Question 1): President Donald J. Trump has been doing a lot of ‘thinking outside the box’ lately, as he is wont to do. So, which of his proposals is most likely to happen? The United States acquires Greenland? The U.S. takes ownership of Gaza and kicks the Palestinians out, at least temporarily? Canada becomes a U.S. state? The U.S. takes back the Panama Canal? Mt. Denali is renamed Mt. McKinley? The world recognizes the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America?
Answer 1): Only returning Mount Denali to its original name of Mt. McKinley, which is already in motion to happen within 30 days. After all, it was former President Barack Obama who, just a decade ago, changed the moniker for the Alaskan peak to Denali in the first place. Later, President Joe Biden repeatedly renamed parks, buildings, military installations and mountains. In this instance, at least, Trump is simply returning to the status quo ante.
None of the other Trump proposals will happen, although there could be some significant military strategic changes forthcoming in Greenland and Panama. Also, with Canada, Trump’s statehood proposal, combined with his tariff threats, could be a prelude to a renegotiation of NAFTA and other agreements that are more favorable to the United States. The world outside the USA will never accept the Gulf name change, even if Google and some American maps might reflect it for a short time.
Remember, Trump’s stock-in-trade is ‘deal-making,’ which he thinks works for him. These proposals are really just the start of ‘negotiations,’ and we’ll find out where they lead.
*******************************************************************
Question 2): As Michigan capitol observers know, last July the state Supreme Court ruled that, back in 2018, lawmakers unconstitutionally adopted and amended (in the same year) an initiative petition on raising the minimum wage and expanding paid sick leave, essentially rejecting the original proposal instead of sending it to the statewide ballot for voters to decide.
Because of the ruling, the sub-minimum wage for tipped employees –– like waitstaff and bartenders — will go from $3.93 to $5.76 per hour this coming Friday (Feb. 21). Additionally, employers with 10 or more workers must immediately provide 72 hours of yearly sick time, with workers needing to have at least 30 hours of worked wages for each hour of sick time.
For tipped employees, the sub-minimum wage will be gradually eliminated, transitioning into the full minimum wage by Feb. 21, 2030. The scheduled changes also include raising the minimum wage from present-day $10.33 per hour to $15 in 2028, adjusting automatically afterward to inflation.
However, the high bench decreed that a future Legislature (like the current 103rd) could amend the statute if it chose to. Last month, the new House Republican majority, with scattered Democratic support, did pass legislation to save the tipped credit and amend the minimum wage increase and paid sick leave and sent the bills to the Senate. The chairman of the Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee, Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) told MIRS newsletter, “The House bills are just a regurgitation of the gutting of the ballot proposals, and I do not support those bills as written. I think (they’re) just a repeat of the actions that got us into the situation that we’re in right now.”
But that was before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, just prior to embarking on a 10-day trip to the Middle East, said she was open to some alteration of the statutes that the Michigan hospitality industry — including much of its waitstaff — say would be catastrophic, and that she looked forward to the Legislature “working it out” and sending her bills that she could sign. The next day, she went even further by urging the Legislature — if it can’t work out its differences now — to extend the deadline for the new law to take effect to July 1.
This past Thursday, the Senate did indeed pass a bipartisan compromise, by a vote of 20-8 (eight Democrats, including Moss, voted for it), on the tipped minimum wage part of the imbroglio. It now goes to the House, where Speaker Matt Hall (R-Kalamazoo Co.) has supported what the Senate has passed. because Hall says the Senate majority Democrats have met him ‘half-way.’ Hall also has thrown cold water on Whitmer’s proposal to extend the deadline, saying he wants the whole controversy resolved by week’s end.
Meanwhile, organized labor, a major Democratic client group, remains opposed to any changes whatsoever to the new law and lashed out Friday against the eight Senate Democrats who voted to alter it. Elements of the hospitality industry said they were pleased with the Senate action but concerned about what might happen next.
