A parking ticket for Kate’s car arrived at our house the other day. This has happened before, because her car is still registered to her dad. Normally it’s one of those high-tech meter-expiration citations, where the second the time runs out, the meter takes a photo of your plate and mails you the ticket. (I hate those. You should get a few minutes grace if you’re returning to your car. Damn surveillance state.) But this one was more troubling — parking in a handicap spot, which she swears she didn’t do. A $200 fine. It all happened in Hamtramck on Labor Day.
:::swimmy visual effects, harp glissandos:::
She does remember parking on the street, and a resident coming out to yell that she was in his spot. “It’s a public street,” she told him. “I’ll be gone in 30 minutes.” He continued to shake his fist from the front door, and she walked away. There was no ticket on the car when she returned. More than a week later, it arrived in a hand-addressed envelope, which was weird. Other things were weird, too — the color of the car was wrong, and not by a shade or two. The plate, make and model was correct, but it’s not a green car, not even close. I normally would have let her handle it, but she’s got a lot on her plate right now, so I took it on, because readers? I smelled a rat.
Called the Hamtramck PD. The officer allowed as it was unusual for a ticket to be mailed, but not unheard of, if say the officer was called away before it could be completed.
“Are there photos of the violations?” I asked. “She said she saw a handicap spot in front of another house, but she parked well out of it.”
The officer allowed as how there should be photos or body cam footage, available via FOIA request. I made one as soon as I hung up, then called the court to let them know I was seeking more information, and would either pay or contest when it arrived.
Today? It arrived:
I am reaching out on behalf of the City of Hamtramck’s FOIA Coordinator. The City of Hamtramck is in receipt of your document request pursuant to Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, MCLA §§ 15.231, et. seq. After conducting a reasonable search of records in the possession of this public body, we have determined that no records exist that are responsive to your request.
Now I will roll into my November Zoom court date armed with Defendant’s Exhibits 1 and 2, a photo of Kate’s car showing its correct color, the FOIA response showing no photos of the alleged violation exist, and your honor, as the state is offering no proof beyond this :::shakes ticket derisively::: piece of paper, I am moving for a directed verdict of NOT GUILTY.
How did this happen? Parking is scarce in Hamtramck, especially the weekend of the Labor Day Festival, and likely this homeowner, who lives near one who has a legal handicap spot (I checked on Google Street View), called the cops and told them some snotty girl was parked in it. They probably let him offer the information over the phone. Whatever happened, I think I saved Kate $200.
This is my life in retirement.
Also, watching this dipshit senator from Missouri make an ass of himself, and be corrected by a woman:
Sen. Eric Schmitt thought he caught Jack Smith in a lie. Instead, he outed him as a fan of former Iowa Hawkeyes star Caitlin Clark.
In a quest to frame former special counsel Jack Smith as a liar during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Schmitt asked him if he was in Atlanta on Feb. 3, 2024, for an NBA basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks — amid mounting drama around the Atlanta-based criminal investigation into Donald Trump led by prosecutor Fani Willis.
Smith clarified that he didn’t go to that game. But he did go to a different one on the same day: He was in College Park, Md. to see the Maryland Terrapins women’s basketball team play the Iowa Hawkeyes, led by phenom Caitlin Clark, who dropped 38 points that night in a win over the Terps.
It appeared that Schmitt misinterpreted a text message reference to the “hawks” among Smith’s deputies, who discussed reserving a seat for Smith in the front row.
Haw haw Hawkeyes!
OK, then. I have a big day Wednesday, so I’m going to get this checked off my to-do list. Later, all.
Deborah said on September 29, 2026 at 6:11 pm
I saw that Jack Smith clip online. I also saw that the rightwing show The Charlie Kirk Show or something like that (even though Kirk is obviously dead) went ahead and congratulated Schmitt for owning Smith with that question about attending a “Hawks” game in Atlanta. As if it wasn’t totally debunked on the Senate floor by Amy Klobuchar and Smith himself. These rightwing guys are such liars and cheats.
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alex said on September 29, 2026 at 9:14 pm
I had a bizarro parking ticket when I lived in Chicago. It was from New Year’s Eve, something like 2001. Didn’t find one on car, but received it in the mail. It claimed I was illegally parked on a street where I’d never been before. Although the license plate number was correct, it described the vehicle as a blue Dodge and my car was a red Honda. I contested it multiple times and they just kept increasing the fine due to nonpayment. Finally I went to my alderwoman and she made it go away. Yeah, if the license plate and car don’t match they don’t have a case, and cops transcribe plates incorrectly all the time.
