Auchtoon!

Mike Lee: “This is what happens when Marxists don’t get their way,” in reaction to the fatal shooting of a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband.

Joni Ernst: “Well, we are all going to die,” in reaction to likely deaths that will come from Medicaid cuts.

Mitch McConnell: “They’ll get over it,” also in reaction to death and suffering from proposed Medicaid cuts.

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

But — good news! — some of the billions in the proposed bill for capturing and deporting people will be spent on private, for-profit prisons. This will create jobs in rural communities such as Baldwin, Michigan, which will compensate a bit for the closed medical facilities, reduced food assistance, and increasingly limited education opportunities.

So, on the whole, not actually good news.

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.

At least, that’s what I gather from observing Michigan state government. Exhibit A: Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Exhibit B: House Speaker Matt Hall. (And seemingly, there is an entire alphabet of additional exhibits.) Perhaps one day, hopefully soon, we will run out of exhibits.

I have the person being bullied in the cartoon as representing NPR. But I could have just as well labeled her CPB, PBS, CDC, FDA, NIH, FEMA, NOAA, University boards, Kennedy Center, or many other public entities, and the cartoon would still make sense.

It’s the same pattern: the Trump administration berates, belittles, and threatens a public agency (while remaining steadfastly incurious about its actual operations or purpose), and then laments that its staff or board aren’t properly populated with their people. Well, duh. 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?

This week former University of Michigan President Santa Ono was rejected from taking the position of president at the University of Florida. Ono had quit U of M and proclaimed to “believe in Florida’s vision for higher education” in being their sole finalist for the position. But then the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s universities, voted 10-6 against Ono.

So… a bit of disaster. And yet, also utterly predictable.

What was 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? I mean, sure, January and February are very nice there. But at what cost?

Look, let’s be honest, there are plenty of things not to like about U of M. There is the air of superiority, the often cloying nostalgia, the tendency to take things a step too far. It can be annoying, to be sure. But the school and Ann Arbor are (and very likely will always be) their authentic selves. Ono was a leader of that for two and half years. Sure, he did bend the knee and promise to align on cultural issues. But still, how was it ever going to be possible for a state ruled by MAGA imperialists to accept him?

Well, they didn’t.

The trigger for this week’s cartoon was the story about a “Cryptocurrency Bill of Rights” being introduced as legislation in the Michigan House:

State Representative Bryan Posthumus (R-Rockford) said that bill and others would help Michigan attract the crypto industry to the state.

“Cryptocurrency is here to stay. I believe that 20 years from now, it’ll be the foundation of our entire financial industry. And Michigan can be a national leader in that effort,” Posthumus said.

Yeah, okay, fine. Go ahead, I suppose. But 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.

The good news for Benson is the only formal punishment she’ll face is a warning (presumably not to do it again). This is because there currently is nothing in the law to deal with this specific set of circumstances. It broke a norm. The folks who wrote the law never anticipated that an active Secretary of State would do something like this.

The bad news for Benson is that she’s facing political punishment for her mistake. Yes, she had intended to give the press conference outside her office building, and, yes, it seemed sensible on a frigid winter day to move it inside to the lobby. But Benson and her team should have been aware of the situation. She wants to be governor, after all. The leader needs to know what the laws are and abide by them.

You know, just like the President of the United States does.

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.

He signed a memo Friday directing the federal government to “achieve maximum speed and efficiency” on a project designed to block the spread of an invasive fish into the Great Lakes. A couple weeks ago, he announced a new fighter jet mission for Michigan’s Selfridge Air National Guard Base. If Whitmer only had a spare luxury airliner to give him to ensure the new Soo Lock in Sault Ste. Marie gets completed.

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.

As you might imagine, Republicans see it as repudiation of DEI policies. Representative Angela Rigas (R-Alto) said, “Only the most qualified candidates should be chosen for a position rather than prioritizing gender, skin color, or sexual orientation.”

Democrats, on the other hand, see it as repudiation of nepotism, legacy advantages, and other unfair favoritism. Representative Erin Byrnes (D-Dearborn) said, “This bill helps to create opportunity by eroding the barrier of the old boys’ club as we work toward a more equal playing field for all Michiganders. Michigan is stronger when various backgrounds and experiences empower the best and brightest.”

The bill goes next to the Senate. It will be interesting to see if it holds together there. Basically, they will all have to agree to pass legislation that is against DEI, but for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

You may not be familiar with The White Stripes. But if you’ve been to a large sporting event in the last decade, you know some of their work. The guitar riff from their hit, “Seven Nation Army” has become a go-to for firing up the home fans. It’s super catchy and connects instantly with our monkey brains.

Which is kind of how sports and rooting for a team works. We have an inherent proclivity toward tribalism. That is, people generally want to associate with a group, and a football/basketball/whatever-ball team can fill that need nicely.

Of course, tribalism can easily grow into something toxic and disastrous: nationalism. By way of example, I offer to you the whole of human history. (It’s more than alarming that President Trump seems intent on heading down the well-worn path.)

I was talking with my son about this the other day, and he suggested that — while sports can also be toxic (by way of example, I offer to you the whole of sports radio) — associating with a team generally fills the need to be part of tribe in a positive way.

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: 

My superpower is overthinking. I can overthink anything. Big, small, no matter. I can needlessly complicate anything.

A classic example is when my now wife and I were taking our pre-marriage course, and we were given a questionnaire as an exercise to see how well we were aligned as a couple. It was 100 questions. She finished in less than 10 minutes; it took me nearly an hour.

In the end, there were only six or seven questions in which we had different answers. But after discussing those, it turned out that we did actually have the same answer — I just had overthought those particular questions to the point of misinterpreting them.

For instance, one such question was something like, “Is having a child part of your decision to seek marriage?” I interpreted that to mean, “Have you talked about having children together at some point?” Sure! But what it really meant was, “Is she pregnant?” (She wasn’t, which was nice because it saved the host couple a lot of follow-ups.)

Anyway, this is why I can feel a bit defensive when somebody accuses me of drawing a cartoon that is reactionary — of not having thoroughly taken into account other thoughts and angles. To this I can confidently reply, “Ha!” I guarantee you that I have absolutely overthought it. Granted, it may not always lead to the best result, but it’s never from lack of effort.

So, given all that, I am particularly proud of the simple, clear message behind this week’s cartoon: If you’re implementing policies that consistently tank the market, then maybe don’t implement those policies. No need to overthink it.