What is the best thing about summer? Outdoor get-togethers. Friday night we had an impromptu thing atop the Park Shelton downtown. The heat relented as the sun went down, and a full, red moon rose over the skyline around 10 p.m.
Strawberry moon, I read. So named for its proximity to strawberry season, but this year’s went a little extra, as you can see.
The next morning, in the market? Blueberries. My blueberry guy said they’re two weeks early this year. No surprise. Everything is two weeks early this year — the fish flies, the heat wave, all of it. Next year, maybe two and a half weeks. As always, we’ll see. I was thinking about taking us on a little trip, less than a week, to New Orleans in the fall, and was surprised to see the hotel rates in September are way lower than I expected. Then I thought: Prime hurricane season. Miserable weather. Maybe try for November. I think that’s the play.
So how was your weekend? Alan came home from a four-day fishing trip, bringing to a close my staycation of bad TV, girl dinners at hungrytime, not dinnertime — one night I found myself eating sautéed onions and chickpeas with a runny egg on top at 4:45 p.m. — and other pleasures of only having to look after oneself. As I say whenever this happens, I’m happy to see him go, and equally happy when he returns. Too much solitude isn’t good for an extrovert like me.
Then Sunday rolls around, and even though I’m “retired,” it still feels like I’m looking down the tunnel of the work week, planning. I still make a weekly to-do list on Sunday, and love looking at it on Friday and seeing all, or most, of the entries crossed off. And writing that sentence makes me realize I really do not have a goddamn thing to say, and should get to the bloggage, two items today, both from the NYT, both gift links.
First, excellent reporting on the one-man grift machine that is Michael Flynn. Correction: One-family grift machine:
Since leaving the Trump administration under an ethical cloud, Michael Flynn has converted his Trump-world celebrity into a lucrative and sprawling family business. He and his relatives have marketed the retired general as a martyr, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for a legal-defense fund and then pocketing leftover money. Through a network of nonprofit and for-profit ventures, they have sold far-right conspiracy theories, ranging from lies about the 2020 election to warnings, embraced by followers of QAnon, about cabals of pedophiles and child traffickers.
…A New York Times investigation found Flynn family members had made at least $2.2 million monetizing Michael Flynn’s right-wing stardom in recent years, with more than half of that going to Mr. Flynn directly. That total includes several payments not previously reported, but it is still a low estimate, since not all financial records are public. The Times’s reporting also raised questions about whether America’s Future had properly disclosed its payments to Mr. Flynn’s relatives.
Bad people, bad behavior, idiot followers. That’s MAGA in a few words.
And in the magazine, an interview with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, an indication that she’s being taken seriously as a 2028 presidential contender. It’s a pretty flattering interview, but then, she’s competent, so you expect that.
Separate from what happened to you during this period of the pandemic, I do want to ask you about some of the lessons that you may have learned. Michigan’s stay-at-home order did last longer than other states’. You closed all the schools in March 2020, and you didn’t urge them to be reopened until a year later. Now that we have the fullness of hindsight, do you think schools should have reopened earlier?
I have said many times that if I could go back in time with the knowledge we’ve accumulated now, there certainly are things that I would have done differently. I also want to remind everyone that during that period of time, Michigan was so hot compared to the rest of the country. It was New York, Detroit, it was Chicago and it was New Orleans that were having a massive impact from Covid. Our hospitals were at a real brink.
No one really knew how to deal with this. It’s less about what you were facing but more specifically about schools. You’re seeing in Michigan chronic absenteeism, students performing below pre-pandemic levels in reading and math.
I think we have to remember that we were looking at lessons from the Spanish flu, and that particular virus absolutely was devastating to younger people. And as a person taking in as much information as I could from our epidemiologists and our public-health experts, the thought was that we might have a lot of school-age kids that were going to die from this virus. That’s really what motivated our actions and the actions of lots of governors when we stopped kids going to school. It has carried a long, hard price tag with it. We’ve made massive investments in early childhood and in free breakfast and lunch for all 1.4 million Michigan kids, and literacy coaches. So we’re working to help get our kids back on track. But absolutely, if I could go back in time with the knowledge we have now and knowing this virus didn’t disproportionately kill children, would I have done some things differently? Yes.
Finally, I see some of you have caught up with the Rep. Neil Friske (pronounced “frisky”) situation here in Michigan. More will be revealed, and I trust it will be hilarious.
