Native Americans on America's 250th for Indigenous Peoples' Day

Happy Indigenous Peoples' Day! For this year's celebration, I'm taking the Native American perspective on the United States' 250th birthday, beginning with PBS Origins explaining How America's Foundation was Built on Propaganda.

What is the true meaning of the 4th of July and American independence? This special episode of A People's History of Native America argues that the 4th of July’s roots are further from patriotism and closer to propaganda. Rather than independence, this day represents the centuries-long seizure and ethnic cleansing of Native American land. By looking at the history surrounding the American Revolution, we will uncover that Native Americans were an unexpected threat to the founders’ vision for their future country and plans for Westward expansion.

After watching this video, I feel even more strongly that Americans who worry about genocide and ethnic cleansing should focus on its survivors here before displacing their guilt elsewhere. Of course, I would feel this way, because, as I wrote 14 years ago, "My wife, my ex-girlfriend, and my ex-wife all have Native American ancestry. At least two of them would qualify as Native Americans under U.S. government policy, and one of them is enrolled as a Cherokee..." My wife and I put our money where our mouths are by donating to a charity in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It's the least we can do.

I continue with Reuters asking What does America's 250th anniversary mean to Native Americans?

As dozens of Native Americans braved the heat and wind in Northern Arizona to uphold a beloved tradition that falls days before the 250th anniversary of the US this year, some reflected on what the milestone means to them.

Again, the high proportion of Native Americans who served shows up again in this video.

Since this is a Michigan-based blog, I conclude with a local clip from 13 On Your Side, ABC 13 in Grand Rapids, Reflecting on Native history amid America's 250th anniversary.

As America turns 250 years old, we took a look back at the history of the people who were here long before the United States.

Yes, there has been progress, but there is room for more.

That's a wrap for today's holiday. Stay tuned for a short post tomorrow.

Save the Academy of Natural Sciences!

I told my readers to "Stay tuned for an activist post" today, so watch The Plan To Destroy America's Oldest Natural History Museum by Miniminuteman (Milo Rossi) and GeoSplore.

On the 1st of September, Drexel University made the announcement that they plan to permanently close the Academy of Natural Sciences; the oldest natural history museum in all of the Americas. The news came as a shock to everyone from locals to the the staff of the museum themselves who learned about closure on the same day as everyone else. Now the fate of this historic institution and the millions of rare and valuable artifacts within it hang in the balance. Join me as we fight back against this attack on science and help save the Academy.
...
HOW TO SAVE THE ACADEMY:
Step 1: Go to this link
https://save-the-academy.org/...

The page at the link urges people to complete five actions, the first of which is sign a petition.

I've signed and so have 108,090 others. The last on the list is "share your story." That's what this blog is about. I'm recycling part of a comment I left on George Morgan Davis (1938 – 2024): The Director’s Cut to kick off my personal story.

On the one hand, may George Davis rest in peace. I have at least one story about the Council of Systematic Malacologists, where I first met George, and the San Diego Natural History Museum that I did not want to commit to paper or pixels while he was alive. On the other, the same instincts that guided George in that tale would be useful. Have you heard that Drexel University, which took over the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and turned it into the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, has decided to shut it down by the end of the month? If George were still with us, he'd be fighting that decision. I located your blog and the PDF you linked to while searching to see if George was still around. He's not, but I'm glad I found your blog.

When I wrote "Sometimes, people with less than pure motives get results, a topic on my to-do list," in 'Mr. Scorsese' and 'The Librarians' both Emmy winners, George Davis, who was curator of malacology at the Academy of Natural Sciences when I knew him in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was one of the people I was thinking about. Now's not the time to tell that story.*

Instead, I'm telling another story, that of Joseph Leidy, who "named the holotype specimen of Hadrosaurus foulkii, which was recovered from the marl pits of Haddonfield, New Jersey" and "also described the holotype specimens of Arctodus (A. pristinus), the dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus), and the American lion (Panthera atrox), among many others." I have connections to all these extinct animals, which Leidy described at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

One of the fiberglass dinosaurs at Pre-Historic Forest, where I worked as a tour guide and consultant, was Hadrosaurus foulkii. It was the high point, literally, as its statue stood at the top of the trail, of the walking tour. I could have used more information about the creature as the first dinosaur described from the United States. It would have been been more informative than making a bad joke about New Jersey (If it were described today, it might have been called Sopranosaurus, to which a heckler once responded "What about Hoffasaurus?" My retort was "You know where you can find Jimmy Hoffa? In the Yellow Pages under concrete." That joke has extra resonance now that I live three miles from where he disappeared.)

I've mentioned several times that I did my M.S. research at Rancho La Brea, where Arctodus in the form of A. simus), the dire wolf (Aenocyon dirus), and the American lion (Panthera atrox all occur. I haven't mentioned Actodus, known as the giant short-faced bear, on this blog before, but I have written about dire wolves and American lions, so both are still relevant to me 40 years later. It would be a huge loss to science that I would feel personally if anything happened to the holotypes of these organisms, especially if it were because the museum closed and the specimens were lost.

I could go on with the stories of Edward Drinker Cope, Thomas Say, and Henry Augustus Pilsbry, all of whom were important scientists who worked in my areas of expertise and all of whom did their research at the Academy of Natural Sciences, but it's time to wrap up this post. Maybe later.

I close with some good news. NBC 10 Philadelpha reported Supporters rally to save Academy of Natural Sciences as the museum closes its doors last night.

