You cannot make this up.
With the conviction of Hunter Biden on felony charges, we now get to choose between the father of a convicted felon or a convicted felon as our choices for the leader of the free world, and president of the US of A.
The times sure have changed. Thirty years ago, neither candidate would have considered continuing their candidacy.
Earthrise photographer and astronaut William Anders, 90, dies in plane crash. He was piloting the plane alone.
Per The Guardian, Retired Maj Gen William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the famous Earthrise photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.
“The family is devastated,” said his son, retired air force Lt Col Greg Anders, who confirmed the death to the Associated Press. “He was a great pilot, and we will miss him terribly.”
The former astronaut had said the photo was his most significant contribution to the space program, given the ecological philosophical impact it had, along with making sure the Apollo 8 command module and service module worked.
A report came in around 11.40am that an older-model plane had crashed into the water and sunk near the north end of Jones Island, the San Juan County sheriff Eric Peter said. Only the pilot was on board the Beech A45 airplane at the time, according to the Federal
The Earthrise photo was taken by Astronaut William Anders.
Broken promises on our water.
When Governor Whitmer was campaigning for governor in 2018, there were three things that hit home with me that made me vote for her. One, her commitment to “fix the damn roads”; two, her commitment to significantly improve the transparency in state government, including the governor’s office; and three, her willingness to protect our most precious natural resource, our fresh water.
I have written ad nauseum about her failure to “fix the damn roads” and her failure to make significant changes in transparency of her office and state government.
According to Bridge Michigan she has also failed to keep her promise on protecting our state’s most precious natural resource. Here are excerpts from the article.
This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.
When Gretchen Whitmer campaigned for Michigan governor in 2018, she took aim at Michigan’s bottled water industry — and the state policy that gave it unfettered access to free water.
Nestle was extracting hundreds of millions of gallons of groundwater a year, which it bottled and sold under the Ice Mountain brand. The only cost: a $200 yearly fee per site. The company asked the state for a 60% boost in how much it could take from a well that draws from the source of two cold-water trout streams. At the time, the Flint water crisis was still in the spotlight, contributing to broad pushback. Nearly 81,000 public comments opposed the permit request; 75 supported it.
In April of that year, state officials said they didn’t have any grounds to deny the request and gave Nestle the go-ahead. The same week, the state said it would stop providing bottled water to Flint.
The contrast seemed clear: Nestle gets free water, Flint families don’t. And one of the staunchest critics of the arrangement was Whitmer, a rising Democratic leader who had served 14 years in the Legislature.
“When it comes to Nestle, I don’t believe that they should be taking the water out of our ground and selling it, and I want to stop that,” Whitmer said in a gubernatorial debate.
She told a news outlet that Nestle “is abusing our water here in Michigan.”
And her campaign water plan emphasized the disparities that set off the controversy in the first place, noting that some Michiganders struggled to pay bills for water of questionable quality. The state should be preserving freshwater, the plan said, “not selling it at a nominal price.”
Whitmer vowed to do things differently.
But six years later, well into her second term and with a Legislature controlled by fellow Democrats, little has changed.
Most of Nestle’s North American water brands were bought in 2021 by a private equity firm and an investment firm in a $4.3 billion deal. The company, now called BlueTriton Brands, gave up the controversial permit, but it still pumps groundwater from the same wells at minimal cost.
So much for Biden weaponizing the DOJ.
Now that Hunter Biden has been found guilty in a federal court of felony gun charges, I am not sure the MAGA Kamikaze Party has a leg to stand on when it comes to arguing that Biden has weaponized the DOJ to target the former president.
But they will never let the facts get in the way of their stories.
When you have a target on your back, it is best to walk the straight and narrow.
The UAW leadership seems to struggle with this concept.
Per the Detroit News, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is under investigation by the court-appointed watchdog tasked with eliminating corruption, according to a federal court filing, one of a series of probes targeting top leaders of the scandal-plagued union.
The watchdog, monitor Neil Barofsky, revealed the probe Monday while accusing union leaders of obstructing and interfering with attempts to access information, actions that could serve as an apparent violation of the 2020 consent decree that averted a full-scale takeover of the UAW by the Justice Department.
In a federal court filing, Barofsky described an erosion of cooperation by union leaders in February after he revealed investigations targeting members of the UAW’s governing International Executive Board, including Fain, Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock and one of the union’s regional directors who is not named in the documents.
Barofsky said he is investigating a fight between Fain and Mock, who accused the union president of removing her authority in retaliation for her refusal or reluctance to authorize spending money for Fain’s office, according to the filing.
The monitor also revealed he is investigating whether Fain retaliated against one of the UAW’s vice presidents. Separately, Barofsky said he opened an unrelated investigation in April into a regional director after receiving allegations of potential embezzlement.
Former UAW President Ron Gettelfinger must be wondering what has happened to his union since he retired in 2010.
Alito and Thomas
Per The Guardian, last week, Thomas officially disclosed that he took luxury vacations paid for by the conservative billionaire, Harlan Crow.
ProPublica also reported that Alito flew on a private jet and vacationed with a billionaire who later had business before the court.
