April 19, 2024

Stephen Tuttle | Author


Baby Steps

Jan. 9, 2021

It didn't take the ultra-progressive wing of the Democratic Party long before they started carping away at President-elect Joe Biden. His cabinet nominees, so far the most diverse group ever, wasn't diverse enough. Or he wasn't aggressive enough combating the Trumpian nonsense. Or he wasn... Read More >>

Tiny Houses and Big Raises

Jan. 2, 2021

Let's start by assuming 2021 will be better. The mysteries of local government, however, will remain the same.     

The Traverse City City Commission and their overlords at the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) continue their obsession with eliminating ... Read More >>

The Other 2020

Dec. 19, 2020

Well, that was an interesting year. And there was more to it than a pandemic we didn't stop and a delusional soon-to-be ex-president who won't accept reality.

In fact, 2020 was a pretty eventful year, good and bad, without the election or pandemic.    

... Read More >>

The Best Christmas

Dec. 12, 2020

Some people believe this will be the worst Christmas ever.

There's no doubt this year will finish with significant challenges. But the worst Christmas ever? Probably not worse than the multiple Christmases during the Civil War. And then there was the 1918 pandemic, World War I, th... Read More >>

Disappointing the Progressives

Dec. 5, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden is likely to disappoint the more progressive folks in the Democratic Party. Some are already complaining.  

The Sanders/Warren/Ocasio Cortez wing of the party has an agenda: the Green New Deal, single-payer “Medicare for All,” reduce... Read More >>

Just Stupid

Nov. 28, 2020

Some day historians may be able to identify the moment when too many of us stopped believing in science or facts and, instead formed our opinions based on social media, polemicists we see on television and hear on the radio, and worst of all, politicians.

We're currently in the mi... Read More >>

Thanks

Nov. 21, 2020

Some folks don't think there's much about 2020 for which we should, or even could, be thankful. The country is painfully divided, we've just completed the most contentious election of our lifetimes, and we have an out-of-control pandemic with restrictions too many of us simply ignore, as ... Read More >>

Election Leftovers

Nov. 14, 2020

 

* The folks doing the political polling need to change their methodology or there is no reason for the media to report their results. Even in the states correctly predicted for Biden, the projected margin was off well beyond the margin of error. This was a far worse perform... Read More >>

Ever-Increasing Price Tag

Nov. 7, 2020

At least some of it is now over. We won't be getting any more annoying, intrusive, and unwanted texts from Amy from the Biden campaign, David from the Trump campaign, Emily from MoveOn, or the rest who constantly invaded our phones. At least we could just click off the robocalls when we d... Read More >>

A Pathetic Abdication

Oct. 31, 2020

“We're rounding the corner.” — President Donald Trump

“We may need a national mask mandate.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

“We're not going to control the... Read More >>

Promises, Promises

Oct. 24, 2020

Every presidential candidate makes plenty of promises. Most are fantasy or folly — that pesky Congress often intrudes — some are absurd, and some can actually be accomplished. 

During the 2016 campaign, according to an Associated Press count, candidate Donald Trum... Read More >>

Patience Required

Oct. 17, 2020

It's going to be a very long election night. Voter fraud will have nothing to do with it.

Every state has some form of early, mail-in voting this year, and only Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Indiana still require a reason to request a mail-in ballot. The other 45 s... Read More >>

Made Things Worse

Oct. 10, 2020

The Michigan Supreme Court, in a 4–3 decision supported by the four Republicans on the Court, with dissenting opinions from the three Democrats, has ruled Governor Gretchen Whitmer does not have the authority to continue issuing emergency orders under the Emergency Powers of Governo... Read More >>

Spinning out of Control

Oct. 3, 2020

He said scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were wrong when they first issued their mask recommendations. He resisted and contradicted their suggestion that businesses and schools should close. He denied that there were shortages of personal protective equip... Read More >>

Warts And All

Sept. 26, 2020

Project 1619, a product of New York Times Magazine writers, is a potential public school curriculum that attempts to redefine early U.S. history by making the assertion that slavery and Black Americans were the keystone to our creation and development. 

It posits our country'... Read More >>

Unlocking Trouble

Sept. 19, 2020

Unlock Michigan is likely to unlock trouble. It's awash with potential for unintended consequences. 

The idea is that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has far exceeded what should be her authority, using a 1945 emergency powers law to unilaterally make decisions during the ... Read More >>

Serving No Cause

Sept. 12, 2020

On May 25, George Floyd died in Minneapolis with a police officer's knee on his neck. The protests have not stopped since.

Additional violent interactions between police officers and African Americans, some obviously justified and others questionable, have kept the unrest roiling.... Read More >>

In Sickness and in Heat

Sept. 5, 2020

So, now it's “herd immunity.” That seems to be the latest Trump Administration COVID-19 strategy. At least the steps they're now taking are pushing in that direction.

Their reluctance to recommend masks and social distancing, their insistence on in-person teaching for ... Read More >>

Do Sports Bring Us Together?

Aug. 29, 2020

We are told sports are a kind of societal glue, a unifying and uplifting communal necessity, especially during challenging times.

It's more likely sports are an ephemeral distraction — valuable but not critical. That's especially true at the professional and top college leve... Read More >>

A Counterfeit Issue

Aug. 22, 2020

In 2016, the problem was all those illegal immigrants voting, remember? Millions and millions of them we were told. To be fair, the voter fraud commission that President Trump launched did find one green-card holder who had tried to vote. And on average, each year, there are about 20 pros... Read More >>

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