Come Heller high water …
- The House passed a universal background check bill this week. It’ll likely die in the Senate because the Senate is controlled by the party that does whatever the National Rifle Association tells it to do, not what the nation wants or needs. And if they miraculously pass it, Trump will certainly veto it. So, common sense will have to wait for more enlightened times. That said, this is why it’s important to vote for Democrats, who, for all their faults and flaws, pass bills that help
people. Republicans, by and large, pass bills that benefit corporate Masters of the Universe. It’s undeniable. - Michael Cohen is an awful person, and his opinions on Trump matter not at all. Did anyone not think Trump is a racist, con man or cheat? What does matter in his testimony are facts, documentation and where he points investigators. In the end, Cohen’s insider knowledge will be merely a piece of the puzzle that ultimately brings down Trump.
- How does anyone still support Trump? I’m serious. What is it? He’s clearly, by any measure, a morally bankrupt human being. So why do people who aren’t immoral human beings themselves continue to back him?
- As I write this, it has now snowed for 4,765 days in a row, by my estimate. Of course, I’ve been known to get a little nuts about winter this time of year, so I could be off by three or four thousand. But it certainly feels true.
- I know, I know. Take some Vitamin D. Sit under one of those silly full spectrum lamps. Take up meditation. Fly to Florida. I’ve tried all those things, and none of it helps. I don’t have SAD (seasonal affective disorder.) I have STGDDOWD, or Sick To (Bad Word) Death of Winter Disorder. Someday the medical community will recognize it as a legit thing.
- U.S. 2, the two-track that runs from the Mackinac Bridge to my hometown Escanaba, was officially but not actually closed for a day during last weekend’s snow drifts, according to a new story I saw. By “officially,” I mean the state did in fact declare it impassable. And by “not actually,” I mean the photo of U.S. 2 that accompanied the story. The road was indeed completely drifted over. But, of course, there were tire tracks plowing straight through it. Because that’s how Yoopers are. A closed road isn’t a warning, it’s a challenge.
- Every winter seems worse. Is that my imagination?
- German researchers studying the corpses of people with tattoos found ink in their lymph nodes. If you’re a member of the tattoo generation, does this worry you? Or does it make you think, “Hey, a tattoo on my lymph nodes sounds kinda cool!” This fad has lasted 20 years now and shows no sign of ending. I wonder why it happened at this moment in American history, though.
- BTW,I don’t bring up that study to scare people with tattoos. I bring it up in case you were thinking you have the worst job on the planet. Take heart, you don’t. You could study dead people.
- The Cohen hearings were dramatic and all that. But as someone who worked at newspapers for 30 years, I found myself admiring the stamina of the photographers who were hunched on the floor in front of Cohen. Eight straight hours they did that. I’m not surprised. Photogs are tough and patient cookies. I couldn’t do that. Could you?
- One of the best things about Walmart was they hired a lot of disabled people as greeters. Now they’re ending that practice and expanding the duties of the job to include tasks that may be beyond many greeters. Walmart’s profits for the last quarter of 2018 were $3.69 billion, by the way.
- If you’re an I-75 commuter, your life is about to get so much worse. They’re closing eight miles of the southbound lanes (Troy to Madison Heights) from March through November for road reconstruction. All I can say is, I feel your pain. I made that commute from Grand Blanc to downtown Detroit for nearly four years. On the best of days, it was a bear. Now it’s going to be a bear, a lion, a tiger and maybe a Gila monster for six months. But, hey, we wanted new roads. Short term pain. Long term gain.
- While they’re at it, they should add a commuter rail line from Detroit to Grand Blanc. Other states have nice things. Why can’t we?
- As a publicity stunt (and a good one), U.P. Supply Co. in Marquette figured out, apropos of nothing, it would take 693 years to resurface Lake Superior with a Zamboni. So now you know. U.P. Supply doesn’t make Zambonis by the way. But they do make U.P.-themed gifts.
- This week’s Words I Love: geezer, Zilwaukee, and umber. Yours?
- “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” – Hal Borland.
- Except maybe in Michigan.
Image credit: Donkey Hotey
Thanks for writing your columns I read the whole thing
Thanks, Ginny. I appreciate that!
I do believe most Republicans realize they have made a mistake. Just to proud to admit it. They support the party not the President. The Alt right love this guy, and that’s about it.
I disagree. If that were the case, you’d see other 2020 candidates jumping in and Republicans in Congress sticking to actual conservative viewpoints. But they’re not. They’ve decided their views are fluid. They’re going with the loudest voices in the room, and that’s the Tea Baggers. The Tea Party IS the Republican Party now.
What it is is that the decent, common sense people people that voted for him (as opposed to the rock-hard 33% of partisans present in both parties) had to willfully ignore so, so many red flags that now they feel foolish and would really rather not talk about it.
Its much easier to fool someone than it is to convince them they were fooled.
