9:35. Back from the band concert. (And, yes, this was a concert with three bands, so each time they changed, and pretty much any time there was a pause, I checked Real Clear Politics.) Ohio goes to Kasich, by a surprising large margin, 45% to 37% at this point, with 65% of the vote in. Trump trounced all the contenders in Florida, 46% compared to Rubio’s measly 27%. How Rubio thought he was going to narrow the gap is beyond... Read more
At the CNN Town Hall on Sunday night, Hillary had a gaffe — that is, a moment of honesty — in which she said, “We’re going to put a lot of coal companies and coal miners out of business.” This was, to be sure, followed up by a list of programs she has in mind to help those former coal miners and coal mining regions, but there it is. As Mother Jones observes (yes, Mother Jones is a handy source... Read more
That is, if you’re living in a state with its primary today. And, yes, I studied the polls, to see that Cruz has a modest chance of overtaking Trump, if enough Rubio and Kasich supporters choose him as their alternative to Trump, so I’m hoping that enough other voters are doing the same for it to make a difference. In Ohio, well, I guess Kasich can play one useful role in keeping that state’s delegates from Trump. In Florida, Rubio... Read more
In the first elections since last year’s migration crisis in Germany, three states voted, with mixed results. According to Der Spiegel, In Rhineland-Palatinate (on the border with Belgium/Luxembourg/France, capital city Mainz, population 4 million), the CDU (Angela Merkel’s party) lost votes since the last election in 2011, to be sure, but not dramatically — from 35.2% to 31.8%. Their mainstream rival, the SPD, gained a smidge, from 35.7% to 36.2%. The main movement, surprisingly, was a drop in the Greens... Read more
In case you haven’t been following the news, yesterday Donald Trump cancelled his scheduled rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago stadium, shortly before he was scheduled to begin speaking, while the crowd waited for Trump to arrive, when it became clear that protesters were beginning to take actions to disrupt the event, from chanting anti-Trump slogans to rushing the stage. Here’s a report from ABC News, with the basics of the story. Here’s another report from AP, which cites... Read more
According to the OECD’s Education at a Glance, the United States sits right in the middle of the pack when it comes to total public education spending, on primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, compared to other developed nations, as a percentage of GDP. Specifically, the United States ranks 20th out of 38 nations ranked, based on 2012 data. (The publication is dated 2015, so I was also surprised that the data is old.) But here’s a question for readers: where... Read more
Here’s an extended article at Vox.com, a first-hand account of homelessness as experienced by a woman who is not mentally ill, not a substance abuser, not fleeing an abusive partner, but experienced bouts of homelessness due to more mundane reasons of job loss without a savings cushion, problems with roommates, and lack of a support system of family and friends. Separately, there was another long article from last week (which I can’t seem to find any longer — anyone else... Read more
Here’s a report from LifeNews.com: “British Govt Encouraging Women to Give Birth to Disabled Babies to Harvest Their Organs.” The title pretty much sums it up: a group of transplant surgeons in the U.K. has proposed that women who learn they’re carrying babies with fatal birth defects be encouraged to carry to term, even if they otherwise would have had an abortion, so that the organs can be used for transplantation. Scandalous or sensible? If this was an individual woman... Read more
Here’s the latest on a news story from 2014, from the Chicago Tribune: “Church employee fired over same-sex marriage sues Chicago archdiocese.” The background: Colin Collette, who had worked for Holy Family Church in Inverness as Music Director for 17 years, announced his engagement — to a man — on Facebook in 2014. The reports at the time were that it was well-known that he was gay, and the parishioners were split between those who supported Collette and those who... Read more
Here’s the latest out of Madiganistan, as reported in the Chicago Tribune: In a rare political move, President Barack Obama has inserted himself in a Democratic state legislative primary race in his home state, backing challenger Juliana Stratton over Rep. Ken Dunkin of Chicago. In a TV and radio ad, Obama says he learned from his days in Chicago that “follow-through is everything.” Why, you ask, is Obama getting involved in a race for the comparatively lowly office of state... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In