Auchtoon!

Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate here in Michigan, is in a difficult position. He has a fairly long public history of being opposed to the availability of legal abortions. But now that it is neither a generally popular position nor a helpful wedge issue, he has attempted to distance himself as best he can.

Specifically, he says we should have no concern about his role as a senator and national abortion bans because it’s a moot point in Michigan — it’s “settled law.” Of course, that’s also the approximate assurance previously given by Supreme Court nominees for why there should be no concern about overturning Roe v. Wade. And then it was overturned.

I don’t question Rogers’ convictions on abortion. Or anybody else’s, for that matter. It’s a deeply personal issue. But politicians face dilemmas like this all the time — having to decide between core beliefs and what they think might get them elected. So the spin is understandable; it’s just not admirable.

In January 2017, shorty after Donald Trump took office, his administration released an executive order that restricted entry into the United States from certain countries with majority Muslim populations. It was poorly thought out and even more poorly implemented.

But it did manage to cause an enormous amount of pain as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were tasked with finding individuals from these countries and deporting them. Not just for the Muslims it targeted (the Trump Administration itself referred to the executive order as the “Muslim ban”), but for a significant number of Arab Christians who also got caught up in the machinery. Many faced being shipped to Iraq to face persecution with no family and no support.

I bring this up because in 2016, the Arab Christian community in Michigan strongly supported the male candidate (or threw their vote away to avoid supporting the female candidate), because he said he would protect them. And then he immediately betrayed them.

So here we are in 2024, and as part of Trump’s favorable polling with men in general, he apparently is making some inroads with Black men, Hispanic men, and even Arab Muslim men. What the heck is wrong with us guys? I mean, history is pretty clear on what comes from enabling Trump (and demagogues in general). Most women seem to understand this.

*Sigh* I conclude with this frighteningly applicable meme: “I never thought leopards would eat MY face,” sobs man who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.

It is not only plausible but entirely predictable that Elon Musk would fire somebody for a perceived insult. This self-styled defender of the First Amendment’s free speech protections has proven himself time and again a vengeful snowflake when it comes to contrary opinions.

However, the logical fallacy I could not resolve in the cartoon is that Musk cannot fire a union worker because he would never employ a union worker. It’s a conundrum.

But you know what? A union worker with any sort of admiration for Musk (or Musk’s preferred presidential candidate) defies all logic, too. So by these bizzarro-world standards, I may just be on solid ground.

I think the consensus on the Vice Presidential debate was that it was startlingly civil. But just because some things were said in measured tones doesn’t mean all that was said was necessarily true.

One particular item that caught my ear was Senator Vance’s assertion that, “25 million illegal aliens competing with Americans for scarce homes is one of the most significant drivers of home prices in the country.”

The New York Times fact checked this: “Economists and real estate experts say that while migration, including illegal immigration, has contributed to population growth and thus demand for housing, it is not a main driver behind the country’s housing affordability crisis.”

I mean, there were several other exaggerations and outright falsehoods, but this fits the unfortunately proven technique of using immigrants as scapegoats to win votes.

And the thing is, for Michigan, more immigration (secure, legal, humanely processed immigration) would actually be a cure for many of our challenges.