Author Archives: admin

SPIKING THE SUPER BOWL PIZZA

Posted on January 21, 2021 by admin

Spiking the Super Bowl Pizza  Breaking news January 20, 2021 – In a parting shot at anyone who believes in rule of law, the now former President, Donald Trump, commuted the prison sentence of disgraced Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Current … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad government, Kwamegate | Leave a comment

I BEAT OHIO STATE!

Posted on December 10, 2020 by admin

The last game of the University of Michigan football season is normally played against perennial rival Ohio State University. Due to the pandemic, the Michigan-Ohio State game scheduled for Saturday, December 12, 2020, was cancelled. All the more reason to … Continue reading →

Posted in Hank Fonde, MEMOIR | Leave a comment

Victoria Burton-Harris: ‘Yes, I would’

Posted on August 4, 2020 by admin

By JOEL THURTELL I asked Democratic Wayne County prosecutor candidate Victoria Burton-Harris if she would investigate and prosecute public officials who illegally withhold records. She replied: Good afternoon, Joel. Yes, I would. This is simple and a part of my … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Letter to Wayne County’s next prosecuting attorney (I hope!)

Posted on August 3, 2020 by admin

To Victoria Burton-Harris, greetings: If a citizen were denied access to public records and requested that you enforce Michigan’s 1931 Penal Code provision that government officials be prosecuted for withholding public records, and if you were Wayne County prosecutor, what … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

CASS COUNTY ‘JUSTICE’

Posted on July 1, 2020 by admin

BY JOEL THURTELL Police unions are taking the rap for defending lawbreaking cops. Police chiefs argue that they are powerless to fire bad cops. There was a time when top cops openly made the case for protecting bad police officers. … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventures in history, Bad government, Joel's J School, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

THE 1977 POLICE KILLING OF MCELDON TISDEL

Posted on June 29, 2020 by admin

BY JOEL THURTELL She might as well have shot him herself.  The cops did the job for her. The victim was 28-year-old McEldon Tisdel, a black man  living with his family in a nearly all-white village in southwestern Michigan. Through … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventures in history, Bad government, Joel's J School | Leave a comment

Canton ham to celebrate 97th in Arkansas

Posted on April 21, 2020 by admin

BY JOEL THURTELL One of the last articles I wrote before I retired November 30, 2007 from the Detroit Free Press featured my ham radio operator friend Hank Kress, whose FCC-issued callsign is K8KBW. We were neighbors — he lived … Continue reading →

Posted in ham radio | Leave a comment

THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL — underground at the Free Press

Posted on April 20, 2020 by admin

BY JOEL THURTELL Thirty years ago, journalists at Detroit’s two daily newspapers were just waking up to the realities of the merger of their operations into one operation aimed at making a fortune for owners Knight-Ridder and Gannett. No, no, … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad government, future of newspapers, Joel's J School | Leave a comment

Lowell Kelly, UM, ham radio, and Peace Corps

Posted on April 10, 2020 by admin

BY JOEL THURTELL Thirty-five years ago, I met a retired University of Michigan psychology professor who was in charge of admitting volunteers to the newly-formed Peace Corps in the early 1960’s. And a former Peace Corps volunteer (Togo, West Africa), … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventures in history, ham radio, Togo & Peace Corps | Leave a comment

First Amendment for reporters? Gannett says ‘NOPE!”

Posted on April 1, 2020 by admin

BY JOEL THURTELL Screams from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. Those authoritarian Chinese booted our journalists! But Trump expelled 60 Chinese journalists from the US. Do foreign journalists have First Amendment rights? Better question: do … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad government, Joel's J School, Subpoenaed reporters, Unions | Leave a comment