Monthly Archives: April 2016

Oppose Aggression, Oppose HB 5574

Open Carry Activists speak out against proposed legislative violation of property rights that would favor gun carriers.

About NAP

About the Non Aggression Principle (NAP)

I’d like to thank Jason Gillman Jr. of RightMI who co-authored this piece with me.  He and I are of one mind on this topic as we share the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) as a core value of our lives.

About the authors…

So, I’m a huge gun guy.  As a former President of Michigan Open Carry, Inc. (MOC) and the person who has held that office for the longest period of time, my creds on guns speak for themselves.  But what brought me to advance gun freedom in the first place?  My passion for human freedom and liberty.  I must respect this drive foremost.  That is why I am opposed to HB 5574.  I believe that in order to have our (gun owner’s) rights respected, we must also respect the rights of others, even if we don’t agree with how they are being exercised.

Likewise, Jason’s credentials on guns are beyond reproach as well.  Aside from Tom Lambert and myself, I’d be hard pressed to put my finger on someone who has done more in the last 5 years to advance open carry in Michigan other than Jason.  Jason is presently (and has been for about 2 years): A member of MOC’s Board of Directors, Assistant Legislative Director of MOC, Deputy Treasury of MOC, and MOC’s IT Director.  The man has sacrificed and continues to sacrifice a lot of time and energy for the cause.

About the topic…

HB 5574 of 2016 is a legislative proposal that is supported by many gun owners.  HB 5574 would prohibit employers (private sector and public sector) from banning employees from keeping firearms locked in the employee’s vehicle in the employer’s parking lot.  Employers who fire employees for keeping a gun in the employee’s car parked on the employer’s parking lot would be forced to rehire the fired employees.

Our rights end where someone else’s begin…

It’s an old cliche, but it hold true here.  Your right to move your arm freely stops where my nose starts.

You Betcha! (29)Nuh Uh.(18)

Real LIFE Event

Right To Life hero to speak April 29 in Ann Arbor

daviddaleidenDavid Daleiden, Who Exposed Planned Parenthood’s Harvesting and Selling of Aborted Baby Body Parts to Speak at Pro-Life Event, Friday, April 29th in Ann Arbor.

Ann Arbor, MI. The young man responsible for producing undercover videos that caught high-level Planned Parenthood officials discussing the harvesting and selling of aborted baby body parts will be the guest for a Citizens for a Pro-Life Society fundraiser, Friday, April 29th, at Christ the King Parish, 4000 Ave Maria Drive, Ann Arbor, MI.

Doors open at 6:30. The event also features a concert by well-known musician Eric Genuis.

In the last 10 months David Daleiden has become one of the most high-profile, controversial figures of the pro-life movement as a consequence of videos he produced through the Center for Medical Progress. www.centerformedicalprogress.org In these videos, first made public in June 2015, Planned Parenthood executives and staff members discuss the harvesting and sale of aborted baby body parts–body parts made available to biologics companies such as Stem Express.

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Forensic Audit – Now!

Rhodes Image 1aRetired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven W. Rhodes, now the Detroit Public Schools’ ‘Transition Manager’, just let another financial whopper out of the bag. Detroit Public Schools received about $30 million in U.S. Department of Education reimbursements for the pensions of grant-funded employees, but failed to forward those federal funds to the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. So DPS owes MPSERS $ 30 million dollars, give or take. They are ‘negotiating’.

DPS officials knew of this funds misappropriation in December 2015. Judge Rhodes knew “in March 2016”. Before or after the Michigan Legislature got suckered into passing HB 5296 and HB 5385, the DPS emergency bailout and purported financial review commission?  HB 5296, the $ 48.7 million emergency DPS bailout, cleared the Michigan House on 17 March and the Michigan Senate on 24 March. Governor Snyder signed it as Public Act 54 on 12 April.

Did anyone in Lansing know that 60% of the PA 54 DPS bailout was headed straight to the MPSERS?

If so, why did they not share this little detail with the rest of the Legislature and the public prior to the passage of HB 5296?

You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(0)

Irony

i·ro·ny (ī′rə-nē, ī′ər-) Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs. An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity.

Lansing City Hall & Court ComplexMichigan House Speaker Cotter just lost a round in the Courser/Gamrat felony criminal case preliminaries. Ingham County District Court 54-A Judge Hugh B. Clarke Jr. ruled Friday it would be “patently unfair” for Gamrat’s and Courser’s attorneys to not have an opportunity to question Cotter in their defense:Judge Hugh Clarke, Jr.

“Without answers to these questions, the Court cannot adequately balance the rights of the Defendants against the right of the Speaker to be free from being compelled to testify,” the order states.

“To make this decision, the Court believes an in camera hearing with counsel for the Defendants, Speaker Cotter and his attorney is warranted. This procedure would allow the court to properly balance the interests of the Defendants against the privilege sought to be accorded Speaker Cotter.”

Speaker Cotter has been claiming immunity under Public Act 27 of 1984 in Judge Clarke’s courtroom:

“AN ACT to provide immunity from civil action to members of the legislature of this state for acts done pursuant to duty as legislators; to prohibit members of the legislature of this state from being made parties to contested cases or other administrative proceedings for acts done pursuant to duty as legislators; and to provide for certain exemptions from subpoenas.”

Specifically Speaker Cotter is claiming immunity from a subpoena ad testificandum under the third section of PA 27 of 1984

MCL 4.553
Subpoena as to statements made by legislator
Sec. 3.
A member of the legislature shall not be subject to a subpoena for any matter involving statements made by the legislator pursuant to his or her duty as a legislator.

The issue here will be that the legal action against Courser and Gamrat in Ingham County District Court 54-A is a criminal action, specifically a felony action, not a civil action. Speaker Cotter is claiming immunity under a statute which pertains to civil actions, not criminal actions.  Michigan’s legislators have no constitutional or statutory relief from subpoenae in felony matters.

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Textbooks Teach History, They Don’t Make History

derya

By Derya Taskin – President of the Turkish Institute for Progress

Tomorrow, the Michigan State Senate Education Committee will take up HB 4493. HB 4493 would turn Michigan’s social studies and world history textbooks into a political playground. The disputed history of an international tragedy that took place over a hundred years ago should not be settled in Michigan schools.

While the Michigan Legislature is working to rewrite history, it is important to look back at history on the issue. Not one international court has recognized the 1915 tragedy was a “genocide.” In fact, 173 countries, the United Nations, and the European Court on Human Rights High Commission agree with that the 1915 tragedy was not a “genocide.”

What did Armenia’s first Prime Minister state about the 1915 tragedy in his 1923 manifesto?  He said that “when the skirmishes had started the Turks proposed that we meet and confer.  We did not do so and defied them.”

I am the President of the Turkish Institute for Progress, an organization formed to provide a forum for dialogue in pursuit of peace and cooperation between Turkey and the international community. It is crucial to reference facts in historical context so we can work together to look forward toward the next 100 years, inspired by the promise of renewed Turkish-Armenian relations under the true spirit of cooperation.

Unfortunately, the Armenian lobby is refusing to consider the historical facts in promoting legislation like HB 4493, only trying to score political points and embarrass the Turkish people. What the Armenian lobby doesn’t point out is that the Armenian community of the time took up arms against their own government, lured by Russia’s promise of an independent nation. During the conflict, 2.5 million Turks, Kurds and Arabs also lost their lives.

Today, the Russians are the puppetmaster once again as Armenia is one of Russia’s closest allies as Armenia hosts two Russian bases. Putin continues to utilize Armenia as a proxy to grow influence in the region and as former Deputy Chief of Staff to the NATO Secretary General James Foley stated in a recent Time article, Turkey “faces a burgeoning Russian military buildup across its border in neighboring Armenia, while simultaneously being squeezed by Russia’s military intervention across its border with an imploding Syria.”

With the future of the Middle East evolving on a daily basis, Turkish-U.S. relations are critical to regional security and the management of regional crises. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq have become salient issues of international security; the rising tensions in Iran and Saudi Arabia have added additional complexity to the situation as more regional instability presents itself.

