No gambling with the economy – Petoskey News-Review

By Kendall P. Stanley| The Petoskey News-Review

My column was a little shorter than normal last week because at the last minute agreement was reached to increase the debt limit until December, throwing off a segment of my column that dealt with the forementioned debt limit.

Never mind that most of the debt occurred during the Trump administration, the head cynic of the GOP Mitch McConnell says theres no way his party will help the Democrats raise the debt ceiling again after doing it this time.

Not that its the right thing to do, which it is, or that it would cause havoc with the financial markets, which it would, but rather just to force the Democrats to raise the debt ceiling all on their own.

And to be gained by that? The Democrats will thus be blamed for putting the nation further in debt and are recklessly spending money.

McConnell apparently thinks American voters cant understand a power ploy when its staring them right in the face, especially since this isnt the first time that Turtle Man has pulled the we wont help you with the debt ceiling card.

It is wearisome, quite frankly. Possibly dragging down the nations economy to make sure Joe Biden fails as president is cynical to the end and highlights the fact there will never, ever be bipartisanship with the modern GOP the party of no.

The quicker Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema reach that conclusion and help their Democratic senators to push through the legislation President Biden needs the better.

McConnell wants the Democrats to go it alone. They should, and they should steamroll him in the process.

Because if you think McConnell will be any different in December than he is now, youd be sorely, sorely mistaken.

Following the science

I dont personally know Lisa Peacock but in my book shes an unsung hero.

As director of the Health Department of Northwest Michigan that covers four area counties Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet and Otsego she looked at the spread of COVID-19 earlier this fall and made a decision that some local school districts struggled with she mandated masks in all area schools. Im only speculating here but Im betting there are many school board members that were happy the health department mandated masks rather than them having to do it.

Needless to say the naysayers werent amused.

Hundreds of mostly maskless citizens turned out at a meeting in Charlevoix to decry the mandate and the board of health voted to rescind the measure.

Trouble is, that authority resides solely with Peacock who was not moved to change the mandate.

Peacock recently filed a complaint with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel citing what she said was a hostile environment toward her and her office in addition to likely breaking Michigans Open Meeting Act.

In the complaint Peacock said several county officials have engaged in behavior designed to bully or intimidate her into rescinding her late-August order requiring masking in local schools. Four of the health board commissioners drafted a letter opposing the order, likely in violation of the Open Meetings Act which requires discussions of a quorum of elected officials be held in a public meeting. It is against the act to deliberate using electronic communication methods.

Peacock also described the early September meeting of the health board as a mob-like group of citizens on the verge of a riot.

Health department employees feared for their safety and were harassed and threatened with messages in the days and weeks that followed the meeting.

Nessels office suggested that Peacock take her complaint to local authorities who probably wouldnt be too keen to jump into the middle of the fray.

And yet, the mandate stands. As long as COVID cases continue to be an issue in the area as they are, Peacock should stick to her guns and keep it in place.

Give me a break

So on Tuesday hundreds of folks showed up in Lansing calling for a forensic audit of the 2020 election, even going so far as to start a petition drive to force audits of Michigan elections.

This insanity has to stop. Even a GOP-led look at the election said there was no fraud in the election and Joe Biden was the winner by some 154,000 votes. That matched what the secretary of states office certified.

If voters are believing that elections are rigged its because Republicans keep pounding, and pounding and pounding some more on the theme that elections are rigged even when they know thats untrue.

Get over it people Donald Trump LOST. Pack up your signs and go home.

Kendall P. Stanley isretired editor of the News-Review. He can be contacted at kendallstanley@charter.net. Theopinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and not necessarily of the Petoskey News-Review or its employees.

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No gambling with the economy - Petoskey News-Review