Finally!!!!!
Senator Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama, on Tuesday lifted his blockade of nearly all the military promotions he had delayed for almost a year in protest of a Pentagon policy ensuring abortion access for service members, saying he would continue to hold up only the most senior generals.
Hours after Mr. Tuberville said he would allow the promotions of about 440 service members, the Senate confirmed all of them in one fell swoop, by a single voice vote.
“Thank God,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the majority leader, said after he pushed the promotions through. “These military officers will now get the promotions they so rightfully earned.”
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The cost of supporting Ukraine and Israel in their respective wars, is weighing on this country in so many ways. It is very familiar to the 60s and 70s when the Vietnam War tore this country apart from the inside out.
President Biden and some members of both parties cannot agree on continued support for Ukraine and Israel.
University campuses are struggling balancing free speech as student protests against Israel or Hamas sometimes step over the line between free speech, the rights of others and violence.
Yesterday Oakland University President wrote a compelling editorial about the importance of university presidents to call out and act when the line of free speech has been breached by fear mongering and hate.
Also yesterday, the University of Michigan’s president said the school would not permit votes on two controversial proposed student government resolutions related to violence in Gaza. UM previously had canceled a schoolwide student vote, which prompted protests Friday. The university said the vote was canceled to preserve the integrity of the election after an “unauthorized email” was sent to the entire undergraduate student body in support of the pro-Palestine resolution.
Two resolutions were submitted to the university’s central student government through petitions; each gained more than 1,000 signatures. Assembly Resolution 13-025 called on the university to look into divestment from companies that support and supply Israel’s military, and called for recognizing Israel’s attacks on Gaza as genocide and to “acknowledge and correct the alienation of its students and Palestinians suffering the brunt of war crimes and genocide …”
As both wars drag out the difference of opinion will only get worse, and the reactions will get stronger. War is ugly in more ways than one. I for one have always struggled with supporting war in other countries when we have so many unmet needs in the U.S. At the same time, I know the U.S. must defend democracy and help eliminate terrorists throughout the world.
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I bet you didn’t see this coming after the Lions started last year’s season at 1-6.
Headlines in the sports page from The Guardian yesterday.
San Francisco, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Dallas are well ahead of their conference opponents. They all have strong cases for making the Super Bowl
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Basketball is not going well for our three major teams so far this year. The Pistons are on a 17-game losing streak. MSU started out the year ranked in the top four but have since fallen out of the top 25. Yesterday they lost their B1G opener at home against the Badgers. They would have trouble putting a ball in the ocean if they were shooting from 20 feet away.
Michigan in the meantime has lost 5 of 6 after winning their first three. Like the Spartans, they lost their B1G opener at home against an unranked Indiana team that was missing their starting point guard. Michigan’s defense is so bad, they couldn’t guard me and Leah on the pick-and-roll. Indiana, the worst three-point shooting team in the conference, scored nearly 60 points in the paint yesterday.
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One of my favorite songs many years ago was the Commodores singing of the Nightshift, which was a tribute to Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson who had died a few years prior. Today, I heard for the first time Bruce Springsteen’s cover of the song. Naturally, I went to You Tube and found a recent video of “The Boss” doing it live. I have made it my Video of the Day. Enjoy.
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Quote of the Day: “I think it’s just the beginning. If people see what I’ve done they might take it to a whole new level. I wish I could do more. To me it wasn’t that big of a deal what I did. I was just doing it for one of my brothers. So, hopefully I can do a lot more now.” Brian Dooley, EMU football player. See my Orchid of the Day
Orchid of the Day: Brian Dooley, an Eastern Michigan University graduate-student offensive lineman, is the winner of the 2023 Disney Spirit Award, after he gave away his scholarship to a fellow teammate who had been working multiple jobs, and even selling blood, to make ends meet.
Dooley gave away his scholarship to Zack Conti, a walk-on offensive lineman from Trenton, before the season, a gesture that went viral and made national headlines.
Dooley is the first winner of the Disney Spirit Award from a Michigan college. The award has been handed out since 1996.
Dooley was presented the award on campus this week — while wearing a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt — and he will be among the players honored Friday during the annual college football awards show, which airs on ESPN from 7 to 9 p.m.
Onion of the Day: The outlook for a successful college and professional basketball team in Michigan this season.
Question of the Day: Now that Santos has been expelled from the House, when is the Senate going to do the right thing and expel Menendez?
Image/Video of the Day: Bruce Springsteen covering the Commodores song “Nightshift”. Enjoy it is worth your time.