Why has Heritage Fest shut down Ypsi’s main thoroughfare into Depot Town, starving businesses?

I’ve made it a rule these past several years, for various reasons, not to weigh in on Ypsilanti’s annual Heritage Fest. When the following was forwarded to me, though, I felt compelled to share it. It’s one thing to close down streets when activities are planned, as they have been in years past, but I don’t see any logical reason this….

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Under cover of a Category-4 hurricane, Trump quietly pardons racist Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, patron saint the “Build The Wall” set

Tonight, as Hurricane Harvey sits off the coast of Texas, threatening to unleash its furry… Trump quietly made good on his promise to pardon racist Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, signaling to members of his white supremacist base that he’s solidly on their side, and to members of his administration that he’s willing to reward loyalty with presidential pardons.

But that wasn’t all that happened tonight.

In addition to rewarding Joe Arpaio for his blatant contempt for civil rights law and the U.S. justice system, Trump also just signed a directive banning transgender military recruits from the U.S. armed services, in direct opposition to the wishes of our nation’s military leaders, as a gift to the anti-LGBTQ community… So, with two strokes of the pen, Trump brought the most deplorable members of the Republican base closer to him, indicating, I think, where the battle lines over impeachment will be drawn. I suppose I could be wrong, but I think, by signing the Arpaio pardon and the transgender ban, Trump is demonstrating to the GOP that he doesn’t intend to leave office gracefully, like Nixon did. Quite the contrary, he’s digging trenches and filling them with deplorables. That’s what these recent rallies have been about. And that’s what we’re seeing tonight.

Interestingly, this comes on the same day that news broke that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has begun issuing grand jury subpoenas in his Russia investigation, and just a few days after the Senate Judiciary Committee held a ten-hour closed door meeting with Glenn Simpson, the former journalist who, along with former Mi6 agent Christopher Steele, compiled the now infamous “dossier” outlining Trump’s ties to Russia.

So, yes, I think it’s safe to say that things are coming to a head.

Speaking of which, something else of interest happened tonight. We got word that Trump’s completely unqualified national security advisor, Sebastian Gorka, had resigned from the administration, citing the ascendency of forces within the White House that “do not support the MAGA promise.” While some are arguing that Gorka didn’t resign so much as get thrown out by White House chief of staff General John Kelly, the fact remains that, for whatever reason, Gorka, like Bannon, is now on the outside, attacking Trump for failing to deliver the revolution he’d promised… So, much like we’re seeing off the coast of Texas, a huge storm is gathering in D.C., being fed by numerous environmental factors.

Oh, and then there’s the North Koreans… Despite Trump’s claim earlier this week that they were “starting to respect us” as a result of his baseless threats, they’ve once again ramped up their missile testing, launching three missiles today, and demonstrating that they now have the ability to reach the United States with nuclear warheads.

And, as I’m writing this, it’s just 9:00 fucking o-clock… We still have three hours to go… I know I should stay awake and see how all of this ends, but I think I’d be better off if I just went to sleep right now, before things get any weirder.

Here, before I drift off to sleep, though, is the White House statement on the Arpaio pardon.

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Roger Stone warns those who might consider voting for impeachment of assassination and civil war

I’m hesitant to even bring it up, as I don’t, as a rule, take elderly swingers with Nixon tattoos all that seriously, but former Nixon “dirty trickster” Roger Stone went on the record earlier today predicting all out civil war if Trump, the man he helped put into power, was impeached… He event went so far as to warn those voting to impeach Trump that their lives might be in jeopardy.

Any politician who votes to impeach the President, Stone told TMZ, “would be endangering their own life.” “Try to impeach him, just try it,” Stone went on. “You will have a spasm of violence in this country, and insurrection, like you’ve never seen… This is not 1974, the people will not stand for impeachment.”

Here, if you’ve yet to see it, is the video.

