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My Amazing Daughter and Niece

On the morning of Wednesday May 20, U of M surgeons from the Transplant Program successfully transferred a kidney from my daughter Katy Krieg to my niece Kacy Biggs.

The surgery was without complications. Katy was home by Thursday May 21 and Kacy by Friday May 22. Both are recovering well at this point. Both are biting at the bit to get over the recovery and get back to living.

The joke of the week was Katy’s surgeon referring to her kidney as the Maserati of kidneys.

It was a wonderful experience for Leah and me as we took over most of Katy’s duties, which primarily consisted of me picking up kids from school, attending softball and baseball games, and family night at school. Leah was instrumental in keeping up with the wash, keeping Katy company, making sure Katy followed doctors’ orders and also attending baseball games and family night.

We were blessed by the organization of a “food train” by Katy’s friend, Lesley Lopez. Friends and neighbors delivered meals every evening as well as breakfast on Saturday. It was a gamechanger for Leah and me.

My sister Nancy is coming in from Columbia, Maryland to help Katy and check in on Kacy. I wished Nancy luck making sure the patients are following doctors’ orders.

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He is making Nixon look like Mother Teresa

I was absolutely incensed when the lawyers for Trump announced the formation of the 1776 Anti-Weaponization Fund, which was to be used to reward those that Trump and five chosen cronies agreed had been wrongly prosecuted or wronged by the Biden administration. This included the possibility that those convicted of crimes committed on January 6, 2021, would be compensated.

To get a portion of the $1.776 billion fund all they had to do was to submit a request to the five cronies and voila they would be paid. There was no oversight by Congress or anyone outside of Trump and the five cronies. Trump could hand out $1 million dollar rewards for hundreds of his followers for their loyalty. The way the fund was set up, Trump could allocate one million to his 1,500 of his most loyal followers and still have $276 million for himself. No questions asked.

The real kicker came the next day when the Interim Attorney General and Treasury Department concocted a settlement agreement against Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, in which Trump, his family, and the Trump family businesses are immune from IRS audits past, present and future. This agreement is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Trump and his family because it means Trump and his family can claim any deduction they want, to reduce their annual taxes to zero or less. It also eliminates the audit that was put on hold once Trump was re-elected, in which $100 million was being questioned by the IRS. It is an unbelievable agreement, in which the taxpayers are paying the price.

Trump’s take on the agreement is that he is giving up $10 billion to help those who were wronged by the Biden administration. Trump believes the taxpayers should be thankful for the sacrifice he is making because he is saving taxpayers money.

The audacity of Trump has finally riled some Republicans to the point they are demanding Trump withdrawal the 1776 Anti-Weaponization Fund or they will withhold funding approval for Trump’s favored agenda items.

The fund has also been put on hold by a federal judge. However, we know that Trump will appeal the judge’s ruling until he can take it to SCOTUS where they will likely fall in line with Trump’s desire.

As of today, Trump is considering withdrawing the fund. However, this must be taken with our eyes wide open. Trump is notorious for using a slight of hand to make it look like he is doing everyone a favor, when in fact he does something else to make sure he comes out ahead. Who knows what it will be, but it will be something.

Trump is running a criminal enterprise out of the White House. As the creation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund and the IRS Settlement indicates, Trump is surrounded by lawyers who will do whatever it takes to make Trump richer and keep the gravy train working for those who are loyal to Trump. Honesty and integrity, have no place in Trump’s inner circle. Don Corleone would be jealous.

I can comfortably say that Trump’s second administration is much worse than the Nixon administration. I can comfortably say that in the nearly 17 months since the start of his second term, Trump and his family have accumulated more wealth than all previous presidents combined.

How people can turn a blind eye to Trump’s criminal behavior is beyond me.

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War in Iran

We are now entering week nine in a war that was supposed to be over in four weeks. Unfortunately, there is no end in sight.

Trump supporters continue to support him, using the excuse that we need to make sure that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon.

I just want to shake them and remind them, that the U.S., Iran and the major world powers had a nuclear agreement in place which Trump withdrew from in 2018 because he thought it was a terrible deal that he would have never agreed to sign. The following is a summary of the agreement.

The Iran nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed in July 2015 between Iran, the United States, and five other world powers (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and Germany) along with the European Union. Under the agreement, Iran agreed to limit uranium enrichment, reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium, and allow extensive inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in exchange for relief from international economic sanctions The deal aimed to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons for 10 to 25 years while allowing it to pursue civilian nuclear energy.

It may not have been perfect, but I felt much safer under the JCPOA than I do now.

The next time a Trumper tells you they support Trump’s war in Iran because we need to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon, please remind them about the JCPOA that Trump withdrew from in his first term.

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EMU Women’s Golf Team

In the last few years donors at Eastern Michigan University have invested ten million dollars to improve the facilities for the EMU men’s and women’s golf teams. They have also invested millions in NIL to enhance recruitment.

It paid off recently as the EMU Women’s Golf Team made it to the semifinals of the NCAA Division I Championship. The EMU women surprised everyone by qualifying as one of the eight teams to advance to the match play portion of the event. In the quarterfinal round, the EMU women continued to impress as they knocked off the highly ranked Texas Longhorn women before losing in the semi-final round.

No EMU golf team had ever advanced to the NCAA Division I tournament prior to this year’s women’s team. They get an Orchid of the Day

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “It is the Maserati of kidneys.” The transplant physician described Katy’s kidney to Leah and me following Katy’s and Kacy’s successful transplant surgery.

Orchid of the Day: The entire transplant team at Michigan Medicine. Thank you.

Second Orchid of the Day: Lesley Lopez for organizing the “food train” for Katy and her family while Katy recovers.

Third Orchid of the Day: The EMU Women’s golf team advancing to the semifinals of the NCAA Division I tournament.

Onion of the Day: I normally do not give out an onion on days I give out multiple orchids, but I am making an exception and giving one to the Detroit Tigers. Their record of 6-22 in May is one of the worst monthly records in the history of the MLB

Question of the Day: Why did it take so long for Republicans to finally push back on Trump’s criminal enterprise that he is running out of the White House?

Lyrics of the Day: Helter skelter in a summer swelter
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter
Eight miles high and falling fast
It landed foul on the grass
The players tried for a forward pass
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast

Lyrics of the Day for May 13, 2026. Imagine by John Lennon

Video of the Day: Pink - Me and Bobby McGee There is a lot of Janis in PInk

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War in Iran

On February 19, 2026, nine days before Trump attacked Iran, a subscriber of this blog asked my thoughts on attacking Iran. Here is my response to the question.

“As far as Iran goes. As long as Iran stays within their boundaries I would leave them be and sanction the shit out of them. Iran is a lose-lose situation for us. Have we not learned from Iraq and Afghanistan?”

I normally don’t include articles that are as long as the following article by Robert Kagan, neoconservative member of the Brookings Institution, and opinion writer for The Atlantic. I am making an exception because it summarizes my fears about the War in Iran. It is worth your time to read. It is eye-opening, alarming, and not surprising.

It’s hard to think of a time when the United States suffered a total defeat in a conflict, a setback so decisive that the strategic loss could be neither repaired nor ignored. The calamitous losses suffered at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and throughout the Western Pacific in the first months of World War II were eventually reversed. The defeats in Vietnam and Afghanistan were costly but did not do lasting damage to America’s overall position in the world, because they were far from the main theaters of global competition. The initial failure in Iraq was mitigated by a shift in strategy that ultimately left Iraq relatively stable and unthreatening to its neighbors and kept the United States dominant in the region.

Defeat in the present confrontation with Iran will be of an entirely different character. It can neither be repaired nor ignored. There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done. The Strait of Hormuz will not be “open,” as it once was. With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world. The roles of China and Russia, as Iran’s allies, are strengthened; the role of the United States, substantially diminished. ….the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started. That is going to set off a chain reaction around the world as friends and foes adjust to America’s failure.

…The United States and Israel pounded Iran with devastating effectiveness for 37 days, killing much of the country’s leadership and destroying the bulk of its military, yet couldn’t collapse the regime or exact even the smallest concession from it. Now the Trump administration hopes that blockading Iran’s ports will accomplish what massive force could not. It’s possible, of course, but a regime that could not be brought to its knees by five weeks of unrelenting military attack is unlikely to buckle in response to economic pressure alone. Nor does it fear the anger of its populace. As the Iran scholar Suzanne Maloney noted recently, “A regime that slaughtered its own citizens to silence protests in January is fully prepared to impose economic hardships on them now.”

…Trump halted attacks on Iran not because he was bored but because Iran was striking the region’s vital oil and gas facilities. The turning point came on March 18, when Israel bombed Iran’s South Pars gas field and Iran retaliated by attacking Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, the world’s largest natural-gas-export plant, causing damage to production capacity that will take years to repair. Trump responded by declaring a moratorium on further strikes against Iran’s energy facilities and then declaring a cease-fire, despite Iran’s not having made a single concession.

…. Even if Trump were to carry out his threat to destroy Iran’s “civilization” through more bombing, Iran would still be able to launch many missiles and drones before its regime went down—assuming it did go down. Just a few successful strikes could cripple the region’s oil and gas infrastructure for years if not decades, throwing the world, and the United States, into a prolonged economic crisis. Even if Trump wanted to bomb Iran as part of an exit strategy, he can’t do that without risking this catastrophe.

If this isn’t checkmate, it’s close.

In recent days, Trump has reportedly asked the U.S. intelligence community to assess the consequences of simply declaring victory and walking away…..It could fall tomorrow, or six months from now, or not at all. Trump doesn’t have that much time to wait, as oil climbs toward $150 or even $200 a barrel, inflation rises, and global food and other commodity shortages kick in. He needs a faster resolution.

…Those who glibly call on Trump to “finish the job” rarely acknowledge the costs. Unless the U.S. is prepared to engage in a full-scale ground and naval war to remove the current Iranian regime, and then to occupy Iran until a new government can take hold; unless it is prepared to risk the loss of warships convoying tankers through a contested strait; unless it is prepared to accept the devastating long-term damage to the region’s productive capacities likely to result from Iranian retaliation—walking away now could seem like the least bad option. As a political matter, Trump may well feel he has a better chance of riding out defeat than of surviving a much larger, longer, and more expensive war that could still end in failure.

Defeat for the United States, therefore, is not only possible but likely. Here is what defeat looks like.

Iran remains in control of the Strait of Hormuz. The common assumption that, one way or another, the strait will reopen when the crisis ends is unfounded. Iran has no interest in returning to the status quo ante. …For one thing, how reliable is any deal with Trump?... The Iranians cannot be sure that Trump won’t decide to attack again within a few months of striking a deal. They also know that the Israelis may attack again…

…the regime in Tehran currently stands to emerge from the crisis much stronger than it was before the war, having not only retained its potential nuclear capacity but also gained control of an even more effective weapon: the ability to hold the global energy market hostage. When the Iranians talk of “reopening” the strait, they still mean to keep the strait under their control. Iran will be able not only to demand tolls for passage, but to limit transit to those nations with which it has good relations.

The power to close or control the flow of ships through the strait is greater and more immediate than the theoretical power of Iran’s nuclear program. This leverage will allow the leaders in Tehran to force nations to lift sanctions and normalize relations or face penalties….In a world where Iran wields influence over the energy supply of so many nations, Israel could face enormous international pressure not to provoke Tehran in Lebanon, Gaza, or anywhere else.

The new status quo in the strait will also occasion a substantial shift in relative power and influence both regionally and globally. In the region, the United States will have proved itself a paper tiger, forcing the Gulf and other Arab states to accommodate Iran. As the Iran scholars Reuel Gerecht and Ray Takeyh wrote recently, “The Gulf Arab economies were built under the umbrella of American hegemony. Take that away—and the freedom of navigation that goes with it—and the Gulf states will ineluctably go begging to Tehran.”

They will not be the only ones. All nations that depend on energy from the Gulf will have to work out their own arrangements with Iran. What choice will they have?. China presumably has some influence over Tehran, but even China cannot force open the strait by itself.

The American defeat in the Gulf will have broader global ramifications as well. The whole world can see that just a few weeks of war with a second-rank power have reduced American weapons stocks to perilously low levels, with no quick remedy in sight. ….at the very least America’s allies in East Asia and Europe must wonder about American staying power in the event of future conflicts.

The global adjustment to a post-American world is accelerating. America’s once-dominant position in the Gulf is just the first of many casualties.

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This makes me chuckle

SCOTUS has handed President Trump an unprecedented number of favorable rulings since he was able to appoint three conservative justices in his first term. The favorable rulings are too many to count, yet Trump is still not happy. And when he is not happy, he turns on those who are making him unhappy, no matter their prior support of Trump.

Heather Cox Richardson summarizes Trump’s recent rants against SCOTUS. Trump complained twice that in its decision declaring his “Liberation Day” tariffs of April 2025 unconstitutional, the Supreme Court had not included a sentence saying, “Any money paid to the United States of America does not have to be paid back.” That sentence, he insisted, “would have saved America 159 billion Dollars!” He complained about his Supreme Court appointees Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett and suggested he should “PACK THE COURT! I’m working so hard to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and then people that I appointed have shown so little respect to our Country, and its people. What is the reason for this? They have to do the right thing, but it’s really OK for them to be loyal to the person that appointed them to ‘almost’ the highest position in the land, that is, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court.”

He warned them to vote his way on the question of birthright citizenship because “A negative ruling on Birthright Citizenship, on top of the recent Supreme Court Tariff catastrophe, is not Economically sustainable for the United States of America!”

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My amazing daughter

Katy is a wife, a mother of three beautiful children, a friend to many, and an Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Social Security Administration. She has completed three half-Iron Man Triathlons; she was a member of the NCAA Division II National Championship softball team. She gives, gives, and gives. She gets things done. She is impossible to keep up with.

Next week she is giving the gift of life. Katy is donating one of her kidneys to her cousin and my niece Kacy, who is need of a kidney transplant because of a chronic deteriorating kidney disease. The fact that Katy is a match to Kacy is nothing short of a miracle, since we adopted Katy when she was six weeks old.

Leah and I will be staying in Brighton starting on Tuesday until the end of May, helping Katy with her recovery and helping Brad with “ubering” our grandchildren, Alaina, Nolan and Kaylen to school and all their activities. It is the least we can do.

Please keep Katy and Kacy in your prayers.

This will be my last blog until Monday June 1.

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “As far as Iran goes. As long as Iran stays within their boundaries I would leave them be and sanction the shit out of them. Iran is a lose-lose situation for us. Have we not learned from Iraq and Afghanistan?” Yours truly.

Orchid of the Day: My daughter Katy Krieg.

Onion of the Day: President Trump for turning on SCOTUS, even though they have done more to enhance Trump’s power and protect him from criminal prosecution than any other part of the government.

Question of the Day: Is Robert Kagan’s assessment of the War in Iran correct?

Lyrics of the Day:

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

Lyrics of the Day for May 11, 2026. We Gotta Get Out of This Place by Eric Burden

Video of the Day: One of my favorite music videos.

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It’s now Trump’s problem, and it is only getting worse.

I remember the exact moment of the beginning of the Tea Party in 2009, when CNBC’s Rick Santelli went into his now famous rant about the excessive government spending and intervention following the 2008 financial crisis and the passage of the federal stimulus bill. During a live broadcast from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Santelli criticized the government’s mortgage bailout plan and suggested a “Chicago Tea Party” to protest the government’s fiscal irresponsibility. The movement quickly went viral within hours.

When Santelli went into his rant the national debt was $11 trillion.

Per an article by Evan Gorelick of the NY Times, it’s over $31 trillion, bigger than our entire economy. Here’s what that means: If the federal government were to demand, for an entire year, that all workers hand over 100 percent of their wages, that all landlords hand over 100 percent of their rents, that all investors hand over 100 percent of their capital returns and that all corporations hand over 100 percent of their profits, then at the end of that nightmarish year, the government would still be in debt.

That’s not healthy. The United States hasn’t held this much debt since World War II. And it’s still growing, fast.

Note: Excludes debt the federal government owes itself. Sources: Congressional Budget Office; Treasury Dept. Karl Russell/The New York Times

Yet, today, neither voters nor politicians seem worried. Both parties keep cutting taxes, even as aging Americans receive more money from Medicare and Social Security. Lawmakers keep spending more on the military. And the Treasury must make debt interest payments so huge that they exceed the annual cost of Medicare.

The tax cuts from the “Big Beautiful Bill” and the war in Iran are only making it worse. I am not Rick Santelli, but I know we are heading toward a fiscal cliff. When we arrive, we are not going to like the outcome.

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Where is all this concern about election fraud coming from?

Prior to 2020, the few times I heard about election fraud, it was usually about Chicago where it was said to “vote early and often”. Even in the presidential election of 2000 when Bush carried Florida by only 500 votes, when there were “hanging chads”, and it took a Supreme Court decision to settle the election more than 30 days after the vote, voter fraud was not an issue.

According to the Heritage Foundation, there have been 1,620 convictions of election fraud in the U.S. since 1982, an average of 68 cases per year. The likelihood of any of these cases affecting the outcome of an election is on beyond miniscule.

In 2020, Trump supporters lost 62/63 lawsuits against voter fraud, and the one they won didn’t change the outcome of the election in that district.

Yet today, Republicans, following the President’s lead, are questioning the quality of elections, even in states and districts where Republicans are in control. Rather than facing reality, Republicans running for re-election are afraid of doing anything outside the Trump’s way of thinking, even if they know it is not the truth.

