Drinking the “tea” in Michigan

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has an op-ed in today’s Detroit News regarding the Supreme Court case involving the Affordable Care Act that reads like a tea party manifesto. He appears to representing the small number of Michiganders that call themselves tea partiers while the rest of us have our views disregarded.

He describes it as “an unprecedented power grab” and says it “ends limitations on federal powers”. Neither of these things are true and, as LOLGOP said earlier today, the vast majority of SCOTUS watchers believe they will uphold the ACA as constitutional.

In October, 37 attorneys general from across the country sent a letter to Congress (pdf) urging them to support the nomination of Richard Cordray to head up the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This included ten Republican AGs. Not among them: Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. The letter gives Cordray and the fledgling bureau itself glowing reviews. The undersigned state […]

As if it weren’t a big enough travesty that Rep. Paul Scott is asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider their ruling that his recall go on. Now Governor Rick Snyder & Attorney General Bill Schuette are sticking their noses into the matter. Gov. Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette filed requests with the Michigan Supreme Court today, asking […]

If I were a betting guy, I’d wager that most voters in Michigan have never heard of a man named James Craig. He’s the former Detroit police chief and he’s been stumbling out of the gate for the 2022 governor’s race on a nearly continuous basis for almost all of 2020, vying to be the Republican nominee. For the most […]

In 2018, worker advocacy groups gathered enough signatures to put several citizen-initiated ballot proposals on the November ballot. However, according to law, before that happens, the legislature has the ability to make them law immediately by passing them as legislation. If this is done, it bypasses the governor and they become law without the governor’s signature. There were several ballot […]

I have taken the past couple of days to reflect on how Mike Shirkey and the Republicans in the Michigan State Legislature have contributed to the culture of misogyny and support of the insurrectionist militias that have attacked the U.S. Capitol. But these are not their only sins. They have also victimized and persecuted members of the LGBTQ+ community through […]

It’s been many a moon since Michigan Republicans have put up any sort of legitimate candidate for U.S. Senate. In 1996, Ronna Romney, the mother of RNC Chair Ronna Romney McDaniel, got crushed by Carl Levin who had trounced Bill Schuette six years before. He went on to beat Rocky Raczkowski and Jack Hoogendyk before retiring. The seat is now […]

We’ve been writing about Line 5, Enbridge’s 67-year-old twin pipelines under the straights of Mackinac for 5 years now: June 23, 2015 — Enbridge Line 5 pipeline beneath Straits of Mackinac – too old, unsafe, and a threat to the Great Lakes September 10, 2015 — As protesters call for Straits of Mackinac oil pipeline to be shut down, Enbridge […]

Earlier this month, Ukrainian “businessmen” Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested at Dulles International Airport. They were apprehended as they were attempting to leave the country on one-way tickets on a Lufthansa Airlines flight to Frankfurt after having lunch with Rudy Giuliani. The two were indicted on campaign finance crimes: The indictment of the two men, Lev Parnas and […]

I haven’t written much about the Flint Water Crisis lately, largely because my pals over at Michigan Advance and the fine reporters at MLive have been doing such a good job. I’m inspired to write today as I reflect on two recent stories, one of which is not actually about Flint. The first story is the astonishing move taken by […]

I read a lot of stuff on education policy, written by a wide range of authors. Some are bright, well-informed, and experienced teachers. Most are not. But this piece here maybe the silliest article on education reform I’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s by an author I have to admit I’d never heard of until today…Robin Lake, from […]