For what it’s worth, I’m not suggesting that Stone is anything more than vile, little jackass with a big mouth. I didn’t take him seriously a few weeks ago when he instructed the President, by way of social media, to imprison Hillary Clinton, and I don’t think that he has any credibility whatsoever as far as mainstream politics is concerned. But, with that said, he was a senior advisor to candidate Trump, and it’s not hard to imagine that his dirty tricks didn’t help propel the failed real estate developer turned reality television celebrity into the White House. Given that, and the fact that Stone still holds some sway with the Alex Jones set, I think it’s at least worth our notice, though. Whenever a close associate of the President predicts civil war, I think we should at least note it, right? And that probably goes double in the wake of something like we just saw in Charlottesville, where we had armed Nazis in our streets.

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While Trump is fighting the battle of Phoenix, McConnell is preparing to win the war

Describing himself as “very presidential,” Donald Trump took to the stage in front of a small crowd of supporters in Phoenix last night, and proceeded to rant for over an hour an a half about how unfairly he’d been treated by the “fake news” and “crooked media,” who, he added, don’t, for some unexplained reason, want to see America be great. Here, in case you missed it, is a brief video clip from the Washington Post.

[note: The fellow standing behind Trump, with the “Blacks for Trump” sign is Miami’s Maurice Woodside, also known as Michael Symonette, a former member of the Yahweh Ben Yahweh cult, who was sentenced back in the early ’90s to 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder in Florida. When contacted by the press and asked why he supported Trump, Woodside said, among other things, “(B)ecause Hillary’s last name is Rodham, and their family members are Rothchilds, who enslaved 13,000 slaves as collateral.”]

To say that Trump came across as unhinged during the rambling would be a monumental understatement… James Clapper, the retired lieutenant general who served as Director of National Intelligence up until the beginning of Trump’s term, when being questioned about the speech on CNN afterward, asked, “How long must the nation endure this nightmare?” [Clapper, it’s worth noting, has served both Democratic and Republican administrations, having first been tapped to server as Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence by George W. Bush.] “The President exhibits a total moral, and ethical void,” Clapper went on to say, as he reflected on the speech, which drifted without focus from nonsensical rant to nonsensical rant. “Frankly, I worry about his access to the nuclear codes.”

And, for what it’s worth, Clapper has good reason to worry about those codes, as it’s absolutely true that there are no checks and balances when it comes to launching nuclear weapons. If a U.S. president wants to launch nuclear weapons, he can do so. Within four minutes, nukes can be in the air, and no one can stop it from happening.

Back to the speech, though… Among other things, Trump also threaten to shut down the government if he doesn’t receive funding for building of a wall along our southern border, attacked Arizona’s two Republican Senators, told a lot of lies, and hinted that he will pardon Joe Arpaio, the racist former sheriff of Maricopa County Arizona, who has been charged with ignoring a judge’s order to stop detaining people he thought looked like they might be undocumented immigrants. “Joe can feel good,” Trump told the cheering crowd… Here’s video of Trump discussing Arpaio.

Here, to put this particular section of Trump’s rambling speech into perspective, is a clip from the open letter Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton issued prior to Trump’s visit, asking him to reconsider.

Just days after Trump confirmed that he was “seriously considering” issuing a pardon for former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio — who was convicted in July of criminal contempt of court for defying a federal judge’s orders to stop racial profiling — the president’s campaign announced that it will hold a rally at the Phoenix Convention Center. The timing doesn’t seem coincidental.

Let’s be clear: A pardon of Arpaio can be viewed only as a presidential endorsement of the lawlessness and discrimination that terrorized Phoenix’s Latino community. Choosing to announce it in Phoenix — especially in the wake of Charlottesville — would add insult to very serious injury and would reveal that the president’s true intent is to further divide our nation.

For years, Arpaio illegally targeted Latinos in our community because of the color of their skin. Mothers and fathers lived in fear as they dropped off their kids at school. Kids lived in fear of their parents being arrested and taken away.