I should not be surprised, considering everyone in Trump’s current administration, had to agree that Trump won the 2020 election before they would be considered for a position in the Trump administration.

The Republican Party is no longer a party of conservatives who can think on their own. The current Republican party is made up of followers who are being told how to think and how to vote. They will follow Trump, no matter the consequences to the country, no matter how many voters they disenfranchise, and no matter the facts. It reminds me of the Pied Piper leading the rats to their death.

It was Trump’s Pied Piper act that led to January 6. The same Republicans who were appalled by January 6, are now passing laws to solve a problem that only exists in Trump’s mind.

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Do you feel reassured that Trump has everything under control?

Per Mary Geddry, Iran is negotiating like it survived the war. Netanyahu is pushing to keep the war open until Iran’s uranium is physically removed. Hormuz remains the global choke point. Oil is back around crisis levels. Gas and diesel are hammering American households. Food inflation may be next. The Fed cannot cut rates because Trump’s war is feeding inflation. Defense-stock ethics questions are hovering over the Pentagon. China is preparing for economic war. Taiwan is preparing for actual war. And the president of the United States is posting like the comments section became commander in chief.

Somewhere in all of this, Americans are supposed to feel reassured that the man who cannot manage his own late-night posting habits is managing a nuclear standoff, a global oil shock, a superpower summit, and the fate of Taiwan.

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The gutting of the Voting Rights Act

For most Americans the recent ruling by SCOTUS which gutted the Voting Right Act doesn’t mean much to them. To me it is a gut punch which takes the country back 60 years to the pre-MLK days. Back to the days when blacks in the South had the constitutional right to vote, but local laws prevented them from voting.

If you only watch one thing regarding the recent supreme court decision gutting the Voting Rights Act, please watch the following video. It is my Video of the Day. Thank you to my sister-in-law Jan for bringing this to my attention.

Sherrilyn Ifill - What Happened to the Voting Rights Act? | The Daily Show

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The Pistons

On Saturday, the Pistons had a chance to take a 3-0 lead in their series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Pistons were up by one point with three minutes to go. Unfortunately, the Pistons were outplayed and out executed by the Cavalier in those last three minutes, so now the Piston’s lead the series 2-1 going into tonight’s game in Cleveland.

I look for the Pistons to bounce back in game four and use the last three minutes of Saturday’s game as a learning experience to take a 3-1 series lead and continue their march to the Eastern Conference finals.

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day “To recap: Iran is saying stop the war first. Trump is saying hand over the “nuclear dust.” Netanyahu is saying go in and take it. The oil market is saying please, for the love of Brent crude, somebody put an adult in the room.” Mary Geddry in her blog this morning

Orchid of the Day: Gage Workman, who was put on the Tiger’s 40-man roster prior to last night’s game. In his first at bat as a Tiger, Workman hit a two-run pinch hit homerun to propel the Tiger’s to a 6-3 win over the Royals last night.

Onion of the Day: The injury bug. With the addition of Kerry Carpenter, seventeen of the Tigers’ forty-man roster that started the season have spent time on the injured list, and the season is only 6 weeks old.

Question of the Day: Do you feel reassured that Trump has everything under control?

Lyrics of the Day:

In this dirty old part of the city
Where the sun refused to shine
People tell me there ain’t no use in tryin’
Now my girl, you’re so young and pretty
And one thing I know is true
You’ll be dead before your time is due, I know

Lyrics of the Day for May 3, 2026. War by Edwin Starr

Video of the Day: See above

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Pump Shock

On Sunday, as Leah and I were driving home from a weekend in Brighton, I stopped to fill my Taurus SHO with gas. My SHO takes mid-grade so I am used to paying higher prices. However, I was shocked when the pump registered more than $80. I have had the SHO since 2017 and I have never paid more than $55 to fill my tank.

The sad part is that I know it is only going to get worse before it gets better according to a recent article in The Atlantic. Here are excerpts from the article.

The global economic damage from the first two months of the war has been stark. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has been reduced by about 90 percent, from some 120 to 150 daily transits to a handful, according to a new dashboard by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. This week, Brent crude reached its highest level in four years, at $126 a barrel. The gas-station billboards that line so many American roads reflect the increase: The average price of a gallon of gas hit $4.18. Trump met with American energy executives at the White House Tuesday to warn them that the blockade may persist for weeks or more. Prices of other goods, such as pharmaceuticals, have also spiked. The World Bank forecasts a 16 percent rise in food-commodity prices this year, driven by increased transport costs and the supply squeeze on the fertilizer industry, which relies on exports from the Gulf. The International Energy Agency has said that the world is on the brink of “the biggest energy security threat in history.”

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I cannot believe I missed this.

I cannot believe this slipped by me. It becomes especially important as President Trump’s budget for 2027 recommends significant increases in the Department of Defense spending as it needs to replenish its arsenal after the war with Iran.

From Military.com: After eight failed audits, pressure remains high for the Department of Defense to demonstrate concrete progress, not just long-term promises.

The Department of Defense has failed its department-wide financial audit for the eighth consecutive year, underscoring long-standing challenges in tracking how the nation’s largest federal budget is managed.

Auditors examine whether systems accurately track spending, assets, liabilities, and inventory. That includes everything from payroll and contracts to facilities, vehicles, aircraft, ships, and spare parts. The process also evaluates whether internal controls are strong enough to prevent errors and ensure reliable reporting. Repeated audits have identified weaknesses such as inconsistent documentation, incomplete records, and gaps in inventory tracking

The failure does not indicate fraud or missing funds. Instead, it means auditors could not verify the accuracy of the Pentagon’s financial statements with enough confidence to issue a clean opinion. Still, after eight years of unsuccessful audits, the results continue to raise questions about accountability and oversight.

In February 2026 U.S. Representative Mark Pocan, Democrat (WI-02), co-founder and co-chair of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, and U.S. Representative Andy Biggs, Republican (AZ-05) introduced the Audit the Pentagon Act, which aims to increase transparency and accountability in the defense budget. See my Quote of the Day

I will be following this closely in the future. The Department of Defense gets my Onion of the Day

Thank you Nancy for bringing this to my attention.

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Fiscal Management is an Oxymoron

Inch by inch, step by step, we get closer to the financial cliff. It’s coming and it will not be pretty. Let’s not let the War in Iran or the Epstein files distract us from paying attention to the blocking and tackling of managing taxpayer money.

From the Wall Street Journal. Over the past several decades, leaders and lawmakers from both parties have aggressively added to the deficit by spending much more money than they have brought in through taxes. The annual gulf—called the deficit—just adds more and more red ink to the blob, I mean, debt. The deficit in 2026 is projected to be $1.9 trillion.

The government can only sustain this by borrowing more money. And it has to pay interest to borrow money. This has now become astronomical on its own, with interest payments projected to breach $1 trillion this year. Roughly $1 out of every $7 spent by the government this year is going toward interest on the debt.

Neither party has a political incentive to do much about it. So, the debt snowballs.

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The Pistons

After coming from behind by winning the last three games against the Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs, the Pistons took game one last night against the Cleveland Cavaliers primarily because of the play of the guys coming off the bench, especially Daniss Jenkins.

It is ironic to hear Duncan Robinson call the journey of Daniss Jenkins, unique considering how unique Duncan Robinson’s journey to the NBA was. Robinson is one of only a handful players in NBA history who started their college career as Division III players and had successful careers in the NBA. Here is what Robinson had to say about Jenkins following the game yesterday per the Detroit Free Press.

“His path is unique and takes a special level of will and character,” Robinson said. “The talent is there, but what stands out is his unshakable confidence. He’s been overlooked his whole career and uses that as motivation. It’s fun watching him play with that energy on both ends. Having another ball handler out there makes a big difference for Cade. We see the work he puts in every day, so it’s great to see him have this moment. He deserves it.”

“That’s been our identity all year, just getting energy from basically one through 11, 12, however many we play,” Robinson said. “I’m happy for (Jenkins), he’s been building for it all year. His journey is unique, and it takes somebody with a special will and character to have that story. He has unshakeable confidence for someone who’s been overlooked his whole career, and he just wears it as a chip.”

See my Video of the Day

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The Tigers

The Tigers are hurting. In the last two days the Tigers have put two time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal on the Injured List (arm surgery) and starting second baseman Glayber Torres (oblique strain) This combined with 10 others on the IL, including starting pitchers Justin Verlander, Casey Mize, Troy Melton, Jackson Jobe and Reese Olson, starting centerfielder, Austin Meadows, starting shortstop Javy Baez, and key relievers Will Vest and Beau Briske will make 2026 a very challenging year.

Fortunately, the Tigers are in the weakest division in the American League, so they just need to hang close until the above players recover.

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Dick Sarns

When I served as Interim Executive Director at Packard Health, I had the privilege of working with Dick Sarns as part of the Development Committee. Dick and his family have been supporters of Packard Health for many years. He and his family were instrumental in the revival of Packard Health because of their generosity, which in addition to direct financial support, included a donation of a multi-million-dollar facility which allowed Packard to initiate a major capital campaign.

Dick Sarns is one of the most fascinating people I have ever met. His contributions to health care are unnoticed by most people. However, anyone who has had open-heart surgery or phyical therapy has probably used one of the many pieces of medical equipment he developed through his companies, Sans, Inc. and Nu Step, Inc.

The last three times I required PT, the providers had multiple Nu Step machines in their facility.

Dick Sarns passed away on Sunday, April 19, 2026, at age 98.
Born June 20, 1927, in Mount Clemens, Michigan, Dick served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and was stationed in Japan after the war. Returning home, he took classes at Lawrence Tech and the University of Michigan while working at Argus Camera Company, Buhr, and Strand Engineering. When he designed and built a house for his family on Hewett Drive, he included a workshop that became the first headquarters of Sarns, Incorporated.

Founded in 1960, Sarns, Inc., designed and produced medical devices to assist rapid advances in surgical knowledge. Dick’s first inventions were a sternal saw for heart surgery and the Dingman mouth gag that is still used today in cleft palate surgery. The company made its mark with the heart-lung machine used in open-heart surgery. Sarns heart-lung machines, built in a factory on Jackson Road, ultimately served more than a million heart patients worldwide. A Sarns machine was used in the world’s first heart transplant and in the first artificial heart transplant. When Dick and Norma sold Sarns, Inc., to 3M in 1981, they ensured that all 200 employees kept their jobs and profit-sharing plans.

Dick and Norma’s next company was NuStep, Inc., founded with their son Steve, to design and build a “total body recumbent stepper,” an exercise machine for people of all abilities. The Sarns family constructed manufacturing and office buildings on Venture Drive for 100 employees, and sold NuStep products to health facilities, gyms, and private homes around the world. Dick led NuStep, Inc., as president and CEO until he was 90 and sold the company in 2017. He continued going to the family office, working with his sons, until his last days.

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “For years, the Pentagon has failed audit after audit while Congress continues to write blank checks. That’s unacceptable every taxpayer dollar—especially when we’re spending more than $1 trillion on our defense annually, and we’re facing a $38 trillion national debt. The Audit the Pentagon Act imposes tangible consequences for bureaucratic failure. A strong national defense demands both readiness and fiscal responsibility. The era of endless excuses must end.” Representative Andy Biggs, AZ Republican

Orchid of the Day: The Detroit Pistons. Four in a row. Let’s make it five on Wednesday.

Onion of the Day: The Department of Defense. See above story.

Question of the Day: Why haven’t the major media companies made a big deal about the Department of Defense failing its audits? This should have been big time public news after the second failed audit.

Lyrics of the Day:

Listen to me. Ooh war, I despise ‘Cause it means destruction of innocent lives
War means tears, to thousands of mother’s eyes When their sons go off to fight and lose their lives
I said, war (h’uh) Good God, y’all! (What is it good for?)

Lyrics of the Day for April 29, 2026. Free Bird by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Video of the Day: #4 CAVALIERS at #1 PISTONS | FULL GAME 1 HIGHLIGHTS | May 5, 2026

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It is great to be white

It has always been great to be white in this country. Today’s Supreme Court ruling makes it even better. I feel bad for my good friends David, Cheryl, Ernie, Danny, Sharon, Steve, Vic, Vicki, Charles, Trevor, JJ, Larry, and my many classmates at River Rouge High School who have gone to do great things.

Unlike my black and brown friends:

• · I cannot get pulled over by ICE because of my accent or the color of my skin (SCOTUS said it is OK to use accents and color of skin as a reason for ICE to detain and question someone)

• · I don’t have to worry about my race not being represented in congress proportionately to the racial make-up of the country. I know I will be better represented than my black and brown friends.

• · I don’t have to worry about my grandkids being prevented from attending college because of where they live, their names, or the underfunded school district they received their high school education.

Today’s ruling makes it easy to disguise racism under the pretext of political motives.

The Civil Rights Act of 1965 corrected many of the discriminatory and racist acts of the first 190 years in this country. Today’s rulings along with prior rulings of the Kavanagh led Supreme Court have set us back to the ways of pre-Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Act of 1965.

Today’s ruling makes it better to be white. I do not feel better today because of it.

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King Charles’ speech before Congress

King Charles made his speech to Congress yesterday. I loved Mary Geddry’s summary

The speech built toward its close with increasing clarity. The alliance, he warned, cannot simply coast on past achievements; it has to be renewed, actively, intentionally. Then came the line, the one that will probably outlive the rest of the speech:

“America’s words carry weight and meaning… The actions of this great nation matter even more.”

To me, that sounded like a challenge, because while Charles was speaking and Congress was applauding, and while the chamber performed unity, the rest of the country was doing something very different.

Within hours, the Justice Department secured a new indictment against former FBI director James Comey. The basis? A social media post showing seashells arranged to read “86 47,” which the administration has chosen to interpret as a threat against the president. Yes! Seashells.

At the same time, the FCC, under a Trump-appointed chair, moved to accelerate the review of ABC’s broadcast licenses, forcing multiple local stations into early renewal proceedings years ahead of schedule. The trigger? A Jimmy Kimmel joke about Melania Trump. Not because the joke violated any law or posed a public safety risk, but because it was offensive to the president.

Even critics inside the system aren’t mincing words. They’re calling it unprecedented, a political stunt, a message to every broadcaster in America: fall in line, or we can make your life a living hell.

In one room, a monarch, whose very institution exists because of centuries of negotiated limits on power, stood before Congress and spoke about restraint, partnership, and the rule of law. He invoked Magna Carta, NATO, democratic accountability, and the idea that no one governs alone.

Outside that room, the machinery of the American state was busy demonstrating what happens when those ideas are treated as optional.

That’s the tension Charles was trying to navigate. The tension the British government sent him to manage. It was diplomacy by proxy. Trump may dismiss elected leaders, insult allies, and bulldoze norms, but he likes the monarchy. So, Britain sent the one figure he might actually listen to.

Charles did what he could. He praised, flattered, joked, and invoked shared history and shared sacrifice. He also warned to ignore the pull toward isolation, to honor alliances, defend Ukraine, and respect the rule of law. Protect the systems that make democracy function.

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So much for no more “forever wars”

Per the WSJ: President Trump has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran, U.S. officials said, targeting the regime’s coffers in a high-risk bid to compel a nuclear capitulation Tehran has long refused.

In recent meetings, including a Monday discussion in the Situation Room, Trump opted to continue squeezing Iran’s economy and oil exports by preventing shipping to and from its ports. He assessed that his other options—resume bombing or walk away from the conflict—carried more risk than maintaining the blockade, officials said.

Yet continuing the blockade also prolongs a conflict that has driven up gas prices, hurt Trump’s poll numbers and further darkened Republicans’ prospects in the midterm elections. It has also caused the lowest number of transits through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began.

Since ending the major bombing campaign in an April 7 cease-fire, Trump has repeatedly walked back from escalating the conflict, opening space for diplomacy after earlier threatening to destroy the entirety of Iranian civilization. But he still wants to tighten the grip on the regime until it caves to his key demand: dismantling all of Iran’s nuclear work. On Monday, Trump told aides that Iran’s three-step offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and save nuclear talks for the final phase proved Tehran wasn’t negotiating in good faith, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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This Is More Than a Media Takeover

From Lincoln Square: The scale of the consolidation we are seeing is staggering. The $111 billion merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery has officially created an information super-monopoly. This isn’t just about movies or streaming; it’s about who controls the “truth” for hundreds of millions of people.

Under the leadership of David Ellison—backed by the massive tech fortune of his father, Larry Ellison—this new empire now commands a unified front that includes CNN, CBS News, HBO, and Paramount+. The intent behind this takeover is no longer a secret discussed in hushed tones; it is being cheered on by those in power.

Just recently, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signaled exactly what the current administration expects from this consolidation, stating on the record that “the sooner David Ellison takes over [CNN], the better.” Hegseth’s comments came during a press conference where he scolded the media about their truthful coverage of his horribly planned war.

We have already seen the first moves in this playbook: David Ellison’s acquisition of centrist digital outlets and the installation of ideologically driven editors at CBS News have already led to a quiet exodus of veteran journalists who refuse to see their reporting compromised.

If the Secretary of Defense—a key figure in the administration’s military actions—openly roots for a billionaire ally to take over a major news network, how can we expect that network to ever investigate military corruption or government overreach?

They aren’t looking for “balance.” They are looking for the total capture of the platforms that once held power to account. They want to turn every major outlet into a carbon copy of the propaganda machines they have already perfected. If we do not act now to provide an alternative, the truth will simply cease to exist in the public square.