So the salient question is — What are the chances that ‘compromise’ legislation retaining the tipped wage credit and adjusting earned sick time will be worked out between the House Republicans and Senate Democrats and Whitmer before the ‘deadline’ is reached at the end of this week? And will the compromise, which will require Republican votes, be enough to take this issue off the table for GOP lawmakers, who have pledged to make the unamended law a major issue in the 2026 election? Or will the deadline be extended, as Whitmer has proposed?
Answer 2): If Democrats in both chambers cooperate with House Speaker Hall and accept his latest compromise proposal before the small business community and tipped workers face the consequences, these issues may largely go away. But if a fix doesn’t happen this coming week, and restaurants close and there are layoffs, the rhetoric is likely to persist, at least till July 1. It’s hard to believe Whitmer and the Democrats want that, even for the next four-plus months, especially if President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress pass ‘No Tax on Tips’ and ‘No Tax on Overtime’ at the federal level.
Ultimately, it all depends on where these issues are at in 2026. The business community wants them resolved immediately, and Hall and the Republicans have seized the issues as an avenue to increasing their incursion into the working-class vote. Republicans perceive themselves as offering solutions to small business complaints as well as ‘Fix the Damn Roads’ and other issues, contending that Democrats offer nothing but corporate welfare, higher taxes and more state spending and woke social policy — all issues that have been rejected by the voters.
*************************************************
I agree none of his proposals will see the light of day. Why is Trump WASTING such time on nonsense?
The plan to annex Canada reminds me of “Anschluss” between the Third Reich and Austria in 1938.
On a more humorous note, it also reminds me of the Michael Moore 1995 comedy “Canadian Bacon”.
Whew! From the prelude of the deadliest conflict in history to one of the funniest comedies of the ’90’s decade. Never let it be said TBR doesn’t cover the whole waterfront.
And the likely Putin/Trump meeting reminds me of Yalta.
Frankly, this is one topic I agree with Donald Trump 100%.
Russia and Putin have been wrongfully vilified in the media as the “bad guys” in the Ukrainian War.
Ukraine is the real culprit and Trump needs to support Putin to ensure Ukraine and its megalomaniacal leader are defeated.
Biden backed and financed the corrupt Ukrainian regime in Kiev.
Yes, that was my initial reaction – either Trump or one of his advisors saw the film “Canadian Bacon” and thought it would be a great idea to annex Canada.
I uploaded the YouTube movie trailer for the film and the comments are calling Michael Moore prophetic. Alan Alda, who depicted the U.S. president in the film, must now be proud.
Did not know “Canadian Bacon” had general release. It is funnier than any of Moore’s other diatribes. He showed it with a personal introduction in Traverse City.
Neither Moore nor Trump have anything to offer the public that is worth emulating today.
“Canadian Bacon” made most of its revenues off of video sales after a brief theatric release.
It was largely panned by critics when released. However it has a cult following among many – including Michael Moore fans.
It is now an example of life imitating art.
Hilarious!
The Times of Israel reported today that the vaunted “Trump Plan” for removal of the natives of Gaza is the way to go per Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. The prime minister bragged that they were on the verge of defeating Hamas fully and finally. When extremist Israeli Member of Kneeset in the late 1980s proposed deportation of Palestinians with compensation he was viewed as a kook by almost everyone – today Trump goes one step further and wants Gazans expelled without remuneration since their properties have been demolished anyways
Problem is that this projected removal of Arabs from Gaza constitutes ethnic cleansing under international law – and Rep. Al Green of Texas has filed Articles of Impeachment against President Trump in response to this absurd proposal.
The one good thing Trump is doing is having Steve Witkoff work diligently on getting the hostages released from Hamas custody. Three more came home yesterday and the cease-fire framework remains in place.
The Trump plans for Canada and Greenland remind one of Manifest Destiny or Lebensraum. The expansionist ramblings as a manifestation of ethnocentric nationalism.
