“Snacks are ready,” a text message read, including a photo of a decadent oozy appetizer overflowing with calories.
Ordinarily this kind of American excess arrives with the Super Bowl, but this year in Michigan it’s arrived with the rare NFL Conference Championship game in which the Detroit Lions meet the San Francisco 49rs at 6:30 p.m. ET in San Francisco.
I’m not understating the amount of energy the Lions’ success has spread over its home town and the state. I have a nibling who works for one of the Big Three automakers, has season tickets to the Lions, who said that their latest trip to Meijer grocery store was crazy.
Everyone was dressed in Lions’ paraphernalia and chanting “Go Lions!” at each other in greeting as they worked their way down the aisles.
My digital copy of the Detroit Free Press today is nothing but Honolulu Blue and Lions. Every beat must have a story with a Lions angle today.
Is this what it’s like when a city like Detroit, buffeted for decades by economic head winds, saddled with a football team which mirrors the economic battering, finally makes it out of the basement and wins its division?
I had to look at local newspapers for the host cities and their competitors’ home towns:
Here’s the match-up which started at 3:00 p.m. ET today in Kansas City MO. Sure looks like the Chiefs’ hometown takes today’s game in stride, as if it was just another day. Baltimore Sun devotes just over half the front page to the game with two stories — by the way, you have my sympathies, Baltimore, upon the launch of that right-wing moron Armstrong Williams’ opinion column in your paper.
Now compare and contrast the coverage in hometown papers for the Lions and the 49rs who meet at 6:30 p.m. ET today in San Francisco.
It be like that everywhere in Detroit and Michigan today, so much Honolulu Blue. SF’s paper is more excited about hosting the game for their team’s slot in the conference championship than KC is, but less so than the Freep is about the Lions appearing in SF.
There was a drone light show last night in Detroit; the Michigan Central Station was decked out in blue lights cheering on the Lions.
The biggest sign of excitement, though, is Ford Field today, where four massive screens have been set up for a watch party at which 34,000 attendees are expected.
“Tickets sold out unbelievably fast. We made an offer to our Lions Loyal Members, our season ticket holders, and then opened it up to the public,” she said. “After just a few hours, 34,000 tickets sold.”
Tickets were offered at half price or $10 each to season ticket holders. My nibling bought 10 tickets for themselves and friends, naturally.
I can’t even begin to imagine how much beer Ford Field concessions will sell today in the Power Hour before kickoff.
Damn — I just realized I screwed up thinking this was about bi-coastal championships with Baltimore on the east coast and San Francisco on the west coast.
It’s a tri-coastal day with Detroit on the northern fresh water coast. Let’s see which coasts get knocked out today.
This is an open thread.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Football_DaveAdamson-Unsplash_16SEP2023_mod.jpg10001500Raynehttps://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.pngRayne2024-01-28 15:33:212024-01-28 15:43:24Trash Talk: Embracing Your Bi as in Coastal
Though 25F and cloudy in the D, it’s hot today where Detroit Lions’ fans are stoked out of their gourds because their beloved Kitties won their first NFL’s playoff game last week and are scheduled to play their second at 3:00 p.m. this afternoon on their own turf.
Michigan newspapers are loaded with helpful pointers about where to eat and drink with one paper in particular offering the recipe for a Honolulu Blue Kool-Aid cocktail, matching the color of the Lions’ uniform. Absolut Citron and blue curacao? I’m game, I’d try it.
Of course there’s the usual bad mouthing about Detroit. Can’t let the Motor City and the Arsenal of Democracy have anything good without a healthy slap, right, WaPo? Let’s not allow Detroiters to have a rare moment of unbridled happiness without picking at all the wounds.
At least WaPo had to get a lot closer to ensure there was a forced both-sides. Ruin porn on which major newspapers have feasted for the last 10-20 years is a lot more difficult to come by these days in the D. One only needs to look at the Michigan Central Station as an example of restoration and innovation replacing one of media’s favorite ruins.
Yesterday the San Francisco 49ers won at home over the Green Bay Packers 24-21.
The Baltimore Ravens likewise won at home over the Texas Longhorns, 34-10.
Let’s see if home field advantage likewise helps the Kitties today.
