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Pat Allen
I am a retired corporate lawyer, living in the Chicago suburbs, with a wife and two adult children.
Interests: Current events, the Cubs, reading, history, New Zealand
Recent Activity
Waiving IP for Vaccines – Or Actually Doing Good
The Biden administration has, perhaps not surprisingly, agreed to support a temporary waiver of intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines. It sounds good on the surface, but I can’t help but wonder if the better solution might be to just... Continue reading
Posted yesterday at The View from Right Field
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The Sad Sale of the Thompson Center
Monday was a sad, but all-too-predictable, day in Illinois: The state officially announced the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago is for sale. The building was designed by Helmut Jahn, and it opened in 1985. While the building had issues when... Continue reading
Posted 2 days ago at The View from Right Field
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Communist. Fascist. Racist. What’s Next?
From what I read in the newspaper and hear on the radio, apparently I am a racist because I am not in favor of changing the name of Lake Shore Drive to Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Drive.1 The fact that... Continue reading
Posted 6 days ago at The View from Right Field
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“How Do You Solve a Problem Like Korea” (to tune of “Maria” from “The Sound of Music”)
Except, of course, I am referring just to North Korea, not all of Korea; and except that, while North Korea is a problem, it is not Maria. There was a solution for Maria: sending her to be governess at Captain... Continue reading
Posted Apr 29, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Spending Lots; Doing a Little Good
Nancy Pelosi famously1 said of Obamacare that you had to pass it to see what was in it. It appears that was true of Joe Biden’s first big Covid relief bill, too. In January, I said this about President Biden’s... Continue reading
Posted Apr 28, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Retaking Congress – Or Not
Karl Rove wrote in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal about how the left may be damaging the Democrats’ chances of keeping control of Congress in November, 2022. While Mr. Rove made some good points about how the “left-wing loonies” could hurt... Continue reading
Posted Apr 23, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Cutting Carbon Now
New York is shutting down the Indian Point nuclear power plant, which in the past has supplied upwards of 25% of the electricity for New York City and Westchester County. So where is the electricity going to come from, especially... Continue reading
Posted Apr 21, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Models, Calculators, and Certainty
Last weekend, The Wall Street Journal had an interview with Steven Koonin, who was chief scientist for the Energy Department under Barack Obama. In the course of the interview, Dr. Koonin said some things about models and how they are... Continue reading
Posted Apr 20, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Why Shouldn’t We Take Care of Ourselves Instead of the World?
[See Note below] With Russia massing tens of thousands of troops on Ukraine’s border and China increasing its aggressive behavior against Taiwan, maybe now is a good time to consider what the purpose of U.S. foreign policy should be and... Continue reading
Posted Apr 16, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Leaving Afghanistan
I have predicted several times that we would be leaving Afghanistan. It now looks like this will happen and we will be gone by September 11, 2021. Five comments: First, I’m not surprised. Joe Biden was always going to leave.... Continue reading
Posted Apr 14, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Cubs: The First Game of the Second 100 – 45 Years Ago Yesterday
Posted Apr 14, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Baseball Doesn’t Need to be Shorter; It Needs to be Brisker
Baseball games are too long, which is something everybody knows. Except, it’s not really true. Baseball games aren’t too long; they’re too slow. The great baseball writer, Roger Angell explained it in an interview in The Wall Street Journal last... Continue reading
Posted Apr 9, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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The US Economy Is On a Path To Do Fine – As Long As
Per an article in yesterday’s Financial Times1: “Most advanced countries will emerge from the coronavirus crisis with little lasting damage, thanks to relatively rapid rollout of vaccines and a willingness to increase sharply spending and borrowing, according to the I[nternational]... Continue reading
Posted Apr 8, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Opening Day!
Posted Apr 1, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Writing Constitutions – And Judging Those Who Write Them
This week’s Economist has a review of Linda Colley’s new book on the history of written constitutions, The Gun, the Ship and the Pen. The book covers the writing of constitutions from the middle of the eighteenth century to the... Continue reading
Posted Mar 31, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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House Values in Illinois
One of the problems with living in Illinois is that house prices values aren’t going up like they are in some other parts of the country. But then, with so many people leaving Illinois (Illinois is one of the few... Continue reading
Posted Mar 26, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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After We Pass New Gun Control Laws, We Still Need to Deal With the Problem
The call is on for new gun control legislation. Which is fine. But my question is simple: After we add the new controls, what do we do about all the guns that are already out there? Because our problem is... Continue reading
Posted Mar 25, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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The Return of Earmarks. Sigh.
It was sad last week to see Republicans in the House of Representatives giving up one of the real accomplishments on the last Republican House: the ban on earmarks. In 2011, House Republicans passed a ban on earmarks, and since... Continue reading
Posted Mar 24, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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“A World of Our Own” – A Song for Lockdown
I wish I had found this 1965 song by The Seekers last year. It would have been perfect for our stay-at-home orders. Let’s hope we don’t need it this year. UPDATE (3/24/21 9:20 am): To show how right this song... Continue reading
Posted Mar 23, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Should Illinois Should Be Proud That Washington Is Following in Its Footsteps?
Being from Illinois it’s sometimes hard to proud of our government. Illinois has the worst state credit rating in the nation and the highest unfunded pension liability, things you do not want to be number one in. Still, Illinois may... Continue reading
Posted Mar 20, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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H.R. McMaster on Strategy Against the Soviet Union and Strategy Against China
Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster (Ret.) and Jonathan D.T. Ward wrote in Thursday’s Chicago Tribune that the United States’ strategy vis-à-vis China should include the kind of policies used by President Reagan in the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Messrs.... Continue reading
Posted Mar 18, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Afghanistan: Biden May Accomplish What Trump and Obama Couldn’t
In a leaked letter,1 Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has basically told the Afghanistan government to get with the plan, i.e., the United States’s power-sharing plan for Afghanistan, under which the elected Afghan government is to share power with the... Continue reading
Posted Mar 11, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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A New Merle Hazard!
Well, it's not a new Merle Hazard. It's the same old Merle Hazard. But it is a new Merle Hazard song: Continue reading
Posted Mar 8, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Can Washington Ignore the Coming Medicare Funding Crisis? Springfield Says Yes.
The Chicago Tribune last Friday had an Op-Ed by Robert Moffit on the coming insolvency in the Medicare trust fund. The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed the Medicare trustees’ report that the fund, which covers hospitalization costs and related services,... Continue reading
Posted Mar 8, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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Will Disneyland Be Opening Before Some Schools?
The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that, because of California’s easing of Covid-19 restrictions, The Happiest Place on Earth® could be opening next month, on a reduced-capacity basis, after being closed for almost a year. The union that represents... Continue reading
Posted Mar 7, 2021 at The View from Right Field
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