John Auchter

Happy Independence Day to our fragile young republic — here's to all the good we've been and to all the good we hope to be!

It's not that I'm surprised by the astonishing callousness of these Republican U.S. Senators. In fact, it helps explain the cruelty of the budget bill they are crafting.

It's easy to say you want transparency in government when you aren't in government. It's even easier to say it when you want to get elected. But apparently it's very difficult to make it happen once you're elected.

If you actively dislike an organization and don't believe in its worth, why would you expect them to want people like you to be on their team?

What was Santa Ono thinking? It's Florida. Florida! Did he really think it was going to be a seamless transition from Ann Arbor to (checks notes) the Jim Crow Wannabe Era?

Is anybody else bothered by politicians in full embrace of technologies they know very little about while they are summarily rejecting and defunding the scientific and education communities?

Back in January of this year, Jocelyn Benson, the current Secretary of State in Michigan, held a press conference inside a state-owned building to launch her 2026 campaign for governor. This week, the state attorney general determined that this was in violation of the state's campaign finance law.

Much has been said about Governor Whitmer and her more, shall we say, nuanced approach to the Trump 2.0 presidency. The reality is, Trump is running the federal government like a monarchy, and he's the king (or the emir or the crown prince — it's clear he was in his element on this week's Middle East tour). So what is a governor to do if she needs to get stuff done? Bend the knee, butter him up, and at least appear to give him what he wants. And apparently it works.

I was listening to Michigan Public (naturally) when I heard the story about the Michigan House of Representatives passing a bill last week that would require state agency hiring decisions to be based on merit. Here's what caught my attention: The bill passed with nearly complete bipartisan support — all but one representative voted for it. Whoa! That level of agreement between Democrat and Republican politicians seems ... unlikely. Turns out, there was agreement on the vote, but not really on the intention.

Game 6 of the Detroit Pistons series with the New York Knicks takes place after my deadline for this, so by the time you read it, future me will either be a bit happier or a bit sadder than current me. Either way, let's go Deee-troit basketball.