Good week ahead, all. Hope your to-do list is full of scratch-offs by Friday.
alex said on June 23, 2024 at 6:11 pm
Some friends from Chicago are wanting me to go in on renting a house for a few days at the Indiana Dunes. Sounds like a plan. We had a great time sightseeing there recently.
Strawberry moon looked rather more yellow in these parts, but I took my best iPhone photo of the moon ever.
Hubby’s getting ready to leave for work until July 3 and we’re going to go drop off my car at the import repair place. I’ve been waiting two weeks for this appointment. The check engine light came on while I was at the Indiana Dunes and I had diagnostics done on it. I was told I had two bad oxygen sensors and something amiss with my power control module. Since then the check engine light has gone off. Then, just yesterday, the check engine light went on in my other vehicle and the diagnostician at the auto parts store said it was an oxygen sensor.
Oxygen sensors are involved with the catalytic converters somehow, but I don’t see any evidence of any tampering with the catalytic converters on either vehicle, which was the first thing to occur to me.
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tajalli said on June 23, 2024 at 7:06 pm
The seasonal shift seems to me to be more like 3-4 weeks early where I live. That and getting my snow peas in a month late greatly reduced this year’s crop – just tore out the withered stalks today and have set the last pods to dry for an experiment in seed saving for next year. So the cherry tomatoes will be late but the summer season is also extending, and, like the Energizer Bunny, they just keep going.
I’m really over with all the political drama and tend to think everyone’s made up their mind about November, it’s just getting the stay-at-homes out to vote that’ll make a difference, not a rational human attempting to argue with an idiot.
Alex, I had an issue with the sensor in my gas tank failing, so engine light indicating gas cap seal failure (not enough gas fumes) and had to think it through for the mechanic once gas cap replacement didn’t do the trick. Had to find another mechanic to carry things forward, too. A very expensive drag.
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Ann said on June 23, 2024 at 7:14 pm
Just because I don’t feel I can’t share this on the book of faces, which is where I found it, and because you mentioned strawberries, I’m sharing it here. This showed up in our local “buy nothing” group. “Does anyone sell the strawberry rhubarb plants?”
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nancy said on June 23, 2024 at 8:00 pm
Ann, Alan once edited a food Q&A column where one of the Qs was: “I often see recipes that call for ‘leftover chicken.’ What is leftover chicken, and where can I buy it?”
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David C said on June 23, 2024 at 9:05 pm
Oxygen sensor failures are pretty common. Also, even though the OBDII may say it’s an oxygen sensor, it’s often something else causing a bad reading. An oxygen sensor tells you that the fuel/air mixture is correct but there are other conditions that cause it to read wrong. So, it isn’t uncommon to replace a sensor, which is an easy job on most cars, and have the check engine light come on again soon after. It pays to get a full diagnosis before firing up the parts cannon and simply replacing the sensor.
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Julie Robinson said on June 23, 2024 at 9:31 pm
Tomato season is already over in Orlando and we’re two months into AC season. Outdoor time is only for swimming. We’ll have our fun when everyone else is shoveling snow, you poor devils.
Aside from that, we went to a bang-up production of Hello Dolly and I’ve been dancing around singing all those great songs, and will be all week.
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Jeff Gill said on June 24, 2024 at 6:45 am
The first version of that joke I recall is someone (in truth, I believe the words were “newlywed bride”) wanting to know where they could buy “scratch,” since her husband’s mother apparently made so many items from it.
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Jeff Gill said on June 24, 2024 at 7:22 am
Oh, and to all with any Chicago ties, especially to the 60s-70s-80s, you will find much familiar ground to cover in Cate Plys’s latest Substack entry (free, and you oughta subscribe):
https://roselandchicago1972.substack.com/p/mike-royko-50-years-ago-today-walter
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alex said on June 24, 2024 at 8:51 am
Always loved Cate Plys’ writing. Here’s one of her most memorable features and people are still talking about it today: https://chicagoreader.com/news-politics/plane-stupid/
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Jeff Borden said on June 24, 2024 at 9:34 am
One thing I’ll never understand about the alleged “pro life” party is the disconnect on climate change. They fetishize forced birth…gotta save those embryos…but seem willing to bequeath a seething, searing, poisoned planet to their children and grandchildren.
BTW, the same knob who has succeeded in getting the Ten Commandments into Louisiana public schools also turned down millions in federal funding for summer breakfasts and lunches for poor kids. He’s one of 15 governors -every one of them an R- doing this. Fucking hypocrites.