The Academy of Natural Sciences has an offer from the William Penn Foundation to keep its doors open for at least one year, but Drexel University, who owns the museum, said it is still deciding what the historic museum’s future will be, NBC10’s Andrew Rowan has the story.

When I signed the petition, I added the comment that Drexel should accept the William Penn Foundation's offer. I'll tell the university president and head of the board of directors the same thing. I hope my readers do, too.

*When it is, expect a post on the order of A snail story for Black Friday/Buy Nothing Day, where I'm an example of someone with impure motives getting results.

'Last Week Tonight' examines Twitter for Throwback Thursday

Happy Throwback Thursday! I'm going back a few months for Twitter: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).

John Oliver discusses how an already flawed Twitter got worse under Elon Musk, how it continues to impact us all, and what it has to do with the 30-40 trillion cells humans are composed of. Or, wait, sorry, Twitter doesn’t have anything to do with the cells. It’s about our understanding of the universe. Maybe. You’ll just have to take that last part up with Elon directly.

Elon Musk's comparison of Twitter prior to his purchase to Wormtongue shows that Peter Thiel isn't the only techbro with J.R.R. Tolkien on his brain. I'm sure they and Alex Karp aren't the only ones.

There's a side effect of Musk turning the blue checks into pay for play instead of an actual verification system. In addition to making it difficult to tell real from imitation/parody accounts, it made a lot of statistics inaccessible without paid verification. I noted that last year: "Twitter/X's analytics are now a service for paid subscribers, and I won't pay to support Elon Musk, so they end up being little better than what I can collect from Bluesky for free."

As for Alex Jones getting his Twitter/X account back, it doesn't change my giving him an honorary Kenny McCormick Memorial Medal for losing at least five accounts because of abuse. No backsies! Besides, his losing Infowars to The Onion is worthy of a Bobo Award, the highest (dis)honor on alt.usenet.kooks.

Donald "Pervert Hoover" Trump apparently taking his cue from Zero Hedge via Musk shows why I'm glad I stopped citing Zero Hedge in 2011 and have blocked Musk, but also Pervert Hoover's susceptibility to conspiracy theories. It turned out that much worse things resulted from Pevert Hoover and his administration paying attention to Musk and the accounts he promoted, like what Bruce Springsteen, Billy Bragg, and the Marsh Family sang about Minneapolis, Minnesota. No wonder Marcy "Emptywheel" Wheeler calls Twitter/X "Xitter" with the X pronounced as sh and "a machine for fascism." This makes me glad I now call Bluesky my primary social media site, where I've gone from zero to 21,849 followers in a little more than 18 months.

Since today is Throwback Thursday, follow over the jump for my most read post about Twitter/X and Bluesky during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News along with my top shares on each platform that aren't about holidays that I haven't shared yet.


Hank Green explains why 'Coal is Extremely Dumb'

I wrote, "I really don't like coal" but didn't explain why last week. Hank Green explains for me in Coal is Extremely Dumb.

It feels kinda silly to make this video but there are still people super focused on coal and it just feels like they haven't listened to any of the people who know exactly why coal is just not going to be a part of our future power mix, and why that actually has nothing to do with the environment.

I had a feeling "people super focused on coal" referred to Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump, who is choosing an old technology, coal and other fossil fuels, over a newer one, renewables. Hank confirmed it at 11:24 when he showed an executive order of Hoover Harding Cleveland's, then talked about how people who still support coal believe anything that is different from the way things were in 1985 is "woke," making his rant a twenty-minute subtweet. I'm more than OK with that.

Rant or not, I learned a lot from Hank, including about combined-cycle power plants, lead being in coal exhaust along with mercury and radioactive materials, and this graph, which I can show to my students.


Welcome to blogging as professional development.

That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for the Vernal Equinox, the last post of the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

'FOREVER 21: Nothing Is Forever' by Retail Archaeology, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

I closed Marche du Nain Rouge, history and revelry by telling my readers, "Stay tuned for either an evergreen post I can share in April, no fooling, or the stats for the 14th year of this blog." I decided that I should wait until Wayback Wednesday to post last year's stats, so I'm opting for the post worth sharing next month by revisiting Forever 21 files for bankruptcy and will close all U.S. stores, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse. Watch FOREVER 21: Nothing Is Forever | Retail Archaeology, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.

In this episode of Retail Archaeology we a take a look at Forever 21. They just filed for bankruptcy and are closing all of their stores.

While Erik repeated that blaming online shopping in general and Amazon in particular is a lazy explanation for brick-and-mortar chains failing, he acknowledged that competition with Shein and Temu is a major reason why Forever 21 declared bankruptcy this time. He also repeated what I wrote just before Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy the first time and repeated in 2020.

As an environmentalist, I probably should be more opposed to fast fashion than I am; as Newsweek reported three years ago, Fast Fashion Is Creating an Environmental Crisis.

Americans are blithely trashing more clothes than ever. In less than 20 years, the volume of clothing Americans toss each year has doubled from 7 million to 14 million tons, or an astounding 80 pounds per person. The EPA estimates that diverting all of those often-toxic trashed textiles into a recycling program would be the environmental equivalent of taking 7.3 million cars and their carbon dioxide emissions off the road.

Yikes! On the one hand, replacing Forever 21 with a clothing outlet that produces more sustainable clothing would be an improvement. On the other, that's not likely to happen. Instead, until Americans, especially young women, change their fashion tastes, they will just buy fast fashion online and more malls will be stuck with empty anchors and other stores, creating more dead mall[s]. Sigh.

