Auchtoon!

There was an article in the Washington Post this week titled, “Red and blue voters are backing UAW strikers in one swing county.” I thought it was going to be about Macomb County, our famed “Reagan Democrat” bellwether community where reporters tend to go to monitor the pulse of the nation. It was actually about Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Different state, but same theme.

The angle of this particular “go to the diner and talk with the common folks” story was that liberal/conservative voters seem to be in rare alignment on the UAW strikers and the working class in general. Of course this alignment doesn’t have much depth. Disagreements quickly appear when you bring up things like labor unions and electric vehicles, as demonstrated by the very different rhetoric during President Biden’s visit on to Michigan on Tuesday and former President Trump’s visit on Wednesday.

But do you know the one thing most Americans seem to be able to agree on that stands the test of time? It’s okay to mock super-rich corporate executives. Especially out-of-touch super-rich corporate executives who insist that they’re doing us all a favor by being super-rich. So after this sympathy for the autoworkers falls apart, at least we’ll have that.

I profess not to be a country music fan, and yet there are certain country songs (twangy steel guitars and all) that I find fantastic.

I think jet skis are a terrible idea — excessively loud, exhaust-belching danger machines. But I’ll admit to thoroughly enjoying the handful of times I’ve ridden one.

I believe that “he’s the kind of guy I’d like to have a beer with” is probably the most intellectually vacant reason there is for supporting a politician. But that didn’t stop me from voting for Obama twice.

All that to say, I can’t expect other people to be completely consistent with their beliefs and behaviors if I am unable to be completely consistent with mine. But that won’t stop me from calling them out on their B.S.

Republicans trying to align themselves with striking UAW union workers? That’s some B.S. right there.

We Michiganders are already well-versed in expensive auto insurance, what with our history with unique no-fault laws and personal injury protection. We continue to wrestle with finding the proper balance for the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association.

We also continue to penalize people based on their credit scores rather than driving records, which tends to price poor people out of car insurance so more go uninsured, which in turn boosts prices for everybody.

Good news! We are not the only state experiencing auto insurance rate increases significantly outpacing inflation. The bad news, it’s an “in addition to” situation, not an “instead of” situation.

NPR had a story this week: 4 reasons why your car insurance premium is soaring. Alas, all of them simply pile onto what we are already suffering from.

Is there any solace to be found? Well, some of those Progressive commercials with Dr. Rick are pretty funny. (Unfortunately, most of the other insurance ads are ubiquitous and annoying.)

To all of you who yearn for days of yore, nostalgic for the past when things were great and life was so much better — consider time officially turned back! The Big Three and the UAW are at each other’s throats, and an auto worker strike again threatens to tank the Michigan economy. Hooray! America is great again!

Or is this not what you were talking about?

Spoiler Alert: If you have never seen the television series, The Good Place, consider reading no further. It’s best to watch it from the very beginning, and the reveal I’m about to, well, reveal is so much better experienced as intended.

So there are four main characters, modern-day human beings who have died and think they have gone to the good place (heaven). They haven’t. It’s a massively arranged hoax to torture them in a unique way (not exactly the bad place but a satellite operation). For three of the characters, it’s pretty clear why they are not in the good place — they were objectively terrible people on earth. For the fourth one, Chidi, it’s not so obvious.

Chidi was a professor of ethics. He is kind and earnest and giving. But it’s his striving for perfect morality that is his undoing. He overthinks every choice to the point of incapacitation and ultimately drives away loved ones and fails his friends. He is not at all evil. Just super, super annoying.

I’m trying not to be a Chidi with college football. I recognize that there is LOTS wrong with it, particularly the big D1 version. And, yes, recent developments have accelerated it toward awfulness. But, God help me, I still occasionally enjoy watching a game.