The story of Loving vs. Virginia on Loving Day

Happy Loving Day!

Each year, National Loving Day on June 12th commemorates the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision Loving vs. Virginia. This decision struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in sixteen U.S. states. The ruling cited, “There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause.” In the United States, anti-miscegenation laws were U.S. state laws banning interracial marriage.
...
Childhood friends, Mildred and Richard, met when she was 11, and he was 17. Over the years, they began courting. In 1958, when Mildred turned 18, the couple married in Washington and returned to their hometown north of Richmond. However, two weeks later, authorities arrested the couple. Mildred and Richard did not realize the state of Virginia viewed interracial marriage as illegal. The Lovings pleaded guilty, and to avoid jail time, they agreed to leave Virginia.

While living in Washington D.C., the Lovings started legal action by writing to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Kennedy referred the case to the American Civil Liberties Union. The Warren Court unanimously ruled in their favor, and the Lovings returned to their Virginia home, where they resided with their three children.

The History Channel tells this story in How Loving v. Virginia Led to Legalized Interracial Marriage.

Learn about the landmark Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, which legalized interracial marriage in the United States.

This is the second consecutive day I've featured the 14th Amendment, Section 3 of which I quoted in Noah, Kimmel, and Maher on January 6th hearings yesterday.

The inspiring and aptly named story of the Lovings inspired several films listed on the case's Wikipedia page.

• The first, Mr. and Mrs. Loving (1996), was written and directed by Richard Friedenberg and starred Lela Rochon, Timothy Hutton, and Ruby Dee.[68] According to Mildred Loving, "not much of it was very true. The only part of it right was I had three children."[69][70]
• Nancy Buirski's documentary The Loving Story, premiered on HBO in February 2012[71][72] and won a Peabody Award that year.[73]
• Loving, a dramatized telling of the story based on Buirski's documentary, was released in 2016. It was directed by Jeff Nichols and starred Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton as the Lovings. Negga received an Academy Award nomination for her performance.

PBS NewsHour interviewed the director and stars of the most recent film In 'Loving,' an American story about a marriage worth fighting for five-and-one-half years ago.

A new movie, "Loving," tells the real-life story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a Virginia couple who were arrested because interracial marriage was illegal in their home state. They appealed their case and won a landmark civil rights ruling at the Supreme Court. Jeffrey Brown speaks with director Jeff Nichols and others about how they brought the love story to the screen.

As I wrote, inspiring and aptly named, and it happened only 55 years ago. Just the same, the case remains timely, as U.S. Senator from Indiana Mike Braun answered "yes" to being asked “You would be okay with the Supreme Court leaving the issue of interracial marriage to the states?” This was while Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings were going on. At least Senator Braun walked his response back, telling NBC News “There is no question the Constitution prohibits discrimination of any kind based on race, that is not something that is even up for debate, and I condemn racism in any form...” At least he realized his mistake and tried to correct it. I hope he remembers his second statement for future reference.

That's it for today's Sunday entertainment feature that is also a history lesson. I hope my readers learned something. I know I did.

Phantom Regiment's 'Juliet' for Shakespeare's Birthday

Happy Shakespeare's Birthday! For today's celebration of the Bard of Stratford, I'm turning it into one of my trademark drum corps holidays with Courtney Coulston's New Zealand Girl Reacts to PHANTOM REGIMENT 2011 - JULIET.



That's the second portrayal of "Romeo and Juliet" by a drum corps on a football field I've featured on this blog, but it won't be the last. I was planning on featuring two corps that played Radiohead's "Exit Music (for a Film)," which debuted in the 1996 "Romeo + Juliet" (even though it was not listed in the soundtrack) and was re-used in "Westworld," two years ago, but the pandemic intervened and Shakespeare's Birthday fell on Thursday and Friday, so I used those days for retrospectives instead. Don't worry. I'm still thinking about doing that in the future, but next year I might examine Shakespeare in Star Trek. "The Klingon Hamlet," anyone?

Janina Gavankar and drum corps for Holi

Happy Holi! Two years ago,  I wrote "Maybe I'll redo My three favorite Israeli actresses for Purim and write another post for my favorite Indian or Indian-American actresses as well on Holi. I have a year to think about it." I deferred the idea last year, but noted "That doesn't mean I have given up on the idea for Holi...I might still do it if Inside Edition doesn't make a video for the Hindu holiday this year. Who knows? It could happen." Since Inside Edition still hasn't gotten around to making a video about Holi, I'm featuring one Indian-American actress today who shares my love for drum corps, Janina Gavankar. Watch and listen to her describe her passion for the activity and how she almost marched in Janina Gavankar Interview from Drum Corps International.