MAGA, baby! Strap in for a ride on the whirlwind. It’s been a long time coming. Finally, a reckoning!
A reckoning??We don’t need a reckoning from the most corrupt, moronic and distasteful Prez in history. Mt. McKinley is not wanted by Alaskans and we should not honor someone who never set foot in Alaska.
I am a longtime GOP activist and I am not enamored with Donald Trump – but I am far less impressed with Biden, Kamala and Ms. Clinton.
What is amazing is how low the quality is of our elected officials that are primarily minions of well-oiled political machines.
NO “insider” GOP leader in Michigan likes Mr. Trump – they grind their teeth and wince but have to cater to his populist following. I will be seeing that this upcoming weekend when I will be attending the Michigan Republican Party convention.
When MAGA fanatics – led by Kristina Karamo – took over the Michigan Republicans in 2022 it was an unprecedented administrative disaster. The official HQ became a UPS box in Grand Rapids. This lack of organization contributed to the GOP electoral setbacks in November of 2022 partisan candidate races as Karamo admitted the state GOP lacked funding to support candidates in close races..
This Democrat is happy to see the tipped wage being adjusted. But if anyone thinks taxes on tips or overtime will be eliminated as promised by Trump, you are smoking too much legalized marijuana.
Bill! Another priceless gem. Sure wish you had made the OTR panel this week. I think you could have added a lot to the play-by-play.
Wrt Q#1: DJT wasn’t my first choice back in 2015. But he sure is now. I love it, I love it . . . and oh by the way, I love it. The theatrics are worth any price of admission.
– Carter was crazy for giving the canal away. Panama should have been made a US territory ever since Reagan nabbed Noriega.
– The US protected Greenland during WWII. The inhabitants loved us then, they love us now. Send a few thousand emigres to the island to clinch the deal.
– I recall debates concerning Canada from back in the ’60’s. I don’t want all of Canada, just those provinces west of Ontario. They would balance Puerto Rico, Guam, DC and the Virgin Islands that the Dems want to add as states. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, NW Territories, Nunavut, Yukon and, yes, even British Columbia would be fair trade for the Dem inspired states. Shucks, I’d even be willing to take in Nova Scotia, Labrador and Prince Edward Island. And I bet the inhabitants would vote in favor of succeeding from Canada to the US. They took polls in the ’60’s indicating as much.
– Cape Canaveral should never have been changed to Cape Kennedy. The space center change was fine. Got fixed in retrospect. Sounds like a similar arrangement can be made between the mountain and the national park.
– The Palestinian moves are for their own safety and only temporary unless they want to emigrate permanently (which they’ve been asking for, for decades). I think this is prompting the Muslim nations to act. Current plan from that direction says they want to work around the inhabitants which can probably be worked out.
– Gulf of America? Who cares except I can’t think of a better way to tweak Pres Sheinbaum’s nose.
Wrt Q#2: I think the Michigan changes will be superseded by what will transpire at the national level. Let’s wait for that to settle.
Great job, Bill!
Interesting world these days I must admit. I’m certainly disappointed in attacking our friends north of the border, one who we have depended on for many years and we have deep ties to. I’m confident that it’s mostly blather and hopefully will get resolved without too much hard feelings aside from some pissed off Canadian hockey fans.
As for the Gulf of America/Mexico flap, President Sheinbaum had the best retort when she simply told us we could call it anything we want but the rest of the world would probably keep it the Gulf of Mexico.
The Greenland situation is different since I suspect the wily Danes will leverage this for more economic assistance and we’ll gain access to resources and military capabilities which is after all what we want. People keep forgetting that we bought the Virgin Islands from the Danes and changed the name so I suspect it’s a negotiating ploy on both parts.
Who cares about Denali/McKinley? Obama changed it for purely ideological and his personal political reasons so I suppose Trump can change it back.
