At base, a “fair” wage is one that will attract people to do what you need them to do. It isn’t $20, $30, $40, or $1, $3, or $10 an hour. It is the wage at which people think they are better off taking than not. There is no non-artificial minimum wage, and no absolute...
Thomas Edsall is a NY Times columnist who I’ve come to see as the doomiest of doomscrollers. His columns almost never contain any good news for anyone. What they do often contain is a lot of hot takes from university professors around the country and today’s installment is no exception. What makes this intersting (to...
It is easy to argue for the Fortress America vision of foreign policy. It has the virtue of simplicity. But the world is not quite as simple as we would all hope. “Fortress America” is the argument that America’s conflicts with other countries are the result of America’s willingness to intervene in other countries. Hence,...
This is one of those weird mornings where it seems like everywhere I look, there are big, bold, billboard-size illustrations of what’s wrong with the progressive brain. As if it were a primer for the rest of us, laid out neat as a pin to point to when we say, ‘There’s something wrong with them.’Â ...
For the last two weeks, the Protection Racket Media has salivated over the “civil war” in MAGAworld over Donald Trump’s handling of the Iran-Israel war. Media orgs have made any debate among Republicans over the options into a sign that Trump’s support would soon collapse, and that his political leverage would dissipate with it. We...
A school in British Columbia–and God knows how many other schools in North America–distributed cards to 6th graders instructing them on how to use illegal drugs if they want to enjoy them safely. A Nanaimo mother is upset by what she found at a school-sanctioned event—drug use information cards.https://t.co/dd6C1qTXIC — CHEK News (@CHEK_News) June 21,...
In our last exciting episode of As The World Burns, a twelve-day war between Israel and Iran had ended (?) in a cease-fire brokered by Donald Trump and the Qataris. After putting some finishing touches last night’s Final Word post, I went to bed, unaware that another exciting episode was about to air. Around midnight...
Tucker Carlson is, if nothing else, a super-smart guy. Unlike many midwits in the media, he is sharp. So, for that matter, is Steve Bannon, who impresses me with his intelligence whenever I bother to listen to him. I don’t bother that often, in either case, although I often learn something when I do. That’s...
You’ve probably heard about this NY Times profile of Transportation Sec. Sean Duffy published today by the NY Times. There’s no scandal here, just the usual Gorillas In the Mist approach to people who come from a social background very different from that of the average NY Times reader. Over three decades, Americans have watched...
This was a twist on the knives that have been plaguing Europe lately, but it sure is a ghastly development and still involves stabbing – random syringe attacks. There was a nationwide music festival, the Festival of Music 2025 (Fête de la Musique), throughout France this past Saturday. For 44 years, the organizers have hosted concerts...
It was just a brief moment on a BBC broadcast, barely a second, but it made quite an impression on a lot of people. BBC presenter Martine Croxall was reading a story about “pregnant people” and made an immediate correction to the text. “London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has released research which says...
Nobel Peace Prize, anyone? If this actually holds up, it’d be tough to argue against it. Not long after Ali Khamenei insisted that the Iranians would never surrender under fire, it certainly looks like they just did: CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE! It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be...
It has only been four years since New York, under the guidance of then-governor Andrew Cuomo, shut down the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Today, New York’s new governor, Kathy Hochul, announced plans to build a new plant, though the details are still pretty thin. New York is planning to build a nuclear power plant...
It’s good to be the queen, and when you are one who’s been appointed by a different king, you see things (D)ifferently. The Senate Parliamentarian is a lady and a lawyer named Elizabeth MacDonough. She’s been in the Parliamentarian’s office since 1999, so she has seen a lot of sturm und drang in her tenure....
The Iranian strike on the US base in Qatar wasn’t an escalation; it was an attempt to de-escalate the situation, and with any luck, it will accomplish just that. Beege wrote an excellent piece on the news as it was breaking, and I would like to expand on it a bit. I was doing a...