Opinion

Return Of The Clown Car

CS sent me a heads up on one of our favorite swamp critters.

Already famed #TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) sufferer Nolan Finley has begun his anti #winning campaign on behalf of all those who are sad that their #surrender days are over. Penning what is probably not the last of such chicken pecked screed, Finley suggests that maybe Donald Trump should just go home and play with his billions in 2020.

The guy has $3 billion, and what good is it doing him? He can’t jet set around the world anymore, and he’s no longer welcome at the chi-chi Manhattan soirees. No more languid summer days on yachts surrounded by half-naked super models he could squeeze without a single #metoo worry. Washington can’t be as much fun for a player like Trump as was Miami.

Izzatso?

There are some of us who relish the frequent lefty head splodes and RINO suicide watch parties. The president appears to be even more enthralled with it all.  I suspect there could be no more fun for the man who clearly loves God, loves his country, loves power, loves attention, and loves the game as much as The Donald.

But as always, Finley and company cannot grasp this.  Call it a shallow pool of perspective, maybe a sheltered life, or just plain deficiency in pattern recognition, but clearly, he doesn’t yet get it.  Finley continues with the nonsense:

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You do know that whole “The Wall”- thing could’ve stopped all of this (or at the very least significantly reduced it).

So in the latest distraction in our 24-hour News Cycle World, the latest “outrage” is coming from a surprising source?

And just whom that might be, you may ask yourself?

{Click below to learn the answer}

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The Michigan Connection

Maybe North Korean efforts might have been more difficult if not for a former Detroit athlete?

As you know, these pages have been primarily for Michigan based political discussion and opinion.

I thought this might be an opportune time to offer some credit to an unlikely recipient of praise for anything ‘diplomatic.’ The strange path to regained world prominence continues with a historic effort by Donald Trump’s administration and possibly bolstered by a former Detroit (among others) basketball player.

The effort by our president and his team in Singapore appears to have borne fruit.  Removing the nuclear threat from North Korea is now a very real possibility, and even better, the possibility of continued human rights abuses by that regime will be lessened as economic growth and wealth realization appeals to its leadership.

Kim Jong Un, who came to power following the death of his father Kim Jong-il in 2011, an heir to a dictatorship has always had a taste for western luxury.  A private yacht akin to a Disney ride, and port turned into a private resort. Former Piston Dennis Rodman described it as a Seven Star Party:

“He’s got 50 to 60 around him all the time – just normal people, drinking cocktails and laughing the whole time. …If you drink a bottle of tequila, it’s the best tequila .. Everything you want, he has the best.”

And Rodman was laughed at by many folks (including myself) for his attempt at personal diplomacy.

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Disgracing The Uniform

An unnecessary urinating contest risks two primary frontrunners canceling each other out.

It’s a given to the point of predictability, in contested republican primaries, that eventually someone will defensively mis-invoke Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment. Naturally, this will require someone to explain that the intent of “thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow republican” is a prohibition against personal attacks, but that calling someone out on an accurate understanding of their actual record is always fair game. That said, I can honestly say that I never expected to have to explain one of the Ten Commandments in the context of a political campaign, nor that I would have to do so as a remonstration to a political attack that is not only blatantly personal, but also patently false (to the point of being willingly, deliberately, and knowingly deceptive).

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Something In The Water

Traverse City pursues expensive power option.

There’s Crazy – Then There Is Traverse City Michigan crazy.

Once upon a time, Traverse City owned TCL&P (Traverse City Light & Power) produced electricity.  (see picture at right) We had coal docks, a steam producing boiler, and turbines that were able to produce all of what was needed for Traverse City, and some surrounding area power needs.

In the early eighties, TCL&P, contracted with the county to operate power generation from three dams that were deeded to Grand Traverse County a decade before by Consumers Power. It cost them nothing. In the 90s, TCL&P erected the region’s first windmill, while at the same time reducing output and planning complete decommission of  its coal fired facility which (by the way) was located on the valuable public waterfront.

Stories were plentiful about how the city was conscious of the environment, had to do their part, and how some folks would sign up for that ‘expensive’ energy which cost only 3 or four times the current rate. There were TCL&P customers who voluntarily paid for ‘green’ energy that came down the same transmission lines, even though it was the same electricity as the guy was getting next door for less.

I suppose a byline in the local fish wrap was worth it?

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SEN. RICK JONES: Why Regulated Online Gambling Is Right for Michigan

Michigan’s legislature is considering a bill that would allow the Great Lake State to join a growing roster of states that have legalized online gaming.  Legislators would be right to ignore the scare tactics of legislation opponents, much of which, ironically, is funded and supported by gaming interests in Las Vegas.

For decades, the Department of Justice (DOJ) imposed a blanket ban of states legalizing online games of chance.  Thanks to pressure from states and some court cases, the DOJ in late 2010 reversed course and allowed states to make the determination themselves.  New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada were the first to legalize online gaming for their residents.

Opposition to the effort has been funded almost exclusively by Las Vegas billionaire and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson.  Speaking of which do not miss out of The Biggest Trade Shows in Las Vegas 2020 if you want to see how trade shows add value to a product or service being marketed, as one of these shows will be taking place at Mr.Adelson’s venue. Mr. Adelson has funded an organization dedicated to fighting legalized online gaming.  A group called the Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling magically appeared.  Lobbyists, like former Democratic Senator Blanch Lincoln, were hired and poll-tested and focus group language were employed to restore the federal prohibition.

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Employing a tried and true tactic…holding a tax hike vote during the lowest voter turnout.

...or worse yet, when Taxpayers aren’t even made aware of it by a complicit local media.

Even though this is affecting strictly Macomb County, I would HIGHLY recommend that readers contact their local clerk’s office to see if there is anything similar occurring in their part of Michigan.

Despite the fact that their current millage hasn’t even expired yet, the local community college not only decided to place a millage hike/renewal on the ballot, but they have done a slam-bang up job of letting everyone know about it.

I cannot imagine why?

{Continued below the fold}

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Oh no! This doesn’t look too good.

With County leaders going off-script and not following the established speaking points. When your (possible) PR-firm goes and takes a page from the Coleman A. Young (The First) Playbook and employed a time-worn (and easily recognizable) tactic which hopelessly backfired. When The Bridge Magazine (of all people), comes out and tells people that the latest iteration of mass transit, the Q-Line, over-promised its potential and hilariously underperformed when it comes to paid ridership and maintaining schedules. Now comes the Michigan Legislature throwing yet another log on the fire that is the RTA.

{You’ll need to click below to find out what that is}

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Cultural Equivalence?

Are we too afraid to ask the obvious?

What if you have an opinion that institutionalized misogyny is maybe not such a great thing?  Does even the question make you a bigot?

What if the centerpiece of my ‘religion’ was not a resurrected son-of-God who died in excruciating pain for all of our hatred, shame, and imperfections manifested in misdeeds.  But instead a warlord who to achieve power, subjugated other men, women, children, all in the name of (presumably) the same God.

What if that latter ‘religion’ was not one of proselytizing through love but through violent means, extortion, blackmail, lies and subterfuge.  What if it called for honor killings, female mutilation, death for apostasy, ransom, and purposeful deceit to advance it’s growth.

What if you do not have the intellectual ability to recognize a difference between spiritually uplifting beliefs, and those that foment acts of cowardice and terror quite literally DAILY.

Are these not legitimate questions?

Sadly we have those who in their political aspirations are too fearful to ask them.  The few who do, become targets of the purposefully stupid or intellectually dishonest in media, and are quickly branded as bigots and intolerant.

Go figure.

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