I like what they did to Fort Bragg in North Carolina – the Biden administration abolished that name in 2023 since it was associated with the Confederate General Braxton Bragg.
A public contest to re-name it after Biden removed the name at it had been re-named by Biden’s team. That contest resulted it in being re-named “Fort Bragg” all over again – this time after an obscure private first class who was awarded a Purple Heat and Silver Star in World War II.
Southerners reveled in the restoration of “Fort Bragg” by the Trump administration. The “Stars and Bars” made a comeback in Fayetteville, NC!
Does anyone remember the restaurant and bar owners whining that they would have to go out of business if a smoking ban was enacted? Sorta like doctors whining that they’d be bankrupt if Medicare was passed.
Nothing changed,
I am fully in favor with giving servers minimum wage, Everyone, including the media, seems to have bought the argument that $31,000 is a vast income (what a full-time server would make if they got $15 an hour) and that nobody would tip them ever again, This is all bullshit.
Nightclubs experienced a 30% fall off in their business after the smoking ban in 2010 and never recovered. Full service restaurants eventually adapted by offering outdoor dining and delivery services, after they experienced a 7% fall off. It is difficult to single out the long term effect of the smoking ban on restaurants due to the pandemic convulsions, but the full service restaurant industry has dramatically curtailed service hours since 2010.
The industry has gone through a rotation, with full service restaurants being replaced by counter service and food trucks. This has reduced employment opportunities for wait staff, which is about 70% female in Michigan.
The increase in meal prices which will follow the rise in tipped wages will accelerate this rotation, with adverse consequences for remaining full service restaurant wait staff. Previous adaptations will not offset these cost increases.
Nice article Bill.
QUESTION 1: You’re right about the naming saga of Mt. McKinley/Denali/McKinley. I’m waiting for Senator Murkowski to want it named for her father, or as a sop to the Trumpian wing of the GOP in Alaska to Mt. Palin. And as Salena Zito wrote after the 2016 election, we should not take Trump literally, but we should take him seriously.
GREENLAND: It seems to me that Trump is more concerned about trade routes and defense. If climate change leads to the melting of the Arctic icecap, shipping up there will become very important. Greenland’s defense expenditures in Greenland have not very impressive in terms of manpower or military assets. Though, oddly enough, they recently managed to find $2,100,000,000 (2.1 billion) to now spend on Greenland’s defense since Trump’s comments. Coincidence? I think not. But this is not the first time an American government wanted Greenland. In the Johnson Administration (Andrew not Lyndon), Secretary of State William Seward tried to buy it in 1867. Denmark, tired of his ministrations, made a deal with Great Britain to give the British right of first buying of Greenland. I wonder if Keir Starmer wants it to make people forget how badly his government is doing in Britain. Harry Truman also wanted it. So past is prologue. The one thing left unsaid is where Trump will get the ships to defend this should we buy it as our Navy is a wee bit short of ships now?
CANADA: I believe defense and navigation are what drives Trump here. Canadian defense commitments in their own North are less than what Denmark does for Greenland, and American Presidents have privately complained to Canadian Prime Ministers about this since the time Bill Stoneman threw the first major league no-hitter on Canadian soil. Our public complaints go back to the administration of Bush the Elder, and the rather blunt attacks made by President Obama’s Sec Def that was directed to all of NATO. Unlike the Danes, the Canadians seem disinclined to increase their military spending (though they are willing to boo the “Star Spangled Banner” as we beat their players and their hockey team in Montreal). They now seem willing to discuss building oil pipelines out of Alberta going east and west, something they should have done 20+ years ago. Canada likes being thought of as a “First World” nation, member of the G8 and so on, but without the responsibilities. Maybe Trump will get them to actually do the things that First World nations should do. Or not. And for those who think I am dumping on Canada, my mother’s family comes from Canada. I’m more disappointed than anything else. Canada once had the third largest navy in the world. Not anymore.