Totally agree. Kinda of my same point
Golf cures everything.
Exactly. Let’s do it.
Wow, U.P. Supply did not know they still were in business. My Dad bought my first pair of hockey shin gaurds at that place on Front St. back around 65 or 66. That was the go to place for my friends and I for hockey sticks, Real wood hockey sticks Christan Brothers they were the prize.
I am not convinced that the Trump supporting commentators on this site aren’t immoral human beings themselves. At least two of them have expressed a desire to see others dead. I would be very careful to not accidentally reveal any personal information here. I fear they would try to harm some of us if they could find out where we live. The hate just oozes off them. They are not patriotic Americans. They are murderous Trump obsessed deranged lunatics.
Murderous? Nah. It takes a real wingnut like the Charlottesville loon to go that far.
These guys defended that particular wingnut to the moon. With doctored videos and all.
The reason people keep supporting Trump, despite the fact that he is morally bankrupt, is that they think all the other politicians are morally bankrupt, too, but just hide it better.
Donald J. senior, going down.
Donald jr. going down.
Ivanka, going down.
The SDNY investigations will send all three to the clink.
Unfortunately, I have close friends who LOVE trump. It is beyond my comprehension why anyone could admire this evil person. I have asked them what the attraction is and they refer to articles from Fox News. They have referred to fox as the only truthful news outlet. I am sickened by the direction our country is taking and usually don’t read or watch any print or program that’s political, but every so often l have to let my frustrations out. Sorry I picked you for my rant this time.
Along those same lines, I read an interesting article today published on the New Yorker Magazine website titled “The Making Of The Fox News White House”. Very interesting and rather disturbing at the same time.
What is scary to me is its striking resemblance to Pravda.
I’m 50, I imagine most people here are old enough to remember the glory days of the Soviet Union and the state propaganda machine of Pravda. No matter how bad the bread lines, or the failed industrial upgrades or the losses in Afghanistan, you could always count of Pravda to say how great everything was, how wonderfully the revolution was coming, and how the enemies of the people were being rooted out by the glorious leader. In the free world, Pravda became a punchline (see the news reports in Airplane as one example) but they continued to exist because they were highly effective inside Russia where the people weren’t able to get outside information.
Fast forward to today and compare that to what Fox has going on. I’ll cede that almost every news organization has an inherent bias in how and what stories they cover (some like Dan Rather destroyed his career and legacy over it) but Fox has crossed the line into full on Pravda level propaganda. Republicans frequently referred to Obama as “Glorious Leader” and said CNN was his state media, but I don’t remember Obama calling in to CNN every few mornings to have them tell him what a great job he’s doing. That is some Glorious Leader type stuff right there.
I keep saying that Fate put Donald Trump in office to rub Republican’s noses in stuff that they howled about before. Think the Lincoln Bedroom scandal was bad? Ok, lets see if you object to the Chinese government, T-Mobile, and any other interest before the US government book whole floors at Trump Hotels thereby laundering millions directly into the sitting president’s bank account. Evangelicals, think that Clinton isn’t qualified to be elected president because he cheated on his wife with Genifer Flowers? Cool, cool, listen, how about you vote for a guy that is on his third marriage and is banging literal porn stars while his wife is home nursing his newborn son? Hey, remember when you said that Obama’s budget deficits were so recklessly large that they were going to destroy the country? Well, listen, you guys are going to love this…
I have this idea. Is there any way we possibly could have a Heller people convention or symposium, or, call it what you will? Where are you Andrew? Grand Blanc? Can we set up a convention there? Could we all meet for lunch, with name-tags, at some venue there, some Saturday? Could you address us?
Or, do some of us hate some others too much? I have insulted Jim III many times here. BUT! I would like to meet him in person, shake his hand, wish him well, be polite, and buy him a beverage, and make jokes and laugh with him.
This would be counter to something Fred just wrote, but maybe we could pull it off. What do you think?
No responses? Nobody interested in this idea? Woof. We should get together, I think. Please respond if you like or dislike my idea.
Here is a sub-idea: Could we at least have a meeting of the Liberal Caucus of the Heller Blog? Fred, Jims, others? Might we meet somewhere, some Saturday, and have lunch? Andrew? Would you get together with us?
I’d be happy to meet anyone who wants to meet for lunch in GB. Anyone interested?
Oh, Andrew. Thank you for responding. I would love to meet you and buy you lunch. Nobody else is picking up on this. I am surprised. I will contact you, and try to make a date.
I might enjoy a speaking engagement with Andrew Heller, but definitely not a bi-partisan free- for- all.
My three favorite words this time around: grace, whisper, moire.
Linda, Thanks for responding.
Mathew, your comment above where you said that you insulted me a number of times just confirms a comment made in an entirely different forum. In that forum a conservative said that whenever someone responds to a comment made by someone with an insult means that they do not have a sane rational answer to the comment someone made.