I quoted this passage then elaborated on two of its points in Vox explains 'The lies that sell fast fashion'.

I have become more opposed to fast fashion and Americans have apparently accelerated their acquisition of cheap clothing, a trend being pushed by new chains I hadn't even heard of then, Shein and Temu, and haven't mentioned until now, through a social media platform, TikTok, I wouldn't mention until 2020. Then, I was concerned about TikTok's capacity to monitor users on behalf of China and its ability to misinform, which are why I don't use it, despite its promotion of dance, a phenomenon I can watch on YouTube shorts, thank you very much. I didn't think enough about it as an advertising medium affecting Americans' shopping habits beyond convincing young people to shop local. Now I am. That's another reason to be suspicious of the platform.

TikTok ended up being banned in the U.S., but returned after Hoover Cleveland's inauguration. I don't know if that's a good thing, like ending Daylight Saving Time and ending penny production probably could be, but at least it happened.

That's it for Forever 21 until either or both Company Man and Bright Sun Films produce a video about its second bankruptcy. Stay tuned for another post worth sharing in April next.

I ask The Archdruid and his readers 'Can you show us on the doll exactly where the educated professionals hurt you?' A Festivus airing of grievances

Happy Festivus! I promised an airing of grievances yesterday for Festivus and do I ever have some grievances to air!

I begins with a regular commenter at No More Mister Nice Blog asking a rhetorical question of Trump voters, "Can you show us on the doll exactly where the educated professionals hurt you?" He meant this as mockery, but I saw an opportunity.

I know exactly the group to ask this question. They'll take it seriously and give a lot of outraged responses. I'll report back next month on the results.

I followed through in the second comment to November 2024 Open Post at Ecosophia.net John Michael Greer's main blog.

A commenter on a liberal blog responded to the election results and particularly the educational levels of Trump's voters by asking "Can you show us on the doll exactly where the educated professionals hurt you?" He meant it as a joke, but I think it is worth taking seriously. I know of no better forum to get answers than here, so I'm throwing it open to you and your readers.

I begin with the answer from The Archdruid himself.

Neon Vincent, I can indeed. The site of the injury was in the pocketbook. The professional-managerial class presided over, profited from, and gleefully cheered on the process by which a hundred million working class Americans were driven into poverty and misery. I’ve noted before that when I was young, a family of four could get by tolerably well on a single working class income. The collapse of working class incomes and the soaring prices of housing, health care, and most other necessities over the last fifty years didn’t happen by accident, and nearly all the benefits of that process accrued to the professional-managerial class. If the person who asked that question really wants to get into the details, my book The King in Orange covers it in quite some detail.

Greer the Archdruid certainly lived up to my expectations by taking the question seriously and giving an outraged, if still measured, answer. That written, I think he's reinforcing a scapegoating campaign that began when the upper-middle class of educated professionals, which Greer and his readers call "the professional-managerial class," began leaving the Republican Party for the Democratic Party. Before then, conservative thought leaders, who I think came up with the idea before Greer, didn't appear to care about the benefits accruing to educated professionals; as long as they were voting for Republicans, they were fine with the situation. Afterwards, they began to go after the people leaving the party, particularly once not yet convicted criminal Donald Trump took it over. I think it's a case of getting revenge on people who are now safe to attack; Republicans aren't getting their votes anyway and blaming them for the troubles of the working class helps to get their votes, which the GOP are now courting.

By the way, Greer and his readers calling educated professionals "the professional-managerial class" is both a tell and an odd phrase for a bunch of conservatives to use. The term has origins in Marxist analysis for "a social class within capitalism that, by controlling production processes through occupying a superior management position, is neither proletarian nor bourgeoisie." The working class would resent them for being their supervisors and the small business owners would resent them for being rivals to be second banana in the social-economic order; one of the recurring themes in the comments to No More Mister Nice Blog, particularly from Yastreblyansky at The Rectification of Names, that a lot of the "working class" supporters of Trump based on their educational levels are actually small business owners, the petite bourgeoisie. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene come to mind. Both were small business owners before being elected to Congress, which adds new meaning to "petty bourgeoisie."


So Greer's thesis is that the election and re-election of Trump were acts of revenge by the working class against the educated professionals. I buy that. As an attempt to improve the material situation of the American proletariat, I have my doubts. Seeing the educated professionals humiliated might improve the spirits of the working class, but I think the main material and political beneficiaries will be business owners, both stockholders in large corporations and proprietors of small local businesses. Only to the extent that the power and prosperity of business owners results in hiring more working class employees will it help the working class materially. Will it result in higher wages? Maybe, but I have my doubts. "Trickle down" hasn't worked that way for the working class over the past 40+ years. Why would it work now?


By the way, Greer's recommendation of his book The King in Orange should get the attention of fans of True Detective. "The Yellow King" was the main antagonist of that show's first season and the finale took place in Carcosa. Both of those come from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers, about "a forbidden play which induces madness in those who read it," although Chambers borrowed Carcosa from An Inhabitant of Carcosa by Ambrose Bierce. Listen to The King in Orange: The Magical and Occult… by John Michael Greer · Audiobook preview to hear Greer quote Chalmers mentioning Carcosa. Since Google Play Books has disabled embedding, I'm displaying the book's cover.


Greer's premise/conceit is that Trump is like The King in Yellow and drives mad all who oppose him. I'd say he drives just about everyone mad by giving them permission to be their worst selves. Does this include Greer? If so, all of us, including Greer, should consider ourselves lucky his worst self isn't that bad, even if I think he's giving Trump way too much credit beyond his feral instincts for self-promotion, dominance, and survival.