GAZA: Memories can run long. As we discuss memories running long, we need to remember Mark Twain and his description of the Holy Land in his “Innocents Abroad” which included Gaza, what is now Israel and what was Trans Jordan. Twain described a land under Ottoman rule that was, at best, dusty and underdeveloped, land that was almost a wasteland. Not exactly what one would expect from a caliphate charged with defending the third holiest site in Islam. The Ottomans thought so highly of the residents and their own skill set at fixing this that they decided to bring back the Jews. Now, Trump wants the Gazans to go to Egypt or Jordan. The Egyptians want nothing to do with Gaza. They built a wall along their Gaza border that would make Donald Trump green with envy. And remember, it wasn’t that long ago that the Egyptians actually governed Gaza. They want nothing to do with it or its people. As for Jordan, the Palestinians were welcomed into Jordan and effectively governed themselves as a separate state. They rewarded Jordan by waging war against it. The current King’s father was King then. The Jordanians drove them out. Some went to Kuwait and did well there until they sided with Saddam Hussein when he invaded Kuwait. Kuwait expelled them and this hurt as the Palestinians were about 20% of the population.
And one more thing we need to consider about Gaza. Bill Clinton was the latest in the series of US President when he tried to get peace between the PLO and Israel. There was a summit here. Israel was willing to give Arafat damn near everything he wanted except for one thing. The stumbling block was “the right of return” that Arafat insisted on. Bill Clinton correctly spotted that this effectively precluded the “two state solution” and would mean the end of Israel and, at best, an uncertain future for the Jews. Arafat had no answer other than he did not want to become another Sadat. Trump seems willing to tell the Gazans that the right of return is a dead letter issue and they should take the deal. King Abdullah seems willing to take a couple thousand sick Gazan children, but he is not keen on taking any more of them. Film at 11.
QUESTION 2: Ah, once again SCOMi (Supreme Court of Michigan, yes I am still trying to get this adopted for our high court) strikes again! They are now learning that judges do not necessarily make the best legislators, appoint I believe Bill has made a time or five. As described in your Question 2, their decision was generally incoherent, irrational and nonsensical. And at the risk of me practicing law interpretation without a law degree, the proper thing for the Court to have done when they said the Constitution did not give the legislature the right to do what they did with the minimum wage petition, they should have said the issue should have been put on the ballot and let both sides fight it out. What an idea, have a political decision actually decided mot by the Courts, but in the most political way possible – voting. What a novel concept! And in the end, it’s a lot less work for the Court and the Legislature to do, not to mention the correct decision.
As for compromise legislation, we will get it if, and only if, Gretchen Whitmer believes it is in her best interest, the AFL-CIO be damned. Though she did choose an interesting time to leave the country. And we should never underestimate the ability and willingness of the GOP legislators to prove they are NOT friends of the working class.
Oops, I made a mistake. In answering question 2, line 3, I wrote appoint. It should have said “a point”.
Mea culpa.
Tim/
Why Israel cannot defeat Gaza:
(A) a 350-mile underground tunnel complex that the IDF has been unable to breach – “Gaza Metro” has been cited as the 8th Wonder of the World – and is the reason why the IDF has prioritized demolishing over 90% of Gazan homes in lieu of further futileattempts to destroy these tunnels – these are similar to the Chu Chi tunnel network used by the Viet Cong against the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War;
(B) U.S. intelligence has confirmed that 10-15,000 new recruits were accepted into Hamas after October 7th, virtually replacing all lost fighters;
(C) underground supply lines are replenishing armaments stockpiles used against Israeli soldiers;
(D) Israel’s economic experts have indicated the Gaza War has cost Israel 67 billion dollars – and that amount is projected to reach $500 billion over a ten-year period.
Trump’s dreams of Gaza development and a deportation of Gazans are a pipe dream as long as the Gaza War continues.
The IDF demonstrated seawater flooding of Gaza tunnels using mining pumps in December 2023. The only factors restraining the IDF are the hostages, who are presumed to be in the tunnels. Why Hamas is slow rolling the agreed upon hostage trades. Once the Israelis decide that no more hostages are alive, the IDF will flood the entire Gaza tunnel complex.
Recruits inducted into Hamas after October 7th would have received very little training and not be a significant factor in this conflict. The IDF has killed somewhere between 7,500 and 15,000 Hamas combatants, so many of the purported 15,000 new recruits are dead. Hamas casualties are uncertain because many are buried in their tunnels and have not yet been dug out.
The Gaza tunnel systems have drainage systems that direct outside water into the water table. They can also seal off areas to prevent further water intrusion.
Many Israeli soldiers have died trying to enter the tunnel system – and a freed Israeli hostage told the Likud-led cabinet not to go down into the tunnels as it would be too dangerous for the IDF.
The U.S. intelligence community acknowledged the new recruits may not have had significant training as the ones who carried out the October 7th attacks.
All Gaza casualty totals are speculative at this point until rubble can be cleared to locate bodies.
The Germans besieging Stalingrad were defeated with a Red Army tunnel system making the warfare akin to Whack-A-Mole. Same with the Viet Cong and Hamas
The IDF have been flooding those military tunnels in Gaza which they are certain do not contain hostages since December. They are using at least five 10,000 cubic meters per hour mining pumps to inject seawater drawn from the Mediterranean. Refer to the several ‘Times of Israel’ articles which include photographs showing 25 cm steel pipes delivering this water directly into tunnels.
The soils of the Gaza Strip cannot drain such large flows of water, regardless of “drainage systems”. Only equal capacity pumps could perform such drainage, and Hamas has neither the fuel or electricity to operate such pumps. Water cannot drain through the substratum of tertiary limestones, calcareous sandstone marls, clay and marine diluvium which is immediately below the thin, calcareous cemented sands in Gaza. Refer to ‘The Soils of Palestine’, a 2001 CHIEAM paper by Zdruli et al.
There were no tunnel systems at Stalingrad. Were you thinking of the two incomplete military tunnels dug under the Dnieper at Kiev by Khrushchev in 1938? Red Army troops did use industrial cellars within Dom Pavlov, the Red October Steel Factory, the Barrikady Arms Factory and the Dzerzhinskiy Tractor Factory during this siege. None of these cellars were interconnected and the Wehrmacht rooted out the Red Army cellar defenders within a month. The Ukrainian Azov battalion surrendered similar industrial cellars in less than a month during the Russian attack on Azovstal in Mariupol during 2022Q2.
Trump’s Canada and Greenland proposals suggest he believes in global warming. There is a race on to clear maritime routes across the Arctic as ice cover thins and shrinks. The Russians dominate long distance, thick ice breaking operations with 46 operational heavy ice breakers, 11 of which are nuclear powered. They have 11 more heavy, nuclear powered breakers under construction and 4 more in the planning stages.
The USCG has two heavy conventional icebreakers which are at the end of their lives. One is already laid up in the scrap yard. USCG also have one medium conventional ice breaker which has been laid up for years as it catches fire every time it puts out to sea. They just bought a medium ice breaking tug from a private operation and it may be put to sea as an ice breaker later this year.
We have no hope of catching up to the Russians – and their Chinese compatriots – in ice breaking at any time in the future, despite firing the completely incompetent DEI Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan. The Canadian and Danish military organizations are feckless and the Russians would clear them out of the Arctic in a hot second. Russia, with 144 million people, has managed to stand off all of NATO, with more than 800 million people, in Ukraine. The Russians now have the most experienced fighting forces in the world and are seething with rage at NATO. They are devoting 7% of their GDP to military operations and acquisitions. They have the capability to completely exclude us from the Arctic, unless we want to engage in thermonuclear war.