We’ve seen the damage done by Fox News. Imagine them controlling most, if not all of the mainstream media.

Thank you to my good friend George for sharing this with me.

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$5.25 per gallon: Thank You President Trump.

On Sunday I paid 5.25 per gallon for mid-grade to fill my gas tank. It is the most I have ever paid for gasoline

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “A moral indictment that reflects a continued retreat from the promise of equal justice.” Martin Luther King III, the son of the slain civil rights leader, on today’s supreme court ruling.

Orchid of the Day: King Charles. He brings a sense of calm.

Second Orchid of the Day: The Buffalo Sabres’ fans. See my Video of the Day.

Onion of the Day: SCOTUS-They make it great to be white.

Question of the Day: Did King Charles’ speech change your opinion of the king?

Lyrics of the Day: Bye-bye, baby, it’s been a sweet love, yeah, yeah
Though this feeling I can’t change
But, please, don’t take it so badly, ‘Cause Lord knows I’m to blame

But if I stay here with you, girl Things just couldn’t be the same

Lyrics of the Day for April 27, 2026. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

Video of the Day: The Buffalo Sabres’ fans chipping in when needed as they show respect for Canada. Thank you Dan.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17ZW84P9r4/

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Executive Director Dr. Ray Rion’s letter on Packard Health

I have dedicated nearly 50 years to making sure the uninsured and underserved have access to healthcare. In the last fifteen years, Packard Health in Washtenaw County has been a major focus of my time and energy. I have served as the Interim Executive Director, Board member, Treasurer of the Board, and a member of the Finance Committee.

In the last fifteen years, Packard went from a health clinic on the verge of closing to a Federal Qualified Health Center that in 2025 provided 48,775 primary care visits, 10,961 behavioral health visits, 6,667 substance use disorder visits, filled 45,429 prescriptions at its inhouse pharmacy, distributed $2,450 in gas cards to its patients, provided $1,020 bus tokens to its patients, provided 403 rides to its patients and served 5,044 individuals at its food pantries. It did this while providing high quality patient care and while receiving a 91% patient satisfaction score.

Packard health is making a difference in the Washtenaw County community by providing high quality patient care. It is not just for the underserved and uninsured, it is for all patients. Many of its patients include former high-level administrators at U of M and St. Joes who love the quality of care as well as the timely access to primary care that the major health centers struggle to provide.

Unlike most primary care centers, it also provides in-house mental health services by employed mental health providers. Recently, it created its own in-house pharmacy, where patients can have their prescriptions filled on site.

Like all primary care providers, Packard is facing major problems moving forward as the nation’s political will to provide health care for the underserved and uninsured has lessened. The passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill” last year is only going to make it worse.

I want to share a letter that Dr. Ray Rion, Executive Director, has written to the Packard community. It is titled “Standing Firm for Our Community”

Dear Friends and Partners of Packard Health,

As I reflect on the past year, I am proud of what our team has accomplished, and clear-eyed about the challenges ahead. The healthcare landscape in our region is shifting in ways that will profoundly affect the people we serve, and I want to share both the obstacles we face and the steps we are taking to meet them.

We are currently facing the most serious degradation to healthcare access in our community since before the Affordable Care Act.

The ACA transformed coverage-Michigan’s uninsured rate fell from 13% before ACA to 5%. Unfortunately, the policy changes now underway have drastically reversed that progress.

The scale of reversal is sobering. In the last three years, over 500,000 Michiganders have lost Medicaid coverage, with 100,000 losing coverage in the last 12 months. Cuts to Marketplace subsidies are projected to leave 200,000 Michigan residents without ACA coverage in 2026, and proposed Medicaid work requirements could leave another 240,000 without coverage in 2027. For our county (Washtenaw), that means an estimated 15,000 of our neighbors will potentially become uninsured within the coming months. These are not abstractions-they are real people who depend on access to care to live healthy stable lives.

Packard will not stand on the sidelines.

We have proactively adjusted our budget to anticipate the impact of insurance cuts. We are actively pursuing additional grant funding and individual donations to sustain and expand our care for uninsured patients. And we are expanding access to patient service representatives who can help community members navigate Medicaid redeterminations-because bureaucratic barriers and administrative inconvenience should never stand between a patient and coverage.

We are also investing in the future. We expanded our addiction treatment services with the OPEN Warmline, launched a community-based program addressing the specific mental health needs of young Black men and boys, added psychiatric services for pediatric and adolescent patients, and we have recently started a new program to bring primary care directly to homebound patients.

The challenges ahead are real, but Packard Health has never shied away from hard times. We have stood firm for our community before, and we will do so again, because serving those who need us most is not just our mission - It is who we are.

Thank you for your continued trust and support-it is because of partners like you that we can face these challenges with confidence and compassion.

With gratitude,

Raymond Rion, MD.

Executive Director.

For more information on Packard Health please visit, www.packardhealth.org

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Breaking the 2-hour barrier in the London Marathon.

For elite marathon runners, breaking the 2-hour barrier for 26.2 miles was a goal similar to the four-minute mile prior to Roger Bannister breaking it on May 6, 1954. Many came close but no one could break it.

Yesterday, the two-hour barrier was obliterated by two runners as Sabastian Sawe of Kenya won the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 30 seconds, bettering the previous men’s world record by an astonishing 65 seconds. He beat Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who was running his first marathon and finished in 1:59.41.

To run a marathon in that time means Sawe was running at an average speed of 13.15 MPH. He averaged 4 minutes and 33 seconds per mile, 2 minutes and 16 seconds per half mile, and 1 minute and 8 seconds per quarter mile.

And I think averaging 13.1 MPH on my bike for 10 miles is pushing it.

Sawe and Kejeicha get my Orchid of the Day.

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Freedom of information is under duress, and it is only going to get worse

In the coming weeks, I plan on expressing my concerns about where this country (and the world) is heading as it relates to information, how it is being controlled, and how we are being manipulated.

The recent merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery and Peter Thiel’s $400 billion surveillance empire scare the hell out of me.

Big Brother is watching every move we make through our phones, computers, GPS in our cars, our in-home devices, our credit card spending, etc., etc.

Examples are hitting us right in the face if we are paying attention. Yesterday, I texted a person that I just added to my contacts on my phone. Within an hour, the person popped up on my Facebook feed as someone I should friend. Prior to yesterday, this person never showed on any of my Facebook feeds.

On Friday, I got into my car to go to dinner at the Side Door and the GPS in our car gave us directions to the side door without us doing anything.

More to come in future blogs.

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Pistons

The Pistons are in a near must win situation in their game tonight against the Orlando Magic who have a 2-1 lead over the Pistons in the best of seven series. If the Pistons lose tonight, they will have to win the remaining three games, otherwise their season is toast.

The Pistons, starting with their all-pro point guard Cade Cunningham, were careless with the ball on Saturday. Cade had 9 of the team’s 24 turnovers which led to 24 Orlando points.

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Spencer Torkelson

Last week at this time, the Tiger fan base was calling for the benching of Tiger first baseman Spencer Torkelson because he has been in a horrendous slump since the beginning of the season. The fans may have been impatient with Tork, but his manager and his teammates were not. They saw how hard Tork was working before and after games. They saw the little things that were starting to show progress (like hitting toward the opposite field) They knew it was only a matter of time.

On Wednesday Tork hit his first home run of the season. On Thursday he hit his second, which was a walk-off game winner. On Friday, he hit his third. On Saturday, he hit his fourth. On Sunday he hit his fifth.

His five home runs in five successive games tie a franchise record. Hopefully, he can break the record on Tuesday. Tork gets my Second Orchid of the Day

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “Because bureaucratic barriers and administrative inconvenience should never stand between a patient and coverage.” Dr. Ray Rion, See above story.

Orchid of the Day: Sabastian Sawe and Yomif Kejelcha for obliteration the 2-hour barrier in the London Marathon. See above article.

Second Orchid of the Day: Spencer Torkelson for a homerun in five successive games tying the Detroit Tiger record. See above article.

Onion of the Day: Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif., came to the nation’s capital with the intention of carrying out a political assassination. He brought a pump-action shotgun, a .38-caliber handgun and three knives, officials said. Normally, I do not give an onion on the days I give two orchids but today is an exception.

Question of the Day: What goes on in the mind of someone like Cole Tomal Allen?

Lyrics of the Day: People always told me, “Be careful of what you do
And don’t go around breaking young girls’ hearts” (hee-hee)
And mother always told me, “Be careful of who you love
And be careful of what you do (oh-oh)
‘Cause the lie becomes the truth” (oh-oh), hey-ey

Lyrics of the Day for April 22, 2026. Mr. Tanner by Harry Chapin

Video of the Day: Very entertaining with great music.

Michael | Official Trailer

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Earth Day:

Today is Earth Day.

I would never consider myself an environmentalist, but I have always believed humankind has a responsibility to take care of our planet. I am appalled at littering and the damage it has done. Air pollution creates serious breathing problems for me, and I am a lifelong asthmatic. The abuse of our planet has had a lasting impact on my health.

I grew up in River Rouge in the 50s and 60s when Rouge was one of the most polluted areas in the country. Snow turned orange after three days. Cars had to be washed weekly, or they would become metallic long before metallic was a thing. The Rouge River had an oil film over the top of it. The Detroit River wasn’t much better, and scientists were predicting that Lake Erie would become a lifeless lake if changes were not made.

Image of the Rouge River on fire in 1969 just months after the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught on fire.

Sixty years later things have improved tremendously in River Rouge and southeast Michigan because of a concerted effort by public and private entities.

The one thing I was skeptical about was climate change, especially as it relates to carbon dioxide. I never understood how something that we as humans exhale could be so dangerous.

It took lots of reading and a change in my paradigm to accept that climate change is a real thing. I have become convinced in the last 15 months when I have lived through three 100-year storms and one 50-year storm. (8 inches of snow on the Gulf of Mexico, the ice-storm in Northern Michigan, the 36 inches of snow in 36 hours and finally, the recent flooding throughout Northen Michigan) Not included, are the fires in Canada which created some serious breathing issues for me the last two summers.

On this Earth Day, we all should take stock in how we are taking care of our planet. It should be part of your everyday life. It should be a consideration when choosing candidates for public office.

The meaning of Earth Day should be something we practice daily. We should encourage others. We don’t have to be extremists, but we can do the simple things that matter. Here are some simple things to do.

· Don’t litter

· Recycle

· Dispose of batteries and household chemicals and appliances properly

· Use battery operated outdoor appliances when possible

· Minimize the use of pesticides and weed killer that cause damage to the environment.

· When going to public areas, leave the area cleaner than when you arrived.

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Not Earth Day: Mining approved for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness

From the blog Public Domain, by Roque Planas: The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 on Thursday April 16 to roll back a mining ban on land adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness located on Federal land in Minnesota, a move that will primarily benefit a foreign mining corporation.

It is an unprecedented use of the Congressional Review Act — a little-known law that allows Congress to rescind regulatory rules — and slashes protections for an iconic Midwestern wilderness area prized for its canoeing, camping and fishing. Twin Metals Minnesota, a subsidiary of Chilean mining conglomerate Antofagasta Plc, has for years angled to establish a copper-nickel mine on national forest land near the wilderness area. Among other things, the company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire influential Trump-aligned lobbyists in D.C. to push its agenda.

In a speech on the Senate floor ahead of the vote, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) warned that the GOP move “would have far-reaching consequences not just for the beautiful Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota, but public lands across our country.” An emotional Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) called it “a dark day” for the Senate and a “boondoggle.”

The House of Representatives passed the measure back in January. It now heads to the White House for Trump’s signature.

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April in the D

April is always an exciting sports time in the Detroit area. This year is no exception. With the Michigan’s men’s basketball team winning the national championship, the Tigers in the hunt for the Central Division crown, the Pistons in the playoffs, and the Lions preparing for the NFL draft, someone like me must prioritize my sports watching.

Baseball and basketball have always been my two favorite sports, so on a night like tonight when the Pistons and Tigers are playing at the same time, I am in sports heaven.

As a result, this is a shorter than normal blog, because I need to get to the task at hand, which is grabbing the remote and working it to the max.

Hopefully, the Pistons can make a nice long playoff run, and the Tigers can stay in the hunt for the Central Division crown. See my Quote of the Day

Is it too much to ask for a repeat of 1989 when Michigan won the national championship and the Pistons won the NBA championship?

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “We’ve got to get our get back. We got to take care of home and protect our home, we have to get this one before we head into their home next. There is no pressure because we have prepared for this. We know our opponent. We have to go out there and do our job. Be the team we are capable of being and handle business.” Detroit Piston backup center Isaiah Stewart.

Orchid of the Day: Earth Day

Onion of the Day: Me, my proof-reading skills were on vacation on Monday

Question of the Day: Can the Pistons rebound tonight against the Orlando Magic and even up their best of seven series 1-1?

Lyrics of the Day: But music was his life, it was not his livelihood,
and it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good.
And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul.
He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.

Lyrics of the Day for April 20, 2026. Steet Fighting Man by the Rolling Stones

Video of the Day: Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin

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I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

For a person who wrote a book titled Trump: The Art of the Deal, I am not impressed with the way the negotiations are going with Iran. The information coming from Trump and Iran are lightyears apart. Take the weekend as an example.

First, we hear from Iran that the Strait of Hormuz is open for traffic. Immediately, thereafter, Trump in a post confirms the Strait is open.

Less than hour later, Trump says the Strait is open, but the U.S. is maintaining its barricade of ships. Shortly thereafter Iran announces the Strait is not open because Trump is not lifting his barricade.

On Sunday Pakistan announces it is working with the U.S. and Iran to begin peace talks on Monday. Trump says that we are close to peace and he is sending V.P. Vance to be chief negotiator along with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. In the meantime, Iran says it has no plans to attend the peace talks. Also on Sunday, the U.S. Navy stops an Iran oil tanker/barrage and shoots a hole in in motor room and then takes over the ship.

Trump may feel like he is creating leverage, but I don’t see it. As I learned as a parent, you cannot negotiate with a two-year-old because they have nothing to lose and they know it. At this point in the process, Iran is acting like they have nothing to lose, because they know that Trump does not want to get into a contracted war that requires troops on the ground.

Trump is already facing problems at home in his own party because of the $2 billion per day he is spending on the war and because the war is now in the seventh week with no end in sight. He promised it would be over in six weeks.

I have been part of a few negotiations in my life, none better than raising two two-year-olds. I have never seen anything like the current negotiations in my lifetime. I am convinced Henry Kissinger is rolling over in his grave.

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$2 Billion per day can go a long way

Per The Guardian: The $2bn (£1.5bn) a week that Donald Trump was spending on his reckless war in Iran could have funded saving more than 87 million lives, the head of the UN’s humanitarian agency, Tom Fletcher, said on Monday.

He also warned the normalization of violent language, such as threatening to bomb Iran back to the stone ages, was very dangerous since it encourages every “wannabe autocrat” to use similar threats and tactics, including the destruction of civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Speaking at Chatham House in London, Fletcher, a former UK diplomat and adviser on foreign policy to successive prime ministers said: “For every day of this conflict, $2bn is being spent. My entire target for a hyper-prioritized plan to save 87 million lives is $23bn. We could have funded that in less than a fortnight of this reckless war. Now, of course, we cannot.”

Fletcher’s budget is about $10bn short of his target of $23bn.

He added: “The idea suddenly that it is OK to say, ‘We are going to blow stuff up, we are going to bomb you back to the stone ages, destroy your civilization’ – normalizing that kind of language is really dangerous.

“It gives more freedom to all the other wannabe autocrats round the world to use that sort of language and those sort of tactics, targeting civilian infrastructure and civilians in a way that completely breaches international law.”

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Michigan Democrats must have missed this.

On Sunday, April 19, the Michigan Democrats endorsed Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit as their nominee for the Michigan’s attorney general in the November election. They must not have read the following article that appeared in the Detroit News on Friday April 17 in which Savit admitted to charging Washtenaw County up to $4,000 for travel expenses that had nothing to do with Washtenaw County business but were related to his campaign for AG.

It would seem to me that honesty and integrity should be the most important characteristic of a candidate for AG. But then again, I may be naïve, when you consider the characteristics of the current AG of Michigan and the previous U.S. AG.

Per the Detroit News: Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit said Friday he’ll repay the county government for spending on his fuel for travel across the state after The Detroit News revealed that some of the government expenditures had directly supported his campaign for attorney general.

Twelve hours after The News Investigation was published online, tying $838 in gas purchases to campaign events outside Washtenaw County, Savit’s campaign released a statement that said the candidate “will be voluntarily reimbursing the county in the amount of any gas purchases he has made since he launched his campaign.”

“As a public servant, Eli has always strived to hold himself to a higher standard than simply what is allowed,” his campaign’s statement said. “And Eli will always strive to maintain the public trust.

“When, upon reflection, he believes a course-correction is necessary to avoid unnecessary questions or concerns, he will do so.”

Savit’s statement didn’t specify the tally of how much he would repay, but it said he would reimburse the county “in the amount of any gas purchases” he made since launching his campaign on May 13, 2025.

That would equal about $4,644, according to an analysis of county records by The News.

The above is not a surprise to me. I have been hearing roomers about Savit and the Washtenaw County Sheriff since their first days on the job. The current Sheriff had her ability to hire staff taken away from her by the County Board of Commissioners). She was accused of not properly filing expense statements, which has also been reported extensively in the media.

