Curious. Nerdy. Worried about the world.
Here's some of what's happened so far this year: A masked agent of the Federal government shot an unarmed mother, a citizen, in the head in Minneapolis. She and her family are being investigated, but the shooter isn't. The US invaded, then expropriated lots
An unusual story broke this week: Donald Trump's social media company is merging with a 27-year-old business that is working on technology to generate energy using nuclear fusion. The investor presentation is – interesting? On its face, the combination makes no sense. The two businesses work on completely different
It's been a month and a day since the US federal government crossed from its 2025 into its 2026 fiscal year. Because there was no statutory authority to keep spending money on October 1, the government shut down. I wrote about the legislative and budgetary details back then.
I joined the No Kings march in Oakland, California on Saturday. Word is there were more than 10,000 of us who marched from Wilma Chan Park through downtown to the Lake Merritt waterfront on a gorgeous Bay Area autumn day. The estimates I've seen of total participation
I loved this essay by A.R. Moxon. You might, too.
The US federal government operates on a fiscal year that begins on October 1 of each year and ends on September 30. By the first day of October, the Congress must have passed a budget, or the government isn't able to pay for stuff. Sometimes, the Congress can&
I started this blog as a space to talk about important issues. I wanted to share my socially liberal, progressive views. I wanted to talk about national and global finance and how we could invest in the society we ought to be. Today I want to do something more basic.
Content warning: This is a post about an actual child suicide. You may well prefer to stop reading here. I've resisted writing about this for some time. I don't want to appear to trade on the tragedy that befell Adam Raine and his family. And, frankly,
Beginning more than a month ago, Donald Trump sent the US Marines and National Guard into Los Angeles. He claimed that they were necessary to protect immigration agents working for ICE, rounding up and jailing people who may or may not have been in the country illegally. Last week, he
Hey gang, Every August, I visit DonorsChoose to find some schoolteachers to help out. Lots of educators post there about projects they want to do or things they need for their classrooms as kids come back to school. I pick a few and fund them up in gratitude for how
Swinging the spotlight, for a moment, from politics to big tech. I upgraded my mother-in-law's internet service recently. As part of that upgrade, I installed a new wifi access point with better security. That meant changing the network name, which of course meant all the stuff in the
I've been, in recent elections, a pretty reliable supporter – donor, canvasser, voter – for Democratic candidates running for office locally and in state and national races. About four months ago, I adopted a new policy: I will make no more contributions, of my time or my votes or my