In 2010 Kansas elected extreme conservative Sam Brownback governor and put Tea Party Republicans in charge of the legislature. Together they passed a program of deep tax cuts and spending restrictions that they promised would quickly lead to a massive … Continue reading
In June the Congressional Budget Office released a report titled The 2018 Long-Term Budget Outlook. It projects a national debt larger than GDP by the late 2020s, just 10 years in the future. That hasn’t happened since the 1940s Worse, … Continue reading
As Kevin Drum pointed out in a June 27 blog post, the head of the White House National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, had just said on Fox Business that economic growth had reduced the budget deficit. In fact, the deficit … Continue reading
The Marshall Project, an independent nonprofit news organization devoted to researching crime and the criminal justice system, has released an interactive report on line examining the relationship between immigration (both legal and illegal) and crimes such as robbery, murder and … Continue reading
Several years ago, before Obamacare went into effect, I heard an interview with a woman whose brother had a serious medical condition and whose medical insurance had been canceled, though he had faithfully paid every premium and done nothing wrong. … Continue reading
This is the Plan 9 From Outer Space of rap songs, and it’s for real. Stephen Colbert introduces it. Only in Utah… Link: https://youtu.be/tqiQCNDc0Bk by … Continue reading
I haven’t really been clear on why Special Counsel Robert Mueller is prosecuting former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, but a February 28 article from Talking Points Memo (referencing a piece from Bloomberg dated the same day) puts things into … Continue reading
The following short video from best-selling novelist and popular vlogger John Green was posted last December 12 and points out that while 2017 had been marred by a continuing opioid crisis in the United States a famine in South Sudan … Continue reading
Current funding for the federal government runs out at midnight, March 23, three weeks away, setting up another potential shutdown. Who’s to blame for this? According to Donald Trump, shutdowns and the lack of a budget are always the fault … Continue reading
Presidents Trump and Obama both had occasion to respond to major school shootings. The Washington Post‘s opinion section assembled a video contrasting their actions day by day. Link: https://youtu.be/uHrvODeA8-E I personally find the music annoying and heavy-handed. The two presidents’ … Continue reading