On July 8, 2008, I posted my first post under the name “Eclectablog”. It was a brief post, directing folks to my wife Anne’s panoramic images of the Rothbury music festival. I had already been blogging for four years under various other names at other sites but, when I jumped to Blogger in 2008, the name “Eclectablog” was born. In […]

This is my 5,199th post at Eclectablog. That’s an astonishing sentence to me but it’s true. I have written so many posts that every once in a while I will Google something and find some of my own writing, an essay I had totally forgotten about. In essence, this blog has become a journal of what happens when a Democratic […]

As you wade through the noise on social media, every once in a while you come across a story that makes you feel good. Inevitably, the story is about someone going out of their way to help someone else with no expectation of self-reward. These “feel good” stories stand out because so much of the world around us seems uncaring […]

There is a LOT of talk about the “blue wave” that’s coming in November this year when Democrats (we are told) are going to trounce Republicans all across America. Here’s some real talk: there isn’t going to be any “blue wave”. That is, there won’t be unless progressives get active and stay active between now and then. As we’ve been […]

Hi, folks. I have a favor to ask. You may recall that earlier this year, I had a run-in with a bad dude named Diverticulitis that put me in the hospital for ten days. As it turns out, I need to have surgery next month to keep that scary situation from ever happening again. Because this is happening during the […]

It’s fundraising week here at Eclectablog, so I’m appealing to those of you who enjoy the content we provide to support us by making a donation. The sustainability of Electablog is especially important during this seemingly unpredictable administration, because the bloggers at here are committed to keeping you in the know and countering the false narratives as they come. Please […]

I became a journalist almost 17 years ago because I wanted to dig for the truth and tell important stories, especially in politics. In the decade-plus I’ve spent in Lansing, I’ve watched most of my Capitol press corps colleagues retire, leave for better-paying jobs or get laid off. There are so many issues to cover and stories to tell — […]

The Trump Tax scam is likely to result in a fair number of us seeing a tiny bit more money in our paychecks starting next month. It is, of course, a scam. You shouldn’t get used to the extra funds because some time in the next 8-10 years, they’ll go away. The extra money that the über wealthy are going […]

There’s no question that Donald Trump is working around the clock when he’s not golfing at one of his many golf clubs using millions of our tax dollars to dismantle our country’s democracy, our institutions, and the laws and policies we have in place to protect ALL Americans, not just those at the top of the economic food chain. On […]

When I woke up Saturday morning, it was Day Six of our 4th Quarter fundraiser here at Eclectablog and we hadn’t received a single donation. It was pretty demoralizing. We’ve had slow weeks in the past but nothing quite this slow. I generally hope to get enough in donations each quarter to pay for at least two months. Our annual […]

That’s not something I have ever wanted to write. But we’ve been doing this quarter’s fundraiser for six days now and have received precisely zero donations. That’s not a sustainable model because I’m not a wealthy guy who can just plow his mortgage money into a website.