john auchter

President Donald Trump came to Michigan this week and delivered a speech that very much had this vibe. And in fact he did say to his subjects, er, the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen of Michigan, the golden age of America is upon us!"

I figured that there would likely be additional drama about the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge and, sure enough, there is. Here's a link to a pretty good summary, but the overarching story is how stupidly unnecessary the drama is.

Michigan and several other states are dealing with a record surge in Cyclospora illnesses, a parasitic infection that causes (and almost every report includes this term) explosive diarrhea.

It did occur to me to make Elon Musk the guy in the cartoon. After all, the newly minted trillionaire is very much the poster child for an absurd concentration of wealth leading to an absurd concentration of power.

But that's exactly what Independence Day is about — 250 years ago on July 4th a group of leaders got very, very political by signing a document that put their lives and their family's lives in grave danger. We can see now that it was totally worth it. Back then, it wasn't so clear.

So I was delighted when the Wolverines won the NCAA Men's Division I basketball title this year. But I also don't mind taking the opportunity to poke at the Schembechler-level of devotion of U of M zealots. If that makes the Spartan Nation happy, so be it.

Hall jumped on the Trumpian bandwagon of delaying the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, the bridge that Canada paid for. This also is a negotiating tactic. It's from the "never miss an opportunity to screw your neighbor" school of negotiating.

It's the sort of project that shows the United States at its best. Except, of course, it was Canada that made it happen. (But shout out to the State of Michigan for knowing when to get in on a good deal.)

Yes, Charlie Bucket does find one of the golden tickets in a Wonka Bar, and in the end his dreams come true. But only because he is the only pure and selfless one who deserves it. In the story of AI data centers, who is the Charlie character?

This mystifies me. Early morning risers cannot possibly be the target demographic for, say, sports betting. And yet, the ads and sponsorships are quite literally everywhere — they are rolling in so much money that they can afford to saturate the market. With A-list celebrities, no less! (C'mon, Jon Hamm — do you really need that money?)