The Nobel Prize winning physicist Neils Bohr famously said, “Prognostication is difficult, especially about the future.” I hate to ignore the advice of a Nobel Prize winner, but political scientists like me are expected to be able to predict election results, so here are my thoughts about the 2022 elections in Kansas.
You know that it is going to happen. Someone is going to cause a run on the grocery stores and the shelves will be bought out by people hoarding everything from meats to eggs. We know that it happened recently with toilet paper of all things.
The email I received from the White House Correspondents’ Association last week began like so many other letters emailed to business employees and school communities: “Dear Colleagues, We’re writing to let you know that a member of Monday’s in-town pool received a positive test result for COVID-19 this morning, following mild symptoms that began on Wednesday. Because this individual developed symptoms within 48 hours of being in the briefing room Monday, we are sending this advisory.
For Democrats, Joe Biden’s election in 2020 may have been the political equivalent of a deal with the devil: They ousted Donald Trump and got a mild-mannered, aging president to deal with a pandemic, Afghanistan, immigration, the budget and a hopelessly intransigent Congress, and in return the party would have to accept the consequences in 2024.
Dear Annie: I stopped smoking cigarettes completely in 2014. My wife eventually did the same, however, she picked up one nasty, terrible habit: vaping.
Early in the morning of Dec. 5, former Kansas senator and political icon Bob Dole passed away at age 98. Amidst the outpouring of articles and tributes to Dole that followed, a quote from a resident of Dole’s hometown of Russell, Kansas, stood out: “He was one of a kind — unfortunately.”
For Kansans wanting to visit friends and family this holiday season, filling up their gas tanks will be one of the most expensive price tags in decades. The national average price of gasoline recently rose to $3.42 a gallon, up from $2.11 a year ago, according to AAA.
I break my promise every year and, I must admit, I don’t feel a bit sorry about it. When I insist the family get together to make Christmas cookies, they groan as they realize I have just as much sugar cookie dough as I did the year before.
Climate change To the editor: Over the years the “experts” have warned about various disasters that were about to befall mankind if we didn’t do something to prevent or reverse climate change. All of the dire predictions are based on computer climate modeling which has never been right, ever.