A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled it illegal to fire someone from their job for being gay or transgender on Monday.
The case has a Michigan component, as one of the plaintiffs was the late Aimee Stephens, who was fired from her job at a Detroit funeral home when she told her employer that she was transitioning back in 2012. WDIV tells her story Supreme Court rules LGBT workers are protected under the civil rights act.
Justices rule LGBT people protected from job discrimination
Monday's Supreme Court ruling is being hailed as a landmark victory for the LGBTQ community in the middle of pride month, but Michigan advocacy groups say there's much more work to be done.
Gender identity and sexual orientation are still not protected classes under Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
Nessel should know about advancing LGBT equality; she was the attorney I quoted in U.S. Supreme Court to hear Michigan marriage equality case, which became part of Obergefell v. Hodges, the case that legalized marriage equality. Once again, Michigan was part of a case that advanced equal rights for LGBTQ Americans.
Eight remaining Flint water prosecutions have been dismissed by the Department of Attorney General, officials said Thursday, June 13, 2019. Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy issued a statement saying the cases are being dismissed without prejudice -- meaning they could be refiled -- in order to conduct a full and complete investigation, a shocking conclusion to the high-profile criminal prosecutions.
This video presented the headlines and facts, although I think its interpretation that this is the conclusion of the case is premature. WXYZ had the reactions from officials and people on the street in its two videos, beginning with last night's Flint Water Crisis: Charges Dropped.
WXYZ captured the desire for justice from both expert observers and the people affected, which included the possibility that charges will likely be refiled and the resulting cases will be stronger.
The Michigan Attorney General's office announced Thursday that they have dismissed all pending criminal cases connected to the Flint Water Crisis that were brought by the former Office of Special Counsel.
The quote from Former Attorney General Bill Schuette reminds me that Iwasverycynical about how he handled this case and still think Dana Nessel's more direct approach is a necessary improvement.
The attorney general says her office will not respond further on the investigation until prosecutors speak directly to the people of Flint.
I'm looking forward to hearing and reading more on this investigation at the end of the month. Until then, this news just reinforces my observation that "The wheels of justice are grinding slowly in this case, but I expect they will indeed grind exceedingly fine." If anything, they're grinding even slower than I expected, but also much finer.
Measles, mumps and rubella: Why are we starting to see the return of these diseases in the U.S.? It begins with the anti-vax movement.
A measles outbreak in Rockland County, New York, has forced officials to declare a state of emergency in the sixth and largest outbreak across the United States this year, according to the CDC. The New York County has identified 157 measles cases since October, causing health officials to ban anyone under 18 and not vaccinated against measles from public places. The ban will last for 30 days or until the entire community is vaccinated.
Rockland County in New York may have the largest and best publicized outbreak in the country, but it isn't the only one. Another one is taking place in the Michigan where I live and work. In fact, the center of the outbreak is only a mile away from where I do most of my teaching. WDIV reported on the outbreak last week in Tracking the measles outbreak.
There has been a outbreak of the measles virus in Oakland county, with 18 confirmed cases since March 13.
I shop at the Meijer shown in the video, which is on the way home from work, so this really hits close to home.
After several new confirmed cases of measles in Michigan, State Health officials are closely watching the outbreak of the virus thought to be long gone in the United States.
I'm sure I was vaccinated as a kid in California more than 50 years ago, but I don't know if I got a booster. I think I will call my mom to see if she remembers.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has been added to the team investigating and prosecuting the criminal cases involved in the Flint Water Crisis. Michigan Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud made the announcement on Thursday in Lansing as Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel updated the Flint investigation, the investigation into Michigan State and Larry Nassar, and the Catholic church sex abuse investigation.
I'm glad to see both Attorney General Nessel and Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud becoming more involved in the prosecution of the people responsible for the Flint Water Crisis. Iwasverycynical about how the former Attorney General Bill Schuette handled this case and think Nessel's more direct approach is a necessary improvement. As for the two sexual abuse scandals, I mentione the one involving the Catholic Church in Failures and abuses of government and adult leadership unite Outstanding Television Movie nominees at the 2018 Primetime Emmy Awards but avoided the one involving Larry Nassar and MSU until now. Since it has become an issue of governance instead of a sexual abuse scandal in sports, I expect I might write more about it now.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is pledging to push for justice in three major investigations her office is overseeing, including the Flint water crisis.