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The Stock Market

Anyone trying to make sense of the stock market last week must be pulling their hair out. In spite of the turmoil over Iran and the price of Oil, the S&P reached a record high on Friday as it closed over 7,000.

People trying to predict the market haven’t a chance in today’s environment.

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The Pistons

In their first playoff game against the Orlando Magic (8 seed), the Pistons (1 seed) took it on the chin in the first few minutes as they were down quickly 18-5, and for the remainder of the game they took body blows all game long and could never take the lead. The Magic led for the entire game except for a moment when it was tied in the third quarter. The final score was 112-101 as the Magic took the first game of a seven-game series.

It was not a surprise as the Magic was playing their third playoff game in five days, while the Pistons had not played since last Sunday and that was in a meaningless final game of the regular season. The Magic looked razor sharp, and the Pistons were as rusty and as uncoordinated as the Tin Man. The Magic were bigger, stronger, and faster on Sunday.

The next game on Wednesday is a must win for the Pistons as they try to stop an eleven-game home losing streak in the playoffs. The Pistons last home playoff win was in 2008.

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The ABS system in major league baseball is working as planned

The ESPN website tracks the ABS challenge system on a daily basis. It ranks success rates by position (pitcher, batter, and catcher) and by umpire (overturned vs challenge). Here are some interesting statistics.

Batters

• · Pete Alonzo of Baltimore has won 6 of 6 challenges

• · Kevin McGonigle the 21 year-old rookie from Detroit has won 5-7 challenges

Catchers:

• · Mitch Garver of Seatle has won 6 of 6 challenges

• · Dillion Dingler of Detroit has won 11 of 13 challenges including the first pitch of the game on Sunday.

Teams:

• · The Kansas City Royals rank first, winning 65.9% of their challenges

• · The Tigers rank seventh, winning 61.4% of their challenges

Umpires:

• · Erich Bacchus has been challenged 9 times on 920 pitches called for a 1.0% challenge rate. Of the 9 pitches challenged has 1 call overturned for an 11.1% overturn rate

• · Andy Fletcher has been challenged 21 times on 1208 pitches called for a 1.7% challenge rate) Of the 21 challenges he has 18 calls overturned for an 85.7% overturn rate.

Pitchers are smart enough to let their catchers do the challenge. The data on pitchers is not statistically valid other than there are not very many pitcher challenges.

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Question of the Day:

One more time. Do you feel our country and our citizens are safer now than we were prior to the start of the war with Iran? I don’t.

************************************************************************************

Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

*******************************************************************************************************

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Quote of the Day: “The idea suddenly that it is OK to say, ‘We are going to blow stuff up, we are going to bomb you back to the stone ages, destroy your civilization’ – normalizing that kind of language is really dangerous” Tom Fletcher, a former UK diplomat and adviser on foreign policy to successive prime ministers said:

Orchid of the Day: The MLB ABS. It works well and provides great information on the quality of the umpires at the MLB level. With challenge rates well under 2% it shows that the umpires are very good.

Onion of the Day: Michigan Democrats for nominating Eli Savit for Michigan’s attorney general. The integrity of an AG candidate should never be called into question. Savit has proved his integrity is questionable. See above story.

Question of the Day: One more time. Do you feel our country and our citizens are safer now than we were prior to the start of the war with Iran?

Lyrics of the Day: Everywhere I hear the sound of marchin’, chargin’ feet, boy. ‘Cause summer’s here, and the time is right For fighting in the street, boy

Well now, what can a poor boy do? ‘Cept to sing for a rock-n-roll band
‘Cause in sleepy London town There’s just no place for a street fighting man No

Lyrics of the Day for April 15 2026. Up Where we Belong by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes from an Officer and a Gentleman.

Video of the Day: Yes: I Have Seen All Good People

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I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

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It’s Tax Day

This should make you feel good about paying your taxes today.

Per the Guardian: The world’s top 100 oil and gas companies banked more than $30m every hour in unearned profit in the first month of the US-Israeli war in Iran, according to exclusive analysis for the Guardian. Saudi Aramco, Gazprom and ExxonMobil are among the biggest beneficiaries of the bonanza, meaning key opponents of climate action continue to prosper.

The conflict pushed the price of oil to an average of $100 (£74) a barrel in March, leading to estimated windfall war profits for the month of $23bn for the companies. Oil and gas supplies will take months to return to pre-war levels and the companies will make $234bn by the end of the year if the oil price continues to average $100. The analysis uses data from leading intelligence provider Rystad Energy, analyzed by Global Witness.

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It’s also Jackie Robinson Day

Today the MLB honors Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier this day in 1947. Today, every player wears number 42 in honor of Robinson, whose number has now been retired by the MLB so no one will where the number in the future. Here are excerpts from ESPN.

When Robinson walked out on that field for the first time with the Dodgers on April 15, 1947, he was called everything other than what my late mother would say -- a child of God. When he came to the plate, they knocked him down continuously. Sometimes opposing pitchers would get fined if they didn’t knock him down. When he would slide into second base, he would oftentimes come up wet, from where the opposition had spit on him; when opponents came into second base, they’d do so spikes high, trying to cut him. They did everything imaginable to break Jackie, but Jackie would not break.

Rickey picked the right guy, because failure was not an option -- on either side of the situation. How much longer would it have been for another Black man to get the opportunity to play in the major leagues? It could’ve been five, 10, 15, 20 years or more for that to happen again. If that had happened, think about the stars we would’ve missed -- Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Ernie Banks, Monte Irvin, Bob Gibson, Roberto Clemente. Can you imagine our sport without those great stars?

Jackie wasn’t playing only for Jackie. He was carrying the weight of 21 million Black folks when he walked across those lines, and if he failed -- in a game that is predicated on failure -- then an entire race of people would’ve failed. We were counting on him, and he couldn’t fail. I tell people all the time that the level of euphoria in the Black community was like when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Robinson was our Neil Armstrong.

See my Video of the Day

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Flooding in Northern Michigan

I am getting a lot of inquiries from friends about the flooding in Northern Michigan. Leah and I are not directly affected, but the City of Petoskey on Tuesday morning was gridlock with some of the main roads heading in and out of town affected by the flooding. Getting from one side of town to the other was an adventure.

Our condo complex is nearly 300 feet above the shore of Little Traverse Bay, is 200 feet above U.S. 31, and we are not near any rivers or streams, so we are dry compared to many others.

Once again, it seems like we were hit by the perfect storm. The ground is still frozen, 36 inches of snow is melting, and a major thunderstorm dumps heavy rain in a short period of time. The water only has one way to go, which is downhill. It is a quick reminder of how the rivers and creeks were formed a long time ago.

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Tax Day-Paying their way

Undocumented immigrants are major contributors to the economy and to the U.S. government revenue. This is contrary to what the current White House administration is saying. See the article below in the NY Times today.

Today, many undocumented immigrants are debating whether to file their taxes.

That may — or may not — come as a surprise to you. To some, undocumented immigrants are scofflaws, people who come here and leech off the system. “Many, many illegal aliens do not pay taxes,” Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, told Politico last year.

Except most do pay taxes, according to researchers. The Internal Revenue Service lets anyone file, whether they have a Social Security number or not. Undocumented workers in the United States pay roughly $20 billion in income taxes each year.

As today’s tax-day loomed, many of those immigrants worried. Under the Trump administration, the I.R.S. shared some of their addresses with immigration officials — something it had never done before. They fear that federal agents might scoop them up, should they send in their tax forms.

“I don’t know if we can trust this government not to come after us,” one woman told The Times. She and her husband, also undocumented, have paid federal taxes every year for more than a decade. He described their thinking to my colleague Miriam Jordan, who covers immigration: “If one day there’s immigration reform and the chance to legalize our status, we can show that we file our taxes, are not a burden — that we do the right thing,” he said.

The Treasury will collect a lot less money if undocumented workers skip filing season this year. Many have taxes withheld in their paychecks.

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Two Paths

The following are excerpts from an article by Elliot Kirschner that was posted on Saturday. It is worth the time.

At first glance, the two biggest stories of the past week, the mission of the Artemis spacecraft and the war in Iran, seem to have little in common beyond the fact that both were launched by the United States government.

One is a stirring success. The other a metastasizing failure.

One inspires the world with awe and wonder. The other leaves it reeling from death and chaos.

One celebrates the human instinct to push beyond horizons in search of knowledge and insight. The other feeds a darker impulse for violence and destruction.

…But we can learn a great deal from contrast and comparison. That is why these two events should be viewed in tandem. Because in doing so, we can see both the rot of this regime and the capacity of this nation to produce something far beyond what these destructive fools could ever imagine.

In the dissonance between lunar exploration and an insane war of choice, we can see what truly makes America great, and the petty vindictiveness that drives those currently misleading the nation.

We can see why expertise is essential. Why you must plan and prepare for the unknown. Why you must approach challenges with humility. Why you should seek out collaboration. And why you must be willing to learn from your mistakes.

In short, one path is the path of progress, uplift, and hope. It is built on strategic thinking, iteration, and science, the striving to reach for precarious possibilities through ingenuity, grit, and perseverance. The other path is one of folly,…unchecked biases, bad assumptions, inconsistencies… that characterize so much of this….regime’s approach to governance...and the way it inflicts its stupidity on the world.

Let us be very clear: the leaders of this regime do not have the temperament,…or creativity to achieve great things such as space exploration. they feed off the strength of what those who came before them built, using traits they do not possess….They gamble away the professionalism of our military on a conflict they brashly believed would be easy, and that is now leaving us profoundly weakened.

Watching the Artemis II astronauts splash down in the Pacific Ocean after their trip to the moon gave those of us who were not around, or too young for the Apollo missions, our own album of mental images, images that in many ways mirrored that bygone era. The capsule descending beneath its parachutes. Bobbing in the ocean with its flotation devices. Navy helicopters circling, retrieving the astronauts. The unmistakable sense of a remarkable accomplishment.

It was a turning back of the clock to another difficult era in our nation’s history, another time of war and division, when we needed to remember what greatness could be and the power of unity and our common humanity.

The fact that we hadn’t gone back (to the moon) in 50 years, and that when we did we returned in a way so similar to that distant time… it also reveals an invariable spirit, one that drives us forward and cannot be quenched.

Life is about the unknowable. It is about challenges and unanticipated consequences. It encompasses our own frailties.

The intervening decades of space exploration brought remarkable achievements, the Hubble Telescope, the International Space Station, the courage of the astronauts who flew aboard the Space Shuttle. But they also brought tragedy, and lessons in our own hubris and blindness.

In 1986, in the wake of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, just 73 seconds into flight, which killed seven astronauts, the Reagan administration launched a commission to investigate. One of its members was the legendary physicist Richard Feynman, who identified a fatal flaw in the design of the shuttle’s booster O-rings. Just as importantly, he exposed a systemic failure within NASA’s culture to recognize the danger and operate safely.

In the final line of his conclusion to the report, Feynman wrote words that became famous and speak directly to our time: “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.” This is my Quote of the Day

Reality must take precedence. We cannot turn our decision-making over to public relations or propaganda. Nature cannot be fooled, because we cannot hide from the truth forever. These are the principles that can guide us to greatness, and we ignore them at our peril.

…Feynman’s lessons are not only about the negative. He reminds us that technology can be successful, that humans have the capacity not only to create, but to learn from nature and experience, to improve, to tinker, and to build something better and more robust. Evidence of this is found throughout history, just as evidence of human hubris is everywhere as well.

The enduring strength of a democracy is that we have the power to choose. And in this past week, we have seen clearly where choosing well and choosing poorly can lead.

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Question of the Day

I have been contemplating this question for a few weeks. Do you feel our country and our citizens are safer now than we were prior to the start of the war with Iran? I don’t.

************************************************************************************

Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

Quote of the Day: “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.” legendary physicist Richard Feynman

Orchid of the Day: Detroit Tiger Javy Baez. In tonight’s game against the Royals, Javy had the greatest slide I have ever seen as he scored the first run of tonight’s game. I wish I had a video of the slide to share with you.

Onion of the Day: We the consumers who are paying higher prices for gasoline because of a unnecessary war started by Trump, while the Oil companies benefit with inflated profits.

Question of the Day: Do you feel our country and our citizens are safer now than we were prior to the start of the war with Iran?

Lyrics of the Day: Who knows what tomorrow brings? In a world, few hearts survive. All I know is the way I feel when it’s real, I keep it alive

The road is long There are mountains in our way, but we climb a step every day

Love lifts us up where we belong Where the eagles cry, on a mountain high
Far from the world below Up where the clear winds blow

Lyrics of the Day for April 13, 2026. Rocket Man by Elton John

Video of the Day: Examining Jackie stealing home

I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

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Artemus II

Watching the re-entry and the landing of Artemus II on Friday brought me so much joy, hope, and excitement. Seeing the three main parachutes employed after re-entry was a beautiful sight that brought back memories of 50 years ago.

As Anderson Cooper said on CNN, it was a brand-new experience for him and two generations of Americans. Cooper was asking questions of the astronauts on his show that showed his inexperience with splashdowns and recoveries. He was asking questions that I had 50 years ago. It added to the excitement of the night. I didn’t want the TV coverage to end. Just like 50 years ago, it made me proud to be an American.

My granddaughter Kaylen said it best. “Papa, I loved it when the three parachutes opened up. That was so cool.”

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Hope Comes from Hungary

Victor Oban’s defeat in Hungary gives me hope. I am not alone. From Mary Geddry today.

… even after sixteen years of packing institutions, bending the rules, and tilting the field, Victor Orbán still got beat. The AP quotes Steven Levitsky observing that oppositions can win despite a tilted playing field, and Ian Bassin adds the crucial takeaway for Americans: even a guy who rigs the system can be defeated when people unite and turn out against him. That is a warning flare aimed directly at every would-be American autocrat currently doodling executive fantasies…

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What he said on the campaign trail doesn’t matter.

While campaigning in 2024, Trump consistently said that he would make sure the U.S. did not get involved in foreign wars and he knew nothing about Project 2025.

Unfortunately, neither was ever going to be true. Project 2025 clearly laid out a strategy for dealing with Iran and the Middle East, however, most people who voted didn’t bother to do their homework. They made the mistake of believing Trump. Here is a summary of Project 2025 on its Mid-East strategy.

Project 2025 does not lay out a single, detailed “Middle East war plan.” Instead, it embeds the region within a broader America-First national security framework. When you isolate what it implies for the Middle East, a fairly consistent posture emerges:

1) Strong alignment with Israel

· The plan emphasizes unambiguous U.S. support for Israel—military, diplomatic, and strategic.

· It signals less tolerance for internal U.S. policy divisions over Israel.

· 👉 Practical implication:
The U.S. would likely back Israel more directly in regional conflicts, though not necessarily with large U.S. troop deployments.

2) Hardline stance on Iran

· Iran is treated as a primary regional adversary.

The document supports:

· Re-imposing or tightening economic sanctions

· Blocking Iran’s nuclear development

· Countering Iran’s regional proxies (Hezbollah, militias, etc.)

👉 Practical implication:
Higher risk of confrontation with Iran, but primarily through:

sanctions

· Covert/indirect actions

· Regional partners
—not necessarily full-scale war unless U.S. interests are directly hit.

3) Energy and economic priorities

· The Middle East is viewed partly through an energy security lens.

· However, with increased U.S. domestic energy production, the region is less central than it once was.

👉 Practical implication:
The U.S. may be more selective about involvement unless:

· Oil markets are threatened

· Or global economic stability is at risk

4) Counterterrorism remains—but more targeted

· The U.S. would continue operations against terrorist groups, but:

with narrower objectives

· fewer large-scale deployments

· 👉 Practical implication:
Think precision strikes and intelligence operations, not occupation.

Bottom line on the Middle East

Project 2025’s approach can be summarized as:

✅ Strong support for Israel

✅ Aggressive containment of Iran

✅ Continued counterterrorism

❌ No appetite for large, long-term wars

❌ Little interest in nation-building

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Just when you think he cannot stoop any lower, he does.

From Heather Cox Richardson: Trump responded to Orbán’s defeat with a long screed attacking Pope Leo XIV, who has spoken out against the religious justification for wars, a statement widely interpreted as commentary on the Trump administration’s claim that the war in Iran is a holy war. “God does not bless any conflict,” the Pope posted on Friday. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

Trump tonight posted on social media, in part: “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.” Trump suggested the Pope was elevated to the papacy only “because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.” He wrote “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”

Today is Orthodox Easter, and about 45 minutes after attacking the Pope, Trump posted an image of himself in the place of Jesus, apparently healing a sick man in a bed, surrounded by a soldier, a nurse, a woman praying, and an older man. Behind him are the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial, and a giant American flag, while in the sky are two eagles, three fighter jets, soldiers, and what seems to be a monster.

Amid popular revulsion at what people are calling heresy and blasphemy, former U.S. representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote: “It’s more than blasphemy. It’s an Antichrist spirit.”

A minute after posting the image of himself as Jesus, Trump posted an image of a Trump tower on the moon.

Trump has taken down the image, but I have it as my Image of the Day. See below.

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Tell it like it is Boss

Jess Craven of Chop Wood, Carry Water today called out rock and roll legend Bruce Springsteen’s opening last night at his concert in Los Angeles:

“Good evening, Los Angeles,” he said. “Welcome to the Land of Hope and Dreams tour. We begin tonight with a prayer for our men and women in service overseas. We pray for their safe return.

