Happy National Michigan Day!

Travel 2 Minutes

Thinking of celebrating National Michigan Day visiting Michigan?  Here are some excellent suggestions for places to see.

Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island’s old-world charm (think: horse-drawn carriages and Victorian-style buildings) creates the perfect backdrop for a romantic getaway or family vacation. The island banned cars in 1898, so tourists – or Fudgies as locals call them – can only access the island by private boat, ferry or plane. Once on Mackinac, visitors can taste some of its world-famous fudge, tour historical sites like Fort Mackinac and explore Mackinac Island State Park, which covers more than 80% of the island. Keep in mind, though, that many of Mackinac Island’s attractions are closed during the winter months despite the island being accessible year-round.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Pictured Rocks, America’s first national lakeshore, overlooks Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The lakeshore’s namesakes – colorful, 200-foot cliffs – are best seen from the water. In warmer months, visitors should embark on a boat cruise or kayaking tour past the scenic rock formations, arches and waterfalls that line the coast. However, the area’s diverse landscape attracts outdoorsy types year-round with roughly 100 miles of hiking trails. Travelers can see everything from spring wildflowers to colorful fall foliage to stunning ice formations (perfect for ice climbing), depending on the season.

Tahquamenon Falls State Park

Occupying nearly 50,000 acres on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Tahquamenon Falls State Park offers travelers ample opportunities to reconnect with nature. Lace up your hiking boots to explore the park’s 35-plus miles of trails, get out on the Tahquamenon River on a kayak or snap a photo in front of the Upper Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan’s largest waterfall. Fishing and camping are popular pastimes in summer, and come winter, visitors can enjoy outdoor activities like cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Keep in mind, travelers will need a valid Michigan Recreation Passport to gain admission to the park.

Holland, MI

This western Michigan town takes its Dutch heritage seriously. During the holiday season, the downtown area transforms into a tribute to all Dutch holiday traditions, complete with roaming carolers and a European-style, open-air Christmas market called Kerstmarkt. Come spring, visitors can celebrate the town’s millions of tulip blooms during the Tulip Time Festival, which hosts fun parades and events like traditional dancing and live musical performances. Must-visit Windmill Island Gardens is an optimal location for viewing these colorful flowers, and families won’t want to miss a trip to Nelis’ Dutch Village, a Dutch-themed amusement park offering rides, games and more.

Muskegon

Muskegon appeals to travelers who want to reconnect with nature while on vacation. Its 26 miles of pristine Lake Michigan beaches offer ample opportunities to enjoy outdoor pursuits like fishing and boating, while Muskegon State Park is home to two campgrounds and multiple hiking trails. For an adrenaline rush, ride the roller coasters at Michigan’s Adventure or zip down the luge track at the Muskegon Luge Adventure Sports Park, one of only four luge tracks in the United States. Meanwhile, those seeking rest and relaxation will find it in Pere Marquette Park’s soft sands.

SOURCE: TRAVEL.USNEWS.COM

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Published by pat frederick

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61 thoughts on “Happy National Michigan Day!”

  1. Morning All!

    we got in around midnight…what a trip!

    we were basically driving BEHIND the storm. we got a dusting here–very little actually. By the time we were hitting the major highways–they were already plowed. We did encounter a few roads that hadn’t been plowed but were driven on enough to be passable. We didn’t go to our daughter’s house because their hill hadn’t been plowed. We headed for Mom’s. The snow was over by the time we got there. And the plow went thru by my daughter, so we doubled back there after leaving Mom’s to pick and drop off a few things. But my son was freaking out–telling us don’t come–they had 6 inches–but by the time we were ready to head up there, he said he was just out and the roads were plowed and open–so…we then went up there to visit and see his Christmas light spectacular. very long day!

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    1. Wow! No doubt you were exhausted by the time you finally made it home. I’m glad you were able to spend time with all of your family and do it safely. No more snow here, thankfully, and the wind has dropped some. Temp is also up to 25. No sign of Wheezer yet.

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  3. TheseTruths(@thesetruths)

    Shawn Farash:

    This is why Trump is a phenomenal strategist:

    Trump wants Greenland.

    Trump tariffs the EU until they agree that the US can acquire Greenland.

