Stephen Tuttle | Author

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 >>

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 >>

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... 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 i... 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 ... Read More >>