The 19th Century German statesman Otto von Bismarck observed famously that "Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable – the art of the next best." Sometimes, however, it's not even the next best; it can be illogical, unworkable, and pie-in-the sky. Such is the nature of Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden's tax proposal – which should be called the Wyden-Warren-Sanders' Folly – to tax billionaires' unrealized capital gains, such as stocks, valuable art works, or jewels, that appreciate in value with time. The gains are not "realized" until the item is sold.This might be seductive to those who want "the rich to pay their fair share," but it's certainly not fair. It's unwieldy and susceptible to manipulation, merely a wilted fig leaf to offer the illusion that President Joe Biden's multi-trillion-dollar expenditures on social programs will be "paid for." Ultimately, the expenditures will occur, but the revenues won't materialize.It's one thing to tax income, which most Americans dislike but have gotten more or less used to, but taxing wealth in the form of unrealized capital gains is a horse of a different color – possibly literally.

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If you get your news from the mainstream media, you might think it's time to ditch the flyswatter and trash the bug spray: In the finest tradition of yellow journalism, the New York Times declared, "The Insect Apocalypse Is Here," warning that if we lose insects, our entire ecosystem and food supply will collapse.

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Whether it was flip-flops on the effectiveness of masks, seemingly inane restrictions on certain activities, or crass politicization of the use of ineffective drugs, the past 20 months have provided numerous reasons to question what we were told. Significant numbers of people are resisting employer mandates to get the COVID-19 vaccine and thereby jeopardizing their jobs.

Still, there is a useful but misunderstood and underused mitigation tool — rapid-result antigen tests , which detect pieces of the SARS-CoV-2 virus's proteins — that can slow the spread of infections.

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This year's influenza ("flu") season, which has already begun in some parts of the country, revs up in November, and last until spring, will be made more ominous than ever by the current high numbers of COVID-19 cases in many parts of the nation. The coincidence of infections in the population by the two highly infectious respiratory viruses has the potential to create a "twindemic" for our already stressed healthcare infrastructure.

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Photo Credit: Erin Zess/Twitter

Genetically engineered (GE) crops, which have been commercially available for 25 years, have been widely misunderstood and under-appreciated, especially by certain news outlets. Arguably, the worst offender among the mainstream media has been the New York Times, whose manifold shortcomings in reportage and commentaries over many years are described here and here.

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