    Trump takes the revenue from the tariffs on the EU to eventually buy Greenland when they cave.

    Trump gets Greenland and the EU pays for it.

    WINNING

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  5. Eric Daugherty
    @EricLDaugh
    🚨 JUST IN: Stephen Miller GOES OFF on Europe for FREELOADING off American defense, but pretending Greenland is “theirs”

    “They cannot defend Greenland! It’s unfair to the American taxpayer who has SUBSIDIZED all of Europe’s defense for generations now!”

    “American dollars, American treasure, American blood, American ingenuity is what keeps Europe safe and the free world safe. And Donald Trump’s insisting that we be respected!”

    “They cannot control the territory of Greenland. Under every understanding of law that has existed about territorial control for 500 years to control a territory, you have to be able to defend a territory, improve a territory, inhabit a territory. Denmark has failed on every single one of these tests!”

    “So they want us to spend hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars defending a territory for them that is 25% bigger than Alaska at 100% American expense. But they say while we do this, it belongs 100% to Denmark!”

    @StephenM

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  6. interesting exchange…LOL

    Vince

    January 18, 2026 12:44 am

    Question: Now that Walz has deployed the national guard, can President Trump call them up and send them to a base out of the country?

    Montbellver

    January 18, 2026 5:34 am

    Reply to  Vince

    I was wondering if Trump could federalize them? If they are an impediment to ICE, ship them to Greenland!

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  10. Charlotte99

    January 18, 2026 3:28 am

    The blonde, blue-eyed moms recruited in America’s suburbs to bear children for global elite

    In the quiet suburbs of California, a chilling new front in ‘civilizational warfare’ is being fought—not with bullets, but with birth certificates.

    A new investigation has uncovered a sophisticated, state-sanctioned plot by Beijing to infiltrate the United States by creating what experts call a ‘Manchurian Generation’ of American citizens loyal to the Chinese Communist Party.

    In an exclusive selection from his book, The Invisible Coup, four-time New York Times bestselling author Peter Schweizer reveals that China is not simply competing with America economically—it is weaponizing US citizenship laws to plant a demographic ‘time bomb’ inside the country.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15460219/China-secret-plan-infiltrate-citizens.html

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  13. the OPT scam

    FTA

    For Indian families, the US degree has rarely been just a degree. It is a sequence you pay for and plan around: Admission, visa, internship, graduation, and then a post-study runway long enough to recover costs, build a résumé, and attempt the H-1B lottery without falling off a bureaucratic cliff. That runway is Optional Practical Training (OPT).Now the runway is being described in Washington as a loophole, not a ladder. In 2025, the US debate has moved beyond generic immigration noise into something more targeted: A political and legal narrative that frames OPT as unauthorised, unfair to American graduates, and ripe for abuse. This is followed by proposals that would either terminate the programme, tax away its advantage, or convert student status from a compliance-based continuum into a clock with expiry dates. What is significant here is that OPT is being attacked simultaneously in Congress, agency memos, and in the regulatory agenda—three levers that rarely align. India sits closest to the blast radius because they have become the most invested in the OPT logic. The story, then, is not “Will America stop Indians from studying?” It is more precise, and more destabilising: Will America continue to attach a credible work pathway to the education it markets to the world?

    Now, this is where the “misuse” argument collapses and the “scam” argument starts to hold some serious water.

    What follows is sworn testimony that describes how a program meant to supplement education turned into one of the biggest work-authorization pipelines in the country. Honestly, calling it a “student visa” program is more marketing than reality. The Times of India piece goes on:In June 2025, Jessica Vaughan, Director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), appeared before the House Judiciary Subcommittee with a blunt charge: OPT, she argued, has effectively become the largest unregulated guest-worker scheme in the United States. Drawing on internal datasets she said were provided by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, Vaughan told lawmakers that more than 540,000 work authorisations were granted under OPT and Curricular Practical Training (CPT) in FY2023 alone. In her framing, this was not administrative flexibility; it was regulatory drift at scale. OPT, she said, had fuelled an ecosystem of diploma mills, fake schools, bogus training programmes, and illegal employment—a parallel market built less around learning than around visa preservation and labour substitution—while the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) remained too under-resourced to vet the volume and complexity of the pipeline. Her sharpest point was legal-constitutional in tone: OPT is not explicitly authorised by Congress, having been created through executive rulemaking—formalised under the Bush administration and expanded under Obama—without an up-or-down vote to permit hundreds of thousands of foreign graduates to work in the US.Where her testimony lands politically is in how it converts a sprawling, messy system into a single prosecutable story: Scale plus abuse equals illegitimacy. Once OPT is narrated primarily as a work programme rather than an education-to-employment bridge, the policy debate shifts from ‘how to regulate’ to ‘whether it should exist at all’. And even if one contests her characterisation, the effect is the same: it gives restrictionists a numbers-and-oversight argument that is easier to sell than a purely ideological one.