Janina Gavankar, star of the TV show True Blood, is a drum corps fan! Dan Potter got the chance to talk to her down on the field during semifinals.

When Gavankar said "Don't be surprised if some of the faces on this field are in her next music video," she wasn't kidding. She followed through in DON'T LOOK DOWN - #JustAddDrumCorps Edition by Janina Gavankar.

Actress and musician, Janina Gavankar, reimagines Martin Garrix's EDM single "Don't Look Down" featuring Usher. By returning to her roots, her vision and arrangement included 50 members of The Jersey Surf Drum and Bugle Corps to turn this song on its head.

I may have heard of Gavankar before, but this video finally brought her to my attention. I've been a fan of hers ever since.

Gavankar had a serious message in addition to the music and entertainment, which she explained in DON'T LOOK DOWN - behind the scenes.

Behind the scenes of Janina Gavankar's reimagining of "Don't Look Down", the #JustAddDrumCorps edition.

She said much of this in the description to the music video itself.

Why’d she do this?
“I’ve been in love with drum corps since I was 13 years old. The level of musicianship, precision, the passion grabbed me and engrained a work ethic in my brain.I’ve been wanting to get back to my roots.”
“Drum Corps International groups are atop the scholastic performing arts pyramid. Faster, higher, louder... standard-setting for marching arts around the world.” More than 8,000 students will audition for less than 3,500 available positions in top-tier DCI ensembles. It’s the best of the best in scholastic marching music.
American arts education funding is in trouble. Support is being taken from programs, robbing students of opportunities to develop important life skills, which pay dividends forever.
”Having an arts education makes you better at whatever you’re going to be. It doesn’t mean you have to end up an artist. I’ve ended up in a completely different field than what I trained in, growing up. But, I am so much stronger, every day, because I have a platform based on an arts education.”

I couldn't say it better myself, so I'm glad to quote her.

I have much more to write about Gavankar and her entertainment career, but I'll save it for a future post. After all, I'm an environmentalist. Not only do I recycle my ideas, I conserve my resources.

FiveThirtyEight asks 'How many Americans believe in love at first sight?' for Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines Day! I had a last-minute change of plans. Instead of a science video in the vein of PBS Eons on the evolution of the heart for Valentines Day, I am featuring FiveThirtyEight asking Do Americans Believe In Love At First Sight?*

How many Americans believe in love at first sight? How many have been ghosted? In this Valentine’s Day episode of “The United Stats of America,” host Galen Druke quizzes people in New York City’s Washington Square Park on all things love, dating and relationships.

I didn't play, but if you did, how did you do on the quizzes? Were you surprised by either the answers or the questions?

Now for a holiday tradition on this blog, a drink recipe from Tipsy Bartender, Valentine's Day Pink Moscato Sangria.

Raspberry Vodka
Pink Moscato
Sprite
Strawberries
Blueberries
Raspberries
Luster Dust

I hadn't posted a Tipsy Bartender recipe for a holiday post here since Christmas, so it was about time I did. Happy Valentine's Day and drink responsibly!

*I decided to be a good environmentalist by conserving my resources. This applies to both the PBS Eons video I originally planned for today along with the other Tipsy Bartender recipes for Valentine's Day. Yes, there are more and I will eventually use them.

Trevor Noah, Joy Reid, and Tiffany Cross interview Questlove, director of Oscar-nominated documentary 'Summer of Soul'

I concluded yesterday's Darwin Day post by telling my readers that "the Sunday entertainment feature...may or may not be on the Super Bowl. I haven't decided yet, so stay tuned." I wasn't feeling like sports or commercials today, so instead I'm updating 'Summer of Soul,' my pick for best documentary of 2021 now that the film earned an Oscar nomination and it's the middle of Black History Month. I begin with Trevor Noah's interview Questlove - Black Woodstock, Black Erasure & Black Joy on "The Daily Show."

“Black joy is the component that shows that we’re human. This could have been that moment had it been allowed the spotlight that Woodstock had gotten.” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson discusses his award-winning documentary “Summer of Soul” and explains why the summer of 1969 wasn’t as one-dimensional as history makes it appear.