“The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerous times. We are here in celebration and defense of our American ideals, democracy, our Constitution, and our sacred American promise. The America I love, the America that I’ve written about for 50 years, that has been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world, is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless, and treasonous administration,” he said.

“Tonight we ask all of you to join with us in choosing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unrivaled corruption, resistance over complacency, truth over lies, unity over division, and peace over war.” This is my Quote of the Day

Just one more reason why I have been a Bruce Springsteen fan for 50 years.

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A parable

Years ago, I was told a story that reminds me of the current situation with the conflict of Iran and the closing of the Straits of Hormuz. The story centered around the importance of leaders understanding that no one person is more important than the rest of the team. I have been thinking about this parable a lot in the last week.

Here is the parable.

The human body parts were having a fight about who was the most important.

The brain said he was the most important because he made all the decisions.

The heart said she was the most important because she provided blood to all the organs and muscles they needed to function.

The lungs said they were the most important because they brought the oxygen that every organ needs to function.

The muscles said they were the most important because they provided the strength for the body to stand and move around.

In the meantime, the anus said nothing but started laughing. The anus decided to stop functioning. Within days the muscles, lungs, heart and brain started to get sick. Within a week, the body started to shut down. The muscles, lungs, heart, and brain begged the anus to start functioning again. They promised they would never make fun of the anus again. They promised to recognize the importance of the anus to the entire body. They promised to never think that any of them were better than the rest.

The anus agreed, and he opened up. Within days the body was fully recovered.

I can’t help but think of the Straits of Hormuz as the anus, and the world is struggling because it is shut down.

***********************************************************************************

Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

*****************************************************************************************************

Quote of the Day: “Tonight we ask all of you to join with us in choosing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unrivaled corruption, resistance over complacency, truth over lies, unity over division, and peace over war.” Bruce Springsteen, while opening up a concert last week on his Hopes and Dreams tour.

Orchid of the Day: Artemus II

Second Orchid of the Day: The Detroit Pistons in two seasons went from a 14-win season in 2024, including the longest losing streak in NBA history, to a 60-win season in 2026. An amazing turnaround in such a short time.

Onion of the Day: No onions on days I give two Orchids

Question of the Day: The administration has spent 40 days complaining that the Straits of Hormuz were closed by Iran, and now Trump threatens to put a blockade on the Straits and not allow any ships to pass. What sense does this make? Can someone explain it to me.

Lyrics of the Day:She packed my bags last night pre-flight Zero hour 9:00 a.m.
And I’m gonna be high As a kite by then

I miss the Earth so much I miss my wife It’s lonely out in space On such a timeless flight

And I think it’s gonna be a long, long time ‘Til touchdown brings me ‘round again to find I’m not the man they think I am at home Oh, no, no, no

Lyrics of the Day for April 8, 2026. Sweet Child O’ Mine, Guns and Roses

Video of the Day:

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I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

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National Champion

With their 69-63 victory over Connecticut on Monday, the Wolverines cemented their place as the best team in U of M’s history. The 1989 team was great, with two first round draft picks, but it did not have the depth and versatility of this team. Here is why they are the best Michigan team ever.

• · The nation’s top defense, which really showed in Monday’s win.

• · Top six in effective field-goal efficiency on offense and defense

• · The nation’s top five offense.

• · The nation’s top four in 2-point shooting percentage on offense and defense

• · The nation’s top three in blocks.

• · The nation’s top thirty in 3-point percentage, which was their one perceived weakness.

• · The first Final Four team that featured eight players averaging at least 18 minutes and seven points per game.

• · Each one of the eight players led the team in scoring in at least one game this season.

• · Nimari Burnett, who scored a season-high 31 points against Penn State in February, ranked seventh in scoring among team members.

• · The most wins (36) in a single season for a M basketball team.

• · The first team in B1G history with 19 regular season league wins in a single B1G season.

• · The first team in B1G history with 10 regular season road wins in a single B1G season.

• · They went 37 of 40 at the free-throw line in their two Final Four games.

• · They held each of the last four teams they played in the tournament to each team’s lowest shooting percentage of the season. They proved that defense wins championships.

The Wolverines get my Orchid of the Day

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Honesty on National Television

When CBS reporter Tracy Wolfson asked Michigan’s All-American Yaxel Lendeborg how he felt heading to the locker room, the Michigan star did not hold back. ‘I feel awful. I feel super weak right now,’ he stated bluntly. ‘I can’t make anything, oh man. I am trying to push through because you know, it is a championship game and all that…I am missing plays I don’t usually miss. I’ve had many opportunities to take advantage of defending, haven’t been able to do it. I’ve got to go out there and give it my best. I played really soft in this first half. I’ll be way better second half.’

This is coming from a person who was not expected to play and ended up playing 36 minutes, scoring 13 points, playing point-forward when point guard Elliot Cadeau was sitting because of foul trouble, and leading the full court press on defense which held Connecticut to its lowest shooting percentage of the season.

It is my Quote of the Day

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Like the resurrection? I don’t think so.

I was elated to hear that both pilots who were shot down on Friday were rescued by Sunday. I love the fact that our military will not leave anyone behind.

What happened on Friday and Sunday with the rescues was heroic, as many armed service members put their lives on the line to save fellow service members who were injured and behind enemy lines. These are actions that earn the Congressional Medal of Honor, or Distinguished Service Crosses, etc.

However, I would never once think any such rescue compares to the Resurrection, which is the basis for Christianity.

Per the NY Times, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday likened the rescue on Easter Sunday of a missing American airman shot down over Iran to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

In his account of the rescue operation, Mr. Hegseth drew parallels between the airman’s ordeal and the account of Christ’s death and Resurrection given in the Bible.

The F-15E fighter jet, he noted, was “shot down on a Friday — Good Friday.” That is the day Jesus was crucified.

After the airman bailed out over Iran, he hid, Mr. Hegseth said, “in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday,” reminiscent of the tomb cut into a rock in which Jesus was buried.

Then, he said, the airman was rescued on the day Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus — “flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday.”

“A pilot reborn, all home and accounted for, a nation rejoicing,” the defense secretary said. “God is good.”

Mr. Hegseth also said that after the plane was shot down, the airman, the F-15E’s weapons systems officer, made contact with his American rescuers with a religious message: “God is good.” “In that moment of isolation and danger,” he said, “his faith and fighting spirit shone through.”

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Budgeting for going after dissent

From Mary Geddry on Tuesday: Ken Klippenstein published deeply alarming reporting on what looks like the Trump administration’s latest attempt to turn the federal government into a political pre-crime machine.

Buried in the FY 2027 FBI budget request is a newly created FBI-led “NSPM-7 Joint Mission Center,” established under Trump’s September 2025 National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 and staffed by personnel from 10 federal agencies. Its job, according to the budget language, is to integrate intelligence, operational support, and financial analysis to “proactively identify” domestic terror networks and help prosecute them…the ideological markers associated with this so-called threat include “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” “anti-Christianity,” support for overthrowing the U.S. government, “extremism on migration, race, and gender,” and hostility toward “traditional American views” on family, religion, and morality.

…The real danger here is that the administration is not confining its focus to actual criminal conduct. It is smearing dissent, cultural disagreement, and ideological opposition with the language of terrorism, which creates a ready-made excuse for surveillance, infiltration, financial scrutiny, watch-listing, and intimidation. The budget language also fixates on social media, smaller websites, and encrypted chat apps as pathways to radicalization, because apparently using the internet while not being a MAGA crank is now something the FBI would like to put on a flowchart.

Klippenstein places this in a broader pattern under FBI Director Kash Patel, including a dramatic increase in domestic terrorism investigations…. He also notes that administration figures have already shown a habit of hyping shaky or outright bogus domestic terror narratives, only to quietly backpedal later after the damage is done. Which is why this budget language is so sinister: it suggests that mindset is no longer just rhetorical froth from the usual authoritarian loudmouths but is being formalized into the federal bureaucracy itself. This does not mean dissent has literally been outlawed on paper. It does mean anti-capitalist, anti-racist, pro-migrant, feminist, anti-authoritarian, or simply non-MAGA views can be folded into a framework designed to treat belief as suspicion and suspicion as justification for state scrutiny… I might fall into one or more of these categories.

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If he starts attacking civil infrastructure, what’s the difference between Trump and Putin.

Also from Mary Geddry: Once Trump starts threatening the same kind of attacks on civilian infrastructure that the West has denounced as barbaric in Ukraine, he stops looking like a democratic leader using rough language and starts looking like yet another strongman who views civilian suffering as leverage. It is a moral indictment.

Trump posted (on Tuesday) one of the most deranged and openly authoritarian statements of the conflict so far: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!” It was the language of apocalypse delivered like reality TV promotion: mass death as spectacle, regime change as a punchline, and the destruction of an entire society treated as a possible prelude to something “revolutionarily wonderful.” This is a man fantasizing about annihilation while pretending to bless the people who would suffer under it.

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My head is spinning

Since last night when President Trump announced a two-week cease fire in the bombing of Iran, my head is spinning. No one seems to know the status of the alleged two-week cease fire. Different answers come from all directions. None of the major players are singing from the same song sheet.

Fortunately, we have not yet wiped out the Iran civilization. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: See above from Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg

Orchid of the Day: One more time. The University of Michigan’s men’s basketball team for a season like no other. Congratulations on your national championship.

Onion of the Day: The cease fire. It doesn’t seem to be holding.

Question of the Day: Will the cease fire hold?

Lyrics of the Day:

She’s got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I’d hate to look into those eyes
And see an ounce of pain

Her hair reminds me of a warm, safe place
Where as a child I’d hide
And pray for the thunder and the rain
To quietly pass me by

Hint: It starts with one of the greatest guitar riffs of all-time

Lyrics of the Day for April 6, 2026. Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd

Video of the Day:

One Shining Moment | 2026 March Madness

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I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

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Elliot Cadeau

Mitch Albom describes Elliot Cadeau’s performance on Saturday night against Arizona.

His passes were razor sharp, or no-look, or bounced perfectly into his teammates’ waiting fingers. His shots were high-arched before swishing through. His steals were so deft, they left the opponents blinking.

And, as Warren Zevon once sang of a werewolf, his hair was perfect.

In a Final Four semifinal that was supposed to be all about big men, it was the smallest guy on the floor who broke into the bank, gathered the loot, and drove the getaway car. Elliot Cadeau may have been 4 inches shorter than Arizona’s shortest starter and 14 inches shorter than Michigan’s tallest, but the mop-topped guard owned more of this game early than anybody.

This is not a little train that could. This is a freight train that does. It’s the Beatles backing up the Rolling Stones. One guy has an off night? Other guys clamor to step up.

With Lendeborg a non-factor much of the game, here was the 7-foot-3 Mara doing things that seemed to defy physics: banking in layups from the oddest angles, muscling inside against Arizona’s celebrated big men, finishing with a team-high 26 points.

Here was freshman Trey McKenney playing with the poise of a senior, hitting huge 3-pointers that demoralized the Wildcats. Here was forward Morez Johnson Jr. muscling in dunks, grabbing rebounds and contributing to the destruction of the Arizona frontcourt.

And here was Cadeau, he of the broccoli haircut, flying all over the floor, collecting assists as if scooping up apples off an orchard lawn.

And sparked by his efforts – which launched a stunning dominance by his teammates – Michigan basketball will now play for the NCAA championship.

Elliot Cadeau played so well in the first half, I was shocked to learn that he was 2-14 in shooting during the half. As one viewer wrote during the TBS half-time show, it was the greatest 2-14 shooting performance ever.

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Déjà vu

For people my age the story of the Artemis II spacecraft and its four astronauts brings back great memories of our childhood and young adult age when we were mesmerized by the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle missions. The excitement of watching the countdown to liftoffs were special moments in our lives as NASA raced to keep President Kennedy’s promise of putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade of the 60’s. It culminated with Neil Armstrong’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. No one can forget the breathtaking hours of nervous tension during Apollo 13’s flight. Everything ended not long after the Challenger shuttle disaster.

Following the story of Artemis II gets me excited again.

From the NY Times this evening. Artemis II astronauts have now ventured farther from Earth than anyone else in the history of humanity.

At 1:56 p.m. Eastern time, their distance from Earth passed 248,655 miles, the record that had been set by Apollo 13 in 1970. For the next few hours, they will travel farther, reaching a distance of 252,752 miles.

During this mission, the four astronauts launched to space, tested life support and other important systems of their Orion spacecraft, tangled with the vehicle’s toilet, puzzled over personal computing devices and left low-Earth orbit. They are the first humans to do so since 1972, although they will not land on the moon.

The three Americans and one Canadian aboard Artemis II are set on Monday to make even more history.

First, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen will become the humans who have traveled farthest from Earth. They will surpass the astronauts of Apollo 13, whose lunar mission went awry.

Later, the astronauts will pass behind the far side of the moon, seeing parts of the moon never observed with human eyes, gathering scientific data on what they spot. In the process, they will fall out of radio contact with Earth for about 41 minutes.

As the crew comes out of its scheduled communications blackout, they may have an opportunity to create a moment for a new generation as inspirational as the “Earthrise” of NASA’s Apollo 8 mission in 1968.

Please click on the above link to see the earth rise as seen by the Apollo 8 mission.

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Collateral Damage

I had no idea this was happening because of the attack on Iran. In the following story, I don’t include the part of the story of the captain of a ship who died of a heart attack because he couldn’t get to a hospital from a ship because of flying is too dangerous in the area.

From the WSJ. There are roughly 2,000 ships stuck in the Persian Gulf with more than 20,000 seafarers on them, according to the International Maritime Organization. Most have been stuck on board more than a month, because fewer than 200 ships have managed to slip through the Strait of Hormuz. In normal times, 20% of the world’s oil flows through the narrow waterway to global markets, along with critical supplies of natural gas, fertilizer and other cargo shipments. It’s unclear when the vital shipping lane will get back to normal.

Fresh vegetables and freshwater are running out on many ships, so the sailors are using social media and very-high-frequency marine radios to share survival tips and tactics. Some Chinese crew members have filmed themselves collecting condensate from air-conditioning units to shower and wash laundry. Others have taken to fishing over the side of their tankers, catching tuna, squid and largehead hairtail to cook.

Restocking supplies has become difficult—and expensive. The Port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, where ships usually turn to, has been repeatedly attacked. Companies that provide fresh food to ships are charging more. The going rate for mangos is now $31 for a kilogram, or roughly 2.2 pounds, and oranges are $15 a kilogram for about three large pieces of fruit, according to screenshots of supply price lists reviewed by The Wall Street

Flying in crews and swapping them out remains tough because flights to major crew-change locations, including Dubai, are still relatively scarce and expensive.

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Is God on our side in the war in Iran? I don’t think God is on any side when it comes to war.

Per the NY Times on Friday. Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, has asked the American people to pray “every day, on bended knee” for a military victory in the Middle East “in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, has a starkly different take on what should be done in Jesus’ name.

In a homily during a Mass on Thursday morning before Easter, the pope said that the Christian mission had often been “distorted by a desire for domination, entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.”

Since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran in late February, the pope has consistently called for an end to the violence and a return to dialogue to resolve the conflict. But without naming Mr. Hegseth, he has also pointed out the ways in which Christianity has been marshaled for purposes that the pope says do not align with Catholic teaching.

“We tend to consider ourselves powerful when we dominate, victorious when we destroy our equals, great when we are feared,” the pope said in a homily during a Holy Thursday rite at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the bishop of Rome. “God has given us an example — not of how to dominate, but of how to liberate; not of how to destroy life, but of how to give it.” This is my Quote of the Day

In late March the pope warned against invoking the name of Jesus for battle, saying in a Sunday homily that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”…

“I’m told that President Trump recently stated that he would like to end the war,” the pope said outside his country residence in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome on March 31. “Hopefully, he’s looking for a way to, to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing.”

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Orchid of the Day

No matter the outcome of tonight’s NCAA championship team, the U of M men’s team gets my Orchid of the Day. From the first game of the season against Oakland when they rained down threes and blitzed the fast break; to the three days of perfection in November at Las Vegas where they beat, San Diego State, Auburn, and Gonzaga by 110 combined points; to their 19-1 record in the B1G where they set the season record for victories and finally; and with their march through the first five games of the NCAA tournament where they scored 90 points in every game and won every game by double digits, this team has shown they are a special team of talented young players who put the team ahead of any individual glory.

It has been a fun 5 and ½ month run. Go Blue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

Quote of the Day: “God has given us an example — not of how to dominate, but of how to liberate; not of how to destroy life, but of how to give it.” Pope Leo XIV

Orchid of the Day: The University of Michigan’s men’s basketball team for a season like no other.

Onion of the Day: Trump’s expletive rant on Easter Sunday threatening Iran with annihilation.

Question of the Day: Michigan or Connecticut tonight?

Lyrics of the Day: Mama told me when I was young
“Come sit beside me, my only son
And listen closely to what I say
And if you do this, it’ll help you some sunny day, ah, yeah

Oh, take your time, don’t live too fast
Troubles will come and they will pass
You’ll find a woman, yeah, and you’ll find love
And don’t forget, son, there is someone up above

Hint: Think Free Bird

Lyrics of the Day for March 29, 2026. Southern Cross by Crosby Stills and Nash. It also was my Video of the Day.

Video of the Day: Michigan vs. Arizona - Final Four NCAA tournament extended highlights

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I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

Six years ago on April 1, 2020, I posted my first blog. I had no idea what I was doing, but since I was bored because of the covid quarantine, I thought I would give it a try.

