Tag Archives: politics

This week at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Justice Amy Barrett acknowledged expected court decisions on reproductive rights and gun control would be seen through a political lens and may lead to division. The Justice urged people to read the decisions and understand their decisions are based on law and their interpretation of the Constitution. Justice Amy Barrett; ” judges, or Justices in this instance, are not deciding cases to...

The ‘House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th 2021 Attack on the United States Capitol’ plans to open its hearings to the public sometime in May. Then, we are sure to learn a lot more about then President Trump’s role in the lead-up to the insurrection. Until then, given that he didn’t seem to relish performing the job itself and wasn’t very good at it, we are left to ponder just what it was that made him and his cadre so desperate to...

DETROIT – Actually this is Grand Rapids, MI home of the Western District Michigan Federal Court. The historic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnap plot trial ended with no convictions Friday,  delivering a blow to the government as it failed to convince a jury that four men were domestic terrorists determined to harm the governor because of her COVID-19 restrictions. AB: Not sure if I would call this historic. Several times and under their...

Catching up with Steve Hutkins at Save the Post Office. The removal of US Blue Mail Collection boxes is controversial especially during an election year. It forces people to find other place to mail letters, bills, ballots, etc. Back in 2020, there was quite a bit of conversation going on about such happening and a slowing down of postal service once things were mailed. I do know it takes a day or so longer for First Class mail to get to the west...

As announced by the U.S. Department of Education April 6th: “An extension of the pause on student loan repayment, interest, and collections has been made through August 31, 2022. This is done to allow for the economy to continue to improve and COVID cases continue to decline. President Biden has made clear the continuing need to respond to the pandemic and its economic consequences, as well as to allow for the responsible phase-down of pandemic...

Coronavirus dashboard for April 5: BA.2 likely only causes a ripple; and on track for record low daily deaths This is a good time to look at the impact – or, better speaking, the lack thereof – of the BA.2 Omicron variant in the US. Nationwide the 7 day average was 28,961 yesterday: This is the lowest since last July, and lower than all but about 3.5 months since the end of March 2020. Only late spring 2020 and from mid-May through...

You had to be around in 1973 to understand what happened when the Middle East decided to cut back on oil. At first, they thought the US would react harshly and invade. We did not. Instead, there were long lines where I lived. If I was near my university on the outskirts of Chicago, the lines did not exist. So, I would fill up my Datsun 510 and scoot home. At times I would take a gas can with me, get it filled, so we could fill up the tractor at...

I am thinking about computers taking over the world. Given my age, for me, the classic reference is “Terminator” in which “SkyNet” becomes self aware and takes over the world. As made movie sense at the time SkyNet was a US Department of Defence project as was the ARPAnet mother of the mother of the mother of the World Wide Web. Frankly, I find that implausible now. If it were a DOD project, Congress would have appropriated funds to start it, then...

This might be a very long confused post or might be a series of confused posts. I am trying to think about what to do about Putin (assuming he isn’t overthrown in a palace coup). My first thought was that this is not time for increased military spending . The Russian military turns out to be much less capable than we thought. There is no reason to guess that the Chinese, North Korean, Iranian, or other potential trouble maker militaries are...

by Joseph Joyce When Safe Assets Are No Longer Safe The U.S. has long benefitted from its ability to issue “safe assets” to the rest of the world. These usually take the form of U.S. Treasury bonds, although there was a period before the 2008-09 global financial crisis when mortgage-backed securities with Triple A ratings were also used for this purpose. The inflow of foreign savings has offset the persistent current account deficits, and put...