Thoughts for the Day, February 17, 2025: Check out my Video of the Day. Orchid to SNL 50th Anniversary

Is this who we are?

Since November 6, 2024, I have been asking myself this question: Is this the country we are? My answer is yes.

· We are the country whose president looks at another country and says I want your country, as he has done with Greenland, Panama, and Canada

· We are the country that withholds funds from schools who require vaccines to protect their students from disease.

· We are the country that goes against the advice of six federal prosecutors to drop criminal bribery charges against the mayor of our largest city because he has agreed to house illegal immigrants.

· We are the country that fires people on probationary status, even after we have spent thousands of dollars training and educating them for their job. Even after the employee has rearranged their life to work for the government. Even though their job is important. The only reason they were fired was because they were probationary and new on the job.

· We are the country who goes behind the back of our fellow NATO countries and Ukraine to announce we are beginning negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

· We are the country that bullies our allies and cuddles up to our long-term enemies.

· We are the country who tries to strong arm Ukraine by seeking rights to Ukraine’s vast mineral deposits in exchange for future economic support.

· We are the country that creates a complicated health system, that even the most experienced people struggle to navigate, and then we defund positions that have been set up to assist people in navigating the system.

· We are the country that no longer believes in the free market and is implementing a tit-for-tat tariff system with our closest allies. President Reagan was strongly against such tariffs.

· We are the country who hires the world’s richest man to reduce expenditures and cut government costs but does not disclose the many conflicts of interest he has with the government contractors or how he benefits for the cost cutting he is implementing.

· We are the country who has laid off more than 1,000 VA employees without regard to their role or the impact on the veterans which they serve. We are doing this to streamline the VA operation.

· We are the country that put a “health’ skeptic with no training in healthcare or healthcare administration in charge of our entire national health system.

· We are the country whose leader(s) love to make false statements and false accusations about the news media, because they think the news media does not like them

· We are the country whose leader thinks it is important that he take over the local performing arts center, because only he can make it great again.

· We are the country that nominates an oil and gas lobbyist to oversee our public lands and national parks.

· We are the country that no longer requires companies to file reports on the impact their companies are having on the environment.

· We are the country that fired 17 Inspector Generals of many agencies without regard to the rules and regulations that were to be followed.

· We are the country that required the head of the EPA to suspend climate standards on household appliances.

· We are the country that tried to strongarm Jordan and Egypt into taking all residents from Gaza so the U.S. could take over Gaza and make it a Mediterranean resort destination.

· We are the country whose president believes he has absolute power over all facets of the executive branch, and the courts have no say in what he can or cannot do.

· We are the country whose president believes he can ignore state laws that he does not agree with.

· We are the country whose president believes there is no need for a Consumer Protection Agency or for Inspector Generals and Solicitor Generals to make sure agencies and departments are following the congressionally approved laws and regulations.

· We are the country whose president and his team, think nothing of publicly belittling judges who do not agree with them. Even those they appointed.

· We are the country whose president gives access to the country’s payment systems, IRS systems, and social security systems to the world’s richest person and his chosen staff without regard to concerns about how the information is used. None of the people have been vetted by the FBI.

· We are the country who believes only white males can lead our country to greatness.

· We are the country whose evangelical Christians supported a person convicted of sexual assault and convicted of 24 felonies for president.

· We are the country who makes it difficult for married women to vote if they have taken the name of their husbands because the married woman’s name does not match the name on their birth certificate.

· We are the country who elected a president who led an insurrection on our Capitol on January 6, 2021.

· We are a country whose president values loyalty to the president as the number one qualification for a position in his administration. All other qualifications are irrelevant.

This is who we are, whether we want to admit it or not.

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The Thursday night massacre was déjà vu all over again

On Thursday six federal prosecutors in the NY federal Southern District were asked to dismiss the bribery charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. All six prosecutors resigned rather than carry out a political quid pro quo initiated by President Trump and Attorney General Bondi to reward Adams for agreeing to house in NYC, illegal immigrants that ICE under orders of the president had rounded up and were processing for deportation. This feels alarmingly like the Saturday Night Massacre of 1973.

The "Saturday Night Massacre" was a series of resignations over the dismissal of special prosecutor Archibald Cox that took place in the Department of Justice during the Watergate scandal in 1973.^[1] The events followed the refusal by Cox to drop a subpoena for the Nixon White House tapes at President Nixon’s request.

During a single evening on Saturday, October 20, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox; Richardson refused and resigned effectively immediately. Nixon then ordered Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus to fire Cox; Ruckelshaus refused and resigned. Nixon then ordered the third-most-senior official at the Justice Department, Solicitor General Robert Bork, to fire Cox. Bork carried out the dismissal as Nixon asked. Bork stated that he intended to resign afterward, but was persuaded by Richardson and Ruckelshaus to stay for the good of the Justice Department.

The Saturday Night Massacre eventually contributed to the resignation of Nixon on August 9, 1974

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I don’t think this is good for us

It appears the Trump/Musk presidency wants to give DOGE employees access to the IRS and Social Security information systems to “audit” for those who are cheating the system.

Unfortunately, these DOGE employees have not been vetted by the FBI to have clearance to confidential information. The thought of Elon Musk and his designated helpers having access to my tax and social security information is not something that will make me sleep easily at night.

How is this good for me and every U.S. taxpayer? As we learned from the Nixon administration, a power-hungry president is more than willing to use information from these systems against their enemies.

The ironic thing is that they are going after “tax cheats” when very few citizens in the country pay less income tax Musk and Trump.

It was a good weekend for MSU and U of M men’s basketball teams.

With MSU’s win over Illinois at Illinois and M’s win over Ohio State at OSU, Michigan and MSU are one and two in the B1G conference. Michigan is 12-2 and MSU is 11-3 in the conference. Both teams are ranked in the top 15 in the country.

Full squads reported to spring training today.

“For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” Ernie Harwell every year prior to the first spring game.

It has been a long time since I have anticipated a Tigers’ season like I am anticipating this season. Barring major injuries, the Tigers will be competing for the Central Division championship and a second consecutive year in the playoffs.

The team has so much depth that many of the key contributors from last year’s playoff run may not make the opening day roster. The starting pitching staff has been significantly enhanced, and the bullpen appears to be as strong as ever. Opening day is March 27 against the Los Angeles Dodgers in L.A.

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Quote of the Day: “For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.” Ernie Harwell every year prior to the first spring game.

Orchid of the Day: SNL 50^th year anniversary

Onion of the Day: Me. I have never watched a full episode of SNL

Lyrics of the Day: You get your house back. You get your dog back
You get your best friend Jack back. You get your truck back. You get your hair back You get your first and second wives back

Your front porch swing. Your pretty little thing. Your bling bling bling and your diamond ring. You get your farm and the barn and the boat and the Harley. First night in jail with Charlie. Sounds a little crazy

If you think you know the answer, send me your answer in the comments section of the blog.

Answer to Lyrics of the Day for February 13, 2025: People Get Ready, by Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions.

“Question of the Day: How is giving Musk and some of his DOGE staffers access to our IRS and Social Security information systems a good thing for American citizens?

Video of the Day: Blues Brothers: Soul Man - SNL

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