Follow over the jump for the responses from Greer's readers.

Jon Stewart's message to his viewers about the election

I closed Meyers, Colbert, and 'The Daily Show' take their last closer looks at the election before the votes are counted by writing "I hope election night doesn't turn into an election month, but I'm not optimistic." I should be careful what I wish for. Donald Trump, who is still a convicted criminal, beat Kamala Harris when he won first Pennsylvania then Wisconsin overnight to be the projected winner of the presidency, duplicating the feat of Grover Cleveland by becoming only the second President elected to non-consecutive terms. My reaction eight years ago was Kunstler said Americans would elect maniacs. That still works eight years later, so I'm not going to repeat it. Instead, I'm sharing Jon Stewart’s Election Night Takeaway | The Daily Show.

Jon Stewart shares his takeaways from Election Night 2024: A glimpse into the fate of the presidency and the mistakes that'll be made all over again.

That's a convincing list of lessons that people hoped would be right, but which ended up being wrong.

So, what are the lessons being learned that could turn out not to be true? MSNBC has one, ‘This will rewrite how the parties approach Latinos’ – Latino support for Trump increases from 2020.

Julián Castro discusses evolving Latino support for Donald Trump.

Latino support for Trump was even more pronounced in Michigan, where exit polling showed 62% of Michigan Latinos voting for Trump. That could be enough to swing the state to him. If the uncommitted movement does it, I'd know what my agenda would be, denounce Jill Stein and the Green Party and support a quality primary opponent to Rashida Tlaib, although if she wins the primary, I'll still vote for her in the general. I'm not going to be like my neighbors, who voted for the Republican nominee. I have limits and standards. For Latinos, there is nothing I can do that Trump and his core supporters would do more effectively except be a positive example. Who knows, Trump might actually overcome his bigotry and cater to his new voters. We should be so lucky.

Michigan still hasn't been called for either President or U.S. Senate as I write this, so stay tuned for those results tomorrow.

John Oliver and Bill Maher appeal to last-minute voters

The last day to vote in this year's election is tomorrow, so it's time for last-minute appeals to voters. I have two of them, beginning with Election 2024: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO).

A quick message ahead of Tuesday’s election. And the worst photo that’s ever been taken of anyone. Ever.

As my regular readers know, I live in Michigan — in fact, I live in Rashida Tlaib's district — so I'm quite familiar with the uncommitted movement. John's message is probably the best one for them. It's the one I wish I could make so that convicted criminal Donald Trump would finally become irrelevant, especially after he's sentenced and stands trial for his other crimes.

Bill Maher appealed to other kinds of undecided voters in New Rule: Christmas Eve Voters.

Bill has a message for the undecided voters who like to wait until the eve of an election to make up their minds.

I'm recycling my reaction from Bill Maher says 'Make the Mall Great Again' for Cyber Monday: "In the middle of all the 'Get off my lawn' sentiment and resentment over reactions to the pandemic, Maher makes some good...points," especially about the economy. If the economy is really the issue, then all of the headline measures, employment, economic growth, wages, and even inflation, should be a slam dunk for Kamala Harris and the Democrats. That it's not indicates other issues are important to undecided voters. I have to go to work, so I won't explore them today. Maybe tomorrow. Stay tuned.

John Oliver examines 'Federal Courts'

It's been nearly two weeks since I posted 'Last Week Tonight' examines disability benefits after winning 2 Emmy Awards, so it's time I return to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, who examined Federal Courts last week.

John Oliver discusses how Donald Trump has impacted our federal courts, what he could do if reelected, and how Judge Steve Harvey fits into our judiciary branch.

The cases Oliver mentions take me down a bad memory lane, including Supreme Court unanimously preserves access to Mifepristone, the Supreme Court's immunity ruling, the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, and others that I examined in PBS NewsHour and FiveThirtyEight examine the end of the Supreme Court term. As I wrote in the last linked entry, "This has certainly been an eventful term, thanks to the three justices that The Former Guy appointed, which moved the court even more to the right. The damage from his maladministration continues..." The three justices appointed by the Bushes are happy to go along, especially Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Those five form a majority. With John Roberts, who has generally escaped my scrutiny, they compose a supermajority. I shudder to think what another Trump term would do to the courts. May my American readers feel the same way and vote accordingly. This includes voting Republicans out of Congress in addition to voting for Kamala Harris as President.

That's a wrap for today's political post. Stay tuned for National Coming Out Day, when I usually examine Emmy Awards won by reality programs.

Vox, MSNBC, and PBS NewsHour explain 'Exactly how Trump could ban abortion'

I promised "an entry that will be good to share in October, like Emmy Award winners" and I'm following through, but it won't be Emmy Award winners. I'm not feeling like writing about entertainment today. Instead, I'm sharing Vox explaining Exactly how Trump could ban abortion.

Whether the US bans it completely is basically up to the next president.
...
For decades, the anti-abortion movement in the United States worked toward one major goal: the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that established a federal right to abortion. In 2022, they finally succeeded, and states across the country began banning abortion immediately. Today about half the states either ban or severely restrict abortion. But now the anti-abortion movement is regrouping around a new goal: using the federal government to ban abortion in the rest of the country.

If Republicans take control of Congress in the 2024 election, it’s very possible they could pass a national abortion ban law. But experts don’t consider that the most likely way a national abortion ban could come about, for two reasons: Polling shows it would be extremely unpopular, and it would require the elimination of the Senate filibuster. Instead, they point to a different branch of the federal government — the president’s office and all the federal agencies it oversees.