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alex said on June 24, 2024 at 10:16 am
Well, I got the call on my car. Catalytic converters are burned out and will cost close to $2K, brakes another $400 and a leaky power steering pump for I forget how much. But it’s cheaper than buying a new car.
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Courtney said on June 24, 2024 at 11:08 am
I live in Pittsburgh but grew up in Northern Michigan (Alpena) and I’m in the middle of a three week stint up here – two weeks working while my kids go to camp and a week of vacation when my brother and nephews arrive. The biggest news here is about a few books about puberty and sex ed that are placed in children’s and young adult sections that many feel shouldn’t be. “It’s Perfectly Normal” and “Let’s Talk about it.” Both titles are books my friend group and our pediatrician recommended for our kids in Pittsburgh but it’s been a minute since I read them so Saturday I’m going to the library to read them. My mom thinks I simply live in a city where things are more liberal (she is completely on the side of the library, I should note.) The amount of vitriol spewed toward these books, and the sort of biased coverage of the local newspaper, does feel super out of proportion.
https://www.thealpenanews.com/news/local-news/2024/06/alpena-county-demands-answers-over-controversial-books-at-library/
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JodiP said on June 24, 2024 at 11:12 am
Ann’s comment made me laugh. 2 years ago, I put an ask on our Buy Nothing group for lamium and included a picture. A new gardener replied that she had lots…..her picture was of creeping Charlie! I provided gentle education and eventually got lamiun and some bonus sweet woodruff from an experienced gardener.
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Suzanne said on June 24, 2024 at 11:48 am
JodiP your story reminds me of a co-worker who offered me a start of what she claimed was basil because it was taking over her garden. Comes up every year, she swore, and was spreading. No matter that I assured her that basil in these parts was absolutely not a perennial, she insisted it was basil and brought me some. One sniff and I knew it was oregano. She was close; it was at least associated with Italian cooking!
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alex said on June 24, 2024 at 12:20 pm
I’m surprised the bluenoses in Alpena aren’t petitioning to rename their town something that doesn’t sound so penile. Does the library have a 3D printer yet? Maybe they can host workshops for children and teach them how to make their own AR15s.
I think the Republicans have pretty much poisoned the well where schools and libraries are concerned and we’re forever going to be fighting nutters over dumb shit.
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Jeff Borden said on June 24, 2024 at 1:06 pm
Alex, you’re spot on. The goal is starve public schools and funnel those sweet tax dollars to religious and/or for-profit schools. These, of course, would be non-union and certain to avoid the more unpleasant chapters of our history.
A few states already are using rightwing propaganda educational materials created by the so-called Prager University, a scam run by a nutter. One video defends Christopher Columbus. There’s another where a character says yeah, slavery was bad, but not as bad as death, right?
And tRump has stated publicly he “loves the poorly educated.” I’m sure he does.
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David C said on June 24, 2024 at 1:38 pm
They keep them ignorant about sex and wonder why they have so many more knocked up 15 year olds than they have in the big liberal cities.
I was back home on Indigenous People’s day last year. They were all wondering what that was about. I said it was because Columbus was a genocidal maniac. My wingnut brother chimed in with “That’s not history”. It certainly isn’t the history we were taught in school, but it doesn’t take a lot of digging to find out that yes, he was.
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Dexter Friend said on June 24, 2024 at 3:36 pm
2007 Odyssey engine light on…scan…catalytic converter purge valve needed replacing…should have cost $205. My Indiana mechanic guys did it for $91 + $30 to deliver it to me. My brother is in surgical rehab at the old Parkview in FW after femur surgery; he fell and broke it.
Aldi’s gets blueberries and blackberries from the ag-giants in Texas & California but the damn strawberries they get from Salinas, CA are for shit. I am getting some local strawberries today .
Have any of you seen Trump lately? Totally deranged. Now he wants a “Fight Club” with immigrants fighting trained boxers. Like a cockfight, y’know? Now an addition to the VP pool…Burgum, Little Marco, Vance , and now Elise Stefanik. 3 I know are creepy misfits but I know nothing about Burgum.
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Jeff Borden said on June 24, 2024 at 4:12 pm
Burgum is a legit billionaire who is the governor of North Dakota…not the other one where the woman governor killed her dog. He’s an odorless, colorless, tasteless kind of guy who has gone full mad dog MAGA to impress the stable genius. So, he brings a bag o’ cash and a malleable personality that will never overshadow the star of the shit show.
