Conservative News

2017 MiCPAC April 28-29

Annual Freedom Summit & Conservative Gathering for Michigan is next month!

The Michigan Conservative Union is hosting it’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Holt this year.

The MiCPAC event theme of “Civility and Ethics in Philosophy and Politics” is the guide for the premier annual conference for all elements of the Michigan Conservative Movement—Life; Faith; Freedom; liberty;Tax Limitation; Traditional Values; 1st, 2nd & 10 Amendment;Academe; Business; National Defense and others.

Speakers at this conference will be Dr. Lee Edwards of the Heritage Foundation, Trevor Louden– New Zeeland Author and patriot, Richard Thompson -Thomas More Law Chief counsel, John Anthony – Sustainable Freedom Author, Dr. Meg Edison -Docs4Patient Care Pediatrician, Prof. William Wagner– of Salt & Light, and Rev. Richard Zeile Michigan School board.

Aside from the nationally recognized conservatives above, will be other notables from around the state; You will hear legislators and local elected officials on how they make a difference. Confirmed are Larry Rocca, Macomb Co. Treasurer; Jason Gillman, Tom Norton, plus Lt. Col. David Agema: E-Verify- American Law for American Courts, Hon. Norman R. Hughes, MCU and MFTW; State of the Movement, Janice Daniels, Jerry Allen, Author Priscilla Miller and others.

This high impact event is being held
April 28-29,2017 Capitol City Baptist School 5100 W Willoughby Rd, Holt, MI 48842

For more information and to register, click here, or on the logo to the right.

You Betcha! (7)Nuh Uh.(0)

Michigan Gun Owners Beware!

Big Brother Is Watching

There has been an interesting development in the case of two individuals who were arrested for open carry in the anteroom of the Dearborn, Michigan Police Department Headquarters. Two men from central Michigan were arrested for entering the anteroom of the Dearborn Police Department Headquarters building while carrying, and filming themselves while doing so. They were reportedly using open carry to protest what they believed was a bogus traffic stop which they were subjected to earlier in Dearborn.

James Baker and Brandon Vreeland have been abandoned by Michigan’s open carry movement, probably due to the allegation that they were using open carry to protest something entirely unrelated to Second Amendment rights, but it does not appear that their actions actually violated any Michigan law. At least one of the two was wearing ‘body armor’, which added to the provocative nature of their actions. Carry in police stations is actually not prohibited by Michigan law, and it is a violation of Michigan law to prohibit firearms in a police station outside of secured areas.

Fun side note: When I was a kid in the 1960’s, I used to shoot small bore rifle matches in the basement shooting range of this very building, which was even then the DPD police station. How times have changed!

Now we have a remarkable discovery from Nicholas Somberg (P80416), the defense attorney for Brandon Vreeland of Jackson: The Dearborn Police secretly monitored the two ‘Second Amendment activists’ and essentially ambushed both men as they were filming themselves walking into the Dearborn Police headquarters.

Here is the interesting development, as reported by the Detroit Free Press:

You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(2)

It took you this long to figure it out, eh?

So, will this be the swan song for Snydercaid?

Like we didn’t see this coming?

And by “we” I mean real conservatives, not the bland neo-con, conservative wanna-bees around election season who revert back to their true selves the day after the general.

Thanks to the number-crunchers over at the SFA along with President Trump, Gov. Snyder’s signature achievement (Snydercaid), is in jeopardy of closing up shop due to its costs, and someone who had the foresight to include a weakness in the legislation which can be exploited when it grew into an ever-growing percentage of the budget.

What’s even worse (also on page 6 in the SFA link above):

“The new Federal law would increase GF/GP (General Fund/General Purpose) costs sufficiently to trigger this provision by the end of FY 2019-20. Thus, assuming no changes to the statute, the Healthy Michigan Plan would terminate.

If the State opted to continue the program (which would require Legislative action and a gubernatorial signature to change the statute), the GF/GP costs would increase significantly in subsequent years as noted above. Obviously, if the Federal legislation is enacted, the decision on whether to change the statute to continue the HMP would be impacted by the fiscal considerations outlined above.”

Gov. Snyder knew that this day was coming. He even went to Washington to personally lobby on its behalf.

But when you act like a wishy-washy, mealy mouth wimp who will not take a stand, people remember things like that.

Speaking of “never forgetting”

 

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

Lets Throw More Money Away!