In the federal agencies, opponents of abortion could fashion a de facto abortion ban by chipping away at abortion access in numerous ways, for example limiting access to medication abortion, which now constitutes two-thirds of all abortions in the US. The biggest way that the president’s office could limit abortion is by deciding to enforce something called the Comstock Act: a 150-year-old abortion ban killed by Roe v. Wade and brought back to life by its repeal.

The final way the next president could determine the future of abortion rights is through federal court appointments. The anti-abortion movement’s “next Roe v. Wade” is the national legal recognition of fetal personhood, an idea that would by definition outlaw all abortion. The current Supreme Court isn’t yet right-wing enough to endorse this idea. But after another Trump term, that could change.

Watch the video above for the details of how this all could happen.

No surprise, the plan involves the revival of the zombie Comstock Act through Project 2025. Follow over the jump for more.

I return after a power outage spanning four days and three nights

I'm back. To explain, I'm reusing the opening to I had an eventful three days and two nights because of a severe storm knocking out my power from July 9, 2021.

It's rare that I miss a day here, let alone two, but the usual cause when it has happened was a power outage (the other time I was in the hospital). That's why I was offline the past two days.

History repeated itself this month, first a hospitalization and now a power outage. I'm cutting to the chase with CBS Detroit's Outraged Michigan residents blast DTE after four-day power outage.

Throughout Friday the number of DTE customers without power has slowly ticked downward, but those living south of Six Mile near Farmington Road were cranking their generators to stay cool otherwise they were planning to sweat it out for another night.

I can relate to this. My wife called me late Tuesday afternoon to report the power went out and the power and cable or phone lines in my neighbors' yards caught fire. I came home to brownout conditions, with enough power to run some lights and the freezer, but not the refrigerator. Power gradually increased through the evening until everything could run except the air conditioning. My wife and I could even watch the season premiere of Only Murders in the Building. I thought the worst was over until one of the power lines in front of the house fell and caught those cable/phone lines on fire. The fire department taped off the street and left a notice on the door.

I went to sleep with the power mostly on. I woke up Wednesday morning with the power completely off. It didn't return until this afternoon, so I had part or all of four days and three nights with no power at home. At least I could charge my phone and enjoy air conditioning at work, but returned home to no electricity. I saw crews in the area all four days, but no one actually fixed the problem until today. My wife and I got fed up with the situation last night and checked into a hotel with our dog. We returned this afternoon after we learned the power had returned. I don't think we're in as bad shape as Matt Hutchinson from Brighton; at least some of our food is still good, but we'll find out tomorrow when we start throwing the spoiled food out. We decided to save our medicine that requires refrigeration, like my insulin and Ozempic by putting them into the hotel fridge. Just the same, a $38 rebate from DTE will hardly make a dent in the lost food, to say nothing of the hotel bill.

Now to return to the beginning as WDIV/Click on Detroit reported on the initial storm and power outages in Fast-moving storms leave massive damage across SE Michigan Tuesday night.

The clean-up begins acoss SE Michigan as fast-moving storms hammered Metro Detroit.

We didn't experience any strong wind gusts or see downed trees like WDIV showed, but those definitely explain why the outages were so widespread and persistent. Yikes!

Michigan is not out of the woods yet, as Fox Weather uploaded an overview of the situation in the entire state in Major Michigan Power Outages Persist Amid New Round Of Storms Friday.

Thousands of Michiganders are still without power after severe storms earlier in the week tore across the state as they are bracing for another round of potentially destructive weather Friday.

So far, we haven't seen the severe weather forecast for our area. May we remain so lucky.

I plan on finishing the month with a double driving update. Stay tuned.

CityNerd explaining 'What Project 2025 Means for Our Cities' can drive one to drink

I told my readers "I've decided I'm not examining Cuba for National Daiquiri Day tomorrow; I have more pressing matters to cover that will be worth sharing next month, but I still plan on sharing a cocktail recipe, as we have plenty to drive us to drink" to close How did Gold Derby's Emmy nominations predictions fare? Instead, I decided to work the eye of Project 2025 beginning with Ray "CityNerd" Delahanty explaining What Project 2025 Means for Our Cities.

Republicans don't plan to waste time remaking the US government if their guy wins in November. The playbook is "Mandate for Leadership: the Conservative Promise," aka Project 2025, and it's chock full of amazingly terrible ideas when it comes to cities.

Please vote in November, and do more if you can. Here are a couple ways to get involved. (We send postcards to swing states in our household!)

This is all really distressing. About the only positive thing I can see coming out of this for housing policy, and it's only barely positive, is the policy plank about encouraging single-family housing might result in lifting or repealing the cap on deductions for state and local taxes (SALT). That punishes well-off residents of high-tax states who have been voting Democratic, which I think is actually the point. People who use ride hailing services (taxis, Uber, and Lyft) might like having those subsidized (again, this time by government instead of venture capitalists), but that will come at the expense of actual public transit, to say nothing of the climate. Ugh.

As I wrote yesterday and repeated above, Project 2025 is enough to drive one to drink. Since today celebrates a cocktail, I'm sharing How to make a JFK daiquiri: All the Presidents' Drinks from the Washington Post.

JFK loved Jackie's daiquiris. Presidents’ favorite cocktails, and how to make them, on All the Presidents' Drinks with Food Video Host and Editor Mary Beth Albright.