Questlove's observations about how this event was lost to history, his own disbelief that it had even happened, casual racism, and "Black joy" are ones that he also made in the MSNBC interviews below, but they are worth hearing and seeing again. I also second Noah's remark that "Summer of Soul" deserves all the awards it has won and will win, although I think the competition with "Flee," which I called "a triple threat" because of its then-expected and now-realized nominations for Best Documentary Feature, Best Animated Feature Film, and Best International Feature Film, will be fierce.

Joy Reid interviewed Questlove for even longer than Noah in Summer Of Soul' Doc Directed By Questlove Celebrates 'Black Woodstock' Hidden From History.

Questlove on directing 'Summer of Soul,' which is now Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary, and how the concert featured has been dubbed the 'Black Woodstock,' hidden from history until this groundbreaking film. 'Summer of Soul' is streaming on Hulu and airs for free on Sunday, Feb. [20] on ABC.

Thanks to Joy for making the Black History Month connection. This rediscovered event qualifies as an important moment in American cultural history. Also, I can relate to Joy's looking for her parents in the crowd. That's something I would do.

Tiffany Cross followed up with her own interview Saturday morning, Questlove's "Summer of Soul" Earns Oscar Nomination For Best Documentary.

More than 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival to watch iconic musicians like Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and more perform at the 1969 summer concert series. Questlove transports us back to that eventful summer in his Oscar-nominated documentary, “Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).”

Here's to hoping "Summer of Soul" wins so that Questlove can give Tiffany Cross a secret signal. If he does, and it's not a lock because of "Flee," I'll be watching for it.

Speaking of "Flee," I plan on writing a post about it, just as I did for "Belfast" and plan to for "Dune." I'll get to both, but only after Valentines Day. Stay tuned.

Happy Year of the Fire Rooster!

Farewell, Year of the Fire Monkey!  It's now the year of the Fire Rooster.  Al Jazeera English has a report on the festivities in China: Celebrations begin for “Year of the Rooster.”

For many workers in China this time of year means a month long holiday.
Saturday will officially mark the beginning of the Year of the Rooster, under the Chinese zodiac.
Al Jazeera’s Adrian Brown reports from Beijing.

Even the Chinese can't escape Donald Trump, although caricaturing him as a rooster is a response I appreciate.

Follow over the jump for two videos from TED on the Chinese zodiac for the holiday.

Drum corps for the Wisconsin Primary

Today is the Wisconsin Presidential Primary, in which Cruz is favored over Trump on the Republican side and Sanders is leading Clinton on the Democratic side. Neither are absolute locks, so it will be worth seeing if Wisconsin is the speed bump that keeps Trump from getting to 1,237 delegates and a first ballot nomination and keeps Bernie's victory streak alive.  While my readers are waiting for the results, I'm going to do the same thing I did for Iowa Caucuses, Super Tuesday, The Ides of March, and Arizona, Utah, and Idaho--share music from marching units from the state having an election.  Drum corps fans already know that Wisconsin has some outstanding drum and bugle corps that I'm pleased to feature, beginning with 2015 Madison Scouts - 78th and Madison.

Madison, WI - 8TH PLACE 88.750

Classic MGM movies staring Gene Kelly influenced "78th & Madison," the title referencing Manhattan and the corps' 78th anniversary year. Listen for the roar of the MGM lion and look for the travel stickers on the prop suitcases that featured cities along the DCI Tour. Be on the lookout for the aspiring Broadway performer who made a performing troupe on his third audition and became smitten with a starlet he saw on a billboard, fantasizing about her while dancing with her silhouette.

The presidential campaigns are often called "The Circus," which happens to be the name of Showtime's series on the election.  I've even called the 2012 campaign that  Another Wisconsin corps has the perfect show for this trope: 2015 Blue Stars - Sideshow.

La Crosse, WI – 11TH PLACE 85.150

In "Sideshow," the color guard section gradually transitioned from being rural members of a circus audience to become circus performers on various sideshow stages. Among those under the big top seen rising in the opener were clowns, a contortionist, a juggler, a unicyclist, a sword-swallower, conjoined twins, a tightrope walker walking over members of the horn line, and a fortuneteller reading the palm of a flugelhorn soloist.

Follow over the jump for more corps.

Monthly meta for February 2016

I haven't posted one of these since Best November ever and other monthly meta.  As I promised to resume doing so in Redistricting reform, the second most read post of blog year five, I'm going to follow through.