    Our student visa program is functioning as a mass employment agency.

    Now, US senators are saying that the government is issuing massive numbers of work permits through a student visa system that was never meant to function that way and calling on DHS to shut it down.

    The Times of India piece continues:On September 23, 2025, Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote to Kristi Noem, Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, urging her to end Optional Practical Training (OPT)-style work authorisations for student visa holders. Grassley argued DHS is issuing ‘hundreds of thousands’ of such work permits “in direct violation of the law” and criticised the practice of allowing foreign graduates to remain in the US on student visas “for years after graduation” to work. He said this undercuts young Americans’ job prospects and claimed the authorisations are incompatible with the Immigration and Nationality Act, which he says limits student visas to education, not employment. On November 14, 2025, Senator Eric S. Schmitt (Republican, United States Senator for Missouri) wrote to Kristi Noem, Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security, and Joseph B. Edlow, Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, urging them to move toward ‘reforming or ending’ Optional Practical Training (OPT). He calls OPT ‘one of the most abused’ immigration programmes and argues it operates as a cheap-labour pipeline and a ‘backdoor’ into the job market, hurting young American workers. Schmitt also stresses the programme’s tax advantage—citing payroll tax exemptions and claiming this encourages employers to hire OPT workers over US graduates. He asks DHS to conduct a ‘thorough review’ as the first step toward shutting OPT down or reshaping it.

    https://revolver.news/2026/01/india-media-just-blew-up-the-student-visa-scam-now-everything-changes/

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  15. Just The News: “Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger reversed a high-profile immigration enforcement policy established by outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. 

    Spanberger, sworn in earlier in the day as Virginia’s 75th governor and the first woman to hold the office, signed an executive action rescinding Executive Order 47—a directive issued last year that had authorized Virginia State Police and Department of Corrections personnel to assist federal immigration authorities under a 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

    The repeal ends formal cooperation between state law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement efforts.

    “State and local law enforcement should not be required to divert their limited resources to enforce federal civil immigration laws,” Spanberger said on Saturday. “It is a responsibility of federal law enforcement. Virginia, state and local law enforcement officers must be able to focus on their core responsibilities, investigating crime and community policing.”

    Immigrant advocacy groups welcomed the move as a step toward more inclusive communities, arguing that illegal immigrants won’t live in fear of deportation. 

    Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares slammed the decision to rescind the order. “Within the few first hours of Democrats having complete control in Richmond, they have made it easier for illegal immigrants who commit crimes against Virginians to remain in the Commonwealth by repealing EO 47,” he wrote on social media. 

    “By directing our local law enforcement to stop working with federal law enforcement agencies, our streets have become less safe with a stroke of the pen,” he added.

    He continued, saying, “Mark my words, there will be Virginians who will be robbed, raped and murdered as a result of this anti-public safety executive order.  No one should be surprised.”

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  16. Hmmmm…..interesting!

    Just The News: “The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a series of flight advisories urging airlines and pilots to exercise heightened caution when operating over parts of Mexico, Central America, South America and the adjacent eastern Pacific Ocean. 

    The warnings, issued Friday as Notices to Airmen (NOTAMs), cite potential “military activities” and possible interference with satellite navigation systems as risks to civil aviation. 

    According to the FAA, the advisories cover specific flight regions including airspace over Mexico, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia and broader oceanic corridors extending into the eastern Pacific. 

