The Ballenger Report

President Donald J. Trump has unveiled his “Board of Peace” as part of the oversight of the Gaza ceasefire plan. The panel, already controversial, is a complex, three-tiered governing structure for Gaza that places Trump and pro-Israel officials at the top, while Palestinians are relegated to municipal duties. Trump has invited more than 60 countries […]

Whatever happened to ‘Minnesota Nice’? Actually, it’s still with us, and that may be a contributing factor to the bad vibes emanating recently from Golden Gopherland. In a state of some 5.8 million people, 43% claim at least partial Scandinavian heritage — the highest percentage in the country. There are around 410,000 Swedes in the […]

Question 1): Rep. Matt HALL (R-Richland Township), Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, has vowed to push some form of property tax relief in the Legislature this year, almost certainly involving at least one statewide ballot proposal next Nov. 3. What are his chances of success? Answer 1): It’s a longshot as a matter of […]

Here is a TBR New Year’s Special, courtesy of Lake Superior State University (LSSU): It’s LSSU’s Annual List of Overworked Words and Phrases that have become Meaningless and Should be Banished for 2026: Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, has just released its 50th anniversary edition of its popular ‘Banished Words List’ […]

DEVOS SCIONS IGNORE EXISTING LAW, VOTE FOR NAME CHANGE TO KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS Last February, just weeks after Donald J. Trump began his second administration, he fired several members of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Trump then named new members, […]

Who is Bill Whitbeck, anyway? He’s sui generis — he began working in Michigan government at age 25 in the spring of 1966, and he’s still working in state government until later this week at age 85. Nobody else, anywhere, can make such a claim. William C. Whitbeck has worked four different stints for three […]

What’s The Fallout from the Michigan House’s ‘Work Project’ Denials? Question 1): It’s always been routine. It should be easy. As required by statute, the budget office of Gov. Gretchen WHITMER recently sent the Senate and House appropriations committee chairs a list of $2.7 billion in continued spending that had been left over from the […]

Question 1): Amazingly, no Michigan pollster has yet asked a question measuring the popularity among the state’s voters of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Can that be determined? Answer 1): In Michigan, no, but it’s certain that any such a survey would find that views of ICE are deeply polarized along partisan lines. […]

“Now the days dwindle down to a precious few …” Cue Frank Sinatra singing the mournful ‘September Song.’ Time to talk about sadness and mortality. And Charlie’s Angels. Not the 1970s TV show, but the famous portrait of Michigan’s Big Three: Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Attorney General Dana Nessel, posing […]