Musings

A conversation with Michigan's Big Show about a recent family trip to Disney World and the process of writing historical fiction over at Substack.

A collection of reads including taxation levels by states.

Reflections upon the temptations of power over principle in the fight of American conservatives.

Remembering the Palestinian bombing of an American airline in 1982.

Learn the fate of one of America's earliest co-ed integrated schools.

Revisiting an ugly episode in American voting experiences from 1855.

America has been under attack by Islamic states since our earliest days. Our present challenges are not a result of U.S. foreign policy but rooted more deeply.

Reasons to celebrate America's 250th Birthday!

NOTE: This 100th "Sunday Reads" is the last before a summer break. Please enjoy! An irregular roundup of thought-provoking reads. Most made me go “hmm…” QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" - T.S. Eliot Meet the oldest (and one of 11) Pearl Harbor survivors. Read the encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas.” “I have a Dream” speechwriter passed away. U.S. p

An essay on the decline of Michigan and the Mackinac Island Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce Conference.

A collection of articles including the history of Memorial Day, highest paid US professions, Nixon's reading list and the history of colors.

A round up of current events ranging from China's economy to AI.

A reflection on "whistling past the graveyard."

A collection of news items ranging from mother's day to longevity.

Recalling when Bob Lutz took on cowardice at GM

Recalling when Alan Mulally took on Polite Dysfunction at Ford.

Ever walk past a cemetery late at night? That chill you feel is older than language itself. Fear. And somewhere in America's long love affair with optimism, someone decided the antidote was to whistle. Project confidence. Fake boldness until it became real. It worked well enough that the phrase stuck. Whistling past the graveyard. But the meaning quietly flipped. Somewhere along the line, the meaning changed. It stopped meaning "courage" and started meaning "denial.”

A reflection on how Michigan lost to Mississippi in reading.

In the early 2000s, Bob Lutz noticed something strange at General Motors. The presentations were world-class. PowerPoint Perfect. (And this was before AI.) The cars were not. Meetings ran on 80-slide decks. Market data. Cost curves. Focus groups. Everyone nodded. No one said the obvious. Which meant one thing: The slides were doing the talking. Not Reality. Inside GM, this had a name without being named: The “PowerPoint shield.” It let people sound smart without being

An irregular roundup of thought-provoking reads. Most made me go “hmm…” QUOTE OF THE DAY: “When a people lose their religion, they do not merely lose a set of beliefs; they lose the framework within which their whole life was lived, and they are left exposed to every wind of doctrine, every passing enthusiasm, and every tyranny that promises order.” - Hilaire Belloc DANGER: U.S. national debt over 100% of GDP. Memento mori : 60 Minutes brings us another must-watch Ben Sass

A reflection on how Nice Is Not Good

A day on local roads is instructive. Not the potholes (that’s another post). The gas prices. Or more precisely, the spread. Gas stations don’t gouge. That’s settled. Prices move with global oil prices, and here in Michigan, about 70 cents per gallon goes to taxes. The rest is local. So, why the gap from city to suburb? It isn’t the oil market. It’s the business environment. Costs are lower in the suburbs. Gas becomes cheaper. In the city, costs stack up: Taxes

A reflection on West Michigan Nice using an example that harms children.

A round-up of events from Federal Reserve trust to the history of the real Moby Dick.

A round-up from the world's most dangerous animals, to mental well-being studies.

An irregular roundup of thought-provoking reads. Most made me go “hmm…” QUOTE OF THE DAY : "When plunder becomes a way of life, men create a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it." - Frederic Bastiat Nate Silver documents the insanely incestous bubble that is “ social media .” Ari Fleischer notes how NATO is undoing itself. Phone - free dinning is on the rise . YES PLEASE: Apparently researchers can now regrow bone AND cartilage . N

A round-up that includes Easter, Iran and the evil of Islam along with the latest on Artemis II.

A round-up of current events including the evil deeds of Islam, oil production, value of hard work and why websites are getting worse.

A round-up of current events, Islam, Iran, Chuck Norris, and EV production.

A collection of updates ranging from Epic Furry to Credit Card debt, to Congress. Check it out!

Updates on Iran, Immigration, food budgets, government schools, AI and beer consumption.

A round up of news including home prices, inflation, Epstein, and the dopamine culture.

Must-watch reflections from Ben Sasse.

A round-up covering Marco Rubio's speech, George Washington, another trans mass shooting, the cost of living and the latest on Iran.

A short round-up of events from the Super Bowl to AI, to Courts

A round-up of events including illegal alien arrests, data center bands, romantic hotels and a deep dive on sleep.

A collection of notes including Greenland, ICE, Oscars and why snow appears white.

A round up including remembering MLK, Common Sense, troubles in Iran and the good news of the day!

A round up that includes households without income, Maduro's capture, Padel the sport, and tracking Pop, Soda ad Coke differences.

A round-up of news including, good news, revisiting the Librium Prohibitiorum and what is in/out in 2026.

An irregular roundup of thought-provoking reads. Most made me go “hmm…” QUOTE OF THE DAY : “I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines. They go to bed every night a little wiser than they were when they got up and boy does that help, particularly when you have a long run ahead of you.” - Charles Munger Pope Leo is convening the College of Cardinals (The “Consistory”) for two days of me

A round-up of news covering Santa, Christmas, Epistein, SCOTUS and education.

A round up including national security, gold, incomes, Fuentes a puppet of foreign powers, China and Russia.

A round up of news from studies on the dark triad, to government k12 schools, murder rates and government debt.

A round-up that includes our national debt, land acknowledgements, home sales, illegal aliens and social media.

A mediation on honoring generations before you.

A round-up including Thanksgiving, Helen Paull Kirkpatcik, the real Moby Dick, Marriage and travel.

A round-up of insights ranging from AI, Democrats behaving badly, health care and travel tips.

A collection of resources including AI, China, Courts and the Economy; along with Travel and Educational research.

A collection of articles including government shutdown, MAGA self-sabotage, federalism, population trends, Nike robot shoes, religious trends, AI, China, and the Economy.