More auto layoffs; Courtroom controversies; Jake Bates saves the day

[Music] hello everyone and welcome to your daily Detroit sharing what to know and where to go in southeast Michigan I am J stays and joining me at the table is none other than Fletcher sharp how are you man uh my socks just dried from Sunday so that's really how I am uh it rained a lot and I'm not really fond of the rain for multiple reasons but we're here today no rain so pleased is it just a factor of my age that when you say no rain I think Blind Melon maybe I think I have to wash my hair for a total of four and a half hours and I just don't want to do it well we're going to get into a few stories around town the first one is not so great as we are in another edition of not so hot layoff summer General Motors is laying off more than a thousand salaried employees globally in its software and services division including about 600 jobs at the Tech campus in Warren this comes after leadership changes in division earlier this year GM says that there is a need to streamline operations and prioritize Investments for the future the layoffs represent a little more than 1% of GM's Global salaried Workforce this restructuring is happening as automakers aim to reduce costs amid industry uncertainty and invest heavily in electric vehicles and software defined Vehicles GM software and services division covers areas like infotainment OnStar and emerging subscription-based features you know Fletcher I note that much of this work is moving to the West Coast from Metro Detroit where new facilities are being opened this is reflective of wider changes in the Auto industry because the kinds of workers the kinds of talents that were required they are changing and in reality a lot of Metro Detroit justes does not we have not been competitive in that this is the Red Alert that business groups and other people have been saying but I feel like when we talk about it to the public they're like everything's fine and it's like no not everything's fine well because we're supposed to be cheery about it and a very serious topic unfortunately and like it's a shame cuz I know it's not technically like the people on the line assembling cars losing jobs and that but it's still people who are in the Auto industry and given that Detroit is the Motor City you want to keep things like if anything's going to go like you don't want to have people within the Auto industry losing their jobs especially out to the West Coast or somewhere else so for that to happen is and these are good paying jobs it may not be jobs but they're good paying jobs yeah and just for them to not be in the state is really troubling and sad cuz again Detroit Motor City everything every when I growing up everything that dealt with cars ran through this city so for it to now start to Splinter off a little bit a little bit more a little bit more it it's it's you know it's kind of killing the past for me and that's really bumming me out well and people I think forget how important this industry is to like the tax base and everything else because cars are expensive things right and the money that flows through there is part of what props this whole state up and I don't think people realize look I do know we need to diversify I think it's important I think we've needed to diversify for 20 years I think we're making some progress in certain areas of it but like I've always envisioned as Autos Plus and it really feels like Autos shrinking other things growing and I mean like again diversifying is great as you said like we need need to do that for sure but like let's diversify and way we're not losing something like we're gaining something else to make room for it as opposed to having to get rid of something that we are known for to then make room for something else cuz eventually if you're going to move that way the thing that gets smaller eventually disappears and it's just something that I could not live with if the city was no longer known as the Motor City we have had a number of episodes in the past talking about the issues at play uh maybe I'll put some in the show notes you know maybe with Lou Glazer and and some other folks we had uh Hillary Doe from uh the state of Michigan we've covered this topic a number of times with the show you can go back if this is the first time you're here now let's talk a couple of Court things because you have some thoughts Fletcher sharp I'll do the setup on the first one here real quick because there is controversy here in Detroit as the 36 District Court Judge Kenneth King forced a 16-year-old girl on a field trip to Dawn jail attire and handcuffs for falling asleep in his courtroom judge king subjected the team to team to threats of jail time and graphic descriptions of juvenile detention the girl who says she is now traumatized was ultimately released after her peers voted for leniency this has sparked some outrage in the community with critics arguing that the judge's methods were unacceptable the incident does raise questions about judicial conduct the treatment of minors in courtrooms and the appropriate use of authority in educational settings the judge defends his actions as a deterrent While others see it as an abuse of power Fletcher what say you so I'm going to start was saying that I got yelled at a lot whenever I spoke about this topic and I got yelled at a lot I'll say this should Kenneth King have put her in jail clothes in front of her peers and trotted her around and did a fake mock trial with at using her peers as the jury to say should I send her to juvie or not no that's no I can understand how that's jarring and like the