Stephen Tuttle | Author
Just Dumb
Dec. 2, 2017
Remember when a good education for our children was the top priority of nearly every politician? Not so much these days.
Spending on public K-12 schools and universities has been in decline since the recession approached rock bottom in 2008. According to the State Higher Education...
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First Steps
Nov. 25, 2017
The rogue's gallery of accused sexual harassers, abusers, and assaulters now includes
actors, directors, producers, record moguls, politicians including two former presidents and the current president, television broadcasters both behind and in front of the camera, and various bus...
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Hunting Witches
Nov. 11, 2017
Let's check in and see how Special Counsel Robert Mueller's “witch hunt” into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election is going.
We have to start by acknowledging the Russians did interfere. The CIA, NSA, FBI and all additional intelligence and law enforc...
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Tall Talk
Nov. 4, 2017
The endless argument over tall buildings in downtown Traverse City, now in court and likely to never go away, has percolated to the surface of public debate. Again.
The arguments remain essentially the same.
The more-height advocates tell us density is the key to a vibrant...
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More Dying in More Places
Oct. 28, 2017
Now we have combat deaths after militants supportive of the Islamic State ambushed four Green Berets in Niger. It's a good bet you, like several United States senators, didn't know we had troops in Niger. Or where it is.
Niger is the largest country in West Africa, with about 20.7...
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Try Again on Tax Reform
Oct. 21, 2017
We have a tax reform plan. Cobbled together in secret by six Republicans and supported by President Donald Trump, it promises much and delivers much less.
We're told it's going to cut almost everyone's taxes, including those of corporations, while stimulating the economy and creat...
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Awaiting the Candlelight Vigil
Oct. 14, 2017
Another day, another massacre, another pile of teddy bears and candles, another candlelight vigil and memorial service, another permanent memorial, another gun debate, another day, another massacre.
We're good at this because we've had plenty of practice.
The F...
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Kneeling Tall
Sept. 30, 2017
As far as we know, a baseball game in 1897 was the first time the Star Spangled Banner was played at a sporting event. It's one of the few things about baseball that does not have endless statistics.
We do know the song was played in the seventh inning of the first game of the Wor...
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Coming Soon
Sept. 23, 2017
While we've been blissfully unaware, a 2018 Michigan gubernatorial race has broken out and will likely be coming to your neighborhood, television screen, mailbox, or computer screen soon.
According to the Detroit Free Press which recently listed the lineup, 14 stalw...
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Downtown Money and Flashing Red Lights
Sept. 16, 2017
Traverse City must be the king, or queen, of corporate welfare. Every developer would like some, please, and there seems to be plenty to go around.
It is only sound business to avail themselves of the taxpayer largess, especially downtown, where land costs are preposterously high....
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The New Normal
Sept. 9, 2017
For those who lost loved ones, the pain will likely never end. For the thousands whose homes or businesses were damaged or destroyed, the pain is just beginning.
Hurricane Harvey was an equal opportunity destroyer. Neither skin color nor language nor bank accounts mattered. ...
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Come Home
Sept. 2, 2017
Alexander the Great was the first, or at least the first for which there are good records.
He and his gang breezed into what is now Afghanistan back in 330 B.C. a scant 2,347 years ago. After two years of being constantly attacked by local tribes, Alexander was no longer that grea...
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Getting Over It
Aug. 26, 2017
The president says the removal of Confederate statues and monuments is erasing history and destroying the cultural heritage of the South. He openly asks if there is any difference between George Washington or Thomas Jefferson and Robert E. Lee.
Others believe those protestin...
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Trouble Near and Far
Aug. 19, 2017
This is not so good. There is trouble both near and far. Let's start with near.
The nurses at Munson Medical Center voted to unionize. Or not. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has questioned 81 ballots, a potential difference-maker in what was a 50-vote victory margin for...
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Is the Party Over?
Aug. 12, 2017
Robert Heghmann, a Trump campaign donor and former campaign volunteer from Virginia, has filed suit against the Republican National Committee (RNC), the Virginia Republican Party, and various officers of both organizations. He claims they are guilty of mail fraud and racketeering. Read More >>
The Difference
Aug. 5, 2017
When the ACA passed in 2010, Democrats controlled the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. Republicans now control the White House, Senate, and House.
The ACA discussion played out over several months, including input from all stakeholders, moving through three commi...
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A Misunderstanding
July 29, 2017
“I, [name], do solemnly swear [or affirm], that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or pu...
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A Plan for the Boardman?
July 22, 2017
Nothing says “We want to protect our river” quite like the sound of chainsaws hacking down mature trees on the riverbank.
Traverse City leaders have decided maybe they should create some kind of plan for the urban section of the Boardman River. That would probabl...
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Not Even Sancho Panza
July 8, 2017
Some Democrats in Washington, always willing to engage in a little windmill tilting, are talking about impeaching President Donald Trump. Or, in lieu of that, invoking the 25th Amendment.
This is quixotic, a hopeless waste of time and energy. It's easy to understand the Demo...
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Kill Everybody
July 1, 2017
Jeff Sieting is the Kalkaska Village president. He has a Facebook page on which he describes himself as a “white, Christian, conservative American.” He likes to post niceties he finds elsewhere.
Sieting recently posted an especially noxious bit of business ... Read More >>