That's a surprisingly fun video from an unexpected source. It's part of a series that I had no idea existed and looks like a good example of well-produced content made during the pandemic. I might return to it for future posts.

All the above reminds me that I've promised a part 6 of MSNBC examining Project 2025. I'll get to it after Moon Day tomorrow and this year's Emmy nominees for Outstanding Commercial as the Sunday entertainment feature. In the meantime, happy National Daiquiri Day!

Colbert, Meyers, Stewart, and Kimmel take more closer looks at Stormy Daniels testimony

I told my readers "stay tuned for more coverage" today to conclude yesterday's Meyers, Colbert, Kimmel, and 'The Daily Show' take closer looks at Stormy Daniels testimony and Kristi Noem's book appearances. I'm following through, beginning with Stephen Colbert's monologue from last night, Stormy Zings Trump From Witness Stand | Mar-a-Lago ComicCon | Breaking Up Paramount | Brain Worms.

Stormy Daniels landed a few verbal punches during her testimony in Trump’s hush money trial, the former president hosted NFT buyers for a meal at Mar-a-Lago, CBS could be auctioned off if Paramount is sold, and there’s no end to the fascination around the worm that ate a portion of RFK Jr.’s brain.

If anything, the second day of Stormy's testimony was even better than the first, since Naptain America's lawyers gave her plenty of opportunities. I'll get to those later. Right now, I want to write that media consolidation has not been a good thing, but I'm not sure Paramount's likely buyer selling it off for parts is the way to reverse it. It might just result in a different form of consolidation that might just be worse than what we have now. Sigh.

Second, I have never mentioned Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., (RFK Jr.) on this blog before, which even I find surprising because of how much I wrote about minor party candidates for Examiner.com when it was a thing. That's because I was using that to distinguish my coverage or partition the niche, to borrow a concept from ecology, which gave me a unique angle among Michigan election reporters. They didn't care much about minor parties, so I would. It wasn't because I supported minor party candidates; I was a precinct delegate for the Michigan Democratic Party all the years I covered elections for Examiner.com. I no longer have such an interest to promote, so I'll gladly tear down minor party candidates, especially for the Natural Law Party, about whose leader I wrote "I'm annoyed at [Doug Dern] for not cooperating with me as an Examiner.com reporter--but that's another story for another time." "Another time" was in the footnote to Michigan's two smallest parties nominated candidates, too.

I don't much care for the Natural Law Party, and not because of their ideology. It's because of all the minor parties that I covered during my years writing for Examiner.com, they were the least cooperative. I called and asked for dates of conventions and lists of nominees and never got either. It was like they didn't want news coverage or free media. Consequently, I never wrote an article about them.

They finally got free media from news coverage when the Natural Law Party nominated RFK Jr. for President. I was not the least bit surprised that they did. RFK Jr. is their kind of candidate and will almost certainly give the Natural Law Party the most votes ever, which means he's good for the party even if he's bad for the rest of us for no other reason than his anti-vaccine views. Those, at least, make him a bigger threat to Donald Trump than to Joe Biden.

Speaking of Trump, follow over the jump for more late night talk show hosts mocking him in their monologues.

Adam Conover explains 'Why We’re Still Trapped on Twitter' for Wayback Wednesday

Happy Wayback Wednesday! I'm looking back at the year on Twitter with Adam Conover explaining Why We’re Still Trapped on Twitter.

It's no secret that Elon Musk has absolutely tanked Twitter, so why haven't we all left? Despite the site becoming an apocalyptic hellscape, there's a surprising reason that we all still NEED Twitter.

Welcome to network effects.

Adam mentioned Elon Musk Is An Idiot (and so are Zuck and SBF), I'm sharing it as well.



Tech CEOs aren't geniuses, and here's the proof.
Years ago, I was thinking of writing about Elon Musk as a Crazy Eddie, but I never did. Now I'm glad I didn't. That post wouldn't have aged well.

I conclude this part of the post with something positive about Twitter, Black Twitter: A People's History | Official Trailer | Hulu.

Based on Jason Parham’s WIRED article “A People’s History of Black Twitter,” this three-part docuseries charts the rise, the movements, the voices and the memes that made Black Twitter an influential and dominant force in nearly every aspect of American political and cultural life.

Steam all episodes Black Twitter: A People's History on May 9, only on Hulu.

ABOUT Black Twitter: A People's History
The rise, movements, voices and memes that made Black Twitter an influential and dominant force in nearly every aspect of American political and cultural life.

Based on just this piece of corporate PR, I fully expect to see this nominated at one of the Emmy Awards, whether it's this falls Creative Arts Emmy Awards or next year's News & Documentary Emmy Awards.

Follow over the jump for a retrospective of Crazy Eddie's Motie News's most active links on Twitter between March 21, 2023 and March 20, 2024.

Vox explains 'The lies that sell fast fashion'

I've written about fast fashion mostly as a tale of the Retail Apocalypse starring Forever 21, although I have mentioned its environmental costs along the way. Vox gave me an opportunity to revisit fast fashion's externalities earlier this month when the channel uploaded The lies that sell fast fashion.

You deserve better than Shein.
...
There are countless articles and videos breaking down the abysmal labor practices, horrifying environmental toll, and overall mountain of waste produced by the fast fashion industry. Activists and even just large swaths of the general public have been raising the alarm about this for well over a decade, but it hasn’t stopped the rise of some of the worst offenders in the industry. For example, the ultra-fast fashion brand Shein has skyrocketed in value over the past five years largely due to their marketing success on TikTok. A lot of us know that fast fashion is bad, but the only way companies like Shein still thrive is if we convince ourselves otherwise and hit “add to cart” anyway. So why do we do it?

