My year on substack.

Writing an almost daily post.

My art is on Instagram @klonskyart.

Writing an almost daily post is part of my routine in retirement.

I paint and draw nearly every day too.

Looking back over 2022 I covered a lot of territory.

Here are a few highlights.

In January I wondered how the Illinois legislature could justify using our pensions - which they historically underfunded - to punish supporters of Palestinians.

The war in Ukraine has gone on for 300 days and counting. Even before it started I asked why there was only talk of war and no talk of peace. I’m still asking. There will be no victors.

In March I wrote about NY’s teacher union president Michael Mulgrew’s sellout of teacher retiree healthcare. It’s a fight that is still going on.

Last April I pointed out that unlike Social Security, our teacher pension yearly increases have no connection to the cost of living. We are locked in at 3%. That was okay during the years of low inflation. It isn’t working now.

A post in May was about the WEP/GPO which penalizes teachers who have paid into Social Security as well as their teacher pension. Congress still has not acted to repeal this punitive law.

In June one post was about voter suppression. In Georgia Raphael Warnock won in spite of it. Stacy Abrams did not.

I wrote in July about Chicago’s Red Summer of 1919 and Black Bolshevik, Harry Haywood.

In August I explained why I had quit Twitter. It was months before Elon Musk bought it.

Billionaires like Ken Griffin spent millions to successfully defeat a fair tax amendment to the Illinois constitution a few years ago. Some thought they could repeat their success and defeat a constitutional amendment guaranteeing collective bargaining. This time the big boys lost. I wrote a post about it in September.

In October it seemed that the liberals in Congress were for a road map to peace in Ukraine before they were against it.

I wrote about the constitutional amendment again in November and my letter was published in the Chicago Tribune.

There is an election for Mayor of Chicago early in 2023. I’m voting for the current Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Paul Vallas is one of the reasons.

Happy holidays.

I’ll be back on Monday.