Stephen Tuttle | Author

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 death,… 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 su… 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. But… 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 d… 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 current … 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. 
 
U… Read More >>

Prayers, Appointments, and More TIF

Jan. 26, 2019

It was an interesting start for the new Grand Traverse County Commission. Things will certainly get even better now that they'll begin meetings with an invocation. Some would call it a prayer. 
 
Our Commission says, or at least the four commissioners voting in favor did… Read More >>

Windmill Tilting

Jan. 19, 2019

Modern Democrats have always been a fractious bunch more likely to coalesce against something than for anything. But we now have a small new group in the U.S. House of Representatives with big plans.
 
Disciples of Bernie Sanders and advocates of what some call demo… Read More >>

A Monument to Ignorance

Jan. 12, 2019

The idea of walls is to either keep people in, or keep people out, or both. Almost none have ever worked. 
 
Any wall discussion should start with the Great Wall of China. Started in the fourth century BCE, it was supposed to keep out invading “barbarians.” W… Read More >>

Lame Duck Lame Legislation

Jan. 5, 2019

Lame duck legislative sessions, those that occur between the November general election and the start of a new session the first week of January, are typically full of mischief.
 
For defeated or retiring legislators, it's a last chance to sneak in some new pet law or project… Read More >>

Three Non-Trump Stories from 2018

Dec. 29, 2018

That was an interesting year, wasn't it? Here are three stories that went under-reported and under-appreciated, and did not involve Donald Trump. 

NASA
The United States no longer has a manned space program. Embarrassingly, we have to hitch a ride with the… Read More >>

Voter Fraud Claims Mostly a Fraud

Dec. 8, 2018

Another election, another series of claims of fraud and other shenanigans.
 
This started in 2016 when we were told “millions” of fraudulent votes had been cast in California, mostly by non-citizens. To be fair, they did find half a dozen attempts by non-citizens… Read More >>

Plenty of Booze, No Pot

Nov. 24, 2018

The Traverse City City Commission will be considering a new fee for establishments with liquor licenses. It is, they claim, an effort to offset nearly $300,000 in annual costs associated with alcohol-related incidents. In fact, according to City Manager Marty Colburn, fully half of police a… Read More >>

Election Hangover

Nov. 17, 2018

Well, that was sort of interesting. Let's try to make some sense of it.
 
Locally, there were no big surprises. Republicans we expected to win, did. Traverse City reiterated their opposition to tall buildings downtown; perhaps the City Commission will eventually take notice.… Read More >>

“All persons ... ”

Nov. 10, 2018

Well, that was unpleasant, wasn't it? Now that it's over we can go back to the airwaves full of prescription drug commercials. 
 
We should, however, take a few minutes to consider one of the proposals made by President Donald Trump during the campaign. He promised plen… Read More >>

Find a Reason

Oct. 29, 2018

Are you going to vote? Do you vote for someone or against their opponent? 

We know how people claim they make voting decisions. We also know they might be fudging. 

Almost everybody claims they vote for the person, not the party. Yet, more than 70 percent of voters… Read More >>

Find a Reason

Oct. 27, 2018

Are you going to vote? Do you vote for someone or against their opponent? 
 
We know how people claim they make voting decisions. We also know they might be fudging. 
 
Almost everybody claims they vote for the person, not the party. Yet, more than 7… Read More >>

Our Saudi “Friends”

Oct. 20, 2018

Surveillance video taken on Oct. 2 shows journalist Jamal Khashoggi walking into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. There's no evidence he left alive.  
 
Khashoggi, a legal alien resident of the United States, was one of Saudi Arabia's leading journalists and an a… Read More >>

Three Reasons to Vote

Oct. 13, 2018

Things were going so well. The candidates for federal and statewide office were playing nice, and even their television ads were mostly positive, often clunky, but issue-oriented and at least marginally informative.
 
That has now changed, and the ugliness we loathe but have… Read More >>

Just Wrong

Oct. 6, 2018

There is now a movement afoot, loosely called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. It's a beauty. 
 
Legislatures in eleven states — Connecticut, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont — pl… Read More >>