part for me that's like if it happened to me you could look back later and chuckle but like in the heat of it is like really messed up is not all of her classmates voted for leniency some were like yes under the juvie like you're putting her back in a in a group of people who like are her peers most of them friends and some of them are like yes send her like that's traumatic that's not leaving it up to children who like are not qualified that's such such a misuse of power and like as a result he's been removed from the dock in 36 uh Kenneth King also had two uh adjunct professor jobs at Wayne State they were like yeah we're giving those to somebody else like you are not going to be on campus and he's made himself a pariah what I will say though as someone who grew up uh this child of two attorneys as someone who actually wasn't technically held in contempt but was removed from a courtroom uh for being a disturbance I understand why he did what he did they went there to with with greeting Detroit they went there with greeting Detroit to which I didn't know those they did those kind of programs I always thought they were like tree planting but you know no uh no agriculture in the courtroom but no agriculture not well what if it's a weed trial is that agriculture in the courtroom different type of Agriculture and like I think that's legal now so um but there's no so like they they had these children there and like Kenneth King through sources of my own well-known judge pretty respectable but also people know that he can be very prickly so like when he says something you kind of just need to do it right then uh and they came there to to learn about how a courtroom is supposed to go so they got to watch an act a few active trials and in between what the trials you know where they have client ends judge says what he's going to do for sentencing or whether you know you're going to go to trial or not in between them there's like a few minutes of rest so he happened to look up while giving a little bit of a speech and saw that this girl was falling asleep and he made a note to say hey don't do that in my cool room or I'm going to have to have you removed and from there it gets a little murky there's been he said and an article that I read by fox said uh she got snippy with that response and he decided then to make a point to remove her to the back room uh with the baith and she did not like that and as a result he then said I'm going to now make you understand what it's like to potentially go away to juvie or jail um what her side is saying is he immediately went to that that there was no pause in anything I tried to watch a video clip of what happened and it was very much like cut around so you couldn't really tell the real time even the time stamp was kind of obscured so you didn't really get a chance to see what happened again as someone who at age four went to watch his father in a courtroom I forgot the first reason uh why a judge told me to stop but he looked at me and pointed at me and I was looking around and was like me and he's like yeah don't do that or I'm going to have to have you remove moved so again me being four decided like I'm going to I'm going to crawl underneath these seats I don't know why but I crawled underneath the seats bumped my head imediately quickly if it was a cartoon slow Rose my head up and said I'm sorry and he's like hey stay right there and then a nice balea came and took my hand took me to the back room and I sat there for an hour and a half eating stale stale Froot Loops and afterwards he was like so in a courtroom you can't do those things because they're distracting to me as the judge and if I get distracted and make the wrong case it falls on me or make the wrong call it falls on me so I need you to understand that and me at four understood that I understood that if you go somewhere or there's a judge it's not your house it's not your kitchen it's not your whatever it's his so as long as it's within the legal limits of the state of Michigan if he says hey what's your favorite color and you're like it's blue and he's like don't tell me it's blue and then he asks you again what your favorite color is and you say it's blue and it irritates him for some contempt of court technically so what about the idea of having some compassion is apparently uh this uh young person uh their family is unhoused and very tired this is something that has been very uh debated online quite a bit I mean there should but not in like making a charge because if she was there for an actual court case as like someone who was waiting for her case to show up and she fell asleep there okay like even still when a judge says something you're supposed to then do it so he does have to say it again cuz kind of like some of the people uh who protect the city some judges have a bit of a Power Trip where this is their chance to make it about them and if you give them a chance to do this kind of like with lawyers or police officers or whoever if you give them a chance to exercise said Power Trip they will do it and unlike those other two they have a lot more protections against them so they will do it and then find a way to make it a legal thing so like when they say when he says sit up or do something or don't do this you have to just not do it and a lot of people are like well she was on how I understand and context definitely matters and I'll for something else is contexual If instead of being 15 she was 25 we wouldn't be talking about this we'd say all right well figure it out the one thing I will say about him is afterwards when they told him exactly why he could given a much better answer like oh she was tired because she was on house they hadn't had somewh her what he say he was like well it doesn't really matter and it's like look man they're giving you a bone like you should say oh now that I understand that like I might have made a different you he wouldn't have we know he wouldn't have but like just kind of give it a a nicer bow on the top you don't have to be like yeah I'm not I'm not changing my mind about that because in the honestly it it does not matter in that in that situation and like that's unfortunate it really is um but unless she is sitting at the podium next to her attorney the judge would not know that she's on house and I mean you could assume that for everyone who walks into your courtroom but then you're doing it with a bias and you're not supposed to do that as a judge so you know I think he just saw a teenager who fell asleep in his courtroom when they were there to learn from him and got sassy when he asked him to do something and he decided to exercise his uh judicial power again I cannot stress this next part enough he should not have paraded her in front of her classmates uh in an orange jumpsuit or whichever color jumpsuit with handcuffs and then threatened to Center to juvie although technically he could have if he really felt like he wanted to flex his fingers he technically could have then and then it would have been a much bigger issue uh he should not have held a mock trial with her peers to see if she he should send her to juvie uh it leads into like the next story we have with another judge yeah I'll set that up real quick because a routine trespassing hearing turned chaotic last week when defendant Daryl Jal launched into a profanity lace TI rate against judge Cedric Simpson uh the conflict began when Gerald expressed frustration over a delayed court date escalating him to telling the judge to quote unquote kiss my as Gerald continued to hurl expletives Simpson the judge responded by issuing multiple contempt of court charges as as they went through in the end 6 93 day sentences to be served consecutively were handed down totaling nearly 18 months of jail time this incident went viral on social media and uh in the minds of some serves as a reminder of the importance of courtroom decorum and the potential consequences of disrespecting Authority and uh yeah so yes another judicial Authority case but I feel like this one's a little bit different because you can't do this like you just can't do this it's a little different no you cannot tell the judge to kiss your ass you can't do like you can't you cannot do you can do that on the street if you want to but like in the in a court of law in that judge's court of law you cannot do that you cannot show the judge that much disrespect and when he tells you again like the other thing when he tells you to stop because he it wasn't like he just threw the 93 days at him he was like Hey you're not going to come up after the guy said and another thing you can kiss my ass the judge is like you're not GNA come in here and do that and the guy responded by saying F you and it's like all right you know what that's fine cont of court and the guy did it again and he's like contempt of court there's a lot of people out there though that have been expressing their uh frustration around this because whether it's this case or the one before it there is this idea among a lot of people that maybe judges and law enforcement have too much power and I think a lot of the yes there's like a moral upsetedness about this but also there's a like a undercurrent here of do do judges have too much power or is this a system needs to be balanced in some way I mean I think it's six in one half a dozen of another like I do think at times I do have too much power but I will also say like again I was four and I was like a not smart four-year-old like I was hitting my head all the time like it sounded like I had marbles in my brain but like if I could gather that like not even if my parents told me to do something but if like a judge was like Hey when I say to do this don't do it I feel like anyone older should be able to grasp that as as well like that's a concept that's like really easy it's someone on a Facebook post is like oh people can fall asleep in a courtroom a judge can do it I'm like yeah it's his courtroom like that's kind of like you can put your feet on your own couch but if I do it it's like get out of my house that's that's his house that's his maybe there should have been a discussion especially in this first story about the idea of like what is expected in a courtroom right that should be part of the thing of like you need to be awake and paying attention and and those things that's part of the lesson I think that should have been shared as well I mean they have a sign up front that's like kids don't read signs I mean they I mean if they should but they don't they should there's a sign up adults don't read signs me they don't how many times you've got a sign here that says do not enter Because this is an emergency exit and how many times a day do I look at this sign and like people literally try to open the door it's all the time well I mean it's just cuz we're very warm and inviting on the other side and they're like I want to be a part of that everyone wants to hug Fletcher that's definitely not the case um but I mean there's a sign out front of cour houses that's like you can't bring weapons in you you can't bring sharp objects you cannot wear torn clothes you cannot do this you cannot have a phone that has a recording lens you cannot do this also you should not be falling asleep in