Thoughts for the Day, July 29, 2021: Carl Levin has passed away at 87.

After dinner tonight, Leah and I went bowling with our granddaughter Alexis.  I haven’t bowled in 25 years.  Although I bowled in a league for over 10 years, I was never very good.  My first roll of the night was a gutter ball that didn’t make it half way down the alley before it went in the gutter.  I felt totally uncoordinated.  I eventually got my footwork and timing right but it was not pretty.  There is a reason I stopped bowling. 

With the number one pick in the 2021 NBA draft, Pistons General manager Troy Weaver kick-started the Piston’s rebuild with the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft, selecting Oklahoma State freshman Cade Cunningham on Thursday night. “We’re excited. Great night for the Pistons,” general manager Troy Weaver said during his press conference. “We’re thrilled that we landed on Cade and we’re excited about him joining the Pistons family.”. The Pistons were focused on Cunningham, an uber-talented 6-foot-8 wing, since they won the draft lottery last month. Cunningham, 19, will fit into their rebuild nicely, alongside last year’s first-round picks, guard Killian Hayes, wing Saddiq Bey and center Isaiah Stewart, as well as forward Jerami Grant.

Tonight, the Tigers unveiled the Miggy Milestone scoreboard at Comerica Park as Miguel Cabrera marches toward the magical numbers of 3,000 hits and 500 home runs.  Heading into tonight’s game he was at 2,936 hits and 495 homeruns.  It didn’t take long for Cabrera to change the numbers as he hit two homeruns tonight to bring him to 497.  It was his 43rd multiple homerun game of his career.  I expect him to reach 500 homeruns this year.  Reaching 3,000 hits will mostly likely occur late April 2022.  This is a special time for Tiger fans with the Tigers providing so much excitement along with Miggy’s quest for magical numbers.

In a speech at the White House, the president announced that all civilian federal employees must be vaccinated against the coronavirus or be forced to submit to regular testing, social distancing, mask requirements and restrictions on most travel. He also ordered the Defense Department to move rapidly toward requiring coronavirus vaccines for all members of the military, a step that would affect almost 1.5 million troops. In addition, the president is calling on states, territories and local governments to pay $100 to Americans who remain unvaccinated against the coronavirus to get their shots. I understand the logic behind an incentive, however, I hate rewarding people for something they should be doing anyway.

The NY Times is reporting tonight that Carl Levin, a liberal Michigan Democrat who served 36 years in the Senate and scared the wits out of America’s biggest C.E.O.s by demanding explanations for shadowy schemes that hid billions in profits overseas and avoided vast corporate taxes at home, died on Thursday in Detroit. He was 87. The longest-serving senator in Michigan history — from 1979 to 2015 — Mr. Levin was regarded by Senate colleagues and Washington observers as a paragon of probity as the chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He wielded subpoena power, huge briefing books, a big gavel and an unquenchable zeal for grilling high-profile witnesses at public hearings. With his longish silver hair, affable smile and glasses perched low on the nose, he looked more like a kindly Old-World shoemaker than the terror of the Senate. But he confronted the titans of JPMorgan Chase, Apple, American Express and other corporate giants like a barbarian at the gates, and extracted admissions about overseas banking havens and mind-boggling tax-avoidance maneuvers that rendered profits invisible and made tax burdens vanish into thin air.

Stay safe. Social distance. Wear your mask.  Wash your hands regularly.  Get your vaccine.

Orchid of the Day:  Sunisa Lee of the United States for winning the Olympic gold medal in women’s all around gymnastic competition. 

Onion of the Day:  The foursomes out ahead of us today who turned our round into a 5 hour marathon.  Thank God it was a nice day.

Quote of the Day: “Last year, Detroit had a great draft. Getting two All-Rookie guys is huge, and it’s a good young core that they have. I’m excited to join that young core and grow with them.”  Detroit Piston’s number one draft pick, Cade Cunningham.