Monthly Archives: February 2018

Where is Bill Schuette? Chasing Feral Ducks?

States Sue/ Contend Obamacare Unconstitutional - Michigan's presence in suit noticeably absent.

What a missed opportunity for a highly probable next governor!

Bill Schuette has failed miserably on two high profile United States Supreme Court cases already.  As simple as telling the federal government that the constitution still matters, and that Michigan invokes the 10th with appropriate and legal prejudice.  Defending Michigan’s Marriage LAW, and fighting the last Obamacare suit should have been easy work for any attorney/former judge/congress critter, but here we are years later living with the failure on those fronts.

And now another opportunity pops up, and the state attorney general is nowhere to be seen?

Cmon Bill!  It’s not as-if you are spending time going out and meeting the folks.  Get with the plan, and don’t take your current lead for granted.

Michigan needs better than this.

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(0)

February 26 Gubernatorial Townhall Forum In Traverse City

GOP town hall event

The stage is ready.

The candidates who are serious about reaching out and communicating with the public have been traveling the state holding town-hall events, and answering the questions on Michiganian minds.

Join the 2018 Republican Gubernatorial candidates lt.governor Brian Calley, State senator Patrick Colbeck, Dr. Jim Hines, and (invited – not confirmed) Bill Schuette as they offer their insight into better government and state management issues.

I will be the moderator.

Monday February 26, 7PM Traverse City.

Streeters Center 1669 S Garfield Ave, Traverse City, MI 49686

 

 

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Going where other Republicans fear to tread.

“My son, we're pilgrims in an unholy land.” - Professor Henry Jones (Sean Connery) “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

Admit it.

You’ve got to hand it to Sen. Pat Colbeck credit on this one.

It’s one thing to take on the party kakistocracy and challenge not only their hand picked heir apparent to the Michigan Governor’s Office, but the wanna-be as well.

This is taking up a notch.

Honestly, more like two or three given the venue and locale.

Curious as to what this just might be?

Then click below to continue.

{Continues after the fold}

You Betcha! (7)Nuh Uh.(3)

Another nail in the coffin.

It’s amazing what falls under the radar in the local news.

So recently, Oakland Co. Exec. L. Brooks Patterson announced that he will not be supporting the RTA tax when it come up again on the ballot again this fall.

The response was very predictable. The leeches and parasites (aka Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Wayne Co. Exec. Warren Evans) threw a hissy fit that a.) they weren’t notified in advance, b.) they felt that they already had an agreement in place to jam it down Southeastern Michigan Taxpayers Throats, and c.) the RTA would collapse like a house of cards because the cost to Wayne County would be too great.

The sycophants of the leeches and parasites in the local media (read: The Freep) threw an equally unimpressive temper tantrum..using the same talking points.

Well, guess what?

Macomb County got into the act as well (and it doesn’t look too good for the RTA tax).

{More below the fold}

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Lucido Has It Correct

Legislator attempting to tackle ridiculous asset forfeiture shenanigans.

You’ll find no stronger supporters of our boys in blue than here and in GOP ranks.

However, accountability and due process is paramount for continued trust between the citizenry and our law enforcement.  Integrity is a managed asset.

Peter Lucido should be thanked.

You Betcha! (7)Nuh Uh.(1)

Callous Disregard

Pro Life activists face trespass charges while murder mill operator maintains brevity

On September 15, 2017 four pro-lifers conducted a ‘Red Rose Rescue’ at Northland Family Planning abortion center in Sterling Hts, MI.

At that time, Will Goodman, Matthew Connolly (pictured at left), Abby McIntyre and the director of Citizens for a Pro-life Society Monica Migliorino Miller were arrested for trespassing. The rescue was part of a national initiative. On that day 2 other Red Rose Rescues took place in Alexandria, VA and Albuquerque, NM.

