Oh Canada
It is hard to describe what it is like in Petoskey today. Ash from the Canadian wildfires hit northern Michigan extremely hard today. We are under an extreme air quality alert. Pollutants are in the unhealthy range for northern Michigan with hourly concentration forecasted to reach hazardous.
It is eerie. The smoke is so thick, it looks like we are at the peak of a total eclipse of the sun. Visibility is limited and it smells like yesterday’s campfire. If you are outside, breathing is challenging and your eyes start stinging. Staying inside is a wise choice.
My car was parked in the driveway for 30 minutes and was quickly covered in ash from the Canadian fires.
This is our fourth summer dealing with Canada’s smoke. Today was the worst day it has been during those four years. Tomorrow and Friday will be more of the same.
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FUBAR
It was less than a month ago that Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, called a similar plan by the Iranians illegal. “No country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway,” he said.
On Monday Trump posted on Truth Social. “We are reinstating the THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving. The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,’ but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World,” he added. “The process and formation will begin immediately
Tuesday evening Trump said he had decided to scrap the toll “based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership”, and touted “massive” investments, just five hours before the toll was due to come into effect. He said the US would continue to blockade the Iranian port
As I said last week, I can only read 3 minutes about Iran before I give up because of frustration over wondering “what the heck are we doing? Why are we doing it? What is our end game? Nothing Trump does or says as it relates to Iran makes any sense to me. It is contradiction after contradiction after contradiction.
Trump started this war without involving our allies and now he expects the allies to reimburse the U.S. for protecting the Strait of Hormuz which prior to February 28, 2026, was a free passage for the entire world.
In June of 2025 Trump declared that he destroyed and buried Iran’s nuclear capabilities. In early March 2026 he declared that Iran’s military has been completely destroyed and they have no Navy.
Earlier this week, Trump told radio host Hugh Hewitt that the U.S. was going to hit Iran “very hard” Monday and Tuesday, “and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it.” Speaking shortly before Monday’s attacks began, Trump further announced that the U.S. would strike Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified, underground nuclear site yet to be targeted since the war began Feb. 28.
Yet here we are on July 15, still fighting a war against a foe that according to Trump has been destroyed. Here we are on July 15, announcing a strike on Iran’s nuclear site, which we were told last June was destroyed.
This passage from Dan Rather says it best. If Donald Trump was the head of a Fortune 500 company, he would have long been relieved of his duties — for a list of reasons as long as your arm — but most notably, he would be fired as the country’s CEO for his vacillating and chaotic handling of the war with Iran.
Americans know and cannot be distracted from this hard truth: It is a sad and dangerous state of affairs that our country is being dragged behind a demagogue who seems clueless about how to get us out of a war he created. And on Monday, he made it worse by stating the United States was taking control of the Strait of Hormuz — again — and would begin charging a fee to guarantee safe passage of cargo ships. FUBAR.
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Not since the Nixon presidency has freedom of the press been under attack like it is under the Trump administration.
From Mary Geddry on Saturday. The New York Times, relying on anonymous sources, reported that the Secret Service urged the change (from the new Air Force One donated Qatar to the older model) because the new plane lacked some of the older aircraft’s advanced security features, including antimissile capabilities. Trump denied that security concerns had anything to do with the switch and said the stop in England was arranged so American service members could admire the new jet. This explanation asks us to believe that the president dispatched two enormous aircraft across Europe because the troops deserved a surprise airplane viewing, which is the sort of logistical extravagance usually associated with a divorced father arriving at a birthday party with a pony.
Asked whether he knew of any credible Iranian threats against Air Force One, Trump replied, “I have a threat all the time. I’m No. 1 on their list.”
So, there was no security concern, except for the constant security concern from the country with which the United States had just resumed exchanging strikes. One might imagine that the proper response to inaccurate reporting would be to present evidence showing that the aircraft was fully equipped, that the Secret Service had raised no objection and that the detour had unfolded precisely as the White House claimed. This would be persuasive, orderly and insufficiently terrifying.
Instead, FBI Director Kash Patel and other Justice Department officials reportedly met at the White House on Friday. Soon afterward, federal agents began appearing at reporters’ homes.
David McCraw, a lawyer for the Times, said the sight of federal agents arriving on journalists’ doorsteps “should shock the conscience of any American” who believes in constitutional press freedom. The Justice Department responded that reporters are not the targets. The targets, it said, are people who leak classified information. This is meant to comfort us.
The reporters are not being targeted. They are merely being ordered into a grand jury proceeding because of information obtained while reporting, after agents visited their homes, in an investigation designed to identify their confidential sources. In the same sense, the mousetrap has no quarrel with the mouse. It is simply conducting a cheese-related inquiry.