As I look back on those blogs, I cannot believe how bad they were. The grammar and proofreading were terrible. Over time, I learned some important tricks like writing on Microsoft Word and using all the tools Microsoft has to offer before I copy and paste it to the blog. This simple act was a game changer for me.

For the first five years, I struggled with reaching people. It turns out the platform I was using was antiquated. When Substack emerged a couple of years ago, I quickly jumped on board and the activity jumped immediately.

As of today, there are over 200 subscribers, of which 65-70% open the blog on any given day. Each blog is averaging close to 350 views because of Facebook, LinkedIn, and being shared by viewers and subscribers.

I have learned that publishing the blog on Monday and Wednesday works best for me. Anything more, I find it becomes a burden and a chore. I also find that mentally I need a break each week. The current atmosphere in this country wears on me when I get too deep into it.

God willing, I plan on continuing the blog as long as it remains fun and stimulating.

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Do as I say, not as I do

Once again, President Trump is trying to curb the use of mail-in-ballots even though he just used it to vote in a recent Florida election.

From The Guardian: Donald Trump has signed an executive order instructing his administration to create a national voter file and curb the use of mail-in ballots, in an unprecedented move that is probably unconstitutional.

The order directs the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to draw up a list of verified US citizens who can vote in each state. It also directs the United States Postal Service (USPS) to develop a process that would require states to notify it of voters who want to vote by mail and ban them from receiving a ballot unless they are on a USPS-approved list of eligible voters. As well as being probably unconstitutional, the plan appears unworkable for practical reasons.

• What does research on voter fraud show? Repeated studies and investigations have shown there is no widespread voter fraud, including fraud through mail-in voting. Trump has repeatedly spread misinformation about voter fraud.

• Why is it probably unconstitutional? The constitution explicitly authorizes states to set election rules, giving the president no authority over elections.

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Thank you President Trump.

From multiple sources: Average US fuel prices have exceeded $4 a gallon for the first time in four years, burdening drivers with steep costs as Trump’s war on Iran continues to cause oil prices to surge. The average reached almost $4.02 on Tuesday, according to AAA data, capping an extraordinary rise from $2.98 just a month ago.

Air travelers are paying the price for airlines’ surging fuel costs.

Airlines are raising fares, adding baggage fees and dialing back routes as they try to cover the skyrocketing costs of jet fuel, which is among the biggest expenses that airlines face.

Starting in Europe and Asia and now moving to the U.S., airlines have been slapping new fuel-related fees on tickets. Air France-KLM hiked its fuel surcharge on certain routes, while Cathay Pacific Airways said it would boost its fuel fee by even more this week. Starting April 1, a new add-on fee of $200 will be charged, up from the $149 customers paid in March, according to Cathay’s website.

JetBlue Airways said earlier this week that it was starting to charge more for bags, with many routes during peak periods costing $49, up from $40. And some requests to check bags within 24-hours of travel will now cost $59.

This is a self-inflicted wound caused by an ill-conceived attack on a foreign country. How long are Americans going to tolerate this increase in the price of gasoline? This is my Question of the Day.

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To those who participated in the No Kings marches on Saturday

As We Marched

I imagined every step a step toward integrity,

toward justice. Toward language that respects

diversity. Every step a step toward equality. Truth.

I imagined every step one step closer to peace

in our country, toward peace in the world.

I am old enough to not believe in arrivals,

I am fool enough to believe in love.

I am human enough to believe in community.

I am scientist enough to know we need each other.

Perhaps some part of me wondered what good it did

for a few hundred people in a remote mountain town

to walk together a few blocks, chanting, then walk

back to the courthouse again, but tonight, in my body,

I feel it, the trust in humanity that rises when I think

of how we gathered and drummed and believed

in what our country can be. My heart beats

a new rhythm in time with belonging.

“This is what democracy looks like.”

Tonight, after we’ve all gone home,

I know we’re all still marching.

—Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “When you’ve sold your soul, selling people is a bonus. Somehow people who worship money forget that 1. they will die 2. they can’t take the money with them and 3. they can’t come back and check on it!” A subscriber in response to Monday’s Thoughts for the Day article titled Selling Humans?

Orchid of the Day: The Detroit Pistons, who clinched the Central Division championship with their win last night over Toronto. It is their first division title since 2008.

Onion of the Day: The Detroit Tigers, who blew a four-run lead to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday by allowing the D-backs to score six runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. When the relief pitchers fail to throw strikes, bad things happen.

Question of the Day: The war in Iran is taking its toll on American’s pocketbook. How much will American’s tolerate paying for a war that most Americans do not support?

Lyrics of the Day:

Got out of town on a boat goin’ to Southern islands
Sailing a reach before a followin’ sea She was makin’ for the trades on the outside And the downhill run to Papeete…

Think about
Think about how many times I have fallen
Spirits are using me larger voices callin’
What Heaven brought you and me cannot be forgotten

(Around the world) I have been around the world
(Lookin’) Lookin’ for that woman girl
(Who knows she knows) Who knows love can endure
And you know it will

Lyrics of the Day for March 27, 2026. One Shining Moment by David Barrett of Ann Arboer. Ironically, he wrote the song after finishing a set while performing in a bar in East Lansing. Between sets Larry Bird was playing on television, and Barrett wrote the song on a napkin. He created a demo tape, shared it with a friend who had some connections with CBS. CBS loved it and played it at the end of the NCAA championship game in 1987. It was so well received, it has been played at the end of every NCAA men’s basketball championship since.

Video of the Day: Crosby Stills Nash - Southern Cross

I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

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Final Four and Frozen Four,

The Wolverines had a great weekend as the men’s basketball team and the men’s hockey team advanced to the final four. It will be an outstanding weekend if the women’s basketball team can win their Elite-8 game tonight against number one seed Texas.

It is a welcome diversion following an embarrassing end to the football season.

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We are watching something special

I have been watching college basketball for over 60 years. In my 40 years as a Michigan men’s season ticketholder, I have never seen a Michigan team play like the current team is playing. They play with no egos. The most important teammate is the teammate who is open for a great shot.

It doesn’t matter who it is. The goal is to get the ball to the shooter with the best chance to deliver. In yesterday’s game against Tennessee, this philosophy was on full display as five players scored in double figures with seven players having at least eight points. Michigan assisted on 19 of 29 made shots.

There was one possession when the ball touched all five players with no player having the ball more than one second before it was passed to the next player. Two players passed up good shots to find the player with a great shot that resulted in a three-point basket for the Wolverines.

The camaraderie among the players really showed up in the last two minutes of the game, when head coach Dusty May’s son Charlie entered the game and hit a three pointer. All the players on the Michigan bench went wild for Charlie, not because he is the coach’s son, but because of how hard Charlie worked to be able to play at the end of the season.

Charlie’s only other three-pointer was in Michigan’s first game way back in early November. Not long after that game, Charlie suffered a hand injury that required surgery. It was expected to be a season ending surgery. Charlie would have none of that. Charlie defied the odds through hard work and was cleared to play, even though it was highly unlikely he would see any time during the NCAA tournament.

When Charlie made the three, no one appreciated it more than his teammates. On this team, everyone loves each other and they take it to the court in how they play. See my Quote of the Day and Video of the Day.

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Priorities: War over taking care of our own.

From Heather Cox Richardson on Friday March 27. In an in-depth interview with Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky of Talking Points Memo yesterday, Representative Joe Morelle (D-NY), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee,…the administration has suggested it is going to ask for $200 billion for the war, and Morelle noted that we are already closing in on $30 billion in spending on it…. “when you consider all the things that Trump or the Republicans reject as too costly, the fact that they have now spent $30 billion in effectively the span of a month without even talking to Congress about this expenditure is really somewhat staggering.” “They fight us on things that will help American families be able to pursue dreams, take care of the food, housing, and healthcare needs of millions of families that they can’t afford….But, they can go into an ill-conceived military action that has neither the support of Congress nor the support of American families, which has no clear objectives, shifting goals, and has alienated our allies and made us less safe.”

Morelle noted that even if the White House or the Pentagon did start to provide specifics, “I’m not sure it would matter anyway because the president changes his mind so frequently. He might say something and literally without exaggeration, a half hour later say something completely different, or even sometimes within the same press conference, give two wildly different answers.”

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Selling Humans?

I know that immigration is a complicated matter. However, I am not sure this is the appropriate solution.

From the NY Times. Since when is the U.S. in the business of selling humans to other countries. It appears the U.S. is in the business of selling humans to other countries

From the NY Times: The Trump administration this winter secured a secret deal with the government of Cameroon to deport hundreds of migrants.

The deal is part of a broader Trump administration campaign to coax countries to accept migrants who cannot be legally deported from the United States to their home countries because they would likely face persecution.

The documents obtained by The New York Times include confidential State Department correspondence and a funding memo, which connects the money transfer to the Cameroon deportation arrangement. The files, coupled with confirmation from officials, reveal how the U.S. government used financial pressure and political incentives to secure a deal that the deportees’ lawyer compared to “selling people.”

I find this to be appalling.

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

Subscribe now

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Quote of the Day: “Honestly, I blacked out. I don’t even know what it looked like.” “But, man, it was a great feeling. I’ve been watching the NCAA Tournament since I can remember. To be able to score in a game like that is an amazing experience. I’m even happier we won the game and we’re going to the Final Four.” Michigan player Charlie May after making his three-point basket.

Orchid of the Day: Michigan’s men’s basketball team, hockey team and women’s basketball team.

Onion of the Day: Me, yours truly. Instead of watching the second half of the Duke/Connecticut game, I went on a bike ride. I was shocked to learn that Connecticut came back from a 16-point half-time deficit to win the game 73-72 on a last-second 30-foot three pointer.

Question of the Day: Did you ever think the U.S. would be in the business of selling people to other countries? How low do we have to sink before we say enough is enough?

Lyrics of the Day: The ball is tipped And there you are
You’re running for your life You’re a shooting star
And all the years No one knows
Just how hard you worked But now it shows

Lyrics of the Day for March 25, 2026. Nowhere Man by the Beatles

Video of the Day: Michigan’s Charlie May’s one shining moment.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AZ2Zvp4S6/?mibextid=wwXIfr

I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

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Fund TSA!!!!

I understand the desire of the Democrats to send a message to the administration that the recent behavior ICE leadership and some of its agents is unacceptable. Especially with what happened in Minnesota. However, TSA is not ICE and Congress needs negotiate a bi-partisan solution to fund TSA.

TSA is an integral part of the economy that gives all citizens peace of mind when they step on an airplane. The current situation is unacceptable.

This leads to my Orchid of the Day: Delta Airlines. Per the NY Times. Delta Air Lines said on Tuesday that it ⁠would suspend special services for members of Congress, citing the partial government shutdown that has hobbled travel across the country.

The services include airport escorts and specialized customer service for lawmakers. The Capital Desk, a dedicated reservations line that helps members book trips at government rates, make last minute changes and reserve seats on multiple flights on the same day, will remain open, the company said in a statement.

“Next to safety, Delta’s No. 1 priority is taking care of our people and customers, which has become increasingly difficult in the current environment,” the company said. Under the suspension, the company added, members of Congress would instead be treated like regular passengers based on their SkyMiles status, which refers to the airline’s customer loyalty program.

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Do as I say, not as I do: Trump gives a strong endorsement for the safety of mail-in voting.

I was glad to see that Trump voted by mail in the special election in Florida on March 23, 2026. The message is clear, voting by mail works and it is good enough for the President, despite the rhetoric he has spewed about mail-in election fraud.

It is another case of the President making rules for the common man that he has no intention on following. Here are a few of his comments about mail in voting. Please do not take them for the truth. If Trump believed in what he says about mail-in voting, he would never use mail in voting.

Trump said in August his party would do everything in its power to get rid of mail-in voting, calling mail-in ballots “corrupt.”

“You know, brought to my attention today that we’re the only country that does mail-in voting. Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it ‘mail-in cheating,’ and we got to do something about it all,” Trump said in Memphis on March 23.

“And we as a Republican Party are going to do everything possible that we get rid of mail-in ballots,” Trump said in the Oval Office in August. “We’re the only country in the world — I believe I may be wrong — but just about the only country in the world that uses them. And because of what’s happened, massive fraud all over the place.”

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A very damning statement by the WSJ. Unfortunately, it is true.

I have totally lost trust in what the current administration says. It has been especially true when it relates to the war in Iran. The comments from the White House flip-flop by the hour. What is said in the morning is contradicted by what is said in the evening. I have now gotten to the point that I ignore any reporting about the war that is based on something said by President Trump or the White House.

It turns out, I am not alone. The following is from the Wall Street Journal. That’s right, the conservative WSJ. It is a sad statement on the integrity of the current administration, from an unexpected source.

“The unsettling reality is that with this president, Americans in wartime are in the unprecedented position of having to suspect that the enemy’s version of events is more likely to be true than our own,” The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker posted on social media. This is my Quote of the Day.

Let the above quote sink in for a minute.

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The biggest beneficiary of travel sports: Dick Sporting Goods.

This comes as no surprise to parents and grandparents with children playing school and travel sports. Between its retail products and its app, Game Changer, that is a must have for grandparents, Dick’s Sporting Goods is flourishing with the explosion of travel sports.

From the WSJ: There has never been a better time to sell parents all the stuff their kids need to play sports. Families are now shelling out more than $40 billion every year on children’s sports activities, according to Aspen Institute research.

As much as they may rant about the intensity, time commitments and increasingly absurd economy of youth sports, there is no way to escape it—or avoid their nearest Dick’s Sporting Goods.

As it turns out, youth sports have been very good to Dick’s. Over the past decade, the company’s revenue has roughly doubled. Last year, it generated a record $14.1 billion in sales. Instead of shopping online or schlepping kids to multiple stores, parents just stop by Dick’s for everything they need.

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Tomorrow is Opening Day for the Tigers.

Are you excited? I am. The Tigers enter the season with the best pitching staff in the American League, second only to the Dodgers in all of the MLB. With two-time reigning Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal, backed up by experienced additions, Framber Valdez (one CY Young), Verlander (three CY Youngs), Kenley Jansen (MLB active save leader) combined with a strong returning staff, it will be tough to score on the Tigers.

The big question mark will be hitting. Last year prior to August 1, the Tigers were one of the top hitting teams in the MLB as measured by slugging percentage. Unfortunately, things started dropping in August and then it fell to the bottom like a rock in September as they blew a 10-game lead over the last month of the season to limp into the playoffs as a wild card.

The Tigers did nothing to enhance their hitting during the offseason, other than hoping some of their young hitters will continue to develop and the veterans will continue to perform at their career levels. Hope is never a good strategy.

The most exciting addition to their roster is a total surprise. Twenty-one-year-old Kevin McGonigle will anchor the left side of the infield, switching between shortstop and third base. Going into spring training, McGonigle was the number two rated prospect in all of the MLB. McGonigle will be the rare player who jumps from AA level to the MLB, bypassing AAA level. McGonigle earned the promotion through his work in the Arizona fall league and in spring training. It is going to be fun seeing how he adjusts to the ever-changing pitching approaches that he is going to face over the next few months.

I am confident in the Tigers’ ability to win the Central Division, using the money I just won on the Pistons making the playoffs, last night I bet $50 on the Tigers winning the Central Division.

See my Video of the Day

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “The unsettling reality is that with this president, Americans in wartime are in the unprecedented position of having to suspect that the enemy’s version of events is more likely to be true than our own,” The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker posted on social media

Orchid of the Day: Delta Airlines. See above story.

Second Orchid of the Day: President Trump for casting his ballot in the Florida special election by mail.

Onion of the Day: President Trump for all the rhetoric he has spewed about how terrible mail-in voting, while exercising the use of mail-in voting in the special election in Florida. The contradictions of Trump are hard to fathom.

Question of the Day: Will the Tigers win the Central Division in 2026? Let me know what you think.

Lyrics of the Day:

He’s as blind as he can be. Just sees what he wants to see
Take your time, don’t hurry Leave it all ‘til somebody else Lends you a hand

Doesn’t have a point of view Knows not where he’s going to

Lyrics of the Day for March 23, 2026. Masters of War by Bob Dylan

Video of the Day: Let’s hope this season ends differently

I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

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NCAA basketball tournaments

It was a great showing this weekend for MSU and U of M basketball teams. The men’s and women’s basketball teams at both universities won their first-round tournament games. Both Wolverine teams and MSU’s men’s team won their second-round games to advance to the Sweet-Sixteen. The three teams advancing can win it all, if things fall in place.

The B!G men’s teams had a stellar weekend as six of the nine teams advanced to the sweet-sixteen. The most exciting game was number nine-seed Iowa knocking off number one seed and defending champion Florida on a three pointer with four seconds left.

One of my favorite moments of the tournament occurred following MSU’s men’s win on Saturday Here is how Yahoo Sports described it.

For Tom Izzo, his tactics were never rooted in comfort and mediocrity but were fueled by aggression. He’s often portrayed as a coach who would do anything to turn the X’s into W’s, even if it means crossing that line with his players. These methods have come under intense scrutiny during his tenure, but NBA legend Charles Barkley has seen something more in them than just aggression.

The moment unfolded following Michigan State’s win over Louisville in the second round of March Madness. Barkley went straight to the point, stating that Izzo’s aggressive style is fundamental to his method, while showering praise on the Michigan State coach.

