Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the Oxford High School shooting. It continues to be in the news as result of the ongoing court case against the parents of the shooter, the recent disclosure by two former board members who have come forward criticizing the Oxford administration for not being transparent about how in the immediate 24 hours prior to the shooting, district employees did not follow the district threat assessment policies. Then tonight, the Michigan Supreme Court sent the involuntary manslaughter case of the parents of the shooter back to the Court of Appeals to consider whether there was sufficient evidence for the parents to stand trial.
As a result of this ongoing publicity, the names and pictures of the victims and the shooter are continually published by the media, while the families continue to mourn and struggle to move on with their lives which is especially hard at the anniversary date and during holidays. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and the community as they try to heal from this tragedy.
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There is a dark cloud hanging over our economy in the form of a potential rail workers strike. A strike would make it virtually impossible to transport the vast numbers of products — from oil to grain — that are carried on trains in the United States. This could have a devastating effect on the economy.
Per the NY Times, today President Biden met with the top Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate to urge them to take a rare step of imposing a labor agreement on the rail workers. The White House helped broker an agreement with union leaders in September, but it has failed to win support from workers at all of the unions involved. The unions have said they plan to strike in early December if a deal isn’t reached. I will be watching this issue very closely.
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The U.S. Men’s National Team advanced to the World Cup elimination round of 16 with their 1-0 victory today over Iran. Their first match in the elimination round will be against The Netherlands who finished in first place in their pool of teams. During pool play the U.S finished 1-0-2 for four points which gave them second place in their pool, which consisted of Wales, England, Iran and the U.S. During its three games, the U.S. scored 2 goals but only surrendered one goal over more than 270 minutes of play, which equates to one goal every 90 minutes, not counting extended time. Soccer is a perfect sport to not watch the game, check the score periodically while doing other things with your time, and then watch the one minute of highlights following the game. It is a very efficient way to be a fan.
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Per the NY Times tonight, Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, and one of his subordinates were convicted on Tuesday of seditious conspiracy as a jury found them guilty of seeking to keep former President Donald J. Trump in power through a plot that started after the 2020 election and culminated in the mob attack on the Capitol.
It gave me pause when I learned that Rhodes is a former paratrooper and graduate of Yale Law School. It makes me wonder how someone who can withstand the physical demands of becoming a paratrooper and the intellectual demands of graduating from an Ivy League law school is willing to put all of his eggs in a basket carried by the former president. It scares me to consider the influence and control that the former president has over people.
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Today I was reading the latest version of M Magazine, which is a quarterly publication about UofM sports. One of the featured articles was about Carol Hutchins, the recently retired Michigan softball coach who is the winningest softball coach in NCAA history. Her accomplishments on the field are without comparison in her sport, but that is not what stands out about her. It is what she has done outside of athletic field that defines her greatness. She has been an outspoken advocate for women in leadership in sport for all positions, including coaching and administration. She encourages her players to do the same. She has been the face of Title IX for 50 years. Nothing sums up her philosophy better than what her long time assistant and new UofM softball coach Bonnie Tholl said about Hutch.
Here is my Quote of the Day: “There are leaders who use their people to build their kingdoms, and then there are leaders like Hutch who use their kingdom to build their people.”
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Quote of the Day: See above.
Orchid of the Day: U.S.M.N.T for making the round of 16 elimination round in the World Cup.
Onion of the Day: Republican officials in a rural Arizona county who have refused to certify the results of the 2022 midterm election, despite no evidence of anything wrong with the count from earlier this month.
Question of the Day: Should Congress impose a labor agreement on the railroad workers in order to avert a strike?
Video of the Day: Highlights of the U.S. victory today