hello, all! any fun recommendations for things to do around town that don't necessarily involve alcohol? will be visiting a few times in the coming months/year, so would love to explore your great city! feel free to also recommend bars, especially if they have live music! TYSM!

Walter Reuther was an American visionary so far ahead of his times that although he died a quarter of a century ago, our Nation has yet to catch up to his dreams.

-- President Bill Clinton, in 1995

Walter Reuther is the only man I have ever met who could reminisce about the future.

-- Murray Kempton, journalist and Pulitzer Prize recipient

Walter Reuther is the most dangerous man in Detroit because no one is more skillful in bringing about the revolution without seeming to disrupt the existing forms of society.

-- Governor George Romney

Over at the News, they've posted a selection of their archive photos of activist and former UAW president Walter P. Reuther. Yeah, that's the guy whose name is on the 696. For those who don't know who Reuther was, I highly suggest you read the linked Wikipedia article for starts.

The following legendary exchange is attributed to Reuther and a member of the Ford Motor Company management during a factory tour exalting the new (at the time) technologies and robotics on the assembly line…

Ford Manager: How are you going to collect union dues from these guys [the robots]?

WPR: How are you going to get them to buy Fords?

I can't help drawing parallels between Reuther's assessment and the present—and fast-approaching future—state of AI. Happy Sunday, everybody!

Alt link via archive.is

…Herds of Nerds Swarm In Warren

The Great Lakes Comic Convention Friday, February 23 – Saturday, February 24 The Macomb Community College Expo Center 14500 E 12 Mile Road, Warren, MI

Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of The Neverending Story!
with actor Noah Hathaway (Atreyu)

Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Mirage Studios Reunion!
Steve Lavigne - Jim Lawson - Dan Berger

Celebrate The 40th Anniversary of Transformers!
with Bob Budiansky, editor, Marvel Comics

Who knew, this synchronized quadrāgintennial tsunami of pop culture?

50 year Anniversary of Sid and Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost!
Meet Wesley Eure (Will Marshall)
Kathy Coleman (Holly Marshall)
Phillip Paley (~~Fuzzyboy~~ Cha-Ka the Pakuni)

Okay, I’m out. Vendors, special guests by the Sandcrawler-load, events, tickets, everything you need to grok is at the website.

…or Make-believe Barbarians at The Gates of, uh, where the hell are we?

Michigan Nordic Fire Festival
Friday, February 23 -- Sunday, February 25
Eaton County Fairgrounds
1025 Cochran Ave, Charlotte, MI

Hands-on activities (Free except when noted):

• Spear Throwing
• Archery
• Axe Throwing (additional fee)
• Kids' Quest
• Kid's Axe Throwing

All this and other, erm, Vikingy events and activities, merchants, food and entertainment plus where to point your Viking ship all at the website. Please, no raping, looting or pillaging allowed but otherwise, y'know, have at it.

I'll just leave this here. I KID! I KID!

Yeah, yeah, I get it. Honest I do. Enough's enough. An unnecessarily exaggerated response. An incredibly complicated situation that just keeps getting knottier. But just like in comedy, timing is everything.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib's call for people to vote against President Joe Biden in Michigan's Feb. 27 Democratic primary reverberated across political circles and social media over the weekend, with nervous supporters of the president's saying she was helping former President Donald Trump's reelection efforts.

On Saturday, even as Trump was making his way to Michigan for a raucous rally in Waterford Township, Tlaib, D-Detroit, who represents southeast Michigan's large Arab-American and Muslim community in Dearborn, released a video of her telling people to vote uncommitted as a signal to Biden of their continued demand that he call for Israel to stop a bombing and invasion of the Gaza Strip that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths.

Several Democrats and others denounced Tlaib's stance almost immediately. Norm Ornstein, a congressional expert and emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, proclaimed it "shameful" on X on Sunday.

And after a group, Republicans Against Trump, posted the remarks, asking, "Who's going to primary her?" the civil rights lawyer Andrew Laufer said of her comments on X: "That’s an amazing stance @RashidaTlaib. Have your supporters not vote or vote for the guy who will deport them. Just an amazing position."

And as for the Listen to Michigan campaign, Tlaib has literally close relations with its membership: Her sister, Layla Elabed, is its campaign manager. Several other local leaders with whom she is close, including Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud and former U.S. Rep. Andy Levin, D-Bloomfield Township, also have signed onto the uncommitted campaign.

…also "signed on", that bastion of hard-hitting journalism, The Metro Times.

Even a dog knows not to defecate where he sleeps.

Alt. link: https://archive.is/apavN

Further reading:

• Michigan Advance: Biden campaign focusing on Trump, despite ‘uncommitted’ campaign in Michigan Dem primary
• The Freep via archive.is: Trump rails against EVs, China, job security in Michigan visit: Here's a fact check

Non-Detroit-specific post. Sue me.

Today is just one facepalm after another, folks...

The U.S. Supreme Court in June 2022 ruled abortion laws must be left up to the states, overturning a half-century of federal abortion protections and spurring Michigan voters to approve Proposal 3 in the November 2022 general election, adding the right of a woman to terminate a pregnancy to Michigan's constitution.

In a statement Wednesday, Stacey LaRouche, [Gov. Gretchen] Whitmer's press secretary, said the governor would work to defeat the lawsuit.

"It shouldn’t be lost on people that these right-wing organizations and radical Republicans in the Michigan Legislature are cherry picking courts to try to once again overturn a constitutionally guaranteed right because they can’t win with voters," LaRouche said.