~ ~ ~
Speaking of the KC Chiefs, some stalkery dude tried to break into Taylor Swift’s place in TriBeca; he’d been skulking around her place for weeks trying to see her. Swift is still dating the Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce which should make the Chiefs’ game in Buffalo more amusing due to the extra star power in the audience.
~ ~ ~
In football – the other football – racist fans have gotten completely out of hand. FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino wants to crack down on the abusive behavior asking teams to forfeit if their fans are disruptively racist.
“The events that took place in Udine and Sheffield on Saturday are totally abhorrent and completely unacceptable,” Infantino added. “The players affected by Saturday’s events have my undivided support. Fifa and football shows full solidarity to victims of racism and any form of discrimination.
“Once and for all: No to racism! No to any form of discrimination!” the head of world football’s governing body added. “We need ALL the relevant stakeholders to take action, starting with education in schools so that future generations understand that this is not part of football or society.”
Yeah. That. Ditto.
Infantino’s demand comes after racist incidents during Coventry City FC at Sheffield FC on January 17 and AC Milan FC at Udinese FC on January 20. Both incidents were aimed at Black players – Coventry’s midfielder Kasey Palmer and AC Milan’s goalkeeper Mike Maignan – with the latter walking off the pitch at one point in protest.
It’s not a good look for FIFA when these incidents happened within days of each other and in different countries in and out of the EU.
~ ~ ~
Damn it. I just realized I made a mistake. My spouse and I agreed I’d cook dinner yesterday and he’d bring home fried chicken for dinner today.
Betting with the Lions’ game he’s ensconced at his favorite watering hole with his friends right now after a couple hours in the office, and getting fried chicken tonight will be a nightmare since so many Michiganders will be ordering takeout to watch the game.
Looks like it’s leftovers tonight.
Treat this like an open thread.
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The source of the recordings on which Detroit News based their report is not clear.
~ ~ ~
There’s conjecture this may have been material from the House January 6 Committee obtained from McDaniel’s own cell phone.
However the wording of the Detroit News article puts some distance between McDaniel and the recording, making it more likely the source was in the same space with the canvassers:
“We’ve got to fight for our country,” said Trump on the recordings, made by a person who was present for the call with Palmer and Hartmann. “We can’t let these people take our country away from us.”
Emphasis mine.
The distancing was even more pointed in the following paragraph, describing what sounds more like protecting a source from organized crime operations:
The News listened to audio that was captured in four recordings by someone present for the conversation between Trump and the canvassers. That information came to The News through an intermediary who also heard the recordings but who was not present when they were made. Sources presented the information to The News on the condition that they not be identified publicly for fear of retribution by the former president or his supporters.
Could this have been McDaniel’s work? Sure. Why was this released now, especially when she continues to defend her role at that time?
If it was from the J6 Committee, again, why now, and why the protections for the source?
Detroit News matched the recordings with the J6 Committee’s records:
The timestamp of the first recording was 9:55 p.m. Nov. 17, 2020. The time was consistent with Verizon phone records obtained by a U.S. House committee that showed Palmer received calls from McDaniel at 9:53 p.m. and 10:04 p.m.
This suggests the source wasn’t Palmer nor the J6 Committee. Detroit News also reported they checked with Palmer:
Palmer acknowledged to The News that she and Hartmann took the call from Trump in a vehicle and that other people entered the vehicle and could have heard the conversation. She said she could not, however, identify who entered the vehicle or might have heard the conversation.
Palmer told The News repeatedly that she didn’t remember what was stated on the phone call with McDaniel and Trump.
There’s another possible source which might prove difficult to validate: the older of the two GOP canvassers, William Hartmann, died in 2021. It’s possible this was a recording he made as an aid to prepare a document he used to attempt to reverse his certification of the vote. Was this recording released by someone associated with his estate? With the buffer placed between Detroit News’s report and the source, it’s tough to say.
While Detroit News checked with Trump campaign spokesperson Steve Cheung about the recordings, Cheung said,
Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, said Trump’s actions “were taken in furtherance of his duty as president of the United States to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity, including investigating the rigged and stolen 2020 presidential election.”
“President Trump and the American people have the constitutional right to free and fair elections,” Cheung said.
In an emailed statement to The Hill, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said “[a]ll of President Trump’s actions were taken in furtherance of his duty as President of the United States to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity, including investigating the rigged and stolen 2020 Presidential Election.”
Wow. It’s as if Cheung was using a prepared script.
