Stephen Tuttle | Author

An Ambitious Agenda

May 13, 2023

Traverse City’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) has created an ambitious agenda for themselves.

There is the third parking deck, the riverfront redevelopment, talk of expanding the area in which they operate, and perhaps even a third tax increment financing (TIF) distri... Read More >>

A Job Without Rules

May 6, 2023

Being a federal judge is a pretty good job that lasts forever.

Article III, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution says federal judges “…shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour…” The practical result is that judges essentially hold those offices regard... Read More >>

Leadership Ignoring Reality

April 29, 2023

The Michigan Republican Party is very close to losing its way, at least at the top. They seem to have no overriding philosophy or political ideology. Like the Democrat party, the GOP mostly begs for money they can use to attack the other party. But the Republicans have gone completely off... Read More >>

National News Briefs: Satire Edition

April 22, 2023

(Waukesha, WI) – The Waukesha Public School Board today instituted lockdowns for all elementary schools when a passing thunderstorm generated a rainbow. A board spokesperson said, “Rainbows are a controversial symbol, and we don’t believe young children should be exposed... Read More >>

On We Go

April 15, 2023

Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has been living large on someone else’s dime for a long time. Thanks to reporting in ProPublica, we now know just how large that life has been. Thomas disclosed none of it.

Thomas’s benefactor, billionaire Harlan... Read More >>

Peripheral Targets

April 8, 2023

It isn’t clear what Republican office holders support other than guns and Donald Trump, but it is crystal clear what they don’t support. They seem to think their beloved base only responds to the negativity they produce in abundance.

Let’s start with businesses a... Read More >>

Discouraging to Be on the Back Burner

March 25, 2023

The realities of climate change seem to have moved to many back burners. It’s not as if the causes and effects have suddenly disappeared.

First, let’s take a moment to acknowledge not every weather anomaly is related to climate change. We’ve always had droughts, ... Read More >>

The Stench of Slavery

March 18, 2023

California is about to approve the payment of reparations to people who can prove they are the descendants of slaves. This might be a good time to look at slavery’s ugly history.

As long as there has been recorded history, there have been references to slavery, starting with... Read More >>

Weed, Projects, and Greed

March 11, 2023

A scant four and half years after Michigan voters approved the sale of recreational marijuana to adults, Traverse City is finally about to approve those businesses.

The law, passed in 2018, allowed communities to opt out, as many did, or opt in as many more did. Traverse City chos... Read More >>

Earned Censorship

March 4, 2023

Sometimes censorship is well earned. Other times, it’s appalling.

A good example of the first, deserved version is Scott Adams and his comic strip Dilbert. The strip, a sometimes wicked and often accurate satire on the corporate world, was syndicated to 2,000 newspa... Read More >>

We Shouldn’t Be Surprised

Feb. 25, 2023

We’ve become very good at this, haven’t we?

First will come the flowers, candles, and teddy bears, all left at an appropriate site, some with notes of condolence. There will be a candlelight vigil and a non-denominational prayer service attended by more people than hav... Read More >>

Where Are They?

Feb. 18, 2023

Where have all the employees gone?

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (USBLS), the unemployment rate in the U.S. is now down to 3.4 percent, with about 5.7 million people unemployed. Michigan’s rate is 4.3 percent with 208,000 unemployed. Yet there are nearly 1... Read More >>

Owning Our Food

Feb. 11, 2023

Let’s just assume the Chinese have surveillance technology other than slow-moving and visible-to-the-naked-eye balloons. They certainly knew it would be seen and taken down. To be sure, they have multiple sophisticated satellites busily surveilling any and all of our important milit... Read More >>

Local Odds and Ends for February

Feb. 4, 2023

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently gave her fifth State of the State address, and some people actually paid attention. Among other things, she proposed a tax cut for Michiganders. This is red meat for most Republicans, who always talk about tax cuts but are rarely able to enact them due to mo... Read More >>

Foolishness Right and Left

Jan. 28, 2023

Recent actions in Florida, Arkansas, and California are proving the extreme right and left can be equally nonsensical.

The College Board, a nonprofit organization created in 1900 to expand student access to higher education, approves and distributes Advanced Placement (AP) courses... Read More >>

Fire and Rain

Jan. 21, 2023

It’s time for one of our irregular updates on that pesky climate change business.

There was plenty of bad news in 2022 but with a glimmer of hope we’ll get to later. One horrific year, or even a couple years, of awful weather and its consequences can’t be fully a... Read More >>

Dysfunction as the Norm

Jan. 14, 2023

If you enjoy slow-motion train wrecks, you had to enjoy the Republicans in Congress trying to elect a Speaker of the House. After 15 ballots, they finally chose Kevin McCarthy, who sold most of his power, his soul, and what was left of his integrity to secure the job.

This is the ... Read More >>

2023...Will It Be Any Different?

Jan. 7, 2023

Will 2023 be any different than 2022? It seems unlikely.

War will continue to rage in Ukraine as Vladimir Putin refuses to abandon his delusions of reestablishing the long-dead Russian Empire. Unfortunately, the fighting in Ukraine is only one of a dozen or so ongoing armed confli... Read More >>

If Only We Would

Dec. 17, 2022

Individual gifts are nice this time of year, assuming you’re on Santa’s nice list. But the world as a whole could use some gifts, too.

For example, ending slavery would be an excellent gift. Perhaps you thought slavery was a barbaric relic of the past. Unfortunately, t... Read More >>

The World Cup

Dec. 10, 2022

The largest athletic contest in the world, by any metric—most athletes participating, most people watching in person, most people watching on electronic media, most countries involved—is currently underway in Qatar. It’s the World Cup of football, or what North Americans... Read More >>