The last time Central Illinois’ 18th Congressional District was represented by someone other than a Republican was in 1939 when James Meeks finished his third term. So it’s not crazy for the GOP to be confident, even arrogant, about the…
Author Archive for Bill Knight
Bill Knight | Trump’s defiance of science and law
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
The day Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to violate McConnell’s own precedent on USSC vacancies, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency re-authorized the use of the herbicide atrazine, which contaminates…
Live music slowly starts to rebound
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Remembering music from the ’60s, one wonders when the pandemic will ease enough to move from “The Sounds of Silence” to “I Can Hear Music.” Live music is often a sidelight to fans or local musicians, but for others it’s…
Bill Knight | World-class art at Peoria Riverfront Museum
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
It’s a relief to return to the reopened Peoria Riverfront Museum and to roam its galleries –– especially to revel in world-class art, some with local ties. Installed during the months-long pandemic shutdown, new exhibits presented through Sept. 5 are…
Post Office under siege
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Affordable, reliable, universal mail delivery could vanish as the United States Postal Service runs out of money this month, the American Postal Workers Union says. That’s tragic at a time when the nation is divided and the U.S. Postal Service…
How does the Post Office operate financially?
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Operating without tax dollars for decades, relying on the sale of products and service, USPS delivers almost half of the world’s mail, including millions of packages for UPS and FedEx. Bob Gunter, president of the American Postal Workers Union’s Heart…
Bill Knight | Protesters and infiltrators
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
The country’s protests about police brutality persist despite distractions and infiltrations. The distractions stemmed from social-media hoaxes such as the June 4 warning that “antifa operatives are organizing a plan to bus large numbers of antifa terrorists to the vicinity…
Government overstep
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Leaders can use crises to push political agendas, some unrelated to the emergency cited, and executive power can expand substantially. That’s true historically, when unilateral changes might have been somewhat logical but still disturbing, from Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus…
10 recent moves leaders claim COVID-19 makes necessary
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
President Trump refused to reopen enrollment for the Affordable Care Act for the dozens of states where people unemployed because of the pandemic also lost company-provided health insurance. Trump increased anti-drug patrols, saying last month, “This will impact the coronavirus…
Bill Knight | Trump’s virtual campaign rallies
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Sixteen years before Jonathan Swift published “Gulliver’s Travels,” the essayist and clergyman wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.” Now, every afternoon, the world is awash in nonstop nonsense from a mental Lilliputian who sees himself as…