Last month was the best February in the history of the blog so far with 33 entries earning 12,256 page views and 36 comments.  Both exceeded February 2015, which had 10,731 page views and 13 comments for 32 entries.  Those stats translate into 422.62 page views per day, 371.39 page views per entry, 1.14 entries per day, 1.24 comments per day, and 1.09 comments per entry.  Even after accounting for the additional day (yay, leap year!), February 2016 had better stats than February 2015--383.25 page views per day, 335.34 page views per entry, 1.14 entries per day (that this stat didn't increase is a good thing; it means I didn't have to work any harder for my page views, one of my goals for the past two years), 0.57 comments per day, and 0.5 comments per entry.  Every single one of those statistics increased (or didn't increase in the case of posts per day) in the direction I wanted it to.

To celebrate these records, I'm sharing the most commented on, liked, shared, and viewed posts from and during February 2016.  I begin with "Super Bowl drinks from Tipsy Bartender" posted on February 7, 2016.  This entry tied for most commented on post for February with four comments.  It fell just outside of the top ten posted during the month with 106 page views according to the raw counter.

Next, "May Leonard Nimoy's memory live long and prosper" from February 28, 2015 was the most liked entry from this blog on Google Plus last month, earning 15 pluses on the last three days of the month when it was shared on the anniversary of Nimoy's death.  It has a total of 18 likes over its history.  It also earned 85 page views that month.

The most saved and liked entry on Pinterest during February was "Final 'Star Wars VII' trailer and reaction" posted on October 25, 2015.  Last month alone, 428 people saved the pin and 68 liked it for a total of 466 saves and 100 likes so far.

Follow over the jump for the most 15 most read entries during last month.

Examiner.com article on polls showing Democrats beating Republicans in Michigan

A poll shows Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders would both defeat Donald Trump and Ted Cruz in Michigan.
NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist College

Poll shows Clinton and Sanders beat Trump and Cruz in Michigan

If the election were held today, both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of New York and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont would win in Michigan over either real estate developer Donald Trump of New York and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.  Both would have larger margins over Trump than Cruz with Sanders earning the bigger victories.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll published Sunday, March 6, showed Clinton would defeat Trump fifty-two percent to thirty-six percent in Michigan, a sixteen point margin.  Sanders would beat Trump even more handily, a twenty-two point lead of fifty-six percent to thirty-four percent.

At Sunday night's Democratic debate in Flint, Sanders pointed out his advantage over Clinton against Trump.  "I would love to run against Donald Trump," Sanders was quoted by Fox News Latino, adding that polls show "Sanders vs. Trump does a lot better than Clinton vs. Trump."

More at the link, including results from other polls and a video recap of last night's debate.

Stay tuned for more coverage through Wednesday.

Happy Leap Year Day!

I began the month by writing by promising to write about "four fun holidays this month, Groundhog Day, Lunar New Year, Fat Tuesday, and Valentines Day, plus a bonus--Leap Year Day" and almost finished it by telling my readers to "Stay tuned for a post about Leap Year Day."  As is my wont, I'm taking a scientific tack in observing it with a video.  Without any further ado, I present Vox's How leap year works.


Vox has more in Because the solar system doesn't care about our calendar.

This fact has been vexing humans for centuries: Earth's year (one orbit around the sun) isn't neatly divisible by its day (one rotation about its axis). One full orbit takes more than 365 days but less than 366.

That's not surprising — there's no reason for the two to be linked. The trouble comes when we try to overlay a useful calendar onto this random system. And as a result, our annual calendar is always slightly wrong.

As the short video above shows, leap year is our jury-rigged solution to this problem. To nudge our calendar closer to accuracy, we simply stick an extra day at the end of February every four years. Without it, our calendar would slowly shift further and further from the true year.

One last time, Happy Leap Year Day!  May you be smarter after reading and watching than you were before!

'Songs about something' and music scores at the Oscars

I recycled Infidel753's comment along with my response at the end of Speculative fiction at the 2016 Razzie Awards.

I hope Lady Gaga wins the best song Oscar, though. I've always liked her. Like Fifty Shades, she offends those people whom, as John Cleese put it, one would truly wish to offend.

Speaking of Lady Gaga, I'll follow up on the music nominees tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

It's tomorrow, so it's time to revisit the nominees for Best Original Song I first mentioned in The songs really are the best part of 'Fifty Shades of Grey'.

