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Getting Rid of Trump Is One Thing. But Don’t Forget the Downballot Races

Well, here we are—Crunch Time! It’s become a drag to think about/listen to/research/opine on the distance between Rs and Ds, and how massive the differences have become. If I have to read …

'Show Me' Bad Legislative Ideas

Greetings from Missouri … or, as I think of it, the state where destructive legislation is being tested before being introduced in YOUR state. In a recent Missouri Senate committee, senators heard …

Welcome to the Twilight Zone: Strange Rulings in Family Care

The Twilight Zone reigns. Left is right; good is bad; sane is insane. In this topsy turvy mindset the Supreme Court of Alabama — a “pro-life” state — decided that frozen embryos are children, …

The Weeds Fight Back. What’s Next?

As spring dawns, we are reminded that some farmers will soon be unleashing ungodly amounts of chemicals — weed killers and pesticides — into the environment. Glyphosate, sold as Roundup, is …

Scrooge Returns: No Food for Children During the Summer

It took roughly eight weeks for the glow of The Christmas Carol to fade, at least for 14 Republican governors. The season of light gave us Scrooge, whose self-absorbed meanness made audiences gasp. …

The Race Doesn’t Always Go to the Swifties (But That’s the Way to Bet)

By the time you read this, the Super Bowl will be history but as I write we don’t know the outcome and all the conspiracy theorists are lining up on the Kansas City Chiefs’ political views. And …

Needed: the wisdom of Immanuel Kant, to curb renegades’ zeal to flout government. nnThe libertarian strain runs deep in America, emerging as a clarion response to rules, laws, restrictions. Pick a …

There’s Lots of Land, But Who Owns It?

Call me crazy, but it’s my opinion that if the two dominant political parties in this nation could work together, they’d get more done for the ordinary citizen. And if they could do some planning …

Tweak the Algorithm: A Battle Cry for Our Times

Tweak the Algorithm is not a feisty battle cry, but it befits this age of AI, of cyberspace, of computerized masses of data. The familiar enemy is the Bigs: Big Pharma, Big Insurance, Big …

Will Truth Survive in 2024?

Ahoy, 2024! Ahoy, first issue of Progressive Populist 2024! And I hear a sizable part of America saying, “Good riddance, 2023.” The first column of the year is always interesting. Will we …

A Valentine to Immigrants

To Immigrants: welcome. Enough with the Nazi-tinged rhetoric about keeping a blood line “pure,” free from “impure” (a.k.a. Black, Brown, colored) strains. Enough with blocking those who would …

Boomer Pols: Be More Like the Carters

A few weeks ago, a New Yorker cover poked fun at our baby-boom politicians with a drawing of Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump racing for office, each with a racing-style …

Dangerous Ideas Need Stifling

Oh for a scythe for the political garden, to weed out the dangerous ideas that are spreading, much like kudzu spreads in our yards! A minority of government-hating, or people who profess to hate …

Too Many People with Too Few Resources Fuel War

On Nov. 4, I was driving through Columbia Mo., home of University of Missouri, when I came to a major road blocked, due to a student march through town. An angry protest march, in contrast to the …

The Case of Home Dialysis, or When Money Supports Inertia

Inertia is strong. Why make a change, any change, when somebody can rise up to warn: Tread carefully. Beware the unforeseen consequences. The status quo works well enough. And when moneyed forces …

Biden Should Withdraw

In politics, anything can happen and often does. And it’s time for Joe Biden to pull out of the race. If he does, we can get to know the other potential candidates and, perhaps, nominate a …

The New Pseudo-Physician Legislators

Some solons have morphed into pseudo-physicians. Today solons — in 14 states, part-timers — must rule not only on agriculture, zoning, welfare, environment, public safety, schools … but also …

Truth in War Remains Hard to Ascertain

It has been said many times and in many ways that the first thing killed in a war is truth. This has certainly been true in all the wars we can think of, going back as far as our history stretches, …

Free market enthusiasts: test your fervor, before you eviscerate Uncle Sam from Health Care USA. Start with the lab tests that tell you whether you have cancer? Lyme disease? Alzheimer’s? …

Debt Before Dishonor

Does it seem like just yesterday that we were talking about raising the debt ceiling? Well, it was. Before September, it was June 2023 and before that were three debt ceiling increases in 2021, two …

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