A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my best friend George Mihaiu. Although we have lived over a 1,000 apart for the last 40 years, we have continued as soulmates since our first day of kindergarten.
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I loved the number retirement ceremony the Tigers had for Lou Whitaker on Saturday. It was a classy affair done on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at the old ballpark. The retirement of Lou’s number “1” was long overdue. He now becomes the fourth member of the 1984 world series championship team to have their number retired. Sparky, Trammel and Morris were the other three. Next stop for Whitaker is the Hall of Fame, which he richly deserves. His numbers compare with every second baseman currently in the H of F. Hopefully, his name will be called this December when the class of 2023 is named.
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Last Friday, it was announced the U.S gained over 500,000 new jobs in the month of July, which was much higher than expectations. Unemployment dropped to 3.5% which is a 50-year low. Both of which are contradictory to the recent GDP levels which have declined for the last two quarters, which is usually a sign of a recession. To further muck up the statistics, as of July there are 10.5 million job openings and 5.7 million unemployed people actively looking for work. Thus, we have almost 5 million more job openings than people looking for work. To put the 10.5 million job openings in perspective, it means there are on the average 210,000 job openings in every state. And now you know why we cannot get the services we need and desire. The economy of today is making economists heads spin. It does not follow traditional rules.
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The watered-down version of Biden’s “Build Back Better” program was passed by the Senate with VP Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. It is now on to the House where it is expected to pass by the end of the week and be presented to the President for signature. I understand the political importance of the legislation for the Democrats as we move to mid-term elections. What I cannot understand is the renaming of the bill to the “Inflation Reduction Act”. In looking at the details of the bill, I cannot for the life of me figure out how it will help reduce inflation.
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The political prosecution of former DHS director Nick Lyon continues by AG Nessel, even though the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled the 9 manslaughter charges filed against for the Flint Water Crisis should be dropped. In the meantime, Nessel and AG Solicitor General Hammoud and her team are trying to convince Judge Kelly to slide all the charges of the one-person grand jury to district court for trial. This attempt is unheard of in the legal world.
The next hearing for Director Lyon is in Judge Kelly’s court room on September 9,2022. Hopefully, she will dismiss the case in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling.. Once she makes the decision to drop the charges against Lyon, it will most likely lead to the dismissal of the cases for the other defendants in the Flint Water Crisis, including former Governor Snyder.
As I have said many times, the case against Lyon and others has no business in the criminal courts. It belonged in the civil courts where it has already been settled for $650 million. This is a political prosecution that Nessel will continue as long as possible right up to the November elections. In the meantime, she continues to spend millions of dollars on a case that the Supreme Court has already dismissed.
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Orchid of the Day: Lou Whitaker, for having his number 1 finally retired by the Tigers
Onion of the Day: The weather in Petoskey the last two days. Everything is saturated after two days of rain.
Quote of the Day: “to win, play the game right, and enjoy what we were blessed to do.” Lou Whitaker talking about how they honored Sparky Anderson on a daily basis by doing what he preached.
Question of the Day: Does Lou Whitaker belong in the Hall of Fame?
Video of the Day: In memory of Olivia Newton-John