First, I invite my readers to Listen To The Oscars’ Best Original Song Nominees along with commentary about each of them from NPR's "Here and Now."  In particular, I want to direct their attention to an observation by guest Mason Daring, a professor of film scoring at Berklee College of Music, a composer of dozens of soundtracks, and a voting member of the music branch.  He noted that this year's batch of nominees had two songs from documentaries (“Til It Happens To You” from “The Hunting Ground” and “Manta Ray” from “Racing Extinction”) but no songs from animated musicals.  He called those two pieces "songs about something" and thought they were the signs of changing times, as he said this was "a year that things matter."  The changing times might affect the chances of what would normally be the favorite, "Writing's on the Wall" from "Spectre," which won the Golden Globe in this category.  Daring opined that a Bond song would normally be a lock, but maybe not this year.

That uncertainty is reflected in the predictions.  FiveThirtyEight included the category in Every Oscar Prediction We Could Find.

Goegan says “Writing’s on the Wall” from “Spectre.” Paddy Power’s favorite is “Til It Happens To You” from “The Hunting Ground,” with 2-to-5 odds.

New York Magazine's Vulture came to a similar conclusion in Vulture’s Final 2016 Oscar Predictions for Every Category.

The best song in this category is "Earned It," but there is no way on Earth that the Academy is going to give an Oscar to Fifty Shades of Grey. Lady Gaga has been promoting her song from The Hunting Ground with a vengeance, and I suspect "Til It Happens to You" has the advantage because of it.

Finally, Predictwise gives Lady Gaga and Diane Warren's song a 68% chance of winning.  "Writing's on the Wall" comes in second at 12%, "Simple Song #3" and "Earned It" are tied at 9%, and "Manta Ray" has a 2% chance of winning.  Based on those odds, plus Lady Gaga's star Power and Warren's many previous nominations with no wins, my head agrees "Til It Happens to You" will win, although my heart is with "Manta Ray" and "Writing's on the Wall."

Follow over the jump for my thoughts on the nominated music scores.

Speculative fiction at the 2016 Razzie Awards

Today, I follow up on the promise I made at the end of The songs really are the best part of 'Fifty Shades of Grey'.

Some of the nominees are genuinely bad.  Some may be the victims of the voters on beating up on trashy popular entertainment for women, no matter how well executed.  "Fifty Shades of Grey" and to a lesser extent "Jupiter Ascending" may be the recipients of such treatment.  I might have more to say about this when I write about speculative fiction at the Razzies.

I explained more in my response to a comment by Infidel753 on that entry.

I think there's more than a touch of misogyny among the Razzie voters, some of whom are confusing a movie who premise they don't like with a genuinely bad movie--"Pixels" and "Fantastic Four," I'm looking at you.

I repeated that promise as an aside in Drink to 'Deadpool's second week on top of the box office.

I'll write more about "Fantastic Four," as well as the previous holder of the Valentines Day/Presidents Day weekend box office record, "Fifty Shades of Grey," when I report on speculative fiction at this year's Razzie Awards.

Before I take my readers over the jump to list the awards, a reminder of the leaders.

The Razzies, which celebrate the year’s worst Hollywood movies and actors by awarding the winners (i.e. the losers) with Golden Raspberries, have awards for Worst Picture, Worst Actress and Worst Actor. And this year, it’s a four-way tie between Fifty Shades, Paul Blart Mall Cop 2, Jupiter Ascending and Pixels leading the nominations with six nods each.

Now, follow over the jump.

Second Examiner.com article on Michigan polls

Sanders and Clinton shaking hands
Hillary Clinton, seen here at the most recent debate with Bernie Sanders, leads the Democratic primary contest in Michigan by thirty-four points according to a Mitchell/Fox 2 Detroit Poll released February 25, 2016.
Win McNamee/Getty Images.

Clinton and Trump maintain double-digit leads in latest Michigan polls

Two polls released this week show both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New York real estate magnate Donald Trump holding their leads in Michigan ten days in advance of the state's presidential primary on March 8.  The polls indicate that Clinton and Trump appear likely to receive more than twice as many votes as their closest competition, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for Clinton and Florida Senator Marco Rubio for Trump.

The Mitchell/Fox 2 Detroit Poll released Thursday, February 25, surveyed both Democrats and Republicans.  It showed that Clinton leads Sanders by thirty-four percent in the Michigan Democratic primary contest, sixty-five percent to thirty-one percent with only four percent undecided.
...
On the Republican side, Trump has maintained his double-digit lead over Rubio and the rest of the remaining field.  Trailing Rubio are Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and neurosurgeon Ben Carson, formerly of Michigan, now from Florida.

