Regular readers at Forbes will have noticed that, as of November 1st, there is now a paywall. I’m not happy — understandably so, as this will cut into views of the articles I write at Forbes, which matters both with respect to the compensation I earn and my ability to share my opinions with the world. How much it will impact views, I don’t yet know (and honestly, pageviews have been pretty lousy lately, and I’m not sure if it’s... Read more
Ever have one of those days, when you just can’t focus on the work at hand? I have multiple articles sitting in draft form at my Forbes writing platform — on the Secure Act II, CPI for Social Security, and Illinois’ retirement income tax exemption — and I can’t muster the will to write about any of them, as I’ve been dealing with a tension headache all day and, much as I hate to admit being affected by politics, the... Read more
Longtime readers will know that I post at this site much less often than used to be the case, what with writing at Forbes and elsewhere instead. One of my projects is running for school board, which, for the moment, consists largely of collecting signatures for nominating petitions due in December (yeah, I have to get moving on that — you don’t really need all that many, but they have to be exactly right to not get stricken), and following... Read more
If Donald Trump was trying to make corruption charges stick on Biden (the media’s refusal to report on the story means they won’t) in last night’s debate, Biden was trying every bit as much to drill home the point that 545 children who were separated from their parents at the border, have not been reunited. What’s more, according to an ACLU court filing, as reported by ABC News, the group working to match up children and families was unable to... Read more
It’s the second presidential debate! And here are my comments, live-blog style. Scroll down to the bottom for my ultimate thoughts. But first: I apologize for the picture, which actually does not represent what went on at this debate. The moderator says: mikes will be muted unless it’s your turn to speak. To Trump: how would you lead the country in the next phase? Trump: a world-wide pandemic, spikes in Europe right now. Mortality rate down 85%, excess mortality rate... Read more
Yes, “science” in scare-quotes, because of two events which concern public understanding of science, or lack thereof; in the first case, a matter of reporting and, in the second, misgovernance here in Illinois. First, reports yesterday and today that a vaccine trial participant has died. In fact, this participant had received the placebo version and died of Covid so there is nothing newsworthy in the report, no cause for concern, and no reason at all for the study to be... Read more
Are you watching the hearings? Here’s a rant. Some of this I’ve likely said before in other contexts, but here you go. In the first place, Donald Trump has the legal right to appoint Barrett regardless of what McConnell may or may not have done 4 years ago. The fact that early voting has started in some localities, does not make Trump any less the president, and he remains president until Inauguration Day, and gets to do all the things... Read more
You know, it started out being funny, watching the debate turn into a shouting match. But it just wouldn’t end. I know that the days of “yellow light means you’re almost out of time, red means you are” are over, that It Was Decided that this sort of interchange was preferred over fixed time limits. But it’s a disaster. Depending on your perspective, I suppose, either Biden let Trump walk all over him, or Trump is just an ***. A... Read more
Will you get vaccinated against covid? According to a variety of polling data, Americans aren’t as enthusiastic about a potential vaccine as would seem to be necessary to eliminate the virus, or to reduce its prevalence back down to the flu the like. A May poll by AP/NORC found that 20% of Americans were unwilling to be vaccinated, and a further 31% said they were unsure. Yes, in May — when we were mostly still locked down and talking about... Read more
Warning – this is long. I won’t take offense if you skip to the bottom, for the bottom line, if you want. As seems to be necessary, let me preface my comments by saying that I don’t like Trump. But Biden can’t simply build a case based on being “not Trump.” He has to be better than Trump. So far, he has taken his primary campaign of “I’m the safe moderate” and upended that into “I’ll be the most transformative... Read more
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