The answer is that e-commerce has completely warped our view of what items should cost and how long they should last (this includes and extends to our obsession with Amazon and two-day shipping). We’re moving through trends at an unprecedented pace and it’s doomed to get worse if we don’t adjust our buying habits and learn to slow down. Consumers are being manipulated, but we can do better.

I made a pessimistic assessment five years ago that "as an environmentalist, I probably should be more opposed to fast fashion than I am" and predicted "until Americans, especially young women, change their fashion tastes, they will just buy fast fashion online..." I have become more opposed to fast fashion and Americans have apparently accelerated their acquisition of cheap clothing, a trend being pushed by new chains I hadn't even heard of then, Shein and Temu, and haven't mentioned until now, through a social media platform, TikTok, I wouldn't mention until 2020. Then, I was concerned about TikTok's capacity to monitor users on behalf of China and its ability to misinform, which are why I don't use it, despite its promotion of dance, a phenomenon I can watch on YouTube shorts, thank you very much. I didn't think enough about it as an advertising medium affecting Americans' shopping habits beyond convincing young people to shop local. Now I am. That's another reason to be suspicious of the platform.

That's it for today's more-or-less evergreen post for Earth Month (if TikTok actually is blocked in the U.S., I expect most of its users will migrate to YouTube shorts, including the shopping influencers, so the issues will just move to a new platform). Stay tuned for the return of more timely topics, like Donald Trump's trial in New York. I've been ignoring that and postponing my retrospective of the most read entries featuring late night talk show hosts. It's time to cover both. A topical Throwback Tuesday tomorrow!

Colbert, Meyers, and 'The Daily Show' take closer looks at Supreme Court hearing immunity appeal

It's a new month, so I'm returning to the daily and weekly news cycle for topical posts. I begin with Stephen Colbert's Stephen Declares SCOTUS Unconstitutional | Biden Is Fit For Duty | Don Jr. Courts The Amish Vote.

The Supreme Court is damaging its legacy and moral authority by delaying justice in Trump’s insurrection trial, President Biden passed his annual physical, and Donald Trump Jr. believes Amish voters could put his father back in office.

I've been expressing concerns over the legitimacy of the Supreme Court since at least the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the rush to fill her seat with Amy Coney Barrett, which I repeated in John Oliver examines the Supreme Court after 'Last Week Tonight' wins four Emmy Awards and CNBC examines 'How The Supreme Court May Threaten Democracy'. This could be another way the Surpreme Court threatens democracy, through "justice delayed is justice denied."

The case appeared on Stephen's show the night before in Chris Hayes On Breaking Supreme Court Decision To Hear Trump's Immunity Case.

Emmy Award-winner Chris Hayes breaks down today’s bombshell announcement that the Supreme Court will hear Donald Trump’s immunity case - seven weeks from now.

After hearing Chris Hayes with his hair on fire, I can see why Stephen came out with his hair on fire in his next monologue.

That was the day before yesterday. Last night's show opened by asking SCOTUS Decision Got You Down?

Is this legal?

To the question in the title, yes. As the parody ad says to the question in the description, probably not.

Follow over the jump for last night's takes on the topic from Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Daily Show.

New Rules — 'A Democracy, If You Can Keep It' and 'The Year of Sanity'

I haven't posted one of Bill Maher's New Rules since Bill Maher says 'Make the Mall Great Again' for Cyber Monday in 2022. That's generally because I think he's developed a bad case of "get off my lawn!" However, I find myself in a bit of a cranky old man mood today, when I found I wasn't interested in Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers rehashing what I already covered in 'SNL' tackles E. Jean Carroll judgment, DeSantis endorsement, Nikki Haley, and more, so I turned to Maher for Monday. I begin with New Rule: A Democracy, If You Can Keep It.

In Brazil, the politics of grievance has its limits. Here in the U.S., Donald Trump has proven it doesn't.

I found the comparison and contrast to Nixon and Watergate instructive. I return to Two Emmy-nominated documentaries about Watergate for Veep Day for my reaction.

As John Dean is quoted as saying, "The criminal conduct of Richard Nixon and his top aides...became the blueprint for what no President of the United States should do." Unfortunately, it became the blueprint for what the former guy actually did, resulting in two impeachments and several indictments, beyond what happened to Nixon, who resigned before he could be impeached and was pardoned before he could be indicted.

First, I'm an environmentalist; I recycle. Second, it looks like we learned the wrong lessons from Watergate. The bad actors have learned how to get away with political crime, not that they should behave better. If anything, they're behaving worse and many of us are helping them.

To make up for not featuring Maher for a year-and-a-half, I'm sharing a second New Rule: The Year of Sanity.

The battle for the soul of America isn’t Right vs. Left. It’s Normal vs. Crazy.

I agree with the general sentiment, even if I'm not down with all the details he uses to support his position. That written, from Bill's lips to our ears.

Be Smart claims 'Fixing Daylight Saving Time Is THIS Easy'

Daylight Saving Time ends tonight (technically at 2:00 A.M. tomorrow), so it's time for my biannual observance of the changing of our clocks as well as a call to end the practice. Watch Be Smart explain the history and effects of Daylight Saving Time and claim Fixing Daylight Saving Time Is THIS Easy.

