Thoughts for the Day, February 19, 2025: A challenge to subscribers.

MSU vs U of M for first place on Friday

The Spartans handled the Purdue Boilermakers on Tuesday with a suffocating defense and an incredible contribution from their bench. The Spartans have the deepest roster in the B1G, and they use it to put constant pressure on the opposition. With eight minutes left in the game and the Spartans up six, I texted my friend George and said, “Purdue’s body language is not good.” They looked exhausted from the wave of fresh players Sparty kept sending at them.

Michigan has not lost at home this season. That streak is going to be challenged on Friday. Michigan’s guards are going to be challenged by the constant pressure they will receive from the Spartan guards. At the same time, Michigan’s front line will be a challenge for the Spartan’s front line. If Michigan can keep the turnovers under twelve, I believe Michigan will win. If Michigan’s turnovers are above twelve the chances of winning diminish greatly with each turnover.

It has been a long time since we have seen Michigan and MSU together atop the B1G standings. The good news is that regardless of the outcome, they will both still be atop the standings after the game is over.

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A Challenge to Subscribers to Thoughts for the Day

Are you willing to take a risk like the six prosecutors from the Justice Department Public Integrity Unit did as part of the Thursday Night Massacre? Are you willing to take a stand even if your career takes a major hit? Are you willing to speak up and speak out when you see injustice even though you will face consequences for doing so?

I ran across an article today on Substack from The Freedom Academy with Asha Rangappa that reminded me of the importance of speaking up and speaking out. Here are excerpts.

According to the ancient Greeks, a truth-teller has five characteristics. First, duty: They believe they have an obligation to speak the truth. Second, frankness: They speak freely and directly. Third, truthfulness: They speak all that they know. Fourth, criticism: They speak truth to those in positions of power. And finally, danger: They tell the truth despite the consequences – in other words, they are willing to take a risk in order to reveal the truth.

This last characteristic, danger, is key to being a genuine truth-teller. Importantly, the risk taken by a truth-teller need not involve physical danger – though in authoritarian regimes it almost always does, as we see from murdered journalists in Russia and jailed dissidents in Hungary. It can be anything from social opprobrium to losing your job, as was almost guaranteed to happen to both Sassoon and Scotten if they hadn’t resigned first. The point is that in speaking the truth, you stand to lose something you hold dear – which means that a true truth-teller is willing to take accountability for their words and bear the consequences of them...

Authoritarians hate courageous people because courage is contagious – and you can bet that the danger of speaking up, and speaking out, will only increase in the months and years ahead. Eventually, you may have to make a choice like the one Sassoon and Scotten made, and the stakes could be much higher.

Questions of the Day: To subscribers of Thoughts for the Day. Are you willing to speak up and speak out if you agree that the Musk/Trump presidency is running roughshod over the Constitution? Are you willing to share articles with your friends about your concerns? Are you willing to have difficult conversations with your friends about your concerns? Are you willing to support others who feel the same way you do? I wish I could say that doing so is without risk, but I do not feel that is true anymore.

There is no right or wrong answer. You must do what is comfortable for you. If you do nothing else, please share Thoughts for the Day with others. Invite others to subscribe. Send me ideas to write about. I am not going away.

I made my choice five years ago when I started Thoughts for the Day.

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Control the Narrative and Never let the Facts get into the Way of a Good Story.

As we learned from George Orwell, he that controls the present also controls the past due to their ability to rewrite history.

Here are three examples of how the Musk/Trump presidency is altering the facts by controlling the narrative to get their story in front of people who will take what they say as truth.

One: The Musk/Trump presidency claims that millions of people over 100 years old are receiving social security benefits.

Per multiple sources today including some fact checkers, this is not true.

Part of the confusion comes from Social Security’s software system based on the COBOL programming language, which has a lack of date type. This means that some entries with missing or incomplete birthdates will default to a reference point of more than 150 years ago. The news organization WIRED first reported on the use of COBOL programming language at the Social Security Administration.