It’s a problematic script since the Executive Branch protects voters’ civil rights through the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section’s Election Crimes Branch with regard to and through the Civil Rights Division. These functions are supposed to act independently of the White House, and definitely without regard to a candidate or party.
Nothing in this story by either Detroit News or The Hill indicates Trump told the canvassers he was asking for an investigation into possible voter fraud by the DOJ or Michigan’s secretary of state and state attorney general. He and McDaniel simply leaned on two white MIGOP canvassers partially responsible for certifying a huge chunk of the state’s votes.
Worth noting the Wayne County board of canvassers’ meeting on November 17 ran from 6:00-9:32 p.m.; Trump is not mentioned specifically during the meeting. Palmer alone says she’s uncomfortable certifying the city of Detroit.
Which suggests Hartmann wasn’t initially obstructing the certification before Trump and McDaniel’s phone call 23 minutes after the canvassers’ meeting.
~ ~ ~
There are a few more points which should be taken into consideration with regard to the Detroit News’s report.
– Each of Michigan’s 83 counties has a bipartisan four-member board of canvassers; each board is split 50-50 between GOP and Democratic Party members. The two canvassers Trump called are white MIGOP members who represent Wayne County. If you’re from the Detroit Metro area you already know these two canvassers already provide over weighted representation to white voters as Wayne County is a minority-majority county with whites composing less than 48% of the county’s population.
– Trump’s use of the phrase, “”We can’t let these people take our country away from us” during the phone call is a dog whistle racist plea to white MIGOP members not to allow a minority-majority county decide the election for Joe Biden. Emphasis mine; “you people” and “these people” are phrases often used to reinforce othering of non-whites.
– The number of votes which would have been affected by Palmer and Hartmann’s refusal to certify was more than 1.4 million, or nearly 20% of Michigan’s total active registered voters (7.15 million in November 2020). Wayne County is the most populous in Michigan, which may explain why pressure was placed on Wayne and not a formerly-red-trending-blue county like Kent, home to Grand Rapids.
– The Detroit News is a right-leaning news outlet; the source did not choose to share the recordings with the left-leaning Detroit Free Press, a Gannett-owned outlet, nor did they go to the Lansing State Journal in the state’s capital city (also a Gannett outlet) or the right-leaning political news outlet Gongwer.
– The report was published a week after preliminary court hearings were held in relation to criminal charges filed against MIGOP fake electors who attempted to throw the election for Trump with a forged certification. The electors are established MIGOP members who held roles within the party’s apparatus at the time of the election.
– After the call to the Wayne County canvassers, Trump summoned Michigan state legislators Mike Shirkey and Lee Chatfield, who at the time were the state senate majority leader and the state house speaker respectively; they were to meet with Trump in Washington DC on November 19. In testimony before the House J6 Committee, Shirkey said Trump didn’t make an explicit ask of the two legislators but instead trash talked about Wayne County and parroted unsubstantiated voter fraud claims. Trump also hosted a conference call with the two state legislators and both Rudy Giuliani and Ronna McDaniel during which Giuliani continued the false claims of voter fraud. Trump made multiple calls to Shirkey after the legislators’ visit to DC as well as tweets – a social media post on January 3 included Shirkey’s personal phone number resulting in more than 4,000 text messages.
– There is a schism within the MIGOP which may have encouraged the release of the recordings to the Detroit News. Trump-y former Michigan secretary of state candidate and current MIGOP chair Kristina Karamo has been under fire for mismanagement of the party’s finances and violations of election laws. A faction of the party has been trying to remove her as chair. How much of the party’s problems may be related to Trump’s support of losing-candidate remains to be seen; she has not been able to raise sufficient funds to support the party and pay its debts.
~ ~ ~
Trump meeting directly with state legislators in an effort to pressure the state to overturn the 2020 election looks as much like legitimate protection of voters’ civil rights as the phone calls to the Wayne County canvassers — as in not at all legitimate.
It looks like additional evidence of an attempt to deny the civil rights of a majority of Michigan voters in 2020 — violating 18 USC 241 just as Trump was charged by Special Counsel — with special animus toward the minority-majority community of Wayne County — including the city of Detroit.
Is the trashing of the MIGOP’s finances and operations by a Trump-endorsed former SOS candidate payback for failing to deliver the state by denying those rights? Is it a twist of the shiv that a Black MIGOP chair is destroying the state party?
