President Barack Obama visited Flint, Michigan, on Wednesday and might as well have said, “Ricky, you’re doing a heckuva job.” Like George W. Bush’s belated visit to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Obama’s presence in Flint served two purposes. One was to provide a photo opportunity—caring president lifts local spirits in face of
Criminal charges brought in the Flint water scandal by Michigan’s attorney general name three state officials as defendants. Bill Schuette has charged two officials of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) and Flint’s utilities manager with felonies and misdemeanors, among them misconduct in office and tampering with evidence. Schuette indicated that the indictments of
I have lived my entire life on every possible side of the Ohio State-Michigan college football rivalry, often cited as the greatest rivalry in sports. Through relocations and my admitted disdain for certain SEC-turned B1G (Big Ten) coaches, my loyalties have shifted through the years. I have always respected both programs, and I have made
Hillary Clinton will not talk about it. Bernie Sanders will not talk about it. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz will not talk about it. But they know. Looming on the horizon of the next presidential administration is the ominous and growing possibility of war with China. For the past year, the United States has been
Around the world, the poisoning of Flint’s water supply has been known as a “crisis.” And such it has been, a public health crisis of tragic dimension for the residents of the beleaguered Michigan city. But what has happened to the people of Flint is not a natural disaster or even, as Governor Rick Snyder
The subculture of sports is by and large dominated by games played by men, at least in America if not most of the world. There are a few exceptions, however, like figure skating, tennis, and especially soccer in which American women have outperformed the men in both in-game success and in overall popularity. Although Major
The language of the rich is imperious. When crossed or challenged, the powerful assert their strength. “The rich do as they please,” the mighty Athenians tell the recalcitrant Melians in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. “The weak suffer what they must.” When the proud Melians decide to fight for their independence rather than submit
The wealthy and their technocrat servants in government do not speak the same language as you and I. The language of the rich, when they speak to us, is one of condescension and manipulation, of cheer and redirection. It reveals its falseness most clearly when it confronts strong emotion in the people. In the face
A few years back while transitioning careers, I spent a little time driving a taxi on the beaches near Jacksonville, Florida. One of my frequent customers was an elderly gentleman named Calvin who lived in the golf community of Ponte Vedra. We had chatted about all kinds of things during our trips to the store,
There will be no justice for the people of Flint. To expect otherwise would be to ask a thoroughly corrupt system to indict itself. Last Wednesday, a five-member task force on the city’s water crisis released its 116-page report condemning the “culture” at Michigan governmental agencies and finding Governor Rick Snyder guilty of nothing worse