Between incompetent election officials, poorly designed ballots and outdated machinery, it’s no wonder the Florida recount is a huge mess.
Good lord, what's with Florida and recounts made worse by incompetence, partisanship, and poor technical support? Don't answer; it's one of my rare rhetorical questions.
A machine recount that ended Thursday showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott narrowly leading.
I expect Rick Scott will eventually win. In the meantime, I anticipate more bizarre news out of Florida. That's normal. I wrote six years ago "this is Florida, which is known for the crazy news it produces. As an expatriate Californian, I'm perversely glad that it had the insane reputation that it does; it makes California, especially southern California, look good." I'd say "Florida, stay crazy" except that this is one of those cases where The Sunshine State is causing trouble for the rest of us and not just being entertainingly weird.
It has been a rocky run for Sears and its sister store, Kmart. In October, parent company Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced it would be closing more than 100 stores before the end of the year.
But it's not giving up without a fight. The beleaguered chain is ramping up for the holiday shopping season and reminding customers that it's still very much open for business.
This year, Kmart stores will be open from 6 a.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving, before reopening at 6 a.m. on Black Friday — a slight extension on last year's opening hours. Most Sears stores will open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and close at midnight, then reopen at 5 a.m. on Black Friday.
Shoppers should expect to see some big discounts, especially as the company looks to clear inventory from the 142 stores that it said it would be closing before year-end.
Oh, my, the stink ofretail desperation is strong with this one — not that I blame Sears Holdings. The company and its creditors need every dime they can get. They just won't get any from me, as Black Friday is BuyNothing Day for me.
Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon will stand trial in a case tied to the Flint Water Crisis. A judge bound Lyon over on two counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of misconduct in office. Judge David Goggins found probable cause that Lyon failed to perform his duties to protect the public and that he failed to notify the public in a timely basis.
This case is not about lead poisoning of Flint's water supply. Instead, it's about the mishandling and coverup of an outbreak of Legionnaire's Disease in Flint that happened concurrently with the lead contamination. Just the same, it's related.
Defense attorney John Bursch, who represents Nick Lyon, speaks after Genesee District Judge David J. Goggins bound Lyon’s case over to Genesee Circuit Court for trial on Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, on two counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths of two men and one count of misconduct in office. Lyon, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, also faces one misdemeanor count of willful neglect of duty.
An attorney for Michigan's top health director says he will appeal a judge's decision that sends Nick Lyon to trial for charges connected to the Flint water crisis.
Animals are evolving to live in cities. They can change their behavior and biology to thrive in a place meant for humans.
While I knew about how coyotes changed their behavior around people (the neighborhood in Los Angeles where I grew up had coyotes coming down out of the hills to hunt cats 50 years ago), I didn't know about how birds change the pitch of their songs or how city mice have larger brains than country mice -- city living makes animals smarter too!
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is offering new advice to help neighbors make their homes less appealing to coyotes as the number of coyote sightings in residential neighborhoods increases. Biology experts said coyotes are looking for food and residential neighborhoods can make that search easy. Put away your trash bins, bird feeders and pet food so coyotes are not attracted to them. Keep these kind of items away from your yard.
I learned something from both videos, making the time watching them well spent. Any day I learn something is a good day and I hope its a good day for my readers, too.
Today is Fat Tuesday so bakeries all over the state are making paczki for the last day before lent. For those who don't know, a paczki is basically a jelly doughnut. Jeff Schook, the COO of Quality Dairy says this is the biggest day of the year. They start making the paczki on February 17th. The most popular flavors are raspberry, cream cheese, and custard.
Whatever else I think of WXYZ's reporting, they do great "man (or woman) on the street" interviews and this spot is no exception. Some "short end of the stick!"
That's it for February. I'll see my readers again at midnight for a new month, which marks six years of this blog!
