After a wonderful 36 hours of celebration with family, today is a day of rest, recovery and reflection. This is our last celebration of Christmas in our home in Ypsilanti after 37 years of nothing but joyful times and memories at Christmas. At our first Christmas in this house, Chris and Katy were younger than any of our four grandchildren are now. It has been an amazing transformation.
Each year had two things in common that never varied. One was Leah decorating our tree which was placed in front of the bay window in our living room. And two, was the joy on Leah’s face as she watched the chaos unfold on Christmas morning with Chris and Katy and then with the grandchildren. We have one more celebration at the house on Wednesday as we host Leah’s siblings and spouses/significant others. In the meantime we are taking it all in and enjoying and reflecting on the memories. In the spring we look forward to permanently locating to Petoskey.
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Staying true to form up to the end, House Republican Fred Upton, who is retiring this week, was one of only 9 Republicans who voted for the $1.7 trillion package to fund the government for the next year. Throughout his 36 years as a congressman Upton consistently voted to do what he thought was the right, without regard to party affiliation. The Detroit News ran a nice article about Upton a few days ago. Here are excerpts from the article.
After 36 years in Congress, Republican U.S. Rep. Fred Upton has emptied his three offices, turned in the keys and shipped 102 boxes of his papers to the University of Michigan’s library. He cast the last of nearly 22,000 votes in the House of Representatives on Friday afternoon, voting “yay” on a $1.7 trillion package to fund the federal government for the next year before a short-term stopgap was set to expire later in the day…..
Upton is the (Michigan) delegation’s most senior member, representing southwest Michigan in Congress since 1987. Colleagues said they’ll miss his measured tone, personal decency, and commitment to civility...
He will be missed.
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The winningest professional golfer in history died on Christmas Eve. Per the NY Times today, Kathy Whitworth set a benchmark in golf no one has ever touched, whether it was Sam Snead or Tiger Woods, Mickey Wright or Annika Sorenstam. Her 88 victories are the most by any player on a single professional tour.
Whitworth, whose LPGA Tour victories spanned nearly a quarter-century and who became the first woman to earn $1 million on the LPGA, died on Christmas Eve, her longtime partner said. She was 83.
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I will continue to share excerpts from House Select Committee report. Exact excerpts from my readings today are in italics.
Not long thereafter, as thousands of the former president’s supporters from the Ellipse speech continued to arrive at the Capitol, the DC Metropolitan Police Department declared a riot at the Capitol at 1:49 p.m., the same time Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund informed the DC National Guard “that there was a dire emergency on Capitol Hill and requested the immediate assistance” of as many national guard troops as possible.[461]
No photographs exist of the President for the remainder of the afternoon until after 4 p.m. The former president appears to have instructed that the White House photographer was not to take any photographs.[462] The Select Committee also was unable to locate any official records of President Trump’s telephone calls that afternoon.[463] And the President’s official Daily Diary contains no information for this afternoon between the hours of 1:19 p.m. and 4:03 p.m., at the height of the worst attack on the seat of the United States Congress in over two centuries.[464]
The Select Committee did, however, obtain records from non-official sources that contained data of some phone calls the former president made that afternoon. Even though “he was placing lots of calls” that afternoon, according to his personal assistant,[465] the Select Committee was given no records of any calls from the President to security or law enforcement officials that afternoon, and that absence of data is consistent with testimony of witnesses who would have knowledge of any such calls, who said that he did not do so.[466] Based on testimony from the former president’s close aides, we know that the former president remained in the Dining Room adjacent to the Oval Office for the rest of the afternoon until after 4:03 p.m.[467]
The former president did not contact a single top national security official during the day. Not at the Pentagon, nor at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the F.B.I., the Capitol Police Department, or the D.C. Mayor’s office.[551] As Vice President Pence has confirmed, the former president didn’t even try to reach his own Vice President to make sure that Pence was safe.[552] The former president did not order any of his staff to facilitate a law enforcement response of any sort.[553]
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Quote of the Day: “You know, you’re the Commander in Chief. You’ve got an assault going on at the Capitol of the United States of America. And there’s nothing? No call? Nothing? Zero?” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley in response to the House Select Committee on whether he had been contacted by the former president at any time on January 6, 2021.
Orchid of the Day: To Blake Corum and J.J. McCarthy of the U of M football team for the charitable donations and the charity work they have continued to provide from the proceeds of their NIL funds they receive. Charity work has been part of their core long before they arrived at U of M.
Onion of the Day: The Detroit Lions’ defense, especially the linebackers who seemed to be non-existent the entire game in the Lions’ loss to the Panthers.
Question of the Day: Were you surprised by the Lions performance on Saturday in their loss to the Panthers?
Video of the Year: