Monthly Archives: June 2017

Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion

Bill Schuette – Jack Of All Trades

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Michigan's Attorney General joins the pipeline closure drum corps.

You can say one thing about Attorney General Bill Schuette, he has had a lot of different jobs.

The latest is apparently environmental expert and mechanical engineer.  Acting like those cats in the disaster movies who always seem to have the correct and dire warnings that “something really bad is about to happen,” Schuette has now called for the end to line five.  From the Detroit News:

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette on Thursday called for the development of a “specific and definite timetable” to close Enbridge Energy Inc.’s Line 5 dual pipelines under the Straits of Mackinac.

Schuette’s comments came as his office, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Department of Natural Resources and Agency for Energy released a long-awaited Line 5 alternatives assessment conducted by an independent contractor.

The 337-page report states the 64-year-old Line 5 could operate indefinitely, but Schuette said he “strongly” disagreed. One viable alternative, he said, would be to construct a tunnel under the straits that could serve a similar function but allow for continuous visual inspection while creating infrastructure and construction jobs.

I suppose we could add “Tunnel Builder” to the resume as well?

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Liberty, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Opinion, Part Time Legislature, Philosophy, Republicans

Ad Hoc Ad Interim

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As badly as we need this done, do we care why he’s doing it, or even whether he gets the credit?

“If Hitler invaded Hell, I would at least make a favourable reference to the devil in the House of Commons.” (Winston Churchill, to his private secretary, Jock Colville, on June 21st, 1941, the evening before Operation Barbarossa)

Churchill was well known for being a consistent and vociferous opponent of communism, and had often spoken quite unfavorably about the Soviet Union, and particularly of Joseph Stalin (who was well-known even then as the brutal monster that honest history records). However, in seeking to stop the menace of Hitler’s Nazi Germany, Churchill was willing to adopt an ad hoc “enemy of my enemy” approach, and initiated the Anglo-Soviet Agreement for joint action against Germany.

Given much of the recent hullabaloo regarding a badly-needed grassroots initiative having been likely co-opted, by a moderate opportunist apparently seeking a means to advance his political ambitions, and given that I have personally stood directly in the path of those ambitions at least twice in the past seven years, what I’m about to say is going to sound exceedingly strange, but I’m going to say it anyway.

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Cronyism, Democrats, Detroit, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Rent Seeking, Sports, Taxes

Battles of the Lower Depths in Detroit

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Davis et al v. Detroit Downtown Development Authority et al; U.S Eastern District of Michigan Case Number: 2:17-cv-11742

Eastern District of Michigan U.S. District Judge Mark A. Goldsmith ruled on June 19th that Detroit’s Downtown Development Authority can issue $34.5 million in bonds to pay for the relocation of the Detroit Pistons basketball team to the new Little Caesar’s Arena. The Judge’s ruling rejected arguments that the eventual use of school tax money to repay these tax increment finance bonds violates Detroit residents’ constitutional and statutory right to vote on a school tax money diversions.

Judge Goldsmith’s ruling denied Robert Davis‘ and D. Etta Wilcoxon’s motion for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order in their lawsuit against the Detroit Downtown Development Authority. The Judge said the plaintiffs did not establish the need for an emergency injunction. The Judge politely neglected to mention that Robert Davis was sentenced in the very same Eastern District U.S. District Court to an 18 month Club Fed vacation for stealing $ 200,000 from the Highland Park School District in 2014. Mr. Davis should still be on probation for this minor peccadillo.

One complication here is that the tax monies being diverted are not those of the current Detroit Community Public School District, but rather those of the legacy Detroit Public School District which was reduced to zombie status last year in the DPS bailout. Is the old DPS really a school district today, or just a financial entity? The Detroit Community Public School District is a near bankrupt ward of the State of Michigan that won’t receive any Detroit property tax revenues until the legacy DPS district debts are paid off. No one alive today will live to see that.

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Conservative News, Cronyism, Elections, Fees, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Part Time Legislature

Political Self Perpetuation

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Making The Democratic Process In Michigan Just A Little Bit Less Democratic With A 21st Century Poll Tax

Representatives Steve Marino, Tommy Brann, Julie Calley, Kimberly LaSata, and Jim Lilly have just introduced six bills, HB 4745 to HB 4750, to increase filing fees for various down ballot political offices across the State of Michigan by 50% to 300%.  These are the fees prospective candidates can pay to get on the ballot in lieu of filing nominating petitions.

As you might expect, the highest (300%) filing fee increase proposed applies to candidates for State Representative (and Senator).

The kicker here? The filing fee is also no longer refunded to the runner up.  So running for political office in Michigan just became more expensive exclusive.

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Cronyism, Part Time Legislature, Research & Analysis

What is Young Americans for Liberty Hiding About Brian Calley’s Part-Time Legislature Campaign?

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A week ago, I was able to break national news regarding the involvement of the Young Americans for Liberty in Brian Calley’s part-time legislature campaign. The article caused an immediate stir, and elicited a caustic response from the YAL national leadership.

Although I was hoping for YAL to take responsibility for what they had done and at the very least ensure that they would be more careful when signing on to future campaigns, I realize that Washington D.C. organizations do not typically operate in that manner. Transparency is a four-letter word inside the Beltway, and although “liberty” may be in the organization’s title, YAL is clearly not immune to the sinister machinations of the swamp.

For the record, I have spoken to various YAL groups throughout the state of Michigan, and maintain a solid rapport with certain chapter leaders. Additionally, I help administer the Oakland County chapter of Campaign for Liberty, and I serve on the board of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Michigan. So it is not in my personal interest to see liberty organizations be disgraced. Far from it, in fact. Nevertheless, every organization needs to be held accountable and exposed if it is engaging in shady or possibly illegal behavior. In my opinion, an organization should be held to a higher standard if it carries the banner of liberty. My article demonstrated with facts how YAL activists and resources were funneled into a campaign to rehabilitate the deservedly poor reputation of one of the worst big government Republicans in the state, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley.

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Michigan

Proud?

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Public safety is no longer the business of this government.

Sometimes we just have to stop and shake our heads.

Should visitors to Traverse City feel comfortable any longer  about the safety of their families/children in our public restrooms?  Not because of dysfunctional little boys who think they are girls, or ..the other way around.  Not because of a special rights law, or ordinance that the Traverse City government is forcing upon business owners. (which is already being done in other ways)

But because there is now there is being broadcast, by official proclamation, a sense that a gender neutral bathroom scheme is the thing to do in our newly enlightened culture; that there is a need to allow men and women, women and boys, men and girls to take care of nature’s business and perhaps discuss the issues of the day in a unique side-by-side.

From the Ticker:

Commissioners unanimously adopted a resolution Monday stating Traverse City will make an effort to provide gender-neutral bathrooms within city buildings and encourage other community businesses or organizations to provide at least one gender-neutral restroom in their place of business.

…

Mayor Jim Carruthers noted the resolution was referring to “single-stall occupancy, lockable bathrooms,” which could accommodate a wide range of users, including single parents with opposite-sex children and individuals with disabilities. “We’re not talking about talking a public restroom that has multiple stalls and just all of the sudden letting mixed genders go into that,” Carruthers said. Werner confirmed, however, with City Attorney Lauren Trible-Laucht that the resolution allows individuals to use public restrooms based on their personal gender identity or expression, which Trible-Laucht affirmed.

Confirmed.

Read the rest, (it’s short) and then check back on the comments often.  Already there are folks who are “Proud” of this commission’s actions.  They are “proud.”  Let that sink in.

In the meantime, we’ll just let the authorities sort out the expression of the day, OK?

Oh, and maybe let visitors guess which of our local bathrooms might contain a ‘surprise’ guest.

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Conservative News, Detroit, Michigan, Michigan Politics

Not Any Time Soon

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Will common sense ever return to our state?

I believe the power of stupid people in large numbers is reaching a climax.

Michigan has its share of both (people and numbers) in all corners of the state.  In Traverse City, it might be the new cause-du-jour ‘sanctuary city’ effort, gender fluid/creative/neutral bathrooms‘ or our political class simply not seeing the forest for the trees.

Funny thing about that last.  One of the commissioners cannot accept a sale of county property for an amount less than it is worth. But as things always seem to bear out, political classic and commissioner Cheryl Gore Follette was for it – before she was against it.

“There is frustration, but as I’m learning, it’s government,” says Clous. “Government can’t make a decision and stay with a decision and live with it.” He says he’s at “a loss for words” over Gore Follette’s “making an issue out of selling property for less than market value, or making the assumption that we are” after the board accepted a below-market bid for 160 acres of Whitewater Township property last week.

Yes, ‘cognitive dissonance’ is a real thing.

But the hinterlands is not alone in such net-less mental acrobatics. On the opposite corner of the mitten, we have even more willful ignorance.  MI Dems were introducing bills to make the world safe for ISIS terrorists last week, the feds arrested a naturalized resident of Dearbornistan for:

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Michigan Politics

Introducing the Michigan Patriot Action Center — Up-to-Date Info and Action Items Regarding Important Bills in Lansing

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I have something that I am happy to unveil to you today: The Michigan Patriot Action Center. A team of conservative patriots in Oakland County have been working on it for several months, and we are very proud of what we have come up with!

This legislative center will help you stay up-to-date on bills that directly impact your freedom and your pocketbook. It is regularly updated with new legislative action updates every week. So you always know the status of each bill, which committee the bill is in, when a relevant committee hearing will take place, basic talking points about the legislation, and receive instructions on how to take productive action to move the bill forward.

All of this information is available on the internet but it is often scattered and difficult to find. Sometimes the legislation itself is difficult to decipher because it was written by lobbyists in a deliberately vague manner, and activists might not know how to describe it. That is why we analyze each bill, and provide a basic script for you to use during outreach. We are centralize all of the pertinent information to make productive action much easier.

I do bill tracking around the country for the Tenth Amendment Center, and sometimes only a few dozen phone calls can move a bill in the right direction so if we utilize this bill center to its full potential, we can all make a real difference. Additionally, we are always working to improve the project. Right now, it is hosted from Google docs which is very easy to use. We are always looking to expand so if you have any comments, please email us. We are also organizing a group of individuals in each state rep district and state sen district to increase the power of this center.

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Government Incompetence, Michigan, Opinion

This Is What We Are Paying For.

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University paper editorial is window into the failure of higher education.

Allow me to plug your ink nozzles please.

Or perhaps DOS your web service so that the minds full of mush cannot surf your seas of stupidity.  This is the equivalent of the argument that there is a right to shout down free and open discussion, as argued  by the student (not fit for toilet) paper at U of M.

Break out the comfort puppies and crayons, the tantrums are about to erupt.  All of a sudden, whomever is loudest and most violent has the most bestest right to the 1st amendment protections according to a recent editorial. From Cap Con today:

” The University of Michigan’s main student newspaper, the Michigan Daily, published an editorial criticizing recently introduced legislation dealing with campus speech.  ”

Apparently protecting free speech is anti free speech.

Tell me why we give this institution of indoctrination $400+ million of our taxes yearly?

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

Michigan Politics

Michigan House Passes Constitutional Carry

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On Wednesday, the Michigan state house passed a package of bills to implement constitutional carry in Michigan.  Constitutional carry means that the government does not impose any permits or fees before citizens can exercise their constitutional right to carry firearms. Around five years ago, support for constitutional carry moved from the fringe to a mainstream Republican position.  Twelve states now have constitutional carry, and more are considering it.

The four bills received 59 to 61 yes votes, and 47 to 49 no votes.  Three democrats voted for all four bills.  They are

  • John Chirkun – district 22 (Roseville)
  • Phil Phelps – district 49 (Flint suburbs)
  • Scott Dianda – district 110 (western UP) – running for state senate (district 38) in 2018

Seven Republicans voted against some or all of the bills.  They are

  • Kathy Crawford (against 3 of 4) – district 38 (Novi) – termed out in 2020
  • Michael McCready (against all 4) – district 40 (Bloomfield) – termed out in 2018 – may run for senate (district 12)
  • Martin Howrylak  (against 2 of 4) – district 41 (Troy) – termed out in 2018
  • David Maturen (against all 4) – district 63 (E Kalamazoo) – termed out in 2020
  • Chris Afendoulis (against all 4) – district 73 (GR Township) – termed out in 2020 – may run for senate (district 29)
  • Rob Verhuelen (against all 4) – district 74 (Walker) – termed out in 2018.  Verhuelen ran against Tom Leonard for Speaker last year.
  • Dave Pagel (against all 4) – district 78 (S Berrien) – termed out in 2018

The bills now go to the state senate, where it is not certain whether they will be taken up.  It is also unclear whether Governor Snyder, who has a mixed record on gun rights, would sign them.  Nonetheless, Speaker Tom Leonard and most Republicans in the state house deserve credit for getting them this far.

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