______
(h/t to harpie for the article link in comments)
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I’ve been a golf widow since the first week of April when the grass was greening but still too short to cut, but long enough to bear the weight of golfers.
I am now widowed twice over because said golfer hangs in the clubhouse after 18 holes to watch every sport on all the big screens lining the clubhouse walls.
At least I have a month to plan the golfer’s resurrection after the last golf outing the first week of November.
Damn it. I forgot about deer season. I guess I have two months of planning woodworking and painting projects to keep him busy until the cycle begins again next April.
~ ~ ~
Last weekend when the widow-maker spouse came home from watching post-golf football he was far too happy. He launched into a paean to the Detroit Lions. I pissed him off by replying, “You mean the perpetual losing Lions?”
“But they won!” he sputtered.
Two games does not a season make. I know better than to get my hopes up this early.
The Lions may be up 14-0 as I type this but I am still not ready to believe.
~ ~ ~
I doubt I will see the sputtering undead golfer before the end of the Tampa Bay-Green Bay game which begins at 4:25 p.m. ET. Plenty of time to figure out what to serve for dinner to a guy who’s fallen deeply into the 19th hole.
Give me Aaron Rogers over Tom Brady and the non-profit, community-owned team versus the corporate team.
I won’t bother to argue the relative merits of either team; in truth the Green Bay Packers are a family favorite because of a family member who lives in Milwaukee area and is a superfan of the Pack. We’re really rooting for them to have a good Sunday.
~ ~ ~
Last but not least, that POS Brett Favre and his bullshit corruption, insisting on redirecting welfare money to university sports. He doesn’t have the morals to fess up to the public and do right by the state of Mississippi.
The case of Brett Favre, millions in welfare funds for needy families, and what is alleged to be the largest public fraud in the history of Mississippi.
Remember the college admissions scandal, particularly that surrounding actor Lori Loughlin and her spouse who paid bribes to get their two daughters admitted to the University of Southern California as members of the rowing team though neither student ever rowed? Loughlin and her spouse were arrested, prosecuted, and served time; Loughlin also paid tuition for other students as amends.
But Favre pressed state officials to use Mississippi welfare funds to build a volleyball facility for his daughter to use at his alma mater…and nothing.
Or at least nothing has happened to Favre, while former head of Mississippi Department of Human Services, John Davis, pled guilty to federal and state charges related to misuse of funds including those on behalf of Favre.
It’s not as if there weren’t text messages released which show Favre knew the misallocation was wrong.
Brett Favre: Will the media find out that we’re using welfare funds intended to help the poorest residents of America’s poorest state to build a volleyball center?
One might even come away thinking Favre conspired to launder the money
The capper on all of this has been the ridiculous amount of attention the sports media sector paid to another sports ‘scandal’ this week, when Boston Celtics’ head coach Ime Udoka admitted to engaging in a consensual relationship with an employee working for the same team, resulting in a season-long suspension for Udoka.
Favre’s corruption received much less attention in comparison.
Just a head’s up that this thread will be an overflow catch-all this week, assuming we don’t have too many other posts between now and the scheduled House January 6 Committee hearing on the 28th.
You might want to bookmark this for all non-hearing chatter.
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There’s always more than three things to address but here’s three we should look at more closely.
~ 3 ~
This is what we’re up against.
823 Americans have died of COVID-19 since yesterday. In contrast, South Korea, which learned of its first case of COVID-19 the same day the U.S. learned of its own, has only lost 281 of its citizens.
We lost not one American to an attempted shoe bombing in 2001 and yet an immediate program was developed and implemented to detect future shoe bombing attempts, requiring air travelers to take off their damned shoes and go through multiple screenings.
But Trump can’t be arsed to shut up and let the professionals handle stopping an ongoing daily stream of deaths from COVID-19.
Yesterday the House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing on oversight of the Trump Administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Called to testify before the committee:
Robert R. Redfield, M.D., Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (statement at 27:39)
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Director, National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes o Health (at 33:40)
Admiral Brett P. Giroir, M.D., Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (at 38:25)
Stephen M. Hahn, M.D., Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (at 43:54)
Some of the GOP’s efforts are useless, wasteful filibustering — like Rep. Bob Latta’s (OH-5) question about how the human body makes antibodies. This is something he should have been briefed on let alone read on his own long before this hearing. He should have read this basic biology question MONTHS AGO when the pandemic began. So was his question about how the vaccine would be distributed WHEN WE’RE 6-18 MONTHS OUT AT BEST from having a viable, effective, safe vaccine through Phase III trials.
Rep. Diana DeGette asked Fauci about vaccine development (at about 1:28:00); I think he was extremely optimistic saying he thought there would be one by early 2021. But the question wasn’t as specific as it should have been; there are clinical trials in progress for a couple of candidates, but it’s not clear what phase they are in.
Reported last week by StatNews:
There are more than 100 projects around the world centered on the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus. As of May 11, eight candidate vaccines were being tested in clinical trials in people.
An official at the National Institutes of Health said in mid-May that large-scale testing could begin in July with a vaccine potentially available by January.
Other experts say the more likely timeline is summer or fall of 2021.
The other factor beyond the capabilities of the vaccines and developers which will predict the time to public distribution is Congress and the White House.
If we still have that malicious narcissist in the Oval Office without a veto-proof Democratic majority in the Senate, nationwide roll-out of a vaccine by the U.S. government may not happen even if an efficacious vaccine is found.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 don’t care…
And it’s increasingly looking that we will go to new pandemic heights of cases, spread pic.twitter.com/80egJmFT92
The Trump admin. plans to end federal funding and support for coronavirus testing sites at the end of this month, @NBCNews has learned. pic.twitter.com/6JPPHra2Xk
What happened this weekend was supposed to be a point where Trump turned the narrative back in his favor and moved the attention away from the activists and change that have controlled the news cycle for months. But what really happened was instead of taking the attention away from the K-Pop teens for his failures, those things all combined to add one more line to an endless line of failures that we can only hope will keep going until November.
It wasn’t just a loss of narrative and momentum but the complete trashing of campaign data harvesting.
We don’t know exactly what the data accumulated by Trump’s re-election campaign looks like after receiving ~800,000 registrations for the Tulsa rally. Some were valid, some were valid but no-shows, some were legitimate addresses of people who had zero intention of attending — likely sent by TikTok accounts.
And somebody else isn’t going to pay Team Trump for data gleaned through Tulsa.
~ 1 ~
The ACLU filed suit this morning against the Detroit Police Department for its wrongful arrest of Robert Williams based on racist facial recognition technology.
BREAKING: We’re filing a complaint against Detroit police for wrongfully arresting Robert Williams, an innocent Black man — all because face recognition technology can’t tell Black people apart.
Officers hauled him away in front of his kids and locked him up for 30 hours. pic.twitter.com/84XJs0XWqu
The Washington Post published an op-ed by Williams explaining what happened to him and why facial recognition software should be banned.
The next morning, two officers asked if I’d ever been to a Shinola watch store in Detroit. I said once, many years ago. They showed me a blurry surveillance camera photo of a black man and asked if it was me. I chuckled a bit. “No, that is not me.” He showed me another photo and said, “So I guess this isn’t you either?” I picked up the piece of paper, put it next to my face and said, “I hope you guys don’t think that all black men look alike.”
The cops looked at each other. I heard one say that “the computer must have gotten it wrong.” I asked if I was free to go now, and they said no. I was released from detention later that evening, after nearly 30 hours in holding. …
It’s not just the software at fault, though. DPD made absolutely no attempt to confirm Williams’ identity against images they had before they took him into custody, processed him, and detained him overnight in holding.
They literally can’t be bothered or they are racist as hell in a minority majority city.
The ACLU is calling for a ban on facial recognition in Detroit, Williams being a perfect example of how flawed and racist the technology is as well as an assault on innocent citizens’ privacy.
Everyone should have the right to privacy. Tell the Detroit City Council to say NO to unchecked government surveillance.https://t.co/3pwtNBwylW
Boston’s city council banned facial recognition technology this morning, setting an example for Detroit.
The Boston City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Wednesday that would prevent the use of facial-recognition technology by the city governmenthttps://t.co/atiozQMgRD
What’s your municipality doing about facial recognition technology?
Are you blowing off this issue because you’re white and you couldn’t possibly be misidentified?
Sure.
There is no made-for-TV CSI “enhance” feature for surveillance footage. Attempts to build such a fanastic feature are shockingly racist. Facial recog use in law enforcement is just a fancy new kind of structural racism. https://t.co/VV8G9xn6P0https://t.co/ParC0lcjacpic.twitter.com/nREqUpUyUm
The House Judiciary Committee hearing on politicization at the Justice Department is still under way as hit Publish. If you haven’t been following along and want to catch up, here are four Twitter threads covering the hearing.
Ordinarily I wouldn’t step on Marcy’s posts by putting another one up so soon and one so short, but I am both FURIOUS and scared sick about this.
Since last night, Detroit Free Press confirmed yesterday’s rumors about the number of ventilators at one chain of Detroit hospitals — that area hospitals had run out of ventilators and patients were notified on arrival they may not have access to a ventilator if needed.
Henry Ford Health officials confirm letter outlining life and death protocols for COVID-19 https://t.co/2gctUvYoO8
Without ventilators, those suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome in critical need may die.
Trump decided to kill Detroiters by withholding essential equipment. He’s chosen not to act in a timely fashion and interfered with the state’s ability to obtain equipment, while trash talking about Michigan’s governor in the process.
Welcome to Trump’s death panel.
Michigan’s Governor Whitmer couldn’t make it any more plain how urgent the situation was, just as Governor Cuomo has.
Hi, my name is Gretchen Whitmer, and that governor is me 👋
I’ve asked repeatedly and respectfully for help. We need it. No more political attacks, just PPEs, ventilators, N95 masks, test kits. You said you stand with Michigan — prove it. https://t.co/FtWlTLZdqW
— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) March 27, 2020
Trump’s gross negligence isn’t hurting just black Detroiters, either — yeah, I went there, you know damned well Trump doesn’t care about the woman who is our governor or the black people who are the majority in Detroit.
Trump is hurting rural white Michiganders in areas that voted for him in 2016.
If this is how he’s setting out to win swing states, I hate to see what more harm he’ll cause to solidly blue states.
UPDATE — 1:10 P.M. ET —
You need to watch this video produced by an ER nurse in Oakland County, Michigan. The county straddles four congressional districts, two of which recently flipped blue. This is where white flight settled pre-2000, leaving Detroit behind.
They don’t even have acetaminophen to give patients when they put the ventilator tube down their throats — assuming they still have ventilators right now.
Trump’s death panel won’t just kill you. It will make sure you suffer along the way.
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It’s woe I was thinking of when I wrote this next bit.
What would you do if you were told you wouldn’t be paid for last 2 months of a 9-month job?
Let’s say you have kids to feed, a mortgage/car payment/college loan payments to make, childcare to pay, out-of-pocket healthcare costs — you know, all the expenses the average working person has.
In spite of one or more obligatory college degrees, continuing education requirements and mandatory background checks, your job requires you to work in facilities where ‘mushrooms, black mold, fecal matter, dead rodents, no heat‘ are common. It’s a workplace functioning like Flint’s water crisis, and it’s been this way for more than a decade. Fellow employees have had to bring in paper towels and light bulbs from home or solicit them as donations to the workplace.
Because of your employer’s money woes, you may even have made a concession agreeing to collect your pay over 3-4 months instead of the next six to eight weeks you are actually scheduled to work.
And then your employer’s employer says they aren’t going to pay, and you might have to work without pay for the next six weeks. Unpaid, as in violation of labor laws unpaid.
And your employer’s employer has a history of acting both in bad faith and with prejudice. Your workplace hasn’t improved for years; children were permanently poisoned and adults died as a result of their awful handiwork on this and other projects.
Welcome to Detroit Public School system, and welcome to more of Michigan’s obnoxious and toxic GOP-led legislating. Pretty sure the jerks who are causing this latest crisis by grandstanding on teachers’ backs don’t care if the president arrives here in Michigan today.
Dude caught on video sprinkling substance on food arrested by FBI
As if we didn’t have enough to worry about in Michigan, some whackjob has been sprinkling a mixture of hand sanitizer and rodent poison on food in stores, including salad buffets. He was caught on security camera in Ann Arbor, but he is alleged to have sprinkled this mix in multiple stores in Ypsilanti, Saline, Birch Run, and Midland. The mixture is not supposed to be toxic, but who wants to eat remnants of isopropyl alcohol and an anticoagulant? What the hell was this all about anyhow?