So Trump and his military advisors are deadly serious about taking over the northern reaches of Canada and Greenland. It would give us a fighting chance to operate maritime routes across their northern reaches. Assuming Secretary Hegseth can restore the war fighting capabilities of the U.S. Navy and Secretary Noem can revitalize the USCG, we might not get locked out of the Arctic.
If Trump and his team don’t succeed and we get locked out of the Arctic, the Russians and Chinese will eat us alive commercially.
You’re right as we lack the shipbuilding capability needed to cover this. This has been a problem since Reagan dropped subsidies for ship building. With only 4 Navy Yards, we CAN’T build the ships. And it takes too bloody long build ships here (some of that is due to the Admirals changing the bloody designs while the ships are being built). To build them, we will have to partner with South Korea and Japan, for both warships and merchant vessels. That will be an interesting thing to see.
The Northwest Passage had been navigated by Captain Wm. Parry in 1819-20.
That passage has only two hamlets north of it Resolute on Cornwallis Island and Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island. These are inhabited by Inuits who settled here in the 20th century at the request of the Canadian government with the intent that Canadian sovereignty could be more legitimately exercised with human settlements in the area.
Very little other human activity exists today north of the route taken by Capt. Parry – there is a military base at Alert on Ellesmere Island, a McGill University research station at Axel Heiberg Island and scientific studies are conducted onsite at Devon Island – the largest uninhabited island in the world.
The Northwest Passage is unlikely to become a major maritime commerce route, even if global warming reduces ice thicknesses. The more direct Northern Sea Route, and eventually the Transpolar Sea Route, will become the preferred routes if global warming does sufficiently thin the arctic ice. Both of these routes run along the eastern seaboard of Greenland.
The latest Russian Arktika class nuclear icebreakers can clear a path through 9 foot sea ice without any assistance from tethered hovercraft. With tethered hovercraft, they can probably break twice that thickness.
I completely agree with your answer to number one. Trump is a master of hallucinating and providing a “red herring” so that no one will really look inside some other Major ISSUES.
The state legislature needs leaders who can provide DELICATE COMPROMISE and CONSENSUS on the tipped wage and earned sick time.
It doesn’t appear that they have either state legislators or a governor who can consummate this deal by Friday, February 21
Thirdly, I must mention the focus of people in Southeast Michigan on Michigan’s children — two of whom died in a van outside a casino in Detroit at 1 AM.
Further, we have 60,000+ of Michigan’s children who are unaccounted for and NOT registered with the Michigan Department of Education.
We all have a lot to pray about. My wife and I looking forward to the Judge Damon Keith Soulfood luncheon this Thursday, February 20
I was at the Michigan Republican Convention this Friday and Saturday in Detroit at Huntington Place.
MAGA fanatics were everywhere and candidates for MIGOP chairman and vice-chairman positions were bending over backwards to the convened delegates to convince them of their fealty to Donald Trump.
Just shook hands with Mike Rogers this morning as he was promoting his possible 2026 candidacy – while I was eating a complimentary breakfast courtesy of his campaign.
No one cares about substantive issues anymore – just rantings from Trumpworld that make little sense. And the Dems down the street on Jefferson have little better to offer as Lavora Barnes turns over the reins to a new chair – likely Curtis Hertel, Jr.
A personality of cult has taken over MIGOP – sad reckonings for the Michigan Dems, though under a projected Hertel chairmanship..
State Senator Jim Runestead – with no appreciable link to Donald Trump – receives 63% of the GOP delegate vote over a candidate that is endorsed by Trump – and a former State Department ambassador under President Trump in his first term finishes in last place on the first ballot.
So much for the theory that Trump has influence among grassroots Republicans in Michigan.
William McKinley was the Century XIX Republican expert on protective and retaliatory tariffs. His short lived Tariff Act of 1890 was the ancestor of President Trump’s current tariff proposals. It was killed by public demands in the wake of the Panic of 1893, which was actually caused by free trade. Economists and the public were not very good at analyzing cause and effect in those days.
