reported that there will be no further negotiations between the US and Iran (and other parties) in Vienna over the US and Iran rejoining the JCPOA nuclear agreement that Iran had been adhering to when Donald Trump withdrew the US from it in 2018, then reimposing economic sanctions on Iran, with Iran then starting to violate the agreement in various ways starting a year...

Steve Hutkins at Save the Post Office, “Reply to the USPS: How the new service standards will cause geographic discrimination” The Postal Service’s plan to reduce service standards is now being reviewed by the Postal Regulatory Commission for an Advisory Opinion. On Friday, June 25, the Postal Service and several of the intervenors in the case submitted their Reply Briefs. (You can find the briefs and replies here.) Below is my Reply Brief....

Steve Hutkins at Save The Post Office, “How the postal reform bill may help the Postal Service slow down the mail” In August 1970, Title 39, aka the Postal Reorganization Act, created the Postal Service. The first section, 39 U.S. Code § 101, is entitled “Postal Policy.” It’s just over 400 words long, but it is probably the most frequently quoted passage in the history of postal legislation. It’s often cited in litigation, academic articles, and...

Topical thread Unemployment is socially necessary. Tags: Disposable Industrial Reserve Army

Almost Record Heat In Death Valley  My niece, Erica Werner, is a reporter for the Washington Post.  She long covered heated debates in Congress over economic policy, getting on the front page a lot as during the passing of the Covid relief bill earlier this year. But then she moved to South Pasadena, CA a few months ago for family reasons and disappeared from the WaPo front page. But there she is on today’s front page and above the fold with a...

US crude supplies falling at a record pace, down 17.4% YoY; gasoline output at a 22 month high; record gasoline demand The Latest US Oil Supply and Disposition Data from the EIA, RJS, Marketwatch 666 US oil data from the US Energy Information Administration for the week ending July 2nd showed that even after a sizeble decrease in our oil exports and a modest decrease in our refinery throughput, we still needed to withdraw oil from our stored...

The Removal of Robert E. Lee’s Statue from Charlottesville Early this morning the statue of Robert E. Lee was finally removed from a park in the city of Charlottesville.  This issue had brought the awful racist riot on August 17, 2017, which led to Heather Heyer being killed by a racist in a car. A statue of Stonewall Jackson, long located on the city courthouse site, was also removed, as well as later in the day without warning a statue of Lewis...

Commenter and Agriculture Economist Michael SmithThe Tale of Two Freezes:This one has been a long time coming and with the special session happening in Texas with our legislature a few things have become very apparent. Texas gets criticized heavily in the media all over the United States, and arguably, worldwide. We are a cast as a brazen form of maverick insurrectionists some of it reality, some not. But the truth is a little more egregious. Let’s...

This was always the plan? The plan did not include forcing people out of traditional Medicare and into Medicare Advantage. No mistake on the date on this Copied and Pasted Angry Bear post from almost two years ago. Nancy Alt, Andrew Sprung, and Angry Bear were sounding the alarm in 2019 about trump’s move to privatize Medicare using Medicare Advantage plans and by placing traditional Medicare users into these commercial insurance plans....

Senator McBroom’s Report – Picking Up from Where I Left Off Republican UP State Senator Ed McBroom: “‘the bills should not be seen as challenging the validity of the November election, but as ways to tighten ‘safeguards’ from ‘real vulnerabilities.'” So, the Republicans can pass legislation to resolve those “real vulnerabilities” McBroom worries about. Republicans have controlled the State Senate since the early 1980s from what I am told by...