Mark Malkowski

Mackinac. Outdoor sports. Michigan sports fan.

[M2 @Amer1can_Barbie]

Good morning 😃

[Shooter McGavin @ShooterMcGavin]

This golfer has a good sense of humor

[Mark Malkowski @MalkowskiMark]

@PavelecMilos @gundosedaily 22 mag is Loud!

[Mark Malkowski @MalkowskiMark]

@marley41421 @FenixAmmunition 52.4 cents

[The Babylon Bee @TheBabylonBee]

Science Pleads The 5th
https://t.co/3Ry6yTqSve

[Mark Malkowski @MalkowskiMark]

@PeteMaina We add a layer of pine chips on our poop shelf. It makes it easier to scoop up with a shovel. Coops looking good 👍

[Dave Bondy @DaveBondyTV]

🚨 Michigan taxpayers spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a secret deal to bring a semiconductor plant to the Flint area, but they weren’t even allowed to know the company’s name. Today, there’s no factory, no 7,400 jobs, and no economic miracle. Just an empty field in Genesee County and one question: who is accountable?

[Insurrection Barbie @DefiyantlyFree]

In September of 1814, America was once again in trouble.

The young republic was only thirty-eight years old. The War of 1812 had gone badly. British troops had marched into Washington, burned the Capitol, set the White House ablaze, and now turned their sights toward Baltimore. If Fort McHenry fell, the harbor would be open, the city would likely follow, and another devastating blow would be dealt to the fragile nation.

Amid this uncertainty, a young American lawyer named Francis Scott Key sailed under a flag of truce to the British fleet. He had come to negotiate the release of a friend, a physician the British had captured.

He succeeded.

The British agreed to free the doctor.

But there was a catch.

Because Key and his companions had seen too much of the British fleet and learned too much about its plans, they were not allowed to return to shore. Instead, they were detained aboard a ship in the harbor and forced to watch the coming battle from behind enemy lines.

On the morning of September 13, the bombardment began.

For the next twenty-five hours, British warships unleashed somewhere between 1,500 and 1,800 bombs and rockets upon Fort McHenry. These were the “bombs bursting in air” and the “rockets’ red glare” of the song—not poetic embellishments, but terrible realities.

Key stood on the deck through the endless day and the long, terrifying night. Every explosion lit the darkness for a fleeting instant before the smoke swallowed everything again. Somewhere beyond that wall of fire stood the fort. Somewhere beyond it flew an American flag if it still flew at all.

He could not see.

He could only listen.

As long as the guns continued firing, there was reason to hope. The British would not waste ammunition on a fort that had already surrendered.

Then, just before dawn…

The guns fell silent.

For the first time all night, there was only stillness.

It was the most frightening sound of all.

Had the fort finally fallen? Had the defenders surrendered? Had the flag been torn down in the darkness while no one could see?

There was nothing to do but wait.

As the first light of September 14 slowly pushed back the smoke, Francis Scott Key strained his eyes toward the distant fort.

Then he saw it. Not a British flag.

The American flag. Still there. Still flying.

That flag was no ordinary banner. Months earlier, the fort’s commander had commissioned a Baltimore flagmaker, Mary Pickersgill, to sew a flag so enormous “that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a distance.” It measured roughly thirty by forty-two feet, carried fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, and was so large it had to be assembled on the floor of a brewery because no ordinary room could contain it.

That was the Star-Spangled Banner.

The very flag Key saw through the morning mist.

The very flag that still survives today in the Smithsonian.

Overcome by what he had witnessed, Key reached into his pocket, pulled out an envelope, and began writing. The words came from a heart that had spent an entire night fearing his country might disappear with the dawn.

He first titled the poem Defence of Fort M’Henry.

Within days it was printed and circulating throughout the country. Before long, people began singing it to a melody they already knew—an old British tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven,” originally written for a London social club. There is something beautifully ironic in that: America’s most beloved patriotic song borrowed the melody of the very nation it had just survived. It also explains why the anthem is so notoriously difficult to sing. It was never written for ordinary voices gathered in stadiums or school assemblies.

The song spread quickly and became one of America’s favorite patriotic hymns, but it would wait more than a century before receiving official recognition. Not until 1931 did Congress declare “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States.

[MeatEater @MeatEaterTV]

Not every giant lives out West.

Credit: Allagash Antlers

[Military Arms @MAC_Arms]

This has to be a joke. That kid is cracking me up though.

[Michigan Storm Chasers @MiStormChasers]

This is neat! We have a wave of Saharan dust incoming over the next 24-48 hours. This dust is typically harmless but it can give us some pretty vivid sunsets! Keep an eye on the sky Tuesday evening as this is when the dust will be thickest in the atmosphere!

[Mark Malkowski @MalkowskiMark]

Facts

[𐌁𐌉Ᏽ 𐌕𐌉𐌌𐌉 @OrevaZSN]

I don't want summer. I want perpetual early fall. 60-70°F days, cold nights. Some rain. Some sun. Windows open. Birds chirping, animals around. Forests full, lakes relaxing. Days not too short.

[Michigan Men's Basketball @umichbball]

Thank you, Dusty!

64 wins.
🏆 2025 Big Ten Tournament Champions
🏆 2026 Big Ten Champions
🏆 2026 National Champions

Thanks for two unforgettable seasons and for helping bring a national championship back to Ann Arbor.

Forever part of the Michigan Basketball family.

#GoBlue

[Swanky Wolverine @swankywolverine]

Them: Can you believe Dusty May is leaving Michigan?

Me:

[Mark Malkowski @MalkowskiMark]

@Metaleka_ @CannonsCall Access to the inland waterway and Huron. That's a win 🍻

[Michigan Storm Chasers @MiStormChasers]

Posen, MI had a front row seat to tonight’s fireball across northern Michigan, with sonic booms being reported around the Straits of Mackinac and northeast LP/eastern UP as it entered the atmosphere. Nathan reports this fireball headed up to the northeast somewhere between Thompson Harbor State Park, and Presque Isle Harbor, but this is an estimation.

Thank you to Nathan for allowing us to share this video.

🎥 - Nathan Polaski - Posen, MI

[Mark Malkowski @MalkowskiMark]

@MotorCityBanter I took my brothers to their first Michigan game that night. Happened right in front of us!
I'll never forget that moment.
Go Blue!

[Michigan Storm Chasers @MiStormChasers]

Yesterday at 10:41pm, one of the longest lasting meteors of the year occurred, traveling from south to north. Here’s another angle of it from the The City of Howell, Michigan - Government camera!

[Mark Malkowski @MalkowskiMark]

@BobDinMI Charlotte Meijer had it for $3.92 this afternoon.