Additionally, a series of reports from the Social Security Administration’s inspector general in March 2023 and July 2024 state that the agency has not established a new system to properly annotate death information in its database, which included roughly 18.9 million Social Security numbers of people born in 1920 or earlier but were not marked as deceased. This does not mean, however, that these individuals were receiving benefits.

The agency decided not to update the database because of the cost to do so, which would run upward of $9 million.

A July 2023 Social Security OIG report states that "almost none of the number holders discussed in the report currently receive SSA payments.” And, as of September 2015, the agency automatically stops payments to people who are older than 115 years old.

Misstate the facts to fit your story. Straight out of Orwell

Two: The Trump/Musk presidency has decided to not include Ukraine and NATO in its preliminary talks with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump explained why. “Today I heard ‘oh, well, we weren’t invited’. Well, you’ve been there for three years … You should have never started it. You could have made a deal.”

Misstate the truth to fit your story. Straight out of Orwell.

Three: And then there is the following from the NY Times.

The Department of Government Efficiency, the federal cost-cutting initiative championed by Elon Musk, published on Monday a list of government contracts it has canceled, together amounting to about $16 billion in savings itemized on a new “wall of receipts” on its website.

Almost half of those line-item savings could be attributed to a single $8 billion contract for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. But it appears that the DOGE list vastly overstated the actual intended value of that contract. A closer scrutiny of a federal database shows that a recent version of the contract was for $8 million, not $8 billion.

By examining past versions of the contract listed on the Federal Procurement Data System, The Upshot determined that the federal award, approved in September 2022, had initially listed a total value of $8 billion. But on Jan. 22 this year, that figure was updated to $8 million. According to the database, the contract was terminated about a week later. (For context, $8 billion is nearly the size of the entire budget of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

Misstate the facts to enhance your value. Straight out of Orwell

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More on the Thursday Night Massacre.

Quote of the Day: “Over the last week, we’ve seen brave people sacrificing their careers to stand for American principles. People who fight hard to get these difficult-to-come-by Justice Department jobs don’t just walk away from them for no reason. They walk away, even though it would be easy for them to stay, because they understand something important: that the rule of law still matters, that it may, in the end, be the only thing that can protect us, and that we need to wake the country up while there’s still time.” Joyce Vance

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This is not a good look for my old high school.

Onion of the Day: River Rouge School District superintendent Derrick Coleman.

Coleman was a strong proponent of hiring Crowell as River Rouge’s new football coach, despite Crowell’s past transgressions. “Even as a district with students who we recruit, we’ve always been a place of second chances,” Coleman told the Free Press on January 31, 2025. “I thought that in speaking with him there was a high level of contrition. He owned those things that he had done wrong. He talked about lessons learned from it.”

I wonder how Colemen is feeling after this weekend.

Per the Detroit Free Press. River Rouge football coach Jermain Crowell served time in the Oakland County Jail from Feb. 14-17 for violating his probation stemming from a 2023 misdemeanor for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

According to documents from the 44th District Court in Royal Oak, Crowell pleaded guilty to a violation of his probation on Jan. 29 and was ordered to serve four days in jail starting on Feb. 14. It was alleged that Crowell failed to submit six random alcohol and drug screenings in October and November, according to the court records.

This is not a good look for my old high school. However, it is not a surprise for people in the know of how Crowell operated at Belleville High School when he was the head football coach there. He was ultimately suspended for two years by the MHSAA.

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Quote of the Day: See above under More on the Thursday Night Massacre.

Orchid of the Day: Coen Carr of the MSU men’s basketball team. I could watch him play all day long. His athleticism is off the charts. He is going to hit his head on the rim one day and knock himself out.

Lyrics of the Day: Slipped me notes under the desk, while I was thinkin' about her dress. I was shy, I turned away before she caught my eye
I was shakin' in my shoes whenever she flashed those baby blues.
Something had a hold on me when angel passed close by. Those soft, fuzzy sweaters, too magical to touch.

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 18, 2025: Uptown Funk, Bruno Mars

“Question of the Day: See above.

Video of the Day: If this doesn’t make you smile, you have issues.

Dwayne Johnson's "Stayin' Alive" vs. Jimmy Fallon's "Like A Prayer" | Lip Sync Battle

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