Trump seems drawn to emulate two prior presidents, Andrew Jackson and William McKinley. Unsurprising that he would restore McKinley’s namesake mountain.
We didn’t take notice when Reagan showed the first signs of Alzheimer’s; the White House successfully pushed aside initial doubts about Joe Biden’s intellectual fitness until the issue exploded during the debate. A case can be made that Trump is mentally failing, and that the real decisions are being made by a handful of extremist senior staff and the bizarrely unique Elon Musk. (Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, seems out of the decision making loop but Steven Miller, her deputy, is not.)
We can never ever forget that a President has the power to unleash a nuclear attack. With someone as totally unpredictable as Trump, you have to wonder if he’d use that power to advance his outlandish territorial demands.
The chair of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee was in an assisted living facility for six months due to senility issues and obviously could not function – but no one outside her inner circle was aware of this.
The massacre in Gaza was aided by Biden’s refusal to force a cease-fire that Trump and the rest of the world saw was needed. Biden clearly had mental deficits that should have caused him to step down. Some experts now believe that up to 300,000 of Gaza’s population has died out of a total of 1.9 million.
Having mentally-challenged officials in high office is dangerous to the public safety. There need to be better safeguards.
The Greenland, Canada, Panama, and Gaza public statements are simply transparent negotiating tactics , and fear batting ploys to extract concessions. It is amazing how so many individuals fall for these ideas that risk strong relationships with dependable allies.
I do not see any valid basis of asserting U.S. sovereignty over any of these areas.
Remember the U.S. sacrificing 50,000 American lives during the Vietnam War and eventually after taking Saigon and seeing the Soviet Union collapse and $200 million per annum rent from the Russians for their Cam Ranh Bay military installation dry up the Vietnamese government invited Leon Panetta to visit the area and offer them the base – and Panetta politely declined as U.S. defense secretary after visiting the facility.
The United States Geological Survey estimates the Arctic’s oil and natural gas resources to be about 360 billion barrels (oil equivalent). This is 100 billion barrels oil equivalent greater than Saudi Arabia’s reserves. The Arctic oil and gas is located in seven Arctic basin regions:: Amerasian Basin, Arctic Alaska Basin, East Barents Basin, East Greenland Rift Basin, West Greenland-East Canada Basin, West Siberian Basin, and the Yenisey-Khatanga Basin.
There are also believed to be large deposits of hard rock minerals which would be critical in producing electric vehicles, but little exploration has yet occurred.
President Trump does not seem to be as enthusiastic as his critics are to surrender these natural resources to the Russians.
Bill as to Question # 1 you know how I feel as does every one who knows me .As to
#2 I applaud the Michigan Legislature for
The great Compromise .Refreshing in light of
The Cult in Washington .
These are truly dangerous times ! This assault on democracy the first Amendement,Sue process of Law and Equal protection of the law is Serious Business ! I’m fearful for America !
What is sad about the Michigan Democrats is the stranglehold that the Gretchen Whitmer clique has over the state party organization.
Whitmer has endorsed Curtis Hertel, Jr. over Al Williams, a Detroit activist. Hertel has 90% of the key insider endorsements – although grassroots delegates fell that Williams is a superior candidate.
Al Williams was denied a spot on the ballot due to a technicality and Curtis Hertel, Jr. was made Michigan Dem chair by default.
I am sure that was comforting to those who opposed Hertel’s ascension to the chairmanship and were relying on a contested ballot..
Congratulations to the MIGOP for demonstrating a brief moment of lucidity and foregoing controversy by electing Jim Runestad the Republican Party Chair. By so doing, getting an ideologically solid, pragmatic leader from demographically critical Oakland County. I foresee good things for the beleaguered party.
Thank Joe Cella who – after receiving 23% of the state convention delegate vote for chair – immediately endorsed Jim Runested.
The second ballot was all but assured for a Runestad victory.
The MIGOP is in good hands.