At 8:45am the pro-life group entered the waiting room of the abortion center owned and operated by Renee Chelian, and proceeded to talk to the mothers seated there, handing out red roses, and speaking to them with material help and words of encouragement to continue with their pregnancies, as well as on the humanity of the unborn baby. The goals of the Red Rose Rescue were two-fold: 1) to persuade women to leave the abortion center and give life to their children and 2) to provide an act of defense for the unborn scheduled to be imminently put to death–insofar as the pro-lifers expect the abortion procedures to not take place as long as they maintain a presence in the abortion facility.

After 25 minutes Sterling Heights, MI police arrived and placed the pro-lifers under arrest. They were charged with trespassing.  Their attorney Robert Muise of the American Freedom Law Center intends to ask for a defense of necessity–a common law defense that excuses criminal acts that are committed to prevent a greater evil from occurring–in this case harm to women and the killing of innocent unborn children.

The evil does exist.

You Betcha! (9)Nuh Uh.(0)

Why Wasn’t Nassar Stopped In 2014? Or In 2016?

Quid Pro Quo, Again

Dr. Lawrence Gerard Nassar’s molestation of young girls dates back to the 1990’s and at least 14 of his victims reported him to various figures of authority at MSU over the intervening years. In 2014, one of those authority figures finally took a Nassar victim seriously enough to report him to MSU’s Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives. OIII was the MSU bureaucracy then responsible for investigating Title IX discrimination complaints. That accuser also reported the incident to MSU’s police department two months later.

The MSU Title IX investigation was a whitewash. The author of the report, Kristine M. Moore (currently MSU’s Assistant General Counsel) went so far as to issue two reports – a more truthful one to Nassar and another, abbreviated version to the victim. At some point in 2014, recently departed MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon was informed of the circumstances and did little or nothing. Nassar continued to molest his female patients; at least 12 more before he was finally arrested.

Some time in 2015, MSU’s campus police department finally made a criminal referral to the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office. Stuart Dunning III’s office did nothing, perhaps because he was just too preoccupied with his much beloved prostitutes. And his subordinates were perhaps too busy covering for his wretched behavior. In March 2016, the Ingham County Sheriff arrested Dunning and his lawyer brother for pandering. Dunning plead out and resigned from office.

Ingham County Circuit Court judges selected Gretchen Whitmer, a current Democratic candidate for Michigan Governor, to serve out the remainder of Dunning’s term. Whitmer averred that Dunning’s distractions did not affect any ICPO case and immediately signaled her virtue by establishing a new domestic violence unit within the ICPO. You are allowed to be skeptical.

MSU Campus Police Chief Jim Dunlap returned to the new, interim Ingham County Prosecutor – Ms. Whitmer – with his department’s referral of the Nassar molestation incidents. He got blown off by Whitmer and her chief assistant, Lisa McCormick. Dunlap was convinced that Whitmer’s office was not interested in pursuing the molestation charges because they were “much more difficult to take to trial” than the kiddie porn charges then being developed by the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.

Whitmer and McCormick were entirely content to allow Nassar to be prosecuted for kiddie porn by the Feds, but both now claim they did not file molestation charges against Nassar because of ‘jurisdictional issues’.

Dunlap stalked off and contacted Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office that same evening. He wanted Nassar fully charged for all his offenses. AG Schuette had no qualms about going after Nassar. At the time, there were only 5 or 6 molestation complaints against Nassar, all of which arose from MSU. The Eaton County Twistar cases were developed after Schuette took over the prosecution. There were no ‘jurisdictional issues’ when Whitmer blew off Dunlap.

The rest is history. But is it the entire history?

You Betcha! (20)Nuh Uh.(0)

Did we just dodge another huge bullet here?

While I don’t agree with Oakland County Exec. L. Brooks Patterson on some things (okay…most things), kind of like a stopped clock, he finally got something right for a change.

According to The Detroit News, during his annual address to Oakland County last night, County Exec. Patterson came out whole-heartedly and unequivocally against the RTA Tax v 2.0.

 

Why should ANYONE be made to pay for something that they will not use?

No, the ballot proposal hasn’t officially been announced for the ‘18 General yet. My snitches tell me that they are still working out on how to best polish this heaping, steaming pile of bull droppings, without much success.

