President Biden’s pen must be running out of ink with all the executive orders he is signing. Some of them are to undo executive orders signed by Trump and others are to push through his agenda related to climate change, the affordable care act and Covid-19. I have always had mixed feelings about executive orders. They are a tool to be used when the President needs to get something done quickly without having to go through the legislative branch. Unfortunately the question of needs versus wants is not defined. It seems to me that executive orders are on the rise and it can become a slippery slope if they go unchecked. Fortunately, the judicial branch can be called in as a check and balance, but even the judicial branch is becoming more and more political.
The Michigan State men’s basketball team played tonight for the first time in 20 days after a forced layoff due to covid-19 protocols. I expected it to be ugly for the Spartans as they worked off the rust. They had more rust than the Tin Man. Rutgers scored the first 15 points of the game. The second half didn’t get much better as the Spartans were out scored by 24 to lose 67-37. The Spartans had a season high 21 turnovers with a season low of 8 assists due to 28% shooting. It is next to impossible to win a BIG gamee following a 20 day layoff when playing a team that has been playing regularly, Michigan fans need to be prepared for the same when they come off their 19 day layoff and take on 19th ranked Illinois on February 11.
As reported by Heather Cox Richardson, the acting chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C told the House Appropriations Committee yesterday that at least 65 officers filed reports of injury after the January 6 attack. The chair of the Capitol Police officers’ union, Gus Papathanasiou, put the number closer to 140. ” One officer has two cracked ribs and two smashed spinal discs. One officer is going to lose his eye, and another was stabbed with a metal fence stake,” he said. One officer died of injuries sustained on January 6. Two officers have since taken their own lives. I hope everyone involved and everyone who instigated the January 6 attack are held accountable to the highest degree possible under the law.
The Michigan Senate on Thursday voiced unanimous support for a resolution urging Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to lift a suspension on student sports that is set to remain in place through Feb. 21. I hope Governor Whitmer is listening.
We lost one of the great actresses of our time this evening. The NY Times is reporting that Cicely Tyson, the stage, screen and television actress whose vivid portrayals of strong African-American women shattered racial stereotypes in the dramatic arts of the 1970s, propelling her to stardom and fame as an exemplar for civil rights, died on Thursday. She was 96. In a remarkable career of seven decades, Ms. Tyson broke ground for serious Black actors by refusing to take parts that demeaned Black people. She urged Black colleagues to do the same, and often went without work. She was critical of films and television programs that cast Black characters as criminal, servile or immoral, and insisted that African-Americans, even if poor or downtrodden, should be portrayed with dignity. Her role as Rebecca in the movie Sounder in the early 70’s introduced the world to her acting skill and her natural beauty. It was a memorable performance that I remember to this day. Such a classy classy lady.
Stay safe. Wear your mask. Social distance. Wash your hands regularly. Schedule your vaccine.
Quote of the Day: “If each person in this world will simply take a small piece of this huge thing, this amazing quilt, and work it regardless of the color of the yarn, we will have harmony on this planet” Cicely Tyson
Orchid for the Day: Jimmy Howard, long time goalie for the Red Wings who announced his retirement today.
Onion for the Day: Republican representative from Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene. It is scary that she was elected to Congress after listening to the vile that comes from her mouth.