Subpoenas directed at journalists have historically been treated as a last resort because forcing reporters to expose their sources doesn’t merely affect one article. It warns every future whistleblower, civil servant and official with a conscience that speaking to the press may bring federal investigators to the reporter’s door and, shortly afterward, to theirs. According to the Associated Press, earlier subpoenas aimed at reporters from The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal were ultimately withdrawn, but the attempts are becoming more frequent. Attorney General Pam Bondi also rescinded a Biden-era policy that had restricted prosecutors from seizing journalists’ records during leak investigations.
…The purpose isn’t always to erase the record after it has been written. Sometimes it is enough to make everyone afraid to write it.
A journalist wondering whether a source is worth a grand jury fight may become more cautious. A government employee who sees agents appearing at reporters’ homes may decide that silence is safer. An election official facing federal threats may spend more time protecting herself from the Justice Department and less time preparing her county for November. And an independent commissioner may understand that independence is now considered a defect in need of removal.
Democracy depends on a great many people whose names most citizens will never know. Clerks, technicians, local officials, inspectors, and reporters that call people who aren’t supposed to speak and ask them what happened in rooms the public wasn’t allowed to enter. Their work is frequently tedious, procedural and annoying to those in power, which is precisely why it matters.
The people keeping the record are not infallible. Journalists make mistakes, agencies become complacent, election offices require oversight, and every institution capable of checking power must itself be checked. What it mustn’t be is obedient.
A government confident in its conduct doesn’t need every commission “totally aligned” with the president. It doesn’t need agents on reporters’ doorsteps because someone wrote an embarrassing story about the king’s donated airplane. It doesn’t need sensitive voter data from every state while threatening the officials entrusted with protecting it.
It presents the evidence, submits to the process and accepts that public power comes with public scrutiny. This administration appears to prefer a cleaner arrangement, one in which the president makes the call, chooses the officials, defines election security, identifies the acceptable version of events and dispatches the Justice Department when someone produces an unauthorized footnote.
The government has not yet seized the scoreboard. It has merely begun dismissing the referees, questioning the statisticians and knocking on the doors of anyone who wrote down the score. We should probably keep copies.
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No regard for human life.
Yesterday the director of homeland security announced the suspension of using traffic stops as means to arrest and detain illegal immigrants after two deaths occurred in the last week when traffic stops went bad and ICE agents shot and killed two people who were not the target of their search.
Early this morning President Trump insisted ICE keep making them. Trump insisted that “we must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP! Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.” He added that the partial rein-in “won’t happen on my watch”.
Trump’s late night post rebuked his own homeland security department, which had just spent a day trying to contain the fallout from back-to-back killings.
Trump continues to prove that he has no regard for the life of any human who does not provide immediate value to him. Even when his own team members say, enough is enough and what we are doing is not working and we must stop.
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He is now officially guilty of sexual assault
President Trump can no longer claim he is innocent of sexual assault. His appeals have been exhausted and yesterday E. Jean Carroll was paid $5.9 million as settlement in her defamation case surrounding her sexual assault by President Trump. Any further claiming of being innocent is no longer valid. The people and the courts have spoken.
Donald Trump is guilty of sexual assault.
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Even legends are not safe
The Red Wings and Steve Yzerman parted ways today. Yzerman spent his entire Hall of Fame career as a Red Wing winning three Stanley Cups as the longest serving captain in Red Wing history. After a outstanding stint as the President and GM of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Yzerman was brought in seven years ago by owner Chris Illitch to turn the franchise around after missing the playoff the three previous years. Yzerman asked for patience as he tried to rebuild the Red Wings. Patience ran out today as the Red Wings playoff drought has reached ten years. Yzerman’s fate was inevitable after current captain and Olympic star Dylan Larkin demanded to be traded two months ago.
Yzerman has proven that even legends are not safe when it comes to leading a professional sports organization.
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Quote of the Day: “It is weird.” Leah, every time she looked outside today and saw the smoke in the air.
Orchid of the Day: Argentina and Spain for making it to the World Cup finals with their wins over England and France, respectively.
Onion of the Day: Pete Hegseth says soldiers over age 30 to be screened for testosterone deficiency as the secretary unveils plan that will work to ensure service members have the ‘right testosterone levels.
Question of the Day: How does Pete Hegseth keep his job?
Lyrics of the Day: Don’t be angry - don’t be sad
Don’t sit crying over good times you’ve had
There’s a girl right next to you
And she’s just waiting for something to do
Well there’s a rose in a fisted glove
And the eagle flies with the dove
And if you can’t be with the one you love honey
Lyrics of the Day for July 8, 2026. Every Rose has a Thorn by Poison
Video of the Day: Sam Neill’s Iconic Movie Moments RIP Your Jurassic Park Will Always Be My Favorite❤️😔#SamNeill#Ju
Love the one your with... Stephen Stills
Hegseth is there to promote testosterone and racism.