Stephen Tuttle | Author

A Slope Too Slippery

June 22, 2019

A recent report in The New York Times was troubling on so many levels. The article said the United States was conducting a cyber attack on the Russian power grid, including the installation of malware into their system. 
 
The punchline: The intelligence commu... Read More >>

Because They Can

June 15, 2019

President Donald Trump and Congress are working, they say, to curb the ever-increasing  costs of prescription drugs. They have made it a bit easier for generic drugs to come to market, a good thing. But they have a long way to go. 
 
The president, not surprisingl... Read More >>

Parties Without Purpose

June 8, 2019

There was a time when political parties had a coherent philosophy. Or at least something we could describe in a sentence or two. And there were stark differences. Not so much anymore.

 

That philosophy is now identical for both the Republican and Democratic parties: M... Read More >>

Local Trouble, Local Progress

June 1, 2019

Let's catch up with some local news.   
 
104th District Sate Representative Larry Inman has been indicted by the feds. He's accused of soliciting a bribe, attempted extortion, and lying to FBI investigators, serious charges.
 
All the eviden... Read More >>

Bruising Our Shins

May 25, 2019

Let's see how that trade war thing is going.
 
Our Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says there is not yet evidence of any increased economic gain as a result of the tariffs we've imposed, and it appears the number of jobs gained and lost are about the same. Several compan... Read More >>

Food Lunacy

May 18, 2019

Some extreme vegans would like us to avoid California almonds and avocados. Not because they've been tainted by pesticides or other chemicals, and not because they've been adulterated with non-vegan food products.
 
No, it's because the bees that pollinate most of those cr... Read More >>

Nothing Unconstitutional About It

May 11, 2019

A discussion about free speech is always a good idea. Even the president is deeply concerned. Deeply. His current angst was spawned after Facebook and Instagram (Instagram is owned by Facebook) banished several darlings of the very far right.  
 
The president has prev... Read More >>

More, Less, or Both

May 4, 2019

We don't have enough money. Not nearly enough.  
 
Peter Gaynor, the Acting Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently said they simply wouldn’t be able to help everybody stricken by natural disasters. With the growing number and sev... Read More >>

After the Candlelight Vigils

April 27, 2019

Four armed men entered a schoolhouse near Greencastle, Pennsylvania, shot and killed the school headmaster, and then murdered nine children. It was July 26, 1764. We haven't stopped since.
 
We recently commemorated, if that's the right word, the 20thanniversary of the mas... Read More >>

Hero or Criminal

April 20, 2019

Julian Assange is either a constitutionally protected journalist exposing scoundrels and malfeasance — or a criminal computer hacker who tried to access classified Department of Defense files. Hero or criminal. 
 
Assange, an Australian national, founded Wikilea... Read More >>

Kill Capital Punishment

April 13, 2019

We're a nation that can't quite make up its mind about capital punishment. 
 
Three years ago the Nebraska legislature did away with the death penalty, only to have voters restore it by referendum last year. Washington, New Hampshire, Louisiana, and Utah all considered... Read More >>

Loudest and Wrong

April 6, 2019

The loudest voices on both sides were wrong: There was no sinister deep state out to take down the president. There was no treasonous conspiracy between Donald Trump and the Russians.  
 
We have to back up to remember why there was a Mueller investigation in the first... Read More >>

Shots That Save

April 2, 2019

Apparently we need to go over this again since the anti-vaccine crowd never tires of spreading disinformation and misinformation.
 
Their repeatedly debunked arguments blame vaccines for autism, muscular dystrophy, any other neurological disorder ... and pretty much anythin... Read More >>

Floating Down Drunk River

March 23, 2019

The National Forest Service recently proposed an alcohol ban on stretches of the AuSable, Manistee, and Pine rivers within the Huron/Manistee National Forest. It was a response to the drunken crudity taking place there on summer weekends. 
 
Private property, campsite... Read More >>

Coal Dust

March 16, 2019

Coal is neither beautiful nor clean. It is now and always has been the most destructive fossil fuel to extract, and the dirtiest to burn. Even with new technology that tries to scrub out pollutants, coal is still filthy.
 
Now, after more than two centuries of causing deat... Read More >>

The Art of the Oversell

March 9, 2019

Remember the “immediate and irretrievable denuclearization” of North Korea? That's what we were told was the result of the first meeting between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. 
 
No such thing was likely to happen because no ... Read More >>

Slowly Green

Feb. 23, 2019

We are determined to get ourselves some “green” energy. There is legislation in Congress and in various state legislatures. Cities and states are setting goals for percentages of power generated from renewable sources by certain times.
 
Noble objectives all. B... Read More >>

Watching the Divide Widen

Feb. 16, 2019

There was a time when it was somewhat of a special occasion. The majority of the country gathered in front of their televisions and watched the president deliver the State of the Union Address. 
 
If you liked the president, you thought the speech was great, and if you... Read More >>

Running, Exploring, Lurking

Feb. 9, 2019

Democrats are circling, posturing, and positioning themselves for 2020. At least 13 of them — there might be more by the time you read this — are running, exploring, or lurking about for a presidential run.  
 
Let's start with the frontrunner in the curren... Read More >>

State of Emergency

Feb. 2, 2019

Presidents like to find ways to work around Congress, typically by issuing executive orders and hoping the courts will uphold them. President Trump, unable to build his wall via that route, is threatening to declare a national emergency and have the military do it. 
 
Read More >>