Stephen Tuttle | Author
Sanctuary from Nothing
Feb. 15, 2020
Kalkaska County is now a Second Amendment sanctuary county. Gun owners there will now be safe from an intrusive government and so-called red flag laws, universal background checks, and prohibitions against semi-automatic long guns and high-capacity magazines.
As a b...
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Death & Disease
Feb. 8, 2020
John Altobelli, Keri Altobelli, Alyssa Altobelli, Christina Mauser, Sarah Chester, Payton Chester, Ara Zobayan. Do any of those names ring a bell? Those are the seven people not named Kobe or Gianna Bryant who died in the same helicopter crash.
Like always, we've d...
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A Little Sunlight
Feb. 1, 2020
Most consider the phrase “Congressional ethics” a bit of an oxymoron. Their strong law-and-order instincts weaken considerably when it comes to policing themselves.
Back in 2012, Congress passed legislation euphemistically called the Stop Trading on Con...
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The Iowa Caucuses
Jan. 25, 2020
On the evening of Monday, Feb. 3, after a full day's work and despite what might be horrible weather, Iowa Democrats will trudge to schoolhouses, fire stations, and other public buildings for their caucuses. It isn't a night for the timid.
They won't show their iden...
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More War
Jan. 11, 2020
Another military entanglement in the Middle East without an obvious plan, purpose or exit strategy. We've been watching a similar movie that never ends.
Neither Iran nor their terrorist proxies are likely to be subdued by our missiles and bombs .
...
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More of the Same in 2020
Jan. 4, 2020
Despite what seemed like a busy year politically, not much actually changed in 2019. We're likely to get more of the same in 2020, making some predictions easy.
Locally, we already know Traverse City's Downtown Development Authority (DDA) wants to extend their TIF ...
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Choosing Good Will
Dec. 21, 2019
Another year without peace on earth or good will toward anyone. Pretty much the same as last year, and the year before that, and before that.
We still have wars percolating away in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan, Ukraine, South Sudan, Somalia, Nig...
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Human Error
Dec. 14, 2019
Despite the advances made over the millennia, we humans continue to insist on maiming and killing ourselves, or others, in ever more inventive ways and with ever more poor decision-making.
Our cell phones are the latest culprit.
The Na...
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Has He Done Enough?
Dec. 7, 2019
We know, for a fact, it is illegal to solicit or receive information from a foreign national or government to influence a federal election. We know that because it's written in black and white in the statutes.
We know, for a fact, President Donald Trump asked the n...
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Giving Thanks
Nov. 30, 2019
Thanksgiving is the best of holidays, except maybe for some cooks. It's a time when family, friends, and oftentimes stragglers with no place else to go are all welcome.
It has the added advantages of outstanding food and no secular connections; most everybody celeb...
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Boycotting Everything
Nov. 30, 2019
We are in an epidemic of boycotts, or at least attempted boycotts. These are bipartisan efforts, with both the left and the right mightily offended about something, offering up a long list of targets. The strategy is simple: Don't buy these products, don't shop at these stores, and don't ...
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“Untold human suffering … ”
Nov. 16, 2019
A recent report in the publication Bioscience, signed by 11,000 scientists in several different fields from 150 countries, declared we are in a “climate emergency” and warned of “untold human suffering.” That doesn't sound good at all.
This i...
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Taking Orders from a Fool
Nov. 9, 2019
What happened to those Trump generals? And where were their defenders?
Our presidents seem to have an affinity for the military. Uniformed officers, with chests bristling with ribbons, make for a most excellent photo-op. It's a physical manifestation of the real po...
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More and Less
Oct. 26, 2019
As Washington goes from bizarre to surreal, here at home our local DDA wants more than it was promised, and a local school board gave us less than we deserved.
Legislation enacted in 1975 permitted the creation of downtown development authorities (DDA) to correct a...
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"It is Illegal ... "
Oct. 19, 2019
In June of this year, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News interviewed President Donald Trump. He asked the president, among many other things, if he would notify the FBI if a foreign government gave him negative information about a political opponent. Trump said he'd want to see the informa...
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Make the Investment
Oct. 5, 2019
Democratic presidential candidates touting universal pre-kindergarten and free tuition to state colleges and universities might be on to something. Now, if we could just get the politicians and bureaucrats to be equally interested in K–12 public education.
Fun...
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Into the Abyss
Sept. 28, 2019
We're sending troops to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is a response to Iran's shoot-down of an American surveillance drone and, more recently, their alleged attack on a Saudi oil refinery and depot.
The troops are an effort to establis...
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Fire!
Sept. 21, 2019
October 8, 1871, was a very bad day for fires in the United States. Sept. 14, 2019 Quite a mouthful, otherwise known as PFAS. Now the trick is to actually keep them out of our mouths. Aug. 31, 2019 The Michigan Legislature is currently contemplating competing bills regarding short-term rentals. One of them might not be such a good idea. Supported by the real estate industry, companies like Airbnb, and private property rights advocates, the first would prohibit zoning ordinan...
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At the end of an unusually hot and dry summer, railroad workers clearing brush outside of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, accidentally set a fire that quickly turned into a wind-aided conflagration.
Perflouroalkyl and Polyflouroalky Substances
PFAS, first developed in the 1940s, is not a single thing but a massive family of man-made chemicals — nearly 4,700 of them now, according to the Environmental Prot...
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A Cautionary Tale