Stephen Tuttle | Author
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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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 ...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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.
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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 d...
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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 de...
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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.”...
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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 proje...
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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 t...
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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-citize...
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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...
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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 notic...
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“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 pl...
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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 vote... Read More >>