Beyond international security, Turkey has also become an indispensable U.S. trade partner, constituting a large and growing market for United States exports. In 2015, Turkey was identified as Europe’s third-fastest growing economy, and Turkey does over $700 million in business with Michigan.

If the Michigan State Senate wants to weigh in on the 1915 tragedy, they should join the Turkish Institute of Progress in asking the Armenians to engage in a dialogue with the Turkish people about what happened and let the facts speak for themselves.

By voting to support HB 4493, the Michigan State Senate Education Committee will only impede pursuit of peace and cooperation between Turkey and Armenia and at the same time, it will be embarrassing an important ally in the fight against terror and an indispensable U.S. trade partner.”

You Betcha! (2)Nuh Uh.(14)

Bad Optics = Serious Political Jeopardy

Proper Prior Political Planning Prevents..............

Snyder ImageOur zillionaire Governor is hitting up the Michigan Treasury for $ 1.5 million to cover the cost of really excellent lawyers who are mounting his criminal defense in the Flint water fiasco. Yesterday, he suggested that the two MDEQ employees criminally charged in the Flint water fiasco will no longer receive State paid legal representation. The State had been paying for outside counsel for Stephen Busch and Michael Prysby since AG Schuette stripped them of direct state assistant AG legal counsel in February.

Apparently, the distinction here is actually being criminally charged. Snyder hasn’t been, but Busch and Prysby just got charged.. AG Schuette could not resist piling on with the same common law misconduct in office felony charge used against Courser and Gamrat, but the actual substance of the statutory charges here are lying and tampering with evidence.

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Or Be Square

As-in "be there" for KrisAnne Hall's discussion on the 10th amendment.

KrisanneHall_flyer5olKrisAnne Hall back in Michigan.

I have heard her speak a number of times, and each time walk away with a greater understanding of our constitution.  I also have developed a better sense for what needs to be done to hold our out of control government in check, and return us to the nation of states (versus a nation with states) as our founders intended.

Always a worthwhile event.

 

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Pressure.

When folks around the state know what is going on, they are better prepared to act.

Gary Glenn knows that pressure from those back home can bring about action when bills are slowed down in the committee process.  Recently, he sends this out in an email blast:

glenn“Dear Friends,

The purpose for this email is to bring to your attention House Bill 4847, which would restore Michigan citizens’ constitutionally-guaranteed right to a jury trial, including on lawsuits filed against the state.

Specifically, HB 4847 would allow any citizen of Michigan to sue the state on any matter and demand a trial by jury in their district of residence.

As provided by our state constitution, Michigan residents already have a right to have any lawsuit brought by them to be heard by a jury of their peers. However, that right has not been upheld by the current system in which lawsuits against the state are currently heard by the Court of Claims, which provides no trial by jury.

HB 4847 would right this wrong and put in statute what is already in our state constitution.

I urge you to take action today by contacting the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, as well as all members on the committee, to ask them to allow HB 4847 to be taken up for a hearing and subsequent vote. This could be accomplished via a phone call as well as an email. The contact information for committee members are as follows:

You Betcha! (14)Nuh Uh.(0)

April 15th, A Day That Lives In Infamy

The Ship RMS Titanic Sank This Day in 1912

RMS Titanic Image 2The RMS Titanic broke in half and sank at 02:20 AM zulu on this day in 1912. Should never have happened, but metallurgists of the day didn’t understand the adverse effect of phosphorous upon the ductile to brittle transition temperature of steel.  Today the Titanic rests at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at Latitude 41° 43′ 57″ North, Longitude 49° 56′ 49″ West, over 12,000 feet underwater.  1,514 men, women and children perished, only 710 survived.  May they all rest in peace.  The last Titanic survivor died in 2009.  Not the worst maritime disaster in history, but the one seared into the conscience of the English speaking world.

Most of us, however, associate April 15th with the annual deadline for filing your U.S. and Michigan personal income taxes. Just how much money is extracted in personal income taxes on this fateful day?

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