    The agency said the alerts — effective for 60 days — are intended to ensure aircraft operators remain alert to evolving conditions that could affect flights at all altitudes, from overflight to arrival and departure phases.” 

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  22. Just The News: “A Texas lawmaker is calling for the state legislature to hold hearings on actions the legislature can take to ban Sharia law in Texas. He did so as a new Rasmussen poll came out Thursday finding, “The influence of radical Islam in the United States is a cause for concern for a majority of voters, who oppose Muslims forming separate communities here.”

    U.S. Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Midlothian, has called on House Speaker Dustin Burrow, R-Lubbock, to hold interim legislative hearings “to combat Sharia law” in Texas.

    The Texas legislature meets every two years and passed hundreds of bills last year, including during special legislative sessions, The Center Square reported. In the interim year between legislative sessions, legislative committees hold hearings and lawmakers begin working on bills for the next legislative term. Next year, both Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have cited property tax reform as a primary agenda for the legislature to address. Both have also proposed competing plans they claim will reduce, and in some cases, eliminate, property taxes, The Center Square reported.

    Harrison is also requesting Burrows call for interim hearings to be held to address other issues, including eliminating property taxes, “saving Christian camps,” stopping taxpayer funded “DEI, LGBTQ indoctrination, and liberal Hollywood,” repealing “all excessive spending increases from previous bloated budgets” and banning “taxpayer funded lobbying.”

    “Texas is the line in the sand for the future of our country and the future of Western Civilization,” Harrison wrote Burrows. “Bold, conservative leadership from the Texas government has never been more necessary.”

    Addressing these issues now are necessary, he says, because last year “the Texas House failed to act on the most pressing issues facing Texans during three sessions.” The governor, lieutenant governor and speaker have all argued the legislature passed a conservative agenda, including passing school choice for the first time in Texas history.

    “The House should spend the interim exercising our oversight responsibilities and advancing solutions,” including to “combat the threat from Sharia law in Texas,” Harrison said. “Despite public statements to the contrary, Texas has NOT banned Sharia within our borders. We must explore options to end taxpayer funding, expand prohibitions on Sharia courts to all parts of the Texas code, close loopholes such as the statutory exemption that protected EPIC City, legislatively designate CAIR and Muslim Brotherhood as terror organizations, and gather input.”

    Harrison made the plea after Texas leaders are already leading on the issue nationally, The Center Square reported. Abbott has taken multiple actions, including designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, launching criminal investigations into them and calling on the U.S. Treasury Department to take action. A Texas mayor has banned Sharia law and the state comptroller has held school choice applications submitted by private schools with potential connections to foreign adversaries, including to Sharia law. Texas congressional members also launched a Sharia Caucus.

    The Republican Party of Texas included banning Sharia law in Texas as a proposition on the March Republican primary ballot, The Center Square reported.

    According to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey released Thursday, 77% of likely U.S. voters are concerned about the influence of radical Islam in America; 41% say they are very concerned. Only 18% polled say they “aren’t concerned about radical Islam.”

    President Donald Trump issued an executive order designating the Muslim Brotherhood and its chapters as foreign terrorist organizations, The Center Square reported.”

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  28. Just The News: “The FBI has caught 5 of the 10 most wanted fugitives in the first year of President Trump’s second term. FBI Director Kash Patel said the criminals “spent over three decades collectively evading justice” and they have “been put in custody” in under 1 year. “Under the leadership of President Trump, this FBI is defending the homeland, crushing violent crime, and manhunting,” Patel wrote on X.

    On Saturday, Alejandro Rosales Castillo, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives, was being prepared for extradition to face murder charges in North Carolina.

    During a congressional hearing in September, Patel said the Biden administration’s FBI caught 4 of the top 10 most wanted terrorists during the entirety of former President Biden’s 4-year term. “We’ve captured at the FBI 4 of the most top 10 wanted fugitives in the world in 7 months,” Patel said. “To put that in perspective, that’s as many as my predecessor nabbed in the entirety of the Biden administration. We got 4 — we got more coming.”

    In March, Newsweek pointed out that the Trump administration had caught 3 individuals on the most wanted list, while the Biden administration hadn’t caught any at the same point in the president’s 4-year term.”

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  29. HOLY CRAP! Minnesota man goes NUCLEAR on the Somalis and white liberals defending them

    “Look at all that $9 billion dollars they stole and then put nothing in the community. F** them, it’s just like George Floyd!”

    “His stupid family got 20 million dollars and they didn’t even build a community in the city. They just left with the money. F George Floyd too!”

    “When you don’t f with the community and help the community, f you. They took that money and left. Now look at them!”

    “They all broke. They got tricked out of all that money. They ain’t got shit right now to think. Oh, for 20 million. Come on, man. Quit playing with the guy. All this sht is a farce!”

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  32. Wall Street Apes
    @WallStreetApes
    A Somalian man named Mohamed Abdirashid Omarxeyd in Minnesota submitted 40,000 fraudulent healthcare claims allowing him to steal $3.2 million dollars from American taxpayers

    A worker pulled the power cord from a computer as investigators tried to search it

    “Guardian Home Health Services, submitted over 40,000 fraudulent claims for personal care assistance”

    “When the office was being searched, another office worker pulled the power cord from his computer to prevent investigators from seeing the screen”

    His company also submitted fake time sheets

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  33. Just The News: “European leaders are warning that President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs tied to Greenland could cause economic harm and strain already tense transatlantic relations.

    The European leaders also cautioned that imposing tariffs over Greenland-related disputes could damage trade and political cooperation between the United States and its European allies. 

    The warnings come as Trump has revived calls for the U.S. to control the Arctic territory. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland would be hit with the tariff.

    “We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland. Building on the process begun last week, we stand ready to engage in a dialogue based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that we stand firmly behind. Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,” the joint statement from Saturday read. “We will continue to stand united and coordinated in our response. We are committed to upholding our sovereignty.”

    Denmark, which governs Greenland, has rejected any suggestion that the island could be transferred to U.S. control, emphasizing that Greenland’s future must be decided by its residents. European Union officials echoed that position, stressing respect for sovereignty while urging Washington to avoid actions that could destabilize trade relations.

    “We will not let ourselves be blackmailed,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Sunday. “It’s blackmail what he’s doing,” David van Weel, the Dutch foreign minister, said in an interview on Dutch television. “And it’s not necessary. It doesn’t help the alliance (NATO) and it also doesn’t help Greenland.” 

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  38. Good luck ever getting Fido to go fishing with you again.

    FIRE IN THE HO !! Wait, I meant FIRE IN THE HOLE !!

    Whatever happened to him, he earned it. Dumbass.

    Although I admire the dedication, that’s another reason why I don’t live where it snows.

    She forgot to take into consideration the “boobs In motion tend to remain In motion” law of physics.

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  40. “Minnesota Changes Official State Bird To Screaming Lesbian”

    U.S. · Jan 16, 2026 · BabylonBee.com

    Image for article: Minnesota Changes Official State Bird To Screaming Lesbian

    MINNEAPOLIS, MN — Following recent developments stemming from political protests and clashes with the federal government across the state, Minnesota announced that it had changed the official state bird to a screaming lesbian.

    After the recent spate of screaming lesbians, state officials agreed that a change was needed to modernize the official state bird and make it more fitting and identifiable as embodying what everyone thinks of when they think of Minnesota.

    “It’s much more of a natural fit,” Governor Tim Walz said in a statement to reporters. “Yes, we’ve had the loon as our state bird for many years, and it has served us well. And while the case could be made that the loon very much still represents everything about Minnesota, we feel that the screaming lesbian is a fabulous step forward for both our state and for screaming lesbians.”

    Other state leaders paid respect to the loon for symbolizing Minnesota for so long, but acknowledged that the screaming lesbian was a more progressive change. “We’ve loved the loon, but we’re excited about the screaming lesbians,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. “The screaming lesbian has become such a staple of our great state, and naming it our official state bird further weaves it into the very fabric of Minnesota. Surprisingly, the screaming lesbians are also far more populous than the loons, so it’s perfect.”

    At publishing time, when a group of birdwatchers spotted and approached a screaming lesbian in a Minneapolis park Friday morning, it reportedly responded to their presence with its traditional call of, “REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

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