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Sherri said on June 24, 2024 at 5:57 pm
I’ve often wondered why the Dems keep chasing the white vote, when Dems haven’t won the white vote for president since the 1964 election. That’s right, whites didn’t vote for Carter after Watergate, they didn’t vote for Clinton, and they didn’t vote for Obama. Yes, college-educated city-dwelling whites have skewed Dem, but the majority of whites vote Republican. White grievance politics is a powerful force.
Then I looked at Congress. There are still 9 Democratic Congress members who could cast a vote for President in 1964, when the voting age was still 21. DiFi’s death and Biden’s election to president reduced the number by 2, but there are still 9 people with influence who remember a time when white people voted for Dems, and seem reluctant to face the new reality. And yes, I include Bernie Sanders in that number.
(Not so fun fact: David Duke won 53% of the white vote in Louisiana when he ran for governor.)
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brian stouder said on June 24, 2024 at 8:11 pm
My first vote for President of the USA was in 1980, and it was for the Republican. My mom was a life-long Democrat, and my dad was a life-long Republican, and they never missed an election, so I was for-sure gonna vote, and THAT was what they imparted to me, and indeed, that’s one thing I’ve always repeated to our young folks. Stay informed, consider alternatives, and when the opportunity arises – vote accordingly.
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Jeff Gill said on June 24, 2024 at 9:28 pm
Brian, 1980 was my first presidential election, but for reasons that will take too long to explain, I was the college rep on the Indiana “John B. Anderson for President” committee from Purdue. And I voted for him. Now I wish I could say I voted for Carter, but as Benjamin Franklin said, “Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.”
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Dexter Friend said on June 25, 2024 at 2:40 am
I was 23 before I could vote legally in 1972, for George McGovern. He received 29M votes but Milhous got 47M and 49 states. 60% of the people believed Nixon , the mad bomber of childrens’ hospitals in Hanoi, was fit for the job. McGovern flat-out called Nixon a liar which rankled folks then. A couple years later, Dick flew away in a helicopter from the White House lawn, in utter disgrace, later pardoned by Gerry Ford of course. I knew there would never be a worse, more crooked rotten bastard in the Oval…but damn…then people voted in a goofy California former governor who had stated that all hippies should be shot dead. And welcomed Ronald Reagan in. Claimed amnesia in Congressional inquests, Iran Contra deals, tried to install a Star Wars net in outer space, had his wife Nancy advise him in his dementia-affected second term , using Tarot cards, then when he was done, he flew straight to Japan to accept a multi-million dollars gift from the Japanese government. I wonder what he did to garner those millions into his cummerbund? As rotten as Trump is, is he worse than that horrible Reagan, the man who fired the United States entire staff of air traffic controllers? Reagan was an unhinged madman.
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Deborah said on June 25, 2024 at 9:42 am
The media seems to be encouraging a close horse race for more clicks https://www.mediamatters.org/washington-post/top-newspapers-fixate-bidens-age. It shouldn’t be a close race at all, but then again there sure seem to be a lot more stupid people than there ever used to be. I don’t care if that’s an offensive thing to say, I’m sick of coddling them.
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Mark P said on June 25, 2024 at 10:22 am
We just rewatched the movie Up. If you saw it, you may remember how one dog in the villain’s pack of intelligent, speaking dogs would occasionally say “Squirrel!!”, and as one they would forget what they were doing and look for the squirrel. That’s the MSM today. Someone says, “Biden old!!” and they all run off shouting “Biden old!!”
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brian stouder said on June 25, 2024 at 11:48 am
My immediate response to ‘Biden old’ would be ‘Kamala’ – which is a win-win situation….
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Sherri said on June 25, 2024 at 1:03 pm
Yesterday, in my 10 minute drive to the gym, I saw two Cybertrucks. Pictures really don’t capture how ugly the thing is. The proportions of the thing just feel wrong. A Hummer looks attractive compared to a Cybertruck. A Cybertruck doesn’t look suited for any purpose. It doesn’t look like it could carry anything, it doesn’t look like it could off-road, it doesn’t look fast, it just looks wrong.
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basset said on June 25, 2024 at 10:39 pm
I’ve seen a couple around Nashville in the last few days, including a black one… I would guess the owner wants to give the impression that it’s a non-radar-reflective stealth vehicle or something.
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