Commission to taxpayers - "Gird your loins."

About that blue ribbon report on education?

Governor RINO-Burger’s newly formed ’21st Century Education Commission’ has performed as expected. One theme seems to stand out.  In the end, all will be well if we follow some not-so-surprising advice from the best socialist minds around. – Free college. Preschool for every child. No more grade levels.

A report released last week from Gov. Rick Snyder’s office offered lofty goals designed to overhaul Michigan’s public education system. The state needs to offer free community college, expand preschool access, and restructure K-12 public schools, the report suggested. District leaders in northwest Michigan agreed, but they’ll need more clarity on the details.

Sure.  why not?

Government employees shilling for expansion of government?  But wait!  More clarity?

“My first question would be if it’s free, who’s paying for it?” asked Sander Scott, superintendent at Glen Lake Community Schools. “That’s what any taxpayer would say. There’ll be a cost to be able to offer these things. … The state is really struggling to fund its public schools so adding more is interesting.”

Yes, “interesting.”
The state is struggling to accurately provide (yes, “accurately.” ‘Adequately’ is a word I would use if it was called for) funding that provides for the best education for our declining youth.  As opined previously, dumping nearly an additional $billion bones into the Detroit school system last year was a seriously flawed legislative act.
You Betcha! (10)Nuh Uh.(0)

Impunity In A One Party State

Very Bad Judgment Is Not A Bar To Judicial Tenure In The Peoples Republic Of Ann Arbor

A Washtenaw County 22nd Circuit Court judge is demonstrating the supreme impunity immunity enjoyed by the liberal elites in a modern one party state: Ann Arbor. Washtenaw County Trial Judge Carol A. Kuhnke has just dodged all legal consequences for possessing prescription narcotics not prescribed to her; narcotics which were used by her adopted son in his fatal overdose last year.

At this point, you probably have some sympathy for Judge Kuhnke. Opioid addiction is sweeping our country and there are a lot of tragedies occurring which parents simply cannot prevent. But there are twists to Judge Kuhnke’s story which sets it far apart from the typical overdose tragedy.

Judge Kuhnke’s curious story began on November 25th of last year when her son was found dead from oxycodone toxicity, but only got its first airing in the press yesterday. Young John Kuhnke allegedly broke into a locked tool chest where Judge Kuhnke was storing both drugs and alcohol. The drugs included oxycodone, hydrocodone, trazodone, dexmethylphenidate, and tramadol. All nasty items. These drugs were originally prescribed to John Kuhnke, Judge Kuhnke, her wife Elizabeth Janovic, Janovic’s parents, and the Kuhnke/Janovic’s next door neighbor. John Kuhnke is alleged to have stolen ten prescription pill vials from the broken tool chest and taken some of the next door neighbor’s oxycodone pills to a friend’s house where he overdosed and died.

Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office Detective Craig Raisanen requested warrant for Judge Kuhnke and her wife Elizabeth Janovic from the Washtenaw Prosecutor’s Office for possession of up to 25 grams of Schedule II narcotics prescribed in another person’s name [MCL 333.7403(2)(a)(v)]. The Washtenaw County Prosecutor asked AG Schuette to appoint a special prosecutor and that special prosecutor then decided that charges “would not be appropriate”. The Special Prosecutor appointed was Livingston County Prosecutor William Vailliencourt, who happens to serve in the county immediately north of Washtenaw. He fobbed the case off on the Judicial Tenure Commission, and it now appears that they too will take no action.

You Betcha! (14)Nuh Uh.(1)

The Price of Political Failure

The Detroit News launched a hit piece on Michael G. Ford, the CEO of the Regional Transportation Authority of Southeastern Michigan this morning. Reporters Robert Snell and Christine MacDonald breathlessly review Mr. Ford’s expense accounting and employment contract details over the 33 months since he was appointed CEO of the RTA.

The closest they get to finding any real improprieties is Mr. Ford’s car allowance and mileage reimbursement, but that does not stop them from reporting salacious details of hotel room charges and his very generous employment contract. No illegality or budget overruns are found, but the tone of the article is supremely negative. Mr. Ford’s contract happens to be up for renewal and the RTA Board tabled a $ 16,300 raise for him two weeks ago.

A special meeting of the RTA Board of Directors was held this morning, including a closed session. Public bodies operating under the Open Meetings Act are only allowed to close meetings when deliberating personnel matters and contracts. It is not much of a leap to speculate that Mr. Ford is today’s main course at the RTA Board meeting.

