M.L. Elrick (@elrick), Marc Fellhauer (@MarcFell) and Shawn Windsor (@ShawnWindsor) muster in the Red Shovel Network’s underground bunker.

THE STRAIGHT DOPE: Shawn loves to razz M.L. for living so close to Grosse Pointe that Uncle Rico could throw a football into Lake St. Clair from M.L.’s East Side manor. Now, in addition to his insurance and property tax bills, M.L. has incontrovertible proof that he “is down”: His car got shot! Listen and learn how it happened.

A former Detroit Police Department civilian deputy chief who played games with whether or not she took bribes before, reluctantly, pleading guilty to taking bribes now says she’s innocent. M.L. recounts her sordid story and concludes by sharing some sage advice from Baretta. Along the way, M.L. conjures up some old video of her lawyer tap dancing outside federal court: M.L. Elrick Holiday Special

It’s tough to talk about Baretta without thinking of the show’s killer theme song, performed by the late, great Sammy Davis Jr. And anytime M.L. thinks about Sammy, he’s reminded of a number of hilarious stories involving his former city hall colleague Erik Lords. And anytime M.L. thinks about crazy stories in city hall, you can bet there’s a Kwame Kilpatrick memory or two that bubbles up … some even include strippers!

Erik Lords was not just the consummate ladies man, he was a fan of motivational speaking. And his familiarity with the pioneer of motivational speaking held the key to debunking one of Kilpatrick’s most popular campaign stump speeches.

The conversation takes a serious turn as the boys struggle to come up with what to do about the rash of shootings at schools and places of worship that show no sign of abating.

That discussion leads Marc to ask M.L. and Shawn whether the media should report on the identity of the killers and how the need-to-know weighs against discouraging copycats.

THE GREAT DEBATE: The national championship-winning University of Virginia men’s basketball team announced it had a scheduling conflict and would not visit the White House – even though they hadn’t official been invited yet.