…Our community is moving on and moving forward from Arpaio’s divisive legacy. A pardon won’t change the fact that Arpaio was convicted of a crime, nor will it shake our resolve to keep building a city that is welcoming, is inclusive and provides opportunities for anyone willing to work for them…

Oh, and not only did Trump say a lot of terrible stuff, but he it’s also worth noting what he didn’t say. He didn’t note Arizona Senator John McCain’s battle against cancer, and he didn’t mention the fact that several U.S. Navy personnel are missing and presumed dead in the wake of the collusion earlier this week… “Very presidential,” indeed.

OK, so where does this leave us?

Well, I don’t want to get your hopes up, but my guess is that Trump isn’t long for this world. And I’m not just referring to the various investigations into his relationship with Putin, and the possibility that they worked together to change the course of the 2016 election. [Speaking of which, did you see that Glenn Simpson, the former journalist who helped Christopher Steele compile the Russia dossier, met with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for more than 10 hours today?] I think, long before anything comes of the Russia investigation, the GOP will come to the realization that Trump is an albatross around their necks that needs to be gotten rid of. And, actually, I think that decision has already been made, as evidenced by the recent leaks from McConnell’s office about how he and Trump haven’t spoken in weeks, and his opinion that there’s no salvaging the presidency at this point. [So, yeah, in retrospect, it probably wasn’t a very good strategy on Trump’s part, after failing to deliver on health care, to blame it on McConnell – someone who actually understands how this game is played.]

Trump knows it’s over. He knows the GOP is turning against him… If he wanted to stay in office, he’d make peace, and he’d focus, with McConnell’s help, on things that they have the votes to pass. He’d get a few legislative wins under his belts, and he’d go from there. It would appear, however, that Trump has chosen another path. He’s cutting ties with the GOP (by firing Priebus), and he’s pushing back by appealing to the basest instincts of the Republican base; demanding that the border wall be built, pushing for a transgender ban in the military, promising to pardon Arpaio, and casting the established GOP, like McConnell, as defenders of the status quo – people who, like the lying press, don’t want to make America great again.

So now we have both sides girding for all out war. And it looks like everything’s lined up to come to a head over the battle to raise the debt ceiling, with McConnell and Ryan wanting to keep the government operational, and Trump threatening to shut it all down if they don’t build his ridiculous wall.

No matter how it plays out, you can be damn sure it’s going to be bloody.

If I were a betting man, though, my money would be on McConnell. He may be evil, but he’s smart. And, I suspect, at the end of the day, he’ll be victorious. His party, however, will likely be in tatters.

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What’s more beautiful than watching the eclipse in Ypsi? Watching people watch the eclipse in Ypsi.

I was sitting at my desk as the solar eclipse was starting, when a coworker urged me to grab a box from the mailroom, punch a few holes in it, and join the rest of the staff out in the parking lot to watch tiny projections on cardboard of the moon pass in front of the sun. While Michigan, given the alignment of the bodies in question, may not have been the best place to view the eclipse, I enjoyed the experience of standing with my back to the historic celestial event as the air grew colder, staring down into a vandalized UPS box. If only for a moment, it was nice to think about something other than politics and work, and be reminded that, in the whole scheme of things, whatever happens here on the face of the earth doesn’t really matter. “The dinosaurs were here before us,” I thought, “and something else will come after us, and nothing we do here, in any way, will affect the course of events on the other planets in the universe.” Sure, it was dark, and kind of fatalistic, but I took some comfort in it… the brief reminder that, when all is said and done, nothing that happens on this planet, no matter how how vile or ridiculous, really matters.

This planet of ours, as Carl Sagan was known to say, is nothing more than “a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.”

But then my friend, Donald Harrison, sent me video that he’d taken in downtown Ypsilanti, where people had gathered in the small park next to the public library, to watch the eclipse, and I was reminded that there’s not just beauty in humanity, but a beauty worth fighting for. “While the eclipse was beautiful,” I thought while watching Donald’s video, “this is better.”

The Solar Eclipse 2017 in Downtown Ypsilanti from Donald Harrison on Vimeo.

Posted in Mark's Life, Ypsilanti | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

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