Stephen Tuttle | Author

Too Much Fire, Not Enough Rain

April 30, 2022

We recently celebrated another Earth Day with various festivities around the country complete with bloviating politicians making promises they either won’t or can’t keep. Meanwhile, wildfires, drought, and water shortages are the norm out west.

Wildfires are a normal p... Read More >>

We Should Be Concerned for Our Officials

April 23, 2022

These are not the best of times for those overseeing our elections or our schools.

There are more than 3,000 counties, parishes, boroughs, census areas, and independent cities in the United States. (Michigan has 83 counties.) In most states, the ultimate responsibility for running... Read More >>

Gurus of Flim-flammery

April 16, 2022

People running for office tend to exaggerate their qualifications and ignore their shortcomings. We’ve come to accept at least some of that with each election cycle. But even by those unfortunately loose standards, Perry Johnson is a rather obvious outlier.

One of 12 Rep... Read More >>

Dead Right

April 9, 2022

The unpleasant death throes of winter notwithstanding, the bicycling season is about to start in earnest. Yes, we all know some people cycle year-round, but most of us wait until the snow is off the ground.

The health and economic advantages of biking are now well-known and have b... Read More >>

Puzzling and Bizarre

March 26, 2022

Local politics are an ongoing festival of bizarre actions and puzzling decisions. In what follows, the names have been omitted to protect the guilty.

Traverse City’s City Commission is establishing priorities and laying out their plans for the next year or two. As always, th... Read More >>

Abdicating Our Responsibility

March 19, 2022

Our mental health as a nation isn’t so good, and it doesn’t appear to be getting better.

The National Alliance on Mental Health compiles and curates data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (which is a branch of the U.S. Health and Human ... Read More >>

A Delusional Mistake

March 12, 2022

Ukraine has been in the middle of squabbles between Asia in the East and Europe in the West for centuries. Even their modern history is one of conflict.

Within a year of the Russian revolution of 1917, Ukraine was under constant attack, and the occupation and control of Kyiv, thei... Read More >>

A Florist, a Baker, a Website Maker

March 5, 2022

The United States Census Bureau breaks down religious beliefs into the broad categories of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, unaffiliated, and atheist/agnostic.

Although more people now declare themselves to be unaffiliated with a specific denomination, far more Am... Read More >>

Inviting Death

Feb. 26, 2022

 

We Americans have been challenging death with some success. Until recently, we didn't knowingly invite it into our homes and businesses, nor did we choose to expose our children to it.  

We know, for example, a certain number of people are going to die in ... Read More >>

Party Of None

Feb. 19, 2022

As voters, we like to claim that party affiliation is less important than the quality of the candidates we select. Only seven states, including Michigan, now allow us to vote for every candidate of a single party by filling in just one circle on our ballots. Even so, according to Pew Rese... Read More >>

Banning History

Feb. 12, 2022

There are now at least 11 states — Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Arizona, North Dakota, Arkansas, Florida — that have passed legislation banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in their public schools. 

That's s... Read More >>

Twin Myths: Tall Buildings and a Bypass

Feb. 5, 2022

Do you know what downtown Traverse City needs? More tall buildings and lots of them.  

We can't stop there. We need smaller houses on smaller lots to avoid a dystopian future of actual elbow room. Those yards where kids could throw a ball or climb a tree with maybe enoug... Read More >>

Safe from Fairness

Jan. 29, 2022

There are some things about the 2020 elections we know to be facts despite all the noise coming from the losers.

We know, for example, there was neither widespread fraud nor voting irregularities sufficient to change the outcome of local or national elections. We know early voting... Read More >>

New Districts, Same Players

Jan. 22, 2022

We're now well into our constitutionally required decennial exercise in reapportioning legislative and congressional districts. As populations changed, our Founders thought it wise to reevaluate our district's borders every 10 years. It didn't take long for politicians to figure out they ... Read More >>

Who's Next?

Jan. 15, 2022

Let's assume, regardless of what happens in 2024, Joe Biden is not the future of the Democratic Party, and Donald Trump is not the future of the Republican Party. Let's further assume neither Biden nor Trump will be their party's nominee in 2024, age having discouraged the former, and the... Read More >>

A Letter from 2050

Jan. 8, 2022

We thought the new year might be a good time for those of us living in the future to explain what is happening with the mess you left us. It's not as if you weren't warned. 

Way back in 1896, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius appears to be the first to have predicted increas... Read More >>

A Danger to Themselves and Others

Jan. 1, 2022

When will this pandemic end? If by “end,” you mean disappear, the answer is never.

Most medical experts now agree the COVID-19 coronavirus is likely to be with us in some form forever. 

As this is being written, the United States has recorded more than 52 ... Read More >>

The Only Gift Ideas You Need

Dec. 18, 2021

This time of year we're told it's better to give than receive, and it's the thought that counts. That makes it a lot easier to suggest some gift-giving ideas. 

To all healthcare workers, a full week without a single new Covid case or death. We'd all hope for a much longer bre... Read More >>

Second Thoughts

Dec. 11, 2021

Supreme Court watchers are now predicting another expansion of gun owners’ rights, an interpretation of the Second Amendment its authors never imagined.

New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen could give New York residents the

right to carry a concealed ... Read More >>

Conspiracies Everywhere

Dec. 4, 2021

This will one day undoubtedly be referred to as the Golden Age of Conspiracy Theories. There is hardly a subject you can mention that does not have one or more groups claiming some manner of conspiracy exists sure to threaten us all.  

There are so many outlandish conspi... Read More >>