Alito is facing fresh scrutiny in the wake of reports in the New York Times that his wife flew an upside-down US flag outside his home in Virginia days after the attack on the US Capitol by extremist Trump supporters, as well as an Appeal to Heaven flag that flew outside a beach home in New Jersey. The upside down flag is associated with the January 6 attack on the Capitol and the latter with Christian nationalism.
This leads to my Quote of the Day.
Without a binding code of conduct, New York Congressman Jamie Raskin said, there was nothing to rein-in the justices.
“If you can decide presidential elections with five or four votes in Bush v Gore, if you can pack, stack and gerrymander, not just Congress, but the supreme court itself by denying the other party even a hearing, why can’t you have some friend of the court – some amicus curiae – fly you to Bali for vacation, or pay for your family member’s private school tuition or buy you a recreational vehicle or send you on a lavish, all-expense paid vacation, why the hell not?”
Kindness and civility-A reminder of what it is.
I want to share this editorial that appeared in the Detroit News, written by Michael J. Reitz, executive vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. It is well worth your time.
The Mackinac Policy Conference last month featured an encouraging moment.
Four members of Congress from Michigan joined a panel discussion: two Democrats, Sen. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township and Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Lansing, and two Republicans, Rep. Lisa McClain of Bruce Township and Rep. Tim Walberg of Tipton. Moderated by The Detroit News’ Nolan Finley, they discussed the topic “navigating divisive times,” addressing partisanship in Congress and America.
It’s a worthwhile conversation. Congress looks more like “The Jerry Springer Show” than an august deliberative body, with rowdy arguments over the House speakership and members hurling childish insults at each other. Grievances, more than an optimistic vision for America, seem to drive the presidential race.
During the panel discussion, Walberg mentioned a pastime several members share. “Gary and I have the privilege of co-chairing the most powerful caucus in the House and Senate: the Congressional Motorcycle Caucus,” he said.
“Okay, here we go,” interrupted Stabenow. “We have to listen to this all the time.”
The crowd laughed.
Walberg referenced motorcycles later in the conversation. Stabenow joked again: “It always comes back to motorcycles.”
“He’s revved up, man, he’s revved up,” said Peters.
More laughter.
That little moment demonstrated more humanity and goodwill than everything else the lawmakers said. It suggested these colleagues could work together.
Disagreements over politics and policy are inevitable. As George Washington left office in 1796, he warned against partisanship.
Disagreement is not only inevitable, but desirable. We discover the best path forward by debating policy choices. This works best if we navigate our disagreements with civility and grace, appealing to values that are stronger than party affiliation.
Our elected officials’ behavior is important, but you and I should also model the conduct we wish to see. It is easy to accuse the other guy of partisanship. Consider the George Carlin joke: “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone driving faster than you is a maniac?”
I have to start with self-examination.
The congressional motorcycle club offers an example of people building common ground outside the political arena. Throwing block parties, hosting local sporting events, attending church, playing in the local symphony, etc. … this is the stuff of civil society.
Here are four ideas for people who wish to model civility.
One: Presume the people with whom you disagree have good intentions. Don’t speculate on their motives. Assume they want to accomplish good things for the country. This habit creates a baseline of trust and respect.
Two: Find ways to work with someone who holds a different viewpoint. Is there a shared priority you can pursue together? Lean into that. You will accomplish more by working together than by shouting across a dividing line.
Three: Even then, there will be genuine disagreements. Learn to understand and articulate the best arguments on the other side of an issue. Do you really understand the other person, or have you created a caricature? Avoid using pejorative labels to dismiss people.
Four: Does your opinion change if you swap the actors? For example, imagine that you criticized former President Donald Trump in 2021 for issuing last-minute presidential pardons to political allies. Would you criticize President Joe Biden if he does the same thing? “All process arguments are insincere,” Michael Barone once said, “including this one.”
The worst forms of partisanship seek to overwhelm and silence the other side. We see a lot of this in the public square these days.
If you really believe that your ideas are worthwhile, seek to persuade. Grow the coalition and draw people in.
And if all else fails, join a motorcycle club.
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Quote of the Day: See above from Congressman Jamie Raskin
Orchid of the Day: Eminem for his musical production at the opening of the Michigan Central Station on Friday. His surprise performance nearly blew the roof off the place.
Onion of the Day: The lady who pulled her car up behind my car in a parking lot today while she continued her phone conversation blocking my ability to leave my space. She saw me get into my car, but the conversation continued. After three beeps of my horn, she still didn’t move. It wasn’t until I got out of my car and knocked on her passenger side window, did she realize what she was doing. She gave me a dumb look and pointed at her phone. By the time I got back in my car she moved.
It was a good thing I had read the above article on civility prior to this incident, or my reaction might have been much different.
Question of the Day: Do you still believe that President Biden has weaponized the Department of Justice?
Image of the Day: Earthrise. See above from photograph by Astronaut William Anders.
Video of the Day: Richard Goodall’s audition on America’s Got Talent. This is shades of Susan Boyle.
Ok Shout out to Terre Haute, IN home of Richard Goodall.
Indiana State University – school attended by Burl Ives (singer/actor), Kurt Thomas (gymnast D 6/6/2020), Larry Bird (NBA), and ME!