“They play a certain way, and you have to play his way. He’s one of the few coaches who can still yell at his players. Because it’s an emotional game, Barkley said. “The media, who don’t know anything about sports, say, ‘Why is he yelling at his players?’ That’s called coaching. If you don’t want to be coached, you probably shouldn’t go to Michigan State. If parents & friends get mad because you’re getting yelled at, get better parents & better friends.” This is my Quote of the Day and Video of the Day.

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War is ugly. War is deadly. War is death and destruction for both sides. War is hell on families.

There is nothing noble or brave about turning the dead into propaganda. There is nothing patriotic about making grief do the work of persuasion. And there is certainly nothing honorable about implying that the only way to respect those already lost is to make sure more American families suffer exactly as they did.

The truth is that war does not stay on the battlefield. It lives in mothers’ bodies. It lives in every panicked breath, every half-second of dread when the phone rings, every frantic search for a name, every prayer uttered through nausea, every terrible moment of relief that means someone else’s child is dead. It lives in the homes of the people who wait and fear and grieve, while men at podiums congratulate themselves for their resolve.

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Lyrics of the Day

Come, you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs

You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy

You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe

But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch
While the death count gets higher

You hide in your mansion
While the young peoples’ blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world

For threatenin’ my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn?
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned

But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
That even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness?
Do you think that it could?

I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I’ll follow your casket
On a pale afternoon

I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand over your grave
‘Til I’m sure that you’re dead

Despicable

“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!” President Trump.

In looking back on my life, I don’t ever recall thinking I am glad someone is dead. I didn’t do it when the two men who murdered Leah’s mother died in prison years after her murder. I cannot imagine thinking that way anytime in the future.

Robert Mueller served this country with honor both as a marine, an FBI Director, and high-level positions in the Department of Justice, including Assistant Attorney General. Mueller served as the Director of the FBI. He was the only FBI director permitted by Congress to serve more than the statutory 10‑year term limit since the death of J. Edgar Hoover in 1972. He received a special two‑year extension by Congress. He was a registered Republican who was appointed and confirmed for positions by four presidents, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

Yet, all President Trump had to say about him is, “Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead. He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

President Trump gets my Onion of the Day.

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MLB is implementing the ABS system starting this week.

The ABS (Automated Ball/Strike) is a computerized/camera system whose technology is used extensively in tennis and has eliminated the line judges.

Under the new MLB rules, pitchers, catchers and batters, get to challenge ball/strike calls by the umpire by tapping the top of their head immediately after the pitch. Each team starts the game with two challenges. Once a team has two unsuccessful challenges, they lose their challenges for the remainder of the game.

The good news about this technology is that the response to the challenge happens within seconds. The results are flashed on the electronic scoreboard for all to see. There is very little delay.

Like anything new, it is going to take teams time to figure out the optimum way to use the system. From my experience, catchers are the best at knowing a strike from a ball, with batters and pitchers a distant second. I expect some managers are going to forego challenging strikes called against the batter, unless it is late in the game and it is at a critical time of the game. I will place bets some managers will forbid their pitchers from making any challenges to umpire calls.

I am all in favor of this new rule. It is going to show that MLB umpires are good at calling balls and strikes.

Not everyone agrees with the new rule. Here is what former Tiger pitcher, current Blue Jay’s pitcher, and future Hall of Famer, Mad Max Scherzer had to say about bringing technology into the making of calls.

“Can we just play baseball?” “We’re humans. Can we just be judged by humans?”

Let the season begin.

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy stepsThis can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

*******************************************************************************************************

Quote of the Day: “They play a certain way, and you have to play his way. He’s one of the few coaches who can still yell at his players. Because it’s an emotional game. The media, who don’t know anything about sports, say, ‘Why is he yelling at his players?’ That’s called coaching. If you don’t want to be coached, you probably shouldn’t go to Michigan State. If parents & friends get mad because you’re getting yelled at, get better parents & better friends.” Charles Barkley telling it like only Charles can say it.

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Orchid of the Day: The men and women basketball teams of MSU and U of M. It has been one heck of a season by all four teams.

Onion of the Day: President Trump for his total lack of respect for Robert Mueller

Question of the Day: Have you ever been glad someone was dead?

Lyrics of the Day: See above.

Lyrics of the Day for March 15, 2026. Think by Aretha Franklin and Ted White

Video of the Day: Charles Barkley on Tom Izzo.

I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

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Women

I have been blessed to be surrounded by strong women. In my immediate family it was my mother Maggie, my sister Nancy, my daughter Katy, and the strongest of all, Leah. During my career, I worked with many women who were smarter and better leaders than me. On the many boards I served, it was the same situation.

I dedicate following to Leah, my daughter Katy, my sister Nancy and to all the women who have had a tremendous influence on my life, many of whom are subscribers to this blog. The article was written by Mary Geddry who is becoming one of my favorite bloggers. I have edited the article because of length.

This essay is about what Project 2025 wants women to give up. It wants a country where abortion is harder to access, contraception is easier to restrict, the language of “gender equality,” “reproductive health,” and “reproductive rights” is stripped from federal policy…

It is a fight over whether women will be allowed to remain fully autonomous adults or pushed back toward a social order in which our safety, dignity, and survival are meant to depend more heavily on husbands, fathers, churches, employers, and the state. That is why I am writing this. Because the attack on women’s independence is not only cruel, it is historical vandalism. It asks us to forget what women have done with freedom, and to accept a future built on making us smaller.

…once you strip away the polished language about family, morality, and social order, the basic complaint underneath this worldview(Project 2025) is not hard to hear. Women are too independent. Women have too many choices. Women can leave, delay, refuse, invent, achieve, organize, earn, and live in ways that do not place men at the center of every calculation. Project 2025 says families “comprised of a married mother, father, and their children” are the foundation of a “well-ordered nation and healthy society,” and condemns what it calls “subsidizing single-motherhood,” and proposes replacing those policies with ones that support “stable, married, nuclear families.” Elsewhere, the Project 2025 text calls for deleting terms such as “gender equality,” “abortion,” “reproductive health,” and “reproductive rights” from federal rules and programs, and it pushes defining sex under Title IX as biological sex recognized at birth. This is not a blueprint for making women freer. It is a blueprint for making women smaller.

….Don’t you remember what women have already done in this country when given room to breathe?

Don’t you remember Rosie the Riveter, not as a piece of nostalgia on a tote bag, but as a stand-in for millions of women who entered wartime industry when history demanded it? …At Richmond’s Kaiser shipyards and elsewhere, women welded, riveted, assembled, and kept the machinery of war moving. America did not lose World War II because women entered the workforce. America depended on them…. but a woman in a modern engineering program is where some men suddenly discover their concerns about social stability.

Don’t you remember the women of NASA and NACA, the mathematicians, engineers, programmers, and team leads whose work powered American flight and the space race? NASA itself now honors the women who served as computers, mathematicians, and engineers from the 1930s through the 1970s, including Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson. Their calculations, leadership, and technical work were not ornamental. They were foundational. These women were doing some of the most intellectually demanding work in the country…

And yes, let’s be even more specific. Don’t you remember Margaret Hamilton? She led the Software Engineering Division at MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed the onboard flight software for Apollo. NASA credits her as a key contributor to the software effort behind the lunar missions… So when Scott Yenor says, “Every effort must be made not to recruit women into engineering, but rather to recruit and demand more of men who become engineers. Ditto for med school, and the law, and every trade,”

… If your social philosophy collapses at the sight of a woman engineer, the delicate thing in the room is not womanhood.

And while we are on the subject of women in science, don’t you remember Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering? In the 1930s, working in the Michigan Department of Health laboratory in Grand Rapids, they began the research that led to an effective pertussis vaccine. Their work moved from painstaking local public-health research into mass production and widespread vaccination, helping sharply reduce disease and death. These were not women making themselves useful in some decorative, auxiliary sense. These were women helping save children’s lives.

A movement that wants women less educated, less independent, and less present in serious work is not defending civilization. It is spitting in the face of the women who helped keep children alive in it.

That is why I find the rhetoric of this movement so offensive. It is not only misogynistic. It is embarrassingly ungrateful. It asks women to forget our own inheritance and then asks the rest of the country to call that forgetfulness virtue. It asks us to believe that women’s freedom is somehow in tension with the national good, when the historical record keeps showing the opposite.

When women have access to education, to work, to research, to technical training, to law, to medicine, to engineering, and to political life, society does not become weaker. Society becomes more capable, we solve more problems, we build more things, we save more lives, and we widen the circle of who gets to count as fully human.

Which is exactly why men like Scott Yenor sound the way they do. Yenor, who now serves as a director at the Heritage Foundation has described independent women as “medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome.” Those are not slips, those are beliefs. They reveal, with unusual honesty, that what agitates this worldview is not female weakness, it is female capability. Weak men do not fear women because women are “useless,” they fear women because they know perfectly well what women can do when we are not trapped.

And that is where the Project 2025 agenda around fertility becomes impossible to ignore. A woman who can control whether and when she becomes pregnant has more leverage over the shape of her life. She has more room to study, more room to earn, more room to leave, more room to refuse humiliation, more room to decide that she would rather build a life on her own terms than accept dependence dressed up as protection. That is why contraception matters, why abortion access matters, why support for single mothers matters, and why childcare matters. These are not side issues orbiting some larger debate about culture, they are the architecture of female freedom.

Project 2025’s hostility to reproductive autonomy and its preference for a social order organized around married male provision are not separate matters, they are part of the same design.

And I want to say this as plainly as I can. Women do not deserve independence because men have graciously decided to permit it. Women deserve independence because we have shown.. what we do with it. We build ships, we write code, and we run calculations. We organize labor, create vaccines, we hold families together, and we fight for the vote.

There is a peculiar smallness to a worldview that sees a free woman and immediately begins thinking about how to reduce her options... It cannot imagine women as fully human citizens, so it keeps reaching for older scripts in which a woman becomes respectable only by orbiting a husband, a father, a church, or a boss….

What infuriates me most is that women are expected to accept this with gratitude,... We are supposed to overlook the fact that the same movement that romanticizes motherhood is often hostile to the concrete things that make women safer and freer within motherhood, including reproductive choice, economic independence, and support for women raising children without a husband…. It is a backlash against women having enough power to say no.

But I do not want to answer it only with disgust. I want to answer it with memory and with love. Love for the women who came before us and did extraordinary things in a world that offered them less. Love for the women who refused to stay small….

So yes, let’s say it clearly. Any man who thinks estrogen is evidence of inferiority is not revealing women’s weakness, he is revealing his own. He is telling you that female freedom makes him feel threatened….That is not strength, it is panic in a necktie.

And that is why I refuse the whole Project 2025. I refuse the lie that women are more dignified when we are less free, that dependence is safety, and that family values require female submission. I refuse the lie that women’s independence is some elite modern indulgence rather than a proven public good. History remembers better than that, Rosie remembers. Margaret Hamilton, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering all remember. The country we have is, in part, the country women built when we were allowed to work, think, invent, and act like full human beings.

. Call your representatives and pressure your senators…. Teach your sons that women are not here to be ruled, and teach your daughters that freedom is theirs to keep.

See my Video of the Day for Aretha’s take on this.

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Democracy is not measured by how hard it is to vote. It is measured by how many U.S. citizens are able to do so.

Question of the Day: The question is not whether we should have secure elections—we must. The question is whether we are willing to solve real problems with real solutions, or whether we will allow the perception of a problem to justify barriers that weaken participation?

In recent weeks, the proposed Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act has been framed as a necessary step to protect the integrity of American elections. Its central claim is straightforward: prevent non-citizens from voting and eliminate voter fraud. On the surface, that sounds reasonable. But when we step back and examine the data, a different picture emerges—one that raises a more important question: Are we solving a real problem, or creating a new one?

Let’s begin with the facts. Voter fraud in the United States is exceedingly rare. Organizations committed to identifying fraud, such as the Heritage Foundation, have documented that only 1,620 people have been convicted of voter fraud since 1982 across billions of ballots cast. That translates into a statistical rounding error—far less than one hundredth of one percent.

Equally important, the specific concern driving the SAVE Act—non-citizen voting—is already addressed under current law. It is illegal for non-citizens to vote in federal elections, and doing so carries serious penalties, including fines, imprisonment, and potential deportation. There is no credible evidence that non-citizen voting occurs at any scale that could influence election outcomes.

So, if the problem is negligible, why the urgency?

The answer lies not in election integrity, but in election access.

The SAVE Act requires documentary proof of citizenship—such as a passport or birth certificate—when registering to vote. While that may sound like a simple safeguard, the practical implications are significant. Millions of Americans do not have easy access to these documents. Older citizens, rural residents, lower-income individuals, and even married women whose legal names differ from their birth certificates could face new barriers to registration.

In effect, the burden shifts from the state proving ineligibility to the citizen proving eligibility—with documentation that is not universally available or easy to obtain.

We have seen versions of this dynamic before. Throughout American history, voting restrictions have often been justified in the name of “integrity” while disproportionately affecting participation. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and other barriers were once defended as necessary safeguards. Over time, we recognized them for what they were: obstacles to voting.

Election security is important. Confidence in our electoral system depends on both integrity and access. But those two goals must be balanced with evidence, not fear. They must be balanced with practical reality. When policy is driven by rare or hypothetical risks, it can produce real consequences.

The United States has built a voting system that, while imperfect, is fundamentally secure. The greater risk to that system today is not widespread fraud—it is declining trust and reduced participation. Measures that make it harder for eligible citizens to vote undermine the very democracy they claim to protect.

If we are serious about strengthening our elections, we should focus on improving access, modernizing registration systems, and ensuring that every eligible American can vote easily and confidently. Safeguarding democracy means protecting both the ballot and the voter.

Democracy is not measured by how hard it is to vote. It is measured by how many U.S. citizens are able to do so.

I authored the above with assistance from CHAT GPT

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy stepsThis can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

*************************************************************************************************************

Quote of the Day: That is not strength, it is panic in a necktie. Mary Geddry from the above article on Women

Orchid of the Day: Mary Geddry, for knocking it out of the park today.

Onion of the Day: The Republicans who are trying to sell the Save Act as election security, when it is election suppression.

Question of the Day: The question is not whether we should have secure elections—we must. The question is whether we are willing to solve real problems with real solutions, or whether we will allow the perception of a problem to justify barriers that weaken participation?

Lyrics of the Day: Right now, freedom (freedom)
Oh-oh, freedom (freedom)
Give me some freedom
Oh, freedom! Oh-oh, right now
Hey! Think about it
You! Think about it

There ain’t nothin’ you could ask
I could answer you with “I won’t” (I won’t)
But I was gonna change, but I’m not
If you keep doin’ things I don’t (don’t)

Lyrics of the Day for March 13, 2026. Brother Love Traveling Salvation Show by Neal Diamond

Video of the Day: The Blues Brothers | Aretha Franklin Sings “Think” in 4K HDR - YouTube

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I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

Winter Wonderland

We have received up to 24 inches of snow in the Petoskey area in the last 36 hours. Another 5-6 is on the way. Combined with wind gusts of 30-35 mph, it has been blizzard conditions. The snow is sitting on a layer of ice that hit us on Wednesday and Thursday of last week.

The snow is going to be here for a week or so, as the temperatures are forecasted to reach only the high thirties for the next week. Melting will be slow. Leah and I have hunkered down since Sunday morning. We are safe and warm with a refrigerator full of food.

I was hoping to get to the hot tub today, but that is not going to happen. There is an 18-inch wall of snow up against the sliding door. If I open the door, the snow will be blown on to the new carpeting we just had installed. If I happen to get out the door, the hot tup is almost unrecognizable because of the snow surrounding it.

There will be no hottubbing for me this week.

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A self-inflicted wound

On Saturday, I filled my Taurus SHO with gasoline for the first time since late December. The SHO takes mid-grade and the price was $4.32 per gallon which is $0.82 higher than I paid the last time I filled the tank. Thank you President Trump.

The near-term projections for oil prices are not encouraging.

Per multiple sources, American oil executives delivered a bleak message to Trump officials in recent days: The energy crisis the Iran war has unleashed is likely to get worse.

In response to questions from the officials, Exxon CEO Darren Woods said that oil prices could rise past current elevated levels if speculators unexpectedly bid up prices and that markets could see a supply crunch of refined products. Chevron CEO Mike Wirth and ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance also conveyed their concerns about the scale of the disruption,

Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that Americans could get relief from high gas prices, but that it could take a few weeks. “Americans are feeling it right now. Americans will feel it for a few more weeks,” he said on NBC News. “But at the end we will have removed the greatest risk to global energy supplies.”

When asked if gas prices would drop below $3 a gallon before summer, Wright said, “There’s a very good chance that’ll be true.” Still, he said, “there’s no guarantees in war. The time frame’s still not entirely clear but I think that’s certainly a goal of the administration.”

This is a self-inflicted wound brought on by a president who campaigned on staying out of foreign wars.

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You get more bees with honey than you do with vinegar

Most of us learned by the time we were five years old that if we didn’t play nice in the sandbox, we would soon be playing alone. Unfortunately, this is a lesson that President Trump doesn’t seem to grasp.

President Trump is pressuring NATO allies to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz. If they don’t, he said yesterday, “I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.”

A wise woman once told me, that I will get more bees with honey than I will get with vinegar.

From Heather Cox Richardson: Since he took office more than a year ago, Trump has gone out of his way to antagonize our allies and partners, warning them that the United States will act alone and working to undermine the international alliances the U.S. has shaped since World War II. Now, having sparked a regional war in the Middle East after ignoring what virtually everyone said would be the result of attacking Iran a second time, Trump is begging other countries to come to his aid.

