Orchid of the Day: Mr. Dwayne “”De De” Smith who passed away yesterday. De De was a member of River Rouge’s state championship basketball team as a player. He was the JV basketball coach for years and a key member of Lofton Greene’s staff at River Rouge which won state championships in 1961-65 and 69-72. Upon Greene’s retirement, he became the head varsity basketball coach. He was the long- time varsity tennis coach for both the boys’ and girls’ teams. More importantly he was one of the finest men I have ever met. Describing him as kind and caring would be an understatement.
I saw De De often in Ypsilanti, because he regularly attended EMU basketball and baseball games. Sitting with him and Ted Plaza was always one of life’s little pleasures for me.
There are many kids who grew up in River Rouge today mourning the loss of De De, but at the same time they are remembering the smile, and kind words that were always there.
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I have been duped!!!!!!!!! On Monday, my blog included a piece about the lack of transparency in Michigan government about donor contributions. I ended the piece with the following quote from AG Dana Nessel.
“Our residents have to be able to trust their elected officials will work for them, not the well-moneyed interests bankrolling them from the shadows. Michigan is in desperate need of commonsense campaign finance laws to ensure that information regarding the donors who back our state’s election ads, ballot initiatives, and candidate campaigns is being disclosed to voters.”
On Tuesday Detroit News reporter/columnist, Charlie LeDuff published the following story, once again proving the hypocrisy of AG Nessel. It is astonishing that she could say the above, while accepting gifts as noted below.
A swamp can be a beautiful place to frolic. Just ask Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who embarked last month on a paradisiacal Caribbean getaway to the islands of Turks and Caicos.
A great time was had by all, if since-deleted social media photos are to be believed. Azure water. White sandy beaches. Perspiring glasses of poolside Pinot at a sumptuous three-story penthouse overlooking Grace Bay.
All this for a paltry $8,629.65 a night, according to guest services at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The bill, the hotel confirmed, was picked up by a prominent Traverse City lawyer with overlapping interests with Nessel’s office, namely nursing home malfeasance and auto insurance claims. The hotel also confirmed Nessel and her spouse, Alanna Maguire, were part of the entourage that stayed in the Penthouse.
Calls to the attorney general’s office to check whether Nessel and Maguire reimbursed their host, lawyer Kelly Neumann, for their share of the penthouse were not returned.
Even if the couple didn’t cover their own costs, it would be perfectly legal, says Eric Doster, who literally wrote the book on campaign finance law.
“If you’re not a lobbyist, lobbyist agent or anyone acting on their behalf, you can give gifts until the cows come home, even to the attorney general,” said Doster. “And the attorney general can accept them. It might not pass the sniff test, but the state ethics act doesn’t apply to Nessel because she’s an elected official.”
Nessel’s office calendar shows her out of the office from March 24-29, the same days as the Caribbean getaway. What is odder about Madame Attorney General’s five day get-away is that the bill wasn’t charged to Neumann personally, but to her law firm, according to the hotel’s records.
So, if this was a business trip, what business did the women discuss? That’s the public’s business.
We may never know because an investigation of this sort would normally be conducted by … wait for it … the attorney general herself.
The tropical excursion calls into question Nessel’s political IQ, particularly at a time when Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch are front and center in controversies of their own making for failing to report real estate transactions, in Gorsuch’s case, and sumptuous island getaways paid for by others, in Thomas’ case.
Shame on me for being duped by AG Nessel’s quote.
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Monday morning while getting my teeth cleaned at my dentist office, the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot was playing on the sound system within the office. I told my hygienist how much I liked the song because it had special meaning to me. The ship was built in River Rouge and I I saw the launch of the ship when I was a seven-year-old kid.
When I learned later in the day that Lightfoot had died, I was saddened and immediately started singing the song. I can never hear the song without visualizing the over 700-foot ship hitting the water for the first time and then watching all the fish flopping on the ground because of the ship sending the water and fish in all directions.
Onion of the Day: The coach involved in the following.
From Fox News. A fight at an amateur basketball tournament in Pennsylvania over the weekend brought out strong rebuke on social media.
Twitter user Lynne Martin tweeted a video of what occurred at her son’s basketball game. The video showed a coach from one of the two teams getting into a fistfight with one of the referees during the game. The two were separated, and the referee walked off the court. The Twitter user said the coach in question was thrown out of the game.
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Quote of the Day: “You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.” Winston Churchill.
Second Onion of the Day: AG Nessel. Hypocrisy at its finest.
Question of the Day: What goes through a politician’s mind when they spew quotes that are blatant hypocrisy to how they act?
Video of the Day: RIP Gordon Lightfoot