More at the link, including highlights of the most recent Target Insyght poll and quotes about both the Democratic and Republican contests.

Follow over the link for my recycled commentary on the Democratic contest in Michigan.

Trump is coming and he's building a wall

It's time to be a good environmentalist and recycle a comment I left at Kunstler's blog last December.

Trump is indeed odious--the f-word has been applied to him, and I don't mean the one for sexual intercourse.  However, people are still capable of laughing at him, as Darth Trump attests.  In that video, he's more gauche than sinister.

Here's another parody video of The Penguin Donald, this time inspired by a show I've used before for political humor, Game of Thrones.  Without any further ado, I present Winter is Trumping.

Armed with a Valyrian steel sword named Deal-Maker, Donald Trump embarks on a quest through Westeros to take care its border policies.

Hat/tip to Infidel753, who got it from Republic of Gilead, who picked it up from BBC News, which had the following to say about it.

Melbourne-based political satirist Huw Parkinson has used clips of the US Republican presidential candidate in a new video for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Insiders show.

In it, real quotes and speeches made famous by Mr Trump have been spliced with scenes from the hit HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones.

When the article was published three days ago, the video had 200,000 views in two days.  Now, it has more than 2,000,000.  It's also garnered a lot of comments, including the following.

"Dirty politics, tension between nations and the pursuit of power - Trump would totally fit in on Game of Thrones," commented YouTube user Meredith Don.

Another user Gillian Walsh said: "Trump's political rallies fit in perfectly on such a violent show. Am I the only one who finds that scary?"

"Donald Trump is Joffrey all grown up," said another user referencing one of the most infamous villains on the show.

Speaking of Joffrey and Trump, here they are together.


I can see the resemblance.

Examiner.com article on Winter Storm Petros

National Weather Service map of Winter Storm Petros in Michigan
The National Weather Service predicted that up to an foot of snow would fall on Detroit Wednesday and Thursday.
NOAA/National Weather Service (public domain)

Winter Storm Petros predicted to cover Detroit's suburbs with heavy snow

At 3:33 P.M. Tuesday, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for Washtenaw, Livingston, Oakland, and Macomb counties.  It also issued a winter weather advisory for Wayne County.  These superseded a winter storm watch issued Monday.
...
The storm, which the Weather Channel dubbed Winter Storm Petros, will drop between eight inches and one foot of snow in Livingston County, most of Oakland County, and the northern parts of Macomb County by the time the system leaves Michigan for Canada on Thursday.  The southeastern corner of Oakland County and the southern portion of Macomb County could see between six and eight inches during the same time.

Wayne County will likely experience two episodes of snowfall, the first between two and five inches during the day on Wednesday and the second between one and three inches Wednesday night into Thursday morning.  In between, the temperature will rise above freezing, so the snow will be replaced by rain.

Details at the link, including a Weather Channel video about the storm.  I can't embed it here (nor would I want to, as I want my readers to watch it at Examiner.com), but I can embed the following video from WOOD-TV: Winter Storm Warning: Heavy, wet snow expected.

A significant storm system will bring heavy, wet snow to West Michigan starting Wednesday. (Feb. 23, 2016)

I expect to have a snow day on Thursday.  Since I'll be on break next week and don't have work on Friday, that would start my vacation a couple of days early.  Let it snow!

The endorsements pour in for Rubio, but the smart money isn't so sure

With the departures of Chris Christie and especially Jeb Bush, the "Establishment lane" to the Republican nomination presents a clear choice between John Kasich/A> and Marco Rubio, and the Establishment has chosen Rubio.

After the Iowa Caucuses, I wrote the smart money and endorsements were more for Rubio than ever.  At that time, Rubio had just passed Bush.  Now, Rubio has shot up from 58 endorsement points to 137 as I write this with more than half of those (72) coming in the past two weeks.  Not only is Rubio in the lead by a wide margin, more than 100 points ahead of Ted Cruz's 22 and Kasich's 20, he's passed both where Ronald Reagan and John McCain were at this point in their campaigns.  The Party has decided on Rubio.

Normally, that would be it, as only one candidate in the past 36 years led in endorsements at this stage of the campaign yet failed to earn the nomination.  That was Dick Gephardt in 1988, who eventually lost the nomination to Mike Dukakis.*  The contrary historical precedent is that no Republican who has won both New Hampshire and South Carolina has failed to win the nomination.  This favors Trump.  Follow over the jump for how the smart money is reacting to that.