Canadian city of 80,000 forced to evacuate overnight due to massive wildfire
Mind-boggling to think of an urban center this size forced to flee on such short notice, but Fort McMurray did just that beginning late afternoon yesterday. Even the local hospital was emptied as fire leaped from undeveloped to developed areas, consuming neighborhoods. 80% of homes in the Beacon Hill neighborhood are ash. Conditions have been unusually warm and dry in the region; the local temperature was 83F degrees before the evacuation notice was issued. Weather conditions today are expected to be hotter (32C/90F) and WSW winds stronger ahead of a cold front, likely spreading the fire even farther to the northeast.
The area around Fort McMurray has only been in moderate drought conditions, yet the fire was explosive, doubling in size in a matter of hours. Can’t begin to imagine what might happen in areas where conditions are drier while this climate-enhanced super El Nino continues.
Volkswagen’s former head of engine and transmission development exits company
Wolfgang Hatz, suspended by VW for his role in Dieselgate, chose voluntarily to leave the company. This bit in NYT’s article is choice:
In 2007, shortly after being named head of engine and transmission development at Volkswagen, Mr. Hatz complained at an event in San Francisco that new rules on tailpipe emissions in California were unrealistic.
“I see it as nearly impossible for us,” Mr. Hatz said of a proposed regulation during the event, which was filmed by an auto website.
In other words, Hatz didn’t see the purpose of the regulation, didn’t perceive a challenge to design truly clean diesel — he saw an obstruction he needed to bypass. Auf wiedersehn, Herr Hatz.
Third leading cause of death in U.S.: medical errors (Science Daily) — Grok this: 250,000 deaths a year. You’d think insurance companies and policy makers would look into this, considering annual death toll is like ten times that on 9/11. Imagine if we spend tax dollars on fixing this and improving health care instead of militarizing against the rare-to-non-existent domestic terror attack.
Tesla’s residential battery, Powerwall, now for sale (Bloomberg) — Residential solar may now explode with growth. We can only hope.
It’s supposedly downhill from the top of this hump. Race you to the bottom!
This is a work in progress. Not all dates and events between the end of 2015 and current date have been added as of publication. This timeline will be updated periodically, as events unfold and as key information is revealed about Flint’s ongoing water crisis. Some information is incomplete or in need of validation. Links to sources will be added over time. If you have content you believe is relevant and should be added, please share in comments.
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1974-2002
XX-DEC-1974 — The federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) enacted to ensure safe drinking water for the public; the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for setting safety standards, monitoring, compliance and enforcement of the same under the SDWA.
07-JUN-1991 — EPA issued the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) limiting the amount of lead and copper in public drinking water, as well limiting the permissible amount of pipe corrosion occurring due to the water itself.
XX-JUL-1998 — The federal Environmental Protection Agency required all large public water systems maintain a program to monitor and control lead in drinking water due to piping corrosion under the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). Cities like Flint must have a state-approved plan to maintain water to regulatory limits for pH, alkalinity, corrosion inhibitor chemicals.
XX-XXX-2002 — [DATE TBD] Genesee County purchased 326 acres of property with 300 feet of Lake Huron waterfront via auction from Detroit Edison, for $2.7 million **How did this purchase affect the city of Flint’s 2002-2004 financial crisis?
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2009
28-AUG-2009 — Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) issued a permit to Genesee County Drain Commission for water withdrawal from Lake Huron (Permit 2009-001), up to 85 million gallons per day. MDEQ director at the time is Steven Chester.
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2011
10-MAY-2011 — DTE Energy expressed interest in acquiring 3 million gallons of water from Lake Huron intake for use at the Greenwood electricity generation plant.
XX-SEP-2011 — (confirm date) City of Flint increase water and sewer rates 35%. Higher water costs due in part to higher-than-expected unmetered water losses. This is the second double-digit rate hike in 2011. The city’s water system once served ~200K residents, now serves half that number and a much smaller manufacturing base.
29-NOV-2011 — Emergency Manager Michael Brown appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to take over management of the city of Flint effective 01-DEC-2011. Democratically elected offices are now subordinate to the EM.
XX-DEC-2011 — (confirm date) Report showed the City of Flint leaking 30 to 40% of its water, well above more typical 15-20 percent loss of unmetered water.