other things in courtroom you should and it's like these are lists of things you should not be doing so some of those things some courtrooms don't have the sleeping thing some courtrooms don't have the phone thing uh most do have the phone thing but it's like these are things that like you know and also just as like a general thing like you typically don't go somewhere in public and fall asleep in public you just especially if you're going somewhere on someone else's time like I understand being tired but like I've been to courtrooms I've been wherever where it's like I I've been to courtrooms as a defendant that's a different story where it's like you know what I'm exhausted but you know what I'm GNA have as many Red Bulls as possible I'm gonna drink as much water as I can if I'm really feeling tired and people were then saying well she was there with uh a teacher or a guardian or something else it's like hey I'm feeling tired after they said something can you take me to go get some water or can something else happen or as one of the Guardians there who's supposed to be the for Greening Detroit and this is not to crap on them but it's like when this first thing was said out loud that's when you go talk to her like hey like let's let's get you perked up because or even pull her out yes let's do something cuz like you should not be falling asleep so for them to then turn and I mean even their statement was like he was trying to teach a lesson which at the end of the day I think lesson in both cases should have been taught I think you should not be falling asleep in a courtroom regardless of your age you should not be swearing at a judge period unless it's like a funny joke that you and him have outside of the courtroom very outside of the courtroom maybe in a bar most people in their real Liv but see you have to remember too that like you have a different perspective and that most people in their real lives will never meet a judge understood and I mean if they do then you should definitely be listening because you be probably meeting him as he's you know with with the gavel in his hand and you are next to the podium with your hopefully high priced attorney figuring stuff out unless you deserve it then never mind but like point being is is these like it'd be one thing if these are just courtroom Associated things by themselves but like a few of these things are just like if someone says hey want to come to my classroom and talk to my kids about something and then the front row falls asleep you're not going to yell at the guy for being annoyed at someone falling asleep when he's giving his time you'll be annoyed at the people who are like yo why are you asleep in the courtroom why are you sleep in this class why like pay attention to what this person's talking about and just I under again I understand 15-year-old unhoused very sad story for sure but the context around it doesn't necessarily matter in the end because if this person was the person who was up there for a charge or something you have to be awake [Music] okay let's end on the Lions they beat the Chiefs in the preseason Jake Bates is the hero the star again 24 23 I know it's preseason we're not taking a bunch of stock in it we're going to lean a lot harder when the regular season goes but uh I personally am as much as I like the Kel's I am so glad to see them lose uh Travis Kelce lose when it comes to uh a game against the Lions and uh yeah I think this is great progress I I love seeing that I mean it's great from the standpoint of the Lions beating the Chiefs again uh some people were like this is what would have happened in the Super Bowl I don't know uh to put in perspective I guess how the series of the Chiefs took it as at the start the biggest highlight of the game was Patrick Mahomes throwing it behind the back pass which he would not do in a regular season game so like you know okay but to me the biggest thing because again the Lions big starters did not I mean Jared gof didn't even dress when he went have to go Shake he was in a t-shirt um I'm Andra St Brown also did not dress so like a lot of players for the offense just were taking their time to the season start so offensively to me doesn't really mean much defensively kind of the same they had some starters not all their starters so but again the biggest thing to me Jake Bates uh he missed an extra point not great but he hit a 55 yarder hit a game-winning 43 yard like he's been consistent hitting his kicks uh and that's what the Lions need missing an extra point isn't necessarily great but I can live with it during preseason just don't you know don't do it during the regular season but again he's shown the reason why the Lions picked him up uh and that's a weapon to have someone who can bang home a 55 yard field goal 50 plus easily uh really takes the pressure off the offense you don't have to go for it on Fourth and six fourth and seven and if you can continue to do stuff like that in the regular season uh the Lions should be fine yeah it opens up the optionality right yeah it gives you instead of having to go you know fourth and eight at your own 47 you could maybe send a guy out who probably still a risky play but it gives you the option of like oh they might actually kick it he might actually make it depending where they are Fletcher sharp so good to see you of course thanks for having me as always if you've got feedback daily Detroit atgmailcom would love to hear it I'm J stays thank you so much to our members on patreon patreon.com daily Detroit for keeping this thing going with that remember that you are some buddy and we'll see you around Detroit