Please clap for Jeb Bush as he leaves the island

I wrote that I had a good-bye to Jeb Bush post coming in the footnote to Drink to 'Deadpool's second week on top of the box office.  I could make zombie campaign jokes, but I'm just not feeling it today.  Instead, I'm feeling sorry for the guy. Without any further ado, here's his concession/suspension speech from CSPAN: Jeb Bush Suspends Campaign - FULL SPEECH.

Former Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL) suspend his presidential campaign the night of the South Carolina Republican primary.

Included in his remarks: "I'm proud of the campaign that we've run to unify our county and to advocate conservative solutions that would give more Americans the opportunity to rise up and reach their God-given potential. But, the people of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken and I really respect their decision. So tonight I am suspending my campaign."

I found it quite appropriate that Jeb made a reality TV reference--"my competitors that are remaining on the island"--considering that he lost to a former reality TV star.  I have a clip from Vox about that, but I'll save it for another entry; today is Jeb's day.

The only thing that surprised me about Jeb's announcement was the timing.  I made my bets in the candidate deadpool in the conclusion to Kasich stumps in Michigan.

Would such a performance make him drop out?  Probably not.  Losing Ohio would.  That happens on March 15th, the same day as the Florida primary.  That's when I expect Kasich to exit the contest and perhaps the weaker of Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.  I expect to be writing another farewell post or two that week.

Good thing I didn't wager any money; I'd have lost it.

Follow over the jump for analyses of Jeb's failed candidacy.

Drink to 'Deadpool's second week on top of the box office

I haven't done a box office post since 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' blasts to new U.S. box office records.  Part of that is how long "Star Wars" stayed on top of the charts, part is that awards season is more interesting, and part is I found the movies that succeeded "Star Wars" as generally unworthy of my attention.  Not the past two weeks, however, as the superhero comedy "Deadpool" has topped the weekend box office both weekends.*  I'll get to the numbers later.  First, here's a drink from Tipsy Bartender, the Deadpool Shot.

This potent shots are based on the hit movie...DEADPOOL SHOTS!
...
DEADPOOL SHOTS
1 oz. (30ml) Strawberry Vodka
2 oz. (60ml) Strawberry Liqueur
1 oz. (30ml) Grenadine
Top with Black Absinthe

The only way those shots could be more dangerous would be if they were flaming.  With the top layer at 160 proof, they could be.  Deadpool would approve.

Enough booze.  Follow over the jump for the numbers.

Not So Pure Michigan on Flint Water Crisis

Full-sized image here.
In the spirt of Not So Pure Michigan on Detroit's Bankruptcy, it's time for some gallows humor about the Flint Water Crisis from John Kerfoot, who I call "Not so Pure Michigan"--Pure Michigan: Flint.

spoof of the Pure Michigan commercials, by John Kerfoot, highlighting Flint, Michigan.

For more of Kerfoot's work, click here, here, and here.

I'm starting work on two articles for Examiner.com.  If I get them done, I'll post links to them tonight.

The annual gas price rise has begun

Two weeks ago, I called a bottom for the gas price in my old neighborhood at $1.39.  Last week, I reported that the stations in my old neighborhood had reached that level and could go lower.  They most likely didn't, as GasBuddy shows that the Detroit average for regular hit a low of $1.44/gallon a week ago on the 11th and promptly started rising.  Looks like I got the low exactly right.  Lucky me.

The Detroit average is now $1.66, which is exactly the price that I saw when I passed by the stations in my old neighborhood yesterday.  Unlike the past two weeks, I didn't top off Pearl's tank, as I thought the price was higher than it needed to be.  Given that the stations are usually a dime below the metro area average, so they should be at $1.56, and some nearby stations are selling regular for $1.49, I'm probably right.  I'll wait until next week, when I will need gas, and hope that the cheaper gas elsewhere hasn't disappeared.

Crude futures have also gone up, as Oil-Price.Net lists yesterday's closes for WTI at $30.77 and Brent at $34.28, three and four dollars higher, respectively, than the $27.94 and $30.32 the two futures were at last week.  Even more importantly for retail gas prices, RBOB has jumped 18 cents from last week's $0.90 to yesterday's $1.08.  Falling gas prices are over for the season.

Follow over the jump for one reason the price environment has changed.