14-DEC-2011 — EM Michael Brown appointed Howard Croft as Director of Infrastructure and Development. Croft’s role has oversight of Parks and Recreation department, Street Maintenance, Water and Sewer, Sanitation, Planning, Fleet and Community and Economic Development. Jerry Ambrose named financial advisor, with oversight of finance, budget and treasury departments; Gary Bates named director of human resources and labor relations. Bates’s role was temporary, lasting 90 days, at time of appointment.
20-DEC-2011 — The City of Detroit sells $500,675,000 in bonds for Water Supply System Revenue funding (pdf). The offering prospectus notes Flint’s desire to migrate to the KWA, but that it might be seven years out before the move. 6% of DWSD water is supplied to Flint.
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2012
XX-FEB-2012 — (confirm date) Emergency Manager’s team audited Flint’s water system to identify current rate of unmetered water loss.
23-APR-2012 — EM Michael Brown proposed budget plan includes a 25% average increase in water and sewer rates, with water rates projected to increase 12.5% and sewer 45%. City personnel cuts were also proposed. Water and sewer are the single largest expenditure in the budget. (Proposed budget, PDF) **Did any of the personnel cuts made affect staffing of water and sewer maintenance?
XX-AUG-2012 — [DATE TBD] Emergency Manager Ed Kurtz appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder after Brown steps down. Kurtz has previous experience working in Flint during the 2002-2004 financial emergency.
XX-DEC-2012 — [DATE TBD] Michigan Treasury officials met with Flint city officials to discuss drinking water alternatives, including Flint River. Only two options — remaining on DWSD, or development/switch to new KWA — would be studied. Read more →
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png00Raynehttps://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.pngRayne2016-02-11 09:00:422016-03-17 20:44:42[Work in Progress] Timeline: Flint’s Water Crisis
I’ve been one of the first people to note that the Emergency Financial Manager laws have disproportionately affected MI’s African Americans. Note what I wasn’t arguing: that Governors Snyder and Granholm imposed EFMs because the cities in question were predominantly black. But it is, in fact, the case that the EFM law is affecting African Americans disproportionately, and with Detroit as Rick Snyder’s bullseye, affecting far too many of MI’s African Americans.
Brian Dickerson: What’s really driving state takeovers: It ain’t race
[snip]
Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Flint and Pontiac have something much more important in common: They’re all shrinking— hemorrhaging taxpayers, homeowners, employers at an alarming rate.
And in each case, African Americans are rushing for the exits just as fast, and in some cases faster, than their white, Latino and Asian neighbors.
The numbers in the accompanying chart tell the story succinctly: In the decade between the U.S. census counts in 2000 and 2010, Benton Harbor and Pontiac both lost more 10% of their residents. Ecorse and Flint lost more than 15%, and Detroit, the city currently atop the state treasurer’s critical list, lost 25%.
Now, the argument is a bit odd, not least because it looks at the last 10 years of population trends to explain an EFM law that goes back over twenty years (though the cities that have been in and out of EFM status, including Flint and Ecorse, have been losing population throughout that period).
More telling, though, is that Dickerson didn’t consider why Wayne County, which also has a deficit and also shrank over 10% in the last decade, hasn’t been seized (though people have started gunning for Wayne County, too). While the answer is obvious–not least, that the law pertains to municipalities–it reveals a lot of the underlying logic that got MI to embrace EFM laws.
It’s not just that both Democrats and Republicans chose to make cities sink or swim on their own decades ago; given the segregation and history of white flight, that decision did have racial implications. It’s also that the state relies relatively more on property taxes than other states, and relatively less on income taxes (particularly for a state that doesn’t have another big source of funding, like oil revenues). Those decisions have made the exodus of MI’s residents–both black and white–particularly devastating for cities. And all that’s before you factor in things like predatory lending which further exacerbated the problems of communities with large African American populations.
The underlying issue here is MI’s shrinking population, which itself is largely a response to globalization, to the gutting of the manufacturing that once thrived in these cities. But we as a state can choose to deal with it as a state, or we can choose to let the cities rot while putting stimulus money into newer areas. And while the decision to do the latter may not be motivated primarily out of racism, it is having the undeniable affect of taking away a disproportionate amount of African Americans’ self-governance.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png00emptywheelhttps://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.pngemptywheel2011-12-12 12:48:022011-12-12 12:48:02Normalizing the Disenfranchisement of African Americans
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