Democrats/socialists/liberals/communists do not want to debate with anyone who does not conform to their ideas.
It is their way or the concentration/death camp solution.
Jim III, I have insulted you, but I would like to meet you. I insult you only when you write silly things on Andrew’s blog. Face-to-face would be a different dynamic. Anybody out there, do you want to meet in person, ever?
In looking over Andrew’s usual rant against the 2nd Amendment, he claims that the NRA is controlling CONgress. No, it is not. Right now there are barely enough members of CONgress that realize that the removal of the 2nd Amendment means that the radical democrats/socialists/liberals/communists will be able to fulfill their dream of radically and fundamentally change the form of the government of the United States. They will finally realize their dream of controlling the American people like Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, and other socialist/liberal/communists dictators around the world.
Mao said it best:”power comes from the barrel of a gun.”
Venezuela under Hugo Chavez had their murder rate go up from 1999 to 2012. During that time period Chavez was calling for strict gun control measures. People could have just about any gun they wanted. Now all the deaths were not from guns, but other means also.
After Chavez died, Maduro took over. He was able to get gun control passed. Maduro destroyed the Venezuela version of the 2nd Amendment off the law books.
The only ones allowed to have guns were the police and the military.
In 2012 the Venezuelan citizens lost the right to have guns.
By 2016 the Venezuelans learn how to eat cats and dogs to keep from starving. Then they went after the animals in the zoos.
in 2019 the Venezuelans are fired on by their own soldiers to keep them from getting the food sent to them by the United States and a couple of other South American countries.
In one convoy the soldiers or someone from the Maduro government set the supply trucks on fire and destroyed the food and other humanitarian supplies on the trucks.
If the citizens had been allowed to keep their guns maybe the humanitarian supplies might have gotten through.
Socialists/liberals/communists do not want an armed citizenship/militia.
Socialists/liberals/communists are part of 2 to 5% of the population that controls the rest of the population. It is because they have the guns. The citizens do not.
The 2nd Amendment was never to mean that citizens needed their guns to hunt. It is amendment meant the keep the tyrants that would eventually rise up and try to suppress the people of this nation. Think it cannot happen here? Think again.
Lenin said it like this: “The goal of socialism is communism.”
Socialists say that they want a lot of free stuff.
News flash: there is never anything that is truly free. Somewhere, somehow it has to be paid for.
The goal of Democrat “gun control” is not to increase safety in the general population. The goal is actually to disarm law abiding citizens so they can be easily forced to comply, or be killed. None of the Democrat gun grabbing bill goes after criminals. It just makes law abiding gun owners criminals.
Give liberals nothing. We’ll keep all of our guns. We won’t be put on Democrat lists.
What we really need is nation wide, concealed carry reciprocity.
Zzzzzz… Standard right-wing baloney.
Do you believe anybody actually reads through these long posts you put up?
I just heard on the news that our Democrat/Liberal/socialist governor has proposed a $.75 cent raise in the gas tax phased in over the next 18 months. Will the Republicans turn down this proposal? I am not holding my breath.
Yes, in theory it is supposed to go to repair the roads in the state. But, over the years I have learned that too many politicians of either political party do not always tell the truth when it comes to taxes.
Casein point: a few years ago the local politicians put a proposal on the county ballot to raise a new revenue tax on property.
They claimed that the funds were to go for a program for veterans.
The proposal got published in the local paper. The proposal looked good until the veterans looked at the last paragraph. It listed all the other various agencies/programs that would also get a cut of the tax.
Now these same listed agencies/programs also had their hands in the pocketbooks of taxpayers
under some other guise of property taxes.
I do not remember the rough guesstimate of how much of the new tax would have actually gone to veterans, but I think it was less than 20%. The rest was going to these other agencies/programs that did not have any direct use for veterans.
A lot of veterans I knew at that time voted against the proposal.
The socialist governor of Michigan is just getting started. Not only is she pushing immense gas tax increases but she is also pushing for massive increases in business taxes.
This is only STEP ONE.
She would turn Michigan into an overtaxed, illegal alien infested, shithole if she had her way.
The answer is simple. Give her and the Democrats NOTHING. To Hell with their agenda of hate.
45 cents.
45 cents.
Two Points:
1. The Reply Function here seems to have a bug. I recently replied to a couple posts, but my replies showed up on the following posts. My replies to Jim III showed up on Abner’s posts.
2. The start of Daylight Saving Time is approaching. In the past, Andrew and I both have questioned Daylight Time. In Michigan, we live in the far western end of the Eastern Time Zone, with New York. Geographically, we should be in the Central Time Zone, with Chicago. Do we want further to distort our time, with Daylight Time? It gives us late sunsets during the summer, but it messes up our natural timing. How much will you enjoy heading for work in the dark, again, next week?