Stephen Tuttle | Author

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 we… 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 conspira… Read More >>

Still Burning and Banning

Nov. 27, 2021

The first incident we know about took place in 213 BCE when Emperor Qin Shi Huang, upon conquering new territory, ordered all books, scrolls, or other papers that mentioned his predecessor be burned, lest he be compared unfavorably. 

The latest we know about occurred November 8… Read More >>

A Few Holiday Turkeys

Nov. 20, 2021

 

According to research conducted by the Economist/YouGov, fully 28 percent of Republicans believe Donald Trump will be “reinstated” as president on or before Jan. 1, 2022. That means around 14 million people believe, or have been led to believe, a delusion that is … Read More >>

The Distance We Must Still Travel

Nov. 13, 2021

There was certainly more than one reason Democrat Terry McAuliffe lost his gubernatorial race in Virginia. But many think the tipping point in that campaign occurred when McAuliffe had the temerity to say this: “I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach ..… Read More >>

Consumers Lose Again

Nov. 6, 2021

The Build Back Better legislation, President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion social program and climate legislation, is no more. It was maimed, dismembered, and chopped in half by the whining, quibbling, and obstructing interference of Democrat Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Si… Read More >>

Climate Update

Oct. 30, 2021

It's once again time to run our irregular statistical check on that pesky climate change business. Whether you believe in actual climate change science or think this is all part of some natural cycle or don't believe anything unusual is happening, it's hard to deny some of the numbers.

… Read More >>

The Ugly Side of Unregulated STR

Oct. 23, 2021

We've traveled this road before and found it bumpy and uninviting. Now the Michigan legislature wants to drag us down the same route.

Thanks to recent reporting by Craig Manning in The Ticker, we know House Bill 4722 and Senate Bill 0446 would prevent cities and towns from regulatin… Read More >>

The Democrat Dilemma

Oct. 16, 2021

The Democrats' two big legislative initiatives, the infrastructure bill and the budget reconciliation bill, have stalled. They have no one to blame but themselves.

President Biden initially said there would be no connection between the two massive bits of spending; that they were di… Read More >>

A Theory In Need Of Replacement

Oct. 9, 2021

Thank goodness we have yet another conspiracy theory afloat among the far right. They like to call this one the Great Replacement Theory, allegedly being promulgated by the usual suspects: progressives, the Clintons, the Obamas and the omnipresent George Soros.

Replacement theory go… Read More >>

Enough!

Oct. 2, 2021

It should have put to rest the nonsensical fabrications of a failed president and his delusional acolytes. It did not.

After 10 months and $6 million, the Great Maricopa County Election Audit in Arizona was finally completed. It was conducted by an outfit from Florida calling itself… Read More >>

Same As We Were Before

Sept. 25, 2021

Despite some rather dramatic headlines, America is not awash in crime nor has the pandemic increased most crime categories. 

According to FBI statistics, crime overall in our 25 largest cities was down nearly 30 percent in 2020 from 2019. As might be expected, because far more … Read More >>

The Unfriendly Skies

Sept. 18, 2021

A woman on a Southwest Airlines flight refuses to fasten her seat belt or put on her mask. The video, taken by another passenger, shows her standing and repeatedly striking a flight attendant until another passenger intervenes. The flight attendant has a tooth knocked out, three others crac… Read More >>

Northern Death

Sept. 11, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic marches inexorably toward ignominious Milestones of Death here in the United States. 

We've now eased past 650,000 COVID deaths here. Soon enough we will surge past the estimated 675,000 Americans who died in the 1918–19 flu pandemic, and this corona… Read More >>

Heroes

Sept. 4, 2021

It has been two full decades since we were attacked by crazed murderers hijacking planes and using them as weapons. Calling them “terrorists” affords them more credit than they deserve, a kind of cachet that somehow elevates them beyond what they actually were. We will once agai… Read More >>

County Knowledge and City Plans

Aug. 28, 2021

Those of us living in Grand Traverse County are incredibly lucky; the Republicans on our county board of commissioners are just about the smartest people alive, and their wisdom extends to subjects far and wide.

A previous board's expertise on energy distribution — specificall… Read More >>

A Basket Full of Troubles

Aug. 21, 2021

President Joe Biden has a basket full of troubles. Some inherited, some the responsibility of multiple people and some of his own doing. They all promise to be rich fodder for attack politics during the 2022 midterm elections.    

Afghanistan
Read More >>

Not Good at All

Aug. 14, 2021

This is not good at all. With the COVID-19 Delta variant surging, too many are still stuck in a world of make-believe, unwilling to acknowledge science or protect themselves and the rest of us.

About 80 percent of all new covid cases are of the delta variant, a mutated and more tran… Read More >>

Where are the Workers?

Aug. 7, 2021

Where are they? Where did all the employees go? 

These days it is unusual to pass a business — almost any business — that hasn't posted a “Now Hiring” or “Help Wanted” sign of some kind. Others are posting their vacancies on various online pl… Read More >>

Teaching our Real History

July 31, 2021

The Washington Post got it partially right: racism is a divisive issue in Traverse City. The “tearing the city apart” component was more than a little hyperbolic.

Their recent article connected the appalling “slave trading” on social media undertaken… Read More >>