War is over

On this last day of 2023, I wish you all health and prosperity in the coming year, and although I'm not holding my breath, I hope the world sees at minimum some sanity in the days to come. 🤞 🤞

Go hug somebody.

I leave you with the words of one of the most criminally underappreciated conceptual artists of the last 60 years, a person who greatly influenced the definition of "conceptual art". She also has connections to Detroit through works in the DIA collection, Fluxus at Cranbrook Academy of Art, and the Wish Tree at the Rosa Parks Transit Center. Ladies and gentlemen, Ms Yoko Ono…

There may be not much difference
Between Chairman Mao and Richard Nixon
If we strip them naked

There may be not much difference
Between Marilyn Monroe and Lenny Bruce
If we check their coffins

There may be not much difference
Between White House and Hall of People
If we count their windows

There may be not much difference
Between Raquel Welch and Jerry Rubin
If we hear their heartbeat

We're all water from different rivers
That's why it's so easy to meet
We're all water in this vast, vast ocean
Someday we'll evaporate together

There may be not much difference
Between Eldridge Cleaver and Queen of England
If we bottle their tears

There may be not much difference
Between Manson and the Pope
If we press their smile

There may be not much difference
Between Rockefeller and you
If we hear you sing

There may not be much difference
Between you and me
If we show our dreams

If you want it

~Posters~ ~courtesy~ ~of~ ~yokoonoofficial~ ~@~ ~Flickr~
~Lyrics~ ~by~ ~Yoko~ ~Ono~

If some of you didn't already know, you can apply to get (from The Detroit Free Press article title) "discount on parking tickets in Detroit"! If you haven't been hipped to the tip yet…

• Detroit Free Press: Parking fines can be reduced through Detroit program
• Alternate link: archive.md

Geez, Freep! It's as if everybody who ~~drives~~ parks in Detroit is some scofflaw! At least BridgeDetroit treats the subject (and Detroit residents) "innocent until proven guilty," and better still, reveals the real surprise: resident-only parking!

• BridgeDetroit: Resident-only parking coming near LCA, event venues

Author Malachi Barrett graciously links to a downloadable document detailing the parking zones.

Anyone who doesn’t have a residential permit could receive a ticket for parking in defined areas during certain peak hours. Enforcement for the new zones will begin between January and February. Residents can apply and pay for permits online after providing proof of residency. Applicants must pay a one-time $35 administrative fee and $60 annual fee, with half-off discounts for seniors and low-income residents.

New residential parking zones are located in the Brush Park neighborhood, streets around Cass Park and a strip of Selden Street between Cass and Third avenues. Maps showing zone boundaries, the location of meters and parking hours can be found online.

~Photo:~ ~Malachi~ ~Barrett~

Today's post is pure ego: an article written by a kokujin journalist ( 🤣 💘 ) that I love about a Detroit artist whose work I love. So sue me. No one's stopping you from doing likewise…

Calloway’s art career has spanned over three decades. His work has been featured at Arts, Beats & Eats, the Palmer Park Art Fair, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Arts Extended, inside Highland Park’s Avalon Village, and many, many more.

The last straw, he says of his Greektown spot, was when he came home to a pair of rats having sex in front of his door. They stopped and stared him straight in the face as if they were challenging him, “What you gone do?” Shortly after, he decided to move.

While working in slightly different media, I think Van Gogh and Monet (among others) also said something similar…

…when I ask him why food and cooking utensils appear so much in his work, Calloway says, “I never wanted to be a starving artist.”

Just in case you potential homeowners missed this when first proposed, The Detroit News covers how it may be possible for to have financial assistance on a downpayment on a new home!

"Land…they ain't makin' any more of it."

Metro Detroit shoppers looking for their first home have been especially affected by higher prices: In October, Detroit posted the largest year-over-year increase in home prices, 8.1%, among 20 large U.S. cities, according to data released this week by S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller.

“Time and again research reveals that the down payment is the single largest hurdle first-time homebuyers need to overcome to attain homeownership,” said Sonu Mittal, Freddie Mac's single-family senior vice president of acquisitions, in a statement at the time of the program’s launch. “But finding and comparing the many programs and their guidelines is challenging," he said. "DPA One delivers a one-stop shop at no cost that brings lenders and their borrowers greater detail and visibility into these programs while seamlessly connecting the right assistance program with the lender, housing counselors and borrowers who need this assistance the most.”

Alternate links:

• archive.md
• 1ft.io

…it's because no other team in the history of the NBA has achieved(?) 27 consecutive losses! Rock and roll!

Paced by Cade Cunningham’s 41 points, the Pistons’ fans alternated recent chants of “Sell the team!” to bursts of “Let’s Go Pistons!” and “Dee-Fence!” for at least one night. But, as the home team faded at the end, the chants of “Sell the team!” returned.

“I actually talked to the players about this the other day, with all the losses here, what we still have is a very good future,” [Beverly Hills billionaire and team owner Tom] Gores said. “No. 1, we have an amazing set of young players. High character, high talent. This set of players, and I know them individually and I saw them the other day, we’re in a great spot with our young talent . . . I’m willing to do whatever it takes for this organization to be successful. As much as the vision feels blurry to me . . . “

“Nobody wants this kind of thing attached to them,” said [Pistons coach Monty] Williams, whose contract reaches at least six years and maybe more. “It weighs on us every day.”

It weighs on us too, pal. 🤦‍♂️

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10051238

…and the penny-ante saga continues…

"They did what they say I did—Crazy!" Trump wrote Wednesday.

