My granddaughter Alexis is up for a few days with her friend Aubrey. It was my day and evening with the two girls. as Leah had an appointment and was out on Little Traverse Bay with her Monday evening paddleboard group of women. Today was a whirlwind. The girls spent two hours on Walloon Lake paddleboarding, while I helped our friend with a little cleanup. After cleaning up for dinner, we took the long way to Boyne City so they could ride on the Ironton Ferry across the arm of Lake Charlevoix. When we finally made it to the Pub in Boyne City, it was a 45-minute wait, so the girls went to Kilwins and had their dessert first. After finishing dinner, we made it back to Crooked Tree to watch the sunset over the bay and the golf course. Six and a half hours after starting I am finally sitting down to write my blog.
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For the last eighteen months I have been writing about the injustice of the political prosecution of Nick Lyon and others in the Flint Water Crisis. The State has already settled the case in civil court for $650 million. The political prosecution of Lyon and other by former AG Schuette and current AG Nessel is a waste of taxpayer money. Thanx to the work of Beth LeBlanc of the Detroit New we now know how much of a waste it is. Here are excerpts from an article published in the News today.
The state has spent nearly $53 million since 2016 for both the prosecution and defense of Michigan’s top officials in the Flint water criminal and civil litigation, with costs spanning four departments and at least 25 state employees, according to records obtained and reviewed by The Detroit News.
About $15.8 million of the $53 million total has been spent by the attorney general’s office since 2016 to investigate the actions surrounding Flint’s lead-tainted water, prosecute state and local officials, and defend against civil lawsuits. About $37.1 million has been paid to at least two dozen firms for legal contracts associated with the defense of state employees and state departments since 2016, according to state records.
The costs were released to The News through a combination of informal requests and Freedom of Information Act requests a little more than two weeks after the Michigan Supreme Court ordered charges against a key defendant (Nick Lyon) in the latest round of prosecutions be dismissed. The high court found the one-judge grand jury process used to indict former state health director Nick Lyon and eight other defendants was unconstitutional. It’s likely in the coming weeks that Lyon and other defendants, including former Gov. Rick Snyder, will have their cases dismissed based on the high court’s decision.
Of the $53 million total, at least $15.1 million has been incurred since Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office made the controversial decision to dismiss the cases filed under her Republican predecessor, Attorney General Bill Schuette. Of the $15.1 million total, $5.2 million was spent by Nessel’s office and $9.9 million was spent by the governor’s office, environmental department and health department to defend state employees.
In June 2019, Nessel’s team dismissed all of the charges authorized under Schuette and said Hammoud and Worthy would restart the investigation from scratch. Hammoud and Worthy spent the next nearly two years investigating and embarked on an indictment process that used a one-judge grand jury in Genesee County who was shown evidence and testimony behind closed doors supporting the indictments — a process that eventually would land the cases before the Michigan Supreme Court. The pair also collected new evidence without employing a taint team to sort through whether some evidence was protected by attorney-client privilege — an issue that now could cause a two-year delay in the case and cost another estimated $37 million. A lower court’s order to employ the taint team has been appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court, which has not yet signaled whether it would take up the case.
In June, the court issued a ruling that would ultimately end the second round of prosecutions, though Nessel’s team is making a last stab at reviving the cases in the lower courts.
It is time for AG Nessel to stop the foolish political prosecution of Nick Lyon and others and stop wasting another dime of taxpayer money.
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Not surprising, the man responsible for the Detroit Tiger’s rebuild is under tremendous fire heading into the all-star break. The Tigers have been a major disappointment, and someone will probably pay for it with their job. Detroit News columnist Bob Wojnowski thinks that someone should be GM Al Avila, the architect of the six-year rebuild that has been a total bust this year. Here is some of what Wojo had to say.
It’s almost incomprehensible how awful the Tigers have been, in so many areas, in so many ways. Equally incomprehensible: There’s no clear way to fix it. A season billed as the end of the rebuild has turned into utter, historic misery, unlike anything we’ve ever seen. The offense is threatening franchise and MLB records for ineptitude. Four-fifths of the starting rotation has been injured or absent. Experienced players with decent tracks record are inexplicably crafting new abysmal track records.
If the Tigers continue at this pace — 37-55 at the All-Star break — they’d finish 65-97, and a nasty truth would emerge. They’d have to rebuild the rebuild, now deep into its sixth season.
Barring sudden signs of a rebound, GM Al Avila has to be dismissed.
When the Tigers were in their six-game winning streak, I was optimistic that they had turned the corner, however, the six-game winning streak has been followed by a 2-8 stretch. My optimism is gone. Other than Cabrera, Baez, and Harold Castro, the hitters look confused at the plate. They seemed to have lost their athleticism and are too focused on launch angles and exit speed and not enough on taking three good swings and putting the ball in play. It is very hard to watch.
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I am not a big fan of the existing SCOTUS. They seem to be originalist when it is convenient. Their interpretation of the separation of church vs. state in the case of Kennedy vs. Bremerton School District is a lot different than my understanding of what the separation of church vs. state means. It appears to me the conservative majority of SCOTUS wants to ram their Christian right views down our throats.
In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, SCOTUS ruled that Coach Kennedy had a constitutional right to pray on the field following a game. Prior to his praying, he invited the team and fans to participate in the prayer with him. Court documents show many players felt obligated to participate in the prayer because they were afraid of the ramifications from the coach if they chose not to participate. Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for a 6-to-3 majority, affirmed Kennedy’s assertion that his proselytizing on government property during a public-school function was “private,” “personal” and “quiet.” I can assure you nothing is quiet or private on the 50 yard line of a football field following a football game. See my Question of the Day.
“Kennedy v. Bremerton opens the door for so much more government promotion of religion and a great deal of religious favoritism by government officials. I think we are likely to see a lot more blatant religious favoritism by school officials who feel emboldened by the decision.” said Daniel Mach, director of the A.C.L.U.’s program on freedom of religion and belief.
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Elections Matter. Pray for peace and tolerance. What are you doing to stop the violence and mass killings?
Orchid of the Day: Justin Verlander for the best first-half of a season in his illustrious career.
Onion of the Day: AG Nessel for continuing to waste the taxpayers’ money on a case that has no business in the criminal courts.
Quote of the Day: You cannot make this up. Lawyer Jim Bopp, who is the general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, told Megan Messerly and Adam Wren of Politico that under the laws he would like to enact, the 10-year-old rape victim “would have had the baby, and as many women who have had babies as a result of rape, we would hope that she would understand the reason and ultimately the benefit of having the child.”
Question of the Day: Will someone explain to me how a prayer that takes place on the field in front of the team and the crowd, in which players and fans are invited to join meets the criteria of private, personal, and quiet?
Video/Image of the Day: Pete Rose collision with Ray Fosse in the MLB All Star Game. The collision ruined the career of Fosse.