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Brandon said on September 29, 2026 at 10:12 pm
https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/gop-sen-who-imploded-in-spectacular-fashion-touted-as-top-jd-vance-vp-pick-just-hours-before/
Axios co-founder and CEO Jim VandeHei dropped an awkwardly timed report on Tuesday, detailing Sen. Eric Schmitt’s (R-MO) close relationship with Vice President JD Vance and the early rumblings that Schmitt is on top of Vance’s short list for a 2028 running mate.
VandeHei’s report ran with the headline, “Sen. Eric Schmitt is drawing buzz as a possible Vance VP in 2028,” just hours before Schmitt drew widespread mockery for botching an attack on former Special Counsel Jack Smith during an epic hearing fail.
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Jeff Gill said on September 30, 2026 at 8:03 am
I think Eric Schmitt would make an excellent running mate for J.D. Vance. As they say at the nicer restaurants, a perfect pairing!
Charlie Kirk is as dead as JFK Jr. Make of that what you will (although QAnon has been pretty quiet for a while now).
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Deborah said on September 30, 2026 at 9:33 am
Best headline this morning: Eric Schmitts the Bed.
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Dorothy said on September 30, 2026 at 10:02 am
I’m bummed I missed that Jack Smith testimony live. I love watching people (REPUBS) squirm live on camera. Although maybe they didn’t squirm but their eyes would have been giving them away. Nonetheless, it was a pretty great moment. And the one everyone is talking about.
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Dexter Friend said on September 30, 2026 at 12:59 pm
After my old Honda Odyssey broke down a month ago in Toledo, half a mile from the VA, I decided to buy another hoopdee, much newer, and 3 miles from me I found an ultra-clean Ford Escape…so cheap, ran perfectly, and the seller had posted it 5 minutes before I saw it on Marketplace…hell yes! I laid down the full amount on the spot. Then oh boy…my mechanic called that turbo aspirated little motor “absolute garbage”, and said do not expect me to work on it. OK, dude, jeez! But I have driven it to Columbus, Findlay 3 times, Toledo, and Auburn so far, no oil leak or burning, and it came with a free 2 months of satellite XM radio. So? I ain’t worried…it breaks down totally, one more hoopee awaits.
I submitted an Op-Ed to the big Lexington , KY newspaper, the Herald-Leader I think it is, remembering the great sports announcer Cawood Ledford of U of Kentucky, who I listened to doing Wildcat basketball games when as a kid, our Motorola TV blew a tube again and again, and repairs had to wait until Dad sold a couple more hearing aids, his job.
Mr. Ledford, also a track announcer down there, passed away 25 years ago. So far, no response, no big deal, at least I tried.
Right now the furnace technician is here repairing and tuning my furnace. Damn thing quit on me, as Cowboy Joe Buck said when his manhood slept on him after a drug-fest in “Midnight Cowboy” from 1969.
I pay every Fall for a tune-up. I hate when a furnace conks out in zero degree weather.
Chicago White Sox won yesterday, obviously Sox fan Pope arranged that.
And for the King Tut exhibit in the mid-1970s, I parked on Navy Pier where many had also parked. We walked to The Field Museum as I recall, and a massive $10 parking ticket was on my VW Microbus. I told my Calumet-area brother, he said just throw it away. But young Honest Dexter? I mailed a $10 bill off to the Cook County office of violent parking offenders.
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Julie Robinson said on September 30, 2026 at 2:31 pm
Car problems are the worst, aren’t they? Daughter inherited our 13 yo CRV and just had to put $1500 into it. First repairs ever, and considering we have it to her, she’s still got a vehicle with many years of life left.
Best news possible for me, surgery not needed on the broken shoulder. I almost want that in all caps and bolded. Everything is aligned and I’m to continue the sling and what I’ve been doing. I can get in the pool and walk around as long as I wear a floatie belt, I’ve forgotten what it’s called but one is on its way. He recommended sleeping in a recliner and that’s also on its way. I was so happy I bought ice cream for everyone on the way home.
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ROGirl said on September 30, 2026 at 4:37 pm
Dorothy, this reaction was freaking awesome.
https://www.al.com/politics/2026/09/katie-britts-face-says-it-all-when-jack-smith-hearing-goes-off-the-rails.html
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Deborah said on September 30, 2026 at 6:34 pm
Charlotte Clymer, wrote this piece yesterday on the Schmitt’s stupidity https://substack.com/home/post/p-218090342, It’s also worth watching the 20 minute video she produced about it.
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alex said on October 1, 2026 at 9:30 am
So how is it that veterinarians have what it takes to put a horse out of its misery, but our penal system uses drugs on condemned humans that result in misery?
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Deborah said on October 1, 2026 at 10:32 am
Alex, it happened in a deep red state, where a lot of officials, I presume have an inordinate amount of confidence in themselves, the Dunning Krueger effect comes to mind. Incompetence seems to be rampant everywhere in that world.
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