Every year, hundreds of millions of people voluntarily turn their lives upside down by setting their clocks forward one hour in the spring and back one hour in the autumn on a particular date mandated by the government wherever they happen to live. Daylight saving time is a perfect example of how a few people with the best of intentions can end up annoying millions of the rest of us for the better part of a century. And it’s time we take an honest look at how we got to this place where half the world comes unstuck in time twice a year, and ask if the supposed advantages for springing forward and falling back still hold up!

Joe Hanson uploaded this video on March 10, 2020, the day that the pandemic arrived in Michigan and the day before the WHO declared a global pandemic, which makes it feel a bit quaint. In addition to making every day feel like Groundhog Day, the pandemic delayed the European Union ending Daylight Saving Time. I don't know if I can blame the response to COVID-19 for delaying the U.S. allowing permanent Daylight Saving Time, but I do know that most Americans want to "lock the clock." Just see the preview image for Yahoo! News asking Tired of changing your clock every 6 months? You're not alone — here's how to cope.

This Sunday at 2 a.m. local time, daylight saving time will end in the United States, forcing millions of Americans to begrudgingly set their clocks back one hour and bringing suddenly shorter days as we head into winter. Polling shows 64% of Americans support getting rid of seasonal time changes — and health experts agree the practice is an unnecessary strain. Yahoo Life explains simple steps you can take to make the time change more manageable.

As I wrote last March, "I just want the twice a year time changing to stop. I'll go with whatever the rest of you decide. Just make a decision!"

That's my biannual rant. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature.

'Last Week Tonight with John Oliver' covers homeschooling

While I wrote "I've missed Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, and especially John Oliver" in Writers Guild reaches tentative agreement with studios and repeated in 'Stephen Colbert Recaps A Crazy Summer' as he returns from the writers strike, I haven't featured any of John Oliver's monologues since the end of the WGA strike. Sorry, his guest appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers in Meyers' and Colbert's guests on strikes and labor issues doesn't count. Fortunately, he covered a topic I care about in Homeschooling: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) this Sunday.

John Oliver discusses homeschooling, its surprising lack of regulation in many states, and, crucially, Darth Vader’s parenting skills.

I agree with Oliver that the ceiling for homeschooling can be very high. My experience with home-schooled students is that they are much nicer and get along with adults better than children who went to public and private schools; I like them better as people. That's my positive observation about the results of homeschooling. My negative comment is that they often have noticeable holes in their education, knowledge that students who actually went to school learned from their teachers. I'm seeing a little of that even with students remotely educated during the pandemic; some skills just can't be taught over a Zoom call.

I also agree with Oliver that the floor for homeschooling can be so low as to be subterranean and the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), which Oliver describes as "the homeschooling equivalent of the NRA," is enabling that. The HSLDA might enjoy that comparison, but Oliver makes sure that it's not flattering, calling each "an extremely powerful organization that...represents a large number of people, [but] pursues an outermost fringe version of their agenda." With friends like that, the homeschooling movement hardly needs enemies — and it has those, too.

I'll get to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver's Emmy nomination that I didn't cover in Nixon saying 'Sock it to me' and Outstanding Talk Series Emmy nominees for Presidential Joke Day when Saturday Night Live returns, since the two are competing against each other for Outstanding Scripted Variety Series. In the meantime, stay tuned for a joint observation of National Coming Out Day and National Fossil Day tomorrow. I've actually found a video that works for both.

Colbert, Kimmel, and Hayes on McCarthy's ouster as Speaker

Change of plans today. Instead of featuring Seth Meyers's return, I'm covering the ouster of Kevin "Pickled Tongue" McCarthy as Speaker of the House through comedy. I begin with Stephen Colbert's monologue, McCarthy Removed As House Speaker | Trump Slams “Talentless, Low Rated CREEPS” of Late Night.

Matt Gaetz was successful in his bid to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, and former president Trump posted a glowing review after watching The Late Show last night.

Oh, darn, McCarthy stopped being Speaker before my nickname for him caught on — not that I was trying very hard, as the last time I mentioned him was on June 1st, when I wrote "Play up the victory while you can, Pickled Tongue. This isn't the great win you think it is." Neither was avoiding a government shutdown, although it should have been.

Jimmy Kimmel reversed the topics in Trump Attacks “CREEPS of Late Night Television” & McCarthy Ousted as Speaker of the House.

It’s our second day back to work after 150 days on strike and our #1 fan Donald Trump took to the internet at 1:05am to voice his displeasure, Eric Trump spent his night desperately trying to win Daddy’s love on Hannity, today was day two of Donald’s big money fraud trial in New York, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy was voted out in an effort led by Florida Congressvomit Matt Gaetz, Jimmy shares one of the great police pursuits of all-time on our local ABC7 news, NBA star Jimmy Butler debuted a new hairdo, and Forbes just released their annual list of the wealthiest Americans so we asked kids to give us their thoughts on this thing we call “money.”

Colbert and Kimmel and their writers all thought the former guy's rant made for a great promotion. Chalk that up to the talk show hosts thinking TFG is the right enemy.


I conclude with a guest on Seth Meyers' show, Chris Hayes Dissects Matt Gaetz's Resolution to Remove Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker.

Chris Hayes talks about Trump appearing in court for his civil fraud trial, the GOP's anger for Matt Gaetz over his resolution to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House and why there is no challenger to Donald Trump.

Gaetz punished McCarthy for doing the right thing, averting a government shutdown. I don't like people who do that. I have a feeling a lot of other people don't, either.

I still plan on sharing Seth Meyers' first closer look after returning from the writers strike, followed by some of the other guests that were on this week. Stay tuned.