Good luck on that.

Citing the lack of hard facts from what those pulling the levers behind the scenes will actually do with the monies collected, much like one of the laundry-list of problems with the last proposal, County Exec. Patterson said this,

“… I can’t do it. I won’t do it,” he said to a standing ovation. “And I will never, ever betray the public trust I respect and represent.”

I should stress that County Exec. Patterson received a standing ovation from those in attendance during that particular portion of his speech.

This isn’t something that you get when, according to RTA tax supporters, people overwhelming support your plan.

Pay us so that we can placate the mass transit snowflakes by driving around town empty.

This should (hopefully, anyway), have some affect here in Macomb, where Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel is also having some serious difficulty signing off on this.

And did I mention that the roads here in Southeastern Michigan look like the 107th used them for light target practice?

Fixing them takes money, too.

I’m not going to add anything more at this time due to the fact that my considerable folder on these con-artists just got a little bit bigger, and I’d like to keep my powder dry…just in case.

I will be adding more when this story unfolds.

Stay tuned.

You Betcha! (8)Nuh Uh.(0)

That Time Again

Small Business Owners get to beg off of paying the license fee for their business tools to the state.

Because the legislature has never been able to properly address crappy PPT rules, and the underlying cause (overbig government).

Michigan is one of VERY FEW remaining states that will otherwise continue to assess your ink pens, mouse pad, sticky notes, and desk top knockerballs.  Here is a link to your hall pass, your permission slip; your way to avoid paying taxes again and again on equipment and office furnishings up to a value of $80k.  It is due on the 20th.

Two weeks.

You’re welcome.

You Betcha! (8)Nuh Uh.(3)

What Is Going On Here?

Governor Snyder is attempting to resuscitate his reputation by benevolently raising your taxes.

Our ace Governor is not going quietly into the night as his governorship slides into the twilight zone. He launched two tax proposals last week which he touted as environmental initiatives. Neither raises enough funds to even remotely achieve his stated environmental objectives, unless the taxes he proposed skyrocket in the future. Both proposals are actually designed to expand our hopelessly inept (and periodically corrupt) bureaucracy. The environmental angle is just eyewash to sell higher taxes to the gullible. And those tax rates he proposes will skyrocket – bet on it.

First up is an increase in the current landfill tipping tax from $ 0.36 per ton to $ 4.75 per ton. Snyder claims this tax increase will raise $ 79 million for recycling programs. It won’t. The incremental revenue will be something less than $ 70.7 million, because 769,000 tons of solid waste from other states with lower tipping taxes will no longer be land filled in Michigan (pdf). Michigan landfills will suffer a 4.5% volume drop, which will be consequential. They will either curtail operations (read: lay off workers), cut workers’ wages or raises, and/or adjust tipping fees. Local units of government, which also collect revenue from their landfills, will suffer revenue losses as well. Environmentalists will applaud, but the trash is just being diverted to different land fills. There is no environmental benefit to playing musical chairs with garbage.

Governor Snyder implies in his press release that his proposed tipping tax increase will diminish Michigan’s solid waste imports from his Canadian buddies; the ones who are building his bridge. It won’t. Ontario landfill tipping fees start at $ 75 CAD per metric ton ($ 55 USD per short ton). Comparable Michigan landfill tipping fees are in the low $ 30 USD range. Snyder would have to raise the Michigan tipping tax by $ 25 USD, not the $ 4.39 he proposes, to materially reduce Canadian solid waste exports to Michigan. Keep in mind that the Canadians will ignore their transportation costs; they need to feed tolls to that fancy new bridge as cross border truck traffic otherwise declines.  Our Canadian neighbors didn’t pay for the Gordie Howe Bridge out of the goodness of their hearts.  It was cheaper politically than opening land fills.

A tipping tax which would actually impact Canadian trash exports would wipe out Michigan land fills and their workers. And all of our solid waste would be exported to other states, making Michigan many new friends across the Midwest. Yet tipping tax proponents will imply that the tipping tax increase will curtail Canadian trash exports to Michigan.

It won’t.

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