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REMEMBERING PATTI

PEPPERMINT PATTI: AUGUST 24, 2005-DECEMBER 2, 2019 Joel Thurtell December 4, 2019. Middle of the night. Sleeping deeply. I hear a dog bark. It is Patti. She wants to go out. I get up, normally, and let her out to pee … Continue reading

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Messaging Ford’s Nazi plants in wartime

“Since the state of war between U.S.A. and Germany I am unable to correspond with you very easily.” — Maurice Dollfus, Ford factory manager in Poissy, France January 28, 1942 letter to Edsel Ford BY JOEL THURTELL Ford Motor Company … Continue reading

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Ford should pay World War II reparations

“I regard Henry Ford as my inspiration.” — Adolf Hitler BY JOEL THURTELL Did Bill McGraw think for one minute that the city of Dearborn would publish his story about Henry Ford’s hatred of Jews? I was not surprised that … Continue reading

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Wayne County: turn old Ford mills into modern hydro plants

By JOEL THURTELL Instead of selling Henry Ford’s historic former hydroelectric plants to developers, Wayne County could convert the old dams into state-of-the-art, revenue-generating hydro facilities. Wayne County citizens have recently protested the proposed sale of three former Ford-owned mills on the Middle … Continue reading

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Tarascan Surnames in Michoacán

By Joel Thurtell The first of my peer-reviewed academic journal articles about Mexico’s Tarascan society broke important news about an ethnic group that has largely been overlooked by historians. Scholars of Mexican history and anthropology were not previously aware that … Continue reading

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JC III pulled knife on mom; mom pulled pistol on him

John Conyers III is no stranger to police reports of his knife-wielding. Sixteen years before the recent episode in which the elder son of former U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. reportedly injured his girl friend in a fight involving a … Continue reading

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Conyers and Free Press amnesia

By Joel Thurtell On November 22, 2017, the Detroit Free Press demanded that U.S. Rep John Conyers resign because of allegations of sexual misconduct and a possibly illegal payoff to the woman who complained. That date — November 22 — … Continue reading

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Will Dems smell Conyers’ stink?

By Joel Thurtell Suddenly, Democrats are embarrassed that the longest serving member of their caucus and of the US House of Representatives, Democrat John Conyers, is the latest high profile male to be caught in a sexual harassment scandal. What’s … Continue reading

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Lethal Greenfield

By Joel Thurtell A main — if not the only — purpose of a museum should be to teach us about the past. But Greenfield Village and The Henry Ford have missed a golden opportunity to teach about about industrial … Continue reading

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I BEAT OHIO STATE!

By Joel Thurtell The 80-year-old old guy with the shock of white hair wore a fading maize and blue University of Michigan t-shirt, but this old man was not just any Michigan fan. Nor was it just any UM t-shirt. … Continue reading

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