Recent Comments

1. about 8 hours ago on Nick Anderson

   Don’t know if that’s enough. It would take about $2T in increased tax collections to balance the budget. Perhaps $1T to offset the expenditures for SS, Medicare/Medicaid, and veterans benefits, the 3 biggies. I think the interest rate on the debt ($31T) is about 8%; if true, that means the US pays over $2T in interest annually. That may be wrong. The figure may be ~8% of GDP instead.

2. about 8 hours ago on Chip Bok

   Your first point is merely a restatement of the same point I made. I also made the point about Indiana’s lax gun laws, which are among the weakest in the US. I would also point out that cities like Philadelphia have had increasing rates of gun violence for the past 6 or 7 years at least. Officials in Philadelphia would like to enact ordinances which would help control the number of illegal guns (such as limitation of 1 hand gun purchase/month, a reporting requirement for stolen guns, and straw purchase ordinances with teeth to punish violators). In the case of a straw purchase, a recovered firearm can be traced easily to its legal buyer. Sadly, the GOP legislature has codified a queer law that prohibits any jurisdiction in Pennsylvania from enacting gun controls which are more restrictive than state law. Here in Indianapolis there is a similar case, in pricipal. The city officials want to restrict right turn on red permissions within the “Mile Square”; it’s been proven that at least half of the pedestrian related accidents in that location are due to drivers failing to yield to pedestrians. Such restrictions are fairly common at certain hazardous or complicated intersections. The GOP state legislature has passed a law to prevent Indianapolis from promulgating ordinance; the putative objections are related to the number of intersections and the resulting influence on traffic flow. The real objection is the ongoing conflict between the GOP run state legislature and a Democratic run city. I acknowledged that Rittenhouse was acquitted of murder charges; but the question remains whether one’s killing a person because one is “fearful of being harmed” is equivalent to one’s acting in self-defense.

3. about 13 hours ago on Henry Payne

   Breathe deeply. That’s the trick. [:-)]

4. about 13 hours ago on Henry Payne

   More’s the pity. Thanks for the good wishes, too.

5. about 15 hours ago on Henry Payne

   I merely cited facts. It seems that you can’t cope with facts. Talk about being a snowflake; don’t look into a mirror, you might suffer a mortal injury.

6. about 17 hours ago on Viivi & Wagner

   Mmmpf…

7. about 18 hours ago on Steve Kelley

   You mean the Bush emesis episode?

8. about 18 hours ago on Clay Jones

   At least (some) of the states get some money to help offset the damage caused by Purdue Pharma (which went bankrupt after the lawsuit). The Sacklers also have to pay out a slice (~$5B) of the family’s wealth. Sadly, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl — both far cheaper to make and produce than plant based ones — are the go to money makers now.

9. about 18 hours ago on Garfield Classics

   Out of the cloaca; into the frying pan.

10. about 18 hours ago on Arlo and Janis

    Beat me to it. Drat!