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And the big winner is Vladimir Putin

More from Heather. Despite reports that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence that permits it to target U.S. forces in the Middle East, late last night the Trump administration lifted sanctions on shipments of Russian oil until April 11, permitting it to be sold to buyers around the world for the next month. The U.S., along with the rest of the Group of Seven (G7) nations with advanced economies, has maintained sanctions against Russia since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has been eager to get those sanctions dropped because oil sales will help the flailing Russian economy. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the move is necessary to help ease oil prices, which are skyrocketing because Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the attack by the U.S. and Israel. But German chancellor Friedrich Merz said the heads of the G7 had urged Trump not to ease the sanctions, saying “[t]here is currently a price problem, but not a supply problem.” He added that he “would like to know what additional motives led the US government to make this decision.”

Only with this administration will our greatest enemy benefit while we pay an additional $0.75 per gallon of gas. We suffer at the pump while Putin feels like he won the world’s biggest lottery.

You cannot make this stuff up.

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An all-slate room with no windows and no lights has better transparency than our current state government.

From Bridge Michigan. The state’s Freedom of Information Act is supposed to allow citizens to obtain records used by the government to make basic decisions. But the 1976 law, passed after the Watergate scandal, is riddled with holes and exemptions.

Michigan is alone with Massachusetts as states that exempt the governor and Legislature from records requests. Simple requests for information often can take weeks or months and cost thousands of dollars, making the law inaccessible for everyday citizens.

Case in point: Bridge Michigan senior reporter Paula Gardner is still waiting for documents she requested from a state department last August, despite paying a sizable deposit. When she reminded the agency of the law, officials told her they were busy with other requests.

That’s unfortunate. The law specifies that governments need to respond within five or at most 15 days, but it is silent on how long it takes to produce information.

Last week, Bridge Michigan and media partners filed an amicus brief with the Michigan Supreme Court in support of the ACLU’s lawsuit against Grand Rapids. The city took one year to fulfill a records request about police drone policies after initially saying it would take two hours.

Such delays render FOIA useless. That’s not just a problem for journalists. It’s a problem for democracy. Citizens should know how their government operates and have a reasonable expectation of obtaining records that their tax dollars funded.

It’s not complicated. It’s sad. And in these days of distrust of government, it’s long overdue for Michigan to reform its antiquated open-government laws.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican House Speaker Matt Hall have had years to pass FOIA reforms and done nothing. Bridge can only hope their successors running for office this year have the courage and common sense to do the right thing.

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Orchid of the Day

A Michigan high school cross country coach has won the 2026 ASICS Los Angeles Marathon in a close finish.

Nathan Martin, who splits his time between coaching young athletes and competing on the elite marathon circuit, narrowed a 26.2-mile lead to beat Kenya’s Michael Kamau by a mere fraction of a second Sunday, according to the race website.

Martin is the head cross country coach and district’s coach who helps run large events at Jackson High School in Michigan.

Chris Hoover, athletic director at the school, said the school is excited that Martin not only won, but “won in such dramatic fashion, showing grit and determination.”

“He is a top-tier person, not just an elite world-class athlete, he’s also an elite human being,” Hoover said. “He coaches our kids the same way, and we are so lucky to have him in training in Jackson.”

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps

This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: If they don’t, he said yesterday, “I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO.” President Trump in response to what will happen if NATO countries do not support the efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Orchid of the Day: Nathan Martin, See the above story and the Video of the Day.

Onion of the Day: The weather in northern Michigan

Question of the Day: When did you learn it was important to play nice in the sandbox?

Lyrics of the Day: Hot August night and the leaves hanging down
And the grass on the ground smelling sweet.
Move up the road to the outside of town And the sound of that good gospel beat.

Sits a ragged tent where there ain’t no trees And that gospel group telling you and me it’s love.

Hint: The artist is a fan favorite at Fenway Park.

If you know the answer, please feel free to use the comment section of the blog to respond.

Lyrics of the Day for March 11, 2026. Jungleland by Bruce Springsteen

Video of the Day: Nathan Martin, cross country coach at Jackson High School gives an all-out effort to win the LA Marathon.

I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

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WSJ Politics

The following two articles appeared in the Wall Street Journal’s daily email entitled WSJ Politics. We know that the WSJ is a bastion of liberal politics, so it is not surprising they are pointing put the problems of President Trumps current military action in Iran that is not a war. I am sure that Trump and his MAGA base will write these articles off as more of the same from liberal fake news.

Are we at War?

President Trump on Saturday said that “we’re winning the war by a lot.” He was returning from Dover Air Force Base, where he had attended the dignified transfer of the bodies of six servicemembers killed as part of the U.S. action against Iran. “It’s a sad part of war,” he said of the deaths.

But ask members of Congress if the U.S. is at war with Iran, and suddenly a reticence to use the word “war” appears.

“No, by definition, we’re not at war,” said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis on CNN on Sunday. Mike Waltz, the U.N. ambassador, tiptoed around the word. “I describe it as Iran’s been at war with us,” he said on NBC.

It’s a classic “only in Washington” moment to see missile exchanges, drone attacks and the resulting deaths divorced from the plain meaning of the word “war.” But the tortured locution speaks to one of the most pressing challenges facing Congress: The Constitution gives lawmakers powers that they aren’t using.

Under the Constitution, Congress holds the power to declare war. Congress hasn’t done so in the case of Iran—so, in that sense, we are not at war. But lawmakers have given presidents wide latitude under the War Powers Act, which allows a president to deploy U.S. forces for 60 days before a vote of Congress is needed to continue the action.

Chances are growing for a new vote that could push lawmakers to affirmatively back or reject the war. (They have voted once to reject limits on Trump in Iran). If the U.S. places troops on the ground, that could bring the War Powers Act into play, Tillis said, by pushing the military engagement beyond 60 days and forcing Congress to hold a vote. That prospect has gained more attention, as Trump this weekend declined to rule out ground troops, as the U.S. and Israeli military campaign tests the limits of air power.

Off Ramp or On Ramp

I’m Dave Brown, filling in for Damian Paletta. At 2:25 p.m. Monday, the Defense Department’s “rapid response” account posted on X that “We have Only Just Begun to Fight.” Less than an hour later, CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang posted that President Trump had just told her that “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.”

And he wasn’t just popping off. He later told an audience that the military operation in Iran was a “very short excursion” and will be over “very soon.” Gone was the tough talk from just last Friday, when he said the only way to make a deal with Iran was “unconditional surrender.”

So what changed over the weekend? For starters, the price of oil shot well past $100 a barrel, and gas prices immediately soared. The war continued to poll poorly. And nervous Republicans were dialing up the White House, saying the war could hurt them in the midterm elections.

Worse yet, Iran’s government tapped hard-line cleric Mojtaba Khamenei—son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—to be its new leader. That choice presented only bad options for Trump. Does he try to make a deal? Does he hope the people rise up and unseat the new leader? Does he keep bombing Iran until they choose someone more palatable?

One thing is certain: Even if Trump says the war might be winding down, his quickly shifting messaging means it could all change later today. Indeed, right after telling reporters on Monday that the war could be over soon, he quickly followed up, saying the U.S. could “go further.”

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Oops, disregard my tweet.

More from that bastion of liberal politics the Wall Street Journal.

For days, the global oil market has swung wildly while traders from New York to London to Singapore have watched footage of drones and missiles flying across the Middle East. Tuesday’s selloff was sparked in part by a social-media post.

A plunge in oil prices intensified in the early afternoon after Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on X that “The U.S. Navy successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets.” The prospect of a prolonged energy shock momentarily dimmed. Futures for oil, diesel and gasoline slid. Stocks jumped.

But the message vanished within minutes, leaving investors the world over struggling to see through the fog of war emanating from the Trump administration itself. U.S. officials soon after said that the military isn’t currently escorting commercial ships through one of the world’s chokepoints for oil and natural gas.

The since-deleted post was enough to wipe out million-dollar trades. Benchmark U.S. crude futures plunged by as much as 19% at one point. During a roughly 10-minute span when Wright’s post appeared, an exchange-traded fund linked to oil futures saw $84 million of its market capitalization evaporate.

“That’s an unforgivable error right there,” said Robert Yawger, commodity specialist at Mizuho Securities.

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Power Play or Negotiating Strategy on the Save Act?

President Trump says he will not sign any future legislation into law until the Save Act is passed.

From the Blind Spot: On Mar 8, President Donald Trump vowed on Truth Social he would not sign any bills until Congress passes the SAVE America Act, urging Republicans to bypass the filibuster.

The House of Representatives passed the SAVE America Act last month; it stalls in the U.S. Senate where Republicans hold 53 seats and would require proof of citizenship and photo ID to vote.

Demanding additions, Trump pushed strict voter-ID and proof-of-citizenship rules, limits on mail-in ballots with exceptions for military and voters with illness or disability.

Senate Democrats say they will oppose the SAVE Act and warned Trump’s signature blockade could imperil must-pass Department of Homeland Security funding, with Congress able to counter using veto, pocket veto, and 10-day enactment rules.

With midterms looming, Democratic Party leaders say the SAVE Act would suppress votes for college students, senior citizens, Americans living abroad, and adoptees.

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps

This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “High times on Wall Street. Hard times on Main Street.” Bruce Springsteen at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25 anniversary concert at Madison Square Garden in 2009. It applies today.

Orchid of the Day: To an unknown patron at the Bay Side Restaurant in Petoskey. On Sunday morning, just as I was settling into my seat in the restaurant an unknown patron on the other side of the restaurant sneezed. I reacted by saying “bless you”. When I went to pay my bill, I was told the patron who was sitting with his wife, had paid my bill. As I was leaving I went over to thank him and ask why he paid my bill. He said it was because I said “bless you” when he sneezed. I thanked him and told him, I would pay it forward.

There is still kindness out there. I was fortunate enough to be a recipient on Sunday morning.

Onion of the Day: We the people, who are paying more at the pump because of the non-war in Iran.

Question of the Day: Power Play or Negotiating Strategy on the Save Act?

Lyrics of the Day: In the tunnels uptown The Rat’s own dream guns him down As shots echo down them hallways in the night No one watches when the ambulance pulls away

Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light Outside the street’s on fire
In a real death waltz Between what’s flesh and what’s fantasy
And the poets down here Don’t write nothing at all
They just stand back and let it all be

And in the quick of the night They reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand But they wind up wounded
Not even dead

If you know the answer, please feel free to use the comment section of the blog to respond.

Lyrics of the Day for March 9, 2026. I still haven’t found what I am looking for by U2

Video of the Day: BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Jungleland HD Madison Square Garden, NYC Subtitulado 2009 This goes out to Leah. This was playing as part of my playlist as Leah and I were coming home from the gym today. Leah wanted to know if this was one of Bruce’s B-side songs. I told her no. Please enjoy the last quarter of the video as the Big Man plays the sax.

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I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.

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A call to conscience

From Elliot Kirschner on Substack which he shared an essay by Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, the archbishop of Chicago. It is entitled “A Call to Conscience,” and I share it here with you in full.

As more than 1,000 Iranian men, women and children lay dead after days of bombardment from U.S. and Israeli missiles, the official White House X account on Thursday evening posted a video of scenes from popular action movies spliced with actual strike footage from their war on Iran. The clip was captioned: “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY.”

A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game — it’s sickening. Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day. Six U.S. soldiers have been killed. They are also dishonored by that social media post. Hundreds of thousands displaced, and many millions more are terrified across the Middle East.

This horrifying portrayal demonstrates that we now live in an era when the distance between the battlefield and the living room has been drastically reduced. The moral crisis we are facing is not just a matter of the war itself, but also how we, the observers, view violence, for war now has become a spectator sport or strategy game. Indeed, the prediction market Kalshi recently paid a $2.2 million settlement related to users who were unhappy with how the company paid out the $55 million wagered on Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s ouster after his was killed.

Journalists now use the term “gamifying” the war to describe this dynamic. What a profound moral failure, for gamifying strips away the humanity of real people. Let’s not forget, a “hit” isn’t putting points on the board; it’s a grieving family whose suffering we ignore when we prioritize entertainment, and profit, over empathy.

Our government is treating the suffering of the Iranian people as a backdrop for our own entertainment, as if it’s just another piece of content to be swiped through while we’re waiting in line at the grocery store. But, in the end, we lose our humanity when we are thrilled by the destructive power of our military. We become addicted to the “spectacle” of explosions. And the price of this habit is almost unnoticeable, as we become desensitized to the true costs of war. But the longer we remain blind to the terrible consequences of war, the more we are risking the most precious gift God gave us: our humanity.

I know that the American people are better than this. We have the good sense to know that what is happening is not entertainment but war, and that Iran is a nation of people, not a video game others play to entertain us.

Now is a time that demands moral clarity, and as Cardinal Cupich writes, a call to our conscience. We must speak out and protest, organize, and vote. We must repudiate the horrific pretenses under which this war is being waged and propagandized in our names.

This war of choice is the height of folly and hubris. And if we do not hold fast to the bonds of our common humanity, we will lose sight of the brutal costs our regime is inflicting upon the world, the rising pain, suffering, and instability that are being repackaged as entertainment.

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MSU vs U of M Men’s Basketball Game

Yesterday’s game lived up to pre-game hype. Both teams left nothing in the tank when the game was finished. In the end, Michigan’s depth was the difference.

Since the game likely had very little bearing on the B1G standings or the teams’ NCAA tournament seeds, it was a game I could just sit back and enjoy.

After the game was over, I reflected on the three referees for the game and how they were probably feeling after the game. My guess is that they were mentally and physically exhausted but extremely satisfied with the job they did.

Michigan’s coach Dusty May said it best when he was interviewed by CBS’s Traci Wolfson eight minutes into the game. May said, “I am hoping a basketball game starts out pretty soon.” This was in reference to all the extracurricular activities that were going on between the two teams.

Fortunately, the game was refereed by three of the best in the game, Ron Groover, D.J. Carstensen, and Jeffrey Anderson who have over 90 years of experience, including over 30 NCAA tournaments. For the first 10 minutes, the refs were willing to let the players try to figure it out. When the players couldn’t figure it out, the refs imposed their will on the players.

At half time the players adjusted, and the refs let the players decide the outcome. This led to one of the most entertaining halves of basketball I have seen all year.

Here are highlights of what the referees had to deal with during the game.

• · At the 14:24 mark of the first half, Michigan State guard Jeremy Fears Jr. picked up a technical foul for kicking Michigan guard Elliot Cadeau between the legs.

• · Michigan was called for two separate technical fouls later in the first half, first on freshman guard Trey McKenney for touching the ball when it was being inbounded, and another on Aday Mara for pushing Carson Cooper to the floor on a rebound attempt.

• · At the 15:39 mark of the second half, Mara was called for his third foul of the game, this time being a flagrant foul as Fears looked to start a fast break following a Michigan turnover.

• · In total, 35 fouls called, including three technicals and one flagrant foul.

This game could have gotten out of hand, but the experienced referees took charge and allowed a basketball game to eventually break out. The three referees get my Orchid of the Day.

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It’s the economy, stupid

From The Guardian on March 6.

• · The US lost 92,000 jobs in February

• · The US gained 126,000 jobs in January

• · The US lost 45,000 jobs from July thru December 2025

• · The total job growth in 2025 of 181,000 was the weakest since covid and significantly less than the 2 million added in 2024

• · The unemployment rate edged up to 4.4% in February.

Things are not as rosy as the president wants us to believe.

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Video of the Day-Lou Holtz

Last week Lou Holtz, a hall of fame college football coach passed away at the age of 89. He served as the head football coach at the College of Willam and Mary, North Carolina State, the New York Jets, the University of Arkansas, the University of Minnesota, Notre Dame and University of South Carolina. compiling a career college head coaching record of 249–132–7. In addition, he was an outstanding motivational speaker who I had the opportunity to see live.

I want to share one of his speeches as my Video of the Day. I want to thank my sister Nancy for sharing it with me.

https://www.threads.com/@son_of_larz/post/DVjPysDDInx?xmt=AQF0DO5ib_kmrg3htU6FVm03CR0q4lvVZuE40f7uJCDXq6uSW5CtQ5NXUxhwky0go872qwOY&slof=1

*************************************************************************************************************

Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps

This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

********************************************************************************************************

Quote of the Day: “I am hoping a basketball game starts out pretty soon.” Michigan’s men’s basketball coach when being interviewed by CBS’s Traci Wolfson at the 8-minute mark of yesterday’s M/MSU basketball game.

Orchid of the Day: Ron Groover, D.J. Carstensen, and Jeffrey Anderson, the three referees for the M/MSU men’s basketball game.

Onion of the Day: Michigan Medicine and BCBSM for airing their lack of progress in contract negotiations in public, causing major and unnecessary angst for patients who are concerned about their healthcare coverage and access to care starting July 1, 2026.

Question of the Day: Since when is it OK to treat the carnage of war like it is a video game?

Lyrics of the Day: I have spoke with the tongue of angels
I have held the hand of the devil
It was warm in the night
I was cold as a stone (mm, mm)

I believe in the Kingdom Come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
But yes, I’m still running

If you know the answer, please feel free to use the comment section of the blog to respond.

Lyrics of the Day for March 5, 2026. One by Metallica

Video of the Day: See above by Lou Holtz

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I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.