The audio recordings, captured in four recordings by someone present for the conversation between Trump and the canvassers, revealed Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel was on the call with Trump and the canvassers and offered legal assistance for the Wayne County officials if they would not sign a document certifying the county's election results.

Multiple legal experts and Republican political strategist Karl Rove have criticized Trump and McDaniel's actions. Some legal experts have questioned whether McDaniel's offer of attorneys to represent the canvassers in court for not carrying out their duties amounts to bribery.

…and yet, a non-trivial percentage of registered voters in the United States — Michigan included — still support this would-be dictator. I just can't fathom it. It appears that short of Mr Trump personally defecating on each and everyone's dining room table, the MAGA among us are committed to having the first King of The United States.

---

Alternate links:

• archive.md
• 1ft.io
• Wayback Machine

…and the penny-ante saga continues…

"They did what they say I did—Crazy!" Trump wrote Wednesday.

The audio recordings, captured in four recordings by someone present for the conversation between Trump and the canvassers, revealed Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel was on the call with Trump and the canvassers and offered legal assistance for the Wayne County officials if they would not sign a document certifying the county's election results.

Multiple legal experts and Republican political strategist Karl Rove have criticized Trump and McDaniel's actions. Some legal experts have questioned whether McDaniel's offer of attorneys to represent the canvassers in court for not carrying out their duties amounts to bribery.

…and yet, a non-trivial percentage of registered voters in the United States — Michigan included — still support this would-be dictator. I just can't fathom it. It appears that short of Mr Trump personally defecating on each and everyone's dining room table, the MAGA among us are committed to having the first King of The United States.

Alternate links:

• archive.md
• 1ft.io
• Wayback Machine

To all subscribers, to all non-subscribers, to all who follow this dogma, to all that follow that dogma, to all that don't follow a dogma, if you're with family, if you're with friends, if you're spending time alone, if you're this, if you're that…

Merry Christmas, everybody!

🧘

Because we all share an identical need for love, it is possible to feel that anybody we meet, in whatever circumstances, is a brother or a sister.

Because you are alive, everything is possible.

Happiness mainly comes from our own attitude rather than from external factors.

She [Beatty] moved back home two years ago from Atlanta for the reason that many children come back home – to care for a parent. Her mom was diagnosed with cancer, and just passed away in August. She admits it has been an excruciating two years.

But questions about her job and her restitution to the city of Detroit has put her back in the spotlight. Which is why she wanted to tell her story.

…and from The Detroit Free Press, M.L. Elrick's take…

• Christine Beatty is back, refusing to pay restitution to Detroit

In a situation reminiscent of the bad old days, when Kilpatrick and Beatty ran city hall like an employment agency for friends and family, Beatty was hired by one of her best buds from high school. THAW CEO Saunteel Jenkins also hired Beatty's mother, but she told me her longtime friendship with Beatty was not a factor in her decision to hire her fellow Cass Tech Class of 1988 alumna and her mom. More on that later.

Beatty refused repeated requests to discuss her gig or her life since leaving Detroit for Atlanta about 15 years ago. That may be because her friends and colleagues made it clear she also didn't want to answer my questions about why we should trust Beatty to do better at THAW than she did while helping run one of the most corrupt nonprofits in Detroit history.

Here's something positive instead of the usual goverment officials fomenting and dividing the people…

The grassroots, interfaith forum [The Muslim-Jewish Forum] has been barely active for the last few years. The death of one of the informal group's founding members — Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue President Samantha Woll — and ongoing bloodshed in the Gaza strip presents a lot of pain and tension for both religious minorities.

Razi Jafri is a Muslim documentary filmmaker who co-founded the Forum alongside Samantha Woll and others. Speaking to attendees of Thursday’s gathering, Jafri said the Forum is founded partly on the belief that “no two religions in the world” are more similar than Islam and Judaism. And he noted, both religions have a large community presence in southeast Michigan — though both are still very much in the minority.

“The interactions between the communities have been minimal,” Jafri said. “There's been a lot of tension. … While those issues get worked out, there's no reason for us not to gather and share space with each other, break bread, celebrate each other's holidays.”

“It behooves us to really come together and in a painful time like this, to understand each other's perspectives,” Jafri said. “And really build relationships and friendships that could help create a more peaceful environment.”

Yeah…we can only hope. ☮

The renaming will not have any impact on official postal addresses or other legal designations and is solely a show of “solidarity, remembrance, and compassion for the lives lost in Gaza.”

One council member who voted “no” said he was against the resolution because of Hamtramck’s controversial “neutrality flag resolution,” which banned LGBTQ+ pride flags from being flown on city property. The policy also prohibits the display of religious, ethnic, racial, and political flags and states that the city won’t provide “special treatment to any group,” though critics say the resolution, which was voted on unanimously, was mainly rooted in homophobia.

Meanwhile, over at The Detroit Free Press…

Carolyn Normandin, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Michigan, called supporting one side of the conflict divisive, adding that Israel is fighting to fend off future attacks like the Oct. 7 one by Hamas militants. Some 1,200 Israelis were killed in that attack and more than 240 others were kidnapped. More than half of the hostages still remain in captivity, according to USA Today.

Rabbi Simcha Tolwin of Jewish Learning Center Aish Detroit meanwhile said the council "is festering a movement that ... in fact is just a call for the genocide of the Jews.

"Naming a street Palestine Ave. shows that Hamtramck supports terrorism, and gives the terrorists the support they need to keep at their goals of genocide through rape, murder and kidnapping of civilians," he said in an email, referencing the Hamas attack.

The second of the Metro Times posts for your edification on…on what gets gallons of Michigan bodily fluids to spill on keyboards and surrounding areas. I mean oil drums. Industrial containers.

Turn that UV light off!