That a third of precincts in Detroit may be ineligible for a recount is not good news for anyone having their hopes up that this recount will change the result of the election. If anything, Trump's lead may increase because of it. It also makes me even less enamored of both Janice Winfrey, the Detroit City Clerk, and Cathy M. Garrett, the Wayne County Clerk. Neither one of them appears to be running a tight ship, or otherwise these kinds of irregularities would happen so frequently. If either ever is up for nomination at a Michigan Democratic Convention for Secretary of State, I'm not voting for them and might just see if I could join a group to recruit another candidate. Barb Byrum in Ingham County or Lisa Brown in Oakland County, the first two counties to participate in the recount, would be my choices.
As for the hearing in Lansing and the appeal to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, stay tuned. This party might end prematurely.
The laws on drones are continuing to evolve. For the most part, it's been a privacy issue: keep your drone out of my yard, don't use it take my picture. But the federal law is no longer fuzzy on firearms, according Elizabeth Corey with Federal Aviation Authority.
It's been against FAA rules to arm personal aircraft like planes for years, but just Tuesday it released a finalized version of rules for unmanned aircrafts, Corey said.
"Firearms are not allowed, and careless and reckless operation would be a regulatory violation," Corey said in an email.
Hoadley said while it's against federal regulations, it's still good to put something on the Michigan state books so it can dealt with by local prosecutors, who might be more vigilant than federal prosecutors, which I think is a good point.
Detroit's population decline has now pushed it out of the top 20 cities.
While the ongoing story of Detroit shrinking is the same one that I've been covering since the second post on this blog, I'm glad to note the good news that Downtown, Midtown, and the riverfront are growing and the rate of population loss is slowing. When I wrote "It's an exciting time to live here, and I wouldn't miss it for the world" in April 2011, this is the kind of development, pun intended, I was hoping for.
Detroit didn't just fall behind Denver last year, it dropped below Seattle, too. El Paso passed Detroit a year earlier. The next cities to grow larger than Detroit proper will be Washington D.C. and Boston.
Not all the population news was bad, that is, if one favors population growth. Fox 47 reported Lansing's Population is Growing.
Most cities in Michigan are losing population. But Lansing is one of the few that's actually growing.
Lansing is not alone. MLive published a slideshow listing the five biggest gainers and losers in the state. It lists Macomb Township, Novi, Shelby Township, Dearborn, and Southfield in the top five, along with Clinton Township and Canton Township gaining more than 3,000 people since 2010, followed by Lyon Township, which had the highest five-year percentage population growth rate of any municipality in the state, then Hamtramck, Pontiac, Sterling Heights, Farmington Hills, Birmingham, Rochester Hills, and Troy. Detroit may be shrinking, but its suburbs are still booming.
Among Michigan's six cities with more than 100,000 people, Grand Rapids saw the biggest increase. Its population was estimated at 195,097 in 2015 -- up 848 people from the previous year.
Since 2010, Grand Rapids' population has increased by 7,043 people, or 3.7 percent. The only other place in Michigan with a bigger increase during that same period is Macomb Township, which grew by 7,299 people.
It doesn’t take an expert to look around and see the cranes dotting the Grand Rapids skyline and realize we are a growing city.
Detroit isn't the only big city in Michigan experiencing a revival of urban living. As for a goal of 10,000 housing units in downtown Grand Rapids, that's ambitious, but I'm still in favor of it. It will reduce sprawl and all its ills.
The Republican-led Senate on Wednesday approved a $1.5 billion plan to improve deteriorating Michigan roads by raising fuel taxes and redirecting money from elsewhere in the budget.
Next, back to the Michigan House in two weeks. Looks like it will be a long summer before this issue is resolved.
Michigan on Monday said Canadian geese in the state tested positive for a lethal strain of bird flu, bringing the worst outbreak of the disease in U.S. history to a 21st state. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, three young geese collected in Sterling Heights, Michigan, about 20 miles north of Detroit, were infected with the highly pathogenic H5N2 flu strain. Director Keith Creagh said the state is now focusing on preventing the spread of the disease to poultry. According to the department, Michigan is the 21st state to confirm a case of bird flu since late 2014 and the sixth to detect it only in wild or free-ranging birds.
Nationwide, more than 46 million chickens and turkeys have been killed by the disease or culled to prevent its spread. Most are in Iowa, the top U.S. egg-producing state, and Minnesota, the nation's top turkey-producing state.
Follow over the jump for the responses to this discovery.