The Detroit News duo filed an FOIA request for Mr. Ford’s contract details and expense reimbursements shortly after Paul Hillegonds, Governor Rick Snyder’s appointee to the RTA Board, began reviewing Mr. Ford’s expenses. Coincidence? Hardly.

What is going on here?

You Betcha! (12)Nuh Uh.(0)

Michigan’s Tax Charade

No Michigan Tax Deal Is Ever Worth The Paper It Is Written On

Since our devious Governor and his RINO caucus pulled out all the stops to quash the HB 4001 decrements in the state income tax last Thursday, it has dawned on Michigan politicians that the optics of the SB 111 – 115 Dan Gilbertville tax breaks just got real ugly. You can’t hand $ 1.8 billion of state revenue over to politically connected developers after stiffing the public at large without gruesome consequences. This is going to decrement some Senators’ campaign finance committee balances.

No one should fault Speaker Leonard for putting HB 4001 up for a losing vote. Bottling up and fiddling legislation behind closed doors until a winning margin is assured is not an exemplar of government transparency. Brits and Europeans may regard such shifty back room shenanigans as the hallmark of sophisticated political process, but here in America constituents want to know exactly how they are being represented. Thursday’s vote told us more about the RINOs in the Michigan House than years of deceitful political media articles and reports.

Thank you Speaker Leonard for fostering genuine political transparency.  Long overdue in Michigan.

It now appears that killing both tax reductions was the plan all along. Bridge Magazine and the Michigan Municipal League just launched a trial balloon to gut the Proposal A constitutional amendment of 1994. Proposal A limited the tax depredations of government employees acting through their local units of government, a popular activity in Michigan’s more leftward big cities and counties. The sales tax was increased 50%, but property owners got some constitutionally protected tax relief in return.

Local government employees and their Democratic political puppets want to renege on the 1994 Proposal A tax deal. Well, not entirely. Just the constitutionally protected property tax relief. No one is offering to restore the 4% sales tax rate. What was it JFK said about negotiating with the Soviets? “We cannot negotiate with people who say what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.” Public employees and their subservient Democratic politicians have a lot of gall claiming that President Trump is a Russian stooge and a neo communist tyrant to boot.

You Betcha! (13)Nuh Uh.(1)

Just in case anyone is wondering why Michigan Taxpayers are getting screwed over (again)…

And what ever happened to that whole “I-BELIEVE-government-must-practice-fiscal-responsibility-and-allow-individuals-to-keep-more-of-the-money-they-earn.” mantra?

All I’ve got to say here is: “Beware of bipartisanship”.

{More below the fold}

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

So Michigan Republicans Don’t Like Lower Taxes

Apparently the Michigan GOP house has Republicans who want to keep higher taxes and higher spending.

At least some of them anyhow.

Sometimes you gotta just wonder why, when given the chance, some Republican lawmakers refused to consider the amount collected from the working class as too high. Especially given they operate under the banner which says:

I BELIEVE government must practice fiscal responsibility and allow individuals to keep more of the money they earn.

By golly, that seems simple enough.

This is truly “the money they earn.”  Oh yeah, I suppose the “fiscal responsibility” component of that oft ignored screed might well provide an ‘out’ for any ausgespielt fiscal-moral compass by a GOP type, but its not as-if the state budget is going down, right?

The following HOUSE REPUBLICANS may be using the excuse that they wanted to see cuts in spending first, but given the insignificant amount of taxes being reduced upfront, doesn’t that itself reveal the expectation that they will not?

Afendoulis (R) Calley (R) Crawford (R) Garcia (R) Inman (R)
Lilly (R) Maturen (R) McCready (R) Pagel (R) Roberts (R)
Sheppard (R) VanSingel (R)

Sad.

You Betcha! (15)Nuh Uh.(0)

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP SCHOOL in TC – Date & Location Change!

Unless you are politically feared you will never be politically respected

Traverse Bay 9/12 and N.M.C.N. Presents

TRAVERSE CITY MI POLITICAL LEADERSHIP SCHOOL

LaSeniorita 1245 S. Garfield Road, Traverse City MI 49686

Saturday May 6, 2017 | 10am – 6:30pm

You owe it to the principles you stand for to learn how to become the most effective activist you can be.

You Betcha! (17)Nuh Uh.(0)