Each day Bill records a MICKnugget, a one-minute take on some issue that got his attention that morning. Below are the scripts for last week’s NUGGETS.
CLICK HERE if you’d like to hear them. Here are the scripts:
05.08.23- Little Baltimore
There’s trouble in Downtown Melbourne, or Little Baltimore as I call it.
When the sun goes down, trouble comes to town.
Early Saturday morning, a shooting occurred outside the area’s nightclubs. Three people went to the hospital. They were dropped off there, likely by people involved in the aggression.
The street was crowded, store windows were shattered and at least one vehicle was shot up. The evidence was still there Monday morning.
What wasn’t there? Witnesses. At least there were none who were willing to talk, thus the name Little Baltimore.
It’s time for the police department to own Downtown Melbourne.
It’s time for the bar owners to own some responsibility, too.
Apparently, they cater to a crowd where this behavior can be expected. Until that changes and a zero-tolerance policy is in place, we can look for Downtown Melbourne to be thug central- Little Baltimore.
It’s not a place you want to be after dark.
05.09.23- Weigh the Impact
WV head basketball coach Bob Huggins is taking heat. The direct and blunt Huggins uttered a gay slur at Xavier fans during a radio interview on WLW in Cincinnati.
Huggins is nothing if not passionate about his job and his players. Basketball is an emotional sport.
Rivalries can be intense and when Huggs coached Cincinnati their cross-town rival was Xavier. In such rivalries, fans will be fans.
In one game, Xavier fans threw miniature penises onto the floor. Huggins remembers it well. He related it to Billy Cunningham and that’s where the slurs came in.
Huggins is now under fire in the press, because sports reporters are so PC, and he could face discipline by WVU.
I hope they can look at this in balance.
Huggins has helped so many student athletes on to better lives. Yes, he’s blunt and he can be crude, but he’s always advocating for those players.
I hope Huggs gets a pass.
One bungled statement shouldn’t be a death sentence.
05.10.23- The Gillum Jury
Several of the jurors in the Andrew Gillum trial wrote a letter to the Tallahassee Democrat about their work in the case. Two of them hand-delivered it to the paper and sat down for an interview.
It was on the condition they remain anonymous. That’s a good thing- they are not seeking fame, as we have seen from some jurors in the past.
This jury worked hard to reach verdicts in the multi-charge trial. They took art off the jury room walls and hung their own charts, evidence and notes.
The sad fact is the government could not prove the case they charged against the former Tallahassee mayor.
Instead of sticking to the corruption in Tallahassee government under Gillum, they expanded the case into his gubernatorial campaign and unnecessarily complicated it.
They confused the jury instead of convincing them.
The US Attorney’s office better reconsider its presentation when they go to retrial. Otherwise, it will be a waste of time.
05.11.23- Imagine 25%
How many of us could handle losing 25% of our incomes for a year? I’d guess it’s very few.
And no matter how much money you make, 25% is significant to you and your family.
WVU basketball coach Bob Huggins has uttered the $1m F-bomb!
The school is taking ¼ of Huggins’ $4m annual contract and giving it to the LGBT organization at WVU. He’ll also sit out 3 games and face termination if there’s a repeat offense.
Look, Huggins’ comments were rude and insulting. He’s paying a stiff penalty. His multi-year contracts will now only be one-year deals.
But, since when is an insult worth drawing blood?
Huggins apologized immediately and is now on the contrition tour of sensitivity training and the like.
That should be enough. The idea of losing 25% of your income for someone’s feelings being hurt is ridiculous.
05.12.23- Bud Light Spills Over
The biggest advertising debacle in recent memory is spilling over on Bud Light, other corporations and state governments are taking advantage of it.
HSBC downgraded Anheuser-Busch’s stock to a hold in the wake of the woke controversy that AB managers misread and can’t get a handle on.
Their management’s judgment and inability to relate to their core consumer are in question, and rightfully so.
In like manner, other corporations are catching on as state governments are now penalizing them for ESG investment decisions by banning such companies from state retirement and bond funding.
When investment firms are penalizing industries like energy companies and firearms related businesses, which can be integral in some states, why would a state want to invest with those firms?
They wouldn’t. It has the attention of the ESG inclined institutions.
When the consumers speak this loudly, someone will eventually listen. And if they don’t, they won’t be around to hear what’s coming next.