Detroit Detroit
The spotlight was on Detroit, and it couldn’t have performed better. This was the City of Detroit’s Superbowl. It was a chance for the city leaders to show Detroit is different than how it has previously been perceived. Thanks to Mayor Duggan, the Illich family, Dan Gilbert, and a host of organizations dedicated to improving Detroit, the city performed beyond expectations. When the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, and all of the national media covering the event sing praises all weekend about the city, the venue, how they were welcomed and how they were treated you have done things correctly. The results are going to be felt for a long time.
Detroit has the Final Four already scheduled for April 2027. We already have the Grand Prix and the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Talks have already started about the NBA draft , the NBA all-star game, and the NHL all-star game. You can be sure that more are considering Detroit to become a destination.
Do not be surprised if Detroit becomes a destination for everyday people as a means to get away and have a good time with good food and good music.
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The Theater of the Absurd
Now that I have had a free weekend to think about it, I am mystified at the absurdity of our current presidential race.
I never ever thought I would ever see a sitting president, sit in the studio with Howard Stern for a 70-minute interview. The same Howard Stern of shock radio fame, who put satellite radio on the map.
I also never thought I would see a former president, who is his party’s nomination for president, sitting in a court room as the defendant in a court case in which a porn star was paid money to stay quiet so that the former president’s alleged affair would not be made public prior to the 2016 election.
I never thought the country would be riveted to the testimony of the publisher of the National Enquirer as the publisher outlined the catch and kill strategy, he and the former president used to kill any damaging stories about the president, including the payoff of the porn star.
I never thought I would live to see the day the Supreme Court of the United States would be listening to arguments about whether a sitting president can be prosecuted for crimes he committed while in office. It gets worse when the timing of SCOTUS’s decisions potentially impacts the 2024 presidential race by delaying the federal criminal case against the former president.
I never thought I would see the day when a Supreme Court justice (Thomas) refuses to recuse himself in a case against a former president even though the justice’s wife was intimately involved in the plot to overthrow the 2020 election.
I never thought I would see the day when the Supreme Court justices didn’t demand that a fellow justice recused himself in a case that his wife was an active participant.
Israel/Hamas War
I was encouraged to hear that talks were making progress on negotiating a cease fire and a partial hostage release. Let’s hope the negotiators can get to the finish line.
Campus protests continued over the weekend. Graduation ceremonies are sure to be interrupted. As we get closer to graduation and there is no progress in de-escalation of the war, tempers on campuses will rise to a dangerous level.
The 2:00 PM Monday deadline to disburse the encampment at Columbia University came and went today without the police being called in by the administration. As of the timing of this writing, most of the protestors had dispersed with only a couple of dozen still there as reported by the NY Times. Hopefully, cool heads will prevail.
This weekend I read more and more how this war is going to be Biden’s downfall just as the Vietnam war was to Democrats in 1968. As I said last week, I agree with this assessment. Biden’s chances of re-election depend on a ceasefire in Gaza. Without a ceasefire, Biden and Democrats lose the young voters who were instrumental in the carrying the water in the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms.
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Quote of the Day: “Now that is how you stage an NFL draft. The city of Detroit put its best foot forward in hosting the NFL’s signature offseason event, drawing a record crowd of 275,000 for the first round on Thursday and then smashing the record with an attendance of 775,000 for the three-day event downtown that wrapped up on Saturday.” Jarret Bell, USA Today
Orchid of the Day: The City of Detroit.
Onion of the Day: The owners of parking lots that charged $100 or more to park for the NFL Draft and other events going on in Detroit this weekend.
Question of the Day: Did Detroit turn the corner on its image?
Video of the Day: